Midday prayer - This was time to pray together with others; either family, neighbors, and/or friends.
Evening prayer - This segment was streamed live online so that the entire world could share this time together in prayer.
The morning prayer.
I was really excited about setting this time aside to spend alone with God, my Heavenly Father. Although I realize that I can do this anytime I just felt like it was scheduled and therefore I would definitely use that time period for that purpose. I usually spend the drive to and from work with God, telling Him about me, praying for others, asking questions, but since I'm home now, I haven't gotten into a daily routine of doing that and it needs to be a priority. So my hope was that this would jumpstart my prayer time at home. This whole week is going to be an experiment in how best to accomplish things each day and how to schedule and prioritize while I'm stuck at home. I do like all of this time at home, but I just feel the need to make the most out of it before I have to go back to the way things were (if that's even going to happen; I believe everything will be very different after this). Unfortunately, that's putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself and that gives me anxiety which leads to a whole bunch of other stuff. So, I need to find a balance.
So, back to what I was intending to write here...my morning prayer time was wonderful and my big takeaway from this was love and compassion for others. This wasn't the time to talk to Him about me. This was a time to talk to Him about everybody. One of the topics was to pray for specific fears and the first thing that came to me was that this very well could be the end times and so my fear is for my loved ones who aren't saved. I can't imagine them spending eternity in hell. It worries me so much; I just plead with the Father that He chooses them for salvation and send someone to them who will be able to lift the veil.
I'm also fearful for those who are persecuted. Times like these can bring out the worst in people.
Lastly, I fear for those who have no money right now who are waiting for unemployment to work out the glitches and for the stimulus checks to be distributed.
I also prayed and thought about, if these are the end times (and we might as well imagine they are) what's most important in our lives? Money and possessions aren't important except to provide necessities for life. Like I read once, you never see a U-Haul hitched to the back of a Hearst. (In other words, you can't take it with you). Therefore, what's most important? If you knew that today was our last day on Earth, what would you do? Personally, I'd spend that time with my loved ones, emphatically preaching that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, that if they had any inkling of the great sacrifice Jesus made for each and every one of us, they would fall to their knees and cry out to Him.
Only God our Father knows the time of Jesus' return and so we need to treat each day as if it could be our last one here. We should be all about gathering more souls for heaven.
I wrote at the end of my personal prayer time:
Being isolated, it's easy to focus on me. Through prayer, devotionals, being in His Word, I've worked through my anxieties (not completely) and anger/frustration and am turning outward to focus on others and to deepen my relationship with the Lord.
The midday prayer
I was able to join with some of my church family through Zoom. We talked about what's going on in our lives, how all of this world stuff has affected each of us. We laughed together and cried together. We prayed.
What I took away from this experience is that no matter what we're going through, we as Christians see all of this struggle as an opportunity to draw closer to Him. We see it as a time when our Father is pulling His children closer to Him; He's holding onto us, loving us. He's also tightening relationships among His Church as we reach out to one another and try to meet needs. He's allowing the world to see His character through us by allowing us to reside in this difficult situation and yet we share messages of hope and love and trust in Him.
The evening prayer
My husband and I watched the simulcast along with millions of other Christians around the globe. I felt a connection to the church body. The people who prayed shared heartfelt desires and pleas and praises trusting in the sovereignty of the one true Living God. We know we'll get through this. We know that God is using this for His purposes and it will end in His time. He is good and just. He loves His children deeply and wants us to love Him with every fiber of our being. We need to hold onto each other, hold onto Him. He is our hope.
Challenge
At the end of the evening prayer segment, Jeremy Treat encouraged everyone to make a video with the hashtag #JesusChangedMyLife to share during Holy Week. Jesus is constantly working in my life and constantly changing my life as I grow in Him. So, this may seem like it's full of rabbit trails, and I'm sorry it's so long, but here goes (you may have already seen it since I posted it alone on social media):
If you want to talk to me, you can reach-out through any of my social media accounts or email me at archadia7@yahoo.com and we'll set up a way to talk either on the phone or WhatsApp or Zoom, etc...
Or you can reach out to our church's helpline: 937-770-9875. Leave a message and one of our Pastors will call you back.
If you're in search of a church service for this upcoming Resurrection Sunday, visit TheRidgeChurch.net
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