Do You Hear What I Hear

Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

-Job 15:8

"When I pray I tend to do most of the talking.

And that's a big problem."

-Joe Ferritto

Joe and I were talking the other week, and we got into our personal prayer lives with our Father. His recent conclusion is that instead of listening to God, we make him listen to us. Our time and efforts need to be focused on our relationship with our Savior, and not to make prayer become a one way venting or help secession. He is our Redeemer, Healer, Peacemaker, and Friend.

It's time we all start letting Him do the talking.

The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.

-Isaiah 50:4-5

...Still

Directly from the prayer book:

I love you, Lord Jesus Christ.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

-2 Peter 1:3-4

We only need knowledge of You, but You do more. You give us promises and a hope. Through these promises we can build a personal relationship with You --The Beginning and the End! We will be able to resist sinful desires only through Christ alone. Not only do You promise us that You love us, You show it. You are entirely amazing, and I never get sick of getting to know You more. I am in awe of your Majesty.

I love You.

Amen.

Who I Am

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck him with their hands....

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness— his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth— that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken." And again another Scripture says, "They will look on him whom they have pierced."

-John 19:1-3, 28-37

A simple prayer:

I pray for you.

I pray that you see that God never leaves you.

That you understand that He has a good plan for you for every second of your life.

He never stops listening, and He never stops loving.

I pray that you seek Him, not just in Study, not just in reading the Bible, not just in prayer, not just in service, but through everything that God has given you the opportunity to do.

I pray that every morning you wake up and choose to love Him.

That you lay down your life, and crucify yourself with Him.

I pray that you acknowledge His presence in yourself, and that you keep his dwelling alive and strong.

I pray that you follow His Word, so that you may learn how to capture His Heart.

I pray that His joy becomes your strength, and when in sadness those are His tears from your eyes.

I pray that you understand that you are His poetry.

A living masterpiece living in a world that is in submission to Him.

I pray that through the rough times, you go to your Husband for guidance,

and that you do not rely on those who can fall right along with you.

For though it is nice to talk to another living human about what's going wrong,

it is better to talk to He who can fix things, and love you with an everlasting love.

I pray that you desire to love with no bounds.

With nothing to hold you back.

Most importantly, I pray that you never forget.

Never forget that your Father was beaten and killed for every single person on this planet,

and even when He was bleeding on the cross, He loved every single sinner that walked this earth,

more than you can love your spouse, your child, and your talents.

His passion is for you.

May your passion be for Him.

Amen.

But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

-Psalm 59:16

A Breath or Two

Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God how to love each other.

-1 Thessalonians 4:9

Another monthly update!

I don't know about other colleges, but after Thanksgiving break Siena is drained.

Despite that, Siena College kids have a ton of Good stuff going on!

We recently partook in Campus Sustainability Day, a student-run event where environmental government branches and eco-friendly companies came to preach the idea of being sustainable! It was a huge hit. TOMS shoes set up a booth, and we had a good amount of kids (including those from Real Life Fellowship--thanks guys!) come to visit. Getting the word out there about TOMS, and about being ethical in general, was incredible.

We also recently indulged and went out to Buca di Beppos along with RPI students from Real Life Fellowship (Campus Crusade Bible studies).

Most importantly, Christ has been affecting our hearts. Through engaging in media and mediums such as "when God writes your love story," "Irresistible Revolution," "The Shack," as well as other Christian literature; through listening to Christian bands such as Switchfoot, Deas Vail, Relient K, Future of Forestry, and Jason Waller (if you couldn't tell from the titles of the blogs!); as well as studying the ethics of secular TV shows such as "glee;" Siena Christians have been changed. Christ recently has put it on our hearts to start to change our lives completely. We now ask ourselves the reason for us being at school. Some of us have found that maybe Christ does not want us here, but elsewhere in the world, making a difference in some other way. We have also taken the time to start evaluating our Bible study. More to come of that later....

What we took part in over Thanksgiving break!

-Prepared lunches at the Capital City Rescue Mission

-Gathered for fellowship around the capital district

-Regrouping in the Word

-Equinox Trips

-Feeding the hungry in Massachusetts

-Spending time with family (blood related, or Blood related)

-And of course...keeping one another in prayer!

Unto the upright, there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

-Psalm 112:4

Over It

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

-Philippians 4:6

So funny story...

The RPI and Siena Bible studies went out the other night for some great Italian food at a local, family-style restaurant. On our way back, however, we realized that it was past 9 p.m.--the time where Campus Safety checks all the Siena IDs of every person in every car. As Miss Kymberly Grove (of Wheaton College, IL) was with us, sheer panic took over once we realized we had "outsiders" in the car. Dave, Joe, and I were trying to figure out how to hide Kym under the backseat (for she is quite tiny!). As we worked at this (while driving back to school, mind you) Joe asked me to pray for the situation. We took a couple moments to pray for God's guidance. One part of the prayer was that no matter what situation is thrown in our path, that we may follow Him, and Him alone.

After we finished praying, we decided to not deceive our Public Safety officers, and we decided to that we were just going to go register Kym as a guest instead (and thus not lie!!). Upon arriving at check in, Dave, Joe, and I whipped out our Saint Cards. The cop viewed them, and then told us to continue on in. We all got so excited! We chose to respect Christ, and the one time that Public Safety didn't check every single person's ID was when we prayed that we may never go against Him. It was incredible to see prayer really work, in one event, instantaneously.

After we all left the car, we went our separate ways, and Kym went home. Now, this may be just one example, but there has been several times this year, in my life alone, that Christ has rewarded His people for just having a pure heart and wanting to follow after Him. There have been events that looked overwhelming, with no way out, but Christ's grace has always been there. The power of His Love, and prayer in incredible. I encourage us all to change our hearts and mindset through prayer. He can truly work in all things.

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And he withdrew from them a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

-Luke 22:39-43