Month: November 2009

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30 Days of Daily Prayers-

What follows are prayers based on scripture readings from the day. They were sent via Twitter so they were limited to 140 character.

Today’s prayer – Lord, search my heart today & show me those things I need to change so my faith may rest fully in you. Help me change.

November 28, 2009

Heavenly Father, Creator God, I choose this day to sing your praise and honor your name by the things I do and the words I say. Amen.

November 27, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God, you give us your best, in return we should give you our best. Show me where I fall short. Amen.

November 26, 2009

My prayer – Loving Father, you have shown your love to me in numerous ways. Let me dwell in your love & share it with those around me.

November 25, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God, help my unbelief so that when you call on me I will respond by faith in obedience to you. Amen.

November 24, 2009

Lord God, let me look to you for my strength, for my contentment. It’s not about what I have or don’t have, it’s about trusting in you.

November 23, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God, you have been generous to me, let me then be generous to others with my time and resources. Amen.

November 22, 2009

My prayer – Father God, search my heart & show me those things I do that man may value but are unpleasing to you. Help me change. Amen.

November 21, 2009

Today’s prayer – Jehovah Jireh, let me pursue the things you are teaching me & be content with what you have provided. Amen.

November 20, 2009

Today’s prayer-Father God, let me use the treasures you have provided me to invest in the lives of people you bring into my life. Amen.

November 19, 2009

Today’s prayer – Jesus, let me honor you by giving of my time & recourses to serve those whom society has seemingly marginalized. Amen

November 18, 2009

Today’s prayer – Abba Father I want to know & do your will – transform me, renew so that I may know & do your good & perfect will. Amen.

November 16, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God, give me wisdom as I stand in the gap for those whom society has marginalized or rendered voiceless. Amen.

November 15, 2009

Today’s prayer – Lord, as I serve & work this week let me do it with the attitude that it is you I am serving or working for. Amen

November 14, 2009

Today’s prayer – Heavenly Father continue you’re transforming work in my life & use me to encourage other’s as you transform them. Amen.

November 13, 2009

Today’s prayer – Gracious Father thank-you for counting me faithful & allowing me to serve others for your glory & honor. Amen.

November 12, 2009

Today’s prayer – From the apostle Paul – Father God pour out your spirit of wisdom & revelation on us so we can know you better. Amen

November 11, 2009

Today’s prayer – Creator God, you wired me with certain gifts & talents – let me use them to honor You and serve others. Amen.

November 10, 2009

My Prayer – Father God, let me rejoice in the things you have done. Let me share your story with other. Amen.

November 9, 2009

My Prayer – Abba Father, let me seek you each day to refresh me & to restore me so that I can do the ministry you have called me to.

November 8, 2009

Today’s prayer- Father let me grow in knowledge of you today and let me nurture my relationships with other. Amen.

November 7, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God, may the stories of you & your children continue to strengthen my faith & help it to grow. Amen.

November 6, 2009

Prayer-Abba Father, your desire is for me to live in bold relief to the culture around me so as to bring glory to you. Help me be bold.

November 5, 2009

Today’s prayer – God, give me your eyes & heart so that I do respond to the thinks going on around me with mourning, fasting, & prayer.

November 4, 2009

My prayer – Heavenly Father, today let me do and serve, not to seek praise from the world, but so I can bring glory and honor to you.

November 3, 2009

Today’s prayer – God of the universe Jesus is my master, I am his apprentice – Holy Spirit teach me to be like Jesus. Amen.

November 2, 2009

My prayer – Creator God, you are the refiner of my life – put me in the crucible, remove my planks, I want to live a transformed life.

November 1, 2009

Today’s Prayer – Lord, now that hear voice give me the wisdom to understand it and the courage to do it. Amen.

October 31, 2009

My prayer-Abba Father let me draw near to you, rest in you, and honor you by the things I do, the words I use, and the stories I write.

October 30, 2009

My prayer today – Lord, let me be still so I can listen, let me listen so I can hear, let me hear so that I can serve.

October 29, 2009

Today’s Prayer – God, let me show your love to others so that they may see you. Amen.

October 28, 2009

Today’s Prayer – Father God, bring to me this week someone who needs to be reconciled with you. Help me to help them. Amen

October 26, 2009

Today’s prayer – Father God Almighty, show me who to give voice to, who to server. Show me who, show me how.

October 25, 2009

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My Sojourn – So What Is Next?

So, this is who I was becoming in the fall of 2008. I had been pushed and pulled, shaped and molded, challenged to step out of my comfort zone, and as described by Erwin McManus (a passive mentor of mine) I was beginning to walk the barbarian way. I didn’t know it at the time, but events, readings, and life experiences had fallen into place to send my on a wild sojourn to places hadn’t really thought of going before. What was needed was a trigger, some event, some writing, some still small voice to launch me into the transformational crucible were I would be shaped by different events, molded by readings from the Bible and other authors, transformed in my theological understandings (my beliefs and values), and where my contemplative nature would be allowed to flourish as I would spend hours pondering about who God is, what I believe, and how He has transformed me into the person He wants me to become.

So what was the trigger? It was a blog posting my Josh Kesler about a stupid sheep they had encountered while driving around the countryside. In his telling of the story Josh referred to the sheep as a “stupid sheep.” To this day I don’t know how or why I resonated with that stupid sheep, but rather than thinking it was stupid I saw it as barbarian, wanting break free of the thinks that confined it. Maybe that is the metaphor for my life experience, until now I have been listening to the people who have been telling me to get back in, instead of listening to God say break free, get out, think outside the box, don’t be conformed rather be transformed by the things I am teaching you and showing you.

I will be thinking again about this to see where I am headed…

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My Sojourn – Where It Began

I have been a Christian for some 25+ years. My spiritual transformation during this time was one of crisis or experiential transformation. As situations presented themselves I was shaped and molded by them. I could choose to embrace the transformation or ignore it and escape the process. I was dumped into what has been called the “Transformational Crucible.” This was a place where I was refined to become more like Christ. It was during this time that I preached my first sermon, struggled with infertility issues, struggled with depression, spent years moving from place to place, going to school, and trusting God. My crucible experiences grounded me in a lot of ways. I didn’t see them then, but as I reflect back ten, fifteen or twenty years removed from the experience I can see God’s hand in my life, the potter shaping and molding the clay which became me, the person I am today.

After graduating seminary in 2001 I felt a little lost, tired, and complacent. I was working, taking leadership roles in my church, teaching, and simply doing life. There was little “transformation” going on. I had hit some sort of spiritual plateau. It was here where God chose another type of formation process to again begin to shape and mold me. For lack of a better word I call it process formation. By process formation I mean that you are guided through a series of exercises, questions, or processes to produce in the end a transformation in my life.