Prayer

            In my seventeen years as a student this assignment to spend on hour in uninterrupted prayer has been my favorite assignment that I have received. It came in my Senior Seminar class close to the end of the bachelors studies and it was such a blessing to me I thought I would share it with you here in this forum that has been put off for some time, but I suppose better late than never. The assignment was this, simply spend an hour in uninterrupted prayer with the Lord and than write about your experience… this was my report.
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            It was incredibly refreshing to just spend time with Him. It wasn’t an hour on my knees talking the whole time. I went for a walk, and just talked to God and listened. About various things that came to my mind starting with asking the lord to help me reconcile how it works to pray without ceasing and to also heed the council of Ecclesiastes when it said let your words be few in the presence of God for He is in heave and you are on earth. But it was refreshing and intimate and wonderful. I have a lot of decisions in front of me right now and I am the kind of person that loves to talk things out, and I had been doing that with friends. It was as if the Lord said to me… why haven’t we talked about this Josiah? It felt as though he said it to me almost chuckling with a big smile on his face warmly inviting me to pour out my heart to him. So we walked and I chattered and he responded with the wind and the stars and peace… deep deep peace. It was me experiencing Him being the friend that sticks closer than a brother. The kind of intimacy I know He longs for in our relationship, the kind of intimacy I say I want but rarely take time seek with Him. It was gentle yet overwhelming, calming but made me want to sing and dance, and I might of. I like God. =]

            We also talked about the different paths on the table in from of me. I didn’t hear a voice from heaven or anything saying, do this or do that, but I had a different sort of peace about the decisions because I had talked them through with the most important someone.

            In my work as a Discipleship Coordinator and I met with many guys on a weekly basis and would sit with them for an hour or two and hash out life, build relationships with them, pray with them, and grow with them.  As I said to Him, “Lord I’ve missed you we really don’t do this enough”, God short of impressed on my heart, “well I am always available, and you meet with your guys regularly to show how you value them. So that they know they have you for those two hours and to show that you care. To just enjoy one another and grow the friendship, why don’t we do that?” So I want to start to have appointments or dates with God. These will be chunks of time I lay out to be with him that I treat seriously as appointments striving to honor them, when I am asked to do something to respond with a stern; sorry I am busy with a previous engagement.
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If I desire the reality of God in my life I need to treat Him as just that, a reality.  A real relationship in my life that really needs tending. I invite you to take my teacher’s challenge and if you do I would love to hear about it. I also would ask you to challenge me as you have opportunity and check and see if I am making priority of my appointments with Him. This is something I so struggle with and I would welcome challenges or even wisdom how to grow in that.