Sharing all of life with God.

Over the last two years or so the Lord has been stirring in me to grow in prayer with Him, to bring Him into more and more of my world and thought-life. Prayer over the years has been filled with many ups and downs, many times I have felt fairly defeated in my prayer life. 
 
I want God to be a part of my life – all of it… at least for the most part. There have been areas He gently and regularly points to where I am trying to manage on my own apart from Him – areas I really would rather ignore and hope they get better on their own. I tend to try and manage areas like avoiding difficult conversations, areas of finances I’d rather not think about or what I eat and how much of it. I have numerous areas I again and again take up and carry by myself… and never do well, at mind you.
 
I sensed the Lord’s gentle nudge to come to Him with all of these things and invite Him into every area. He knows I can’t manage it all and do it all – He made me finite. So, I have been learning to not only spend more time and effort in my morning prayer time, but to continue those conversations with Him throughout the day. When something comes up that I feel I want to hide from Him and do myself, I have learned to humbly bring that to Him as well. This is a continual journey for me.
 
One particular way the Lord has used to draw me and help me to open all the areas of my life to Him has been through my ongoing reading through the Book of Psalms. For a little while now, I have included in my daily reading through the Bible also reading through the Book of Psalms in 30 days (or so). It takes about 10 minutes more a day to accomplish that – but it is proving to be incredibly helpful to my soul.
 
The Psalms are more than a potpourri of random psalms to just pick your favorite from and ignore the rest of them. There is a full pallet of colors throughout the psalms that are insights into the heart of God and the heart of man. It is my aim to not master the Psalms but rather to let them master me. They are becoming more and more expressions of my heart to God with all of the ups and downs of life. I am loving this long journey into them. 
 
This Sunday we begin a new series aimed to ignite in us a heart for God and a desire to invite Him into every area of our lives. I am very excited to take us down this road. We will learn how to pray, why we pray, and how to talk to the Lord. I sure hope you will join me. We look at Psalm 1 tomorrow and then, my new favorite, Psalm 119. So, come with me. Let’s journey together as we open our lives up for God to speak and touch and heal and guide. We won’t be disappointed.
 
I love you church. I look forward to worshiping with you.
 
In His Grip,
Pastor John