6 Month Check Up

In January, I shared what I felt God had laid on my heart for the new year in Focus 2020 , but during the pandemic, the Lord has expanded my focus and built on what He had already been teaching me. These themes were added to my focus this year…prayer, preparing for the return of Jesus, and bolder witness in the mean time.

My D-Group finished studying the book of Revelation during the quarantine. Our isolation, along with the culture of our nation in general, made me want to say, Come on back, Lord! But what He said to me was, “not yet, more need to know me.” And as a follower of Christ, I am to boldly and lovingly share my faith. The date of His return is not near as important as the wait! What am I doing in the wait? Who needs to know Jesus is coming back? Am I faithfully praying for the lost, and walking through open doors to share Christ?

During the spring, I also became aware of Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney. I bought it to read during an extended fall beach trip, mainly because right at that time Revelation was eating my lunch!! So I ordered it and stowed it away with a bag of beach reads, but I started using the author’s suggestion for praying through the Psalms.

It has changed how I pray and now that I’ve read this short book, I’m not sure I’ll ever change this way of praying. For several months now, I’ve prayed through the book of Psalms every 30 days. I highly recommend this to you! I am so grateful for my women’s minister sharing this book and this method during our “zoom” team meeting!

Even though I’ve prayed the Word for family, daily as well as extended time weekly, I now have so many specific ways to pray for them, the lost, and anyone the Lord lays on my heart (and that includes myself!). I’ve also been specifically praying for spiritual renewal for myself, my church, community, and nation, each week on Wednesday. This Whitney book has even inspired how I pray for revival.

My D-Group also read Sarah Hagerty’s book Adore. We looked at the deeper meaning of adoration, remembering all He is, and all He has done as we read His Word. This book, as well as Whitney’s method of praying the Psalms has showed me new ways to worship Christ.

During this same season I worked through the Legacy study and read the book Only One Life by Jackie Green and Lauren Green McAfee. I highly recommend these to you. Even though at my stage of life it has become even more important to me, legacy is something that we leave behind every single day…at any age!

The Legacy authors quote Dr. Billy Graham’s thoughts on prayer: “The Scripture says, ‘Pray without ceasing’ (1 Thessalonians 517). This should be the motto of every true follower of Jesus Christ. Never stop praying, no matter how dark and hopeless your case may seem. Your responsibility isn’t to tell God when He must act or even how He must act. Your responsibility is simply ‘to ‘pray without ceasing’ trusting Him to act according to His perfect will.” 

Sometimes, we pray and the Lord quickly answers. Other times it’s weeks and even years waiting for the answer. Jackie and Lauren remind us that “Presenting the urgent need alone assumes the caring, all-powerful Lord will meet the need appropriately.”

When Jesus failed to come quickly to save sick Lazarus, He prays at the tomb: “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” (John 11:41-42). Jesus came at the perfect moment to bring glory to God. That’s true for us as well. If He waits, there is a reason, and a blessing!

I’ve heard Priscilla Shirer say, God will either give us what we ask for or something better.” Similarly, in Only One Life, the authors quote Tim Keller:

All of these “spring and summer” readings and studies kept pointing to prayer and bold witness. We believers have ALL been called to these and as Margaret Wheatly (also quoted in Legacy) said, we must…

We cannot stop praying and we cannot stop sharing boldly with the lost. As we pray, using God’s Word is one of the best ways to pray for ourselves and for others. These are a couple of things the Lord has spoken to me during COVID-19 (and other life and cultural issues) year 2020! What has He taught you?

Banner photo by Markus Frieauff on Unsplash