Monthly Archives: November 2011

First off, I must apologize for not writing sooner. It isn’t that I haven’t wanted to, but school work has caused me to be unable to write as I have desired. With that being said, tonight I just want to write about random stuff in my head – It probably will not be as polished as my usual writing or even nearly as good – but maybe somewhere along the way you will find something that will encourage you. So here we go.

God. Stop and think on that word for a moment. A word that we toss around, that we say sometimes even in a flippant manner. I don’t want to try to redeem the word, but remind us of something I have been reminded of recently.

Last week was 24/7 prayer on our campus. I remember having the conversations about 3 years ago with some of the people who have really put time and effort into it. It was a crazy dream, 24/7 for one full week. But it was a dream that they felt God saying would be worthwile. And it has been. I couldn’t wait until this year’s 24/7. I felt like God was going to do something – and one of the things that he has brought into my mind is realizing that we are powerful (through Christ of course).

God had the chance to have some conversations with me over the past week – redeeming and refreshing conversations. After getting the honor to pray during the first prayer slot of 24/7, I felt God leading me to read scripture out loud. I don’t know why, but it made the scripture come alive. Even though I didn’t know where to start, God drew me to read Psalms. So I just started reading – but not just flat line, but the more I read the more excited I got. It was like I got a front seat view to what David was going through as he wrote. From the good to the bad, I began to see God’s love story unfold – even just in the first 30ish chapters. And for some reason I was drawn to Ps 18.

Psalm 18 tells the story of when David was being chased by his enemies. He was hunkered down and had no idea how he was going to come out of this place. Death was surly upon him. But he trusted in God, so he cried out to him. And like God does, he heard his cries – and descended from the Heavens on huge clouds of lightning and fought against the enemies with David – bringing David to victory.

I think there are a few things to learn from this scripture – one that I would normally just go and continue reading past. I see a man – David – who is under attack, both spiritually and physically. And the first thing he did wasn’t to go to his mentor, his friends, his advisors or his roommate. He fell before God. God was his first line of communication. I know that I took from this that God is asking me to run to him first – because he wants to be actively involved in our lives. He wants to hear our cries so he can answer them. But not only that – but David started by praising God.

I know that I’m not great at this – praising God first, then trusting, then requesting – but in that moment while reading the Psalm out loud, God seemed to tap on my heart. Maybe he is tapping on yours. You may be scared, or even a bit worried that you aren’t hearing things right. But the Psalm doesn’t stop there. That’s the cool part.

If you doubt that there is a payoff – the psalm goes on to speak of the Lord responding directly to the cries of David. He brings David victory. But not just victory from his oppression, but he honors David. I desire to have that – to be honored by the most high God. God responds to us, but he wants us to commit to trust him first and foremost.

Maybe the key to this passage is that David didn’t utter any words that we don’t utter when we pray. I think the difference is that David trusted with all his heart, mind and soul. Even if God had chosen not to save him, David’s cries were still heard. If the story would have stopped there – I believe that David would still believe without a doubt that his God was on the throne.

So often we have a conditional trust with God. I think we forget to listen to him and allow him to respond, so we get in this cycle of praying, asking for things, “trusting” and then when things don’t get answered – we stop trusting. But trust built out of love isn’t something we can just stop doing – so how does your trust in God relate to your love for him? Can you really love God and still not trust him fully in everything?

I think that we want to trust him, but instead we treat God as a personal vending machine. We trust him to provide for us in everything, when he has something better for us if we just trust him. If we just love him. And most of all, if we love him, we have got to stop taking the trust back and doing it ourselves. We have got to allow ourselves in prayer to stop praying. We need to sit in his presence. That is how we know the father – by studying scriptures and sitting with him.

I want a life like David lived. He was one messed up guy in some areas, but he knew that his power came from God. He spent time with God – not just durring a scheduled devotional or prayer time – but actually spent time with him. If David was here today, I think he would encourage us to live a Ps. 18 life. A life that runs to God first, trust him above all else – regardless of what he does. Instead of running to others, we need to start getting on our knees before Christ and not only praising him, but spending time just soaking in his presence. He wants to take us on an adventure – one that is crazy by the worlds standards – one that pushes us to our limits. One that requires more than we have to give – not so that we give up, but so we learn to allow God to fill in the gaps.

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.
~ Ps 18:30

Dive Deep,
Kyle