One of the virtues of prayer that Jesus specifically encouraged was that of persistence.  He gave illustrations to drive this important truth home by telling parables about such people as the audacious friend needing bread at midnight and persistent widow badgering the unjust judge.  (Luke 11:5-9 & Luke 18:1-5)

While initially God’s silence or seeming lack of response to our prayers may appear to be a “no”,  it typically is more like a “not yet.”  Timing, as they say, is everything and there is with God a mystery in His ways that requires an attitude of dependently waiting upon Him for the answer.  The preparation process in delivering an answer is as much, if not more about what He is doing in us as it is about what He plans on doing for us. 

The one practice which I have found to be the most helpful in praying persistent prayers over the long haul is that of turning His promises into prayers.  Here are some practical tips, by no means original with me, for doing that.

1.)  Each day as I am reading the Bible I seek to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to speak to me a “word of life.” (John 6:63)  It is an encouraging verse or passage of scripture that speaks specifically to a need or situation I am facing.   

2.)  When that happens I seek to “capture” that truth as a promise from God just for me.  I highlight in my Bible and write a date, sometimes with a brief comment, beside it. 

3.)  Next I copy the passage into my prayer journal and also write about its significance in my life and what I believe God is saying to me through it. 

4.)  Then, and this is the critical part, I take that scripture and personalize it by crafting a prayer.  That means writing out a prayer that can be prayed in the first person with that passage of scripture as the basis.

5)  Finally, I commit to praying that crafted prayer on a regular basis.  Along with other such prayers that I have written it has become a daily touch point in my relationship with God. 

The power in praying God’s promises is that we are using His own words, imbued with His anointing.  Praying the promises of God is as old as His Word.  When we pray this way we are emulating the men and women of the Bible who sought His favor by reminding Him of what He had said and promised. 

Like the shamelessly persistent man in the Luke 15 parable of Jesus I have found that my regular knocking on heaven’s door eventually gets the same results.  And in the mean time I have been sustained and enriched by God’s promises for me.

Stay tuned in future blog posts for examples of some crafted prayers.

Have you used crafted prayer?  How has that enriched your prayer life?

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Recently I had an aha moment!   It happened while I was going through my prayer list of people for whom I pray regularly.  The list, which has grown to over a hundred people, includes family members, relatives, friends and those who serve in the ministry and as missionaries.  Since they are people I consider as given to me by God, just as Jesus viewed those the Father had given Him, I have been using His John 17 prayer as a model for similar ways to pray for them.  (See Pray Like Jesus for Family and Friends)

As I was praying I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me “Do you know what people in your life are missing from this list?”  Pause . . . . “Your enemies.”  I thought to myself, “But why would I want to pray for them, they’ve hurt me?”  But no sooner had that thought formed as a bubble poised above my head than a pin prick of truth from the Bible popped it.  The words of Jesus came darting into the picture “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.”  (Luke 5:27-28)  Ouch!

Instantly, every ounce of resistance within me drained away.  It made perfect sense.  Why of course, it is one of Jesus’ basic commands regarding prayer.  He not only preached it, He practiced it himself in the face of severe mistreatment and abuse.  “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)  And so in obedience of faith, I added to my prayer list a new category coded “ME” which is the abbreviation for “my enemies.”

The one salient thing I am learning is that praying for those who have hurt me is praying as much, if not more, for “ME” as for them.  Praying prayers of blessing over the “enemy” begins to change and soften our attitude toward them.  It forces us to come to terms with our hardened heart and resentments through repeatedly having to pronounce forgiveness and blessing toward them.  And so as always with prayer, God’s grace is extended to both the one praying and the one being prayed for.  I thank God for that.  It has added a dimension to my prayer life that in the past was too readily overlooked.

What have you learned through praying for those who have hurt you?

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The past week I have finally gotten around to tackling an unfinished project begun nearly two years ago. At that time I planned for and purchased all the materials to put a cobblestone patio in my back yard.  Since then the bags of sand and all the pavers have been neatly stacked on pallets underneath our deck, providing a grungy high rise apartment complex for every creepy crawly thing that loves to lurk in dark moist places.  Also, surreptitiously slumbering in that pile of potentiality, just waiting to be awakened, is the nemesis of every do-it-yourselfer, the dreaded Mr. Murphy.  You know his mantra, “if anything can go wrong it will go wrong.”

The first order of business for me was to relocate two of the in-ground sprinkler heads.  In the process I had to cut the existing line and re-route it.  That necessitated digging new trenches, laying the black plastic piping and adding a number of connections in the water line.  When everything was in place I turned on the water to test for leaks.  Not surprisingly, there were several, so I proceeded to tighten all the clamps at the joints.  After repeated rounds of testing I ended up with one elbow joint that continued to leak no matter what I did.  It just happened to be located right under where the patio would be so I had to totally eliminate that leak at all costs.  Finally I even replaced the plastic connector and the clamps, but again no matter what I tried, it continued to leak.  Murphy was snarling at me like an agitated bear coming out of hibernation.

It never ceases to amaze me how all evidences of sanctified spirituality seemingly drain away when the littlest thing comes along to unnerve a person.  That leaking joint did it for me.  After several hours of running back and forth halfway around the house to turn the sprinkler system on and then off to test the connection, I finally gave up.  I put my tools away and called it a day.

To be honest I even lost some sleep over it that night, praying and trying to figure out what to do to stop the leaking.  The next morning, as I began my daily intercession time, I felt reluctant to even bother praying anymore about that ridiculously insignificant piece of plastic.  Why with so many people suffering the world over and so many serious, life and death issues at stake, how could I waste God’s time and any more of my time on that stupid leak.  And so I chose to forget about it and pray for others.

After breakfast, on an impulse I asked my wife Susan to take a minute and bow with me in prayer that God would somehow intervene to provide some answer for the leak.  Having said “amen” I decided to walk out onto the deck and down the stairs to survey the challenge.  It was then that I noticed a van parked in front of the house next door and the lettering on the side spelled the name of a local nursery.  My neighbor was out talking to a young man who appeared to be the truck’s driver.  To my delight, it turns out the guy was there to open up and test my neighbor’s sprinkler system. What a sight for sore eyes he was. 

I approached them, explained my situation and asked if the sprinkler guy would mind stopping over at my house after he was done and taking a look at my problem.  I assured the guy I would pay him anything, up to half of my kingdom, if he could fix the leak.  He affably agreed. So when he had finished next door he came over.  He examined the connection, did some tinkering with the clamps and voilà, no more leak.  Yes, it was that simple and an instantaneous answer to a klutz’s prayer.  So simple in fact that he would take nothing from me for fixing it.

The moral of the story is:  pray first, ask questions later.  It should keep Murphy away, but if it doesn’t pray again and he’ll eventually leave.

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We find in the book of James one of the clearest, most succinct teachings on prayer contained anywhere in the Bible.  In just six verses James, the brother of Jesus and someone who should know something about prayer, encourages his readers with six different prayers that God loves to answer.  The underlying reason for his emphasis on prayer in this epistle is stated in the words “you do not have, because you do not ask God.”  It could go without saying, but needs to be said again and again, because we are so prone to forget: we need to pray to get answers to prayer.  The answers we desire only come from prayers that are prayed.  The more we pray, the more answers we get.  It is that simple. 

That having been said here are the six prayers that always get answers from God.  They are taken from the passage in James 5:13-18.

1. Hardship Prayers – “Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.” (vs. 13a)  For those suffering hardships, affliction and troubles of any kind we need to understand that God is “close to the brokenhearted” and promises to “rescue those who are crushed in spirit.”  (Psalm 34:18)  He is a compassionate and merciful God who extends His steadfast love to those in need as faithfully as the rising of the sun each morning. (Lamentations 3:32)

2. Praise Prayers –  “Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.” (vs. 13b)  Praise to God is one of the most powerful prayers that can be prayed, not only in happy times, but also in times of trial.  It is the language of heaven – where praise surrounds the Throne of God day and night.  That is why we are told to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, and why the Lord’s prayer begins with hallowing His name. (Psalm 100:4 & Matthew 6:9)  God loves to release His power in response to praise just as He did when Jehoshaphat and his army went out to battle led by the worshippers. (2 Chronicles 20)  Praise not only ushers us into His presence and releases His power, but it also gives us His perspective as to how we should be praying.

3. Agreement Prayers – “Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.” (vs. 14)  Jesus promised to be present wherever two or three are gathered in His name and said “if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 18:19-20)   Having said this He underscored for us the multiplied power of agreement in prayer. Just imagine if one person can chase a thousand and two ten thousand, what three or more can do?  (Deuteronomy 32:30)

4. Faith-Filled Prayers – “Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.” (vs.15a)  When prayers are accompanied by faith, things kick into overdrive.  Having unshakeable faith in God releases Christ’s authority to the pray-er to command every mountain hindering an answer to ones prayer to be picked up and thrown into the sea. (Mark 11:22-23)  “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  (Mark 11:24)

5. Repentance Prayers – “And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (vs. 15b-16)  One of the great promises in all the Bible is “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)  God will never not answer this prayer. To do so would deny His very nature and the reason He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross.

6. Persistent Prayers – “Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.” (vs. 17-18)  James uses a quintessential illustration of the power of persistent prayer taken from the life of Elijah. (1 Kings 18)  Even the great prophet had to pray multiple times, seven to be exact, before rain came.  But he persisted and God answered!  Jesus said it best when He exhorted His disciples that “they should always pray and never give up!”  (Luke 18:1)

If you have been a prayer drought, why not ask God to lead you in praying one or more of these prayers?  Be assured, these are six prayers God loves to answer, but remember, you must first pray them before He will answer!

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Never underestimate the difference a prayer can make.  “Never stop praying” is one of the shortest verses in the Bible and yet it conveys a remarkable and unmistakable truth.  Prayer makes a difference!  Even when it may seem like a brief formality or something one does simply out of habit, prayer is nonetheless important and does make a difference.  I learned this in an unforgettably humorous way back when I was a youth pastor. 

One practice of prayer since my early days as a believer in Christ has been to pause before embarking on any long journey and pray to God for His traveling mercies.  Typically it is a spontaneous type of prayer asking for His presence and protection as I and those with me travel to our destination.  It is as simple as sitting in our vehicle just before starting out and bowing for a few moments in prayer.  And as a leader I have always been particularly cognizant of the necessity of doing this whenever I have had a van or bus load of people heading out on an outing together. 

One winter I chartered a school bus to take the youth from our church located in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) up into the woods of Northern Wisconsin for a weekend retreat.  The retreat center was a rustic one that was situated just off an isolated forest road in the middle of nowhere.  The scenery was spectacular.  The bows of the tall pine trees were laden with snow and the white expanse of the nearby frozen lake provided a crystal clear contrast to the cloudless azure sky.  All the students and counselors had a wonderful time participating in outdoor snow activities and then in the evening gathered around the fireplace for times together of worship and Bible teaching.  It was the perfect retreat every youth pastor dreams of, no threats to send someone home or having to deal with some pranksters disrupting our sleep in the night.

Sunday afternoon, after the typical cajoling and herding of the flock, we finally had everyone on the bus and were ready to go.  It had been a hectic time cleaning and packing up and we were an hour or so behind my schedule of departure with a four hour drive yet ahead of us. As I was standing at the head of the aisle, having completed the head count, I was anxious to get rolling.  The bus driver had closed the doors and was paused waiting for my final instructions before hitting the road.  I thought to myself “Now it’s time to pray.”  But I can remember very clearly reasoning within myself “Oh it is really not all that important, it’s just a formality anyway, we need to get on our way.”  And with that conversation in my head completed, I dropped the idea of prayer and gave the bus driver the nod to go. 

The driver drove down the driveway and as he took a right onto the road, for some reason his turn was too wide, causing our bus to plow into the huge show banks lining the far side of the road.  There we were, not even one block into our trip home, parked helplessly and precipitously at a nearly 45 degree angle straddling the shoulder and the ditch.  We had everyone get out of the bus as soon as we could, fearing it would tip over.  As all of us were standing on that desolate road we began to puzzle what to do.  Being miles from the nearest town it could take hours before a tow truck would be able to find its way to us. 

It was then that the deep conviction of the Holy Spirit came upon me as I realized that we were in the ditch because I had decided prayer really wasn’t all that important.  Having no other recourse I shared with the entire group what I had done and asked their forgiveness.  Then all of us prayed acknowledging to God that prayer does matter and asking Him to help us.  No sooner had we finished saying “Amen” then we all had to clear the road because a vehicle was approaching.  It pulled to a stop beside us and to our surprise it was a big Budweiser truck.  The driver was a very congenial man and as he marveled at our predicament, he offered, “Why don’t I try to pull you out?”  He proceeded to drag out a huge chain and literally within minutes he had us towed back up onto the road.  With profuse thanksgivings on our part, he was soon on his way and so were we. 

Imagine, in a delay of a mere fifteen minutes, God had engineered an invaluable and indelible lesson about prayer that would impact me and many others for a lifetime: Never underestimate the power of your prayer! And here is God’s sense of humor, in the midst of our dilemma it is as if He was saying to us . . .“This Bud’s for you!”

Do you have any stories of how God taught you the great value of prayer?

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Have you ever struggled to pray regularly for the people God has placed in your life?  I know I have.  Like many people, for years I used a prayer list of all my family and friends as a helpful place to begin.  But even then I often had difficulty staying focused and praying meaningful, confident prayers for many of them.  Invariably I would gravitate merely to a rote recitation of their names as I moved down the list.  It was not however, until I discovered a biblical, tried and true way to effectively pray for them, that a new focus and faith began to energize my prayers.

There is one chapter in the Bible that is dedicated entirely to a verbatim prayer recited by Jesus.  That chapter is John 17 and it is considered to be one of the great treasures in all of scripture because it preserves for posterity an entire prayer, prayed by the greatest pray-er who ever lived!  Some have called it Jesus’ great High Priestly Prayer.

Apart from the first verse which says “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed” everything that follows is in red letters.  They are the words of Jesus as He prays to the Father for a very specific group of people: “for all those you have given me” (vs. 2, 6) and for “those who will believe in me through their message.” (vs. 20)  In fact Jesus specifically narrows the field by saying “I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me.”  

Who then is this select group for whom Jesus was praying?  They were His apostles and disciples.  Interestingly this included dear friends such as Lazarus, Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene; and family such as His mother, brothers, and cousins.

The John 17 prayer of Jesus is therefore the best model ever given for our use in praying for those whom God has placed in our lives.  A study of the prayer reveals that there are seven specific ways in which Jesus prayed for His loved ones.  These seven prayers lend a biblical specificity to our prayers and inspire confidence and faith as we pray because we are praying the same words Jesus prayed.  Praying Scripture has always been a sure fire way to pray effectively and this way of praying for friends and family is to me as exciting and powerful as it gets.  This is so because “this is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14)

So here are seven prayers you can use to pray following in Jesus’ footsteps: “Father . . .

1. GLORIFY Jesus through their lives by them doing the work you’ve given them to do.  – “Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” (vs. 1b) “I brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” (vs. 4)

2. PROTECT them from the evil one and keep them safe in Jesus name.  – “Protect them from the evil one.” (vs. 15)

3. UNIFY them and make them one with you and with one another. – “that all of them may be one.” (vs. 21)

4. SANCTIFY them in the truth of your Word.  – Set them apart for you and make them holy.  “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (vs. 17)

5. SEND them into the World with your message. –  “I have sent them into the world . . . so that the world may believe.”  (vs. 18, 21)

6. FILL them with your Joy. – “so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” (vs. 13)

7. REVEAL your Presence and Glory to them. – “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.”  (vs. 24)

I would be interested to know how this works when you try it?  Also what have you learned that has helped in praying for those “God has given to you”?

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Some of the most impactful mission trips that I have taken have been into a remote village in Northern Manitoba, Canada, by the name of God’s River. (Manto Sipi)  It is one of a number of Cree Nation settlements dotting that vast expanse of lakes and forest accessible only by air or winter ice roads.  In the 1960’s and 1970 there were a couple of pioneering ministers from Minnesota who ventured into that country to serve those communities and bring the Gospel. 

I was enriched and blessed to partner with one of those men, Jesse Graham.  His first foray into God’s River was somewhat unusual.  He did not know anyone when he stepped off the small twin engine plane onto the gravel airstrip, coming only at the invitation of the Holy Spirit.  All he had with him was his bible, a small duffel bag and his guitar.  From that inauspicious beginning he established a fledgling indigenous church with one of his new converts as the pastor.  Jesse made annual trips into the village and on a number of occasions at his invitation I joined him to participate in God’s work in God’s River.

Another of those missionary pioneers was a man named Maynard Howe.  Maynard became a kind of legend in the North by establishing churches in many of the Cree villages. Countless remarkable testimonies of salvation among the Cree people came out of the pioneering work these men. 

One testimony that made an indelible impression upon me was a story related by Maynard of a native man who had been a medicine man in one of the villages.  He had become very sick and by his account had died.  In death, as he was descending into utter darkness, on his way to hell, he began to cry out to all his spirits whom he had served.  There was no response.  No matter how fervently he prayed and cried out to these various gods nothing happened nor could they stop his free fall into the abyss.  Finally, in sheer desperation, out of the recesses of a memory of a gospel message heard years earlier, he blurted out the name of Jesus. Instantly, like being grasped from above, he was pulled out of that dark pit and he felt himself being drawn upward to a bright light. 

When he awoke, he asked those attending him at his deathbed, “Tell me about Jesus, I want to know this man that just saved me.”  Nobody around him could answer his questions.  When he was fully healed he eventually found Maynard and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

I love this story because it illustrates so clearly two fundamental truths about the power that resides in the name of Jesus.  First, we see with regards to salvation, that indeed “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)  That was literally the case for the medicine man who found that only the name of Jesus could save him from the pit of darkness and hell.

Secondly, and this is of the utmost importance to bear in mind when it comes to seeing our prayers answered – we must pray in the name of Jesus!  The salient stipulation and preeminent promise associated with answered prayer in Jesus’ teaching is summed up in this one verse.  “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14)  Jesus said this exact same thing four times to underscore it.  (John 14:13, 15:14, 16:23)  The medicine man’s prayer only found an answer in uttering the name of Jesus.

To ask for something in Jesus name requires more than simply mouthing the words.  The critical thing is to do it in the nature of Jesus, because for Him, name and nature are synonymous.  To ask in His name means to ask in His nature.  To ask in His nature means submitting ourselves to and aligning ourselves with His nature or character, under His lordship.  Therein lies the power and “so whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”  (John 15:16)

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Recently I was on a late evening flight from Chicago to Minneapolis.  I happened to have a window seat, which I usually eschew because of my gangly frame and long legs.  It was a clear night and I found great delight in looking out the window at all the lights demarcating the expressways, streets, businesses and homes of Chicago as we climbed into the night sky and headed west.  It wasn’t long before the earth below grew dark and there were far less concentrations of lights.  As we made our way over Northern Illinois and into Wisconsin the intriguing clusters of lights extending to the black horizon stirred my imagination.

Across the moonless landscape I was able to see towns of varying sizes and shapes with their distinctive lighting patterns illuminated primarily by their street lights.  But I also noticed scattered here and there solitary lights coming from rural family farms and what I imagined to be isolated business located along the roads connecting people and the greater clusters of lights to one another.

As I sat and marveled at the clarity with which I was seeing the earth below from my perspective at 40,000 feet, I began to imagine what it must be like for God to look down from heaven in search of those whose hearts are turned toward Him in prayer and intercession.  I could just envision that each one of those lights represented some devout person who was at that very moment praying earnestly to God.  That as it were, they were night watchmen literally illuminating the darkness around them by their intercession.   As they stood in the gap before God on behalf of their families and communities and they were building up a hedge of protection against every demonic enemy, the darkness was being driven back. (Ezekiel 22:30)

I was seeing, as I have never seen it before, the fulfillment of Jesus’ commission for us as His people to be the light of the world.  I could see us as His body, reflecting His glory through prayer and intercession for all mankind and being “The light [that] shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)

It has been noted that prayer is like turning on a light.  God is the source of electric current, the power and it is His light that shines out through us.  We are like the bulb and the light fixture and our prayers are the light emanating from it.  Our job is to simply enter our prayer closet and flip on the switch.  As with real world bulbs and light fixtures, pray-ers have differing wattage and illumination patterns.  A lot depends on the levels of faith we have and the earnestness of our prayers.

The important thing though, is to answer His call to watch and pray, and flip on that switch to light the darkness.

As I was meditating upon all of this I realized the Lord was giving me a picture of what it looks like from heaven when His people respond to His call to be intercessory watchmen for their city and surrounding community.  The heart of God is for each of us as His people to carry a burden in prayer for the places in which we live.  The mandate could not be clearer.  “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be . . . and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”  (Jeremiah 29:7)

Imagine what God would see from heaven if his people made a commitment to take their place on the walls of their communities as watchmen, and pray daily for its blessing and protection?  Imagine the light flooding our city streets and neighborhoods, schools, medical facilities, government offices, social agencies, nursing homes and businesses?  Imagine the light of Christ blessing and prospering the upright and faithful.  Imagine the light protecting the innocent by driving out every evil element and bringing to naught every evil plan.  Imagine the gospel going forth unfettered and finding fertile soil in the hearts of those who hear it.

That is God’s desire for us.  Are you flipping the switch and letting your light of prayer bring pleasure in heaven’s eyes?

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Whenever Jesus urged His disciples to “watch and pray” it was always with the intention that they be protected from harm and prepared for what is coming.  (Mark 13:33, 14:38 & Luke 21:36 etc.)  The call upon God’s people to be engaged in a “watchman” ministry goes back to the Old Testament.  There we see numerous instances where individuals were commissioned at critical times to take positions in strategic places to be on the lookout for danger, warn people and if possible ward it off.  (Ezekiel 3:17, 33:1-9, Isaiah 62:6-7)

That same call to prayer with a watchful attitude is still a mandate for the church today.  Both Paul and Peter, as apostles writing to New Testament believers urged the continued ministry of watchful prayer.  Paul writes, “Stay alert [watching] and be persistent in your prayer for all believers everywhere.” (Ephesians 6:18 NLT)  Peter says a very similar thing.  “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” (1 Peter 4:7)

Both apostles convey that same urgency we see from Jesus when it comes to exercising the power of prayer in preparedness for and fending off evil in our lives.

Several years ago the Lord gave me a very practical encouragement in this regard.  It showed me that watching and praying really does fend off evil.  And it illustrates the reality of the analogy Jesus used when He said “if the owner of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.”  Matthew 24:43

A remarkable thing happened early Friday morning during our church’s week of prayer and fasting. (Bridgewood Community Church)   We had scheduled 6 AM prayer meetings at the church each morning that week and I was on my way there when I received a cell phone call from the church’s security company.  The caller informed me that a door had been opened in the building and it was setting off the alarm since no security code had been entered.  Since I was just minutes away I told her I would be there shortly and check things out.  I assumed someone coming to the prayer meeting had arrived at the church, had a key but perhaps did not enter the code correctly.

When I arrived the building was as dark as the predawn sky but one car was parked in the parking lot with its lights on.   I drove up to the car and discovered it was one of our parishioners who had arrived early and was sitting there waiting.  That was puzzling to me because they had not attempted to go into the building.  So who had set off the alarm?  I called the security company.  In talking to the person on duty I discovered that the alarm was initially set off when a back door into the youth room was breached at 5:51 AM.  Surprisingly, just two minutes later at 5:53 AM the back door of the sanctuary was also breached.

Upon further investigation here is what we pieced together must have happened.  Sometime on the day before, the back door of the youth room had been intentionally unlocked.  It likely was done by a young man whom a staff member, upon recollection, said they had noticed in the building the day before because he looked unfamiliar.  The building was open all day and into the evening for public prayer so access to the building by anyone and everyone was unrestricted.

That same young man we surmised, had returned early Friday under cover of darkness with the intention of burglarizing the church.

What he did not bargain for was the fact that an early-morning prayer meeting was scheduled to begin the same time he was making his break in.  Just after his entry, as he was making his way into the building proper near the lobby, he saw car lights approaching down the driveway.   Frightened, he ran through the sanctuary and out the back door.  He had only been in the building two minutes with no time to take anything.

We praised God profusely for His protection in that instance, but it gave us serious pause.  It stands yet today as a sober encouragement that watchful prayer does make a huge difference in our lives.  What thievery by the evil one, what temptation and hardship, have all been avoided by giving regular time to watchful prayer?  Praise God, only heaven will tell.  But conversely, how much thievery, temptation and hardship could have been avoided if we had simply watched and prayed?

That points us right back to the two simple phrases Jesus taught all of us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer.  “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  In that same spirit, may each of us make a fresh commitment to weaving watching and praying into the fabric of our daily lives.  It does make a difference!!

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This morning here in Twin Cities (Minnesota) we all woke up to a mid-April snow storm dumping 4-6 inches of snow and regrettably extending an already interminable winter.  When I went outside between 6 and 7 AM to put out our trash receptacle, the visibility was blizzard like and it took some effort to wrestle the container, wheels and all, through the snow to the curb.

I was grumbling and complaining to myself and to the Lord, and vowing that no matter what, I was done shoveling for the year and absolutely would not lift a finger to get rid of the snow in my driveway.  Leave it to nature for it to eventually melt away!  I have had it!

As I was walking back to the garage shaking my head with incredulity and listening to the crunch of snow under my feet I suddenly noticed another sound.  It caught me off guard because it seemed so incongruous with the blizzard like conditions.  It was the sound of a bird singing.

Somewhere in one of my trees there was some crazy bird singing his little heart out in joyful song.  And as I listened more intently I could make out some other birds in the distance also singing.  It gave me pause.  Why would they possibly be singing under such uncomfortable circumstances and trying conditions.  What must they be thinking?  Don’t they realize that it should be 20-30 degrees warmer and April showers are supposed to be bringing May flowers?

It was then the verses from Psalm 19, quoted above came to me, and I realized that as His creation the little birds were simply joining the heavens in declaring the glory of God and proclaiming His handiwork.  “Day to day, they pour out” praise with their chirping.

As, I paused there in my tracks I felt the Lord whisper to me, “you are My creation too and you can choose to praise Me like those little birds. – Why not do that rather than complain?”  He had me where He wanted me.  If He cares for those little birds even in a snow storm, and He surely does; how much more does He care for me?  And if they can praise Him, so can I.  And I did!

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