prayer challenge

Pray without ceasing.

Pretty strong exhortation in I Thessalonians 5:17. Pray without ceasing. That’s a lot!

I’ll bet every one of us would agree that prayer is so important. That our country and our families are in need of it. That it changes things. (and us!) And that we need to do more of it.

I think most of us want to pray more…but maybe we lack the structure or the encouragement or the accountability.

So, today, I am asking you to consider joining me for prayer. For the month of March - 31 days - let’s commit to daily prayer. I am not suggesting an hour (but that would be a blessing if we did!) but let’s commit to pray daily. If you’re willing to join me, I’ll be sending out daily guidelines to help us pray. Scripture passages to pray through for our families. Our country. Our world.

I hope you’ll join me in walking in obedience to His command to pray without ceasing. If you are willing to give it a try, take the next step and say yes “publicly”. Either email me at chamfam@bellsouth.net or leave a comment below and I’ll know you’re in.

Beginning March 1. On our knees before His Throne!

What's in a name?

Psalm 9:10 tells us "Those who know Your name will put their trust in You". Do we know His name?
In order to trust Him, we need to!

Elohim - The Creator
El Elyon - The God Most High
El Roi - The God Who Sees
El Shaddai - The All-Sufficient One
Adonai - The Lord
Jehovah - The Self-Existent One
Jehovah-jireh - The Lord Will Provide
Jehovah-nissi - The Lord My Banner
Jehovah-mekoddishhkem - The Lord Who Sanctifies You
Jehovah-shalom - The Lord Is Peace
Jehovah-saboath - The Lord of Hosts
Jehovah-raah - The Lord My Shepherd
Jehovah-tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness
Jehovah-shammah - The Lord Is There

God is so beyond our comprehension that He uses lots of different names to help us begin to grasp who He is, His glory, His power, His love. Today I want to focus on just one - Elohim - The Creator. For those of us who are Christ-followers, we probably have no difficulty embracing Him as The Creator in a macro-sense-- we are confident that He created the world and everything in it. And that everything He made is good. And that He is The Ultimate Creator, beautiful and powerful and good. We stand strong against worldviews that purport otherwise. But when it gets down to the "micro" level, we might be a little shaky. The level of His creation of us. Of you. Of me. Oh, now I don't mean that we think we evolved from an amoeba. Or that random cells arbitrarily assigned themselves as this function or that. No, not that. But deep down do we celebrate and cling to Him as Creator of us, including our physical characteristics, the circumstances of our birth, our abilities (or lack thereof)? Do we accept ourselves as having been conceived and fashioned by Elohim? With the assigned purpose to give Him glory? Do we believe that every single detail of who we are was orchestrated by our always good, always loving, always powerful Heavenly Father in order to establish a relationship between us and Him? Or do we think He must have made a mistake or two in His design? Do we hold to a desire that He had tweaked a few details differently?

My prayer is that we, that I, would grasp our Elohim and His creation of us so completely that we wouldn't feel the need to expend our energy on trying to change our unchangeables. And that we wouldn't catapult into anxiety and discontentment and insecurity over our efforts. And that we wouldn't be consumed with thoughts about how God could've done things differently. And then anger and disappointment towards Him because He didn't.

May we heed Proverbs 18:10 which encourages us that "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe". Elohim dreamed us up and designed the particulars of who we are just as He desired. To bring Him glory. And to bless us. He loves us. And He doesn't love us because He made us --- He made us because He loves us. We are beautiful and precious in His sight. Run into the strong tower of Elohim!

Seeing 20/20

I got new contacts today. When the doctor popped them in my eyes, I blinked and was once again reminded what a difference clear vision makes. Being able to read without squinting. Seeing things at a distance without blur. Wow. I found myself functioning with more confidence and less self-consciousness. Walking and driving (especially at night) and just life in general became easier. I laughed out loud when my mind recalled the first time I got glasses. I was ten years old and apparently had not realized what I had been missing. As we drove home from that ophthalmologist's office in LaGrange, I provided a running commentary for my mom on all the sights. As in, the fact that trees have leaves......... I was amazed then - and still am now - at the difference it makes when one can see clearly.


I pondered.


Our physical experiences often have spiritual parallels and this is certainly true for our ability to see. Just like my walking physically is affected by my inability to see clearly, so it is with my spiritual life. When my spiritual vision is clouded - by sin or a lack of truth - my "walk" is clumsy and faltering and ineffective. I am more conscious of my self, and less conscious of others. I don't have the proper view of my circumstances. Of other people. Of myself.


These new contacts give me great vision. Clearer. More light. But not without adjustment. My brain has to adjust to one lens that sees close up and one that sees far away. I'm working on it :)


In the same way, I'm asking God to give me healthy spiritual eyes. Eyes that see life from His perspective. Light to see His truth in the darkness. Clear vision that will help me walk with confidence and focus on others instead of myself. And it takes practice and work to get it right. But eventually, it becomes easier....second nature.


When my eyes are full of Light, I walk well. When they aren't, I stumble. And great is the fall. My prayer today - Lord, fill me with your light. Help me set my eyes on things above. Amen.

Matthew 6:22-23

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Cross references:

1. Matthew 6:22 : Luke 11:34, 35

2. Matthew 6:23 : [See ver. 22 above]; Luke 11:34, 35

3. Matthew 6:23 : ch. 20:15; Deut. 15:9; Prov. 28:22

No refunds, no exchanges - James 1:17

Have you ever received a gift that you didn't want? Of course you have - we all have. We have all stood in those eternally long lines on December 26...to return the gift that didn't fit or didn't work or just wasn't right. Sometimes gift-givers just don't get it right. So we coach up our kids to respond graciously. "Even if you get 5 of the exact same things, say 'thank you'. And know we can take it back tomorrow!".

Have you ever received a gift from God that you didn't want? At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I surely have. And, if you are willing to be honest, I'll bet you have, too. Something - or someone - that wasn't what you wanted. A situation or answer that was not what you had hoped for, asked for, prayed long and hard for.

Since God doesn't have a "returns" policy on His gifts, what are we to do?


Well, first, I think He welcomes us to be honest with Him. (He already knows what we are thinking and feeling anyway!) Express your disappointment, grief, even anger over what He has permitted into your life. We should pour out our hearts to Him, allowing those emotions to empty out. I find it helpful to do this over and over, until I am ready for the next step.

Which is to Trust Him. Trust the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Who only gives good and perfect gifts. Sometimes they come wrapped in packaging that makes us think they are not what we want or need. But if we will trust the One who is the source of light - the One who never veers from His purpose to draw us closer to Himself, to conform us to the image of His Son, to give us lasting peace and joy and life more abundantly - then we can be assured that He has chosen the right gift. And that He will grant us the grace to receive it well, if only we will ask.

I get that it may very well take some time for our emotions to line up with what our heads are acknowledging. That's OK. Just keep trusting. As John Piper says, "God is always up to a thousand things that we cannot see." And He is always good, always loving. His Word is truer than my circumstances. Always.

If you have a gift from God that you would rather return, I understand. So does He. But turn your gaze away from the gift and onto the Giver. He loves you and He is at work on your behalf. I promise. And. more importantly, so does He.

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