I saw in a movie once that one character said to another "So long. I don't say goodbye because we will meet again". I always liked that. I started saying it to friends and family. It was comforting to know that each parting was not really "goodbye".
The Christians at the beginning of the church had a strong hospitality tradition, especially for traveling evangelists. The evangelists relied almost exclusively on the Lord to provide sustenance and a place to sleep. The devotional talks about being careful who we support with our resources. Yes, we should support those who are teaching and preaching according to God's will. God will give us discernment to know the difference.
Lord, thank you for discernment. Please help us know who to support and give of our resources as we are able.
Simply Saturday
More on prayer
The topic of prayer has been coming up a lot in my life the past few months. Let me say that I am noooooo expert on prayer. I have been writing about it here and there as I learn more. Here are a couple of my favorite entries from the past two years:
June 4, 2011
September 8, 2012
January 5, 2013
I am not sure what else I can write about this topic right now that I didn't already cover. As I thought and prayed about it, God mentioned that I should gently guide people with some suggestions. A friend from church mentioned that she was doing these things in her prayer group. I hope the suggestions work for you.
- Set prayer goals. This may sound "over the top", but making time to pray and to listen should be a priority for every Christian. One friend complained that he didn't have time to pray. I lovingly mentioned "you have time to watch Project Runway". Conversation ended... My current goal is to spend more time in prayer and Bible study than at the movie theater. I love movies and would go every day if there were good movies to see. There are always folks to pray for. Prayer should be a higher priority than movies. What about you?
- Create a prayer list. I started using Evernote to track my prayer requests and results. It is easy. The account is free. I can view the list on any of my devices or home computer. Very cool. I am not as disciplined about it as I should be. I will work on that.
- Maintain a prayer log. I am not sure about this one. I don't know if it is the same thing as the prayer list or just a time tracking tool for prayer time. I will have to pray about that one!
- A prayer confidant. I don't want to scare you, but getting deeper and deeper into prayer can be a very intense experience. I am just starting down that path. I am not a spiritual giant, but I have found that getting to know God and myself better is very intense. There are times when we need to bounce things off a mentor or prayer buddy.
- When in doubt about what to pray for, pray for these three things: that God will be first in the person's life, that the person would treat others as self and that God would make the person whole. We know without a shadow of a doubt that these things are the will of God for everyone. We can have complete faith that God will work in these ways. Praise God!
- Have faith. When God tells you something, have faith that it will come to pass. It is not easy being patient. While writing this entry today, a favorite song called While I'm waiting played from my iTunes music list. It was unexpected. I needed a reminder!
Lord, teach us to pray! I strongly encourage you to join me in this spiritual journey. Let's pray for each other!
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Even our Lord Jesus Christ needed to spend time alone in prayer. Are we better than him? - DF
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