Last Sunday in our class we continued our study of prayer.  We began by asking a question.  If we know we should pray, and we know it’s effective, then why don’t we pray?

The truth is, most of us do pray. We pray small, selfish prayers every time we get in a bind, or we pray before we eat because were taught to do that as a child.  However necessary those prayers may seem at the time, they are not what real prayer should be.  Prayer isn’t just throwing out a request in God’s general direction, knowing He’s the greatest center fielder ever so He can definitely catch it.  Prayer is communication with the Creator, Maker, Redeemer, and  Savior.  I think, if I really “got” who I was talking to, my prayers would change significantly.  I probably wouldn’t be so nonchalant about everything.

Please don’t get me wrong. He’s not interested in the formality of prayer.  He’s interested in YOU!  Every time we come into His presence and just ask for some stuff, ask Him to bless our food, and give us health and happiness, we leave satisfied, but He leaves wanting more – more time, more real conversation, more full surrender, more putting Him first, more commitment, more…

The realism in the answers I received Sunday morning blew me away.  Why do we struggle to pray? Because we are convicted when we’re in His presence, and no one likes to feel bad.  Because we haven’t prayed in so long, we feel guilty about praying at all.  Because we constantly focus on ourselves, so how can He want to spend time with me?

The reality of His love for us should cause us to fall to our knees in sheer thanks and gratitude.  He made a way for us to reach Him by building a bridge across an infinite gulf.  The materials He used to build that bridge were the suffering, shame, and blood of His only Son.

If we really want our class and group to be what God intends – to reach our world with His glorious Gospel – then we need to wear out our the knees on every garment we own praying for God’s forgiveness, power, favor, and wisdom.

If you doubt His ability to love you, or question just how much He cares, please read the words to the third verse of the song “The Love Of God”.  It’s been sung many artists through the years – my favorite version is by MercyMe.  The story is told the song was written with only two verses, but the words to the third verse were found on the wall of an abandoned insane asylum supposedly written there by one of the people being held there.  Maybe they’ll help you pray today in a different way than you’ve ever known.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Pastor Warren

Modern dating is the method of choice for most americans to meet, get to know, and create a lasting relationship with the person of their dreams. Dating in it’s simplest terms is spending time with that special someone.  You find common interests, food likes and dislikes, activities you enjoy together, and the opportunity to just “be together”.  Dating can take place as a part of a larger group or as a couple.  It can go on for years or be a one time event.  You can get dressed up, spend much time, money, and effort making a perfect evening, or you can throw on your gym clothes and head to workout your frustrations or feed your competitive side.

My point in all that was dating has no real solid definition except in its most basic stage.  It is two people wanting to spend time together – at least until one of them decides otherwise. Here’s the part that’s missing from most people’s definition – it should be reserved for those people who meet your qualifications for someone you could potentially marry.  I did say “potentially marry” because every person you date – whether it’s once or for years – should be considered a candidate for marriage.  Most marriages don’t just happen, they are birthed through a dating relationship.

We discussed the foundation of dating last Thursday night. Here are the basic questions we attempted to answer – at least to some degree.

1. What is dating?
2. What is it’s purpose?  2 parts – first, what should the purpose be?  second, what is it to most of the world we live in?
3. What are the problems or pitfalls of dating?
4. How do we correct them?

Here’s what we said to each question:

1. It is two people who have some common ground, spending time together for the purpose of seeing if they could be compatible.
2. The purpose should be to find your future spouse.  It really is that simple – the only possible reason to spend time with someone in this type of setting is to see if they have the qualities, character, and faith to spend the rest of their life with you.  I know that doesn’t address many of the questions you may have, but we’re starting out very basic.
   The second part of the question is tougher to answer.  Some of the people at our Bible study said the world thinks “dating is about the physical stuff”, “Dating is about having something to do on the weekends”, “Dating is about what I can get out of it”.  I think we’ve really just scratched the surface in talking about this question.
3. The problems or pitfalls of dating are many.  We made a pretty quick list:  to into each other too soon, go out just because you’re bored, sex and dealing with the guilt afterwards, not having a clear conversation about what each persons expectations are (define the relationship talk), getting too close to someone you should never go out with in the first place, and more.
4. We briefly tried to answer some of these questions.  

Here is what I would like for you to do as you finish reading this blog.  First, make comments to any of the answers provided.  Second, help us answer questions 3 and 4 specifically.  What pitfalls have you seen or experienced in others dating relationships or your own?  How can we, as believers in Christ, avoid these things in our future relationships?

Here are some of the verses we took a look at last Thursday.

1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Have a SUPER-FANTASTIC day!

Pastor Warren

As I sit in my favorite chair for the first time today, I’m thankful.  Thankful for my savior, my family, my church, my job, and the opportunities I’m afforded because of these things.  Today was a big day for my family.  My mother celebrated her 70th birthday with many of her extended family and some friends at our home.  Her birthday was about 12 days ago, but today was the PARTY.  This occasion also marked the first time many of these folks who I’ve know since childhood had been at my home.  It was such a great feeling to host people you’ve know forever, and share the blessings God has so graciously given us.

Sunday school continues to amaze me.  The number of people is great, but the thing I’m most encouraged about is the interaction.  True learning takes place when you can share the ideas you’ve learned with others.  Questions are asked and answered with honesty and thought.

Today’s lesson dealt with prayer.  This was week 2 in our prayer series.  Week 1 asked the question “What is prayer?”  The answer in it’s simplest form is prayer is communication with God.  Communication is an exchange between people where thoughts, feelings, requests, forgiveness, compassion, etc are given and received.  Communication with God happens differently.  He wants us to talk to Him.  He desires for us to express our thanks, repentance, petitions for others and ourselves to Him.  He also expects us to spend time listening to Him.  No useful communication is one-sided.  Prayer must be followed by silence and time in God’s Word.

The question today was “Why do we pray?”  We had some great answers – direction, help, repentance, requests, and more.  The truth for most of us is we pray to get stuff or help.  We only really think about praying when our circumstances warrant it or we think we can’t live without something.  Our reasons for praying should be the things we discussed, but it’s so hard to get out of our own way.  I want my prayer life to resemble the Romans 12:12, Philippians 4:6, Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 model.  I need to pray more for God to reveal my sin to me. I need to be so sickened by my sin that I have no choice than to run to Him to seek forgiveness.  I need to pray more for my enemies and those who don’t love me.  I need to pray more for our class.  I need to pray more for young adults to be drawn to our group.  I need to pray more for us to be the kind of group Christ can use to reach people.

Why do you pray?  Search for the real motives in your life.  Pray every single day this week and never ask for a single selfish thing.  Let’s see what God can do in our church, class, and our personal lives if we commit to seeking Him.

WG