SUMMER OF PRAYER
JOURNAL | WEEK EIGHT
TRUTH OR TRUTH
07.26.2022
This weekend Pastor Jamie said that her God is spelt with a capital G. And all I could think was Wow! Yes! What reverence for the Lord! Reverence, or respect, is one of the reasons to capitalize His name. Plus God is a proper noun. He is the one true God!!
I have always been super picky about capitalizing words in regard with the Lord.
Here are some examples: Jesus, Holy Spirit. God, You, Your, His, He, Word, Bible, and many more.
But here is one that some might not think about: is it Truth or truth?
Well, it depends. The word truth uncapitalized means common, worldly truth to me. But Truth is the Truth of the Lord.
At some point, we were all walking around knowing a certain truth. Things like this:
• I know what is best for me.
• Do what makes you happy.
For some people truth was being atheist. For others it was a narcissistic life filled with all the instant gratification you could get your hands on. Society told us that we should do whatever it takes to get ahead; squash the weaker ones. Don't worry about other people just look out for yourself.
Then at some point, you ran into the Lord and His values. You then had a decision to make: do you keep walking in your truth or do you chose to learn and walk in The Truth? At some point I hope you decided to trade your truth for His Truth, The Truth. And all of a sudden all the things you thought you knew were replaced with new ideas. Those ideas are opposite of self-indulgence and self-serving. Instant gratification was thrown out the window for treasures stored up on Heaven. And for some it felt like up was down and down was left. I get it. It is a lot, but Thank You Lord for sending the Holy Spirit to guide us, teach us, and change us. The Truths we now hold are more like this:
"Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another."
Galatians 5:26 NLT
"If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important."
Galatians 6:3 NLT
"Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow."
James 1:17 NLT
"You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart."
1 Peter 1:22 NLT
And I thank the Lord that He is gentle with us as we unlearn the truths we knew and start to live in The Truth He has provided for us!!
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for giving us The Bible to teach us about You and how You want Your Kingdom to work. Thank You for sacrificing Your Son Jesus for us so that we wouldn't have to live under the law any longer. Thank You for allowing us to live under Your grace now. When we fall short, You are so gracious to allow us to repent with words, and You always forgive us! Thank You for teaching us about You through the living, breathing example of Jesus Christ. Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us. Thank You for choosing to reside inside of us. You didn't have to do any of these things for us, but You chose to do these things. You love us so much. I cannot even fully understand Your love. I am thankful for it, but I don't understand it. The sacrifice, the continual forgiveness, the kindness, the patience....it is all so much. I say Thank You, but those words can't fully capture what my heart feels. And my mind cannot sufficiently articulate my gratitude. You already know though. You know everything. So humbly I say Thank You.
I choose Your Truth. I choose Jesus. I choose Abba Father. I choose the Holy Spirit.
I pray in the beautiful name of Jesus.
Amen.
Sara B.
THE SECRET PLACE
07.28.2022
As Summer of Prayer comes to an end, I hope that everyone is as joyful for the experience as I am. I came into this season so expectant, and I can say that I have not been disappointed. My relationship with the Lord has grown. Some of the issues I was battling with were faced head-on. I learned a lot about just being in the presence of the Lord. No one can teach you to just sit with the Lord. It is something you must experience and come to appreciate. Once you appreciate it, you come to expect it. You expect to enter into the presence of the Lord and spend quality time with Him. That is a relationship. Our King desires that relationship more than we do. He has taught me over the last 7 months that He ALWAYS shows up. I may not feel it. I may be so blocked up that I cannot access it, but He is there. He is always there. He doesn't make promises and not keep them. According to Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?" The answer is NO, he has never failed to act; and NO, he has not ever promised and not carried it out. He always acts on what He speaks. He always carries out His promises.
If you showed up to a prayer room or even multiple sessions this summer and you feel like nothing changed, I challenge your feeling.
Sometimes when the Lord does works inside of us, there is no evidence of those works...yet. Heart changes may not be visual until you encounter the trial that tests it. Trauma healing won't necessarily look like anything happened, but one day you might realize that you don't think about that event or thing any more. Falling more in love with the King of Kings may just look like wanting to pray everyday or switching from secular music to worship music. If you were expecting a huge something to happen and it didn't, I pray that you can find comfort in the littler things that one day will turn out to be really big things.
If I could pray one prayer over our entire congregation continually, it would be for each of us to daily walk into the throne of Jesus and just spend a few minutes in His presence. That all stresses of the natural world would melt away for a few minutes every day. No stressing, no striving, no carrying heavy burdens, no harsh yokes, just peace in the face of Jesus. I would pray that you would return to your daily life with a renewal of faith, strength to continue the good fight, and an ability to shine the love of Jesus to others.
Five or ten minutes a day in the throne room can unravel decades of trauma and emotional damage. There is something about that Kingdom Freedom that just releases, restores, redeems, and renews us, but we have to pursue it. We run to it. We fight for it. We desire it above all else. We desire more time with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
May the peace of the Lord carry you into your next season. I pray these scriptures over you:
"And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful."
Colossians 3:15
"Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock."
Isaiah 26:2-4
"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all."
2 Thessalonians 3:16 NLT
Heavenly Father,
I enter into the secret place with You with a humble and grateful heart. I thank You for this season of peace and transformation. I thank You that we grew nearer to You and corporately experienced Your presence. I am so thankful for my brothers and sister in Christ who showed up day after day to worship You. I am thankful for those who couldn't be in the building but were faithful to experience You from outside the church building. May we all leave this season with a deeper relationship with You. May we all have a greater desire for You, Lord. I pray that You broke chains off of Your children this summer. I pray that heart transformations were experienced where they were needed.
I pray that corporately our faith has increased, and our passion for You has strengthened. I pray that each person grew in their relationship with You, but that we corporately grew into You as well. May we never go back to where we were. May we continue on this narrow path running to Your narrow gate. I pray that eyes and ears were opened this summer; and that hearts became less hardened and more gentle. I pray that we look a little bit more like You.
May all who desire You be able to access You from their homes, cars, workplaces, etc. May Your children choose forgiveness and healing. May Your children choose unity with You and Your Church. Thank You for this amazing experience. Thank You for teaching us what it is like to be among others who adore You. Thank You for allowing us to cast down fears of embarrassment, rejection, or social norms and trade them for holy experiences with You. We thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We love You. I cover this prayer in the blood of Jesus. And we pray in the Mighty Name of Jesus!
Amen.
I would also like to thank our wonderful church family for everything they did to make this possible. We are so blessed to have obedient shepherds who desire to operate our church the way Jesus wants to operate it. So thank You to Pastors Matt and Kayla for being an example of obedience to the Father. I want to thank people by name, but I am worried I will forget someone. Thank You to each musician and singer that worshipped on and off the stage. Thank You to every person who spoke a prayer into the microphone or into the atmosphere. Thank You to every person who operated the cameras, the YouTube feed, the lights, and all the things that I don't even know about. Thank You to everyone who played with our children so we could worship and our children would love to go to church. Thank You to everyone who showed up when you maybe didn't feel like it or were facing enemy attacks. Thank You to everyone who showed up with no hindrances at all. If you watched, attended, or worked Summer of Prayer, I thank you from all the parts of my heart.
Sara B.