Praying? Don't Be Shy!

Nehemiah 1:3-7 They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire."

4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said, "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of unfailing love with those who love Him and obey His commands, 6 listen to my prayer!

Look down and see me praying night and day for Your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against You. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! 7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that You gave us through Your servant Moses.

I have been in church all of my life and I have never seen anyone pray the way God's people did in the Bible. In the Bible there is a forceful passion without any messing around these people pray what they feel. It makes me wonder how we can see their prayers and the results that they achieved and yet we don't follow their example?

"Hey God, it's me again, I know you are busy and you have other more important things. I know you already know this but let me just ask this one thing if it's your will... Sorry to bother you."

That's not the kind of prayer that Nehemiah prayed! Nehemiah spoke to God with passion, he wasn't afraid to say "Listen to my prayer!" God wants to hear the emotion, he wants to hear how we really feel, he can handle it! Nehemiah wasn't being disrespectful, he showed that he revered God. He began by saying "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God."

We don't dare pray with an exclamation mark! It seems too demanding and rude we come to God all shy and timid, afraid to make a request. We know that God knows everything and he has a plan and a purpose for everything so we think that maybe we shouldn't bother God with our little problem.

God's children should be able to talk to their heavenly Father boldly! I pray that you will speak to him freely and with passion.

Happy Birthday Bartletts

Today is Gen Bartlett's birthday, Maria will turn 5 on June 11 and Eden will turn 1 on June 24. This is a great opportunity to be reminded to pray for her and Chris and their family as they serve on the mission field.

Chris and Gen Bartlett and their four children have been on the mission field in Niger, West Africa since May and are currently experiencing the hottest part of the year. They share that their typical day starts with three hours of language study. After they complete their studies, they fill up three big buckets and one kiddie pool with water and let the kids cool off.

Praises:

• Health- We are so grateful for it–We have had no major health issues so far!
• Teammates–They have been so supportive and involved in our lives as we adjust and as we continue to learn.
• Electricity has been better the last few days and we are getting better sleep.
• The kids are adjusting to the culture, language, and food very well!
• Eden started walking last month.

Prayer requests:

• Continued language study and comprehension.
• For our team here in West Africa, that we would continue to have unity.
• That we would work where the Father is already working.
• That we would walk in the Spirit daily to be able to see where the Father is already working.
• Wisdom on how to be involved in the lives of the people around us, how to help them when they need help and how to share with them.
• For daily strength to persevere.

Grace Falls Partners - Meet The Johnsons

It didn't take long for me to realize that I need help. I realized in just a short time of church planting how lonely, how hard, and how intense the spiritual warfare is when you seek to be on mission for God. I asked many of you to pray with me that God would send a partner to be like the partners that the Apostle Paul had on his missionary journeys.

I asked our friends to pray that God would send me a Timothy, John Mark, or a James. What I was asking for was for a partner to physically be here and walk out this journey of church planting here. Somebody that can relate to the struggle and the adversity that Satan can throw your way.

I laugh now as I think of how I thought my prayers might be answered and how I thought God could do it. Yet, just like so many other things on this journey, I can make my plans but God orders the steps. His ways truly are higher than my ways. This is where I get the privilege to introduce you to what I believe is not only God’s answer to our prayer but as it is with everything that God does he does it  better than I could have ever asked for.

I met Alonzo and his lovely wife Rhonda at a dinner hosted by the North American Mission Board last year. Alonzo is a native of Philadelphia and there is no one I know nor have met so far that loves and knows this city better than he does.

Alonzo has an incredible story of redemption from a earlier life of a crack addiction that led to a broken dream of being the next Major League Baseball superstar to a life that is radically changed because of the transforming work of the gospel. Now he is a loving husband, father, and the next church-planting superstar in Philly.

Alonzo and Rhonda both have a similar calling and commitment to planting the gospel here and around Philadelphia with the goal of making disciples who make disciples so that they can plant the gospel. We know that this is how God will build His church. This calling and a commitment to God’s leading has led us to a partnership to plant the Gospel in North Philadelphia so that God can build His church there.

This is our first opportunity to launch the Grace Falls Church Planting Network. It has been clear to both the Johnsons and the McNickle’s that God is and has been working in and around us long before we met. God’s timing is perfect and we know that this is His will. We will work alongside Alonzo & Rhonda as they plant the gospel there in North Philadelphia. We will coach, assist, and provide support in a variety of ways as they plant a church there.

Our first event as partners will be this Sunday morning as Grace Falls Church goes to Northeast Bible Fellowship to support their Memorial weekend neighborhood barbecue as they strive to connect with their neighbors on Sunday afternoon starting at three.

Join us in celebrating this great news and praying for God’s will to be done.

Ash Wednesday

Post by Pastor Buff

Ash Wednesday is today and many in the context, which I live, will fill cathedrals and churches to usher in the Lent season. Growing up in a Southern Baptist Church this wasn’t a tradition or season that we recognized. Yet, being here in the Northeast, I recognize how big a deal this is.

I just read where one church is offering a drive thru Ash Wednesday service to handle the volume of people they expect to come by to observe this long standing tradition. If you were like me, you have to ask – what is Lent and why haven’t I observed it?

Ash Wednesday is simply the first day of Lent and the official name is the “day of ashes” simply because of the practice of rubbing ashes on ones forehead in the sign of the cross. Today I will see hundreds of people with that symbol as they dedicate themselves to period of spiritual discipline. Many will choose some sinful habit, activity and practice either moderation or self-denial during these forty days leading up to Easter.

Now the Bible never mentions Ash Wednesday or Lent but it doesn’t mean that it can’t be something that we shouldn’t look at or even consider. For instance, I was challenged with this prayer last week at a meeting…

“Lord, I ask that you would not simply heal the symptoms of what is not right in my life, but would you surgically remove all that is in me that does not belong to you.” - Peter Scazzero

What if the next forty days you and I made this a sincere prayer leading up to Easter? What would our lives look like if this prayer were to be answered? How would the people that we love and live among be different because of this reality becoming true in you and I? Would the change be seen, would it be felt? Would it be a game changer?

Take some time today and read through it as we consider our lives and the opportunity that we have sitting before us. God created us in His Image and His plan is for you and I to reflect Him wherever we are in our daily lives. This is why Easter is so huge.

It is why the Gospel is good news to a world that is drowning in bad news. It is why God sent Jesus to redeem you and I and rescue us so that we could have a ministry of reconciliation to those who have not yet chosen to follow Him.

Why not pray this prayer the next 40 days? What is the worst thing that could happen? You spent 40 days seeking to connect with your creator so that you could completely surrender your whole heart to Him? That the ashes could simply be the scar from the surgery that the Great Physician would preform on you as a result of your willingness to press in for forty days? I’m going for it…how about you?

I surrender Lord – not just some but all.