PRAY

P. 

Petition

Prayer is one of those funny things that I confess I don’t fully understand. 

Here’s what I know. 

Jesus told us to ask and we would receive. 

God isn’t a slot machine where you feed prayers like coins hoping for a pay out but I think we don't utilize the gift of asking. 

I know for myself I don’t always ask because I don’t fully believe who I am to God, but when I see myself as a beloved son then I can approach the throne of grace with confidence. 

Praying to ask for something isn’t wrong on fact I would say it’s encouraged. 

Like my own children I want to give good things to so my father in heaven wants to give me good things. 

Joshua asked for the sun to stand still. 

Peter asked to be called out of his boat 

Why don’t we ask for bigger things with bigger faith?

Do we forget who we’re asking? 

2021 is the year of hope and hope means believing and believing means expecting and expecting means we ask. 

Make 2021 the year of asking for big things. 

Let your petition be made. 

R. 

Repentance

I don’t think this is a very popular word; it certainly does not hit mainstream conversation but it’s an important element of prayer. 

What is repentance? 

I was always told that repentance is turning away from bad behavior or choice, a 180 degree turn that means I need to change. 

I hate being wrong I don’t know about you but I don’t believe anyone can move to the next level of maturity without admitting what’s wrong and dealing with it. 

I think the reason most of us don’t come to prayer with repentance in mind is we are so afraid of being shamed for our shortcomings. 

Repentance isn’t about shame or guilt it’s about accountability and acceptance. 

With Jesus there is no condemnation. I’ve experienced it from people who said they represented him but it’s not God's heart. 

A second chance is heaven's heart. 

I think it’s time I started taking ownership of what is not right in my life and where we are failing. It's the only way I can accept what Jesus wants to give me; it's also the way to accepting what he wants to give you. 

Don’t be afraid of repentance it’s the first step to forgiveness. 

A. 

Aligning 

Prayer is about alignment but in what direction?

What part of God's will are we needing to line up with however?

Praying in alignment isn’t about pushing yourself out of the way because you're bad it’s about getting your heart and mind on the same page as Gods about your life. 

What does God dream about for you? 

Have you ever thought about that?

Did you know that the dreams inside you for things you want to do are his desire for you?

Try praying that God would show you how he sees you, what plans he has for you and then embrace that version. 

If how you’re living today isn’t aligned to the person God sees you as you have two options alignment or denial. 

You change what your doing and how your living or you pretend you never saw the best version of yourself and live the shadow version and never experience the beauty of a life lived in alignment. 

I’m committed to living in alignment and out of the shadow version. 

I invite you to join me in alignment today. 

Y. 

Yielding

Yielding is waiting, not abandoning thought. 

When we pray with yielding we are saying to God I’m gonna look to see what you're doing before I just go out and act. It's not saying I’m gonna not act till I know every light is green along the route I’m on. 

Yielding requires maturity that to this day I’ve yet to achieve. It demands that I do not rush ahead but stop and listen to the one with the answers. It also means trusting in God's timing for things knowing when his delays are not denials. 

I’ve actually learned a lot about yielding from the intentional mentorship I’ve experienced over the years. 

Good mentorship is about getting perspective not permission. 

Yielding in traffic is about looking before leaping. 

Yielding in prayer is about both asking for perspective from the one who knows you inside out and looking to see where he is going and waiting on his timing. 

Jesus said. Ask, Seek, & Knock. All actions that require the maturity to wait and listen.

FEAR

F. 

Freaked out or Faith filled. 

You have two choices when faced with fear. 

It’s not what the reality of the situation is but the reality of who’s in control. 

Looking back at the last 12 months if I think I’m in control or the government is in control or my boss is in control all the choices that were made and are still being made would freak me out. 

I was talking to one of my mentors Brad and he asked me point blank “Is God in control” 

I replied “I believe he is.” 

“No no no” Said Brad “Is God in control?”

It’s not about what I think, feel or even believe it’s about what is. God is in control period. 

Stuff will happen. That’s not the question. 

When fear knocks at your door the question is will you answer it with faith or anxiety?

You have two choices. I’ve made mine. 

E. 

Ego driven or Eternal focused. 

Fear leads to two paths and only two: 

Self focus or God focus. 

When I’m afraid and that fear takes me down a dark road it’s because I’m focusing on me and what I have to lose in a given tough spot. 

For me staying afraid is egotistical because I start to believe that someone or something is out to get me as opposed to the truth that problems are coming because I’m being built to handle bigger problems. 

Why you ask am I being asked to handle bigger problems? 

Because I was made for eternity. 

I was made, as you were, to reign in heaven with Jesus. 

While I’m here I’m supposed to learn how to be a steward of the world and all it has to offer. Oops messed that up already, but God is merciful if he wasn’t he wouldn’t have sent Jesus to redeem us he would have made earth 2.0. 

We weren’t made to sit on the sidelines of life we were made to be players. 

The Super Bowl was on yesterday 20,000 people in the crowd perhaps millions watching & less then 50 players that actually get play time? 

That’s a bad ratio to live our lives like.

So get your eyes off yourself when problems come, realize why they came to you, get your gear on and be a player in this thing we call life. 

I’ll see you on the field. 

A. 

Abandoned or Adored

Here we stand again, a fork in the road. Fear has led us here but where will we go?

Fear can be isolating. It can make you feel like you are all alone in your pain and struggle. 

There is really only one strategy that the devil has. It’s to make you forget whose you are and whose you are. 

When fear comes in like a wave remember that it won’t stay forever and the rock does not move. 

I am adored (dearly loved) by my Heavenly Father and because of that I can punch fear in the face, I can stand on the rock. 

The truth is that I am not abandoned and I am not alone. 

I am secure and I can overcome anything because of who lives in me. 

Fear I don’t stand alone and I’m not afraid anymore.

R. 

Regret or Revelation 

Taking a look back at the roads you have chosen when facing fear do you regret them or did the road reveal something? 

Fear can either freak you out or fill you with faith. Make you focus on your own strength or focus on Gods plan that you are his dearly beloved or make you think you’re all alone. 

Looking back at your choices I’m sure you, like me, didn’t choose the high road every time and that leaves another opportunity.

Regret or Revelation. 

Regret says I choose poorly therefore I am bad and because I’m bad I choose poorly. It’s a sick cycle of death that’s made for you to fail. 

Revelation says I choose poorly therefore I am in need of a new direction and new ways of thinking how to clear the mechanism? 

The great church planter Paul said it best. 

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

And later 

Be washed by the water of God's word. 

Don’t let the reality of fear and the choice to stay in its control of it stop you from seeing yourself the way Jesus sees you and rise.

TRUST

T. 

Transparency 

For me the first step to trusting is transparency in any relationship I think this is important. 

Authenticity is one of my core values and if not a core value for everyone I imagine it is valued by all. 

I’ve learned transparency isn’t emotionally vomiting on everyone you meet but being willing to at some level share your heart and open the door for others to do the same. 

It’s easy to stay hidden heck we’ve even got masks now to hide our faces. 

My encouragement is take the emotional mask off and be transparent someone out there is waiting for you to be authentic and open the door for real relationship. 

R. 

Relationship 

A key ingredient to any relationship is trust. In fact it may be the key. 

Relationship and trust. Trust and relationship. 

They are two sides of the same coin. 

Eric Erickson a student of Sigmund Freud said the first thing we learn is to either trust or mistrust and it sets us on a path that. We need to first trust or we will never have the quality relationships we were meant to have. 

A relationship without trust is doomed. Trust comes from sacrifice, but that’s for another day. 

Today reach out build some relationships based on trust. It’s what Jesus did it’s what we who follow him must also do. 

U. 

Unity

Walking through life with others and building transparent relationships takes unity. 

Something Christians throughout history have mistaken unity for conformity. 

Historically the demand for conformity has caused crusades, inquisitions and less violently church splits and turning the good news into something bad. 

How do we stand together when we don’t agree? 

I think unity starts in the heart the base is love if I love then I don’t have to demand that you are like me then we can build a relationship be transparent and create trust and if we trust then we are open to hearing the good news. 

S. 

Stock

Building trust takes personal investment and like the stock market it can be risky people could get hurt. 

Trust someone with your heart,

they may break it. 

Trust someone with your friendship,

they may betray you. 

Trust someone with your life,

they might steal it. 

Or

Trust someone with your heart,

they may heal it. 

Trust someone with your friendship,

they may become your best friend

Trust someone with your life,

they might build it back up. 

I have been on both sides of trust. 

The home I grew up gave me lots of reasons to not trust ever again but God showed up not that I recognized him. 

He looked like a teacher and a class mate. 

He looked like a friend and a coworker and also like a random stranger sometimes. 

I had to pick a side of trust to live on so do you. 

Healed people heal people. 

Hurt people hurt people. 

Be a healer, be a friend, build people up and help create trust it’s risky and it will cost you but the payout is eternal. 

T. 

Time 

Trust takes time. 

Like the old adage goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day” but it’s lasted many lifetimes. 

My mentor has told me that time is the most precious commodity we have, the most valuable thing we have to give because it’s the one thing we can’t create more of. 

I think in our fast food, digital, instant message world we have lost some very valuable truths about time.

I’ve been so wrapped up in the idea that I don’t have enough time to do all the things I need to do but that’s just not true. 

2020 proved time wasn’t the issue for many unfinished to do’s. 

Focus was the issue and honestly still is. 

Mike Murdock said “The only reason men fail is because of broken focus.”

2021 is the year of hope and you can’t give something to people if they don’t trust you and as I said 

Trust takes time. 

Make 2021 the year you build trust by giving away your most valuable possession, your time.  

FAITH

F. 

Fear less

Don’t confuse fearing less with being fearless, fear is a good way to stay alive but it’s also a good way to stay comfortable and average. 

God has not given you a spirit of fear he hasn’t  given me one either. 

He did however give us a spirit of power and love and self control. 

Those three things make fear smaller in your head and that’s the battle ground. 

Fear less you were made for so much more. 

A. 

Ask up

Having faith is recognizing that there are things in life that are bigger then you and believing that God is bigger then them. 

When I was a kid the big threat all us young kids had was our big brothers. “You better leave me alone or I’ll get my big brother” was something said and heard. 

There isn’t a question that problems will come knocking on your door. The question is who is going to answer. My big brother Jesus is who I will be asking to answer my problems who’s answering yours?

Look up and ask up. 

I. 

Intersession

Prayer on behalf of another. 

Jesus prayed this way for his disciples who were with him and those to come later. 

Faith is not supposed to be a solo thing it’s something we do in community.  Some new phrases have sprung up as a result of covid 19. “Who’s in your personal bubble?” is one of them. 

Who’s in your prayer bubble? When two or three are gathered in prayer Jesus is among us. 

Pray on behalf of others let their needs burden your heart and your faith will grow. 

Put Jesus at the center of it all and your faith will transform. 

T.

Thanks 

When do you typically say thank you before or after receiving something? 

Faith believes that what is promised is already present. The best description of faith I’ve ever read is in the Bible. 

It says Faith is the substance of things hopped for and the evidence of things not seen. 

Faith says thank you before knowing it’s already there. 

This is easiest when being told something by someone trustworthy. 

Jesus is that, He’s trustworthy, He’s faithful and to that I say thanks. 

H. 

Hold on

Hold on means wait. 

Hold on means grip. 

Waiting is hard especially when we don’t understand the why behind the waiting. 

But God does. Waiting means something is growing, like your faith. 

Gripping can mean taking hold of the promise that has been made or of what we are believing will come. 

Faith is waiting on and holding onto the promise maker and the promise keeper Jesus and trusting in his time and in him. 

LOVE

Love Leans in. 

There isn’t really a way to define the kind of love that Jesus introduced there is description in 1 Corinthians 13 I’ve been unpacking it for months. Love leaned in most obviously when Jesus made debut here but he left us here. 

We get to love like Jesus did and does, we get to lean into the hurts and pains of our friends and neighbors. 

We get to lean into the good times too even in the midst of a pandemic we can and need to lean in. 

Love Obliterates. 

The song by Skillet called Terrify the Dark. 

“Your light will terrify the dark

I call upon the name

That tears the night apart”

Love isn’t a fluff ball it’s a sword and shield. 

Perfect love cast out fear. 

It doesn’t just move it aside like a broom sweeps dirt from one place to another for me perfect love is like dynamite against a rock wall. 

When love comes in the wall can’t stand. 

Let love obliterate. 

Love Validates. 

“To support or corroborate on a sound or authoritative basis” -Noah Webster

Love is proof of worth and value. Love validates that you are precious and that you are wanted. 

Love isn’t just another 4 letter word it’s the last word. It’s the end of shame it’s the end of condemnation. 

Love is the authority of Jesus words when he said “It is finished” 

God is love and Jesus is God in a Bod so Jesus is love in the flesh and because I’ve been adopted so am I. 

You can be too. 

I love you. 

Love Exhorts. 

Another description would be encourage or nudge. 

Love builds up it’s not stationary it’s mobile and it’s a force. 

Love, like faith, demands action to prove it’s presents. 

This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. Jesus said that, then he went and died for friends and enemies alike. 

2020 was a year of turmoil 2021 can be different, will be different if we love like we have nothing to loose and everything to gain just like Jesus did.