Prayer

My thoughts on prayer, or this devotion in general, are wrapped up with what I took away from training weekend. The re-realization that following Christ is more of a heart journey than a head journey. And somehow, even though I live in my head and not my heart most of the time, God is going to move. I put so much pressure on myself to be this person of Christ. The "who I am" question is meaningless, I am so not significant in this place. If I even want to be significant I've failed. Wanting God to move through me is off target too. My only wish is that God would move and that I would/will be standing here saying, "here are my two hands use them, they're Yours."
1 Peter 5:1-4 "To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."

Those jumbled thoughts on purpose lead me to thinking about loving people. The Foster quote, "If we genuinely love people, we desire for them far more than it is within our power to give." I am so scared that I will be unable to love people. I think that loving people and prayer are two of the most important and most difficult things sometimes. I keep thinking of the prayer in the song Hosana, "Break my heart for what breaks yours, Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause."

Purpose! I read the footnote for Matthew 10 and I was a little confused so I read the whole section of scripture to get context. I was reminded of the Passion paragraph from page 7 of the Super Ultra Packet. And, what are you willing to suffer for? These thoughts were humbling.

Prayer: "... approaching Christ through prayer has very little to do with mastering prayer techniques..."
I like the idea that prayer is something you do as frequently as breathing as apposed to experiencing life with God daily. If every breath we take is a moment spent with the living God then our lives are consumed, our relationship is a constant focus. Too much time is wasted in a day. Prayer isn't something we do but something we live. A meaningful, relationship-building, conversation not a check list.

-Megan West