Several thoughts for the last few chapters...As Jesus proclaims that He is the "bread of life," I am reminded again about the importance of "eating" every day. I made a habit of having a quiet time many, many years ago, and for the most part have kept up that habit - though I still don't spend nearly as much time as I would like on a daily basis. But my thought here is, How can we encourage our students to develop a habit of daily "Bible eating"? So important that they feed on His word on a daily basis - so important to build that foundation. How can we help them WANT to do this?
Second thought: Jesus says that if we walk with Him, we will not walk in darkness. Oh how I hate the darkness! As I travel through this unfamiliar realm of depression (medicinally produced for the most part), I find myself fearing the darkness it brings - but I have to constantly remind myself that Jesus will and does bring light even in the midst of this. So I cling to His light and fight my way out. So many of our students are facing such dark times - just heard yesterday of two more students whose parents are divorcing, watching their faces and frustrations and fears. How can we as a staff help these hurting students to cling to Jesus' light in the middle of their personal darkness? I believe we need MORE prayer times - we don't pray as a staff very much, not as much as in the past. I'm hoping we can set aside time as a team to truly pray and lift up not only the school as a whole, and our staff members, but individual students as well.
And my third thought: Jesus as the Stronger Man - personally experienced this when my son was little. He was going through such a dark time, struggling daily in every way. We - and many family members - felt a lot of his struggles were based on a spiritual fight over him. I remember a specific time I was praying over him at night as he slept, and "heard" a spiritual battle over him, heard the words, "You can't have him, he's ours [meaning the "good" side]" and knew peace as I had never felt it before! The spiritual world is real, battles are real, but prayer is a weapon we can all wield - it's power is true. Let's really pray for each other, for our families, for our students - "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"!!
Kathleen - I love this post. Especially the call to prayer. I was in three leadership studies this past week in Colossians, Ephesians, & Nehemiah. In each study/book of the bible the context/guiding theme was dependence on God through prayer. "Devote yourself to prayer" - Colossians 4:2. "Pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers....always keep on praying" - Ephesians 6:18-20. "I...prayed before God." Nehemiah 1:4. "I prayed to God in heaven, and the I answered the king." Nehemiah 2:4-5. Thanks for emphasizing for me again the beauty & importance of prayer.
ReplyDeleteSo encouraging! Thanks Kathy!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this post. The past few weeks have been both a true blessing and an amazing challenge for me, but this message of prayer has been a constant. Through the hardships and trials of this life, I so often find myself praying about circumstances for myself and others. Yet I was challenged this week by the words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:18-19, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe". I want the eyes of my heart opened to the truth of who Jesus is so that I am prepared to give an answer when my kids have questions, when a friend is struggling, when my unsaved father makes a rare visit. I need to pray this for my family and friends. The spiritual world is real and Satan is at work, but we know the Stronger Man prevails! Thank you for the reminder that while the time we spend in our mentor groups is important, it is the time spent in prayer that changes hearts and lives!
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