Last night’s talk went really well. It
was exciting and such a privilege to talk about prayer. I felt so humbled to
have the opportunity to share about something so marvelous and so vital to our
walk with Christ. It was also really great to take the time to study prayer
again and look at what the Bible says about it. It was as much needed in my own
life as in that of the youth. I long to be so much more consistent, faithful
and earnest in my own prayer life and am convicted of how prideful I am that I
think I can succeed or even survive any part of my day without coming first to
the Lord in prayer. Talking about prayer has made me so grateful to so many of
my friends at Dartmouth and on summer project who have shown me what it is like
to be committed to prayer, to stop at any point and pray and with whom I have
experienced such powerful and intimate times of communal prayer, of seeking the
Father together. Thank you.
To share a bit about what I talked on
here is a quick outline:
1. What is Prayer (adoration, confession, supplication,
intercession, thanksgiving)
2. The command to pray (why God commands us to pray and
why we should want to pray-- all the marvelous promises/results of prayer)
3. Why we don't pray (unbelief/blindness to who God is,
shame, and sin of pride and independence and what do we do about that: pray for
God to open our eyes to who He is, believe on the promises of God about prayer
and that through Christ we can come to him in prayer and confession of our sin
of pride, unbelief, independence and believe in the gospel that cleanses us,
enables us to come to God and creates in us a longing for communion with God as
we rejoice in our salvation
Then we had a time of extended prayer where we went
through each of the elements of prayer.
Thank you for your prayers it was so
great to see the youth coming together to pray. I know God was listening, His
presence was there and that He will answer in His perfect and good way to the
prayers that came before Him last night.
Even though I get nervous for public
speaking, I do really enjoy the challenge of it and am passionate about sharing
with these youth so many truths that have and continue to so deeply impact my
life. I mentioned to the main leader that if they ever need someone again that
I would be willing to speak. She said that she would talk with the other
leaders about it and was very encouraging of it. We typically have a pastor
from town come every other week but she said she might have me speak on the
other weeks so about twice a month potentially. Please pray for God’s leading
and wisdom regarding this. A topic that I would love to speak on is
forgiveness. Through discipleship and talking with my girls I know that
unforgiveness has a strong grip on many of them. Forgiveness is one of the
hardest things we are called to but also so vitally important to our
relationship with God. Forgiveness isn’t a simple thing, it must be deep, it’s
a process. Though I have fear speaking about it I also feel burdened to do so.
Please pray that God might open up this door but ultimately that these youth
would come to experience the freedom of forgiveness and the joy of obeying the
Lord.
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