God Time for October 3-7
(Spend 5 minutes before you read thinking about one or two things you appreciate in your life)
Monday October 3
Ephesians 6
18Â Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.
If we are close friends with someone, one of the key things we do is communicate with each other. Best is when we talk together live, face-to-face.
In the past, if you were separated by distance, you might also send letters back and forth. Later, some of us remember that even if you could call on a phone, you would still write, because long distance was so expensive. For example, when I first moved to California, a 30 minute call to my parents would be about 10 bucks. That would be about $25 today. Quite a bit of money and the problem was, I would always have to call! Come on dad, get those fingers dialing!
Today, things have certainly changed. There really isn’t long distance per say, as a cell call to a neighbor or across country is the same.With my dad, I’m still the one who always has to call, by the way! But communicating today with a close friend is still best live, and face-to-face. Next would come video chat, like Face Time, unless you are your pajamas, followed by speaking on the phone, texting, sending pictures or snap chats back and forth, and such. From texting on down we might call what we are doing, “Checking in.” But, whatever the communication method, to be dear friends with someone involves a lot of it. Again, by far the best connections we make are live and face-to-face. Speaking with each other most intimately is being present with each other and the communicating is a two-way street.
It’s the same with our communication with God. Being close to God means communicating with him, which is almost always a two-way street. In our ongoing friendship with God we tell him what is on our hearts and learn to perceive what he is saying to us.
We call this prayer. Prayer is communicating with God in our ongoing friendship together. Checking in on how things are going in our work together. We tell God what’s on our hearts and learn to perceive what he is saying to us.
When we think of prayer as continuing our dear friendship together we get a clearer picture of why prayer is so vital.
It is that last part, what he is saying to us, that may be a challenge. Two things can get in the way.
1.When we pray, we may not be treating it like a two-way street. We may be all talk, no listen.
2.If we do listen, we treat God like he is some sort of vending machine for advice. Or we might try to listen to what he has to say to us through reading the Bible, but we treat the Bible like a crystal ball.
Prayer is a different experience when  we think of it as continuing our dear friendship together. Then we get a clearer picture on why prayer is so vital. If you are going to be close friends with someone one of the key things you do is communicate with each other. You talk together and you think about how the other person is doing, they are on your mind. And you spend time together.
You might notice the more you are in an ongoing prayer relationship with God the more “coincidences” happen, which makes it seem like prayer works. This reminds me of what famous golfer Ben Hogan once said. ‘Golf is a game of luck, the more I practice, the luckier I get.’
With prayer it is more about growing our friendship and learning to rest in his goodness and his love. Pray is more than getting God to do stuff and wanting him to make decisions for us. But, the more we spend time with our dear friend, it does appear the “luckier” we get.
ME
Pray and pray and pray…
Tuesday October 4
Ephesians 6
Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
There is a spiritual practice called “Watching,” or “Vigil.” “Watch” is the same word used for “stay alert” here. Jesus spoke of it with his disciples when he went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
To watch is to not sleep on purpose and connect spiritually with God. When there are nights you can’t sleep, it might be an opportunity to deepen your relationship with God. Here’s the thing.
We have so much busyness in our lives, we rarely just sit and do nothing. In fact you might be considered strange if you sit and do nothing. But to sit and do nothing might be exactly what you need. Related to the spiritual practice of solitude, watching gives us a chance to spend time with God that we may not take the rest of the day.
….and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
I am not persistent in my prayers for all believers everywhere. I think of Christians in the Middle East right now having their lives ruined by the Islamic State through brutal taxation, called  jizya, or no taxation, just being murdered. This goes on every day, but it is not newsworthy. I am going to start praying daily for specific people in specific places who are being persecuted severely for their Christian faith. I will start with Iraq where the Christian population has gone from 1.2 million to 250,000 Christians left.
ME
Go online and find a specific group of persecuted Christians to pray for. Then pray for them daily.
Wednesday October 5
Ephesians 6
19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike.20 I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.
Paul needs prayer because he will get the chance to speak in front of the Roman leaders soon. Perhaps Caesar himself. Whenever Christians have an opportunity to speak up for Jesus and his ways it is always wise to proceed under the power of prayer. Paul is specifically going to explain that God is not the God of Jews alone, but the God of all people. This is revolutionary thinking for the Romans to realize they are loved by a God they are not aware of. The gods of the Roman belief system were capricious at best, tricking humans and playing around with their lives, or simply intent on destroying people. To have a God of pure love and who cherishes all people is unheard of.
This is the God we proclaim and it would not be far off to say people today don’t know the true God or what he is like. Paul speaks of being an ambassador in chains, but he keeps proclaiming the love of God in Jesus Christ. What is our message? Well, it appears the world is still listening if we are helping those in need. It still interests the world when Christians respond with compassion.
Yet, the boldness we need goes far beyond that. Our religion is based on living a lifestyle of care and forgiveness. A lifestyle free of constant worry, free of anger and bitterness. When you consider the world we live in today, just living a life of joy in the midst of any hardship, a life of confidence that God provides and a life of respect for others, especially those who think differently than we do, will be a bold witness.
ME
The way you live your life is the best model those closest to you have of seeing what Jesus is like.
Thursday October 6
Ephesians 6
21 To bring you up to date, Tychicus will give you a full report about what I am doing and how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper in the Lord’s work. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you.
Because Paul is in prison, he is able to get word to many of the church communities he started through one of his students, Tychicus. Paul trusts that Tychicus will give an accurate message of what he is saying because he has spent much time in community with Tychicus, thinking of him like a brother.
This is another great spiritual practice that Jesus modeled for us. Having dear friends to share life with. Just like Jesus and his disciples, when our friends are those who also follow Jesus, we can encourage each other and help each other grow spiritually. You can’t learn to be like Jesus if your faith is an isolated part of your life. Faith doesn’t work that way. We need to spend time with each other. Our church has lifeHOUSE home groups. In these groups we make progress learning how to communicate with God and sharing our relationship with God that is developing with other brothers and sisters in the faith. Everyone has the opportunity to be part of an intentional spiritual practice like this.
ME
When soldiers go into battle, they do so for the person next to them more than any other reason. When you face battles in your life, whom do you want next to you?
Friday October 7
Ephesians 6
23 Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters, and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. 24 May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This final blessing is filled with the hope Paul has shared through the letter. We have been blessed in our learning of all the practical ways Jesus teaches us to live our lives.
When we follow Jesus, peace or shalom as the Bible calls it, is right there with us. Â We know our lives matters and we know other people matter to us. We are dear brothers and sisters as we share life along this journey of faith. To know we are loved by God is made most clear to us as we are loved by those around us here in our church. God has chosen on purpose to use the church as his main means to affect the world. This is why it is so important for us to be there for each other. Worshipping together on Sundays and connecting in other ways during the week.
You are not here by accident. God has you here for a reason. When you look around you, these are the people whom God has chosen to be a key blessing in your life. When Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.” this is a huge promise. To be gathered in the name of Jesus is to be gathered in the power of Jesus. So, when you look around you, these are some of the most powerful people in the world. Take advantage of continuing to develop friendships with your brothers and sisters. Our lives depend on Jesus and his people. Our lives depend on each other.
ME
Being more faithful in worshiping God and intentionally connecting with other Christians was the normal pattern of life for the first Christians. Make this your pattern.