Week Four - Friday Prayer

We've faced a huge giant this week - fear. Let's invite God into our struggle through prayer:


Father,


Fear can pull us under frozen in a whirlpool of desperation. Faith conquers fear. Today we choose faith. We place our concerns, worries and fears squarely in the palm of Your mighty hand. The hand that calms the storm will calm the storm of our fears.


In the mighty name of Jesus we pray,


Amen

Facing the Giant of Fear-Scripture Focus

by Shannon Milholland


Fears fingers' can loom large or stealthily in our lives. I wrote about my own experience with fear yesterday. While we rely on God to remove fear's grip, let's focus our minds and hearts on this scripture:

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 

“Do not fear; I will help you."

Isaiah 41:13

Facing the Giant of Fear

by Judy S. Hrubes

We all have heard it, that odious song children chant, “I dare you, I dare you!” I can still remember the first time looking up at shiny steel, fondly known as “Monkey Bars.” I must have been 5, maybe 6 and the thought of hanging, let alone swinging from one bar to another was an accomplished trick that only the older and stronger kids could perform. I was way too young to hold my weight, not to mention the entire thought made my palms go wet, which of course would send me spiraling down to the sandy playground. Every day at recess the kids raced to the equipment carrying on like monkeys, while I sat back and watched.

Time after time I heard the clamor, “Go ahead I dare you!” It must have taken the entire school year because as the last days of school approached I finally got the courage to attempt the feat. There I stood teetering on the edge, a swipe to my shirt to dry my palms and with sheer determination and might, or should I say fright, I too became an accomplished monkey victoriously swinging from bar to bar. That day I conquered one of my first fears.

Many years later, I was confronted again. This time the shiny steel was quite different than any playground equipment, it was a shining steel skyscraper! “I dare you!” or something like it, rung out again, but this time from my own mind. My family was pleading with me to share in something that my trembling legs wanted no part of. Again, my palms grew wet, as I peered endlessly up to the top of the Sears Tower. 

The dare was to ride the elevator to the 103rd floor, not only to walk out on the Observatory Deck, but out on The Ledge! The Ledge is a 5 foot square glass cube that projects precariously out from 1353 feet above the ground.  Only three layers of ½ inch glass prevent you from spiraling down and this time it’s not to a sandy playground!

As I reluctantly got in line to make my way to the top, in my head were flashes of how my epitaph would read on my headstone, “The Ledge put her over the edge” or “I would rather be here than on The Ledge!” Before I knew it, I was meeting my fear head on. The glass cube shining brightly as if it were beckoning, “Go ahead, I dare you!” The very moment I decided to back out and run as far away as I could, I heard a soft call in my head. This time it was not my voice, but the voice of God clearly whispering not the words, “I dare you, I dare you,” but, “I will carry you,” then again, “I will carry you.” I felt His gentle hand reach for mine and there I was standing 1300 feet out and over downtown Chicago, feeling awestruck, yet inexplicably at peace.

God knew I needed Him that day to “carry me” through. I needed his strength to overcome the fear; I needed his courage to overcome the dare. It was a pivotal, God-arranged moment in my faith. It made me think of Peter, stepping out of the boat onto water. For me it was on the clear glass. Peter and I both trusting, both reaching and taking steps towards Jesus… 

Week Three - Friday Prayer

by Shannon Milholland


As we close our second week of Facing the Giants, we once again join in prayer. We faced discontentment and distance from God head on. I wonder if like last week, if these aren't twin sisters. Does a lack of contentment drive my heart from His? As I pull away from Him, does an ungrateful heart follow? 


Let's pray together.


Father,


We choose gratitude today. We choose to be thankful everyday moments filled with glimpses of Your goodness and echoes of Your grace. Fill our hearts with thanksgiving as we celebrate all You are and all You are molding us to be.


Here where Your heart beat dances with our own, contentment radiates through our spirit. You are so close, You're palpable. Stay close. Wrap us up in Your love. Let Your love triumph over our giants.


In the Conquerer's name, Jesus, we pray,


Amen.

Facing the Giant of Distance from God - Scripture Focus

Have you ever been in heavy traffic and had a much bigger car rudely cut in front of you? Suddenly you can't see the traffic in front and have no idea what's causing such a big delay. Sometimes I allow circumstances, time constraints or my emotions cut in on my relationship with God. Suddenly my vision is clouded. I can't see what's coming up ahead and slowly the gap between God and I increases. As we focus our minds on today's scripture, let's ask God to help us eliminate the obstacles.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

Galatians 5:7

Facing the Giant of Distance from God

by Kristen Albaugh

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

Galatians 5:7

Immediately following our wedding, Freddie and I took our honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico.  It was romantic, warm, relaxing, beautiful, everything I hoped it would be.  Upon our return, we geared up to go back to Mexico in two short weeks.  This time we were traveling to a Texas border town with a team of high school students for a short term mission trip.  Everything that Cancun was, Reynosa was not. Except hot.

The morning came to leave and I got dressed at o’dark thirty to go with Freddie to the church. My pants felt a little tight, but given the recent wedding and honeymoon indulgences, I wasn’t surprised. When we got to the church, I bent down and heard a loud POP. Freddie heard it too, in another room. It was the sound of my pants bursting at the seams! Things seemed to go from bad to worse after that.

Upon arrival in Mexico, we soon realized our accommodations would not be the hotel we had stayed at in previous years, but the top of a church building. The church building was surrounded by a scrap metal yard and a not so safe neighborhood, so the building itself was the only place we could be. The room for the girls to sleep had about 20 bunk beds, stacked 3 high. There was one small window and a few box fans to move the stifling air. We noticed there were no mattress on the beds, the reason being, we soon learned, was they were being wrapped in plastic due to the bug infestation.

Speaking of bugs, there were roaches, and lots of them, climbing the walls of the church. To make matters worse, the bathrooms were in a different building and there was a limited amount of water. Mostly it was turned off, making showering and flushing impossible. Additionally, the septic system couldn’t handle toilet paper, so all paper had to be thrown away in open trash cans. It was hot, smelly and buggy. 

I did my best to hold it together in front of the girls, who were mostly crying by now. But as soon as I got to Freddie around the corner and out of sight of our team, I lost it, demanding to be sent home. To say I felt distant from God was an understatement. For some time prior to this trip, I was blessed with an intimate and joyful relationship with Christ. But the events leading up to the first few hours of this trip seemed more than I could bear. And if I were honest, I thought they were far more than I should be asked to bear. After all, I was a newlywed, I did not deserve these conditions! But I knew I couldn’t go home so I began to pray. I asked God to give me a good attitude and help me be thankful for all the ways I was blessed. My attitude didn’t instantly sway to the positive, but I just continued to pray that God would use me in the lives of the girls we were with and in the lives of those we were working for and with that week.

My attitude did improve a bit, even if the situation did not. To top it all off, my ankles swelled far beyond anything I ever experienced even during my future pregnancies.  Including when I was 9 months pregnant in July in Houston. But inside I still felt God was so far away. Why was this mission trip so hard? We had a devotion book that the mission team gave us and I dutifully did my devotions each morning. About 4 days into it, I read the passage in Galatians 5 where Paul says: You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

Right there and then, I felt God speaking directly to me. It’s funny, because the devotion books were written in advance. Yet God knew what I would need on that trip. He was so close at that moment. But actually, he was always close. God wasn’t really distant from me even if I felt distant from him. Paul tells us about God’s nearness in Philippians 4:5

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

So what did cut in on me? I had only recently felt this distance between God and I, so what happened? I concluded I was just too focused on my current circumstances and what was not good. The weight gain (remember the split pants?!), the bugs, the bathrooms, the bugs, the heat, the bugs. I let all that I deemed bad come between God and I. At that moment, I let it all go. God spoke to me through his word and I was ready to listen. Outwardly, nothing changed but inwardly God changed everything.

I can honestly say that trip to Mexico was one of the best mission trips of the many I have had the privilege of going on. The conditions were miserable but God was right there and nothing else really mattered.

Do you feel distant from God? If so, did something cut in on you? Are you willing to recognize what that is? Can I suggest that if you are willing to pray, and read your bible with an open heart, God will speak to you? Perhaps you can start by reading and praying through the Psalms. And remember our verse from James 4:8 from a few weeks ago: 

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Facing the Giant of Discontentment-Scripture Focus

I can still tell you quadratic equation from high school Algebra II. In fact, a friend of mine who teaches high school offered me her semester review pack in case I wanted to brush up on math I took 25 years ago. If I can  learn and retain useless information like that, why is it so hard to learn to be content?


Today, think with me about this scripture. Let's ask God to help us make it a reality in our lives.

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Philippians 4:11