Tag Archives: power

Yours is the Kingdom

Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever is Yours
Heaven and earth bow down in the wonder of Your Name
Heaven is open, death is broken
And the glory forever is Yours
Nothing can overcome the power of Your Name

King above kings, all the universe will sing
Everlasting God, You are wonderful
You are wonderful

And the shout of the earth will be Your praise
God forever, and the light unto all
Will be Your wonderful Name
For the glory Lord is Yours
God forever, all the glory Lord is Yours

– Joel Houston

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Filed under Bible, Christian, God, Hope, Worship

Purpose and Power

I talk to my friends and family quite often. Some more than others, but I try to keep in contact. Keep the communication lines open. See what is going on in their lives. Make sure they have what they need and offer assistance where I can. Sometimes I just miss a particular person and want to chat for awhile. I have long conversations with some people and small talk with others, but the end result is that I actually communicated with that friend or family member. It all helps to ensure that my relationships are sustained and we know what is happening with each other. The good, the bad, and the ugly, so to speak.

The same thing happens with God. And the communication is called prayer. Two people talking to each other and making requests of one another. Keeping in touch. Knowing what’s happening with the other person.

I’ve heard a lot of people pray.  Some are so eloquent that you feel totally embarrassed to pray out loud in front of them. Others just say what is on their heart. Some of my own prayers have been the long and fervent and weeping-on-my-knees kind. Other prayers have been a short sentence, or even just one word. I have whispered a prayer, said it aloud in the shower, lying in bed, in the car while driving. It doesn’t matter. It’s all communication.

The conversations I have with God are similar to the conversations that I have with my friends and family. But just as I don’t call those friends every time and only when I want something, I don’t talk to God only when I want or need something. I am sustaining a relationship. I am letting Him know how I am doing. He is my friend, so I call Him whenever I want to talk my friend.

This is the purpose of prayer.

And prayer gives you purpose. You won’t understand God’s purpose for your life or walk in the fullness of your destiny without prayer.

Prayer gives you power. There is no other way to experience the power of God in your life.

We don’t think enough about prayer. We don’t focus on prayer. And sometimes we get so far away from God’s voice that we can’t even hear it anymore. It’s ironic, really; our lack of interest in prayer. Because it’s the very thing that sustains our connection with the Father. Prayer should be woven into the very fibre of our being.

It’s not about eloquence. It’s not about religion. It’s about a relationship with the living God.

God can’t stand pious poses, but he delights in genuine prayers. Proverbs 15:8 (The Message)

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Filed under Christian, Faith, God, Prayer, Writing

Power Off

Let’s pretend.

The power is off. All power. Everywhere. Indefinitely. Maybe forever.

No lights, no heat, no phone. Cell towers are not transmitting. Electronic communication of any kind has stopped.

Travel is also at a standstill. Batteries are dead. The car in your driveway is useless. Banks are closed and ATMs don’t work. The cash you have in your wallet is all there is. Not that there is anywhere to spend it anyway. You can’t get to work and it’s doubtful that your place of employment is in even in operation. Fresh produce, meat, and frozen goods begin to spoil and garbage piles up because there is no weekly pick-up. You can cook on your outdoor grill until you run out of propane, but after that you start eyeing your neighbour’s trees, estimating how much firewood they’d yield.

And it’s quiet. So very quiet.

Kind of sobering to realize how dependent we are on power.

This is a story idea.

Write it, or not?

 

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Filed under Being Creative, Imagination, Writing

Seek the Source

Years ago, my husband and I were leaders for our church’s youth group. During that time, we held a youth retreat weekend called Seek the Source; two days of workshops, food, Bible study, and  games, all designed to encourage teens to seek the source” – Jesus Christ – and to grow in their relationship with him. It was a blast.

I hadn’t thought about that event for ages, but it came to my mind the other day as I was sitting in Starbucks happily writing away. I was on a roll. After an hour, I was passing the 2,000 word count mark on my manuscript when the unthinkable happened. A warning message popped up on my laptop screen. Battery level is critically low. Save your work now. Or something like that. What?!? The battery was bailing on me after just one hour? Fortunately, that particular Starbucks has a number of outlets for laptoppers and I prepared to move to a table that could accommodate my crisis before I lost all my writing momentum. But alas, I realized that I had forgotten my charger at home.

Do you have any idea how disheartening something like that can be? Here I was, free of writer’s block, in the middle of some really good stuff, motivated to keep going, and I had to stop everything right then and there.

I could see the power source, but I had no way to connect to it.

There’s a very simple truth here. I may allow myself to run down from time to time, but as long as I seek the power source – Jesus Christ – and stay connected to Him, I can continue my life’s journey fully charged. I don’t need to depend on Starbucks having an available outlet. And it doesn’t matter if I forget my charger at home. Jesus is there for me to plug in anytime, anyplace. I hope you have some idea as to how awesome that is!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I went home that day, plugged in and kept writing – 5,000 words in two days. That’s good.

Very good.

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Filed under Jesus Christ, Writing