Daily Update for March 31st
Daily Devotional from Adam - Three Ways to Pray
 
Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!  
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.  
 
How’s your prayer these days? I’m so grateful for Sarah’s devotional yesterday that reminded us to not waste our quarantine. That combined with Tom’s sermon from Sunday are inviting us to deepen our prayer time with God. But how do we pray? If prayer is something new for you, I want to share a few ways we can consider modeling our prayer time. 
 
Praise : “You have been our dwelling place…”  (v1) 
Taking our clue from the Psalms, we notice that many begin with declaring who God is and what He has done. Our Psalm for today talks about the everlasting and eternal nature of God. When we consider God’s qualities and character our hearts are worshipping. 
 
Lament : “How long?” (v13) 
This component of prayer is so often overlooked, but lament is how we express our very real and tangible thoughts and feelings to God. Asking God “Why?” is not lack of faith. It comes from a very deep faith that believes in a God who wants to know all our thoughts – not just the ones that sound good out loud. If you have not prayed prayers of lament, a global pandemic is certainly a very good time to start crying out to God and asking Him “Why?” an “How long?” Over one third of the Psalms are prayed from this posture. See: Psalm 13, 22, 40, 42/43, and also  this list.  
 
Make our Requests in Hope : “Establish the work of our hands” (v17) 
Hope is looking to the future with God’s perspective: in the end, all shall be well. In the end, God has conquered coronavirus because God has conquered death. However, there are many real and pressing uncertainties that we all experience. Many in our community are beginning to experience the economic impact of this virus. Some have lost jobs or are taking pay cuts. “Establish the work of our hands” is a very real request for people around the world. Many are also starting to see some silver linings or ways that God is working this situation for good. This is not brushing the big problems under the rug (with lament, we’re sure not to do that), but it is a re-focusing on what God is calling us to ultimately do as His disciples: trust Him. 
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LIFE Group Leaders Meeting Tonight at 7P
We are looking forward to hearing from leaders or representatives from every LIFE Group.  Please be prepared to briefly answer the 2 questions below in 2 minutes!  After we get to hear from everyone, we would love to hear more thoughts and reflections.

1. What are you studying when you meet?

2. How can we better support you as you lead and support your group?

We are so thankful for each one of you.  Thanks for prioritizing this tonight at 7P on Zoom! To get into the meeting, please click on the button below.