Do Ask, Do Tell

The military had a policy that avoided confrontation as it relates to homosexuality that I do not have any intention of commenting on this morning. I am just struck by the terminology of the policy. Don't ask, don't tell.

When it comes to what God has done in our hearts and in general anything that we are learning, our policy should be the exact opposite. Do ask, do tell. This morning I woke up and prayed as my first conscious act, "God I need to hear from you today..." there obviously was more to the prayer than that, but that was a lot of the substance of my prayer.

I followed my routine and I prayed that the routine itself would not just be routine. Now I read a predetermined set of scriptures. I follow a bible reading plan for my personal devotions. This is what part of that reading said:

Lamentations 4:

17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 So I say, "My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD."

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

Wow. You talk about God hearing and answering prayer and knowing our needs before we answer. I was just encouraged. Then I thought that I would check my facebook friends to just to see what was happening with them and the first thing I see is a note by one of the young ladies in our church. Let me share that with you:

Grace for the Moment...by Max Lucado

September 9th

"About Midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God as the other prisoners listened." Acts 16:25

Great acts of faith are seldom born out of calm calculation.
It wasn't logic that caused Moses to raise his staff on the bank of the Red Sea.

It wasn't medical research that convinced Naaman to listen to Elisha and and dip seven times in the Jordan River to heal his leprosy.

And it wasn't a confident committee that prayed in a small room in Jerusalem for Peter's release from prison. It was a fearful, desperate, band of backed-into-a-corner believers! It was a church with no options! A congregation of have-nots pleading for help!

And never were they stronger.
At the beginning of every act of faith, there is often a seed of fear.


I want that fearful, desperate, backed-into-a-corner faith to rise up in me and our church!! This devotion that I read today just really settled in my heart...for me, for my friends and family, for my church...so, I thought I would share...

I am going through a time of searching and looking for direction in my life and I have hit a wall. This morning out of desperation I said in my prayer "God somehow I need to hear from you today" and I have these things happen within minutes of that prayer.

God is awesome!