God Says... "Call to me and I will answer."

By Peter Pollock

"  God doesn’t hear me..."

How often do we say, or at least THINK this?

Probably all of us know or believe that God DOES hear us… but what we’re really saying is that he doesn’t respond.

I can’t even count how many times my kids have said to me “You’re not listening” when I’m hearing everything they say.

What they really mean is “You’re not responding the way I want or when I want!”

The problem they have is that they don’t always have all of the information I have or they can’t see the bigger picture the way I can.

They use the word ‘listening’ to mean ‘responding the way I want.’

By that definition, God rarely ‘listens’ to me.

A different way of thinking.

None of us are ever going to convince God to do what we want, when we want. It’s just not going to happen.

God knows an infinite amount more than us and sees EVERYTHING.

We only see a tiny amount and we know a lot less than we think we do.

The only answer here is for us to change our way of thinking. We need to go from thinking ‘God’s not listening to me’ to ‘maybe I’m not listening to God.'

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In Step

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

I remember the first time I saw Riverdance on television. Flipping through channels as I lounged on my parents’ nubby couch late one night, my jaw dropped when I caught sight of those lithe bodies and kicky heels reel across the stage, every one of the dancers’ limbs moving precisely in unison. Toes and heels tapping, arms taut, torsos erect, the entire troupe of thirty dancers moved perfectly in step. I couldn’t take my eyes of them.

I hadn’t thought about Riverdance for a long time, until recently, when I read this verse:

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25).

I suspect I don’t keep in step with the Holy Spirit with Riverdance precision. In fact, I suspect I frequently dance to my own tune or veer off altogether, much like I did when I played clarinet in my high school marching band. Back then, I’d fall in line next to the flutes and oboes and begin the trek across the football field, only to find that halfway through When the Saints Come Marching In, I’d have wandered out of the winds and straight into the brass, out of step and off-key.

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Praying Prayerfulness For Our Children

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." (Ephesians 6:18, NIV)

I sometimes find myself complaining loudly to my children that they complain too much.  At other times, I've noticed that I argue with them about how much they argue.  I know this is ineffective and even hypocritical, but it's amazing how easily I fall into the same old patterns again and again.  Why?  Because Satan loves to see me stumble and fall flat on my face, and so he keeps setting the same traps and I keep falling into them.

The call to prayer in Ephesians 6:18 comes in the context of a passage on spiritual warfare, which in emphasized here by the call to "be alert."  1 Peter 5:7-8 has a very similar and even more sobering call: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."  Again, we see a call to prayerfulness ("Cast all your anxiety on him") with a call to be alert because of the reality of spiritual warfare.

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Praying for Honesty and Integrity

By Jason (Connecting to Impact)

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people." –Spencer Johnson

I doubt there are very many parents out there who would fight for their kids to become dishonest, immoral adults, but sometimes in our push to get them into high achievement we send the wrong messages.

"How about this scripture, “What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar." (Proverbs 19:22)

"Or what about this verse earlier in the chapter, “Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse." (Proverbs 19:1)

We might repeat the oft mentioned motto, “honesty is the best policy” while displaying a different, but nevertheless potent fact: sometimes compromise gets you gain quicker than honesty.

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Praying for Purity

By Nick (My Experience As...)

What could be more sweet, innocent, and pure than a newborn child?  It seems that purity starts being threatened shortly after that first breath though. 

We work to protect our children.  We baby proof houses by covering all the outlets, putting parent proof locks on cabinets and everything else short of wrapping the world in bubble wrap. Despite all our efforts, it isn’t long after the sweet little baby starts life that we make our first panicked trip to the ER because of a minor head wound.  Did you realize even a small cut on the face bleeds a LOT?  I didn’t know kids had so much blood in them.

Despite all our efforts to protect our kids they get hurt, which is especially scary when I think of how little is done to protect the purity of a child.  Even if you remove the smut and garbage from your house, it is everywhere around them. The safety of prime time TV disappeared when I was a kid.  Even the shows on popular kids’ stations are pushing the envelope. Not long ago a popular show decided to roll with it when the lead actress got pregnant, following on the heels of Juno they went for the pregnant teen story line. While the show was cancelled before following that story line, it is clear that the networks don’t see a problem and will gladly take that risk again.

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