Praying in the Desert

    

The desert, never been a wanderer there.

 

The spiritual desert: that place, those times, those situations when circumstances obscure his presence, filled with emptiness, frustration, challenge.   We all wander there. We all wander in the desert; we experience those dry places void of the nearness of his presence.

 

In the desert (at least for this wanderer) there are only two ways to pray.

 

In the desert I can beg for water. Crying out, hoping against lost hope, that his presence is hidden under the scorching circumstances that exhaust my soul. I can beg, that some how, some way he can be rediscovered again.

 

Or

 

In the desert can pray believing his presence isn't obscured. I can believe he is already at work in the desert. I can attest, I can affirm, I can declare that God dwells, no he works, he advances his kingdom, and he fulfills his plans, even in desert. He who formed me in glory for his glory works in the desert, in the dry times, in the challenging circumstances. I can trust that in my desert, HE IS, and that he is at work.

 

In the desert we can pray two ways: begging or believing!

 

Listen to the God of the desert.

 

"See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

 

I AM making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

 

I believe in the God of the Desert!

 

the man in the window

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

"I have one passion: it is He, He alone." Count Zinzendorf 

My Journey in Prayer

I prayed this morning.

Okay that's not so unusual.  It's what I prayed.  How I prayed.

I've been reading a book challenging me about praying the Forgiver's prayer as a model.  So today prayed.

Our Father,

• My Father in Heaven
• My father, who knows
• My every hurt
•  My every loss
• My every pain
• My every hope
• My every dream
• My every disappointment
• My every fault
• My every failure
• My every weakness
• My every burden
• My every challenge
• My every weight
• My every fear
• My every sin

My Father . . . hallowed by your name.

The privilege of calling him Father, whose name is so holy, whose nature so powerful, whose character glorious, moved to deep worship, to deep stillness in his overshadowing presence.

Prayer wade into the river of his presence, let it wash over you.  Let the river flow.

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

"I have one passion: it is He, He alone." Count Zinzendorf 

power praying and the praying ground

David Chotka quotes Tozer's turn of phrase --'The Praying Ground' in his book

'Power Praying.'

 

What is the Praying Ground?  It is the fertile soil in which effective prayer

grows.  It is the medium.  Seeds of prayer cast there grow into something so

much more.  But what is it.

 

A heart that is willing to hear.

A will determined to obey.

 

John said,  "we receive from him anything we ask, BECAUSE

-- we obey his commands  AND do what pleases Him.

1 John 3:22

 

Why do we get anything we ask?  Because if we are living to obey His commands 

and seeking to do what pleases Him, if that is our life orientation.  Can we ask

for things that  would not bring him Glory?

 

Could it be the church sees so little answered prayer sometimes because we are

no where near the praying ground?

 

A heart that is willing to hear.

A will determined to obey.

 

The praying ground.  

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

"I have one passion: it is He, He alone." Count Zinzendorf 

MAN IN THE WINDOW -- Leaders Lead in the River

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The Man in the Window   Musings on Life and Leadership Bruce Rzengota                               Lead Pastor Norwalk Alliance Church       September 20, 2012   Leaders Lead in the River      I recently challenged my leadership team, our elders, and our workers, to try and learn what it means to pray as a leader. We're discovering some things already. One leader has noted that people, who in the spring were experiencing great movements of the spirit of God, are under considerable attack today. Another noted that while he prays often, praying just ten minutes as a leader was a battle. I'm learning that without a plan to pray, I don't do a lot of praying. Early this morning as I met in my Prayer Place, I learned something else.  I had a vision (yeah, I know I don't make that claim often) of a strong picture of prayer unfolding before me.   First, I saw prayer like I often see it. Prayer was like trying to wade into a mighty river of circumstances that rages and flows and trying to get God to change the course of that mighty river to fit my hopes, my requests, my dreams, my wants, my desires (you caught the my thing, didn't you). There you stand struggling against the currents flowing by.     AND. . . I admit, sometimes prayer is like that.  Sometimes we do have to wade into such a river and pray for circumstances to change.   BUT. . .   Today I saw prayer different.   Today I saw the river, that same mighty river, as a torrent of God's activities, God's grace, God's movement in the land.  It was the river of life surging ahead, directed and ordered by God, turning and twisting according to His activities, His desires, His wants, His dreams.  Today I saw prayer as wading into that river and being caught up and flowing with what God was doing in the land.    Wow, did that change my prayer.   Wade into the river.   Rev. 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.   The Man in the Window   Quick Links Norwalk Alliance Church  the man in the window Pastor Bruce begins most days in study, prayer and musings at Sheri's Coffee House in Norwalk, OH.   Contact Information Bruce Rzengota 419-668-9208 Email   Join Our Mailing List!

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Get on Your Hobby Horse!

 Hobby Horse-interesting term.  Sometimes we think of a child's riding toy that consists of a long stick with an imitation horse's head on one end.

 

Britophiles, or anglophiles in love with British culture, might recognize a hobby horse as a costume, a figure of a horse worn attached to the waist of a dancer.  They are particularly associated with May Day celebrations in England.

 

In its entomology, the term morphed first into a designation for a favorite hobby.  From there it degenerated into a more negative connotation.  Most of us would think of the term in association with someone who frequently brings up or dwells on the same topic, a topic that borders on a fixation.

 

So while camped out in 2 Peter the other day, I was surprised to see Peter unashamedly on a hobby horse.

 

¹² Therefore, I will always remind you about these things-even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught. ¹³ And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live. ¹⁴ For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, ¹⁵ so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone.

 

Peter understood that there were certain things that should continually be remembered-things so critical that if we lose sight of them, it will be detrimental to our walk, our witness, our life.  So he kept declaring those truths.  He climbed on his hobby horse and preached, taught it again.

 

It dawned on me as I read how critical a leadership principle this is.  There are certain things that leaders know are vital to advancing the mission, certain things that keep you moving forward, certain things that keep you focused.

 

Hobby Horses-fixations we keep coming back to that define us as leaders.

 

Here are mine.

• It's all about the relationship with Christ.
• The word always communicates with power and relevancy.
• Prayer is vital.
• Loving others is the environment of all ministry.
• Always expect God to show up and show off.
• Relationships, Relationships, Relationships

What are yours, the hobby horses that define you, your leadership?

 

Climb back on.

 

The Man in the Window

 

A Reminder of What it's All About.

 I've begun to camp for a while in 2 Peter.  Peter is at least considering the possibility that he may not be around much longer (1:15), and he's writing some final challenging thoughts to those he has led to the Forgiver.  He wants to be sure they don't stumble after he's gone, especially with the rise of so many false teachers.

So he makes some pretty incredible statements in chapter one.

• Through our knowledge of God and Jesus, grace and peace are possible.  V. 2
• Everything we need for life and godliness come through that same knowledge. Vv. 3-4
• So make every effort to keep adding to what we have, what we are. V. 5
• "Add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."  V 5-7

Then something in verse 8 leaps off the page at me, something that had never registered before, something that resonated with my heart as a leader.  "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive. . ."

 

If those qualities, those attributes are on the increase in my life, it's a guarantee that I will not be ineffective, unproductive.

 

Wow.

 

An answer for the great fear every leader has, that somehow we won't make a difference, that we will just spin our wheels, that our lives wont' count for the kingdom.

 

Peter is so convinced of this truth that he restates to his readers.

Beginning in verse 10, "for if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

 

He then justifies nagging them about it.

13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

 

Peter's last message is on the effective, productive life.  Be ever increasing in faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.

 

Leaders know - it's always been about character.

 

The man in the window

Thanksgiving in the Age of the Pursuit of Stuff!!

Black Friday is over!  In the light of stories like this, maybe we need to reevaluate our weekend.

 

Twenty Injured After Woman Uses Pepper Spray on Black Friday Crowd

Published November 25, 2011

FoxNews.com

 

LOS ANGELES -  A mother of three shot pepper spray to keep shoppers from grabbing a video game system she wanted during a Black Friday sale, leaving 20 people with minor injuries, authorities said.

 

The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. Thursday in a crowded Los Angeles-area Walmart as shoppers hungry for deals were let inside the store.  Police said the suspect shot the pepper spray when the coverings over the item she wanted were removed.  "Somehow she was trying to use it to gain an upper hand," police Lt. Abel Parga told The Associated Press early Friday.  He said she was apparently after an Xbox 360 and used the pepper spray to keep other shoppers at bay.

The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray continued shopping.

 

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.

 

True Thanksgiving--discover it again this weekend.  One day wasn't enough.

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness; 
   come before him with joyful songs. 
³ Know that the LORD is God. 
   It is he who made us, and we are his; 
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving 
   and his courts with praise; 
   give thanks to him and praise his name. 
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; 
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

 

Take the Lead-Give thanks!

 

The Man in the Window

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

-- To follow Jesus is to learn to move with God.