SS24: A Quick Prayer

In this month's Sister Circle study, we talked about chapter 3 from Celebration of Discipline and it was all about prayer.

I want to offer a couple of quick encouragements to you during what is for many people a challenging season (no matter how much you love Christmas). And when I say "quick encouragements," I mean suggestions you can implement that don't take much time! (Phew! Good news, right?!?)

Photo by David Beale on Unsplash

In the book, Richard Foster talked about "Flash Prayers." A Flash Prayer is a prayer on someone's behalf, inspired in the moment, as you see someone in need or think of someone and how they might need God's help. These prayers of intercession can cover anything from "Lord, help Susie with her test today!" to "Lord, help the people in that car accident and the officers and medical personnel helping them." They are a way to invite God's power to move in a person or situation, and it doesn't have to take a lot of time. You can even ask God how to pray for strangers. When you're driving or in line at the store, ask God how to pray for the people around you. You may be surprised at how specific the Holy Spirit is in response!

If "Flash Prayers" are quick prayers for others, "Flare Prayers" are quick prayers for ourselves! "Lord, help me________!" or "Lord, what next?" "Lord, I need your peace (or wisdom, or strength, or comfort) right now." When we pray quick prayers asking for help, we are acknowledging that God is with us and listening to us. He is always ready to help us and is FULL OF GRACE AND COMPASSION TOWARD US.

God has so much more grace and compassion for us than we have for ourselves. When we are upset at ourselves for failing, God sees us with love and longs to comfort us. He is slow to anger and rich in love and we can always cry out to Him when we need help. (And, um, we always need help!) He isn't standing with his arms folded saying, "Finally! It's about time!" He sees us as little children and He adores us the way so many grandparents adore their grandkids.

I guess this is my final encouragement. Maybe you have trouble with prayer because you are impatient with yourself and you think God is impatient with you, too. Or maybe your parents were impatient and angry (and tired, let's be honest!), so it's hard for you to imagine God any other way. If that's the case, is there a grandparent, or a neighbor, or an aunt or uncle or special teacher who loved you in a way that let you know you were accepted and forgiven even when you really did screw up? Or is there a child that you love that way? When we love and were/are loved that way, it is a reflection of God's love for us!

Maybe this year God wants to do a makeover of how you see Him in your heart. So here's my prayer for each of us as we continue through the Christmas season and into a new year.

Holy God, thank You for revealing Yourself to us in so many different ways. Throughout the Bible You are the God who sees, our shepherd, our protector and refuge, the suffering Savior, the King of kings, the prodigal's father, the one seated on the throne of grace, even as a mother gathering her children in her arms. We tear down every idea that would stand in the way of our knowledge of You and pray You would renew our minds with truth, that we would know You more and know how deep and long and wide and high is Your unfailing love for us, so that nothing would keep us from running to your throne of grace, because we know we are welcome there. We belong there. May our prayers - long and short - flow from our hearts easily and frequently as we grow more and more aware of your constant, faithful presence and your never changing love. In Jesus' name, Amen.

SISTER CIRCLES NOTE:

Next month we'll be discussing Chapter 4 (about Fasting). I encourage you, though, to stick with our current topic of PRAYER for the rest of the month and don't start moving ahead to the next chapter until January. Let's keep practicing what we're learning first.

Our next Sister Circles gatherings will be:
Sunday, January 12 @ 9:00am;
Wednesday, January 15 @ 10:00am; and
Friday, January 17 @ 7:00pm

Leave a comment or send a message to me if you need more info!

SS23: Celebrating the Gift of Prayer (Sister Circles - Chapter 3)

Hello, Sisters! It is such a joy for me to share with you some stories and encouragement about PRAYER! The study guide is right here and the video is here! To review the video slides, click here.

If you're in Fresno, we hope that you can join one of our Sister Circles meetings this week!

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Also, mark your calendars! 

January 4, 2020, we're having a special Women's Brunch! We'll be enjoying some fun fellowship, encouragement, and having a special guest! Mikaela Ens is home from college for winter break and she'll be giving us a lettering art lesson! Whether you choose a word for the year each January or not, you'll leave with something lovely. 😉 We hope you can join us!

SS22: Final Thoughts on Meditation & Some Updates

An Invitation to Sit in His Presence

Our Sister Circles topic and spiritual practice for this month is meditation. I have spent time reflecting on the idea of meditation and practicing meditation more than my usual, and I am noticing the concept more often in scripture as well as in conversations and media around me.

Meditation is teaching me to slow down and listen, to my own heart and to God.

It never feels like there are enough hours in the week to take care of all my responsibilities AND take care of my soul. Last Sunday night, already feeling pressure as I anticipated the coming week, I decided to try listening to a peaceful podcast while I washed dishes. Instead of feeling more peaceful, however, I grew more and more stressed and annoyed as my son kept trying to talk to me. I finally recognized God wanted me to stop what I was doing. Though I was tempted to finish what I had started, I needed to leave the dishes undone and retreat to my room for a while and let God restore my soul before I caused damage to my son’s heart with a stress-filled, impatient response to his simple desire for my attention. I turned off the water and walked back to my room. A minute later, there was a knock on the door. (Of course.) I told my son I needed to stay back there alone for a little while and would be out eventually. He may not have appreciated it, but I have no doubt that when I came out later with a fresh attitude, our relationship was in better shape than it would have been if I hadn’t stopped and retreated when I did. A few minutes of meditation and quiet prayer gave me the victory as I resisted the enemy’s lies that I couldn’t quit.

The next morning I was reminded of Psalm 23. Verse 5 says, “You prepare a feast before me in plain sight of my enemies. You refresh my head with oil; my cup is completely full.” Do you see? The enemy pays attention to us when we sit at the feast God has prepared for us. Satan does not want us refreshed, anointed, and filled by the Holy Spirit, so if he can get us to stop before we sit, he will do just that! But he is too smart to intimidate us outright. He doesn’t jump out and yell, “BOO!” to scare us away like a neighborhood bully. Instead, he sneaks up behind us and reminds us of all the things we haven’t done or the tasks we are doing later. He reminds us that we need to be worried about this, that, and the other thing. He disguises his whispers as our own ideas so we won’t notice when we think, “Oh, I’ll just quickly check Instagram (or facebook or my email) first…” The rest of the day, if he can, he will weigh us down with worry and inspire us to wear ourselves out with activity so by evening, we don’t even think we can concentrate on prayer because we just want to collapse.

James 4:7-8b “So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”

Like we are taught in James 4:7-8, I am finding I have to actively resist the enemy and reject the lies that I don’t have enough time to sit and be still before God. If I think I don’t have time to meditate – sitting in God’s presence, drawing near to Him – I am believing the same lie Martha believed in Luke 10. God gives me enough time to sit in His presence, but I admit I too often spend that time doing other things. If the Lord is my shepherd and has provided all I need, that means He has provided the time I need to sit with Him. I just need to let Him lead me to the green pastures and still waters of His presence. Work can wait. Chores can wait. Social media can wait. Netflix can wait. Even the kids and the hubby can wait!

Time spent abiding in the love of Christ, listening to the Spirit’s wisdom, seeking the Father’s strength, reading the Word and receiving the Lord’s peace is an investment that will we will not regret. And thankfully, unlike many earthly investments, time spent in the Lord’s presence often offers an immediate payoff in addition to an eternal one. What a gift!

Sisters (and brothers), may our ears hear the Spirit when He calls and may we rejoice and grow as we learn more and more to sit quietly and meditate in His presence.
Amen.

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RESOURCES:

A friend shared this podcast with me and I have really loved it! It's called The Presence Project and the host shares about the same kind of ancient, soulful practices we are discussing in Celebration of Discipline while connecting the practices with modern brain science. (I love how modern science is proving that spiritual disciplines have been good for humans all along!) She teaches a bit and then leads listeners in a quiet, meditative practice of prayer, meditation, or other reflection. I encourage you to try it out if you can.
https://thepresenceproject.libsyn.com/ (all episodes)
https://thepresenceproject.libsyn.com/trust-in-god-built-one-gratitude-after-another (Especially perfect as we reflect on Thanksgiving and move into December)

BIBLE READING PLAN UPDATE:

Back in January, some of us began working together on reading through the New Testament chronologically. We haven't gotten through the whole thing, but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the books in order based on when they were written. It's been fascinating to me. If you are interested in reading along, here's what we've read so far:

• Luke
• Matthew
• Acts 1-15
• Galatians
• James
• Acts 16-18:17
• 1 & 2 Thessalonians
• Acts 18:18-19:22
• 1 Corinthians
• Acts 19:23-20:1
• 2 Corinthians

In order to allow time for anyone who needs to catch up AND to allow some extra time to reflect on the Advent season (the weeks leading up to Christmas) I'm taking a break from the NT reading plan and will resume in January with the book of Romans. For now I'll personally be reading along with the (in)courage website's Advent reading plan, focusing on 25 Christmas Promises. YouVersion has  many Advent reading plans to choose from as well. I hope you will take time to sit with God's Word, allowing God to speak to you as you meditate on His truth this month.

DECEMBER SISTER CIRCLE GATHERINGS:

Our December gatherings will take place on December 8, 11, & 13. We'll be discussing PRAYER. If you have the book Celebration of Discipline and would like to read chapter 3 before we gather, please feel free to do so! I'll share the video and study guide soon, as well.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey! I learn so much more when I'm not learning alone. May God bless you all this Advent season with a renewed sense of wonder at the coming of Jesus Christ.

Blessings to You!
Melissa