Our Vows: Prayer

So last week we started a new series in our youth group. We are going over the United Methodist vows of membership. These are the things that you proclaim when you go forward to join the church. The vows are these: Will you support this church with your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. These are the areas where you say you will support the congregation you have chosen to become a part of. For the next few Wednesdays, I will share with you hear as we discuss these at 2Forty2.

As I have looked at these I felt that they encompass far more than just the Methodist denomination. These should be the vows we make as a follower of Christ, not just as a member of a denomination. When we choose to proclaim Jesus as our Savior and Lord, these are the things where we say we will show support to the Church universal.

So the first one that we talked about was our prayers. When it comes to supporting the body of Christ with our prayers, we are saying that we are going to be praying for the Church as a whole. As we do this we are praying for God's kingdom to flow down into this world and to begin changing things in the world around us.

Prayer can be a difficult thing for us to do though at times. Let me clarify that statement: it is easy for us to talk to (or at) God. That in and of itself is not fully prayer. No what is missing in this aspect is that we need to be taking time to listen to God as well. That is where it gets rough for many of us. It is so much easier for us to just throw out our laundry list of things that we want God to take care of for us. We don't want to take the time to sit and be still and quiet and open ourselves to what it is that God has to say to us in response.

Jeremiah 33:3 is a promise from God for us. He tells us through his prophet that if we will call to him he will answer us and tell us things that we don't know. Man to me that is awesome. I want to develop the patience to sit and listen to God as he begins to tell me things that I don't know. This is all part of our vow to uphold the Church in prayer. It takes time and work, but it is well worth the time that we take to learn to do this. Imagine what will begin to happen when we as the Church begin to really listen to God's plan for us, his Bride and the world as a whole.

Peace and Love y'all.