As a Fuel leader it is my responsibility to be an example to the students around me. I can be serious or I can clown around with them. My main goal is to get them to Christ. If that means I have to sit and play video games, take them to catch a movie or chase them around the church, so be it.

I love being a Fuel leader and I hope that as students grow and lead their own lives, they will always follow the path Jesus has set for them. I’d like to think that I had something to do with that.

There is no doubt that God answers prayer. It is not always the answer that we expect or desire. However, it is always what is best.

So with the above said, you would assume that my family was a cookie cutter Christian family, but this was not the case. In fact, they really just “believed in God,” while having no personal relationship with Jesus, and no desire to really attend church “religiously” like I did. Both my parents grew up in very “religious” families and by the time they were married and grown, they were just really sick of the “hypocrisy” of the church. They accepted the fact that I became a Christian on my own by the influence of a friend, and that I was into God and church, just like a kid might be into sports or music. Several times a year they would go to church with me to support me and my way of life, but really not for anything other than out of their love for me (today both my parents are Jesus followers and have been for several years).

A report by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released on April 27, 2009 makes connections between how actively involved kids were in their churches as children and teens and how likely they were to leave the faith in which they were raised. In looking back at the beginning years of my faith, I’ve at times, questioned the authenticity of it. Was it a fad I was into? Was I really a Jesus follower or was I simply mesmerized by the culture of Christianity? Did I become a Christian to try and be perfect? Was it an escape from the crazy things that were starting to evolve in my family life? And when I put it all together I say, “YES” to all those questions. But at the same time, I do believe that my faith was as authentic then as it is today and this is the very reason I have not “fallen from my faith” and why I did NOT become one of the 65-94% of high school students who stopped attending church after high school. Times have changed, and the way I was able to experience Jesus 10 years ago, in what I now consider cheesy and almost ridiculous, worked for me as a teenager, but really doesn’t even come close to what brings kids to Jesus today. It’s really just getting back to the basics: 1. teach Jesus 2. kids AUTHENTICALLY accept Jesus 3. students allow Jesus to change their heart 4. Jesus will not only be the “Creator in the days of your youth,” but for eternity.

I am excited about this month’s Feed One Another. The Fuel students and leaders will be writing the entries for this month. Right now, some of you are asking, “What is Fuel?” Fuel is Cumberland’s ministry to middle and high school students. So, this month you will be reading entries from the awesome Fuel students and Fuel leaders. And, I get to kick things off…

We are starting the ninth month of our year of teaching on prayer, and I realized that I have been unintentionally holding back. I have been part of some awesome times of prayer at Cumberland. I love the prayer stuff that we have been doing on Sunday mornings; our monthly prayer gatherings are awesome (there is one tonight); and, praying with the Cumberland Elders is incredible.

The other day I was thinking, there are some times of prayer at Cumberland that I wish everyone could experience. I regularly get to pray with the students at Cumberland, and their prayers constantly blow me away. Have you seen the middle school boys that drop things on people’s heads on Sunday morning from the lobby baloney? And yes, they do not know have to act ‘at times’, but I have seen those same boys pouring their hearts out to God in prayer that has brought me to tears. I have seen students gather around other students that are about to go out into missions, and the prayers that come out of their months are incredible. I wish every one of you could have been in the room with the youth during the 24/7 prayer week last year. I would say that if you ever get an opportunity to pray with a group of students take it and relish it – I believe it will blow you away, and it will be an incredible time of prayer. And don’t be scared to ask….

I have one family member whose stance on salvation is unresolved. The weight of it, the years of self-imposed baggage, the emotion caught up with me this summer. In July I was confronted with the only prayer I had left to give God (and frankly should have been my starting point) – “Holy Spirit, convict his heart.” Now, if you don’t know me – I’m a complete control freak, a planner; I don’t like change or surprises. Praying this prayer faithfully has been the easy part. Believing it and waiting patiently on the Lord has been the hard part.

Well, about a week went by and I realized I needed to be praying this prayer for the conviction of MY heart. That’s a scary proposition, because I don’t like change, I’m comfortable, predictable, etc. But it’s also an acknowledgement that I’ve become stagnant, too comfortable, not wanting and thirsting for Him. I’ve been trusting more in me – and really, when faced with who is better at directing my steps – God or Jennifer – it’s comical that I voted for me.

Whether believer or unbeliever, if you are isolated from God, discontentment is the only result. Conviction of our hearts cannot occur if we are not living in accordance with God. So the prayer continues. For my family member. For myself. I humbly ask you to consider praying this same prayer. I believe regardless of what stage of your Christian walk you are in, God is honored and will use it to work to His good. May we all live in accordance with the Spirit.

Pastor Rob told us that when he preached several weeks ago. I know some of those people. Baby Diamond who died from AIDS, Charles’ sister who we sat with and prayed for just days before AIDS took her. Another young mother leaving two more orphans. Add them to the 1.1 million orphans already in Kenya.

Overwhelming statistics. Pastor Rob asked us that day how could we accept those statistics if we say our Nation is a Nation that believes in justice? For many years I didn’t care to know what was happening in the world. I didn’t ask. I was busy with my own live. Distracted by the many things we so easily get distracted with. Then I went to Africa. I saw. I held the children. I sat with the moms in the slum who were infected and who held on their lap a small child also infected with HIV/AIDS.

My prayer – that I never again become so distracted that I forget to care. I pray that I remember. I pray that I can answer God’s call to take care of the orphans, the widows. That I remember to help the poor. When I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem and know that I am so limited in my abilities I remember what Mother Teresa said, “if you can’t feed a 100 children, just feed one”. I work with an organization that is trying to save just one of the 15,000 Africans who die everyday from preventative diseases.

“Jesus did not say – Dream about thy Father in secret, but pray to thy Father in secret. Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray; we cannot get our minds into working order, and the first thing that conflicts is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is the overcoming of mental wool-gathering. We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful prayer.”

Oswald goes on to challenge us to deal with God in secret about everything…everything, and that when we do, “everything in public will be stamped with the presence of God”. His writing so easily captures what I experience or feel, yet with enough consciousness of the frailty of the human spirit that it motivates and encourages me to obedience.

One of the events that happened over the last six months is that I gained a roommate – a good thing! But even good things can require change, and one of the things I had to change was where I have my quiet time. Instead of sitting at the kitchen table, I am now up in my room, where I can close the door! While I still gather quite a bit of wool, it has helped me to be more open and honest in my prayer time, and in many ways relax in His presence to just listen.

So does this mean we shouldn’t pray in groups or out loud? Matt. 18:19-20 says “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” We are to join together in prayer. If we agree and ask together God says it shall be done. I think corporate prayer strengthens the body. It binds us together before the Lord. So from this verse I think we need to be careful about praying out loud to be noticed but gather together with humble hearts seeking what God wants to do in our mist. If we can accomplish seeking and finding God’s will and direction we will as a group be blessed with God’s answers, His praise and His reward which I think is a blessing.

Just as a last thought the second part of the passage talks about prayer closet praying. I would ask how often do you get away and pray? Have you spent a day or more in quiet behind closed door prayer? If not why not?????