The 4 Ws

In preparing for Biblical Studies classes in recent weeks, I have been garnering some inspiration from Max Lucado's book: Just Like Jesus. The unit I am teaching is called 'A Heart Like His' and it's all about looking at the life of Jesus and what the Bible says about Him and seeing how we can develop and live those attitudes and actions ourselves. I am enjoying it...hope the girls are too.

Anyway....in the 'God-intoxicated Heart' chapter, Max suggests we can practice living in God's presence by weaving the 4 Ws into your daily lives. I wonder if some of you do this already? If not, perhaps an outline of the W's may help you today to connect with Him and 'just like Jesus'....walk in His presence this day.

Max says we need to talk to God often throughout the day....not just in 'saying our prayers' as we drift off to sleep. A helpful reminder for doing that is found in the 4 Ws....


Give God your Waking thoughts.....as you open your eyes in the morning...pray! Greet God....tell Him how glad you are for the gift of today....tell Him about your plans....ask Him what His may be for you. I did this in a really concerted way today and I left bed with a smile. And that's really something for someone who is not a fan of mornings!

Give God your Waiting thoughts....Max says we need to be silent with God and allow Him to speak. He talks about waiting on God, rather than always rushing ahead with all we have to do and praying that God tags along with us. I also link Waiting thoughts in with the Whispering ones below.

Me in a period of 'waiting' when lots of 'whispering' was happening:)

Give God your Whispering thoughts...the quiet 1 or 2 sentence prayers I can pray anytime during my day, but especially when I am still and waiting, make up my Whispering thoughts.  This 'waiting' time is the time when I am in line...on hold...driving to a destination.... It's anytime I am not especially active...just waiting. It's probably a better use of my time to talk to God at that time, rather than spend time stewing on how annoying waiting can be and wishing the person in front of me didn't have quite so many groceries in their trolley.


Give God your Waning thoughts....as you settle into bed after your day, talk to God. Thank Him for all that was. Commit into His care and keeping those things that are concerning you. Pray for rest and peace. And then....sleep easy.

So....there you have it...the 4 Ws that might help you walk more closely with Him today. I am trying to be more conscious about being aware of God's presence and just maybe, remembering to give God my thoughts in those W moments will help.

The Card

After fun at the library and buying a pumpkin from a roadside stall yesterday, we arrived home in time to get a 'hand delivery' from Mr Postie. And right on the very top of the pile was the cutest little bright orange envelope addressed to jjvi.

Inside, we discovered a little treasure from j's Great Nanna. At 90+ she is still taking the time to pray for her family and make sure they know they are loved.

What a priceless gift! What a remarkable lady! Thanks Nan....you set a mighty fine example for us all.

So a challenge for today....pray for someone and then let them know they are loved.

How Do I Pray?

With Cyclone Yasi looming on the eastern horizon a couple of days ago, I was trying to pray. But how do you pray in such a situation?

Do I ask God to make Yasi disappear? Sure, God is BIG and MIGHTY and POWERFUL and He's the CREATOR....so He could make that old cyclone just vanish. But did He want to mess with the natural way (systems He orchestrated way back when) things go?

And yes, I could have prayed for it to change direction and go away, far away from Australia. But in all honesty, I didn't want that to happen. The alternatives to Yasi hitting northern Qld were that it might come further south...and that's where I live. Or even worse, maybe it would head north...to PNG or back east to Fiji or Vanuatu and I certainly didn't want those tiny island nations in the path of this monster.

I could pray for it to downsize....and I did. And it didn't straight away, but it sure was answered prayer when it became a Category 2 (from a 5) in a matter of hours.

And like so many others, I could pray for the PEOPLE involved. I prayed for no loss of life. God is the giver of life and He's the One who values life most, so I knew I was praying in His will. I prayed for people's safe-keeping and protection. For lives to be protected, even if replaceable properties and businesses weren't. I prayed for their emotional state....that fear and sadness wouldn't overwhelm them. I prayed for the children who might be so very scared with the loud noise and seeing so much devastation of homes and other properties.

My prayers were also for those making decisions in the lead-up to landfall and now in the aftermath. We pray for wisdom and strength for them. And for those on the ground now helping, cleaning up, assessing, rebuilding, and the rest....we continue to ask for courage and determination and perseverance and that God would bless them with moments of laughter and lightness in this tough journey ahead.

Is that how to pray? I am still not sure.....but I am ever so grateful there is Someone so much bigger than us that we can ask these things of. And I will be sure to pray prayers of thankfulness too, because He has answered so many prayers so graciously already.

Beginnings

As we start a new year, some people nearby are having to start a new life. After the floods comes the clean-up then the challenge and adventure of starting again. Sadly for some, the new start is without people and possessions they treasure. And so this week, rather than blog, I continue to pray. My prayers today are for all those who have lost loved ones. I read a couple of victim's stories this morning and the tears ran and my heart ached. So I pray. I pray for the ones who survived. I pray for comfort and peace.....for strength and courage....for friends and family to encourage and support.....for memories of happy times to stay strong and alive.....and for hearts that are broken to, in time, be healed.

D vs D

Flashback to the sermon on Sunday....Pastor J was talking about our identity and how if we have the wrong view of ourselves, it is damaging in so many ways.
Linked to that was the idea of our choices, which so often then form our identity...or what we think of ourselves. It was then he uttered these words...words that resonated with me then, and have been frequently on my mind since....

"Perhaps if we were more deliberate, we wouldn't need as much deliverance."

So in the context of Sunday's sermon, what I think he was talking about was making good, wise, Godly - DELIBERATE - choices in how we think and speak and act. When we do that, we are less likely to develop 'issues' that hinder our growth, or draw us away from God or damage our identity. 'Issues' we need DELIVERANCE from. So in the dating situation...a DELIBERATE choice to not push the boundaries sexually. In a friendship....a DELIBERATE choice not to gossip. In the workplace....a DELIBERATE choice to do an honest day's work and show due respect for those in authority. When faced with an offence....a DELIBERATE choice to forgive and not hold any form of bitterness or seek revenge.

And in the context of everyday life, I am reminded that I need to be DELIBERATE in my interactions with God, His Word and people. It is so easy to go through a busy day and apart from a glance at the Bible on the bedside table, a quick prayer for a good parking space and grace at dinner, I don't give God time or thought. Where is the 'DELIBERATENESS' in that?
Instead, it is to my benefit if I make and take the time to open that Bible and read it...filling my head with the things of God to meditate on and think about throughout the day. It is wisest for me to turn the TV off and for company, put the Christian radio station on. It's a much better choice when faced with a burnt dinner, crying baby and late-home husband (and don't we all know those 3 often steamroll us at the same time:) to lift my eyes and voice to God than to rant and rave and cry....even better if that happens to be the 6th or 13th or 27th time that day that I have spoken to my friend and creator. And when I hear about a friend in need, my immediate response of 'oh no...that's too bad' should be followed by a prayer and then a call or a meal or ......
Can I urge you to read this with ears to hear me whisper to you..."Be DELIBERATE my friend...be DELIBERATE."

Listen to the Lyrics #5

A Fair Bit More  - Claire Hazzard

Well I’m not asking for any big revelation

And I’m not asking for a formula

To work this whole thing through

But what I’m asking for Lord Jesus

Is to be a fair bit more like you

Just this afternoon things are very clear

That I’ll never get it right no matter what I do

So what I’m asking for Lord Jesus

Is to be a fair bit more like you

And yes I wanna die to the way I seem to be

And yes I wanna live through your Spirit in me

But once again I’ve let you down

By the bad things that I do

And I guess that’s why I need to be

A fair bit more like you

I wonder if you could pray these lyrics?

I read them and I am challenged to reassess my prayers. So much of the time I pray the opposite to verse 1.....I pray asking God for answers and help, in the hope that He will make my life easier...more comfortable....less stressful. I pray prayers for my own convenience with regular monotony. 

And I am sure God shakes His head. He wants me to pray the prayer that asks Him for transformation. To be made 'a fair bit more like' His amazing Son. He wants me to grow, to change, to be refined and to better reflect the character of Jesus. To be more patient, obedient, faithful, loving, joyful, peace-making, meek, generous, kind.....and the rest. He wants me to pray the dangerous prayer, not the convenient, easy-way-out prayer.

I call it a dangerous prayer because it is likely that He will answer it in a way that will stretch and confront me. In order to develop more patience, I might be faced with situations that unfold frustratingly slowly or people who won't do exactly what I want, when I want, the way I want. To become more loving, perhaps I am faced with 'unloveliness' and like Jesus, I need to make the decision to show love...make it a choice and an action. And to learn generosity, perhaps He'll put before me needs that I find challenging to meet, but what He is asking, is for me to rely on His generosity and resources in order to give.

And for as many times as I get it wrong, how wonderful that He is there to forgive and help. To move me on today from where I was yesterday...if I let Him. And the key to letting Him? The Holy Spirit. Empowered, led, guided, counseled by Him, I can become 'a fair bit more like' Jesus.

The question is....am I willing to pray that prayer?