Praying until we Pray

I foolishly decided to practice nocturnalism last night whilst catching up on the last 4 seasons of Bones, thus I slept in until almost 11 this morning. I woke up a little after 10, but was still far too exhausted to move my overworked limbs out of bed, so I simply rolled over and fell back asleep. I awoke some thirty minutes later feeling rather unsettled. It took me a good ten minutes to realize where I was and that the dream I had just experienced was not real. I had been in Sudan. Some emergency had called me back their, and in the deep realms of my subconscious, the dream emulated real life. I met a woman who knew of The Nelson Project and found myself confessing to her that I was back in Sudan much sooner than I had planned: a confession I had not made, even to myself. The reality of it is that I have put a timeline on this project, one which is entirely realistic in the scheme of my plans, but completely arbitrary in light of God's.
Discouraged at my own foolishness and searching for some anecdote to cure it, I stumbled across this article by A.W Tozer about Prayer. I find it extremely intriguing, and admire the manner in which it addresses perfect timing. I thought I would share:

"Praying Till We PRAY"

Dr. Moody Stuart, a great praying man of a past generation, once drew up a set of rules to guide him in his prayers. Among these rules is this one: "Pray till you pray." The difference between praying till you quit and praying till you pray is illustrated by the American evangelist John Wesley Lee. He often likened a season of prayer to a church service, and insisted that many of us close the meeting before the service is over. He confessed that once he arose too soon from a prayer session and started down the street to take care of some pressing business. He had only gone a short distance when an inner voice reproached him. "Son," the voice seemed to say, "did you not pronounce the benediction before the meeting was ended?" He understood, and at once hurried back to the place of prayer where he tarried till the burden lifted and the blessing came down.

The habit of breaking off our prayers before we have truly prayed is as common as it is unfortunate. Often the last ten minutes may mean more to us than the first half hour, because we must spend a long time getting into the proper mood to pray effectively. We may need to struggle with our thoughts to draw them in from where they have been scattered through the multitude of distractions that result from the task of living in a disordered world.

Here, as elsewhere in spiritual matters, we must be sure to distinguish the ideal from the real. Ideally we should be living moment-by-moment in a state of such perfect union with God that no special preparation is necessary. But actually there are few who can honestly say that this is their experience. Candor will compel most of us to admit that we often experience a struggle before we can escape from the emotional alienation and sense of unreality that sometimes settle over us as a sort of prevailing mood.

Whatever a dreamy idealism may say, we are forced to deal with things down on the level of practical reality. If when we come to prayer our hearts feel dull and unspiritual, we should not try to argue ourselves out of it. Rather, we should admit it frankly and pray our way
through. Some Christians smile at the thought of "praying through," but something of the same idea is found in the writings of practically every great praying saint from Daniel to the present day. We cannot afford to stop praying till we have actually prayed.

The Girl Effect

This video is incredible and reminds me why I am in love with global missions in the first place: People lives are being transformed and God is being glorified!


The Girl Effect

Ok Boston

I am sitting in my sister's dorm room, trying not to wake up her sleeping roommate and dreading to the utmost the fact that I have to wake up early tomorrow and get on yet another plane and fly away. I AM TIRED OF FLYING! I believe I have reached 24 flights since January, and I still have two more trips before the summer is over and school starts again. oh boy.
I was reading 1 Corinthians yesterday and fell in absolute awe of it.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

I realized that I have absolutely no idea what Paul is talking about here. I feel like my goal is always lofty speech and an outward portrayal of wisdom. And the thing I think I know the least about is Christ crucified. This passage is the exact opposite of my life.

Sometimes I feel like I have come so far and then I experience a passage like this and I am humbled before God and humiliated before myself all over again. How incredible.

Isaiah

Isaiah Hendricks, the HIV baby kelsey took care of this year, is not doing very well. Please continue to lift up prayers for his healing and praise God for the work He is already doing in their lives!