Real Live Faith

Our prayers are not effective because we are special. They are effective, powerful, and productive because the One we pray to is powerful!

Do you struggle in your prayer life? Are you able to pray for others, but find it difficult to have your own personal time of prayer? Or do you have a strong prayer life when it comes to seeking God for your needs, but struggle to lift up others? Does it seem the only time you get serious about praying, crying out to the Lord, and seeking Him fervently is when you’re in the middle of a crisis?

We are well into the month of November, and you know what that means. We are getting closer and closer to that special day where we get to feast in a mighty way: Thanksgiving! Did you know the tradition of Thanksgiving, as a time to focus on God and His blessings, dates back almost 400

For many of us, we process the information we hear and read either in an external manner or an internal manner. We also tend to process different experiences, trials, and ideas in both of these ways. We are uniquely made by God. He fashioned and formed every part of us together: our physical traits, our personality, and even the way we process interactions in our life.

When you try in your own strength to grow and thrive without Christ, you are like a tree trying to grow above tree line. It just can’t happen. It’s not sustainable. You are too far from the Living Water – the Source of life. But when you plant your roots by the Living Water, Jesus Christ, you can thrive.

The world tries to lure us through experiences, status, careers, and ideas. We are constantly told how to “live like no other”, but the things of this world are incomparable to God. They don’t even come close!

When we put our trust in what we have (or what we want to have) instead of in the God who is over it all, — whose kingdom are we building? His or ours? With each action, spoken word, purchase, visit, and move – do our lives reflect the building of God’s kingdom or our own?

We need a strong foundation so we can endure through this life. That foundation is Christ and God’s Word. We should build our life on nothing less. When we don’t have the strong foundation of Christ and His Word in our life, we are easily swept away into the sea of our culture and the ways of the lost. We become easily confused and forget the Truth.

Even when we know God’s Word, we choose to ignore it and instead yield to our emotions and speak what is foolish. If we’re honest, we can probably relate to Job’s wife more times than not.

Sometimes we need excess water and storms in our life to show us where our “low spots” are. The storms of life get our attention and show us the areas that need addressed. Our weaknesses get revealed and we see where things in our life need adjusted. Just like a flooded area of our yard, there can be flooded areas of our life that cause frustration and need to be addressed. They need “built up”, “leveled out”, or “drained” so we can endure the storms to come.