Sneaky Satan

One thing I consistently pray when praying for this request is that God sets a hedge around the prayers of me and my prayer partner. I pray that God will protect the prayers from Satan's attack and that He'll keep the paths clear for it to be answered. As I was praying last Friday night the thought occurred to me that my prayers themselves have not been under much attack and immediately I attributed this to God bearing the brunt of any attack and making it easier for me. While there may be some truth to that statement, I just wasn't seeing how Satan really was attacking.
Sin separates us from God and makes it so that God cannot hear our prayers. There are things I struggle with in my walk with God. I can have a very critical spirit. I tend to hold other people to my spiritual standards rather than God's (my mom used to call me her little pharasee), I can be undisciplined when it comes to staying caught up on school work. Since I began this prayer journey, I have struggled more than usual with my critical and judgemental attitude. it seems like every time I begin to pray, I first have to spend time confessing this and restoring my relationship with God. It did not occur to me until Friday night that THIS is Satan's attack, his way of keeping my prayer from being answered. If he can keep me separated from God, he doesn't have to worry about the request being answered because God can't hear it. The Bible describes Satan as crafty and subtle and boy is he. I was looking for obstacles to be thrown in the way; I was looking for my committment to waver, for my faith to falter...and those are things I have dealt with, but those were the things I was expecting so I was prepared. I wasn't prepared for the attack to come in areas unrelated to my prayer. I still struggle. The closer we get to actually meeting Tebow, Satan will ratchet up his attacks, but at least I am more aware of at least this area of attack and can ask God to give me discernment to see ALL the ways Satan is trying to prevent this request from being answered.

The 'BIGGER' Meaning

Not too long ago God showed me that my 10 minute lunch prayers were really not going to get much done and that if I really wanted an answer to this prayer I needed to commit some real effort and time to praying over it. So beginning this past week, I did. The idea of sustained prayer is daunting. I began each prayer session telling God there was no way I could keep up a long period of prayer with such a narrow focus, and each time God proved me wrong.
One of the things I have been praying about, along with my prayer partner, is what His command to 'pray bigger' means. My prayer in this area was really unfocused because I wasn't even sure if God meant that command for this prayer or if He meant that the next time I enter into this type of praying I was to pray for something even bigger than meeting Tebow. In addition, I was praying for an idea I thought God might be saying was this 'bigger'  but if it wasn't would He reveal the 'bigger' to us or would He just answer it without us knowing what it was. As I said, the prayer was disjointed and all over the map.  I realized Tuesday I needed some answers from God, because this uncertain praying was getting me nowhere. I narrowed the focus of the request down to which prayer specifically was God referring to, this one or the next. Because my Tebow request is time sensitive, I asked God to reveal to me by Saturday (today) which it was, and then, based on that prayer, I would begin to pray for what the 'bigger' was.
Let me just say, God is gracious. Not only did He answer my request for knowledge, but He also went ahead and answered what the 'bigger' was too. God impressed upon my prayer partner's heart that we needed to begin praying specifically for Tim Tebow himself. He faces so many temptations and obstacles and Satan is so subtle. God impressed upon her heart we needed to enter into covenant prayer on his behalf and to consider bringing my students in on this too. I always pray that God will direct our prayers in this matter and that if there is more we need to do concerning this request that He reveal it to one or both of us. It was easy to agree to enter into this covenant with her because I had already prayed.
What didn't occur to me until hours after I agreed and was rereading her message explaining what God showed her was that this was His answer to my request about the 'bigger'. In her message she said that maybe the 'bigger' was praying for Tebow himself. What God revealed to me hours later was that 'bigger' didn't have to mean more impossible, it could mean to broaden out the scope of the prayer, to make the prayer area bigger. As I was praying in this new area tonight and thanking God for an answer to my request, God also reminded me of the day...Saturday...the day I asked Him to let me know His meaning.
God is amazing! His timing is perfect. I cannot understand why a perfect, holy God is choosing to answer my prayers when I am so far from perfect and holy...but I am oh so thrilled that He does!

No Mountains Moving Here

It has taken A LOT to maintain faith that God will answer this request. There have been many battles with my flesh to take God at His Word; to take at face value what He says. Those verses about prayer make praying and believing seem so easy, and I suppose they should be. My flesh, and probably Satan, seem to think otherwise. I have determined I will choose to believe, and it is a daily and sometimes hourly battle to maintain that belief. It became somewhat easier to have peace and assurance of an answer after studying out Matthew 18:19. My faith has definitely grown. I am very confident based on that verse that my students will meet Tim Tebow. What strikes me tonight though is that as difficult as it has been to get to this place, as great as my faith seems to me, it's not even the size of that mustard seed that Jesus told his disciples about. How do I know? NONE of the mountains I am surrounded by have been removed into the sea. You may laugh at that, I do, but really it is a sobering thought and a rather overwhelming one at that. It has taken a concerted effort on my part to get to a point where I can initially take God at His Word when He shows me something. To me, that effort and that amount of faith are monumental and still, no mountains moving, so it's not as monumental as it seems.
That thought may sound discouraging and I don't mean it to be. Actually, it has been a good thought for me to have...it keeps me honest and humble and just a little awed at what God really could do if I manage to allow my faith to grow all the way up into the size of that little ole' mustard seed.

Is He REALLY the God of the Impossible?

It's funny how God uses the same verse multiple times to teach you. When I first began this journey I asked God for some promises to claim for my prayers. He led me to several, one being Isaiah 45:2-3. At first my prayers were focused on verse 2..."I will go before thee..." okay God, so move ahead of my letter and begin preparing hearts and minds. "I will make the crooked paths straight..." okay, so clear a path for my letter straight to Tebow. "I will tear down... I will break in pieces..." great, remove all the obstacles, God, that will prevent my prayers from being answered. I have prayed these phrases back to God since January 19.
Then tonight, as I begin to pray, God moved my attention past verse 2 and into verse 3, the last part specifically which says to some affect, "that ye may know that He which calleth you by name is the Lord God of Israel." I don't think I quoted that exactly but I got the meaning down. Now from here we go into a rather convoluted path to my point.
I have begun to pray that God would be known for real in the lives of my sophomores. That they would know that the God Who delivered Israel, the God Who closed the lions mouths, the God Who fed 5,000 and allowed Peter to walk on water is the same God they serve. Tonight, as I focused in on Who the God of Israel is, I realized I've never really asked God for something truly impossible in my life. I have been taught all my life God is a powerful God, capable and willing to move mountains if I just ask and believe, and all my life I have said I believed them. But when I began to look back over the things I have prayed for in my life, I realized my prayers have always been 'safe'. By that I mean, the things I've prayed for, even the 'big things' were really things that given time, I could have accomplished myself. That's not to say God didn't have something to do with the answer, He did. Eventually, I could have saved enough money to pay for a car, God chose to use my parents to provide one much faster. In time, I could have paid off college debts, but God provided. After a few months of searching, I could have found my job here in Hawaii, God used a friend who turned the job down to get me the job in a few weeks. These requests were safe, something I could have eventually accomplished, God just made it easier...and believe me He did and I am thankful for that.
My students are told all the time in devotions, in chapel, in Sunday School, in church, in our teen services that God is powerful, capable of doing amazing things, if we just ask. I believe the people teaching them this, myself included, really think we believe that. We encourage them to 'pray big', to 'test God', and well we should, but do we? I can speak only for myself, but I suspect I am not alone, when I say that never in my life have I prayed and asked God for the truly impossible...until now. We say our students learn more by example than by instruction (words). If that is the case, then my students will never truly test God, they will never take their prayers into that territory Jabez spoke of where only God can work. That is, until now. My request tonight became a thousand times more urgent for God to answer. My kids need to know that the God of Elijah is truly the same God that they strive to serve. They need to meet Tim Tebow so that they know, from at least 2 people's example, that God truly is the God of the impossible.

The Importance of a Prayer Partner

The Sunday that God layed on my heart to begin this prayer campaign, it took some convincing on His part for me to take this on. One of the last arguments I threw at God was fine, I can't do this alone, it's too big for just me to pray over it, I need a prayer partner. Immediately God layed on my heart the name of a very close friend who is an amazing prayer warrior(which, if she is reading this is shaking her head and saying, 'who me?')...I couldn't argue with Him anymore. I spoke to her the next day and without batting an eye, or laughing and saying, 'yeah, right' she agreed to enter into prayer with me over this matter. As if to confirm she was the right choice, I mentioned to two other friends at different times that same week that several of my sophomores had written letters to Tebow expressing a desire to meet him. These two friends both laughed and basically said, 'dream on'. I knew God had led me to the right person.
It wasn't until tonight, though, that I fully realized just how important a prayer partner is. As I was praying, asking God for direction for my prayer he lead me to a passage my pastor had mentioned a few weeks ago. It's Matthew 18:19 which says, "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." These are the things that God taught me about prayer and the importance of having not only a partner but also what to look for when choosing that partner. (Some of these lessons God taught me through the study portion of my Bible.)
1. The verse says it takes two..that should be self-explanatory
2. These two people need to be filled with the Holy Ghost...that is, they need to be saved.
3. Being filled with the Holy Ghost, they need to pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, this way they are more likely to pray according to God's will rather than their own selfish will.
4. They need to pray with the same goal in mind, they need to agree on what to pray and pray with the same belief that God will hear and answer.
Prayer is a powerful tool. I can go to God in confidence on my own, but why not hedge the prayer a little by adding the power of a second person praying?
As I prayed over these things, God began to once again confirm that I had made the right decision in finding a prayer partner and as I prayed He showed me something else...the last part of this verse. It says if the first requirements are met, then He'll answer the prayer.
So I made a checklist: are there two of us...yes; are we both saved...yes; are we each praying in the power of the Holy Spirit and for His will to be done...I know I am and I know her well enough to know she is, so...yes and last are we agreed in what we are praying for and how we are praying for it...yes.
So that leads me to only one conclusion folks...my kids are going to meet Tim Tebow before our school year is over!!!!

10 Minutes

A war cannot be won in 10 minutes, and yet, that is the amount of time I spend every day at lunch in prayer for this request. Up until today, I have been impressed with my 'sacrifice' of lunch time to bring a request to God on behalf of my students, God, however, not so much.
Those 10 minutes were minutes spent truly seeking out God and asking Him to be faithful to His promises. I don't believe the problem was with what I was praying, the problem was with the amount of time I was dedicating to this prayer.
I mentioned in an earlier post the story of the angel prevented from reaching Daniel with the answer to his request. Today God impressed upon me that those same angels are battling on behalf of my request and 10 minutes just isn't enough time for them to gain any real ground or victory. He impressed upon me how satisfied Satan must be with that minimal time; any enemy can endure for a short period of time. What Satan will have difficulty with is a sustained onslaught...a longer prayer time.
In asking God for guidance on how to have an effective, longer prayer He brought to my mind the account of Jesus' prayer in the Garden. Jesus spent quite some time in that prayer. How? First He laid out on the table all the feelings He had about His approaching crucifixion, then He asked God if there was another way and last He surrendered to whatever God's will was and for it to be done. He was passionate about those prayers and I'm sure He gave God opportunity to talk back to Him, that's how the prayer lasted longer. We know there was ample time in that prayer for God to work because Jesus went on to the cross and died there for the sins of mankind.
I'll still maintain my lunchtime prayer, it's a committment I've made; but it will no longer be the only time in my day with sustained praying time.

The Reason

Eight posts in and it occurrs to me that perhaps I should explain why I am praying for my students to have the opportunity to meet Tim Tebow.
Let me first introduce you to my sophomore class. These are seven amazing kids who have a genuine heart to serve God. All seven are faithful to church, active in their youth groups and have a tremendous heart to minister to others. One is involved in tutoring Micronesians in her church, one works in a children's church ministry, two are going on a summer missions trip and two are attending a youth conference in California in March. These kids WANT to serve God. At Christmas we were afforded the oppourtunity to participate in Operation Christmas Child and before I could even get through the explanation they were committing to fill boxes. We have the privilege of starting off homeroom with devotions, most days I lead them, but once a month they take a day and lead them. I find it amazing that each time they have lead devotions they share something from their own personal devotions that day. They assigned themselves days of the week to pray for each others needs. In 18 years of teaching, I have never had an ENTIRE class so determined to serve God...it has been a tremendous and awesome blessing.
As for me, I had the honor and privilege of growing up in a strong Christian home. I grew up in Wyoming about 2 hours outside of Denver, thus making me a Denver Broncos fan. I have taken that love with me first to my students in Chicago and then here to Hawaii. My students probably know more about the Denver Broncos than they ever really cared to! I have a tradition with my kids, that whatever the Broncos win record is, that's the number of bonus points they get for the week. Needless to say, when this past season began, they didn't think they were going to get many points...then Tebow went on his miracle run straight into the post-season. Tebow's faith and the Broncos turnaround when he took over became quite a topic of discussion in my class' daily devotion. We discussed an awful lot how God blessed Tebow for his faithfulness and how the Broncos were receiving fall-out blessings from that. I proudly confess that I created two new Broncos' fans this year. I also am thrilled to say that one of my sports-obsessed boys grew to admire Tebow, not for his football skills, but because of his strong faith.
I am not jumping on the Tebow bandwagon. I am not doing this to try to make the news in hopes he'll hear and come visit, something bigger is at stake here than a meeting with Tim Tebow.  I am out to prove God, that when He says He'll answer any request we to Him bring, so long as it's according to His will, and I pray believing, He'll answer. Then why Tebow, you ask? Because he is who my kids want to meet. He has become a Christian role model for them and let's face it, there aren't many in the sports world for them to admire. He is the one several of them wrote to letting him know how much he has helped to build their faith. But most importantly, because I want my students to have a landmark, an anchor they can tie on to, a tangible reminder when they grow up that through sincere, honest and persistent prayer, God can and will do anything.
Ok...so it doesn't hurt that he plays for my favorite team either!!!! :)

God's Territory

Several years ago a book was written on the prayer of a man named Jabez. The book really is eye-opening when it comes to prayer. In this prayer (I Chronicles 4:9), Jabez makes four requests that God honors. He asks God to bless him in every possible way; he asks God to enlarge the area of his lands, he asks God to keep sin and its temptations away from him and last asks God to work in ways that only God can. I have thought often of this book and its lessons on prayers as I have taken on this prayer challenge. The author of this book talks of taking prayer into an area where God is the only One Who can possibly answer the request, of moving into an area where I can no longer 'help' the request to be answered. I knew that was the direction this request was headed when I began, because let's face it, what really are the chances that Tim Tebow will ever see the letter I wrote? I was okay with God taking us into this territory, excited even. If I am honest, pride creeped into my prayers, here I was smack middle in this land of 'only God can work here' and I was sticking to my prayers and believing. There was a HIUGE part of me that was crediting myself. God HAD to be impressed that I could trust Him. Then God showed me that my prayer partner and I were not praying big enough. That got my attention! God humbled me considerably when He showed me that while I thought I had waded out into the deep of this territory, I had only left the shore...there was so much more that He could do. It did change my prayers and my thinking...some. It wasn't until weeks later as I was begging God to reveal what this 'bigger' request was that I realized we hadn't really even left the shore but had merely waded up to our ankles and that when God answered this prayer we will have only waded up to our knees...which means there is SO MUCH MORE that God is capable of doing. I think, but am not sure, that when God impressed upon me to pray bigger that He wasn't referring to this prayer, but the one to come after.
To be honest, that thought terrifies me! It has taken alot of prayer, alot of choosing to crucify my flesh and doubts and a massive amount of determination to just not quit on this request...and God wants me to pray BIGGER next time...what could possibly be bigger?!
All I can end with is, as big as meeting Tim Tebow seems to me, it's not to God...this is just a jumping off point, the point where the ocean floor drops off into deeper water and if that's where God is going then I am determined to follow Him... even further into this territory of 'only God can answer here'.

The Game Plan

As a teacher, my students often ask if we can plan some event or another, many of which require approval by our pastor. When the idea is theirs, I make them speak to him about it. Before speaking to him, they make out a plan of what it is they want, why the want it, what plans they've made and how and where they intend to accomplish it, a game plan of sorts.
I've been thinking alot about that today. I am asking God to allow my students to meet Tim Tebow and I have no idea how to go about accomplishing this. In my mind, I have to have all the details worked out. I need to have a plan and how to accomplish it when I go to God in prayer, but that's not what the Bible says. Matthew 21:23 simply says "pray" and "believe", nowhere does it say I have to figure out how God can make it all work, I don't need a game plan. That's because God already has one in place...sometimes He chooses to reveal the plan to me...then it's easy to pray. However, sometimes He doesn't and it is really hard to just 'pray' and 'believe'...this is where I am finding myself, having to trust that God knows all the details of how this prayer is going to be answered and just concerning my self with the part of the plan He has revealed to me...'pray' and 'believe'

The Silence is Deafening-part II

Third, God brought to mind a story I had recently told my Sunday school class about angels. Daniel had been praying for an answer to a request for 28 days. When the answer finally came the angel explained to Daniel he had been held up by the prince of Persia and that Micael had to come and help him so he could continue on with the answer (Daniel 10:1-15). I have no idea what spiritual battles have been waged with my prayer request and quite honestly, it was not something I'd even considered when I started out on this prayer journey. Satan does not want me to have victory in this matter because oh how God will be magnified in the lives of so many when He does answer. I have recognized many obstacles Satan has thrown my way in the past month and through God's power have overcome them. This one of discouragement has been the most difficult to overcome. The angels are fighting on my behalf to make this request a reality and they are in need of my continued prayer. What would have happened to Daniel's angel had Daniel given up?
Last, (yes, God has done ALOT of talking), God reminded me of the disciples in the Garden with Jesus. That one question Jesus asked them, "could you not pray for even just an hour?" really got to me. If the disciples had stayed awake just one more hour, they would have truly understood what Jesus was facing on the cross and why He was doing it. They would have heard His prayer and witnessed His passion and it would have changed their actions in the coming days. They gave up too soon. They came so close to wittnessing something amazing and missed it due to a lack of faithfulness. If I am honest, one of the things most driving my persistence in this prayer is the fear that I'll give up 24 hours before God answers or worse yet, I'll give up an hour before He planned to answer. I could not bear the idea that my kids missed meeting Tim Tebow by even one day because I could not watch and pray for even just one hour.
I feel more encouraged after writing out all the things God has shown me...maybe this is how David encouraged himself in the Lord, I don't know. All I can say is that what I thought was a test to prove God has turned into a test to prove me...what will it take to stop me from praying and believing...alot more than a day, I hope.

The Silence is Deafening!!

Today has been a hard day to keep believing there will be an answer to my prayer. It's been over a month since God impressed upon this challenge and about a month since the letter was sent to Tim Tebow. The particularly discouraging thing today comes from an article I read about Tebow and where he is...he's in California and my letter in somewhere in Denver in the abyss of the Broncos organization. Today, more than ever, I feel the impossibility of my prayer request....so what do I do? I pray, obviously, and in my praying God brought three things to my mind.
First, God always keeps His end of His covenants. The verses I am claiming in my request say nothing is impossible with God. I don't see any asterisks denoting exceptions to the rule anywhere in Luke. Another verse in Matthew tells me anything I ask in prayer, believing, it will be done, again, no asterisk denoting an exception. James 1 tell me to aks in faith nothing wavering and it will be done. God's covenants in these verses are clear...I pray believing and He'll answer. I don't have to figure out how He's going to answer, the details are up to Him, I just have to keep up my end of the covenant to believe when I pray.
Second, God brought to mind the story of Peter walking on the water. As long as Peter focused on Christ he did the impossible. It was when he began to notice the storm raging around him that he began to sink. See, he took his eyes and focus of Christ. He became afraid when he saw the enormous waves. When I begin to focus on how impossible the circumstances of this request are, I'm not focusing on the One Who can make the impossible happen. Peter's request was granted as long as he looked to Jesus, the One Who could answer. His request stopped being answered when he looked at his circumstances. It's His job to straighten out the crooked paths and move the mountains, it's my job to stay focused on Him.

Not Big Enough?!

So what do you do when God says the monumental request you are asking Him for is not big enough? You freak out! You tell God that your request for your kids to meet Tim Tebow is gigantic and there couldn't be something bigger than that...and He quietly assures you that He already knows Tim Tebow and that arranging a meeting really is no big deal.
 As I was praying for the letter I worte to Tebow, God impressed upon me that what I thought was an impossible task really wasn't much at all and there was more He could do for my kids than simply let them meet Tim Tebow. Trouble was, God wasn't revealing what this 'bigger' was. He did direct me to Ehphesians 3:20-21 which says basically that God can do more than we can think or ask. More than I can think...let me assure you I can think pretty big! I have a friend who has entered into this prayer with me and we have discussed what this 'bigger' could possibly be...I have thought perhaps my kids (and me and her!) will be invited to Denver at no cost to meet him...I have thought perhaps he'll travel here and spend time with my students and their youth groups...I have even thought that perhaps we'll be invited to a Broncos' game and meet him there...I said I could think big!!! What's even more incredible, and sometimes difficult to believe is that as big as these ideas are to me, God can think even bigger!!!
God has not chosen to reveal to me or my friend what this 'bigger' is, all I can do is fulfill my end of the promise to pray, believing, and to continue to ask for the 'bigger' and leave the thinking to Him.

Any Great Vacation

Any great vacation comes with great anticipation. When the journey begins there is alot of excitement. Everything is amazing and exciting, then, after a few hours, boredom with the traveling sets in and you begin to wonder if you'll ever get there. That's how I felt about three weeks after my prayer journey began. Much prayer and some fasting went into writing a letter to Tim Tebow; that was exciting and it was easy to pray believing God was going to say yes. The weeks following were an emotional high, the anticipation was overwhelming...I just KNEW God was going to answer. Then He didn't and the emotional high wore off and it wasn't so easy to believe anymore. I then began to doubt whether I had actually had any faith because I didn't 'feel it' anymore, so I went to God in prayer. He impressed upon my heart that faith in Him is a CHOICE we make, not an emotion. I didn't have to "feel" the my prayers were goingto be answered, I could KNOW it because His word had promised it...He'd even given me several (Luke 1:36, Matthew 21:22, James 1:6 and my foundation verse, Is. 45:2-3) I just had to choose to take Him at His Word. God in His goodness reemphasized this point in church the following Sunday when our pastor spoke of faith being a choice we make, not an emotion we experience.
The excitement of a vacation returns as you near the destination. Once again you are excited and are anticipating all the good things ahead. I don't know that our meeting Tebow is in sight...yet... but it will be and the joy has returned because I am CHOOSING to take God at His Word.

The journey has begun

So this journey begins today at the half-joking suggestion of a good friend. This journey began a month ago when God impressed upon me to begin a prayer campaign for my students to have the opportunity to meet Tim Tebow. Of course, my immediate thought was "No way, God, that is a HUGE undertaking!" Then as the sermon I was listening to continued God continued to impress upon me how much my faith and our relationship needed this journey...so I took on the challenge of proving God not only can, but will answer any request we bring to Him, as long as it is brought in the right manner.