40-Day Challenge: Final Lap

This is the final stretch of our 40-Day Challenge.  Step by step, we’ve added to your prayer pattern by staying ALERT, listening daily for God’s voice and watching for signs of Him at work all around you.  As you have become more specific when you ASK, I hope you’ve been attentive to the often overlooked answers to prayer. It’s exciting when you begin to notice the subtle signs of God at work all around you!

Praying with biblical AUTHORITY unleashes power and gives you solid footing for your prayers, as well as building your faith when you read God’s Word.  You may be sensing that your faith is becoming stronger.  A trusted prayer partner helps as you AGREE with him or her in prayer. And don’t forget to bring your family in on the ride.  This prayer journey, as I’m sure you’ve discovered, is a marathon rather than a mile run.  Daily attention to the process over time is what builds strength, so I remind you of the constant need to ARM yourself with Spiritual strength.  And are you finding ways to nourish and exercise that body on a regular basis?  Temple upkeep is a great investment to make sure you sustain yourself over the long haul and finish strong.

But friends, here is where I pause.  If the wonderful blessings of learning how to hear God’s voice, draw near to Him in prayer and claim the promises of His Word extend no further than my own little world, then so what?  I am convinced God’s amazing blessings during this prayer journey are so that I will pour His love out on this hurting and broken world.  So I remind myself constantly, Is my life a so what? or a so that!  

Assignment: This week, as you finish your reading in John’s Gospel, I want you to prayerfully read Chapter 10, Lift Up Your Eyes and Look, and Chapter 11,  Answer God’s Call.  As you read, listen for God’s voice.  Dare to ask Him again to break your heart for the things that break His.  Where on earth does He need you most?  How would He have you pray?  What can you give? Where is He calling you to go? Begin with your own family and your next door neighbors.

Friends, we live in dark times.  God has need of you now.  As I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics this week and saw the fresh faced and eager young athletes from nearly 200 nations, I was reminded once again:  God SO loved His world THAT He sent His only son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16).

Your training tip this week is simple.  Listen to God’s whispers and perhaps His roars.  In your reading, you’ll learn how I began to hear  God’s roar as He moved me out of my comfortable life. My prayer journey brought me face to face with brothers and sisters who had experienced deep suffering and yet remained firm in their faith.  I was deeply inspired, and humbled to be used by God as I joined hands with others in service to some of the “least and lost.”  Those in the most humble of circumstances became giants of the faith and heroes in my eyes.  I’ve watched as countless men, women, and children have also listened to God’s voice and answered His call…are you ready for this adventure?

Prayer:  Lord, I am in awe of the fact that You, the God of the Universe, would come to earth in the form of Your Son.  What an amazing thing it is to have Your Holy Spirit to dwell within and speak to me on a daily basis.  Help me continue to train my heart to hear Your voice.  Don’t let me stray from that task, for all my thoughts and actions flow out of that relationship.  This week, I commit to listening for Your direction. What in the world are You doing God, and how would You have me be part of Your work?  Amen.