It's NOT Over

Prayer month has come to an end but let us be clear, prayer is going to continue to penetrate the heart of our church.  We have seen some amazing things happen this month.  There have been experiences in prayer that have deepened our relationship with Jesus and deepened our understanding of what it means to communicate with him.

Have you spent time this month being grateful that our God wants to know us personally?

I remember a friend that was struggling to figure out what separated Christianity from any of the other religions in the world.  He was wondering why he would want to be a Christian.  He knew the story of Jesus, but he did not know Jesus.  He could only see Christianity as a religion with a mass amount of followers who were imperfect.  In his observations he could see no difference between the Jew, the Muslim, or the Christian.

This is a pretty common observation.  People look at the history of the world and ask, why?  Religion leads to fighting.  Religion leads to destruction and harm to people.  In their souls they know that those things are not right.  The thing is, they are right.  Religion has been a part of very destructive and dark times in history. 

Even today we see that religion is in the center of so many of the things that are wrong in our world.  In fact, John Piper said in a message called "To the American Church", "The church in America is slowly awakening from the distortion of about 350 years of dominance and prosperity." 

Throughout most of American history, being a Christian has been considered good and patriotic.  Being a Christian has been normal and culturally acceptable.  Generally being a Christian has often meant that things are going well for you.  Those facts have created a false sense that we are at home in the world.  We now are suffering from feeling at home in the world.  We expect things to go well for us.  Poverty, sickness, even death is the worse thing that can happen to us.  We expect ease and success.  We have developed a Christianity that supports those expectations.

But the call to be a Christian is the call to be an alien.  We are not home in this world.  We are not normal.  We should not feel comfortable.  This isn't Eden and we can't expect it to be.  Religion is religion.  We've let Christianity become religion and have forgotten that Christianity is simply knowing and following Christ.

What does Christianity have that no other religion can claim?  Our God wants to know us personally and wants us to know him personally.  Our God is alive and well and desires a relationship with you.  Jesus has risen from the dead and through his Holy Spirit allows us to know him deeply and wholly.  He has given us his Word as he is the Word and offers himself to us not for us but for himself.  Our reward is Jesus.  We get to belong fully to the Creator of the Universe.  The one who spoke time into being.  The one who illuminates darkness and forms dust into man.  He wants YOU.

That is why we pray.  Because that is what we get.  We pray to know the God of the Universe.  Prayer month is ending, but prayer is still just beginning.  Let us keep praying together!  As a church, let us pray the following prayer together each day this week.

Whoever truly loves you, good Lord, walks in safety down a royal road, far from the dangerous abyss; and if he so much as stumbles, you, O Lord, stretch out your hand.  Not one fall, or many, will cause you to abandon him if he loves you and does not love the things of this world, because he walks in the vale of humility.  Amen.

 -St. Teresa of Avila

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Another Way to Pray

We often think about prayer as presenting our requests to God.  Of course we know that prayer is communication with God, but too often in practice prayer is us with our heads bowed and hands clasped speaking to God.
There is something called "The Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication" that shows the parts of communication.  Note that there is a sender, a receiver, AND a return message.  It's not a one way street.  Take a look at the picture below to get an idea of what is going on during communication.
Prayer is communication with God.  There is a sender, a channel that a message is sent through, and a receiver.  THEN the receiver answers back.

Are you ALWAYS the sender when you communicate with God?  What channels to you use?

One channel that I encourage people to use is music.  Music is a great way to communicate.  In fact, we see music used throughout the Bible to communicate things.  The Psalms are filled with musical communication.

This Thursday at 7pm we will do our bi-monthly Awakening service at Centennial Park in Eldridge.  I encourage you to be there.  We will use the channel of music to pray together.  We will sing prayers together, speak prayers together, and read prayers together.  I invite you to explore different channels of prayer.  Is it reading, writing, music, painting, sitting quietly, hiking?  I invite you to invite God into all the places you communicate effectively and see how "praying without ceasing" is really as simple as inviting God to be a part of all of your communication.

What are some ways you communicate?  Have you ever used that communication to pray?  What was your experience like?  Share with us in the comments below!

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Moving Mountains

"There comes a moment when you must quit talking to God about the mountain in your life and start talking to the mountain about your God."

- "Draw the Circle" day 14, Mark Batterson

Entering into prayer is entering into a spiritual battle.  When we see prayer depicted in pictures or art, we often seen peaceful people (often children) on their knees in a quiet place with folded hands, eyes closed, half smiling. These two pictures are fairly classic.

"The Infant Samuel at Prayer" by Joshua Reynolds

"The Virgin in Prayer" by Sassoferrato

"Prayer" by John Phillip

It's not really a peaceful thing.  When we drop to our knees in prayer we are entering into a battle against the powers of evil.

But the battle is already won.  We are already victors because Christ has already conquered death.

That is why we can say to the mountain, my God is bigger.  That is why we can say to the disease, my God can heal.
That is why we can say to the perfectly impossible person in our lives, my God's love extends even to you.
That is why we can say to storm, my God is stronger.

When God allows the struggle and the pain, we get to know him better.  We find God in the suffering.

"But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." --C.S. Lewis

What is your mountain?  What is it that you need to tell of your great God?  What storm to do you have to remind your God is stronger?  What battle do you need to enter into, knowing that it's already won?

Share in the comments or ask our team of people to pray with you by submitting a prayer request on our prayer request page.

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Being a Journalist

Day 5 of "Draw the Circle" talked about having a prayer journal.  I relate well with this because if I take a minute to write something down, it tends to embed itself within my brain.  I am notoriously bad at spelling, but one school year I had a teacher who would make us write down each spelling word 3 times per day.  I don't think I missed a single point in spelling all year.  Now, I do the same thing with my kids.  They bring their spelling homework home and they write down their words over and over.

A prayer journal serves many purposes.  If we take a minute to write down the things we want to pray for, the things we have been praying for, and the things we have seen God be faithful to do, they will become embedded in our hearts.  We will find our selves praying continually and dwelling on God's goodness and faithfulness.

Prayer journals are also lend themselves to great bursts of creativity and worship.  I've written songs that have come from my prayer times.  I wrote them originally right in my prayer journal.  Many of the songs we sing together on Sunday have no doubt started as someones prayer.  Even reading through the Psalms is like reading through David's prayer journal.

So what does your prayer journal look like?  Is it a college ruled notebook that you got on sale at Wal-Mart after back to school shopping? That's what my currant journal is.  Maybe you have a journal that is special to you.

What is your journal like?  Do you have a journal?  What are some things you like about prayer journalism?  Let us know in the comments.

THERE IS A CONCERT COMING ON SATURDAY THE 20th.
Often we think of prayer as being something that we close our eyes, bow our head, and speak out loud.  It is so much more than that though!  One fantastic way to pray is to sing and worship through music with friends and family!  
Louis Brittz is a worship leader who is from South Africa.  He is the Chris Tomlin of South Africa and he is coming to play with people from our very own band at North Ridge.  Stone's Throw will be playing with Louis on Saturday the 20th at 7:00p.m. in the multi-purpose room.  Louis and his family will join him and you will get to hear his testimony and spend time celebrating the Good News of Jesus through music and prayer.  This is something that you and your family do not want to miss.  Check this video out that he made just for our church!

Don't forget to check out the Community Prayer page on the left to see other events happening this month!

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Welcome to Prayer Month News!

Hello!  Thanks for joining us at North Ridge this prayer month.  It is our hope that you will pray regularly in your personal time and build habits that will change your life and the life of our community forever.  We also have a ton of resources and outlets for you to pray with our community this month.  This blog will serve as a place for you to learn about those things.

Those who are using the book "Draw the Circle" as a prayer devotional are working on establishing a routine that will make their lives anything but routine.  That's what it's all about right?  God has given us access to participating in the work of his kingdom through prayer.  When we pray regularly; when we establish a routine for prayer in our life we are given power and blessings that are exciting and awesome.

So what does your routine look like?  Do you have a place that you like to pray?  Do you have any prayer mantras or prayers that you pray all the time?  What are some of your favorite prayer resources?  Share with us in the comments!

If you are wondering what is going on this prayer month, check out the Community Prayer page by clicking the link on the left or by clicking HERE. 

If you have a prayer request, please visit the link on the left or click HERE. 

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