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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer, Part 3

This week is part three of my four-part series on prayer. How are you doing on your prayer life? Prayer is essential for our relationship with God. I have already said it is a conversation with God, so open up to Him about anything.

Last week, I talked about sin and confessing those sins to God. He is good and he hears what we have to say. If we are truly sorrowful, He will surely heal a contrite heart.

This week I want to talk about being thankful in your praying. So when you pray, you can also be intentional. Count your blessings to cultivate a grateful a heart. Some ways you can do that is to stop and smell the roses (thank God for creation), smile (thank God for what we have), don’t stop believing (remember what Jesus did for us, keep the faith).

Here’s a little exercise for you to do over the course of five days. In those five days, begin thanking God for your blessings. Do this by organizing circles of people to pray for. Divide them into three groups – Inner Circle, Middle Circle and Outer Circle.

Your Inner Circle should be your smallest circle and should consist of a close group of friends and family. Your next circle – the Middle – should be a little bigger and would consist of good friends, acquaintances and extended family. Your largest circle would be your Outer Circle. This circle is comprised of people we don’t know or have few interactions with. For example, these people could be a celebrity, delivery person, neighbor down the street, etc.

Spend time organizing your circles and make a plan to go to God on their behalf regularly. Once you make a plan to do this for five days, then make it part of your daily prayer routine. Keep this in mind as your are creating your circles and forming your daily prayer life, Philemon 1:4-6 says, “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.“

Another note on prayer is that God answers our prayers. Sometimes, though, it may not seem like it. So the important thing is to remember to not be negative if it doesn’t appear your prayer was answered in the way you wanted. God has a plan. Change your “why” into “how.” Ask yourself, “How am I going to use this?” The objective, remember, is to have an intimate relationship with God. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I will conclude this series next week. Be sure to follow my YouTube channel as I post a short video there on every topic that’s talked about here on my blog. I also post other short videos throughout the week and share a verse of the day. I usually post a new video on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Until next week, have a good week and may God bless you!

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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer, Part 2

This week I am continuing my four-part series on prayer. Last week I introduced prayer as a communication between you and God. Prayer can take many forms, but it is essentially a conversation to have with God.

I stated last week in part one to go to God about everything. Use it as a way of getting to know God, communicating our desires to God, listening to God speak truths to our spirit, voicing our needs for God to help us, observing God in creation and praising Him, sitting with God in our pain and asking Him to comfort us, and expressing our gratitude by thanking God. And you can simply do this by keeping prayer as an open-ended conversation with God. Another important part of prayer is confessing our sins. So the topic this week will be about confession/sin as part of praying. Psalm 103:11-12 reads, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

He does remove our transgressions. He cleanses us from our sins through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. We are not perfect. Therefore, we can come to God messy, in our impure, sinful state. C. S. Lewis said confession is like “the threshold of prayer.” We should confess first. Pray and confess for all sins and transgressions, be sorrowful, and ask for help to move away from those sinful ways.

If there is an issue that keeps tripping you up, what do you need to adjust, remove, or add to halp you turn from it?

I know in my life, there have been some things where I seem to keep repeating. I prayed to God for guidance and courage to break away from those sinful ways. I have also tried saying little prayers when I might have felt the urge to commit a sin. I ask for peace to flow over me so that I can turn away. It has helped. I know I just need to be persistent in my desire and need to change. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” We know that, through Jesus Christ, we have eternal life with God.

As it says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have a forgiving, loving heavenly Father. When we fall, he can pick us up. God gave Jesus as the final covenant for all mankind.

“Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart.” – Paul E. Miller.
Praying helps us stay on track. It helps guide us in our ways. It helps us sustain our relationship with our God.

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Creating and Sustaining a Life of Prayer

Throughout this month, I am going to do a series on prayer and cover such topics as what prayer is, how we use prayer, how to create a consistent prayer life and more. This will be a four-part series.

In today’s lesson, I will touch on what prayer is and how important it is to us as Christians to have some kind of prayer life.

First of all, the definition(s) found in the dictionary are put as “A devout petition to God or an object of worship,” “A spiritual communion with God or an object of worship,” or “The act or practice of praying to God or an object of worship.”

Simply put, “Prayer is simply two-way conversation between you and God.” – Billy Graham.
It is the “most important conversation of your day. Take it to God before you take it to anyone else.” – Anonymous

You can also look at prayer as getting to know God, communicating our desires to God, listening to God speak truths to our spirit, voicing our needs for God to help us, observing God in creation and praising Him, sitting with God in our pain and asking Him to comfort us, and expressing our gratitude by thanking God. And you can simply do this by keeping prayer as an open-ended conversation with God.

Here are some questions to reflect on:
– What is your earliest memory of prayer/praying?
– What is a time when you might have been surprised because God answered your prayer?

Psalm 55:1 says, “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!”
Prayer is vital to our growth as Christians. The Gospels are filled with moments with Jesus in prayer – when he was alone and with others, before and after healing someone, before meals, and even after being nailed to the cross and as he was dying. Prayer is connecting with and growing with God. Treat prayer as a close relationship you might have with another person. Prayer can be filled with moments of gratitude, praying for others, or just sharing our needs, fear, or insecurities. Just open up a conversation and go to God about everything.
“Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.” – Mother Theresa

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul writes about prayer, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

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Live Without Sin and Glorify God

In Romans, Paul tells us we don’t have to do what sin tells us to do. When we believe and put our trust in the Lord, we come to Christ on a spiritual level.

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with hi by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)

The chains of sin no longer affect us. Paul continues, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be untied with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:5-7)

Through this, we experience a spiritual death and resurrection that parallels Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have conquered sin, in a way, as Jesus conquered death. His resurrection is our saving grace. Our redeeming power over sin. Although we still might hav a desire to sin, we must turn ourselves to Christ so that we honor and glorify God.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, or make you obey its passions. Do not present your members t sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:12-14)

God is to be glorified and loved above all things. Jesus tells his disciples this as he sends them out to do his work, if we follow Jesus we have already won power over sin. In Matthew, Chapter 10, he gives them instructions on what to do and also gives them a warning, that there would be some skepticism and resistance.

As Jesus says in verse 38, “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” We must bear all of our worries, doubts and fears to offer to Jesus and he will lift us up and forgive our transgressions so to live a life of everlasting love with Jesus.

By giving honor to the Maker and turning to Jesus when we stumble and fall, when we sin, we are glorfying his name and giving victory over those sinful ways.

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Happy Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there, including step-fathers or any type of father figure. Today we hoor you. In the same way mothers were honored last month. It is also the same as we honor our heavenly father, just as Jesus did.

Today’s verse comes from one of the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God giving you.” This is the fifth commandment, with all of them listed in the book of Exodus, chapter 20. The commandments are simply not just a bunch of words given to Moses on stone tablets. The commandments are one of many covenants God had with his people, the Israelites. They were a list of rules of how God wanted his people to act.

In the fifth commandment, God was asking the children (mostly the adult children) to look out for their parents, provide for them in their older age when they may be incapable of providing for themselves.

Today, we use it for all children to respect and love their parents, and still provide for them as they get older.

With today being Father’s Day, we are reminded of that simple truth. We must come back to that truth in order to follow God’s commandments and honor those that brought us into this world. And even those who have helped form us and shape us through our own growing through the years.

I know there every father may not be the strongest role model or the best father, but I’m sure they try in their own way. There have been times of disconnect with my own father through the years, but he is still my father and love him and do the best I can.

Good fathers share positive upbringing to his children. That goes for mothers as well. But in Ephesians 6:4, it says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” As I said earlier, the commandments were given as a guide of how God wanted his people to act. So this verse from Ephesians reminds us that we also must give reverence to our heavenly father, the Creator of all things, as it says in Matthew 10:37, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

This simply follows God’s commandments. Giving reverence to those who raised us and supported us, even to those who helped form us and teach us, is important. But so is honoring the Father in heaven. It is the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) It is a name above any other name. And all glory and honor is for him.

So today, let’s not forget our fathers, our parents, and those other parental figures in our lives. And let us not forget our Father in heaven. Here is a prayer to help with that. “Father, please show me how I can honor my parents – even if our relationship is difficult. I also than you for the special mentors ad parental figures you’ve give me. Amen.”

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Love and Be Blessed

Many times in our lives we may not feel blessed. Or we may not feel like we’re worthy of God’s love and blessings. We may go so far as to think, at times, that we don’t deserve His love and blessings.

In John 8, it begins with the scribes and the Pharisees who brought to Jesus, a woman who committed adultry. When he told those present that anyone without sin be the first to cast a stone upon her. No one did. And eventually, all of them went away. This represents God’s mercy and love. You can never be too far gone that you will not be able to receive God’s love.
This brings me to today’s verse.

Today’s verse I would like to share with you comes from Deuteronomy 30:16. It says, “For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

It seems you are never too far gone. No one is ever very far away from the Lord. That’s what this verse says. We are all special children of God. We are blessed. If we obey what He has set out for us and follow in His ways, we are blessed. The first verse of Psalm 112 says, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in is commandments.”

There will be hardships and difficult times that we endure. But God is there. We may not fully understand the situations at the time, but know that He is there. Having faith is trusting in God. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

As I said last week, to be a light for others. When you are blessed, you can go forth and share that blessing with others. You can be a blessing to them.

God wants nothing more than to love us. We are His children. We are His flock, Jesus is our shepherd. Set your hearts and mind to honor Him and keep His commandments, just as He told Abraham in Genesis 12:2, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Here is a little prayer to ask God to help you love and be blessed: “God, please teach me how love and obedience work toether. Please help me to love You through obedience. And please help me to obey You out of Love. Amen.”

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Be a light, make the world shine with light

Today I want to share with you a scripture passage that has as much meaning today as in any day. The scripture comes from Matthew 5:14 and reads as follows: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”

With all that is going on in the world, with its current state of affairs – and really for the last several years – some of humanity has lost its way it seems. We can all act too quickly to blame others or see fault in people, but cannot see our own shortcomings. Not everyone is like this, but it appears there are people that have this mentality, or thought.

In Matthew Chapter 7, Jesus says, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” I think today’s passage (Matthew Chapter 5) reflects those words, and it is what we should all be asking ourselves. “Can I be a light the world needs?” It is possible that many don’t turn that light on for fear of ridicule or prosecution. Perhaps if we took a step, be bold (like Jesus), and let the light shine for others to see and not be like that town that is hidden, then it might give others the courage and strength to be bold as well and let more light shine upon this world.

It can be difficult I know. I struggle with this myself at times. But it is in God’s word that gives us hope, strength and courage. It is my hope that you can see that and accept His word to be a light unto this world. There are three simple ways to effectively allow God’s light to emanate through us: 1) Be an effective witness; 2) Serve others; 3) Fellowship with Christians.

Here is a simple prayer to ask for help in being that light: “Father, please teach me how to represent Jesus well in the world. Please help me to follow His ways and not my own. Please let me reflect Jesus into this broken and dark world. Amen.”

May we all be encouraged to shed light unto this world, just as Jesus did, so that we may become a united people and close the divide between us.

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Long absence, much to process

So I made a post nearly a year and a half ago. After having moments of posting lapses (I post some, then I don’t, post some, then I don’t) a lot has happened during that time. I have been here in the state of Texas for more than two years, after moving in April 2018 from Missouri. It was a long year in 2019, and now here we are in 2020.

Recently, much has transpired in the past few months. I began to take another look at my life, and although I enjoy it and feel blessed for where I am now, (still the sports editor for the Moore County News-Press, a position which I have held since October 2018), I felt there was something missing.

I’ve wanted to get back to writing and creating blogs (even though I was writing nearly every day for the newspaper). I have had a shift in my creative desires. Especially since all this global pandemic has been going on.

A quick note on that is I’ve been well. I still kept my job, even though there hasn’t been any local sports to report on. I’ve been trying to keep busy and doing what I can to fill my sports pages with information.

Anyhoo, the something I have been missing was on my spiritual side. I was attending church and trying to be active there, but since the beginning of the shutdown back in March I have contemplated something else. I think it was brewing before the lockdown and just came to fruition since I had a little more time on my hands.

And now, more recent events have prompted me to pursue this even more.

In the beginning of March, I started connecting with a friend that I have known for a while. She shared a lot with me and the first weekend in March when I was visiting my hometown, we spent a lot of time together – and long story short – we became a couple. The last two plus months were amazing, but unfortunately it ended as quickly as it began.

Prior to this, I was contemplating a revamp on my blog, while getting back to my spiritual side. I have since moved on from my previous religion (something that I have known my entire life) and have been gravitating towards another. I am stil retaining my Christian faith, but on a slightly different path.

I decided I want to share that in my blog. Beginning this Sunday, June 7, I intend to do a weekly post, at least, and share some thoughts, encouraging words, and/or scripture through my blog posts. Especially in these trying times. And although, some things are beginning to open back up and return somewhat to normal, it all is still not quite there. Additionally, I will also attempt to revamp my YouTube channel and might post on there a little more frequently sharing some of the same things and other positive content.

I have been preparing myself and putting things in place to get this new chapter going, and I think I’m ready to go.

I hope everyone is well and stays focused on the positive so we can all get through this together.

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Changes: moving, new opportunities, new challenges

Here it is – another year about to end. It is about two hours away from where I am until the new year comes. Most people are with families and friends. For many, the new year is a time for new beginnings….new hopes….new dreams….a new outlook on things. In any case, it can also be a time to look back and reflect. Thinking about what has transpired over the last year and what might be look forward to in 2019.

Although, before I go further I will say that some of the content for this post is from an earlier post from a few years ago. I thought it was relevant to this one as well. I mean, after all, a new year is almost upon us.

Resolutions are made by many for the new year. I failed to do so this year at this point. But I might make some right before the clock strikes 12 a.m. My resolutions never seem to stick so I found it unnecessary to resign to make resolutions that I may or may not keep. I wrote in 2014 that I was going to strive to make small attainable goals throughout the year so my goals and needs will be easier to hopefully obtain. I’m not sure if I achieved all I set out to do, but I will try that for this new year.

For almost nine months, I have lived in a new place. I made a big move that I thought I wouldn’t make. I am adjusting and enjoying my new life. I also started a new job in October as a sports editor for the county newspaper. It’s been challenging, fun, and exciting. All in all it has been enjoyable. Of course, it has its ups and downs like any job I suppose, but I am happy and living well.

It’s funny. In 2014 when I wrote this new year’s post, I was working in print media. Now I am working in it again. I feel it is a better job than what I had four years ago.

At any rate, I am pleased with my current situation and happy that I made the decision to move. It was a little touch and go a few months down here in Texas, but I prayed and persevered. Now I am in a good place.

I haven’t kept up with my blog like I was going to. Perhaps this new year will prove otherwise. If I can take my own advice and set small, attainable goals, I can hopefully reach those goals. I think that is good advice for anything. And anyone.

kellym40 film review

Action hails from new heights in ‘Skyscraper’

Rating 2.5/5

Although I found some faults with this film, it was a somewhat enjoyable experience (maybe because it was released on my birthday). More probable is that it had just enough to keep me engaged without it meandering off in many different storylines and subplots.

As one reviewer put it, it’s something of a combination of Die Hard and The Towering Inferno. Which means, it has just enough mindless action to keep an audience entertained for 102 minutes, but not much else to make you go “Wow, that was amazing.” 

Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote and directed this particular piece of movie cinema with the idea of making a summer blockbuster with a big name actor attached to it. The film does provide a spectacle and sets forth an array of action sequences. However, while it does an adequate job of creating the thrilling action scenes, it doesn’t appear to have a good grasp on setting up the major plot. Unless I just missed something along the way. I didn’t fully get the major story point until maybe half way through the film. And of course once I got it, I put the pieces together and I was back in the film. As I said earlier, I was engulfed in the film. It was that initial set up, which should have been early in the second act, that would have made it just a little more clear of why the bad guys were trying to do what they are doing.

First, before going any further, the film starts off introducing the hero Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) as a highly trained Marine and FBI agent who’s in charge of a hostage negotiation that doesn’t go as planned. The suspect sets off a bomb, killing some agents and wounding others. This is the inciting incident that sets the movie in motion. He is rushed to the hospital and meets his future wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) the doctor about to operate on him. Flash-forward several years later, we find Will married with two kids. He has lost his left leg below the knee in that earlier incident. Will now serves as a security consultant where his latest job has taken him and his family – McKenna Grace and Noah Cottrell portray his children – to Hong Kong. His job is to analyze the safety of The Pearl – a self-contained city, stretching higher into the sky within the building. It’s the design of billionaire Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han)

Of course, the audience does discover Will is being set up somehow as his former team member, Ben (Pablo Schreiber) who was also injured in the blast from the beginning of the film, receives a text message indicating he is in some way working with the bad guys.

Roland Moller plays Kores Botha, who leads his team of evil henchmen into the bulding with highly flammable chemicals to set the place on fire. Will’s wife and kids were not supposed to be there, but they have returned unexpectedly because they actually live in one of the residential units in a building that is not supposed to open yet? I guess they get to stay there because Will is the security consultant.

That’s of course the moment that Johnson springs into action to save his family. This propels the movie into the second act. In the wildly imaginative, thrilling action sequences that follow, Will uses his military training (and his prosthetic leg) in creative ways in order to get to his family and stop the evildoers.

The film moved along at a decent pace for the 102-minute runtime. The effects were believable, which added to the excitement and thrills. However, they weren’t extraordinary. It did sort of feel like Die Hard in the sense it took place in a tall building as he was trying to get to his family and bring them to safety. Something to note, though, is that Johnson, while a decent action star, didn’t quite seem to fit here. Something just felt out of place with his role. That being said, most of the leading characters (good guys and bad guys) didn’t seem to have much in character development. There wasn’t much there to make you really feel for the characters.

In all, the film did have action and effects and it kept me in just enough to be entertained for a little while, but not enough to make it remarkable.