Making Prayer JournalsEditor’s Table: Finding Answers in my Life
I have tried to put this piece on a back burner and let it come at a later edition – but it will not let me rest! Within my family we are wrestling with major decisions and freely admitting that we want God’s answer because we are clueless in our own reasoning. In my nursing job, I hear people ask co-workers for advice. They ask people who don’t know them and do not have the same value system. They ask them for answers to life-changing questions! How do I find answers in my life?
The Sunday School answer is: Ask Jesus. And that isthe best answer. But how do I, a limited, mortal human know what my infinite God wants me to do?
“I am convinced that we cannot be effective in the Kingdom without growth in our own lives through the disciplined study of God’s Word.” – Greg May (gregsfishinhole)
There are many verses of Scripture that use the word ‘seek’. Jesus said not to worry but that I should first look for God’s Kingdom and a right relationship with Him and “all”, meaning food, clothing, and all in my life would also come. (Matthew 6:25-34) It took me over 40 years of trying to make my way work better than His before I gave up and began living the “Seek God’s Kingdom First” life.
As a young, intelligent up-and-comer, I did buy into my parents’ philosophy that if I worked hard I would achieve my goals. My ambition became my god as I pushed to gain the attention of my boss and my peers to applaud my achievements and reward my successes with monetary bonuses and verbal flattery. How quickly those mouths and hands are silenced when their own ambitions must be fed – even fed the scraps of what is left as we all clawed our way to the same mythical ‘top’.
Not until I had seemingly lost important milestones – marriage, home, cars, prestige, and job – did I see God’s Kingdom and His answer to my cry, “Is that all there is?”
God’s answers to daily questions in my life can be found in His word and in His conversations in my life. God is not a drive-thru where I state my question or life situation and He responds with a ‘have it your way’ answer. A relationship with intimate conversation comes with the building of the relationship. There are no short cuts. If I only gave my marriage two hours of attention per week, the marriage would not last and be on in name only at best.
Finding God’s answers in my life is putting in the time, making the relationship more than ‘name only’. Bible study, prayer, personal and corporate worship builds an eternal relationship, a Bridge. God becomes my Comforter, Savior, Lover, and Best Friend as we spend time together walking through this life and into the next…never to be alone.
Note on picture: Mission trip to Hungary. Teaching Ukrainian orphans about prayer journals. Take your needs to God, write it down with a date, and watch Him answer your prayers!
Dateline: Panama City, FL Greg’s Fishin’ Hole
On an unassuming street, a mile or so as the gull flies from the white sugar sand beaches of Panama City, Florida, is a place where everyone could come to know your name! It is known as The Fishin’ Hole. Greg May, saved Christian, husband, father, grandfather, postman, and well-loved friend of countless souls has taken his garage and made it into a place that is warm and welcoming for Believers and non-believers alike.
One Saturday night, my husband, Henry and I, visited The Fishin’ Hole. The cold cola and world famous nachos were in front of me almost before I could find my stool. The place quickly filled with old and young, men and women, laughter and hugs. I can’t wait to go again! BSP: How did Greg’s Fishin Hole come about? Greg: Jody, the best way I can explain how the Fishin Hole came about is my blog”Crewed Awakening. The Fishin Hole is the manifestation of the rivers of my life coming together. What a revelation in my life to see how God has been working all along! BSP: What is the desire that the Father has planted in your heart about this ministry? New Year 2010 at the Fishin Hole Greg: At first my plan was to create a place of “comfort and safety” for believers (particularly men) to come together and enjoy one another, to fellowship, have bible study, etc. A “Cheers for Believers”, I thought. Although these are good things, God has busted right through this plan and expanded what the Fishin Hole is to become. Luke 15:1-2 comes to mind, Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” (WEB)
I heard a man from the Middle East explain how seriously they take eating together. That for a Middle Easterner to sit at someones table and eat with them meant that they were considered family! No wonder the Pharisees were offended when Jesus ate with unclean sinners. Aren’t we to do what Jesus did? Aren’t we to be Jesus to the world? Besides, what’s the difference between us (Believers) and them (non Believers) besides the grace of God that we have accepted? So,I pray that the Fishin Hole is becoming a non-threating place where people from both sides of “the family” can come and “eat” together like we should. BSP: So what are some of the things that happen at the Fishin Hole? Greg: We do have a regular (weekly) bible study. There has also been a couple of meetings of church groups at the Fishin Hole. We have had a guest speaker from Israel. But more and more the Fishin Hole is becoming an everyone place. There has been party nights with games and football on the big TV. There will be movie nights and food nights and combinations of both. Some friends of my sons had a Hurricane Party and on New Years Day there was a cookout and college football Bowl Games. People from both of my work places, my church, and other churches, believers and non-believers were in attendance. To me, that’s Kingdom stuff! I know we won’t get all of the believers to go to the non-believers and testify, and I know we won’t get all of the non-believers to come to church and hear the Good News, but I do believe we can get some of the believers to meet some of the non-believers at the Fishin Holes. Greg and Company at the Fishin' HoleBSP: What is the atmosphere? Greg: The “theme” of the Fishin Hole is a “man cave” with a fish camp “decor” (term used loosely).
Literally, my garage turned into a pub-like gathering place. Still “under construction”, we have a large “U” shaped bar (formerly a table saw table) that seats 10-12 people, a big TV, a piano, dartboard, etc and seating for about thirty people. We’ve had live music and also play some tunes on our fine sound system! (just kidding) Well, you can hear it OK! The nachos and the root beer floats have already become world famous! (not kidding) BSP: Who is Greg May? Greg: I’m a stinking sinner saved by the grace of God. A stench only washed off by the blood of Jesus. If that sounds super holy or some kind of attempt at big humility, it’s not, it’s just a rather recent revelation of how big this salvation God has provided for me really is and I’m sure I still don’t know the full scope of it yet. BSP:Who has influenced your spiritual life? Greg: Jody for this question please look at the blogs at the Fishin Hole of the Fishin Hole Hall of Famers (Linda and Terri), in particular Linda’s teaching of the Word and living out the love of God and Terri’s living example of discipleship. Also my wife Hannah who lives a Godly life out in front of me. Perry Dalton who always had my back when we were in ministry together or I would have been wounded continually in battle. My current Pastor Alan Ferguson who is a constant encouragement to me. And last but not lesser by any means a group of kids in the 90’s (grown adults now) who lived out faith in front of me and I saw what it was to grow ” in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men”. You know who you are, everyone of you, thank you!
How much time should I put into Bible study if I want to “grow” as a Christian?
This question reminds me of another one. How long should your legs be? Long enough to reach the ground, of course!
But frequently when I hear this question — and I do hear it quite often — I hear a subtext that is asking “How little Bible study time can I get by with and still grow spiritually?” If that’s your question, then let me just say that spiritual growth is not something that happens on a schedule, and as long as you’re looking for minimums you’re going to find that growth is very difficult. You might ask instead how much of your life you must surrender to Jesus. Now it might take a long time for your life to be 100% surrendered, but complete surrender is always the goal.
A better question might be just how can Bible study help with my spiritual growth? How should I go about making scripture a positive part of my spiritual life?
Many people are actually hindering their own spiritual life by trying to study precisely as someone else does, or for a particular amount of time that isn’t tailored to their spiritual and intellectual needs. And before someone reminds me that it’s all about God, we do have spiritual needs, and we need to fulfill them. For example, I can tell a substantial difference in how the rest of my day will go if I cut short or skip my morning devotional time, even if the remainder of my day is occupied studying scripture or theology.
So I’m going to guess that if you’re asking this question you are concerned about your spiritual growth, and you think that more time with God’s word will help. You need to ask not only how long to spend, but what to do with the time you set aside.
Let me suggest three things that may have brought your Bible study to a halt or made it into a task rather than a joy.
First, you may be studying for the facts or for simple intellectual satisfaction. If you are inclined to intellectual curiosity, you may even be enjoying your Bible study, but still feel that your spiritual life is dying at the same time as you learn more and more. If this is your problem, the prescription is not more time spent in study, but rather a focus on applying scripture in your spiritual life. This can involve increasing your time spent in prayer, in service to others, or in meditation as opposed to working harder on details of knowledge.
Second, you may be following the Holy Spirit — or you may think you are — but not studying the word systematically enough to let it correct you. In this case you are probably more experiential than intellectual and analytical. Following the Holy Spirit is both possible and very important in Bible study, but often people who think they are following the Holy Spirit are really just following their own inclinations. The result is that they go over the same passages again and again, passages that tend to support what they already believe and do. In this case you may need to spend more time looking at the facts of scripture and reading systematically through larger portions of scripture.
Third, you may be excessively influenced by your surrounding culture. This is very similar to my second point, but instead of assuming that you’re following the Holy Spirit you spend your time looking for specific texts to support or oppose things in the culture. In other words, your study is issue oriented, and you believe that if you find the correct answers to such questions as homosexuality, abortion, women in ministry, modesty in dress, or any of a number of other issues, you have done the proper sort of Bible study. It is quite possible to have all the right answers to those questions and yet not be a disciple. In this case you need to look both for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, combining your Bible study with prayer, and also making it more systematic.
The key is to seek God’s guidance through scripture in all aspects of your life. To do so you will need to combine listening to God’s voice speaking to you, looking at all aspects of scripture, and finding those places where God wants to correct you.
Once you have the diagnosis of your need, the answer to the question of how much time will come to you easily.
with Iris Lloyd Black asphalt, solid yellow lines, and dashes of white—a road for all practical purposes but metaphorically-speaking, the picture described represents Life. This column explores prophetic intercession, from its foundations to its application into today’s world and your part in God’s plan in this Kingdom ministry. Iris Lloyd (middle)
Prophetic Intercession. Two words that most people may not fully comprehend when they are used alone, so bringing them together generally does not bring about widespread understanding or acceptance. The more familiar term of the two, intercession, means “prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another.” A further study of the word intercede means “to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences, or to mediate.”
Prophecy, or anything prophetic, has long since been a word that sends panic into most believers. Visions of locust-eating, long-haired, loud-mouthed flakes come to mind as the word rolls off a speaker’s tongue. Well, according to His word, there WERE men and women like that who were used mightily by God for His purposes. That does not, however, mean that everyone is called to engage in that type of prophecy. A book definition is not being considered in the explanation of the word prophetic. This description comes strictly from experience. Prophetic means symbolic and representative of something. Joined together, these words mean performing intercession that is representative of acts that need to occur in the natural to allow an unlocking of the spiritual realm. And, yes, there are times when that may get a little flaky–but not TOO often!
Using Joshua 24:27 as inspiration because it illustrates the importance of events and where they happened. There is a pattern in the Old Testament to remember places of worship and how God worked. We remember that sin defiles just as obedience can bless. Joshua 24 is a passage that reveals this principle in God’s directions to Joshua to use a rock as a witness and becoming, for this author anyway, the foundation for the prophetic intercession that He has led me to perform.
The most basic principle of prophetic intercession taught to me by Mrs. Annette Dotson Curtis, a wonderful Godly woman and cherished mentor, is that as we walk we have the authority as believers to invite or usher in the presence of the Holy Spirit by simply speaking “I welcome you here to this place, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” It’s as simple as that–even in a breathy whisper the power that He gains from this simple admission allows things to begin to happen of which we could never dream. Our words represent a relationship that can bridge a gap which allows a reconciliation to begin in the spiritual–THIS is prophetic intercession. Rockwell Mural at the UN Building – Photo courtesy of Iris Lloyd
In closing, I would like to share my first-ever road trip. It was the fall of 2006 and my daughter and I decided to spend Thanksgiving in NYC. As we visited the United Nations building and the General Assembly room, I was suddenly aware of Annette’s frequent bidding to “loose the Holy Spirit” wherever we went. I simply prayed, in little more than a whisper, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I welcome you into this place and give you permission in the name of Jesus to come in to this place and have your way.” That was it. That simple prayer was repeated at Ground Zero, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the NBC studios, Rockefeller Plaza, Wall Street and many more locations as well as throughout the streets of Manhattan as miles of sidewalks and subway rails were used to usher in His presence as He directed. That was just the first trip, there have been several more with more in-depth initiatives completed–but this was the first and most necessary step that God used to begin a ministry that has spanned countless miles and numerous cities and cemented Him into my heart and life forever as a force that can move mountains while revealing His love to me in and through the process.
However, the most important work begins closer to home. You can practice the same principles, beginning in your own home and throughout your own town. By releasing His presence in your own sphere of influence, you can witness His mighty hand at work in a very personal way. Seeing Him move like this builds an unparallelled intimacy into your relationship with Him. I challenge you THIS MONTH to step out in faith at least once, release His power through your words, and watch Him begin to use prophetic intercession in your world–that’s where THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD. Iris S. Lloyd, Executive Director, Founder, LP Executive Services LLC
