We have a new president (and many new senators and congress people) and some of you are happy and some are not. This political season has been more divisive than any time I can remember. Honestly- I am glad it is over and we can move on. We have had politically charged TV, radio and the internet. So now what? Whether your guy made it or your guy lost- the Bible challenges all of us to a common action- PRAY!
I don’t need to lecture you about the challenges President Obama will face- his task seems overwhelming. The Apostle Paul challenged his young partner in ministry, Timothy, to PRAY for all government leaders. Listen in to his challenge:

Several insights from these verses:

• Ask God to help them lead
• Ask God to meet their needs
• Thank God for them

The reason for these prayers are not so our 401k’s will grow (although that wouldn’t make me mad) or so that our home values will increase. Instead, we pray for them so we can bring honor to Jesus Christ and in turn more people will come to faith in Jesus Christ.

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The 3rd prayer I am praying is “God heal me”. I really did not think this was necessary until I began to do some personal inventory. I began to notice that I have some wounds that have not healed. As I looked further, these wounds seemed to be infecting my response often, causing or contributing to my lashing out, getting angry and rushing to judgment. You know the drill- bad day at work and you come home and kick the cat (as opposed to the loyal dog). So I began an inventory mentally of wounds I discovered asking God to help me:

• forgive people who have not forgiven
• heal the wounds that have affected me
• make me conscious when I am operating out of my wound

The truth is the longer we live the more wounds we incur- that is life- no need to whine, just tip your hat to the facts! But, if we are not careful we begin to lead, respond and attack because of our past wounds. We have all heard it said- hurt people… hurt people. I, we need to allow the healer to heal us! Chuck Swindoll said years ago, “I treat everyone as though they are wounded, and I am right more times than I am not”. I wonder what responses you give and receive that are because of an un-healed wound?
God would you heal me (us) so you can use me (us) to heal others.

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This post is part 3 of 4 posts about how I am praying for me. If you have not read the previous posts you can scroll down or just click here.
The second prayer I am praying is “God ruin me”! I know that may sound strange- it did to me when I first heard it. The longer we follow Christ the more wounds, hurts and setbacks we endure (along with the blessings!). The problem is wounds and blessings, after a while; make us numb . When you add to that all the hurting people we have prayed with and care about, the drain can be overwhelming. To deal with this emotional/spiritual drain we learn to disconnect (in order to cope). There is no way anyone can carry it all- all the time. So we all develop ways to insulate ourselves from the pain. Here in lies my issue or struggle- as a pastor; I can become a disconnected professional. I can pray with people, talk with people and connect with people and yet guard my heart so it is never affected by their pain and struggle. So my prayer daily is now- “God ruin me”, don’t allow me to do ministry and not “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice”. My guess is, that if you have lived long enough, you have faced the same challenge. Here are some wounds that God is using to answer my prayer (I did not say He caused these):

• A close pastor friend of mine with a serious health issue
• A leader at The Bay struggling hard with a family issue
• A friend close to quitting on his marriage
• Several couples struggling with fertility problems
• A guy walking on God because God didn’t answer his prayer the way he felt God should have.

You may say- “those are issues and problems we all experience” and I would say you are correct. The difference is they are breaking me out of my “me focus” and God is ruining me. Thank you God! Are you allowing God to ruin you?

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This post is part 2 of 4 posts about how I am praying for me. If you have not read the first post you can scroll down or just click here.
The first prayer Groeschel recommends praying for yourself is, “God stretch me”. As I begin to pray this prayer, I am asking God for specific areas of stretching:

• in my personal walk with Him (trusting Him in bigger ways)
• in my leadership (I want to fully engage and push hard into the challenges- not merely retreat and focus elsewhere)
• in my accountability relationships (men who I have given permission to ask the hard questions and not back off when I put up my guard)
• in vision for Church at the Bay (I want God to give us a vision that we see no way of accomplishing without His intervention)
• in my faith (I want to be more specific in my praying for God’s plan and purposes)
• in my relationships with people far from God (I want to have more friends who are far from God)

I have often found this to be the case- when I pray for something on a regular basis I find myself looking for God’s direction daily in that specific area all day. This prayer has also caused me to push in and ask deeper questions. So, again today, I ask: