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:: Friday, May 16, 2003 ::

Prayer as a Weapon

I worked on my lesson tonight. Each member of our SaLT group was assigned to do one of the parts of the Armor of God. I said "I want an offensive weapon!" (they asked, "why, because you are offensive?" LOL) and I asked to do a lesson on prayer. I found some interesting stuff about prayer and also went back to some old studies I have done to gather my info. I wanted to show prayer as a weapon in spiritual warfare and also the power that is in prayer. I don't want to mess around with little handguns...I want to show the big weapons! I want to reveal the atomic bomb of prayer!

After demonstrating how prayer is an effective weapon, I wanted to look at the best example of a prayer, Jesus Christ.

I decided to look at the ways and whens of Jesus' prayers and the results of those prayers. This is a summary of what I learned.

Refueling and gaining strength: Jesus often retreated to the mountain side or the garden to pray alone after teaching and healing. He did this to "refuel" and to learn God's Will for his next move. (Mark 1: 5, Luke 5:15)

Avoiding temptation: Jesus taught about prayer (obviously) and made sure it was understood that prayer was the way to avoid temptation. (Matthew 26:41, Luke 22:40)

In Luke 6:12 after praying Jesus came down from the mountain and chose His disciples. That was a pretty important step in his ministry! They would be the ones to carry on His teaching.

In Luke 9:28 after praying he was transfigured before the disciples there with him. His face glowed and clothes became bright. That's a pretty powerful prayer and open connection to the Father!

In Luke 3:21 we learn of Jesus' baptism and when Jesus prayed, "the heaven's opened" and the dove descended to Him. What I find interesting as well is that in Acts 7:54 Stephen prayed as he was about to be stoned to death. When Stephen prayed he saw the "heavens open". Eventually his spirit went to be with the Lord.

Prayer causes the heavens to open. Heaven opened to allow the Spirit to descend on me when I prayed to receive Christ. At my death, the heavens will again open to receive the Spirit back. cool.

If prayer opens the heavens, OPENS THE HEAVENS, why don't we do that more often? Prayer is very powerful! Heaven opening is a direct connection to God, the Creator of heaven and earth...HE OPENS HIMSELF UP WHEN WE PRAY TO HIM! That is pretty awesome! Prayer moves mountains, opens the heavens...THAT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN AN ATOMIC BOMB AND IT IS AVAILABLE TO ALL CHRISTIANS, who are called to pray, and PRAY EMPOWERING PRAYERS!

PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:: Susan 5/16/2003 08:50:25 PM ** ** [+] ::
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A Praise

About two months ago I receive this email from a former co-worker:

I am writing you this because I know you would want to know about this. I got a call from Brad the other day, he told me he had gone to the doctor for an exam relating to his problems with acid reflux. When the doctors were inserting a probe into his esophagus they found a tumor. They have since found out that the tumor is cancerous and that he also has cancer in his lymph nodes as well as his liver. The cancer is a stage four cancer which is the most advanced. He is going to recieve radiation and chemotherapy but as far as I can tell it does not look good. I just found this out yesterday and am still in shock. Now might be a good time to pray for him because he is going to need a miracle to walk away from this one. Don't know what else to say...

Well, my friend came to the right place! Prayer has power! I don't use it enough...but when the weapon is big sometimes you don't need too "trigger" happy! Brad is a non-believer, or at least was the last I knew. I worked as his assistant and tried to be a good witness for Christ. At the time I left he was seeking, but only "skimming" the surface. I don't think he has ever gone farther than that.

I have been trying without success to contact Brad by phone. Unfortunately he never has his cell phone on and that's the only number I have for him. I finally did get his home number and plan on calling today.

Here's an email I received yesterday from the same person, who is a non-believer by the way, about the situation:

Sorry, So much has been going on I haven't even been checking my email. I talked to Brad last week and he said that it was the first day he felt like himself in awhile. They had his dosage to high and it was really messing him up. There is good news however, the numbers they check from his liver were actually down into the normal range. I was pretty surprised by that so maybe all the praying you are doing is working.

Maybe?


:: Susan 5/16/2003 08:05:39 AM ** ** [+] ::
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Where In the World?

I find this to be somewhat interesting...in fact...it's pretty cool! Check it out! You can see where in the world you are blogging from.

:: Susan 5/14/2003 10:14:33 PM ** ** [+] ::
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Music Reviews

One day I emailed Jake Rinard at Crimson Light and suggested some CDs to be reviewed. He invited me to do some reviewing myself, so I thought...what the heck? I am thoroughly enjoying my new endeavor!

As a kid I started collecting 45s in fifth grade. My first record that I purchased was "Telephone Line" by ELO. That one single started it all. Eventually I lost interest in singles and started buying LPs...33s. My first album was Andy Gibb "Flowing Rivers". It was so disappointing that later in his career he became known for those disco type songs like Shadow Dancing. Flowing Rivers was actually a country flavored album believe it or not! My collection grew and grew and I dreamed of working in a record store one day. In college I would apply but never got hired at any place that sold records. I earned my music degree and started teaching school in Ohio. I taught middle school band and was laid off in 1995 because of the budget cutbacks...music is the first to go. WHY WHY WHY? It is fundamental to learning and appreciating culture and expanding our minds and and and...I digress!

Well, after losing my teaching job I moved to Michigan and got a summer job working part-time at Camelot Music. I LOVED IT! IT WAS EVERYTHING I DREAMED IT WOULD BE! Music music music everywhere! I loved it so much I changed careers and now manage an FYE in Jackson, TN.

Well the whole reason I started this post was to tell you to check out my review of Nichole Nordeman's upcoming release "Live at the Door" at SPARROW RECORDS! Is THAT not cool? Woohoooo! You can check out my other reviews at Crimson Light too. So far I have reviewed:
Big Daddy Weave (which has yet to be posted), Sandtown (which has yet to be posted), Newsboys "Adoration, Seventh Day Slumber, Jeremy Camp, Plumb and Nichole Nordeman.

:: Susan 5/14/2003 03:59:05 PM ** ** [+] ::
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What Makes a Good Blog?

…that is, a good blog to me? We probably all have different opinions, this is a blog about my opinion.

Blog: A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links. A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people. (I lifted the definition from blogs4God)

A good blog to me is one that holds my attention because of its content and its frequent updating. These are to me the steps to creating a good blog, at least one that I would add to my list of reads:

1. Updated frequently - A blog that is not updated often (at least every couple of days) is useless. My favorite “reads” are bloggers who post about their life and their thoughts virtually daily. Tony at I Am Always Right and Craig at Avoiding Evil both do a great job of updating and keeping things interesting. If I haven’t heard anything new in a week, I will get bored and eventually stop checking the site. There are times when a blogger takes a vacation, moves, or goes on sick leave, that is cool, but a courtesy blog explaining the lack of updates should be posted. I personally remove a blog from my blog roll that hasn’t updated in 30 days.

2. Content - There are many purposes behind a persons blogging practices. I am simply explaining here what I personally like to see in an entry. I enjoy blogs about people’s lives. Some of the most heart-tugging stories have come from the everyday lives of the people I read. Real life is often stranger and more humorous than any fwd I receive (and promptly delete) or any fiction I read. I have laughed at many stories that people have shared through their blog. Some of the bloggers that do a great job of sharing everyday things include Irene at Musings and Misadventures of Irene Q, who frequently compares her reactions and thoughts about everyday life to scripture and what it says. She makes me ponder a lot about life as a Christian. Ganns Deen of Meremadness (soon to be Superblessed!) keeps readers updated about his lovely wife's pregnancy, what he has been listening to, and how he laughs in the face of SARS because of his faith in God the Protector. Christopher at What in Tarnation! shares about the adventures of being an elementary school teacher and often posts very funny stuff. I do not necessarily care for blogs that post quiz results from the newest 10 quizzes released to determine your personality, what character in Ren & Stimpy you most closely resemble, or which shampoo you prefer. I will be able to see a glimpse of your personality as I read what you write, I don’t need to read your personality profile from some online quiz. As long as you are writing honestly, I can get a fairly good impression of the person you are. I also don’t appreciate blogs that are simply links pages. I find that many blogs all link to much of the same stuff. It gets old after awhile, you know? If you find something worthy of linking to, explain why you find it interesting and write about that.

3. Design – I am not impressed by flash presentations on entry pages. I am even less impressed when I have to wade through it to get to the blog everytime I visit because there is no cookie to remember me. I am even less impressed when the presentation is so flashy and “awesome” and the blog amounts to little. If the blog is good, I can deal with the flashy presentation, even though I’d rather be able to go directly to the content. One blog that is very unique in design but still has me frequenting it is Holly Rhea. Holly is a student at Wheaton and shares about school, her music and various other topics like the shoes that the guy next to her in the library is wearing and other things that only a college student would notice. Fancy designs are okay if they don’t distract from the content on the site. I really hate when I can’t see to read through confusing and distracting backgrounds and such. When I go to a site to read a blog, I go to a site to read a blog. I want words! I want stories, thoughts, and ideas in the form of words! Pictures are great when used to support the story.

**(05/16/03) Addendum to Design: Dark fonts on dark backgrounds do not work for me!

4. Navigation – I have to be able to easily get around the site. I don’t want to have to figure out by searching all over the place to find where the archives are, so make the link accessible and easy to locate.

**(05/16/03) Addendum to Navigation: Links that open a new window help a reader to not lost track of "home". (Got that from Hadge) and then tweaked my blog!)

5. Author Information - I also like being able to find out more about the author, so link to an “About Me” page or something. Blogchalking works too. It’s just nice to have some background on the author and from what perspective they write. Pictures are cool too, to help me place a face to the name. A lot of you look nothing like your blogs! LOL

6. Commenting – Sometimes the discussion that ensues about a particular entry is just as interesting, or maybe even moreso. Use a commenting feature to allow readers to post thoughts and share ideas and help contribute to the life of your blog.

7. Music – I hate music on websites! If you must put music on your blog, give me the option to turn it off! Better yet, give me the option to turn it on, that way I won’t even have to hear it at all and it won't hang up the page loading.

Not all the blogs in my personal blogroll meet all of my preferences, but if it is interesting to read and updated frequently, I will read, and possibly recommend the site to others. I realize that most bloggers do not blog for me, they blog for themselves, as I do. I just think it is kind of cool that someone else might have an interest in the happenings in my life, or my observations. My preferences are my preferences and I don’t expect everyone to conform, even though it would be better for all mankind. Afterall, my comfort and happiness is my greatest concern.

:: Susan 5/14/2003 03:31:15 PM ** ** [+] ::
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When Tony commented in my "Death" post, he reminded me of something. He reminded me of how music can have a profound affect on someone. Much of this post I copied from my reply comment, but I thought it might be interesting to post here.

Tony spoke of the hymn "How Great Thou Art" and how he needs to stand for that one. I agree! That hymn is also one of my favs, which is saying a lot because I usually don't enjoy anything written before 1990! I stand during that one too! Once I was the only one standing...at least for a little while, everyone eventually joined me.

"Amazing Grace" on bagpipes at my aunts funeral had another profound effect. She loved the bagpipes. When I learned she was going to die from cancer within months, I said "she'll have bagpipes at her funeral" and sure enough, she planned her funeral and was going to have bagpipes play Amazing Grace. She died a bit sooner than expected, but a week prior to her death I sent to her the story behind the song. I don't know if she knew its history before that or not, but I know she knew it for the last few days of her life. The song has taken on a whole new meaning for me...and bagpipes? Whoa! I tear up at the slightest sound!

My aunt, when I was a kid, took our family to the Scottish Games in Wooster, Ohio one year. I watched some interesting contests and all - day - long all I heard were bagpipes. I'm not sure they have such a "sweet sound" LOL but after having heard them all day long, my ears were ringing. That night when I came home I remember mowing the lawn and the sound of the mower was bagpipes bagpipes bagpipes! LOL That sound has a tendency to stick!

I'm curious to know what song(s) "does it" for you?

:: Susan 5/12/2003 10:54:37 AM ** ** [+] ::
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The Holy Spirit?

I just told Sue she has to let me blog right now! I asked her if she was doing anything important and she replied, "Nothing more important than you" and got up from the puter. My friend is so awesome.

My daughter asked me to lie down with her until she fell asleep tonight. We've had some issues to deal with today and we needed some mom and daughter time. As I laid there I thought about my salvation experience. I also thought about a movie I saw today called "The Other Side of Heaven." It was a true story about a missionary who went and spent three years on an island with its non-Christian natives. He went there to bring the gospel message to them. What got me to pondering is when I started thinking about each person who accepted Jesus and converted to Christianity. Each person changed immediately upon salvation.

This got me to thinking about St. Augustine's testimony and how drastically his life changed. As I read his explanation of his transformation, I could identify it with what I experienced when I got saved. In fact, I think that every believer can identify…after all people have been writing music about it for years and it all pretty much tells a similar story of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

It also makes me think about church this morning. I asked my pastor why God chose Paul to be the one who brought the “Good News” to the Gentiles. There is no right or wrong answer to this question. I basically wanted to make note of the fact that God had all these apostles who he could have chosen but instead he chose a persecutor of Christians. Okay, so, what could have been His reasoning for this? I know our thoughts are not like His and I may be wayyy off when I say this but, could it be possible that God chose Paul simply because of the fact that He persecuted Christians? I mean, what better way to show the power of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles?

Anyhow, back to the movie……

The changes that took place in the individuals sent a message to those who were questioning the gospel message. One by one, a Christian community began forming. Dysfunction and occult practices became function and worship of the One True God. A pagan community was transformed into a loving family of believers. More missionaries were birthed who brought the good news to other lands.

What is it that happens when a person sincerely asks Jesus into their life? What is it that causes a person to totally transform? Sometimes it happens gradually and others take a bit longer. But, eventually, for all believers, a total transformation takes place. And it’s the same story for everybody. To quote an old hymn, “I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” That’s the testimony of every true Christian believer (to one extent or another).

And so it goes…….

All around the world people are giving their hearts to Christ. Lives are changing and communities of Christian families are forming.

We all have our different interpretations of this scripture or that. But those who are born again are one Spirit, one body, one church…..we are the body of Christ. We all have one purpose and we all “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the message that the world gets of us. Since we are still human and we have a limited amount of knowledge, we make mistakes, and set a bad example of Christianity. But the heart of the church…….the sincere believers who desire to follow hard after Christ and work to set a good example…..this is what it’s all about.

So, what is it that actually happens when we pray that prayer? How is it that a people of all nations, languages, colors, and creeds do one simple thing, pray one simple prayer, and instantly become one with the rest of a body of believers? What is it that makes a person instantly decide to turn their backs on their old way of life and embrace something that is contrary to the way they have always been taught to live? What is it that gives us a love that can never be more fulfilling, satisfying, complete, and perfect? Could it actually be the Holy Spirit of the One True God that the Bible speaks of? Just a ponderable.

:: Katie 5/11/2003 11:17:44 PM ** ** [+] ::
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