The Hangover

How many times have you experienced this: you have attended a conference in which you were blown away by the quality of the speakers, the impact of the messages, and the sense of God's presence? Have you labored tirelessly on a project and experienced the satisfaction of seeing it coming to fruition? I am sure that many of us have experienced the joy of having a goal, praying fervently about it, and then waiting for the results. And then it happens. We get back into our regular settings. We go home to the familiar. Our daily routines begin once again. And "The Hangover" happens. We have come down from the euphoria and "high" of our encounter with God and become overwhelmed with.......normalcy. Life resumes and it is....boring. You might say "God moved mightily.....We were so on fire.....We were ready to take over the world!" But you got home and....nothing. What happened? Where did the fire go?

Conferences begin months in advance with prayer. They continue in prayer leading up to the conference. They pray the day of the conference. And they look to see what God will do. It can be reduced to two things: prayer and anticipation. What's missing when we get home? Prayer and anticipation. We cease to look for God in our day to day lives. We might pray, but we don't anticipate that Jesus might intervene and show up in our lives and our circumstances on any given day.

So I am issuing a challenge. Invite some co-workers, classmates, or neighbors to meet with you daily for prayer at your job, business, school, or home. It does not matter whether they are Christian or not because God can take common interests and turn these into pathways to Jesus. Pray for the things that are relevant to your arena. DO NOT PRAY SIMPLY FOR GOD TO TAKE THOSE BAD PEOPLE AWAY BECAUSE THEIR BADNESS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW THEM THE TRUE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST. His love, mercy, compassion, grace, righteousness, and peace.

It has been commonly said that God does nothing of significance, except through prayer. So your marching orders are to pray. And then look with anticipation for the hand of God to be evident wherever you are. I look forward to hearing the outcome.
Blessings,

J. Michael