Joy in prayer.

My first memories of prayer are when I was a little girl sitting in my Grandma's little tiny Faith Homes Church in Zion, Illinois. I saw all these white-haired elderly people with their hands raised, some very frail could barely stand or raise their hands, but still praying out to God. They were using words like "Holy" and "Abba Father" and "Hallelujah". The piano was softly playing or the organ loudly playing at times. I heard them "speaking in tongues" and raising their voices louder.

I remember a lot of things, but I don't remember it being weird.

I remember feeling peace but I didn't know it was peace at the time.

I grew up with models of prayer warriors, people at church spending hours at the alter praying and crying, pastors strongly directing what we pray for and praying over the people. Lately, I've been looking back on those times and wonder where are these white-haired prayer warriors?

Prayer has always been a struggle for me. I went through seasons of questioning what is prayer, is there power in prayer, does it work? But lately I've been really wrestling with it and.....

I have found joy in prayer ..(hard to believe these days I know).

To find joy....

To find joy in prayer....

Is it even possible?

My mom always said "Happiness is a choice, but joy comes from the Lord"

We live in a world that pursues happiness, we strive after it, we pursue college and careers, we climb the corporate ladder toward riches, but.... do you ever feel like you reach the top of happiness? I doubt you do because it's an exhausting, lifelong climb that has no top. Do yourself a favor and stop climbing now before you waste your whole life.

Reach for joy.

Joy comes from the Lord.

This "pursuit of happiness", this worldly view of "corporate ladders", this "strive for riches" it's all lies. None of it matters at the end of our lives if we lose our souls.

Paul talks in Philippians 4 about praying THEN experiencing peace.

Peace is joy.

When we aren't pursuing our own plans, climbing some dumb ladder and we fix our thoughts on what God wants..... wow..we experience total peace and with that comes joy. Can you imagine a free mind that isn't cluttered with chaos? Can you even begin to imagine what it feels like to have your mind at peace and calm?

There is so much joy in that.

I was sitting in the baby's room in the rocking chair just praying. My mind was chaotically cluttered from the day before, anxiety about finances, stress about baby Asher coming and his room is still our dumping zone, so I just prayed. I remembered the white-haired ladies and gentleman praying loudly with such conviction, speaking in tongues and I began to pray. All of a sudden this "peace which exceeds anything we can understand" (Phil. 4:7) came over me and I felt joy.

I don't know how things will work out, how the bills will be paid, how our lives will unfold, but I do know, God knows and there's so much peace and joy in knowing that.

Paul says in verse 12 that he "discovered the secret of living in every situation". Do you know the secret? Paul says the secret is doing all things through Christ who gives him strength. There it is. The big secret. Christ.

Not our worries, our own agendas, our corporate world, our loads of money.

The secret is Christ. He supplies all our needs.

Now what I'm about to say might be controversial or come across as judgmental, but it's a truth that I've been wrestling with so continue reading if you have an open mind...

I believe the world we live in does not value prayer anymore.

What we know as "church" now is so far from where God intended church to be. The church we Americans know happens from 10:00-11:30 am no more, no less. We squeeze in a quick prayer, a sermon of the week, 2 songs and we leave. We don't value prayer, lingering in silence, praying for each other until we get answers.

God has SO MUCH MORE in mind for His church.

Churches don't even have prayer meetings and if they do, they are 1-hour no more, no less. Sunday nights were slowly fazed out, prayer times eliminated, alter times a thing of the past, speaking in tongues pegged as weird, fasting just doesn't happen, what is happening here? I'm not that old and my upbringing is already fading out of sight. I don't know about you, but I crave more of God. Once you experience His presence in prayer or at a church alter time, NOTHING else compares.

A taste of the glory and majesty of God, a glimpse of heaven, the more of God you experience, the less of this world you want. Paul was urging people to see this point at the end of his life. He warns us that the Lord is coming soon and we must be ready.  Playing church doesn't matter, people matter. Careers don't matter, Christ matters.

And we will never serve our community or care about people unless we pursue Christ.

Prayer, Fasting, Giving.

We can never fully know God unless we are doing these three things and pursuing it with our whole heart. I don't know. I really don't. Because we now live in a world that thinks Beyoncé dancing seductively at half-time is "sexy", that gay marriage is "normal", that cell phones at age 5 is "ok", we are so desensitized and deceived and I don't know what else to do other than pursue God and cling tight to Him.

I'm nobody special, I'm not any better than you,  I'm not high or mighty; I'm just an ordinary girl who experienced the mighty power of God and wants to know Him more. You can think I'm weird, you can disagree with me, but truth is God so deeply desires to pour His blessings on us and give us all we can ask for and imagine.

Do you think prayer is fading out of churches?