Josh Hatcher's Blog
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Core Values #1 Prayer
Let's take a look at our Open Arms Core Values. What is Open Arms all about? How does it function? What makes us tick?
We often get this “Bedtime Christianity” view of prayer. That if we say certain words before we go to sleep or before we eat, we will be blessed. Or if we ask God for help when we need it, he will appear like a magic genie and answer our prayer.
While it is certainly a good thing to thank God for our meal, to pray before bed, and to bring our requests to Him, prayer is so much more than that.
It’s talking to God, and listening to God. It’s plugging in to His power, by agreeing with what His word says. It’s laying hands on people and then asking God to heal them. It’s a meditation more powerful than yoga… It’s crying out to God when you don’t even know what words to pray, and when the Spirit inside you prays on your behalf.
It’s a microscope as we examine ourselves before we eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of juice, asking forgiveness for our sins.
It’s a source of strength when people stand against you, criticize you, lie to you or about you, and you ask God to bless them, and do good for them.
It’s not like an email, that you send and wait for someone to read and respond.
It’s not like a cell phone call that gets dropped in the middle.
I used to live in Roulette, and would have to drive about an hour to Bradford at three o’clock every morning. The winter time was the worst. One time (well, lots of times actually) I fell asleep at the wheel. I had to pull over for a few minutes, and splash snow on my face to wake up.
When I approached the top of Red Rock Hill, I feel asleep, and found myself veering into the lane of traffic. I knew that I could not make it down that hill without crashing. But somehow, I was able to stay awake enough to stay on the road. In fact, I drove several miles completely asleep.
When I got to work, my dad called and asked me, “What in the world happened to you this morning?” He had been woken up from a sound sleep, with this incredible pressure and feeling that he should pray for me. I explained what happened to me at 3:45 that morning. He had been awakened at that exact same time, had got up out of bed and prayed me all the way into work that morning.
My grandmother has had a number of heart problems. Several surgeries, lots of meds, and at this time, a lot of pain. She was convinced that she was having another heart attack.
We were sitting in Pizza Hut, and as she told us about it, I leaned over, laid my hand on her back, and prayed, trusting that God would heal her heart, and that nothing would be wrong with her.
When she went in for a stress test the next morning, the doctor pulled out two pictures of her heart.
“Geraldine, this picture is your heart a year ago. Do you see the lack of blood at the top? This is your heart from this morning. Do you see this artery that goes from the bottom to the top? This was not here a year ago. Sometime in the past year, your heart grew its own bypass surgery.”
Grandma told the doctor when it happened, at Pizza Hut the day before when I prayed for her.
I remember another time, when I was in severe emotional pain. I had been “eaten alive” by the church that I was serving in. People had turned against me because of my allegiance to a pastor that they strongly disagreed with. When he left, they turned on me, and said horrible things to me and about me. It was painful. It was difficult. I didn’t even know what to do or say, or even how to pray. So I laid down on the floor in my office and just cried. For hours, I cried to God. I couldn’t even say anything to Him, because I was hurting so badly. I just laid there, and I could feel this warmth, comforting me, healing me, and loving me. I walked out of there with enough strength to make it through.
Prayer is the gasoline of Open Arms. Nothing can run without it. So pray for your church leadership. Pray for your community. Pray for your family… just spend time with God, and let Him speak to you.
To read more about Prayer, check our Pastor Mike’s Powerhouse Prayer Series.
Core Value #1. Prayer –We believe that all we do should start, run, and end thoroughly
saturated in prayer.
Prayer is arguably the most powerful tool in our arsenal as Christians.
It takes many forms, it accomplishes many things. Prayer is to us as a Swiss Army Knife is to Macguyver.
saturated in prayer.
Prayer is arguably the most powerful tool in our arsenal as Christians.
It takes many forms, it accomplishes many things. Prayer is to us as a Swiss Army Knife is to Macguyver.
We often get this “Bedtime Christianity” view of prayer. That if we say certain words before we go to sleep or before we eat, we will be blessed. Or if we ask God for help when we need it, he will appear like a magic genie and answer our prayer.
While it is certainly a good thing to thank God for our meal, to pray before bed, and to bring our requests to Him, prayer is so much more than that.
It’s talking to God, and listening to God. It’s plugging in to His power, by agreeing with what His word says. It’s laying hands on people and then asking God to heal them. It’s a meditation more powerful than yoga… It’s crying out to God when you don’t even know what words to pray, and when the Spirit inside you prays on your behalf.
It’s a microscope as we examine ourselves before we eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of juice, asking forgiveness for our sins.
It’s a source of strength when people stand against you, criticize you, lie to you or about you, and you ask God to bless them, and do good for them.
It’s not like an email, that you send and wait for someone to read and respond.
It’s not like a cell phone call that gets dropped in the middle.
It’s a living, breathing part of a face to face relationship with a real God.
All of this sounds fine, but without real life application, it’s just a bunch of words.
Let me tell you a few stories about the power of prayer.
All of this sounds fine, but without real life application, it’s just a bunch of words.
Let me tell you a few stories about the power of prayer.
I used to live in Roulette, and would have to drive about an hour to Bradford at three o’clock every morning. The winter time was the worst. One time (well, lots of times actually) I fell asleep at the wheel. I had to pull over for a few minutes, and splash snow on my face to wake up.
When I approached the top of Red Rock Hill, I feel asleep, and found myself veering into the lane of traffic. I knew that I could not make it down that hill without crashing. But somehow, I was able to stay awake enough to stay on the road. In fact, I drove several miles completely asleep.
When I got to work, my dad called and asked me, “What in the world happened to you this morning?” He had been woken up from a sound sleep, with this incredible pressure and feeling that he should pray for me. I explained what happened to me at 3:45 that morning. He had been awakened at that exact same time, had got up out of bed and prayed me all the way into work that morning.
My grandmother has had a number of heart problems. Several surgeries, lots of meds, and at this time, a lot of pain. She was convinced that she was having another heart attack.
We were sitting in Pizza Hut, and as she told us about it, I leaned over, laid my hand on her back, and prayed, trusting that God would heal her heart, and that nothing would be wrong with her.
When she went in for a stress test the next morning, the doctor pulled out two pictures of her heart.
“Geraldine, this picture is your heart a year ago. Do you see the lack of blood at the top? This is your heart from this morning. Do you see this artery that goes from the bottom to the top? This was not here a year ago. Sometime in the past year, your heart grew its own bypass surgery.”
Grandma told the doctor when it happened, at Pizza Hut the day before when I prayed for her.
I remember another time, when I was in severe emotional pain. I had been “eaten alive” by the church that I was serving in. People had turned against me because of my allegiance to a pastor that they strongly disagreed with. When he left, they turned on me, and said horrible things to me and about me. It was painful. It was difficult. I didn’t even know what to do or say, or even how to pray. So I laid down on the floor in my office and just cried. For hours, I cried to God. I couldn’t even say anything to Him, because I was hurting so badly. I just laid there, and I could feel this warmth, comforting me, healing me, and loving me. I walked out of there with enough strength to make it through.
Prayer is the gasoline of Open Arms. Nothing can run without it. So pray for your church leadership. Pray for your community. Pray for your family… just spend time with God, and let Him speak to you.
To read more about Prayer, check our Pastor Mike’s Powerhouse Prayer Series.
Labels: core values, prayer
