2.24.2004

Managing a Meandering Mind

ANOTHER FANTASTIC NUGGET I FOUND ON CHRISTIANITY TODAY:
http://christianitytoday.com/leaders/features/macdonald.html
The way I say this is "Pray with a pencil!" Write stuff down as God is directing your prayer... as disconnected as the thought may seem.
ENJOY!

Managing a Meandering Mind
Turn your prayer distractions into God-directed dialogue.
By Brad Preston, guest columnist

Like the prodigal son, my mind wanders recklessly into a far country when I pray. In moments of solitude when I am just getting close to God, my brain shifts into gear and speeds off for the highway.

I tried making a list.

I tried walking around with my eyes open.

I tried praying out loud; I tried praying real loud.

The harder I tried to eliminate the distractions, the more frustrating they became.

Then an idea came to me unexpectedly. What if the interruptions are God's effort to dialogue with me in prayer? Perhaps God has a better handle on prayer requests than I do. What if I allowed him to use the distractions to direct my prayers?

I decided to surrender my prayer agenda and to stop fighting the interruptions. Instead of battling my wandering mind, I lift up each random thought in prayer when it comes: "Lord I'm thinking about doughnuts. You got any idea why?" Sometimes praying on it clears the thought away, but other times God uses the thought to speak to me (like convicting me that there's a hole in our relationship).

Besides opening a new world of interactive dialogue with God, my learning to pray the interruptions instead of fighting them, I discovered, has other benefits.

Don't go there.
At times my prayers are interrupted by what appear to be inappropriate subjects—lustful images, anger about the ministry, complaints. My response used to be denial. I didn't want to admit those thoughts could enter the sacred place of prayer. Frustrated, I would push them away. If they came back, I pushed harder. But the pushing became a distraction in itself.

One morning in prayer I was distracted by my irritation with a particular Christian. I was tugged toward bitterness by my ineffective attempts to disciple stubborn believers.

"Just once, Lord," I prayed, "could you give me someone I didn't have to push so hard?"

God answered, "Why don't you let me take care of it?" God's reply showed that I had been harboring a burden that wasn't mine to carry. Had I ignored the distraction, I would likely have kept carrying it.

Sometimes God uses praying through the thoughts to cleanse them from my mind. Other times I pour out the struggle in all its strife like one of David's psalms. Either way, it has awakened a new honesty and transparency in my relationship with God.

Don't go there, either.
I like sticking with my prayer list because a list is safe. A list can be used to pray for other people's needs while conveniently overlooking your own shortfalls.

But heeding the interruptions doesn't allow for that careful avoidance. It forces me to address sins, regrets, and shortcomings I normally wouldn't choose to include on my list. Now when my prayers are interrupted with, You need to devote more time to being intimate with God, I don't just push the thought away, I stop to pray about it.

If there's guilt tied to the issue I've been sweeping under the rug, praying about it brings forgiveness. And since I'm actually praying about it instead of ignoring it, I'm more likely to make changes in those areas.

By letting the Lord add his items to the prayer list, and by willingly accepting a distraction as an area to explore with Him, I'm doing a lot more listening.

The pastor's smooth and eloquent public prayer is much different from the struggles most of us wrestle with in private. But I'm finding relief in an area that used to frustrate me. My prodigal mind is beginning to follow the path home—the path that takes me straight to the Father.

Brad Preston pastors in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

2.14.2004

Dare 2 Share Ministries - Houston

April 16-17, 2004
$40 Registration for an event like our Youth Convention Experience in November, but with an emphasis on campus evangelism. Hope you can go!

Dare 2 Share Ministries - Houston

2.13.2004

What time is it?

INDUSTORIOUS CLOCK ||| MONO*CRAFTS
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[DISCLAIMER: The opinions in this post do not necessarily represent any other point of view other than that of the submitter. No responsibility is claimed for successive thoughts or responses, lucid or otherwise. -xrdblog mgr]

2.09.2004

XRD related Grammy!

Just for a topic of conversation, you can share the blessings of David Martinez ( a member of the Grammy Award winning Best Gospel Choir) who connects back to his years as one of the youth from El Tabernaculo Assembly in H-Town, and is excited for the award for:
A Wing And A Prayer
Bishop T.D. Jakes, choir director; The Potter's House Mass Choir
[EMI Gospel/Dexterity Sounds]
Congratulations to The Potter's House Mass Choir! Attaboy, David!! Que Dios le bendiga!

Look at Category 57!
GRAMMY.com
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[DISCLAIMER: The opinions in this post do not necessarily represent any other point of view other than that of the submitter. No responsibility is claimed for successive thoughts or responses, lucid or otherwise. -xrdblog mgr]

2.05.2004

It's a new season!

Tonight was a wonderful expression of God's grace! One person came to the feet of Jesus and welcomed him into their heart, and healing is beginning in many other areas of other lives! I can only express my joy in saying "Hallelujah!" The ministry team that God is putting together is wonderful and extreme in it's vision! Each day will bring more blessings! I hope you will be able to read about them here as we continue to grow in the Love of God.

btw 1 Corinthians 16:14 "Let all your things be done with charity [agape]." I thought it was of divine origin! Don't forget to make your comments below, and if you would like to be a contributor, just put your email address, and I will send you the invitation to give you access into the BLOG.

2.01.2004

Tab/XRd Blog & FlashMob!

XRD Youth
I hope you guys can join this page! If you want me to send you an invite... just make a comment [below], and I will send the invite to your valid e-mail address. Welcome! Let's make the El Tab/XRD BLOG experience one that really rocks on all fronts! Maybe even plan a FlashMob in our community! Whattay say?

Bro. Max

Take A Stand Rally

Well, the assembly at Sam Houston went well. Lotsa positive feedback about all the people who presented the Message. Wish we could have filled up WVUMC more. PDub was excited and I am glad we were able to hook up with him.
Brother Doug (Jackie Chan) Stringer was there with Daystar and it was good to see him. Wish he would have been on the stage also. Thanks Daystar! Jacksonville, MI for next year's Super Bowl... and I hope Somebody Cares Jacksonville will be involved. To God be the GLORY!

p.s. It was cool that Joey won a pair of shoes! Now all three of us guys have some GPeC shoes! Latahz!
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[DISCLAIMER: The opinions in this post do not necessarily represent any other point of view other than that of the submitter. No responsibility is claimed for successive thoughts or responses, lucid or otherwise. -xrdblog mgr]