Day 4

Day4, I backtracked a bit. Didn't spend as much time with Him as I have before.
Honestly, I have had 3 blogs ready to post here. None were working, so I erased and started again with a blank page. I got to be honest, this is going to be the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. Its scary because this is not in a private journal, but on this here blog. That's the way I feel I should do it, don't get me wrong. But it scares me to think about failing. I don't want to fail in front of you. I am sure it will seem to me like I have several times during this process. I am human, and I fall a lot. But hopefully, this will change my life and teach me how to fall in the right direction. Get up, and keep moving forward. Those were my dying Brothers last words. "Keep moving Forward"
I am no different than you. This life is hard, and I am trying this process, to allow Jesus to change my life.
My whole point to this is to teach myself, to be with God every single step I make. Through thick and thin. I want to acknowledge Gods presence in my life every second I live. Our lives serve a purpose. I'm ready to find out what mine is.

Paul said it best, "To live is Christ, to die is gain."
This will be used a lot!

Love JARED

day 3

Day 3 was an exciting day for me. I was pumped about going to church this morning, so it was easy to reconnect my conversation with God from last night. When I go to church, to me it is the best time for myself to focus on being still, and just listen to see what God has in store for me. Digging in the bible and listening to pastor Randy is an hour of focusing on the word and learning what God has to show me in the bible and sermon.

I want to keep this short, not to bore you in all of my posts. The biggest thing from today, is the importance I saw in having a church family. We need community, and we also need to step outside of it as well. Love people, and see people as the eyes of God does. I drive around, and already on day 3, I am beginning to see God in almost everything around me. This is the world, not our home. But, its not hard to see God in the wind, the tree's, the grass, and birds. I see those things and it makes me smile now, and appreciate Gods work. What an awesome Creator. While in prayer with God and having an open sense of my surroundings, I do not worry or fear anything. He takes care of the birds, and bees. I love Bees! He takes care of you and me. What a beautiful God I serve.
Its was challenging to stay in constant prayer after church. Life goes on and traffic gets bad, and red lights seem to change just for me, as if I asked them to. I'm not sure, but I am sure of this. God is my Father, and "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Phil. 4:13

Father, I ask for your forgiveness of the sins I have committed today. I repent, and truly want to rise above anything that is not of you. I pray for strength to overcome mytemptations, and especially tonight, my pride. That I may humbly come before you to serve. Mold me father, into the person I need to be here on earth. Just like Christ, use me Father. Amen

blessings,
JARED

day 2 of continuous prayer

Wow, this is not going to be easy. I must say that just beginning this process, I have not come close to spending even 1/4 of my day in prayer with God. I did however pray at times I would have normally turned on music or a TV, or talk to myself.

Today I worked, and was a bit frustrated over a yard I had to do clean up on. It ended up taking me a lot longer to finish than I thought. I automatically thought to myself. Is this worth the price I am getting? should I charge more? Will this hurt my mower, and will I make it to my next appointment before dark? I realized then, I need to just pray, and understand that it was going to be okay. Take a step at a time, and talk to Jesus while I work to calm the nerves. It helped a lot. I got focused on it, and rocked the yard out one step at a time and got it done and looking nice. Next I was on my way to another house to do a bid. The family I met with was the mother of some close friends of ours. They are having to sell their house and move the family up to Illinois asap. It is going to be a big change for their family. I grew up moving all over as well. So I was able to listen and talk a bit to them about the move and how everyone was feeling about it. Blessed, they have great family members that are supporting them and helping them as much as possible. It meant a lot to see a strong family give up comfort, and move for another job that they felt was Gods will. I really respect that. I know God is going to bless them and honor their faith.

So, I need to wrap my mind around praying more. Going to God directly as soon as a problem or stress arises. goal, I must not step out of bed, until my heart, mind, and soul are ready for another day. I must make the decision as I first awake. The conversation is on and started for the day.

Dad, I pray for strength, wisdom, and you Lord by my side. Speak to me and use me tomorrow. Thank you for today. I love you Father! Amen

until tomorrow.
Love JARED

Day 1 Continuous prayer

Is it possible to pray continuously? If you are like me, it seems pretty far from possible. But, I for one believe in every word that has been written in The Holy Bible. So why does it seem so impossible? Well Oswald Chamber hit the nail in the head on this question saying, "Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn't pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished."

I have been blessed with a beautiful and loving wife. Her name is Jordan, and she can tell you that I am a bit of a mind wanderer. I'm not sure if its from living in Nashville too long :-), or if I am just flat out a bad listener. But Jordan is a really good story teller, and she has some amazing stories when she comes home from work. She listens to problems all day as a hair stylist @ Trim on 12th Ave. Also, working with over 20 other stylists will create quite some drama within the shop for sure. So it's always a treat to ask Jordan, "What happened today?" It's something new and crazy every single day and she will automatically chime in on the news before I even get that question completely out of my mouth. I cant imagine listening to so many people with their problems or joys all day long. I know it's good for her to let it all out and be able to talk freely. Well, going back to my wandering mind, she usually has to snap at me a couple of times during her storytelling, or yell "HEY! look at me while I'm talking!" Then a classic roll of her eyes and a good ol' "Gahhhh." I snap back into position, looking at her as she continues. My mind...well, it starts thinking of other things several minutes after my drill sergeant Jordan snapped me back to attention quickly. I'm usually worried about things when I have a tendency to wander away. My thinking will cause me to worry myself sick sometimes. Worry about money, bills, work, i phones, yadayada. I think the excuse of me being a "man" has grown thin lately as well. I have no excuse, not even the one that claims "this is how God made me". I notice that my wandering is not just something I do with my wife. She can make me listen whether I want to hear it or not but, if I'm doing this to my wife so often, how often do I do it to God? He doesn't usually speak to me in a human voice telling me to "stop it" when I ignore Him, or as I pray for forgiveness and begin singing a Michael Jackson song in my head. God longs to spend each and every moment with us that exists. I don't know about you, but when I do pray, I seem to be more focused on things. My life is a lot clearer at times, and I seem to listen more to my wife instead of worrying about the Titans losing to the Cowboys last week. But can I totally pray without ever ceasing. Wow, if I feel better about myself after praying once or twice a day, how much better will I be if I actually prayed continually all day everyday?

I know what you are thinking, how can you pray all day? What about when I see a movie, or talking to someone, or working on homework, etc. I have been thinking the same thing, but I'm starting to slowly erase those questions as I come closer to trying. For me, I don't want to do any of those things if I'm not in conversation with God. If you think about all the time you spend Thinking to yourself during any given day, its most of your day. I know its almost all of my day. If you are going to do something that requires you to "turn God off," should you be doing it?

Frank Laubach was someone that really took scripture like, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to heart and to another level. It simply tells us to "Pray Unceasingly." I think he took this scripture to heart as well. Ephesians 6:18 "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints".

Frank was a missionary to the illiterate. Teaching them to read so they could understand, and truly live through Gods Word. He was known world wide about his amazing techniques around 1970. He was not satisfied with his life spiritually, so he tried a new one on himself. At 45 he decided to live in "continuous conversation with God and in a perfect responsiveness to His will." I have some of his journal entries through the first year of this new life he decided to live. He knew that he could actually teach his mind how to go straight to God when he woke up. He said, "sometimes it requires a long time early in the morning. I determine not to get out of bed until that mind set upon the Lord is settled". Also, Keep his mind in constant prayer throughout his day. It changed his life as he grew stronger, and more confident. Never worried, because he was constantly in Gods presence. At one point within the first few months, he noticed people were drawn to him like a magnet while walking down the street. He claimed he slept better than ever, and "walked on clouds." Also said "the thrill of filth repels me, for I know its power to drag me from God." My favorite, "Thou art no longer a stranger, God! Thou art the only being in the universe who is not partly a stranger!"

I want This!!! Why am I so self centered and concerned about only myself? Only to dig a deeper hole as I try to dig out on my own. I am going to write on this BLOG everyday I can, and share with you, my journey. I pray that it will encourage you to possibly do the same, or at least believe in God's Word. I know alone I am not capable of doing this. I'm scared to even say I'm going to try, only to reveal how I failed a week later. But, God has the power within me. Did you know that with Jesus in our hearts, we have power over Satan? We have the power of God within us, anything is possible. If we give everything to Christ alone, we have Gods favor. The hard part is getting rid of my pride and self. I have begun, and already feel God in these words I type.

Hold Fast,

JARED