"When I don't know how to pray"

“When I don’t know how to pray”

  There are life moments we encounter that are incredibly tough to know how to pray through.  We may say to God and to ourselves, “I have no words”,  “I don’t even know what God is doing, how am I supposed to pray...”  “It’s too painful”,  “I am angry”,  “I feel abandoned”,  “This is too dark”,  “My prayers aren’t lofty enough”  “My prayers are too hollow”  and the list goes on and on.  There is no doubt the enemy will often be whispering these things in our ear as we face incredibly challenging times.

  Our God has promised He will never leave or forsake His children (Duet 31:8 and several others).  We might not feel His presence, we may still feel brokenness, BUT  He will be there with us, by our side.

  It brings great comfort to know that we don’t even need to “know” the words to pray when we are walking through the storm.  In the great chapter Romans 8, verse 26 says: 

  “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

 This verse brings great comfort, that in this promise, the Holy Spirit will search our hearts, our emotion, pain, questioning, and doubt- and will intercede for us in accordance to God’s will.  What an amazing work of the Spirit, and what an awesome, thoughtful and loving God to attribute this work (on our behalf) to the Holy Spirit!  How loving a God sets something like this up?  Truly an amazing gift during our times of hardship.

  Look at this in context of the surrounding verses.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  

It’s awesome when you consider the verse in context!  We have a hope in the coming glory when we all will be liberated from this bondage of decay.  Sin has broken this created world; the world and those of us in it are groaning for this coming redemptive glory.  Yet, God in His love and wisdom has provided us a way of connecting with Him through the Holy Spirit= Absolutely Amazing.

May God work in and through our storms to bring about good for His purposes.  In those storms, may we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us as we are “being still” before the Father.

S.G. notes "Affliction"

Affliction

  Webster’s defines affliction as causing persistent pain or distress, great suffering.  In our last two gatherings we’ve looked at several texts in Psalms that describes God using affliction for our greater good.  Just the idea of this concept should cause us to pause and chew on the idea for a bit...  Maybe this idea doesn’t necessarily fit with our current Biblical “ideology.”  It’s worth evaluating, and I’ve appreciated the time we’ve spent discussing it the last two weeks.

   These are the texts we’ve covered

   Ps 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.”

   vs 71 “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

   vs 75 “ I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have                            afflicted me.”

  

   vs 92 “ If your law had not been my delight I would have perished in my affliction.”

  Several key parts here:  The author has encountered affliction that God has at the very least allowed if not brought directly into the author’s life (75).  God specifically had a purpose, a plan, and desired end result for the affliction (67) = to bring the author back to Himself!!  The Father’s immense yet tough love has brought back the heart that has gone astray.  God’s word and His law sustained the person through affliction (92).  And ultimately it was good and God was glorified (71).

  Affliction can come in different ways-  possibly an illness, a job issue, relationship concern, a dry season of life, financial stress, just to scratch the surface- did I hear someone say car issues?

  What other examples do we have?  Job is most likely the biggest example, the nation of Israel, some of the churches at the start of Revelation, even Christ himself, and what did Paul have to say on the subject?  2 Corinthians 12:1-10

  So if we currently find ourselves in a season of affliction, or perhaps experience it later in life-

    I pray we open our hearts to hear God’s voice, open ourselves to His word-statutes and commands, I pray we hope in His promises, that we repent and return to Christ.  He will never leave you and He has no plans of forsaking you-  Press on

  

Best wishes Steve

Well, it seems our journey raising our foster squirrel Steve is now over.  It's been one week since we officially released him back to the wild.

  We determined Christa's Grandma's house was the best location for Steve to begin his new life.  So we constructed a nesting box for him, and mounted it on Grandma's back porch.  She has a great porch for a squirrel, it has a lattice roof which makes for great climbing and sunning spots.  He also has a bird bath for water nearby, which he splashed through within a few hours of us being there.  We placed hay and old shirts in his nesting box for insulation; and hopefully he will continue to fill it with mud and twigs etc.

  Grandma seems to love having a new neighbor.  She calls everyday with an update and is constantly checking on Steve.  WE are constantly reminding her that he is now a 'wild' animal and will learn for himself.  But apparently Steve has an addictive personality!  Grandma's sole duties are to keep food near for Steve through the winter, and provide fresh water.  She tells us that she has seen Steve with a few squirrel buddies on several different occasions.

  It was sort of hard parting ways with Steve; although, we will more than likely see him through the fall.  Our time raising him was completely awesome, we would do it again in a heartbeat.  Hope you enjoyed a peak into our experience-  Best wishes Steve!

There's more to Steve than you think

Wanted to give you an update on our foster squirrel Steve.  He is growing up just fine!  Sort of amazing how he is progressing, learning, and growing.
  Here's how the past few weeks have gone:  Steve loves the quiet and the warmth, he buries himself in blankets when he naps.  He has weened himself off of formula!  Totally cool- he went from chugging it big time to quitting cold turkey. Amazing...   SO, he eats a rodent block, peanuts, toast, and walnuts.  Also, he taught himself to drink water out of a bowl.  He never took water from a rabbit style water bottle- just from the bowl.
  Last week, Christa and I transformed a kennel into a squirrel wonderland.  We wrapped the kennel with "poultry fencing" so he wouldn't escape.  Ps. apparently chicken wire is now poultry fencing (just in case you needed to know).
  Steve's wonderland is filled with a hanging nest, sticks of all sizes, his food and water.

  Here Steve is soaking in some window sun, chillin' with a nut.

  Well, we're moving forward- have some preparations for his soon coming release and constructing a nesting box for his transfer.  Apparently we'll be doing lots of research because there's more to Steve than you think!