Hypocrites, Gentiles, and what Prayer really is.

So now Im on chapter 2 (The Prayer Ministry of the Church by Watchman Nee) and he is stating the ways God shows us how not to pray and how to pray.
Matt.6:5-15
⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans (gentiles), for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

   ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a] but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’

   ¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

There are types of people who pray....wrong: Hypocrites and Gentiles (pagans)
(I have fallen in both categories)

Hypocrites: Pray to be praised. They pray aloud and for everyone to hear. They want people to see how amazingly righteous they are. Apparently in verse 5 they have received their reward and V.6 states that God will reward us for prayers. I struggle with being a hypocrite because that was one of my struggles before coming to God. I wanted to be acknowledged by people! What better praise than for someone to come to you and say "God's light just shines through you!" "You are such a good girl." Not only did I enjoy that praise but I enjoyed the pride it brought my parents. I wanted to please them. So I would almost plan out my prayers before I would "pray to God" so that others may enjoy my words. How selfish is that!

Gentiles/Pagans/actually even Christians do this: V7. Simple pointless repetitiveness. I dont think this is merely talking about repeating one phrase over and over again (yet people do that too). I think this is also talking about just yaking to God. Going down a laundry list of prayer requests. Just talking and not really putting much effort past verbalizing what you or others want. Leading a small group I use to do this. After we ask for prayer requests and I pray at the end I just read off the prayer requests to God. I try to personalize them but I feel them fall flat.

How God wants us to pray: Dissect the prayer given! He doesnt want us to repeat that prayer everyday!  That would fall back to being like a pagan (i really want to find a better word for that category....) Dissect it! "Our Father who art in heaven," This reminds me of a past sermon I heard on Adoption. We are God's children when we accept God as our lord and savior! We get to call Him Father, daddy, papa! He WANTS us to! What love from Him that He allows us to call Him father instead of "Oh mighty king that reigns over my life..." or something extravagant like that... What love we can show Him when we call Him our father!
What does father mean to you?  For me, the word/ name father reminds me of words like: loving, deserves respect, cares for my needs and wants, my leader in life decisions, provider. I have been very blessed because my father, a strong Christian man, has exemplified every characteristic of God my heavenly father. I am blessed and thankful for such a man in my life.

Thought Blub! Reflecting on this has made me realize how much my daddy has been a God-like and spiritual leader throughout my life. I want to thank him for this. No one can coincidentally be a mirror of God. I assume my dad spent countless hours praying and seeking wisdom on how to be the earthly father God wanted him to be. I want to now show him my gratitude for that!

Second Part: "Hallowed be your name," WORSHIP!! :) Here it is a broad statement saying may your name be glorified! But how do we praise God's name? well who is God to you? what do first think of when you think of the word God? Be honest with yourself too. Take time to truly reflect. What first comes to mind about God probably relates to your past experiences. Are you angry? trying to find loving words to describe Him, or maybe there is a more powerful uplifting word that comes to mind. This is who God is to you. Granted if you hold an angry view of God maybe there is more to learn. How can you worship or talk to someone that only brings up feelings of hatred and sorrow? It's hard!! Try talking to an Ex-whatever right after they left you for someone else! Anyways Worship is key here! When thinking about who God is to me, Grace-giver came to mind, which led to generous because of Romans 11:5-6 It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel^[c] have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. ⁶ And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

How much more meaningful is worship if we tell God how we really feel about the grace he has given us! How much more personal will our prayers be!

I hate to end and run BUT I gtg.... Class time! :) That was half of chapter 2 btw! You can get the book on PDF: http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/PrayerMinistryoftheChurch.pdf 

Idk who this will speak to but at least getting this out and reflecting some more on this brought up an idea I want to do. I am going to work on that card now! :) Adios my wonderful readers!

A little tib-bit about me...

Im not a picky eater! I use to be when I was younger and college snapped me out of that fast. So i will eat almost anything you place infront of me! or at least try it. I am, however, a picky drinker... And no im not talking about alcoholic beverages, im talking about drinks in general. I'll make a list as an example:

Drinks I like:

• water
• Lemonade!
• Juice
• V8 fusion or splash
• Milk
• egg nog (without alcohol)
• cider (which is juice with spice and warmed-up)
• hot coco
• Lemon Lemocello (its alcoholic!)

Drinks I dont like:

• soda
• anything carbonated 
• beer
• soda (any and every kinda soda!)
• sparkling water
• sparkling grape juice
• sparkling anything :P
• coffee (unless its coffee turned into a milkshake like a frappachino...sp?)
• chocolate milk
• most alcoholic drinks 
• hurricanes 
• vodka (unless 1 part vodka, 20 parts juice hehe)
• shots
• wine
• beer
• margaritas
• hard lemonade

So there! A lil tid-bit about me! I know, I'm weird :-)

Avacado trees in my living room!

So here is my new-ish project. Its a long project (like 7-15 years...) But its an awesome project! I guess I should add pics....

http://www.avocado.org/grow-your-own-tree/ But thats the summary!! Its already a foot and half tall after about a month!! :)


YAY AVOCADOS!!

God is limited...

Oky so those who follow me are probably like what?! God, the almighty power you worship and believe in so much and now you are saying He is limited. Limited in what? Im not putting Him in a box by no means.You have to hear me out.
First Im reading a short book by Watchman Neil called the Prayer Ministry of the Church. Check it out for yourself.
Second, consider the amazing gift of free will. We are not like objects on a table that can be moved around as our creator pleases. Our free will gives us choices. First we all know that we can chose God and His amazing gift of love and forgiveness or go on living without Him in our own lives and patterns of living. But we also limit Him even when we do chose to follow Him. We are only human after all. We dont always hear what people tell us and God's voice isnt always clear to us as well. Oky Backing up slightly. Think of Exodus 17:8-15

⁸ While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. ⁹Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. ¹² Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. ¹³ As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.
 ¹⁴ After the victory, the Lord instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh-nissi (which means “the Lord is my banner”). ¹⁶ He said, “They have raised their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now^[c] the Lord will be at war with Amalek generation after generation.”

God gave Moses the power to be victorious, but ultimately Moses controlled the outcome of the battle. Think about what might have happened if Aaron and Hur were not with Moses when he became tired. God's power was restricted by Moses' actions. 

Now think about today. God is restricted by our choices. Has there ever been a time when in a certain situation you felt led to act in a certain way? (do you love the broad term?) Did you ever ignore those feelings and then thought badly about it or regretted that situation? Maybe God wanted to show His love to someone, or show His power through you but you did not act. That was you restricting God's power. OUCH! We are not simple objects that can be moved around a table. God has a plan and it is really up to us to fulfill it. God relies on us to do what He asks. Some people may say, God's will will be done. God can do whatever He wants...would that really be free will, even if we had a choice God can take control of a situation? Does that make sense? As stated by Watchman Neil:

"Who decided the victory or defeat at the hill? Was it God who willed it or was it Moses?...Whatever He wills to do, if man does not will it, He will not do it. We can not make God do what He does not want to do, but we can hinder Him from doing what He does wish to do."

God is all powerful! He can do amazing things and I am not limiting Him at all. He can do miracles and work through prayer! the reason for this is another proof of His love. God is willing to create something that controls what happens on Earth. This is true Free Will.

Guess what everyone! This is the goal and the meaning behind "growing closer to Christ." We want to know His will so that we don't restrict His power and His plan! On Earth this quest to get to this point is hard. So many forces are working against us (our human nature and Satan are the big two). But we can still strive for such a wonderful relationship. It will be a never-ending struggle on earth, but one worth striving for. And thats just it. Its only a struggle on earth. In heaven we will have what Watchman Neil describes as "Harmonious Will." We will always know what God's will is at that point! :D IDk to me that sounds amazing! After reading this section from Watchman Neil, I have been keeping my eyes out on how I could be restricting God. I, like so many people I know, want to know God's will or plan for their lives. I can not wait for that day when our search is over and we will be with Him and in agreement with His will. Until that day comes I plan to take every step with open eyes and in confidence.