Getting Rid of Sin Before You Pray

Sin, the brick wall that separates. The ugly stuff that causes God to not hear us. The Bible is clear; sin separates us from God. I don't know about you but I do not want to be separated from God, I don't do so good flying solo.
I love the passage in Psalm 23:3,4 "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart."
I think for a moment about clean hands. I am a mother, cleaning and recleaning my hands comes with the territory. But why do we clean our hands? Sometimes we clean them simply because they look dirty. Maybe you've been digging in your garden or perhaps like me, you've been tossing a football with your kids. Sometimes you look at your hands and they are just filthy. But other times, like when it's cold and flu season and I am getting ready to cook dinner, I will wash my hands even though to my naked eye they look clean. Why do we do this? Because most of what is deadly about the dirt on my hands is invisible. It's the germs that are the problem. These germs will not only hurt me if I ingest them, but I will pass them on to everything I touch...including the food I am preparing, and to the family I love.
I think this is the picture that God wants us to see with the "clean hands and pure heart." God wants us to understand that having clean hands is not just about the obvious stuff, it's also about the unseen stuff, the germs of our life.
One prayer that I have begun to add is the 'show me my sin' prayer. That's a growth prayer because it's so easy to see the obvious stuff we do that's wrong...but what about all the hidden things? Like incorrect or hurtful attitudes? Like thoughts and desires that aren't good? Having clean hands says I need to clean up the seen and the unseen. When I do this and purify my heart, then I can "ascend the hill of the Lord." I am then worthy to come into the presence of God in prayer.

Third Great Reason to Pray

Prayer brings peace.

Is it truly possible to walk through life's struggles and have peace at the same time? The answer to that question is yes. But the big question is how?

I remember the point where my team of doctors told me all the cancer was gone....well almost all the cancer was gone, but you know what they say about almost. It was all gone with the exception of a large tumor growing in my jaw and that tumor had overtaken the surrounding tissue. The doctors were quite pleased with themselves when they informed me they would simply remove and eventually rebuild the lower part of my face.

Fast forward a few weeks.

There I stood, in the hospital, facing the mirror, nine days after the dreadful operation. My face was unrecognizable. It was so very disfigured. And although God had answered my prayer and made me a cancer free woman, I was not happy about His methods. Because what was in front of me was an ugly woman who resembled someone who was not born normal. How does one go about adjusting to ugly where there once was beauty? How does a woman battle the inner war that seeks to convince her she has lost her value? And is it possible to develop an inner beauty that outshines the exterior? The answers to those questions are not found in self help books, and they were not found in any strength that I possessed on my own.

And then I discovered this amazing passage.
Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your regards to God. And the peace which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ."

The answers to all the difficult questions facing me were found on my knees. God gave me the ability to serve Him during that horrible time....being face to face with sick and dying cancer patients. God used my ugly face as the ice breaker for the disfigured, bald and hopeless cancer patient population. In doing so, a peace came over me. I began to see purpose for the destruction of my face. I began to understand that God had shown me the fruits of the Philippians 4:6 verse, and there is an order to things. First...you have to stop worrying. Second....you must pray. Third...you must give thanks...(even for a disfigured face) And then finally...." the peace which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.''

There is a process to obtain peace. It is a product of prayer.

The Second Great Reason to Pray

The second really great reason to pray is that it truly makes you wiser.

In order to understand that statement we need to clarify the difference between wisdom and knowledge, because most people confuse them. There are lots of book smart extremely educated people who are not wise. Wisdom is based upon the pursuit of truth not the pursuit of knowledge. So essentially if one is to be wise, he or she understands and puts truth into practice.

Given that definition, most of us don't really have many people around us who could be called wise. For a Christian, wisdom is a product of understanding God's word and applying it to our lives. But here's the good news. James 1:5 says "if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him." So, basically I ask God for wisdom....and he gives it to me. Meaning; pray for it.

So if that is true....what possible excuse could you and I have for not asking for wisdom daily?

Don't bother asking for wisdom if you have perfect kids, a wonderful boss, an excellent marriage, a kind discerning heart, and never, ever loose your cool! But since most of us can't honestly say that we are perfect and most of us don't have perfect relationships....we should be praying for wisdom.

What does wisdom look like in the flesh? I mean if this is something we genuinely want and are supposed to ask for how will I know it when I see it?
Wise people are self controlled.
Wise people are people of few yet well chosen words.
Wise people do not gossip.
Wise people are the people we know we can depend on.
Wise people have been tested and they know they can depend on God.
Wise people are patient and kind.
Wise people are content in their circumstances.
Wise people see right from wrong and are willing to stand for it.

When you start to pray for wisdom, you will be surprised at how your conversations change. You will no longer be able to get away with stuff you could before....essentially you'll start to catch your sins quicker! Wow...bring that on. Isn't it so much easier to not mess up in the first place instead of always being in cleaning mode? I have found that the wisdom prayer is answered quickly. When Monday morning arrives....why not add a wisdom prayer to your morning and see how it changes the day ahead?

First Great Reason to Pray

The first great reason to pray is that it changes us.
But wait, you say I need God to change the way something is going! This is backwards.

Take heart my friends. When I began to battle cancer in the Fall of 1996, a wise woman told me something that has stayed with me for years. After having lost her precious daughter to cancer, this woman had earned her stripes in the giving advice category. She simply said..."Karen, if you don't look for God during this battle, you will never see Him." I didn't understand what she was trying to communicate. How does one go about looking for God? It's not as if He will simply appear around the corner someday. But my friend persisted and explained herself. I realized that it's about our prayers

This sweet friend told me it's a bit like when you tuck your child into bed at night and then go back an hour later to check on him. You tucked that child safely into his bed, you know he is there, you expect to see him and yet you go ahead a look anyway. What she was communicating is that if you pray, asking God to show up, He will, plain and simple. If you expect God to show up that day, He will. Period, because you asked him to. Her caution to me was in where my focus was. Unlike the rest of the world's advice, she told me to take my eyes off of the prize, which for me was complete and permanent remission. She told me to focus on the million things that need to happen before I'd be healthy again. She said to focus on the little ways God answers our prayers daily. If you pray out the details of the day...you will see Him. So I began to pray that the IV would go in on the first try, I started to ask God to keep the vomiting down, I asked that the nurses would be terrific and then I started to ask God to give me opportunities to make a difference. WOW...where did that come from? Well it came from the place in my heart that started to understand something really powerful. C.S. Lewis has a quote that ties it up in a bow. He said, " I pray not because it changes God, but because it changes me."
As I began to look at how many tiny prayers got answered daily, it began to build in me a much stronger faith. It enabled me to see His hand upon my day...how great is that? What an incredible gift to see the God of the universe intervening in my little corner of the planet.
What about you, how could you begin to pray out the details of your life? And what if you did, and then you stopped at the end of the day a put it under the magnifying glass. You know what you'd see? Maybe you didn't say something ugly to your husband that morning, maybe you were able to be patient with your boss as he once piled on the work, or maybe you were able to react with wisdom to an unkind remark. God shows up, and when He does, we are changed people.

Who Am I?

Who is he or she...or better still why am I reading something written by this person? I don't know about you, but I always want know the story behind the story. As a conference speaker I always allow a window into my soul. This forms the connection. Why should someone listen to me? Who am I to stand before people and offer anything? I guess the truth lies in the notion that alone, I offer nothing, but with God I offer amazing things. It is only through God that I am anything anyway. I've got lots of hard knocks credentials. I'm sure you do to.
Here are the Cliff Notes.
I was home from my honeymoon for only two weeks when I stood in a doctor's office and listened to him tell me that I had stage IV (the worst) cancer and that within six months time I was going to die. That conversation took place nearly thirteen years ago. I like to tell people that I am thirteen years into the last six months of my life.
When I was first diagnosed, I had no idea how to handle it spiritually. Sadly, I had given my life to Christ in the early 1980's but I am ashamed to admit that I had done absolutely nothing about it. I did not pray. I did not study God's word. And most of all, I did not care at all about God's plan for my life.
Cancer has a way of being a bit of a wake up call.
Having no place to turn, and nowhere to run for comfort, I rededicated my life to Christ. I began to wake early in the morning, before daylight to pray and study God's word. This is what God told me. "My grace is sufficient for you, and my power is made perfect in your weakness." Wow....nice to hear...tough to live out...who wants to be weak?
I found out quickly that weakness was God's plan for me. I spent more than twenty-two weeks in the hospital doing a clinical trial that nearly killed me. I've had more than 14 operations, one of which removed and reconstructed the lower part of my face due to a large tumor. Seven times the cancer has returned. But each and every time it returns, and each and every time I am once again a sick and suffering cancer patient, God does something amazing. He places people in my path, sometimes even sharing my room in the hospital, people who are suffering and need to hear the hope filled message of Jesus Christ.
I begged God to spare my life. He gave me back so much more. He gave me hope, He gave me purpose and He gave me a ministry.
I've been given a national platform on shows like Oprah, Dr. Phil, CNN, PBS and Nightline, and in magazines like Newsweek and Lifetime. And although those seem like amazing opportunities they pale in comparison to sitting at the bedside of a dying cancer patient and telling them the story of the Thief on the Cross. Because I understand a truth that few people truly understand; hope is the most powerful drug of all.
My prayer is that whatever you read here will bring you a bit of hope for your day.
And the great news is that it doesn't matter where you are or where you've been...all you have is today anyway. And if one man, nailed to a cross next to Jesus in the last hours of his life got a ticket to heaven...why not you?

The Prayer Profile

When I head out to the doctor's office for a physical, I am expecting him to do certain tests in order to evaluate my current health condition. These tests force him to take a much closer look at me. As many of us know, we can be the picture of exterior health and yet be harboring a tumor or a blocked artery. With early detection, we can take serious health conditions, treat them and return the patient to health.
The same holds true for each of us in our daily walk with God. The diagnostic test we are going to do today involves a close look at our prayers. Most of the time, people who pray fall into one of three categories. I call them clubs. I like the word club because it denotes a willing membership while at the same time understanding that a membership can be cancelled at anytime. As you read through these three clubs I'd like you to take a close look at yourself and it is likely that you will see yourself in one of them. Before we go further I'd like to say that the most important thing is not where you fall in these three categories. The most important thing is that you are indeed choosing to pray. You can pat yourself on the back for that.
The first club is called The Want Club. Want club people have a somewhat limited view of God because they pray specifically to get their needs met. People who are inconsistent in their prayers or who are the panic prayers fall into this category. Want club members view God as the great wish granter, the one who they come to with all their needs and wants. Want Club members often are stagnant in their faith. The feel they aren't growing much and sometimes get discouraged. They often feel that they don't sense God's presence in their lives. They pray in a one sided relationship. Want Club members have a sincere desire to know God, but could actually use a bit of a jump start.
The Wounded Club is made up of the physically and emotionally wounded. These people are currently suffering and one particular thing is crowding out their prayer time...and with good cause. These people are in a place of paralysis. Their prayer life reflects this difficult time. These people are doing what God wants them to do by bringing their prayers to God. Most people who are in the Wounded Club are in the middle of the trenches, and are starting to grow as a result of the trial they are enduring. The Wounded Club members members find it difficult to think about let alone pray about anything beyond what is causing them to suffer. The great beauty of this club is most of its members graduate into the third club.
The Worship Club is made up of the truly tested people. These people have walked through the dark valley and they have seen the hand of God in their lives and have become wise. These people aren't without trials, they have simply come to understand that God will never leave them. These people are often still hanging their hats in the Wounded Club but have graduated in their understanding of God and their prayer life reflects this. These people pray beyond their corner of the universe. These people have different motives for their prayers. They go beyond asking God to meet their needs. These people pray for God to change them. These people have experienced growth in their lives and understand that it is a product of a relationship with God. Generally speaking, these individuals are usually the ones that we lean on in our time of need. They bring a wisdom to their lives and others are attracted to it.
So where do you see yourself? Solidly placed in one club or dancing on a fine line between two of them? What if I told you that it isn't difficult to become a Worship Club member? Don't we all want to see ourselves as rock solid, faith filled, dependable and filled with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis? Stay tuned this month as we discover how to change yourself into the prayer changed person you desire to become.

What did you pray for today?

Recently a pastor conducted an interesting survey. Prior to the service, he approached 100 people from his growing congregation. He asked them one simple question....what did you pray for today?
More than half of the people he asked said they hadn't prayed at all...and it was Sunday.
Of the remaining half, this is what he heard, and the responses surprised him.

I prayed for my job.
I prayed for my finances.
I prayed for my teenage daughter, she is struggling.
I prayed that God would bless me with a new house.
I prayed for good grades this semester.
I prayed that God would give me a husband.
I prayed for my husband who has cancer.

And then there was one response that captured his heart. One woman simply said..."I can't do it alone, so I am praying daily for God to keep my heart from sin. You see, I want to serve him and I am looking for direction."

I thought long and hard about this woman's answer and I feel it illustrates a great truth for all of us. What we pray for says a great deal about how we view God. We are all called to bring our burdens to God...to pray for our needs and we should do this. But is this ALL that you do in your prayer life? Is the God you pray to simply the great wish granter? It's a bit like the friend who calls you and you politely ask her how she's doing. Forty five minutes later, and she's still talking and she has never once asked you how you are. What has that friend learned about you? And as you ponder this, doesn't that type of conversation create a bit of a one sided relationship? Better still, is that even a relationship at all?

Think for a moment about your best friends. How have you gone about cultivating those friendships. It is done through mutual dialogue, conversations and curiosity born out of genuine concern. What if you applied those same techniques to your prayer time?