Helium Gas and Prayer Circles

Helium is the gas we use to fill up party balloons. It is also the illustration of a lesson I have learned today about prayer and faith. I feel compelled to tell you about it because it’s one of those spiritual lessons that come straight from God’s heart to yours in a way that you can understand and apply immediately.

Backstory: I posted a blog called BELIEVE not long ago, sharing about how God was embossing this word on my heart, branding me with this directive to BELIEVE Him. Awesome right? Its great to get a directive from God because then you know what to do! Yes. So I said sure, God. I want to believe. Show me. . . Well this lesson is still evolving for me. I’ll tell you how. This is hot off the press. I learned this lesson after I started drinking the coffee sitting next to me and there is still some in the cup.

The illustration: What I am beginning to understand is that faith is like helium gas. Think about this with me . . . If you have a helium tank in a large room and you begin to release the gas from the nozzle, what happens? The helium comes out and diffuses all over the room. It fills the space, but if the space is too big, the helium doesn’t have much effect at all. It is still helium when it comes out of the tank but it isn’t very useful.

However, if you put a balloon on the nozzle of the tank, you can fill that balloon up fast and it has pressure inside that takes it somewhere. The helium has a specific space to fill. It fills that space and has power.

The application: I have had general “open space” faith since God gave me that gentle directive to BELIEVE back in the fall. (I make it all caps because this word is set apart for me this year. It is literally my word of the year!) However . . . I have not demarcated any defined space for my faith. I was recently convicted in my heart by the question “what prayer circles are you drawing currently?” I didn’t have an answer. My prayers have been vague and general at best.

The point: Drawing a prayer circle gives faith a space to fill and increases its power. General prayers and vague requests are not inspiring to God, and they are not the kind of faith God is moved to bless. Specific prayers force us to define what it is we want from God, and helps us know what we are believing for. Not to mention how we will know that God has answered!

Why this is so remarkable to me today: I felt God dropping this analogy on my heart before I picked up my Circle Maker book and read chapter 3. This is exactly what chapter 3 is about. If you want to go deeper on this, pick up the book and read the third chapter! God is doing something in me, and I am sure he will do something in you as well. He is pleased with bold, specific faith.

What’s next: Now my efforts are focused on doing three things. . .

1. Searching for and compiling God’s promises.
2. Defining my own desires and dreams to see these promises fulfilled in my life, family and ministry.
3. Connecting the dots. Or, as I should probably say, drawing the circles.

I’ll tell you one thing, my friend. I am excited to see what prayer circles I feel compelled to draw in the next few weeks. Thankful for a God who isn’t satisfied to leave me the way I am. Thankful he wants more for me than I want for myself. Otherwise He wouldn’t be opening my heart to this.

Join me in these 3 things above! Lets find God’s promises and having the faith to make specific prayers about what we want God to do. He may not answer the way we envision he will, but we can know that he will. Here is a promise to get us started!

“This is the confidence that we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.” -1 John 5: 14-15.

There you go, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Lip Syncing Has Never Been Cooler

This is the most incredible timelapse video I have ever seen. I appreciate it so much that I just have to post it. You may not care about this stuff but I think it is super creative and engaging. I hardly ever stop what I’m doing to click on some random thing and doodle around on the internet. Tonight I did just because I hadn’t decided yet how I was going to use my 2 hours of “Ella sleeping” time before I go to bed. I watched thing thing all the way through the last seconds. I am so glad I did. Check it out . . .

Below is part one which is also really nice. These guys are actually wedding videographers here in the bay area. You can read more about this project on vimeo. Their webpage is www.permagrinfilms.com.

Poison and Wine

Just recently watched the music video of a song “Poison and Wine” by the Civil Wars. This song is interesting to me. Music, like all art is supposed to appeal to the emotions and intellect and humanity in all of us. This song definitely does that. An excellent piece of art . . . yet, it is so unsettling at the same time. I can’t say I “like” this song, but can say I appreciate it. It makes me really uncomfortable actually because there is such a sadness and emptiness that creeps out of it. It represents quite well the conflicting emotions and thoughts that exist in the hearts of so many people. So many marriages just day to day living under the same roof but completely missing one another. It makes my insides feel dissonance, which is obviously what the song is intended to do. Thats why I can appreciate it, but can’t say I like it. I want to climb into the video and have a heart to heart with these folks.

 

One of the most fulfilling aspects of my job as a counselor is to walk with couples step by step, helping them discover the motives of their hearts and figure out how they themselves are actually sabotaging the love they desire. To look a couple in the eyes and say “you guys have been through so much, but you can do this.” Their eyes light up, or at least look up, at the first glimmer of hope they’ve heard in so long. Often there is so much unresolved grief and pain from the past that it clouds their eyes and they can’t see clearly enough to understand what is driving them. Each day I pray that God will give me the discernment and wisdom I need, and that he will ultimately find a way to soften the hearts of hurting people. So much can happen when hearts start to soften! What a beautiful thing. I love what I do. I count it a ministry and blessing from God to have such significant influence in the lives of families and individuals struggling with life.

What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage

No one reads book reviews that are long and boring. I have made it my goal to briefly review each book that I put in my “what I’m reading” spot in my sidebar to the right. But only if its worth your time to read it.

What Did You Expect? by Paul Tripp is basically a book that answers the question in the title. Allow me to offer a concise paraphrase of what the book is about. “You are a sinner married to a sinner, so don’t be surprised when it takes work to do marriage right. Learn about your sin and deal with it appropriately both with God and with your spouse.”

The book is arranged around 6 commitments or foundations for a healthy marriage.

1. We will give ourselves to a regular lifestyle of confession and forgiveness
2. We will make growth and change our daily agenda
3. We will work together to build a sturdy bond of trust
4. We will commit to building a relationship of love
5. We will deal with our differences with appreciation and grace
6. We will work to protect our marriage

In his opening 4 chapters, Tripp provides a foundation for the remainder of the book. He devotes 2 chapters each to the above commitments. He doesn’t waste any time getting to the root of the marriage difficulties experienced by his readers. He starts with the basic assertion “you are a sinner married to a sinner.” As you can already discern, based on this premise, Tripp is interested in exposing the layer underneath the surface.  In a sentence, this book is about the fundamental flaw in humans, and how it causes marriage difficulty. Sin causes problems, and as Tripp asserts, you must first fix your marriage vertically before you can fix it horizontally.

The cancer of unchecked sin in each spouse will continue to wreak havoc in the relationship in various ways. This book is about that cancer and how it works. He deals with motives of pride, self-righteousness, desire to control, and the underlying self-centeredness of what he calls “faux love.” Chapters 11 and 12 alone are worth the cost of the whole book.

I have two main critiques, both of which pale in comparison to the benefit gained from reading and re-reading it. My first critique is that I would prefer a little more discernible gospel presentation in the beginning. It is definitely there, and the book is based on it, but not necessarily simple enough for a seeker who doesn’t have much church background. My second critique is that the book seems a bit augmented. I find myself wanting a 15 page package of his main points, consolidated in a tangible way that I can use with my clients. So, I am making it myself. Over the next few weeks I will be consolidating this work chapter by chapter and perhaps utilizing it in session with couples.

This is one of the most unique marriage books I’ve read because it speaks to the deepest levels of my selfishness, self-righteousness and pride in the most important relationship in my human life. You won’t be disappointed.