I can’t say it enough: Prayer and worship is the breath of our relationship with God. Jesus invites you into His presence with the promise that He will fill you with life. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow streams of living water.’” John 7:38-39 Do you find yourself avoiding, neglecting, or absolutely ignoring prayer and worship? What about your private devotions? What about your shared life of prayer and worship with your church? Look, you are too busy to not give disciplined attention to your walk with God. Jesus invites. He doesn’t force you to pray. You may live a life independent of the Holy Spirit, but it will not be the life that God has designed for you. Living in the grace of Jesus is good for us—but it is not a passive life; it is an active life of more often than not deliberate cooperation with the Spirit of God who invites us into the Presence of Jesus so that we may know God. With Paul I say Jesus has taken hold of me and I want to take hold of the growth and completion that He envisions for me. “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) Prayer and worship must saturate our lives and the patterns of our lives if we are to have this passion and a clearer vision of God’s agenda for our lives individually and collectively. From the life of being in front of God will come the solid life God intends you to live in front of people.
So I am inviting you to build new patterns of prayer and worship into your life:
1. Pray and worship in the car daily with CD’s of music.
2. Pray and worship with Cityview by arriving early on Sundays expecting God to work—like 9:55 AM.
3. Pray and worship with your family or roommates at least once a week at home.
4. Pray and worship for an extended time in your morning or evening devotions at least once a week.
5. Pray and worship with your small group for extended amounts of time every couple of months.
6. Pray and worship with Cityview on the 4TH WEDNESDAY EVENING AT 7 PM.
In His Grip,
Craig
P.S. I hope to see you this Wednesday evening at Cityview for the Cityview Coffee and Prayer House, 7 PM.
