I scheduled a Prayer Retreat for most of this week. I needed an extended period of time to pray and reflect and to ask God for specific guidance in my live and work. It's been a very interesting couple of days. God does answer prayer, we just don't slow down long enough to be quiet enough to listen.
To help me do this I am using the Upper Room book called A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants. There is a section in the back for Monthly Retreat, and I've been using one each day. It calls for 30 minutes of silence, then some reading, reflection quotes, prayer, journaling and more prayer and reflection and like shampoo, Repeat.... The 30 minutes of silence is very, very hard. I set my iPad count down clock and the time just sits there. I must really need to pray even more.
I had the chance to pray going over the entire membership roster, praying for work, for family, for relationship to the congregation etc. I normally just do the birthday people, but this was for the whole group A to Z. I'm going to plan to do that more often.
I've been reading some very powerful books on prayer as well, two by a pastor in Washington DC who's churches are movie theaters. His books, Primal: a Quest for the Lost Soul of Christendom, & The Circle Maker: praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears. I'm grateful to Mark Batterson for sharing his journey with us. I've been truly inspired. I would recommend them to any of you who would like to be challenged for a deeper faith walk. We need to hear/read from others to get new ideas or to be reminded of significant ways to draw near to God in faith.
A couple of times this week, I received specific answers to urgent prayer, leading me to resources that just happened to come in the mail or email, that I had not expected or ordered, but seemed to be the direct Word of the Lord to me for my situation. God is Good. All the Time. I am so thankful for the responses that have lifted burdens and worries I was facing, with just the right guidance and influence.
Another answer to prayer was inspired by another UMC pastor who was reflecting on the important message of Jesus found in John's Gospel, chapters 14-17, so I re-read and prayed over that. The connection to the vine and the resources of the Holy Spirit to help us are awesome gifts we often forget. And then Ch. 17, Jesus prays for the people in the church today, we are prayed for by Jesus when he was in the Upper Room so many years ago. We've been prayed for, we were on his mind, that night just before he died to take away our sins. Thank you Jesus.
I need to go back to prayer, but I wanted to include you in this experience and to offer you some encouragement as well. You may not be able to do a week, but short prayer retreats are very important and worthwhile. Let me know if I can help point you in the right direction.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
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