The Prayer Project

Peace …….. is so elusive at times. I have found my sense of it besieged as of late.

“Freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, obsession, etc …. a state of tranquility or serenity.”

A simple, personal definition yet it rarely truly applies to me even though The Scriptures give us countless promises that God will grant us peace or that we are to be at peace in our whole being. My personal times with the Lord are always a little unpredictable. Sometimes they focus on solely prayer, sometimes repentance, but most recently God has focused them on PEACE. 

That may seem like a strange thing for God to put in front of me, but its so vital. When there is no peace in my being I am a horrible worshipper; a tempermental husband and father; and a raging egotistic leader. So, in short order, when my soul finds no peace the world around me is denied it and the relationships in my life from family to friends to the Divine are impacted. 

Psalm 48:9-10 says:

“We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of Your temple. As Your name, O God, so praise reaches to the ends of the earth.”

That word “thought” originally meant “to wait for or to have a silent peace”. So that verse could read like this: “We have waited in silent peace BECAUSE of Your steadfast love, O God…..” 

That verse spoke volumes to me this week. In the midst of the temple, I am to place the STEADFAST LOVE of GOD in my thoughts and heart in such a way that it gives me a patient and silent peace. THEN my praise will rise in such a way that it will reach as far as the very name of God Himself! 

There’s another huge thing in that passage: “in the midst of Your temple.”

That little, tiny clause has BIG meaning for me as a believer because it means that not only should I meditate on God’s steadfast love in the midst of the physical temple (church) but also in the midst of the spiritual temple (my body or being). In my heart should be rooted the nature of God’s love that in every part of my day I am constantly thinking about it so deeply that I find that silent peace in the very CENTER of His temple in me. God has chosen to rest His glory not just in buildings made by man, but in the very being of man himself (which is why Paul was so passionate about the body being treated like the Holy Temple of God). If I’m going to get my peace back, I’m going to have to stop striving for it and instead spend more my time and more of MYSELF thinking on the STEADFAST LOVE OF GOD!

I hate waking up early to go the gym…. HATE IT! In fact, I think I might be hard pressed to express how much my mind and body don’t want to do it. So with my family gone and being alone this week I decided yesterday morning that I would slide back into bed after I got home from the gym. What could be better than cool sheets and a soft comforter after a torture session with Buck? So I came in the door about 6:10 and kicked off my shoes, got out of my gym clothes and happily crawled back into bed ……………….. and then couldn’t get sleepy. Using my newfound “spiritual maturity” I though it was a good time to pray…. for SLEEP! However, after about 15 minutes of that not working I actually did give in and decide that perhaps God really did want me to spend that time with Him. It was a sweet time. I got to pray for all of my family, for the camp we have coming up this summer, for our church, and then just for myself.

The hardest part of spiritual growth, I think, is remembering it’s a process. Obviously, I’m a still early on in that process but I take comfort in that my God meets me where I am and then walks me along further down the road. Going to spend some time praying through the Word today.

Total time in prayer this week: 45 minutes