What Do We Pray For?

I read Garfield, Dilbert, and Foxtrot regularly on Yahoo Comics, and I read this one recently.  What a perfect illustration of James 4:2-3!  "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

When you pray, do you pray more for yourself than for others?  I find that I often do.  It's so easy to get caught up in what we're doing, our problems, our goals, that we forget that we're here to help others.  And when we do pray for others, do we then neglect to follow up?  Your neighbor (you know, the one with the three toddlers and the husband who has to work long hours) is sick.  Do you just pray for her and then continue with your life, not bothering to stop by with a casserole or plate full of cookies?  Do you pray for the miners trapped in Chile when they just got trapped, but never bother again.  "Oh, God's got it handled," you tell yourself.  "He doesn't want to listen to me jabber on and on about the same things."  Maybe, but that's no excuse to allow our hearts to become hardened to the needs of others.

"But what can I do?" you ask.  "There is a whole world full of needy people, and I barely have the resources to help myself."  Perhaps, but great things can get done when people pull together their meager resources.  So pray not for yourself, but for those around you and those across the globe.  And then get up and do something about it!  This is mainly me talking to myself, 'cause I know I could use this pep talk!

In case you're wondering, Jason did not find an ultra-rare, holo-foil, Charizard Pokemon card in that pack.  Currently, he's working on selling his soul to Eileen Jacobson for her Charizard card.  But that's a topic for another time....

What Greg Has Been Up To

I usually post personal updates on my Jesus Is Wonderful blog, but since this is about answered prayer, and my other blogs are occupied with posts about Reformers (what's up with that??), I'm posting this here. I want to jot down a quick summary of the past 6 months and praise a God Who handled it all better than I could have imagined.

My last day at Agilent, where I worked for exactly ten years, was at the end of last April.  I stopped blogging shortly before that, as I was trying to finish my final project and praying about what the Lord had in mind for me next. I was not actively seeking new employment, because I was torn about whether to seek another job or take the plunge and pursue my dream of starting my own software business. It was a time of earnest prayer. I wasn't worried or stressed; I knew that if the Lord's hand was in it, I would be fine, but I just did not know what His will was!

So, like Balaam riding the talking donkey, God had to nudge me in the right direction.  In my lap landed not one, but three great job opportunities, one of which I ended up accepting.  So, my last day at Agilent was on Friday, and the first day at my new job was the following Tuesday! I could not have planned it better myself! Praise the Lord!

However, company policy was that I could not take any time off for the first three months... and this in the middle of summer! Sighhh.... So even though my job has been very enjoyable and rewarding, we feel like we barely even had a summer. But the job isn't all to blame....

Last spring I taught a LEGO Mindstorms class at our homeschooling co-op, modeled after a national competitive robotics league. Maybe this wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, especially considering how little free time my new job allowed, but after the class, I accepted a request to teach a couple introductory robotics sessions at an area library. Through a very generous company in our area, God provided all the equipment I would need! My wife and son, though not as into LEGOs as I am, stayed up late the night before each class, helping me put the robots together and preparing other materials. What a blessing they are! I enjoyed the experience so much, that I am continuing to support a couple teams this fall and have even started my own LEGO blog!

In addition, I've been maintaining our co-op's class registration website, which I created two years ago, and took on the maintenance of their more traditional website. There was much work to be done, so I had to balance that work with LEGO robotics.

We did have time for some family day-trips, but I made nearly no progress at all toward finishing up our back yard, which has been a thorn in my wife's side for close to a decade!

But we have been very blessed with good health and steady work, so we really cannot complain. Some other things happened, as well, but I plan to address those in separate posts.

Bottom line? I'm back to blogging... for now!  :)

Prayer is Awesome!

My friend Wes posted a quote about prayer today, by Dr. Peter Kreeft. According to his website, he "is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King's College (Empire State Building), in New York City. He is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of over 55 books, including: Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Christianity for Modern Pagans, and Fundamentals of the Faith." Sounds like he's Catholic, but we won't hold that against him. ;)

Anyway, he said:

I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers to God makes, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those effects down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.

Just a little food for thought. :)

Prayer Is Supernatural!

Have you ever felt like when you pray, that you're just talking to the floor or the ceiling? Or have you ever wondered how God can even hear you, when He is nowhere in sight?

[5] And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
[6] But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
[7] But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
[8] Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
- Matthew 6:5-8

Whoa! We do not need to yell or talk a lot, to be heard by God? Indeed, He can hear us just fine, from inside our closets (even with the door shut, I would imagine). But what's more, He clearly knows what we need, even before we ask!

So how does that work? The Apostle Paul explains: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26). It is through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, that God can hear our prayers. This is a supernatural phenomenon! Praise God for His love and grace, that He thought it not beneath Him to provide a way for His creation to reach Him! Prayer is not just idle chatter, but a supernatural act, powered by the Holy Spirit, to communicate with our all-powerful creator. Even President Obama, with his unprecedented online presence, is not nearly as accessible as our God. And even if I could get through to Obama, he would have no clue who I am, and so is unlikely to do anything more than give me some standard, rehearsed response and send me on my merry way.

But not God. He not only knows my name and my need, but He can tell me how many hairs are on my head, without even looking. That is the kind of God we serve!

To be continued...

Jesus Answers Prayer!

Welcome to my new blog, dedicated to praising Jesus, Savior of the world and Lord of my life!

I know, I know... those of you who know me are probably asking yourselves, "What on earth is Greg doing, starting ANOTHER blog, when he already has enough of a hard time keeping his other blogs current???"  Well, I was sitting at work today, when the Lord impressed upon me to start a blog about answered prayers.

In times of doubt or trial, I always find renewed faith and strength, when I think back to the many times in my life, when Jesus answered my prayer in indisputably miraculous ways.  Carrying that idea a step further, I plan on using this blog as a "fellowship cafe" of sorts, where I publish readers' true tales of answered prayers.  It will serve as an encouragement to the saved, a witness to the doubters, and a sweet psalm of praise to our God and King.

To be continued...