Notes from the Sermon

Today starts a new series on prayer. Looking over the discussion questions, I'm amazed by how they gel with my blog posts this week. 

On listening - "How much time do you spend talking to, rather than listening to God?"

This quote, attributed to Jim Cymbala, meshed with the topic I prayed about, but didn't write about, yesterday - "The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God."  The question asked - "Do you think the devil is frightened of you and your constant communication with God, or does he know you mostly operate on your own efforts?"

The sermon series on prayer is titled Transmissions.

Oswald Chambers wrote that many of us stop praying because "we only have an emotional interest in prayer." This stings, because I tend to equate faith with emotion. No emotion equals no faith. 

1 Kings 18:21 - Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” This question is for me and how I've dithered to and fro. I think the answer came in a dream I remember because someone called my Google number (which I no longer use and don't give out) and left an empty message. The alert woke me up. In the dream I had asked God a question about three teens I was reading about. One was me, one was a smart aleck atheist and one was a bigoted and self righteous Christian. God said, "No matter how twisted the path you take, you are on the road to me. For two of these sheep belong to me and they will come to me at the end." The odd thing was that the atheist and I were the lost sheep. I was asking about the Christian boy when the alert woke me up. The dream wasn't to give me the answers about others, but rather to reassure me. 

God's best days are not in the past. Don't dwell on the past - God is the God of Here and Now. 

God uses us to answer prayer and sometimes we are the answer to our own prayer. 

God loves all people and wants all people to come. Is this the answer to the question I didn't get to ask? 

Who have we been praying for all these years? Prayer does make a difference. But we can't rely on our own power. Here and now, start with God and rely on God's power.