April Showers…a time of Prayer

Catskill Mountain Christian Center (CMCC) offers great opportunities to pray corporately. It’s something that you add to your prayer life in order to augment and complete God’s will in your life. You never know when God will speak to you, so participating in this program opens the comm link in a different way than private prayer does. And, corporate prayer, where two or more are gathered in His Name, offers the distinct advantage of being in unity with others. Praying in unity releases more of God’s power available to handle your petitions.

For instance, today during the noon session I was presented with an image of a very large ear. Probably because the Holy Spirit wanted me to sense that this was the ear of God. Why, LORD, do you show me your ear?

Do you know that God hears your prayers? He does. His Word says so. You are unique and made in His image. You also have ears, made in His image. Do you know what He uses His ears for? That’s right; listening to you. What do you use your ears for?

I sit under the leadership of Pastor Robert Engelhardt. It is my choice. I recognize that his leadership takes me closer to the will of God in my life. You see, I am hard of hearing, both physically and spiritually. Physically the technicians tell me that I comprehend only thirty to forty per cent of what is said. If only my perception of God’s voice in my life were that high!

What I know from nearly twenty years of experience with Pastor Bob is that he hears God’s voice. This is evident in Pastor’s life and in his teaching. When you sit, and listen I might add, through the weekly messages he brings to the CMCC church body, you will soon discover how closely he listens for that still small voice of God.

So, here’s your challenge. Start listening. Use your ears. Use them both privately and corporately. Pray out loud, but leave space for God to speak to you.

This post is a call to the members of the Catskill Mountain Christian Center in Margaretville, NY. However, you might consider participating wherever you are. Blessings!

Psalms 103:1-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
^{2　Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3　Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4　Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5　Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.}

     Pastor Robert Engelhardt of Catskill Mountain Christian Center spoke last week and then started this week with a discussion on these verses from the Psalms. Not forgetting God’s benefits is the theme, for they are many, indeed. The satisfaction of good things from our mouths is the blessing that comes from being a child of God, born again into a kingdom of love that resides in our heart, from which we speak.
     The promise occurs—that our youth might be renewed like an eagle’s. This had me pondering how an eagle renews its youth. First, I thought about an old eagle. The fact that I’m nearing 66 years of age may be the reason my mind took me there. Secondly, I thought about what an old eagle looks like to the casual observer. I pictured an eagle that is humped over from the struggles of life; the lack of energy to chase food; the waning ability to cling to a branch or a rock precipice while the incessant storms of the mountains pound down.

     Then came the thought of how that single creature can turn around his plight. The eagle senses that his whole being needs to eat, to consume something. That requires the eagle to use every ounce of strength it has left to flap his mighty wings and to lift himself skyward in search of prey. Perhaps he gains enough altitude to acquire a perch in a tree above a stream, where he can observe the actions of fish. After using even more energy to catch a fish, he lands on the nearest available spot to eat it. Within moments, the energy pours through his blood vessels and supplies the needed strength to rise once again toward the Creator and to the highest heights creatures can attain. The eagle finds a thermal of rising air and sets his wings to attain a never-ending ride that reminds us of what the birds are capable of doing.

     We, as youth, often have grand ideas and way too much excess energy that often sidetracks our lives. We mistake the ability to move ceaselessly as a grand thing and interpret it more along the lines of immortality. Nothing can stop us; nothing can harm us. Oh, to have that outlook on life after learning the greater lessons found in Scripture. I dig through the caverns of my mind in an effort to find those things of my youth that would drive me to seek them again, but I find myself buried in ages.

     God's plan isn’t to have us inactive and lethargic. He wants us to remember His benefits and to actively seek them out. Renew our minds with the Word of God; ask for good things that the bad things might be replaced, and to give us the crowns of lovingkindness and tender mercies that we might be the example of Christ in us, a testimony to the world that watches us soar.