See You At The Pole is a prayer rally where students meet at the school flagpole before school to lift up their friends, families, teachers, school, communities, and nation to God. It is a student-initiated, student-organized, and student-led event that happens one day a year in September all around the globe. It is a day committed to global unity in Christ and prayer.Last year on this day, I woke up early and took my daughters to their respective schools for SYATP. At each of their schools, they were the only ones to show up. They prayed anyways. As I pulled away from the school, I had a few emotions going on inside of me. I was proud of my daughters for standing up and praying, even if it meant doing it alone. I was sad that more kids didn’t show up. I was determined to pray prayers of faith and believe that God was and is working, despite what we see. As I was driving home, I felt God whisper to me, “Tell your girls that although they didn’t see anybody else at the pole, I saw them at the pole, and I am pleased with them.” I sent them a text later in the day to that effect to encourage them.
Canadian Wilderness Trip Lesson #1: Nature
A month and a half ago I went on an awesome trip with some friends to the Canadian wilderness of Algonquin Provincial Park. When I returned I had to really put my shoulder into our missions trip. Now that I am past the trip, I wanted to share some lessons I learned/was reminded during that experience.
The first lesson is this: Nature nurtures the soul. I need nature. I need times of detachment from the busyness man’s creations to be present in the serenity of God’s creation. The impressiveness of mans creativity pales in comparison to the beauty of God’s creativity. There is just something about being out in nature that is healing, life-giving, and centering. One day, while on the trip, I opened my Bible and spent time meditating on Psalm 23:1-3 which reads, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.“ There is a lot of beautiful metaphor here, but I would suggest that there is tremendous power in literally being in green pastures, quiet waters, and traveling along paths. Being in nature contemplating God and life makes the metaphors come alive.
While I can’t always go up into the Canadian wilderness, I can find time and space during my weeks and days to spend a day at the beach, go for a walk in a local park, or even just sit on my porch for a few minutes and look at the trees and flowers and bugs. How about you?
Sun Stand Still
Here’s the video of the message I preached at Shelter Rock Church Manhasset a few weeks ago. Sorry for the poor quality. We were experiencing some technical difficulties.
The Connection Between Reading the Bible and Prayer
On Sunday I preached about praying BIG prayers. As I was pondering the topic last week, I began thinking about the connection between reading the Bible and prayer. How does reading the Bible relate to our prayer lives? I would suggest that spending time in God’s Word profoundly impacts how we pray. As we read the Bible we get to know God and His redemptive story more deeply, and we learn more and more that we have a role to play in that ongoing story. When we read the Bible, God doesn’t get bigger, but our understanding of Him does. As our understanding grows, so does our faith, and faith is what motivates our prayers. So I ask you today, how big are your prayers? Your prayers will only be as big as the size of your faith. The question is not how big is God, but how big is your faith in God. Reading the Bible helps you grow in your understanding of the BIGNESS of God, and increases your faith to pray BIG prayers! It all begins with relationship, and our relationship with God grows the more we spend time getting to know Him through His Word, the Bible.
REVKEVJR.COM 