Monday Morning Munch No. 21 - Overflow; a prayer

(This is an unedited prayer I journaled last Thursday, that has been running through my heart ever since.)

The Lord is good and His love endures forever. Oh Lord, I praise You in the gates and in my heart; for the world to hear, and sitting silently before You. 

You are good in the times of plenty, when my heart spills with joy and wonder, and You are good in times of pain, when my heart spills with sorrow and my soul faints in weariness. 

You revive the heart to fear You and You ordain our steps. You have us ever before You and lead, guide and protect.

You are great and greatly to be exalted. Be lifted high in my life so that the world may see You and fear You, for Your ways are excellent and Your laws right. You have given the Blameless for the shameful and the Well for the sick. 

You mend hearts and cause men to stand in awe of Your unsearchable ways. You created galaxies and mountains, oceans and dry land, You made the earth Your Son's footstool and yet You know me. You know my name and remember I am but dust. You are Master and friend, Savior and judge, righteous and humble, and therein lies the divine wonder; that the King of Glory, for which all was made that was made, became a man. Laid His glory down and became the created. All for me.

Oh Lord, You gave it all for my pardon, help me give all for Thee. Be honored and glorified, for all glory is Yours.

Monday Morning Munch No. 15 - Present

I woke up in the middle of the night battling sickness for about two hours. 

Yesterday my heart was heavy for our nation.

Last week I was writing an article for the magazine.

The list goes on.

These few things have a common thread: prayer. 

Prayer was the action taken during each of the aforementioned items. When I was sick, I prayed. When my heart was overwhelmed I went to the Rock (Psalm 61:1-2). When I was writing I sought the Lord. 

Today I am thankful for God's presence. He is not a far-off God who must strain His ear to hear us. No, He is a God who has come down to us, who is with us continually and is our present help. 

"God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble." --Psalm 46:1

There are situations that sometimes propels us a little faster to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and help than others, although we are to be in a ceaseless flow of communication with our Savior (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And when that happens we should remember that any strength we may have is not our own and that God is our ver present help in trouble. He is with us. Because of that exceedingly great and precious promise, we have hope and won't fear.

"Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling." --Psalm 46:2-3

I pray you take courage today and remember that no matter your circumstances, battles, obstacles and desperate situations you have a Present Help--One who loves to be near you and longs to be sought by you.

If you are doubting, remember Jesus' very name signifies that He is with you, not against you and not far off-- Emmanuel: God with us.

He is with us 

"The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress." --Psalm 46:7

"Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." --Isaiah 41:10 

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
When you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you." --Isaiah 43:2-3

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." --Matthew 28:19-20

    

unmasked.

The following is a raw, unedited journal entry from yesterday.

I don't know if anyone else will be able to identify with the internal struggle going on in my heart and mind yesterday, but encouragement for any and every reader is the goal of this "blog."

God, be glorified. Use my hurts to bring healing to others. 

Somedays I have to repeat "Take every thought captive" to myself almost every second. My brain and imagination begin working (often in contrast to God's Word and will) and discontentment settles in faster than water in a puddle.

Today is one of those days. 

"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but we have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."  --2 Corinthians 10:4-5

(First off, just let it soak in that we have divine power to destroy strongholds.)

The mind is the threshold of spiritual warfare and I am feeling the oppression and harsh reality of wartime right now. Perhaps it's due to this being Wednesday and the enemy wants to thwart my gaze off the Lord because of True Beauty tonight or maybe it's something completely different simply designed to sharpen and sanctify me. 

God is so good that He will use everything--the good, the bad and the ugly to "bring us to completion," although sometimes being shaped and molded like the piece of clay we are is more painful and obvious. Again, this is one of those times.

With holiness a pursuit and godliness the aim, I desperately desire a life saturated in Christ's love and goodness. Yet this poking (of discontentment) in my imagination and heart keep occurring, more frequently over the past few days, and my gaze is shifting slowly but surely off Christ and on myself. 

Dreams over the past week have been intense, very real and difficult to push aside. What makes it more difficult is that I rarely dream. My sister lovingly and wisely pointed out these dreams to be an attack from Satan. Upon further prayer and investigation I believe she's right. I've allowed these dreams to have my thoughts and attention throughout my waking hours, which means what? My thoughts and attention were on me.

Discontentment roared its ugly head and selfishness came quickly.

Today I just keep whispering "take every thought captive to obey Christ," and it is crazy how powerful it is just to say those words. It's like God's Word is living and active. Weird.

It is my firm belief that thankfulness is an antidote to discontentment, therefore I will make a list (it's what I do).

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR: 

• God's Word
• The Holy Spirit
• Blue ink pens
• Palm trees
• My job that hardly feels like a job
• My family
• Water
• Fall
• God overcoming the enemy and conquering evil
• Shoes
• Ponytail holders
• Coffee
• Blankets
• Black babies
• Our supreme and awesome Creator
• GRACE
• Joy despite trials
• Post-it notes
• Sunshine
• Open windows
• Lists
• Encouragement
• Examples of Christians before us (Paul, Peter, Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, etc.)
• This particular moment God has me in for His purpose and glory, preparing me for a future only He can see.

God, 

You are so faithful. You are Redeemer, Refuge, Fortress, Strong Tower, Champion, Father and King. Thank You for salvation and for blessing us with every spiritual blessing. You are so good and Your love endures forever.

Lord, I ask for Your help today. Help me to be content. Content in the circumstances You have me in and the people You've placed around me. Swallow my pride in Your grace and may You receive glory from this day and all that is in it. Help me to live in the freedom You died for and not be so easily entangled by sin and a willingness to pick up and cuddle discontentment and self-pity. 

You are worthy of everything, Lord, and I want to give that to You. Use even this feeble attempt to worship and be glorified in all the earth. Let all the people of the world know that You are God and there is none beside You. You are God and they will all one day bow to You. Oh, God, let it be sooner than later. 

Save to the uttermost, God. Rend the heavens and come down. Fill us with You and touch this dying world once again, Father. Thank You for Your bloody and beautiful cross and for taking my sin and shame upon it. You are so good.

Monday Morning Munch No. 10 - Rebuke, Encouragement and Things I Hate

Sometimes I think I receive encouragement differently than most people.

I (usually) don’t enjoy compliments. Mostly because I don’t believe they are given sincerely. False flattery is probably No. 3 on the list of things Sophie hates. Apparently it makes me so mad I speak in third person. (For those of you wondering, sin is No. 1 followed by a deep abhorrence to candy corn.)

The order of importance there is still a little sketchy. Mice are on that list too. Probably ahead of candy corn.

I digress.

The way I do receive encouragement and feel the most loved by people is when they rebuke me.

You know someone really loves you when they sacrifice both their comfort and yours for the sake of something greater.

As always, the Bible says it best (I mean, it’s hard to beat the whole God-inspired-Word stuff).

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.” –Proverbs 27:5-7

The awesome thing about receiving a rebuke from someone is that when those same people offer you compliments or encouraging words you know they are genuine—they have proven they can be trusted.

The Latest Rebuke

Sometimes rebuke comes from the most unlikely places. Most of the time it comes from sermons, books or my closest friends (I know they’re my closest friends because they love me enough to point out things I’m blinded to, sins, areas needing growth, etc.), but the last zing of conviction and rebuke came from Lecrae.

Yes. Lecrae. The rapper. If you don’t know who he is, look him up. You’ll get more theology in one song than in most American church services every week. Combined.

The rebuke came from a line in “Boasting,” one of my all-time favorite Lecrae songs. If you don’t know it you can watch the video/lyrics here.

Glory was solely meant for You,Doing what no one else could do.With all I have to giveI’ll use my life, I’ll use my lips.I’ll only glory in Your Word, a gift to me I don’t deserve.I’ll live in such a way that it reflects to You my praise.

The rebuke came gently but firmly.

How many times do I pray for God to use me but (sometimes subconsciously) have a preconceived idea of what that will look like? I fear that so often He wants to use me but because of anxiety, intimidation, pride and all kinds of other stupid things, I don’t open my mouth—a tool He has given each of us to use for His glory, purposes and divine use. I ask to be used but don't use what He's already given me. That's just silly.

“With all I have to give I’ll use my life, I’ll use my lips.”

So God, here am I, send me. Send me to the farthest regions of the world or just to a hurting person right here. Use me to speak grace, life, love and hope to everyone I encounter in the form of Your glorious Gospel upon which You gave Your life and I now stake mine.

Back to School Prayer

This week (today for some) the sweet girls of my True Beauty ministry go back to school. My heart has been heavy with that thought for about a week now and the following is my prayer for them (straight out of this morning's journaling session in my prayer journal) as they once again return to grade school. Join me in prayer for these and others who will be exposed to so much purity-sucking worldliness and straight sin in the halls, and sometimes classrooms, of the public (and private) schools.

Dear God,

I pray for my little ones as they go off to school now that summer is over. I pray that You bring them to the end of theirselves and show them their desperate need for You. Expose the emptiness of the world and the evil that lurks around them and may it cause them to run to You. I pray for teachers who will fill their minds with good things and who will pour truth into them at the risk of their own jobs. I pray You preserve whatever innocence these young girls have left and use all things to point them to You and magnify Your glory. I pray the lessons they have heard in True Beauty, church and from their parents will come back to their minds and that they will be true ladies who set an example for all with purity in speech, in doctrine and in attitude and actions.Help them to be uncomfortable so they find their comfort in You. May they be lonely so they find true companionship in You. May they be hopeless so they find You as their hope. May You show them their sin so they see You as the glorious sin-bearer.Help them not to consent when sinners entice and may they have nothing to do with the putting down of others and everything to do with putting others' needs above their own. I pray school for these sweet girls this year will be a place where they radically experience You and Your magnificent Gospel.Thank You for loving them more than I, and for going before them. Show them Your beauty, Lord- may You be the most attractive person to them. I love You, God. Amen. 

My Prayer

Here Am I, Send Me

by Matt Papa

Lord, here am I, won't You send me to

The broken and the weak

To the desperate and forgotten, Lord

I'm giving You everything

All my selfish plans, my greedy hands

My hope in the American dream

Lord I give my life, lay down my pride

I'm giving You everything, God,

'''Here am I send me

I’ll follow wherever You lead

I will tell the world that Jesus is the way

Send me Lord here I am

I offer my dreams my plans

I will give my life a living sacrifice

Lord here I am'''

I can see You Lord upon Your throne

You're high and You're lifted up

All the angels singing “Holy, Holy”

I'm broken and undone

Now an angel comes to touch my lips

Says You're sins are all taken away

Jesus paid the price, yeah He gave His life

So Father hear Your people say

'''Here am I send me

I’ll follow wherever You lead

I will tell the world that Jesus is the way

Send me Lord here I am

I offer my dreams my plans

I will give my life a living sacrifice

Lord here I am'''

Whom shall I send?

Who will go for us?

Whom shall I send?

'''Here am I send me

I’ll follow wherever You lead

I will tell the world that Jesus is the way

Send me Lord here I am

I offer my dreams my plans

I will give my life a living sacrifice

Lord here I am'''

Ask, Seek, Knock- A Testimony of Answered Prayers

Ask, Seek, Knock- A Testimony of Answered Prayers

At the beginning of the year, my family had a “Family Meeting.” Daddy asked my mom and I what we would like to see happen this year- whether that be us, as a family, going somewhere or maybe something around the house that needed to be fixed. We compiled a list and have prayed for those items ever since. Here are a few things on the list:

That I would qualify for Junior Olympics
That Mom and Dad would be selected as volunteers for Junior Olympics
A new TV
Replacing the fuse box in our house with a circuit box
Going to at least one Cardinals Game
Competing in Nationals
A new vehicle
A new DVD player

I received my letter from USA Shooting that I qualified for Junior Olympics in not only one event, but both smallbore and air rifle. This is very exciting. 2009 is my final year of competing in Junior Olympics (you’re no longer a “junior” after you turn 20), and to qualify in both events is a huge accomplishment for me and something I haven’t done since my first year at Junior Olympics (2003).We didn’t pray that I would qualify in both events, just that I would qualify- God threw both events in as a bonus, just because He can! How awesome is He? Pretty awesome.

This past week mom and dad received an email from USA Shooting saying they were both selected as volunteers for the entire week of Junior Olympics. This is a tremendous blessing. It means they will also get to stay on site at the Olympic Training Center and they won’t have to spend the huge chunk of money on a hotel room for a week. Praise God!

Last Friday, while mom and I were riding to a Bible Study with our friends, Tina and Chandra, we were bragging on how God had answered our prayers concerning Junior Olympics. Tina asked what else we were praying for. Mom told them a TV and a DVD player. Chandra said, “You’re praying for a TV?” We said yes, and explained how our TV was over 50 years old and that the color was almost completely gone. She said, “If you really need a TV we have one that is sitting on our bedroom floor you can have. Jeff just bought me a new flat screen TV.” Mom and I were flabbergasted. Chandra called her husband, Jeff, to make sure it was alright and the next day he delivered this amazingly large TV with perfect sound and color. God is awesome!

The day after that, Tina and her husband, Bobby, gave us a new DVD player they weren’t using. I’m telling you guys- God is amazing!

When we lost power for so long during the ice storm, we had to get our meter replaced (a limb ripped it out of our house). After the electricians fixed our meter, they spent the next day and a half replacing our fuse box with a circuit box. We hadn’t expected our prayers to be answered so soon, but God just opened the door (to the fuse box…) and made everything happen. Amazing!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” –Matthew 7:7-11

This has built my confidence in God so much. He does hear me. God has also shown me through this, why we are to tell our church family our needs. Spiritual needs and material needs. They might be able to help. I feel like this goes right back to taking off the mask and being real with one another. Letting ourselves become vulnerable, exposing our weaknesses, and trusting God to take care of us.

God answers prayers. Take encouragement from this. If there is something you’ve been praying about and have not seen answered- keep on praying! God is hearing you. He tells us to ask, seek, knock. So, ask Him until you can ask no more. Seek until you have been found. Knock until you beat down the door. But don’t give up. Take off your mask and become real with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Tell them where you’re struggling, tell them what you need, and tell them how to pray for you. God can use them to help you.

Who knows, maybe they’ll have a TV or a DVD player laying around waiting for you.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” –Psalm 37:3-5

My Prayer

The world is dark
With sin and gloom
It needs to see
A reflection of You

So take my life
And make it bright
Through Your sacrifice
You make things right

I come to You
To make me new
All I want to do
Is be like the moon

Help them to see
You in me
Help me be a moon
And reflect You

Help me to abide
‘cause I want to shine
I want to shine for You
I want to be a moon

Help me live in the Son rays
All of my days
Help me glorify You
By becoming a moon

I want the world to see
What You’ve done in me
You can do for them
If they’ll only believe