Getting it Done

Did you know that the average life expectancy in South Africa is less than 50 years?  This is about 30 years lower than the average in the US which is approaching 80.  30 years can seem like an entire lifetime, especially in the eyes of a young person.

We believe that with knowledge comes power - the power to make good choices, to plan for the future, and to live longer, healthier lives purposed by God.  With such knowledge and power, this generation can soar above the statistics, beating the odds currently stacked against them.

On February 22, the top 6 student leaders from 21 local schools, gathered for our first Impact youth leadership conference of the year.  The theme for 2012 is “Get It Done” with the emphasis on achieving healthy lifestyles, making God-honoring choices, and being positive role models. 

The teachings equipped students in 3 areas:  presentation skills, information on the leading causes of death in SA, and assessing one’s health.  In between, the students broke into small groups to practice skills, discuss lessons learned, and assess their own health risk factors. 

The topics were tough, as were the assignments, but the students were absolutely pumped for the challenge!  It was awesome to see them working together excited to learn and lead (and live longer!).

With hotdogs and homework in hand, these young leaders left knowing they were uniquely gifted and purposed by God to be His change agents.  Their long-term project includes teaching their peers what they’ve learned and facilitating health fairs at their schools.  We’re excited to see what these creative, empowered young leaders come up with!

Please pray for them.

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

One of the misconceptions I had about prayer stemmed from an incomplete understanding of its purpose.  Another misconception had to do with the learning and intentionality required to achieve powerful and effective results.  (James 5:16)  If we think of prayer as “merely” talking to God, we tend to stop short of learning how to pray according to God’s Word.

I find it interesting that of all the things the disciples heard Jesus say and saw Him do, the one thing they asked Him to teach them was how to pray.  (Luke 11:1)  Why not something more awesome like feeding thousands with just a few loaves and fish, calming storms, or raising the dead? 

…why prayer?...

I just read a great book by Dr. Myles Munroe called “Understanding the Power and Purpose of Prayer”.  He suggested several reasons why the disciples wanted to learn how to pray above other things.

In terms of ministry, the disciples saw Jesus praying more than anything else.  The Bible tells us how Jesus was up early, often withdrawing to quiet places to pray.  It sounds like Jesus devoted hours each day to prayer.  His miracles, on the other hand, took mere minutes, seconds even.  Consider the ratio of time spent.  Consider the results.  What a lesson this is for our lives and ministries!

Often we think we’re too busy to pray, especially for hours a day.  Yikes!  But what if 1 hour with God could accomplish hours of work by knowing how to direct our efforts according to His will?  By avoiding all those things He didn’t have planned for us, including false starts and spinning wheels from striving in our own strength?  By having the right mindset of peace, joy, confidence, and courage?  Prayer is meant for us to talk to and hear from God – agreeing with His will, and receiving His wisdom and guidance for carrying it out.  Spending time in prayer actually saves time in the long run.

I’m sure the disciples also recognized how prayer developed intimacy between Jesus and the Father.  We know that Jesus always knew God’s will and did it.  (John 5:19-20)  How often do we spend hours talking about problems with only frustration and weariness as the end result, no solutions?  Societal issues.  The economy.  Healthcare.  The government.  Wayward teenagers.  Addiction.  Those are some pretty big problems.  Maybe we should do less talking and more praying because it’s our prayers that God needs to actually be able to operate in those situations and to use us as well.

We also see in Luke 11:1-4 that prayer doesn’t come automatically, it needs to be learned.  While Jesus was praying, the disciples weren’t, they were just watching and waiting.  They obviously saw something different about Jesus’ prayers and didn’t think they could pray that way on their own, even though they would have grown up praying in their synagogues.  So what did Jesus do?  He taught what we call The Lord’s Prayer to serve as a model.  Jesus taught us because He agrees we need to learn.

I’ve been learning a lot about prayer lately, including that there is a lot to learn – much more than I had originally thought.  But that shouldn’t intimidate us from communicating with our loving Father and Creator; rather it should excite and motivate us to press in deeper!

God Needs Us

Am I the only one who finds prayer a bit challenging?  Not the “talking to God” part, but more so in understanding its purpose, and the principles for those powerful and effective prayers that get results. (James 5:16)

On February 14^th, along with June and Pastor Abram, I had the privilege of teaching local pastors and church leaders about the purpose, principles and power of prayer.  And as usual, teaching also turned out to be a huge learning experience for me as the Lord opened my eyes to His truths and my misconceptions about prayer.

What happens when our prayers aren’t answered?  Sometimes we feel abandoned by God or doubt His love for us.  We may question God’s character, integrity, or faithfulness to His Word.  Or we may doubt ourselves – our faith, our understanding of God’s Word, our discernment of His will.  Maybe we decide that prayer is not for us; rather it’s for those more spiritual, eloquent, or gifted.  (After all, it is a spiritual gift, right?)  Ultimately, our prayers dry up.

Prayers are meant to be answered, so when they don’t bring results we need to find out why.  We need to look to the Word of God for insight, and avoid jumping to the wrong conclusions about God or ourselves, conclusions that actually contradict the Word of God.  And I think one way we short-circuit our prayers is through an incorrect or incomplete understanding of their purpose.

Why should we pray?  Do our prayers matter?  After all, God already knows, controls, and has predetermined everything.  He’s everywhere, all the time, and never changes.  I know the Bible tells us to pray and, of course, and I want to be obedient.  I also know that Jesus did and I want to model Him.  But I’m sorry, those reasons alone just don’t evoke the sense of passion, power, and effectiveness that should characterize true prayer. 

In Genesis 1:26-28, we learn that we were created to reflect God’s image - nature, character and personality – in order to have fellowship with Him.  We were also created to carry out His purposes on earth – to rule, to have dominion, to take care of things – using our own free will, abilities and initiative. 

We know God’s plans and purposes will always be accomplished. (Isaiah 14:24, Psalm 33:11, Proverbs 19:21, Ephesians 1:11)  We also know that God will never break or contradict His Word.  (Isaiah 55:11, Matthew 5:18)  Therefore, when God gave us dominion or legal authority on earth, He also limited Himself from taking over.  Otherwise, He’d violate His purpose as stated through His Word.

God needs our agreement and cooperation to accomplish His purposes – His will, His desires, His promises, and His blessings.  That’s why our prayers matter!  Prayer is how we give God permission to interfere in the earth’s affairs.

Think about the men and women in the Bible whom God used needed to carry out His will - Noah, Abraham, Moses, Esther, even Jesus.  It’s still God’s will that will be done, but He needs our prayers and obedience to carry it out.

What does God need you to accomplish?  What about me?   Let us pray!

Veggie Tales - Patience

So it has been a couple of months since I planted our veggie garden, and I’ve been learning a lot about patience along the way.  Our pumpkins are flowering, so now we continue to wait patiently for pumpkins, then, better yet, pumpkin fritters!

Patience

Hebrews 11 is an incredible chapter on faith.  First, it tells us what faith is – confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we don’t see. (Hebrews 11:1)  While the world would say that “seeing is believing”, faith tells us the opposite - that God’s Word is true even when we don’t see it, and that we actually need faith in order to see it.

Next Hebrews 11 tells us why we need faith – to please God – and what to have faith in – that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)  What are the rewards?  All the promises and blessings that we find through prayer and studying His Word.  Remember drinking in God’s rain often falling?

Hebrews 11 also gives some incredible examples of regular people who, because of their faith, fulfilled their callings and were rewarded by God.  It takes faith to receive what God has promised us, like a hand reaching out to receive a gift. 

And often times it also takes patience…

The relationship between faith and patience can be compared to brakes on a car.  Faith is like the brake itself which brings about the desired result – stopping the vehicle.  Patience is like the foot that keeps the brake engaged until the vehicle actually stops.

So what is your desired result?  What have you been praying for in accordance to God’s Word and will?  Finances?  A spouse?  An unbeliever to be saved? … Oh, wait, that’s me…  Does it seem like your prayer will never be answered? 

Often times we surrender to the circumstances we see around us because they seem so real.  We pray for finances, but see bills.  We pray for healing, yet feel sick.  So we give up our faith before God gives us our blessing.

Mark 11:24 says this, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”  Notice that received is past tense.  It already happened.  But also know that God’s timing isn’t ours.  There are all sorts of reasons a blessing or promise isn’t received when we think it should be.  Faith knows it already happened from a spiritual perspective.  Patience keeps us believing until we receive it in the natural.

The Lord has promised us that believing is seeing!  We just need to be patient!!

Tax Season

The religious leaders had just walked away steaming mad after having been made an example of in Jesus’ parable of the wicked tenants. (Mark 12:1-12)  So next they intentionally sent some Pharisees and Herodians to try to “catch Jesus in his words”.  Here we see two parties typically at odds with each other banding together in an attempt to trap, arrest, and ultimately destroy Jesus.

First they tried to butter Jesus up by praising His integrity and unwavering obedience to God.  Then they challenged Him with a question they expected to cause trouble either way Jesus answered.  Should they pay taxes to Caesar?  Yes or no.  If Jesus said yes, he’d surely alienate the Jews who hated being under Gentile rule.  If he said no, then he’d break the law and be arrested as a traitor. 

With a denarius coin in hand, Jesus asked whose inscription was on it.  Easy.  “Caesar’s” they replied.  “Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  And they were amazed at him.”  (Mark 12:17)

Why were folks so amazed, I wonder?  Perhaps because Jesus is confident and unflappable.  Perhaps because He elegantly avoided their trap.  Perhaps because His simple yet wise answer satisfied both parties.  Perhaps because He challenged them to deeper reflection.  In any case, folks were amazed. 

With tax season upon us, I found this passage particularly interesting.  And I was amazed as well.  Jesus’ answer is as simple as it is wise, profound, and convicting.  I’m sure people did pay taxes, giving to Caesar what was owed.  But we’re they giving to God what is God’s?  No.  This is where they fell short.  They disregarded God’s claim on their lives.

The denarius bore Caesar’s image; it belonged to him.  Our dollars bear the image of the US government, so of course we must abide by its laws and pay our taxes. 

We – you and I – bear the image of God.  Therefore, we belong to Him. 

Are you giving God what it God’s?

Am I?  My love.  My prayer.  My time, treasure and talents.  My effort.  My heart, mind, soul and strength…My life.

I was created in the image of God.  So as I give to Obama what is Obama’s, it’s also a timely reminder to be giving to God what is God’s.