My heart is so burdened in prayer lately. For friends, family, others in ministry, the body of Christ as a whole, the lost, the broken, the struggling, the numb, I can't fully explain it. The more I pray the more my heart breaks for things going on in the world. I posted a previous link called Pure Bride, and I just think about how short our lives really are. What are we really doing with our time? On the day of judgment, will God look at us and say, "I never really knew you"? Will we have a deep relationship with Christ, that goes beyond just feeling good about life? Will we be able to say that we...surrendered...all...?
I struggle with this daily. I find myself wondering these things often, and wanting my life to matter for the kingdom. If I looked back right now, would I be able to say that I not only gave my all...but that God has ALL of me?
Here's a beautiful song and prayer: I Surrender All to You
I have been reading through the gospels and doing a lot of reflecting on Jesus' last days on the earth with his disciples and the teachings he shared with them.There is so much to learn from those accounts. So as I continue to work through the gospels and soak it all in, I continue to be challenged...in great ways, and all the more burdened.
Most might think of feeling burdened as a sense of being overwhelmed or stressed by life in general...but what about being burdened in prayer? What does that really mean?
For me, I am just finding my heart more and more broken for things around me....and that is drawing me to deeper places of prayer. I find myself continually praying, and focusing a lot more energy into spending time with the Lord. The scriptures really are transforming and the spirit really does intercede and help us when we feel weak or weary.
It is a blessing to be able to communicate with our Lord through prayer....and I know I can't change everything going on around me...but I do know that God never ignores us...he always answers in some way when we call upon him.
My desire is that we will all be able to draw closer to the Lord in prayer...I really believe that prayer is so foundational to our daily lives and staying fully connected to God from day to day, even moment by moment, and not just week by week or even conference to conference. It opens our eyes to see what God sees and how we can enter into a deeper place of living out the callings he has for each of us. Not just in our individual lives, but in a corporate way. God's plans are way beyond our own, and the only way to tap into the way he is leading is to be rooted in prayer.
Here is a neat example of what prayer is doing in a community in Haiti. (The base in this video is also affiliated through YWAM, the organization that I'm going through for my upcoming Discipleship Training School. There is even a chance that our base in the Dominican Republic will be working alongside them for our outreach phase.)
Prayer Room- YWAM Haiti- Community Transformation through Prayer
Henri Nouwen has a really neat way of discussing prayer and how it can draw us deeper...Check it out.
"To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him into a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. ... Although it is important and even indispensable for the spiritual life to set apart time for God and God alone, prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts -- beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful -- can be thought in the presence of God. ... Thus, converting our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer moves us from a self-centred monologue to a God-centred dialogue."
May we pray without ceasing!
Enamorado,
Abby
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