Psalm 46:10

This verse fills me with both love and dread! I love knowing that God is a mighty God that will fight for me! It fills me with dread  when it says, "Be still!" Being still is not something I'm very comfortable with. If I am still too long my brain starts to go crazy! When I am still I have to find a way to quiet my brain! 

Ways that I quiet my brain:

1. Focus on scripture: 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 is a verse that comes to mind often!

2. Prayer:

I have to start with talking to God! If I don't get everything out, I can't be still!

3. Relax:

I have to be in a space that is comfortable but not so comfortable that I take a nap. If I am uncomfortable I will get antsy (picture a 2-year-old). I need to find balance.

4. Do something mindless:

Sometimes, I will doodle to keep myself engaged. Sometimes, I just sit quietly, Sometimes, I will sing or hum a favorite hymn or song. That helps my mind wander calmly instead of jumping around. 

5. Finally, be open to what God has to say:

We have to be open and willing to listen! Sometimes, this is the hardest part!

 

At the end of all of this, I may not be any closer to answers or feel like I am any closer to a resolution. However, if I am truly still and trust God I always feel at peace when I am done. I can know that even though I don't have the answers and I can't see what tomorrow will bring, my God does! He does know just what needs to happen and He absolutely knows what tomorrow will bring. I can trust that whatever that looks like I will not be facing it alone! 

Do you have a particular way that you like to be still and focus on God? A particular scripture that you like to pray over?

CJ

Dear Church Family,

Charles Spurgeon is a great theologian. I wanted to share a few of his famous quotes. He has many more!

Charles Spurgeon Quotes On Prayer

1. If you could pray the best prayer in the world without the Holy Spirit, God would have nothing to do with it. But if your prayer be broken and lame and limping, if the Spirit made it, God will look upon it and say, as he did upon the works of creation, “It is very good."

2. If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say it is in that one word—prayer.

3. All our perils are nothing, so long as we have prayer.

4. My own soul’s conviction is that prayer is the grandest power in the entire universe, that it has a more omnipotent force than electricity, attraction, gravitation, or any other of those other secret forces which men have called by name, but which they do not understand.

5. There is no secret of my heart which I would not pour into [the Lord’s] ear. There is no wish that might be deemed foolish or ambitious by others, which I would not communicate to him.

6. If there be anything I know, anything that I am quite assured of beyond all question, it is that praying breath is never spent in vain.

7. The more we pray, the more we shall want to pray. The more we pray, the more we can pray. The more we pray, the more we shall pray.

Charles Spurgeon Quotes On Praise

8. I feel like that good old saint, who said that if she got to heaven, Jesus Christ should never hear the last of it. Truly he never shall!

9. Praise is the rehearsal of our eternal song. By grace we learn to sing, and in glory we continue to sing.

10. It is well to praise the Lord for his mercy when you are in health, but make sure that you do it when you are sick, for then your praise is more likely to be genuine.

11. If I did not praise and bless Christ my Lord, I should deserve to have my tongue torn out by its roots from my mouth. If I did not bless and magnify his name, I should deserve that every stone I tread on in the streets should rise up to curse my ingratitude, for I am a drowned debtor to the mercy of God—over head and ears—to infinite love and boundless compassion I am a debtor.

Dear Church Family,

If we’re being honest, the Christian life seems to be backwards sometimes, does it not? Like when Jesus says that if we will humble ourselves, we will be exalted (Matthew 23:12). Or what about the last being first and the first being last (Matthew 20:16)? Then there is the example of the Macedonians who were over-the-top generous in the midst of their extreme poverty (II Corinthians 8:1-5). And the ultimate is Jesus’s declaration that “he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:25). In each of these cases, there are 2 things that simply don’t go together – and yet they do … at least in Christ they do.

There’s another one. It’s hard to fathom. And even harder to reconcile. Some people – some Christians – live several decades and never attain to it. In fact, I struggle with it too. Constantly.

Come prayer time in most church circles, whether it’s Sunday School, prayer meetings, whatever, we have a familiar playbook. We take prayer requests, and if we’re feeling especially spiritual, we add on praise reports. Both of these categories have their own distinctives, right?

Prayer requests usually cover physical problems that people are having. The sickness or disease, the accident, the treatments, etc. Throw in those who are in sorrow over the loss of a loved one. Sadly, it’s much more rare for us to really open up about our loneliness, doubts, struggles, relationships, finances, and temptations, but when we’re in a group that affords such openness, it’s a real blessing. But the point is, our prayer requests are a list of the bad things happening to us and others at the time.

The praise reports are a welcomed break from the struggles list. During this (often too brief) time we talk about all the things that God has given us, all the blessings, all the good things that are going on. Things that we’re thankful for. Things that make us smile.

But what if the lines between prayer requests and praise reports were blurred? What if they weren’t distinct at all? Well guess what – in Christ, our prayer requests become praise reports. And I don’t mean after God answers the prayer requests. I mean WHILE they’re still prayer requests.

Hear the words of Habakkuk 3:17-18:

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

No mention of future blessing or deliverance. No naming and claiming God’s abundance. Nope. Just transferring prayer requests into the praise report column. Backwards. And James captured the same backward idea when he said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (1:2). Trials ---- & Joy. See? Backwards.

And yet, that’s as characteristic of the Christian life as living even when we die. And really, the source is the same too: faith that Christ is enough. Even if we don’t get all we want, even if God does not answer our prayers the way we would like, even if we continue to go without. God is still enough. And that’s reason enough to praise Him at all times.

See you Sunday!
Pastor Lane

Dear Church Family,

Charles Spurgeon, known as “The Prince of Preachers,” pastored one of the largest churches of his day. From every vantage point, he was a successful pastor leading a successful church. Yet, when visitors came to his church in London, he would take them to a room in the basement where people were constantly interceding for the church. Spurgeon called it “the powerhouse of this church.”

Chad Bailey, pastor of The Rock Presbyterian Church, shared some Biblical insights on the practice of corporate prayer in the early church: “When we consider the pattern of the early church in the book of Acts, we find that emphasis on corporate congregational prayer clearly affirmed. In Acts 1:14, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles at Pentecost, it was while they were gathered in the Upper Room “devoting themselves to prayer.” The Spirit came during a prayer meeting. In Acts 2:42, as Luke summarizes the habitual practice of the post-Pentecostal church, he notes that they devoted “themselves to…the prayers.” In Acts 4, after Peter and John are released from prison for preaching Christ, they return to the church. Upon hearing the reports of the persecution, they all lifted their voices together in prayer. Likewise, when Peter was arrested in Acts 12, “earnest prayer was made for him by the church” (vs. 5), and when he was released, he found the church gathered and praying for him (vs. 12). The response of the church to crisis was a prayer meeting. In Acts 13, when Saul and Barnabas are sent as missionaries of the church in Antioch after a season of corporate prayer where they were set apart for the work. In Acts 14:23 when the elders are ordained in the churches of Lystra and Derbe, a season of prayer and fasting was held. Looking at Acts alone, it is clear that almost every major event in the book was accompanied by corporate prayer. The Spirit came upon the church as the people prayed. They faced down persecution at the prayer meeting. The Lord identified men for leadership at the prayer meeting.”

We have a lot of solid, important ministries here at IBC. I believe each one is necessary and effective for what they were created to accomplish for the Kingdom. That’s why we’re reaching new people in most areas. But none of these would go anywhere if it wasn’t for prayer. Prayer is the engine that moves the vehicles of ministry.

So I’m asking you to consider 2 opportunities where our Prayer Ministry is concerned:

Worship Prayer Warriors

This team rotates Sunday mornings to pray during the worship service. Pray for the service and the sermon. Pray for the lost who are present or watching. Pray for known needs. Anything. And how often they serve in the capacity depends on how many people are signed up to help.

Prayer Partners

This is a new emphasis of the Prayer Ministry that will begin Easter Sunday. It’s simple. It also works on a rotation basis, and volunteers will stand off to the side of the front of the sanctuary. At the end of each service, I will make attenders aware that these volunteers are available to pray with whoever would like on that day. And the prayer partners pray with whoever asks for it. That’s it. No counseling. No leading Bible study. Just praying with someone who needs it and asks for it. Could it get anymore Biblical and early church than that?

If you would like to get involved or are even interested and would like more information on these 2 prayer emphases or any others, contact the church office at 912-354-0548 or our Prayer Ministry coordinator, Patsy Parker, at 912-414-6131.

I hope you’ll seriously consider your involvement in IBC’s Prayer Ministry. The health and success of our church and every ministry of our church depends on it!

See you Sunday!

Pastor Lane

Dear Church Family,

Take some time to reflect on these powerful words from Ronnie Floyd:

I am convinced that we are making the Christian life a lot harder than God ever intended for it to be. Our enemy, Satan, has confused our intention, our direction, and our goal. We know that we ought to be winning in the Christian life, yet we are losing much of the time because we are making too hard.

I believe that the most important action you can take in the Christian life is to have a meaningful time with God daily. This action must be the heart of all that we do. It is the most basic of the basics. It is the one key fundamental that even the greatest Christian had better not fumble, or else defeat is inevitable.

Our enemy’s strategy is deliberate and deceiving. Satan wants to destroy us. He wants to get us out of God’s game plan. He wants us to think that living the Christian life is virtually impossible. He has gotten us involved in knowing more about Christianity instead of doing what we know. He has the church of Jesus Christ in disarray over pointless issues and many times in the weeds so much that no positive outcome for the advancement of God’s kingdom throughout the world occurs.

It is time to stop dumbing down to the devil’s level by saying that the Christian life is too hard. This wise and crafty schemer’s strategy is extremely focused. He wants to get followers of Christ involved in so many things that they will not make the time to have a meaningful time with God daily. Some of the things might even be good, but they are not essential.

The issue is not that the Christian life is too hard. The issue is that we are making to too hard. We have to understand that the only way to experience spiritual power, direction, and purpose is to have a meaningful time with God daily. The only way we are going to defeat the schemes of Satan is to have a meaningful time with God daily. The only way our families and our churches will function properly is for us to have a meaningful time with God daily.

How to Pray, p.35-36

See you Sunday!
Pastor Lane