Experiencing Rest in a Time of Busyness

"When we are crazy busy, we put our souls at risk. The challenge is not merely to make a few bad habits go away. The challenge is to not let our spiritual lives slip away." -Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem

My life is crazy busy. 

I wake up at 5:00am every morning and work 8-10 hours a day.  

When I'm not sleeping or working, I'm squeezing time in my day for my family, talk to my boyfriend at night, and meeting up with friends for early morning coffee chats. 

Praying for Our Government

God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil.... - E.M.Bounds

Paul exhorts believers in I Timothy 2 that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Remember Meriam: Chained, Jailed, and Sentenced to 100 Lashes and Hanging

“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)

In our society, it is easy to become so entangled in our own life that we forget our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are endangered because of their faith. 

But Christ commands us to remember those that are in prison, as if we were there with them.

If His word implores us to do this, should we not be burdened by the news of those around the world imprisoned, tortured and killed for their faith?

Recently in Sudan, 27 year old Meriam was imprisoned because she named the name of Christ. She was sentenced to 100 lashes because of her marriage to an American Christian, and death by hanging because she would not renounce her faith. 

What would you do in that situation?

I often wonder what it would be like to be in her shoes facing a choice between being put to death or denying Jesus, my Savior. What would you choose?

She chose death. At the time she was pregnant with her second child, and now both of her children are with her in prison.

We are to remember those who are in prison. We are called to remember Meriam and her family...as if we were there with them.

Last week, 40+ organizations gathered in front of the White House and the Sudan Embassy to protest Meriam's case. Shortly after the protest, the State Department broke the silence and officially condemned Sudan for its conviction and imprisonment of Meriam! 

Maybe you are wondering what you could do to help this sister of ours? Most importantly, you can pray! Pray that God gives her peace whatever happens to her and her children, that she would be released, that her children would be allowed to be reunited with their father and that the whole family’s faith would remain strong.

Also, you can talk about Meriam on your social media using the hashtag #RescueMeriam. Please visit www.rescuemeriam.com and sign a petition that will go to your senators, congressmen, the White House and the Sudan Embassy. 

Remember, your sister is in that prison with a death sentence… Pray as though you yourself were there in that prison with her. 

For more information about what you can do, visit www.mutenomore.com and www.rescuemeriam.com.

Written by Sandie Jalbert

The Directionally Challenged Life: Answering the Question "Why In The World Am I Here?"

“The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.” (John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life)

I'm not going to lie. I like being being needed. There is a great satisfaction in feeling important and significant in this life. I love people and I want people to love me back. I like the popular feeling when I walk into a room and people crowd around me. Then there is the natural craving to having a man attracted to me and pursuing my heart. Ironically thought, I've come to realize that those things do not satisfy nor have I discovered my purpose in life fulfilled in the empty pursuit of "self".

What do you do when life doesn't make sense? Where is God in these moments and what is He trying to tell us? As we come to the end of our series on The Lord's Prayer I want you to ponder this statement, LIFE ISN'T ABOUT YOU.  

Embracing Evil in our Entertainment: Harmless or Harmful?

"The major strategy of Satan is to distort the character of God and the truth of who we are." (Neil T. Anderson)

Over the last six years I have sat across from countless girls who were bound up in the chains of spiritual bondage, miserable victims of the evil this world had to offer them. I have seen the ugliness of evil rear its determined head during counseling sessions and demonic forces furiously rise up against my efforts to help girls find freedom.

This post isn't meant to glorify Satan in any way.  My intentions are to show you how we play on the enemy's playground and expect it to be harmless. We saturate our minds with his agenda and assume our minds will be immune to the reality of his influence. The Lord's prayer contains a very crucial element to our survival here on earth, "deliver us from evil". A question I have been pondering this week is this: Can God fully answer this prayer if we are willingly opening the doors to evil in our movies, books, magazines and music? Why or why not?

Far From Perfect: The Good Girl's Battle Against Temptation and Failure

"Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is...We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

The Path of Temptation
From a very young age I was a student in the art of sinning and a master of deceit in covering my tracks. My first real memory of committing a sin was shoplifting at age three. I remember standing in front of the check out counter when I spotted the Archie's Comic Book. The brightly colored front page was too much temptation for a three-year-old toddler and so without giving it another thought, my pudgy little hands reached for the book and hurriedly stuffed it inside my coat. You can imagine the look of horror on my dad's face when he brought me home from shopping that day only to discover his angelic little blonde haired, blue eyed daughter was a thief!

Confessions of a "Good Girl"

The good girl goes to church every time the doors are open. She doesn't let on when she is having a bad day because others may think she has backslidden. Instead she defaults to her Christian tag lines such as, "God is teaching me so much" or "I'm learning to be thankful in all things". The good girl doesn't share her struggles with family and friends because she feels the pressure of living up to the reputation of the "good girl". She want's to please God but deep inside she feels like an absolute failure. The more she tries to hide behind the mask of perfectionism the greater her heart condemns herself.

This description of the good girl is a picture of my own past but I believe many girls who have grown up in solid Christian homes can also identify with the "good girl" mentality. Even to this day, I struggle with feeling the need to search my own heart and habitually confess to God every time I go to prayer. Ironically, the very thing I hope will draw me closer to God causes me to feel more distant from His presence.

In my series of blog posts on The Lord's prayer, we've covered the topics of God being our Father, God's Holiness, having a Kingdom mindset, praying the will of God and understanding our needs versus wants. Half way through this prayer Jesus brings up the subject of repentance: "Forgive us our debts". I want to tackle the subject of confession through the eyes of the good girl and through my own struggles with understanding the grace of God.

Materialism in The Church: Do We Really Pray for Needs or Wants?

The American church {side note: if you are saved you are part of the body of Christ, therefore when I refer to the "church" I am referring to you and me} is materialistically and spiritually obese. 

We pray earnestly for what we think we need but our lifestyle is one of careless spending and impulsive purchases. Could it be that we have lost the understanding of the drastic difference between a genuine need and a frivolous want? 

I've been guilty of praying for God's provision while simultaneously sipping on my Starbucks latte. How hypocritically is that!

Three Requirements to Praying the Will of God

How do I know the will of God? Is my faith lacking? Am I praying for the wrong thing? How do I know if I'm praying God's desires and not my own? These questions have haunted me recently as I've wrestled over an "unspoken" prayer request. But God promises in His Word that "...He will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for." (1 John 5:14-15, NLT)

The Lord's prayer signifies the need to pray according to the will of God. "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven." The great mystery surrounding prayer is the bewildering fact that God not only hears my prayers but desires to answers them. But how do we discover God's will so we can pray according to that will? Through the stubbornness of my own will I am slow in discovering the answers to this question. I'd like to share with you three requirements that God has revealed to my own heart in attempts to spare you the unnecessary journey of a fruitless, self-centered prayer life.

The Great Significance of Praying "Thy Kingdom Come"

Defining the Kingdom

Thy kingdom come. What does that mean for you and I? These words hold so much depth and meaning that I've struggled even to begin writing this post. How do you explain the gravity of Jesus' words when he taught His disciples to pray, "thy kingdom come"? Not a kingdom that is built with bricks or by force (John 18:36) but by the supernatural reviving power of salvation in the lives of those who believe (John 3:3) and the daily sanctification of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).

I did a Greek study on the word "kingdom" and discovered that there are a few very important reasons why Jesus listed this as the third aspect of prayer in the Lord's prayer found in Matthew 6. We could do a whole series on the kingdom of God but for time sake I'm only going to briefly talk about two main points that stood out to me. I would encourage each of you to do your own study.

The Kingdom of God Gives Life

The Lord's prayer has revealed a lack of understanding and how little I know of prayer. To start my prayers with God's identity, God's holiness and God's kingdom agenda is a far cry from how I typically pray. Normally I begin with my problems, my struggles and my agenda.

Taking God's Name in Vain

"Hollowed Be Thy Name"
There is value in a name. Some names we hold in high regards while others have been tarnished by a bad reputation. When we think of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan or Barak Obama we remember these men for what they've done with their lives. The name Adolf Hitler conjures up a negative image of a horrific time in world history while the achievements of George Washington are remembered fondly. These are mere men but when it comes to God, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear His name? Do you value His position and who He is?

In this post we are continuing our series on the Lord's prayer. Jesus began the prayer with, "Our Father, who art in Heaven" and then continues, Hallowed be Thy Name. Unlike our typical prayer life today, the Lord's prayer didn't start with petitions or a prayer list. This prayer was meant to awaken our souls to the reality of God's character. I mean, Who in the world are we actually talking to when we bow our heads and close our eyes? Is it the God we imagine Him to be or the God He really is?

The Father Factor

In the U.S. 15 million children in America (one out of three) live without their father. In an article published by The Washington Times Luke Rosiak explains, "The near-total absence of male role models has ripped a hole the size of half the population in urban areas."

After talking with hundreds of girls from all over the United States and internationally, I am convinced more than ever that young people lack a father's positive influence in their lives. Even the best of dads become busy and don't always spend sufficient time with their children. Many young people believe their dad loves them but doesn't understand them.  Once a girl shared with me, "I have a Christian dad who takes care of my needs but he has never asks me how I'm doing spiritually".

10 Things Jesus Taught His Disciples About Prayer

Prayer. Christian bookstores are filled with books on how to pray. Inspirational stories stirs our soul in response to the beckoning call to prayer from the great prayer warriors of times past. These men and women of faith seem to possess something that is lost on today's society. Curiously enough we (including myself) have displayed with our actions that prayer is not needed and we are invincible.

In our last post I shared a statistic that the average Christian only prays about seven minutes a day. Do you realize that is only 0.49% of your entire day? Can we really follow Christ without spending time with Him? Of course not! That would be as absurd as driving a car off of a teaspoon of gas.

Is Social Media Taking Over Our Lives?

Prayer is an interesting subject because whether or not we like to admit it, praying does not come naturally for most of us including myself. Last week during the APJ summer camp one girl made a statement during our lunch break, "I'm always looking to the next event or the next Christian camp to give me a spiritual high". Her comment caused me to think about the fact that prayer really is a lost art in our generation.

Let's explore some of the reasons why this is happening:

Dangers of Living Life in the Fast Lane

It is a well known fact to those who frequently use the Tampa International Airport that there are millions of ways to come and go from the airport. Even though it may seem that "all roads lead to Rome" or in this case the airport; all roads do NOT lead to home. One careless mistake can send a person clear across the Howard Franklin Bridge...

...a 10 mile (16 km) mistake!
 After twelve years of driving and hundreds of trips to the airport I recently made this mistake for the first time. Following a hectic briefing on child care for their four children, the parents waved us goodbye at the airport drop-off. As we left the airport my head began to whirl as I tried to recall the scheduled ballet lessons, sports practices, music lessons and school work. Priding myself on my multitasking skills I really thought I could find their house...WITHOUT the GPS. After all the house was only about ten minutes from the airport!

God-Centered Prayer

How many of us would love to have confidence when we pray that God hears us, and not only that He hears us, but that we know that we are going to have the things that we have asked? God says that we can have this unwavering faith in His Word:

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have of Him” (1 John 5:14-15)

The key to this faith is God-centered prayer. If prayer is not God-centered then we have no business trying to muster up faith, positive thinking, and expectation that God will give what we have asked. This attitude will only produce disillusionment and discouragement because we don't see God doing what we want. Prayer must be built on the solid foundation of the will of God. How may I know the will of God? God's revealed Word contains his complete and perfect will for us and has everything that we need to live a life of godliness. (2 Tim.3:16, 2 Pet.1:3)  This is God-centered prayer.  God's Word is the authority of our prayers: not us.

What is the opposite of God-centered prayer? Man-centered prayer. We live in a society where even Christians live and pray in a very self-centered way. We have a desire or a motive, so we pray expecting God to grant our request when we have not even the first clue what God has to say about our request in his Word. Then, we go about boasting and blaspheming the name of God when we say that we feel like God is leading us to do or ask for something without any clear basis for our request in His Word. We make ourselves out to be God and expect Him to act like our puppet.  We blaspheme the name of God to the people who are watching by making Him to be a liar because he does not do the things we ask. We ask with wrong self made motives to consume it on our lust. (James 4:2-3)

    

If we pray on the basis of His Word and His authority then we can pray with absolute confidence that we are going to have the things that we ask of him. The result is that God is glorified because he has answered our prayers and His Word has come alive!!!

 When I was single and unmarried I was urged to pray, expecting with confidence, for a husband.  I liked the idea very much and tried to think positively and pray this way and talk to others about my faith in God giving me a husband.  But deep inside I lacked confidence because this was just a desire of mine and I had nothing concrete in Scripture to base my request on, or to suppose that God was going to answer it. God showed me through His Word that His ultimate desire for my life is for me to know Him. The request for me to know Christ was definitely something I knew He wanted for my life. So I prayed in surrender, “Lord God, if I can know you better by being single, then I want to be single and if I can know you better being married then I want to be married.” In just a few weeks after praying that prayer God led me to my husband Michael.  Then the process began of knowing Christ even better through marriage.  God did not give me a husband because I claimed a promise that He would.  As much as I wanted to find one in Scripture, I could not.  But He gave me the desire of my heart because I delighted in Him.  I was willing to know Him better, no matter what that looked like.

-Christina (Jalbert) Priest

 Christina (Jalbert) Priest is 28-years-old, the wife of a wonderful man of God, Michael, and the mother of two adorable boys, Josiah and Noah. Chrissie inspired A Passion for Jesus ministries into existence and has continued to encouraged Christians of all ages to love God with all their heart. 

Impacting Friends for Eternity

Praying for Friends

I would love to say that I always loved praying for my friends. But I can’t. In fact, I can say just the opposite. There was a time I dreaded praying for people - especially in a group setting. I was so afraid of what my friends would think if I said the wrong thing. I mean, really, it would be embarrassing!

For such a long time I thought that prayer was something that I did because that’s what my family did before we ate, when we had family devotions and before we went to bed. Nothing really important, we were just thanking God for the day, our lives, what He had given us, etc. I really didn’t understand why we prayed. But when I finally understood I began to pray in earnest for those I loved. My family. I had friends, but never really thought to pray for them. After all, they were just friends, what would they need prayer for? They seemed fine to me.

When Your World Falls Apart

Praying for your family...

Praying for others can be a very exciting and passionate experience. When we pray for persecuted Christians, the President, a nation’s government, drug dealers and murderers, Hollywood, or revival in your city, we often feel like we are tackling head-on what really matters, chinking away at the big problems in our world, prayer by prayer.

But how often do we pray for those people in our lives that we see every day? The people who we live with day in and day out, who know our ugliest flaws as we know theirs, and who are often times the hardest  to love, and the hardest to forgive? How frequently to do we spend long, sacrificial hours, or even a dedicated number of MINUTES every single day praying for our family?

Our Lifeline

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” (Samuel Chadwick)

Why is prayer such a struggle for the majority of Christians? Perhaps it is because prayer is our lifeline. Without prayer the Word of God will just be dry and boring. Without prayer you cannot experience the presence of God. Prayer...moves us to do what we cannot achieve in our own strength. It helps us to see what God sees, accomplish what He wills us to do, defeat the enemy, and change the world for Jesus Christ. (just thinking about it gets me excited!) 

A "Green Chair Chat" with God

In my little blue room I have this ugly green chair. Although it has seen better days I'm quite fond of the little chair. It has witness many counseling sessions and has been a welcoming spot for all my friends who come to visit. But when I'm alone, the little green chair is my place of prayer. This chair has been wet with tears time and time again as I've visited the throne room of Heaven.

As I knelt by my green chair one morning my mind drifted from prayer onto the cares of the day. Finally I snapped back to earth with the realization that I was suppose to be talking with God. I bowed my head once more, letting my mouth lead the way while my heart trailed way behind. But as I prayed, the nagging thoughts echoed words of condemnation...