Posts tagged ‘prayer’
Could your church be called a…
Could your church be called a HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS? Why or why not?
6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him,
to love the name of the LORD,
and to worship him,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant—7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.”8 The Sovereign LORD declares—
he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather still others to them
besides those already gathered.”
***I want to encourage you to meditate on the following passage in Isaiah 56:6-8 and respond to the question above by commenting on this blog post.
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
What I learned about prayer from my friend Mariah
Korean Style of Prayer
During Proskuneo’s Worship Institute, in June 2011, I was asked to talk about what prayer is like in the Korean Church. One of the things I talked about was how the adults had great endurance in prayer for long periods of time. I saw it as a way of petitioning before the Lord.
I shared Philippians 4:4-9…
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
What I learned…
One of the students, Mariah, talked about her prayer time as she reflected on the teaching. She said that in her bible the word petition has a definition that came along with it, which said: definite request.
Mariah said that she has an analytical mind and this has been a source of anxiety at times. Why? I’m guessing it’s because you’re just trying to figure out everything and then it becomes overwhelming. (My wife is like this.)
Sometimes we go before God with vague prayers about a difficult situation and expect God to do something miraculous. I realize that sometimes we don’t know what to say, but that’s why….
It’s so important to spend some extended time with God. It’s important to share what’s going on in your life with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s important to be vulnerable before God. And it’s important to be specific with our prayers with God.
Questions for you
1. What do you need to petition before the Lord?
2. Who can you call to pray alongside you?
3. When can you open up some extended time to seek the Lord?
4. What’s holding you back from being vulnerable with God?
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
Hiding the truth can build walls
As I begin to connect with ministry leaders from different churches we seem to ask those same surface type question like: How are you?
And it’s a bit superficial because we typically respond by saying: Good.
But if we’re going to do Church together and be a Church family together don’t we have to get honest with one another? Don’t we have to be honest about how our ministries are really going?
When people ask me how things are going at Aldrich I respond by saying that it’s been the most challenging and hardest time in ministry that I’ve ever hard. I’m investing more in the team than I ever had and, I hope, challenging people more than I ever had.
But if I just left it at that, then it could be perceived as complaining or that I’m trying to do things on my own strength.
Where is God in all of this?
After I tell people how hard it’s been I also tell people that I believe that God has called me there. I believe that God is working in the midst of those challenges. I believe the Holy Spirit is starting to lead this Church.
Questions for you
1. What are some ways you’ve been superficial with other ministry leaders?
2. How do you think God could bless your relationship with other ministry leaders if you were more honest?
3. How could this be a point of unity?
4. How could this be a time to pray with one another and bear one another’s burdens?
5. How could I be praying for you?
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.