We left New Years Day for Sonya’s parents in Oklahoma.  It was good to see them and spend a little down time in the country.  Josh and I took some time to go hiking in the Chickasaw National Park.  We hiked Bison Trail but didn’t see any Bison.  We did, however, see a herd of deer.  It was a beautiful hike in the hills.  God’s creation never ceases to amaze me.  People who think that all of this happened by accident are in denial. 

We are back home and now it is time to finish up for Sunday.  We are looking forward to the first Sunday of 2009 tomorrow.  We begin our Momentum series by talking about Ezra and the rebuilding of the temple.  Don’t miss it!  Also, tomorrow night is our youth baked potato supper and slave auction.  Come out and support our youth group, who are raising money for the Acquire the Fire Conference.

Our new series begins this Sunday with our theme for the year 2009.  MOMENTUM.  I believe God wants us to follow the momentum and build His church.  Come Sunday and let’s see how we can join together to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God.

Also our 21 day fast begins Monday January 5th.  Join us in this Daniel Fast (Fruits and Vegetables only) as we seek the Lord for ourselves, the church and this nation.  You can find a prayer sheet here.

Happy New Year To All!  A  new year means new possibilities and new beginnings.  It is like starting on a clean slate.  Many begin the year with resolutions.  Most people begin the year on a diet.  While yet others have made some decisions in life that will begin to be fulfilled in this new year.  Whatever the case, I think the turning of  the calendar is often a welcome sight.

May God richly bless your endeavors and we pray for a prosperous new year for you all. 

Last night after church, we went to a fellowship with some of our church family.  We had a great time!  But as our tradition is in the Cheney household, we like to sleep through the new year.  So, we left a little early got home and went to bed.  We were asleep before midnight. 

The difference between Rogers and Nederland is pretty large when it comes to the New Year.  Although it is illegal to set off fireworks in both places, Rogers actually observes the law (or should I say enforces it).  When we would sleep through the new year in Nederland, we always woke up at midnight because of all the fireworks and people yelling.  Last night, we didn’t hear a thing.  No fireworks, no gunshots, not a peep.  Besides the fact we didn’t know when it struck midnight, it was a nice uninterrupted snooze.  No matter how you celebrated, we hope your night was a good one.  Ours was, and we are all refreshed.  We are leaving for Oklahoma in just a little while to go see Sonya’s parents.  Have a great day!

As I was coming up in ministry, I was taught rather legalistically, that you had to spend at least an hour a day in prayer.  Not 59 minutes, but at least an hour.  To fall short by one minute would mean that you were ineffective and risked the possibility of hell.  I am not making this stuff up, but I was taught that Jesus asked His disciples, “Could you not tarry with me for one hour?”  If Jesus asked that question, then we must tarry at least one hour.

For years I watched the clock to make sure I made it.  When I pastored my first church, I worked a full time job with alot of overtime, prepared three sermons a week, visitied the sick, cleaned the church, mowed the church yard, did the bulletins and anything else that needed to be done.  I often did not meet my target goal of one hour.  I would arise at 5:00 some mornings to “get my hour in” before I went to work.  Because I would stay up to midnight preparing sermons, I would fall asleep in prayer at the altar and then hang my head in shame at how my flesh got the best of me.  This went on for years.

After I went full-time in ministry, I still had the bondage of this one hour a day rule.  I felt like a failure, ashamed that I could not pray long enough.  It didn’t matter if you prayed throughout the day.  You at least had to pray for one hour at one time.  I lived with guilt and shame, as most do, when they are bound by legalism.  It wasn’t until about a year ago that I finally got set free of this addictive garbage.  I realized that God enjoys time with us, whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe the more prayer the better, but if we are praying out of legalism, there is a skewed relationship with God.  We treat God as an abusive Father who demands perfection in our prayer life.  We then pray out of fear of failure, rather than praying out of our desire for Him.  We fall into the trapping of trying to please God rather than communing with God.  God is a loving Father who desires to know us and lavish us with His love and we must seek Him out of a desire to know Him more.  God is a God who is a gracious Father not a God who cannot be pleased.

Our prayer lives should be growing and ongoing, but not bound to a time or ritual.  I no longer watch the clock.  I no longer fear falling short.  I pray in the mornings as long as I can or feel led.  I pray during the day, when I am in my car, or while I’m working.  I now have more freedom in prayer and my relationship with God is relishing His love and grace.

As we embark on a new year, I think it is a good time to make a fresh commitment to strengthen our prayer life.  I find that with most people it is a struggle to be consistent in this area.  Over the years and especially the last year I have discovered a devotional time that works for me.  Let me say that what works for me doesn’t always work for others, but we can learn from one another.

1.  I begin my prayer time with the reading of the Word of God.  I use Robert Murray McCheyne’s reading plan that I use to systematically go through the Bible.

2.  As I am reading through the various chapters I ask God to reveal to me His Word.  I look for Scriptures that “jump out” to me.

3.  When there is one that speaks to my heart, I generally highlight it and continue to read through the rest of the chapters.

4.  Once I have finished reading all the chapters, I go back to the texts that spoke to my heart most and begin to meditate on them.

5.  I ask 3 questions and then meditate on these: 1) What does this text mean? 2) What is God speaking to me?  3) What will I do with it? or What does God want me to do?

6.  I let this meditation begin my time of prayer as I ponder on God’s Word and what He is speaking to me. 

7.  I will then take time to pray.  After the meditation portion of prayer, I generally begin to thank God for His goodness, I confess my sins, pray for my family and church, and intercede for those who God brings to my heart.

8.  Many times after I finish my time of prayer, I will take the text that God has been speaking and I will study it a little more in depth.  I make notes in my notebook (note the picture) that I use only for devotional thoughts.  I will go back and read these notes again from time to time.

This is what works for me.  I have used many different “methods” for prayer, but this process seems to enrich my relationship with God and His Word more than any other form of prayer.

What works for you?

Yesterday morning, I shared about living regret free lives and that sometimes we have regrets about lost time.  Namely, not spending enough time with God.  It seems this is a regret of many people’s lives.  John Piper wrote a great article that looks at the struggles that great men of faith have had with this very thing.  Read the following and let it encourage you to know that you are not alone in this struggle.

Piper writes, “If you knew the struggles of the greatest of saints you might be heartened to press on in prayer in 2009.

John Newton (1725-1807)—slave trader, convert to Christ, author of “Amazing Grace,” pastor, fellow struggler—on a morning in April sometime between 1752 and 1756 wrote this:

Prayed over a part of the eighth of Romans in a way of paraphrase with some readiness. I greatly fail in the duty of meditation and am forced to use some artifice with myself to do it at all; thus sometimes I turn them into a prayer form, sometimes I suppose myself in imaginary conversation, sometimes that I am called upon to speak to a point.

Without something of this sort I am not able to engage myself to attend with any fixedness of thought, and with it, alas! how seldom, I would remember to pray for grace and direction in this matter that my delight may be in the Law of God to meditate therein day and night.”

In this new year seek to work on your prayer life and make an effort to grow in prayer and do not get discouraged if you falter.  As the old saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”  The only way to become effective in prayer is to practice prayer.

As I was reading in II Chronicles something caught my attention.  It is a description of the decision the people of Israel had made in serving God.  II Chronicles 31:18, “for in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in holiness.”

Many people are faithful to church, tithing and many other religious practices, but does your faithfulness include holiness?  The Bible records here that in their faithfulness, they set themselves apart to be holy.  It is easier to do many of the religious practices, but it requires immense discipline to live a holy life.  To give up the entanglements of this world and be separate.  Evaluate your faithfulness and see if it leads to holiness.

For the first time in a long time we didn’t go anywhere for Christmas.  We had a lot of invites to spend Christmas with the church family but we stayed home.  You might say it was a lazy Christmas.  Hannah took a late nap, so it prevented us from going anywhere in the late afternoon.  Therefore we just hung out around the house and enjoyed each other’s company.  We watched some old movies, ate, talked, napped (or at least Hannah and me did) and later went to look at Christmas lights.

I believe looking at Christmas lights with Hannah was the highlight of the evening.  She was our commentator as we drove around. 

Some of her favorite phrases (remember she is only 2 yrs old):

“Holy Moly”
“Holy Cow”
“That’s pretty cool”
“Lookie here, guys”
‘”C’mon let’s look at more lights”
“Oh, pretty”

Those were only some of the phrases but overall it was an enjoyable, lazy Christmas.  Hope all of you had a wonderful day also.