Ray Kroc - Founder of McDonalds
"It's
time....it's time.....did you just say it's time......" that's a silly
song for another day, but for now it's time to be creative.....please
forgive the reprint from a Trinity newsletter.....it was time for
vacation......
Where were you 29 years
ago? Think about that for just a minute. The year was
1983. Where were you? Were you in college?.....were you even
born?......or perhaps you were well on your way to making a life and living for
your family. Wherever you were, there is one thing that is for
sure. Time continued to pass. You made decisions then just as you make
decisions now. Some of those decisions had lifelong ramifications and
some were over and done with 29 years ago.
If you were listening to top
40 radio in 1983, you probably heard a song by the band The Fixx called
“One Thing Leads To Another”. This is a song that is confusing at first,
until you realize that confusion is what the song is about. Just how long is that tunnel....?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1uyvu_fixx-one-thing-leads-to-another_music
Life with its
intricacies can be confusing. However, with the proper communication
tools, it doesn’t have to be. Prayer is one of the most important of
those tools.
Matthew 6:14 – The Message "In prayer there is a
connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness
from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your
part, you cut yourself off from God's part.”
This passage in Matthew
speaks to prayer being an active thing. Too many times we want to make it
passive in the instance that we pray and God works. Is the action of
prayer our only part? It is absolutely not. Jesus is saying here
that we must be active while God works. If we pray for righteousness for
our nation, we should be righteous. If we pray for forgiveness for our
daily sins, we should forgive daily. We shouldn't be righteous just
because that happens to be what we are praying for at the moment. We should
strive to be righteous always.
Prayer is communication with
God. It leads to other things. When we communicate, we better
understand what God's will for our lives may be. How hard is it to
communicate in a room full of people when you are trying to address only
one? It is very distracting to both of you and only part of your message
may be getting through. Earlier in chapter 6 of Matthew, Jesus explained
the easiest way to have good communication with the Father, again from the
Message paraphrase:
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a
quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be
there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you
to God, and you will begin to sense His grace.”
As you sense His grace, you
will follow His direction and the Spirit will lead your prayer focus. For
one thing to lead to another, you have to communicate. Find a quiet
place, communicate effectively, and gather the entire message. Once you have
the entire message, you will see your prayer life transformed into a tool that
you and God can use through the Holy Spirit to make decisions that impact your life and the lives of
those around you.
'Til a nonVacation Tuesday
Loving HIM by loving you,
Randy
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