How do you approach prayer? What attitude is evident when you pray? What are your motives when you pray? What desires, passions, sorrows, joys, and emotions are present when you pray? Prayer is talking to God who has already started the conversation with us. Prayer is an act of obedience toward a loving heavenly Father who spoke first.

I think too often we approach prayer casually, conveniently, cavalierly, selfishly or only as an emergency when we can’t figure things out on our own. We don’t treat our conversations with God as a beautiful time of fellowshipping with and talking to our intimate Father who is in heaven. Prayer should never be an add on or a tag to the end of something (dinner, our day, a close call, etc.). Prayer should be part of the warp and woof of our daily lives.

Let’s look at Jesus as an example of how to approach prayer…

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

He got up, He got away and He got down to business. Jesus didn’t want the noise, the pressing needs or the clamoring crowds of the day to steal His time of talking with the Father. He was very intentional about prayer, and His followers should do the same.

Take time to meditate on what Mark observed about Jesus and ask the Lord to challenge your prayer life. The way we approach prayer says a whole lot about how serious we believe God can handle things in our lives. It reveals our trust in God.

Grace & Peace,

It’s graduation season! Don’t you just love it when this time of year comes around? For most of us graduation is a far distant memory; it’s kinda hard for us to pull that memory from our gray matter, but if we try hard enough I believe we could do it. If I remember rightly, any graduation was an exciting time. I could hardly wait for that day to arrive. In fact, it seemed that the world would end before I would get the opportunity to walk down the isle in my cap and gown to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. When the day finally arrived it seemed to drag on for eternity; I would think, “Will tonight ever get here so I can finally graduate?” Well, the time did arrive and graduation took place, and if I remember correctly, it lived up to all the hype.

For those who have already graduated from college, and to the two who are graduating from high school (Chris Brundage and Christian Roland), we say, “Congratulations!” We know what you are feeling, we remember the heart pounding excitement this time brings, and we can almost recall the sights, sounds and smells of that night. We are so very proud of you. You’ve been diligent and this is your reward. We love you and always will. Loving you means that we will be there for you when you need us. We are praying for you. We are putting you in the best place – the hands of God. Make no mistake, life will get difficult, and we’ve found out that what got us through the deep waters was knowing that people were praying for us; we’ll do the same for you.

One of the blessings of being a part of a small church is that we have had a small number of graduates through the years. It’s not so overwhelming to remember them and pray for them. They are not completely out of reach of our memory banks. So, as we think of this time of year I want to challenge all of us to begin praying for the 2015 graduates and remember our past graduates through prayer. As we pray for them, ask the Lord to use them as laborers in His great harvest of souls for the kingdom of God.

Grace & Peace,

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching! I think it is altogether appropriate that we set aside a day to honor and be glad in our moms. We all have different experiences, feelings and reactions to our mothers, but whether those memories be good or bad, we must not diminish the honor the Bible places on motherhood. To not honor mom is to not honor the Bible, and to not honor the Bible is to not honor God. So, when we honor and rejoice in Mom we are honoring and rejoicing in God.

“…Forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.” (Proverbs 1:8b-9)

And those who do honor Mom (not only on this day but throughout the year!) it will go well with our lives. Maybe one of the reasons life is such a drag for you can be traced back to the dishonor you’ve shown your Mom.

“‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’” (Ephesians 6:2-3; cf. Exodus 20:12)

It’s never too late to pick up the pieces, get in touch with your mother (visit, phone, letter, email, text, or whatever), and begin rebuilding that relationship that will glorify God.

Let me challenge the mothers who read this to remember your biblical responsibility to teach, train, nurture, and love the gifts God has graciously given you – your children! Put the time in early in their lives and it will pay of immeasurably in the future. Sacrifice now, today, for the sake of bringing up a child who will honor God tomorrow.

Moms, you have a gigantic weight on your shoulders, but I am confident that through God’s gracious, helping hand you will succeed in raising godly kids. I admire and love you and am praying for your perseverance in motherhood.

Happy Mother’s Day,

Scott