Mostly a prayer...

Job 5
Psalm 108
Acts 10-11

SOAP - Mostly a prayer...

Scripture
Job 5:8-9 "But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted."

Observation
I think that Job's friend is saying if he were in Job's situation, he would ask God for help. God can do anything and so he can definitely help Job.

Application
This is not one of those parts, but every time I read the parts of the old testament where God has done something amazing for the people and they forget him, I think that it's ridiculous and I wonder how they could be so blind. This scripture tells us to lay our cause before God. I think there is plenty of scripture that makes that idea clear... having trouble? confused? not sure about a decision? struggling to do the right thing? feeling down and troubled? feeling thankful? anything and everything... good and bad... it makes sense to lay our cause before God. God has answered so many of my prayers in ways much greater than I ever imagined and yet I constantly find myself trying to work things out for myself. Did it this weekend. Saturday was a hard working house cleaning day, trying to give some stuff away, and somehow get organized. I knew I'd need God's help and I started my day with him. Sunday was meant to be laid back and fun. But, it seemed to me that all my plans for fun were going wrong. And I really really wanted to keep a good attitude about it. I tried so hard to have a good attitude. How is it that in the midst of trying to have a good attitude, it never occurred to me to pray? God crossed my mind but I never once stopped to talk to him. I don't get it at all. And I'll probably do it again later today. I don't know why the people of the old testament look so silly to me. I'm just the same.

Prayer (this is gonna get long... don't know why I felt the need to put a whole rambling prayer in here, but I did... )
Dear Lord. I'm sorry that I didn't come to you for help yesterday. I don't know what I was thinking. Dear Lord today is just an ordinary day. I don't know of any big challenges I'll face. But I need your help with it Lord. I need your love, your grace. I need you to lead me and show me the right things to do. I'm not saying I'm just going to sit back and do nothing til you tell me what to do. But please Lord, help me open my heart and open my mind to your guidance. How can I serve you if I go about my day on my own? Maybe I don't have big plans for this day, but you might. I don't want to miss out on the work you are doing in my life because I closed my heart and my mind to you.

Dear Lord it seems like there are so many options before us, ways to use our time, ways to use our money. And a lot of them are good things. But even if they are all good things we still have to pick some and forget the others. Dear Lord this week seems busy already. I feel like I need to be doing something to serve you. But I also feel like it's important to spend time with family and show support for them. And I also feel like it's important to spend time accomplishing things at home, work for the church, and things that I just enjoy. I feel like I need to spend some time with friends I haven't seen in a while. The actual demands on my time are really very minimal, but the options out there of where to spend it seem huge. Dear Lord please help my make wise use of time, and see what is most important. Help me avoid wasting time. Dear Lord help me see where I can serve you. Show me where you are at work around me and how I can help.

Dear Lord it's the same with money. There are so many options. We just went camping so of course there are camping things that we want now. And there are always coffee related items that we'd love to buy, like a coffee grinder or another coffee press. I probably actually need some work clothes and shoes but of course I'd rather have the camping and coffee stuff. This time of year lots of people are in need. It's getting cold and the holidays are approaching. People can't afford to feed their families and certainly can't afford christmas presents or a big thanksgiving meal. That makes me sad and I want to help. But then there is me. And there are things that I'd like to do. There is a blacksmithing class at this folk school up in the mountains. I would love to go. It just seems like it would be good to get away and learn something new. But that money could be used for so many other things. How can I use it for something that I don't need at all? Or do I "need" it? Would it serve me well as part of the person you made me? Or am I just lying to myself in hopes of getting what I want? I have no idea. And that class is going to fill up. Dear Lord please help me see what is right. Lord I never used to have extra money and yet I spent it on things I didn't need anyway. Now I do have extra and I don't know what to do with it. I guess I can imagine having to explain to you why I bought what I bought, why I spent that money on whatever it is that I spent it on. I'm pretty sure my imagination can assist me in lying to myself. But I'll try. Wish you could just put a big red "X" over all the things I shouldn't buy or shouldn't do. Oh yeah, there are computers too... if I had a new computer and the right software I could do everything I want to for the church and I could do more photography, more things to help people... but is that really worth the money for a computer? Can't I still help people without it? Thank you Lord for blessing me with plenty. :-)

Nope, still not done... Dear Lord please watch over our church. There are lots of decisions to be made there too. And we want to make the ones that serve you best. I have to confess, I've thought about the question "what is the point of church?" and I'm not sure that I have a clear answer. I don't remember if John asked us that in a sermon or why that question came to mind, but it has. Lord what is the answer? What is the point of a church? I know it's a place to worship you. And I know we want to "save" as many people as we can. How do we do that? What is important? How do we make the connection between you and the people out there? Everyone needs you and I doubt anyone is just sitting back thinking their relationship with you is perfect and they have no need to grow. How do we help the people who don't know you and also the ones who do know you? How do we reach people in the community? What do we do to help people who are already part of the Bridge grow? It seems like it should be easy to figure it out. But yet I feel like there is something I am totally missing. I feel like you are trying to show us (or me) something and I'm blind to it for some reason. Lord how do you want me to help the Bridge? Is there something I am ignoring? Show me please.

Thank you Lord for hearing this prayer. Thank you for the many blessings in my life. Lord please guide me in my decisions. I pray that you would help me use those blessings for your service. Amen.