Thoughts On Prayer

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 I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master.

~Psalm 123:1, NLT

If man is man and God is God; to live without prayer is not merely an aweful thing; it is an infinitely foolish thing.

~Martyn Lloyd Jones

We all pray; there are no atheist in fox holes. The sad thing is that we don’t know how to pray. The disciples thought they knew until they got acquainted with Jesus and then they asks Him: “LORD, would you teach us to pray.” Becoming an intercessor is not an easy thing. It is a discipline, a school and it requires a lot of study and practice. Thomas Manton shares some helpful insights on prayer and I wanted to share them with you,

“Prayer is more than speaking to God or writing words in a journal. It is more than lifting our hands to heaven; it is lifting our hearts to heaven. Our lips can be praying while our mind is wandering if we are not careful. The flesh is bold and unafraid to intrude even upon holy activities like prayer and bible study. Even in corporate worship, we have a tendency to wander, we begin with a brief thought of God and then end up thinking about Sunday dinner. We must cultivate ‘watchfulness’ in prayer. Ridiculous thoughts, earthly thoughts, vain thoughts will distract. This calls for extra efffort to lift our heart above the activities of this world. The goal of prayer is not just to make our petitions known but to commune with God.”

Manton likens prayer to presenting God with a posey. Posey is an old English word for bouquet. Our good thoughts are flowers and our bad thoughts are weeds. Our goal is to present Him a beautiful bouquet, not a bundle of weeds.

  • Late today: overslept. Right knee giving me fits. Go to doc at 1:15. Sorry about being tardy.
  • Great Veterans Day program yesterday and great lunch. June is responsible for all the soup and my team did all the rest. Great job team!
  • I’m going to say that all our sick folks are slightly better. Don could not do the MRI test because he cannot lay flat and breath, but he is getting better PTL. As a shepherd, I will be glad to get my little flock back together.
  • December 4…49er Christmas Party at 11:30. Christmas finger foods. Bring your favorite Christmas candy or cookie.
  • I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.
  • This blog is unedited.

GRACE POINT VETERANS

Left to Right: Jamie Hodge, Mike Childers, Perry Smith, Colonel Steve Smith, James M. Russel, Jim Mullins and Don R. Widner. {Jim is a veteran of the Korean and Viet Nam war. He is 97 and lives in Huntsville. He drives to church every Sunday {does not miss}. He buys all the coffee products and makes the coffee each Sunday morning. Three or four are Viet Nam vets: Perry, Jim and Mike for sure and I can’t hear that good but I think Jamies was there too. Perry was a helicopter pilot who was shot down once and sustained gun shot wounds twice. Three of them are career vets [all army]: Steve Smith [paratrooper], Perry Smith, and Jim Mullins. Jim inlisted in 1948, the year that June was born.

I can’t believe I am saying this after his wise crack about my football officiating but Don had a very interesting testimony; one that everyone needs to hear. If I understood correctly, he was in a riffle unit that was sent to DC during the riots and protest of the Viet Nam war. The only fire he was under was from out own people. Personally, I have no clout and very little influence but I will say again what I have said before: our country does not do right by the military veterans and never has. We did not do General Washington right, nor his troops and nothing has changed. June’s dad came home with shrapnel in his legs and could barely walk at age 50, he drew a measely 30% while those who ran the veterans administration in Limestone County faired sumptiously. Viet Nam vets were treated like villains. The real villains were in Washington.

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