prayer mountain

4.9.09 Friday Lodwar

I used the time we spent on Prayer Mountain to brainstorm ideas for my Sunday sermon. I'm a bit nervous so opening the bible and reading passages is helping me figure out what route I want to take. The mountain looks down on the town of Lodwar on one side and the vast, dry river bed on the other... the wind is blowing slightly but other than that the air is filled with a deep silence. Below are some of the passages I have been pondering and some of my thoughts that I've been gathering out of the readings.

Isaiah 2.6-9
The Lord gave watchmen to the city...kept watch for the enemies...God can save the city.. He made this city the way it is so we can seek His ways.

Is. 32.1-8
The honest man has a room in the House of the Lord... the scoundrel who lies and cheats will no longer be respected... the noble man will stand with Jesus

What's the story?

Those who are true in God's love will be saved.
Those who are blind will see.
God's ways are not our way, nor is His time our time.
Sometimes what we think we need is not what God knows we need.
You must stand watch.

When we are given grace from God sometimes we can fail because we forget how to be a child of God

**We are challenged by our daily lives to serve God. Sometimes its harder to see the path to greatness because we are filled with so much pride and greed. Americans are surrounded by so much wealth and we succumb to a life full of things rather than a life full of servitude. Sometimes I feel that although I am in a city full of millions of people I am alone a lot of my day. We are so separated from each other by the way we live. Our security measures, our individual goals and hopes for the future, keep us locked up in our individual worlds... unable to see past our own shadows. We work so hard to essentially secure ourselves a lonely existence. The way the Turkana people live and take care of each other should serve as a great example for all the world. God teaches us to love one another as He loves us. God teaches that family is the most important thing below Him. That strangers should be welcomed as neighbors. He who gives much will get much in return. What I have witnessed here in Lodwar is their ability to love and share with one another. I have witnessed what it truly means to be a family of God, under God, to be God's Children. Their hardwork and dedication reaches to all areas of their lives...to how they raise their children, to how they worship the Lord.

Other possible scriptures

1) Wickedness is undesired in God (Prov 24.1-2)
2) Knowledge is power - be powerful in your love with God (Prov 24.3-4)
3) Be strong and persevere - God will reward those who search for him in times of trouble (Prov 24:10)
4) God speaks in his own way but men may not perceive (Job 33.12-26)
- if you rejoice in God you shall be rewarded - by knowledge, by love, by grace you shall be saved
5) By grace and faith alone we are saved (Eph 2.6-10)
6) Be imitators of God, dearly loved children (Eph 5. 1-2)


My thoughts are just jumbled and completely unqualified to figure this out... but here I go.