Month: July 2017

So Excited!

~ Scott ~ 2 Comments

This was the close of Week 5 of this round of The Daily Prayer Project (though I still have Monday’s group to conclude tomorrow), and I must say, I am so blessed by what I see God doing!

This morning I heard about a beautiful breakthrough in one person’s struggle against a spiritual heaviness. She said last Wednesday God revealed something to her that she has been hurting over for a very long time (didn’t even know it!) and He just took the heaviness away! Boom! That’s what I am talking about–spiritual surgery! Another person shared victories she is having in her prayer time and in her workplace, another about how she is becoming established in her “set place” and “set time”! Still another, and another, and another! There’s not room to tell you all that has happened the last five weeks!

Remember, the weekly project meetings may have concluded but the project is not over. I’m looking for all of you to find your way to the “accountability page” every Monday to answer the four questions, to give us a report, and to encourage others and be encouraged!

 

 

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Did You Pray Every Day Last Week?

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Ok, this is the accountability page. It’s going to help you to continue developing the habit of daily prayer. Here’s how it will work—

Every Monday morning, come to this post and in the comments section simply answer the four questions:

Did you pray every day last week? (if you DID NOT are you able to identify the things that hindered you?)

When you did pray, was it at a set time?

Was it in a set place?

Was your first priority intimacy with Jesus?

Once you have posted your answers, tell us how your prayer week went.

THEN join with me in reading the posts and offering insights and encouragement!

DPP>Into the Future

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As The Daily Prayer Project continues to grow, here are some things I expect to develop:

LEADERS

I am even now watching for those in the project who have the potential and the passion to shepherd their own five week events. This will involve training and working closely together so that the new leader is confident once he or she steps into the role.

THE DPP/NEXT LEVEL

I expect to develop DPP/NEXT LEVEL for those who really take cultivating the Secret Place seriously and make its guidelines their habit.

FURTHER WRITING FOR THE PROJECT

I have in mind to write two more books to be used in the project.

Passages

This book will explore in depth passages of Scripture that show us how to increase our intimacy with Jesus. This one is already in progress.

In Search of the Secret Place

This may or may not be the title of another book concerning the reality of a place called “the Secret Place.” In truth, the Secret Place is the Holy of Holies!

 

 

 

 

 

This is an awesome approach to daily spirituality from Rae at “Real as the Streets”

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Brace yourself! Rae is transparent and straight forward, but if you can handle that, she is also sincere. I liked this post when I saw it. So, Daily Prayer Project students check it out.

I’m not saying it replaces what we have been talking about. But, as a way of pursuing intimacy with Jesus, this can fit into your time in the Secret Place.

via I’m So Over Using SOAP! | Real as the Streets

Priority Message from the Daily Prayer Project Site!

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We value your feedback, can’t wait to answer your questions, and are excited to hear how you are using or are thinking about using The Daily Prayer Project! Please fill out the form below and we will get back to you quickly!

I Want to do The Daily Prayer Project!

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Okay! So you are ready to get going with The Daily Prayer Project. What now? It is simple! Just fill out the form below and in the comment box just say,

“Traditional at SGT”

“Traditional at my church”

“Peer Group”

“Online”

“Individual”

“Not sure”

Some will get to you the next business day to help you go from there. Easy!

The Fragrance of the Secret Place

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It may be that you are really making an effort to cultivate “your secret life in God” as Bob Sorge puts it in his book The Secrets of the Secret Place, but maybe not everybody else in your home is ready for it yet. That is not uncommon. Click here for an excerpt from Contending for the Habit of Daily Prayer, Revised and Expanded concerning spiritual legitimacy. That may or may not be going so well. However, there is no need to argue or to defend yourself. As you pursue intimacy with Jesus and as you cultivate the Secret Place, your life will begin to take on the fragrance of having been with Jesus. Look for that fragrance to attract your family and friends, especially those who observe you actually making time for the pursuit of Jesus in the Secret Place. Yes, in some cases, that fragrance may repulse others who encounter it. But, in most cases, others are going to want what you have! Just keep pursuing intimacy with Jesus and let God work on your friends and family

Living from the Secret Place

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I love teaching in The Daily Prayer Project for many reasons. But one of those is that it sharpens and inspires me!

Anticipatory Living

In one of my after-class discussions a couple of weeks ago, I was talking with a project participant, whose name is Ogo, about the importance of interacting with people in such a way that we can maintain connection with God. Here’s what I mean by that.

In my book, Contending for the Habit of Daily Prayer, Revised and Expanded, Chapter 14, I make the claim that you can’t really  be defensive and humble at the same time, or angry and thankful at the same time. You have to leave one behind in order to engage in the other. So, if we are going to live out of the Secret Place, we will have to choose, like Jesus, to empty ourselves (see Philippians 2:6-7).

Imagine instead that we have a personal place carved out in the Secret Place where we live and move and have our being in the Presence of God. Now, imagine that every call for our involvement with people and the things of the world comes to us while we are in that hallowed place with God. We know that we cannot bring our fallen reactions into the Presence of God and leave them unchecked, so, since the Presence of God is too precious to sacrifice, we choose to process everything in His Presence. This may mean sustaining some abuse or mistreatment for the sake of staying our minds on Him.

(Contending…page 137)

The typical experience–for people living a harried Christian life–is we look back after a bad interpersonal interaction, realizing only then that our actions created a wedge between us and God. I am happy to report, however, that we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, learn to anticipate situations that threaten our ability to live from the Secret Place, thereby giving us the opportunity to choose the Presence of God over the temporary  satisfaction of giving someone “a piece of our mind.”

Ask the Lord to help you live out of the Secret Place. But let’s be clear: I am not saying we should learn how to live outside of the Secret Place! I’m saying cultivate the Secret Place–at all costs–and stay there even when you have to go about the business of the day!