The Prayer Project

A little over 12 months ago in the midst of great success I found myself virtually bankrupt spiritually. These dry bones has spent YEARS focusing on the products of ministry and spirituality without staying grounded in the grace and love and power of our Great Sustainer. My spirit was poor and my body was literally falling apart from borderline chronic illness. I’m not sure if anyone but wife knew the fullness of my physical struggles and I’m not sure that anyone but Jesus knew how cold and dark my heart was. Those days of despair are long gone now and It’s a testimony to the never-ending grace of God and to the power that spiritual healing can have on our physical beings. 

It began through God showing me my uttermost need to connect with Him through deep, daily dedicated prayer. He has shown me that the ability to lead His church, to worship Him, and to love those around me comes not from my own power or talents or abilities but INSTEAD from the overflow of HIS LIFE IN ME! HIS life…… in me. HIS grace…. in me. HIS mercy…. in me. John the Baptist once told his followers to not be dismayed that people were starting to give Jesus more attention than Him. He said, “I must decrease so that He may increase.” 

I realize now that in order to experience the abundance of life that is found in Christ, I must continually decrease so that He may increase IN ME. I have a long way to go but God has given me three areas (drawn from Isaiah) that I must now strive to let Him build inside of my heart and life:

1. Cleansing Repentance - I’m tired and done with seeking repentance just enough to rid me of my guilt. I want God’s grace to CLEANSE me and I want to live in the freedom of knowing that I don’t have to keep turing back to sin over and over again. I choose now to turn instead towards the love, grace, and mercy of Christ.

2. Transformative Discipleship - I desire to not just learn about God and His Word but to be CHANGED by it. I want to take it in and let it come back out through the beauty of a life lived in closer fellowship and obedience to God.

3. Reconciling Activism - I feel the tug of the Spirit on my heart to free my faith from my politics. God is calling me to feel a compassion and to exercise justice for those who are hurting and are disadvantaged in this world. This may very well be the hardest part of my journey and the longest one.

If you’re battling spiritually, then my encouragement to you is to STOP and begin the process of DECREASING so that God can pour Himself into your life in a powerful way!