Wait and Pray Friday 5

Sally from Rev Gals & Pals has this to share today:

Part of the Ascension Day Scripture from Acts 11 contains this promise from Jesus;

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Then he was taken from their sight into the clouds, two angels appeared and instructed the probably bewildered disciples to go back to Jerusalem, where they began to wait and to pray for the gift Jesus had promised.

Prayer is a joy to some of us, and a chore to others, waiting likewise can be filled with anticipation or anxiety....

And the questions are:

1. So how do you wait and pray1. How do you pray best, alone or with others?

It depends on the circumstances. I like to pray different ways. I often walk and pray, finding that somehow that keeps my mind from drifting all over the place. It also helps to pray aloud, so I like to be alone (often in the church sanctuary) or in a place where I know I will not be heard by others. I love to pray with others too, however, and our weekly prayer gathering at church of 10 or 12 people is a great blessing in my life.

2. Do you enjoy the discipline of waiting, is it a time of anticipation or anxiety?

Participating in a yearly silent retreat has taught me the value of listening and being silent and waiting to hear the Spirit of God. I wish I could say that I easily enter into waiting and silence, but I don't. It takes time. And I'm also sad to say, if I am honest, that it is a time of anxiety all too often.

3. Is there a time when you have waited upon God for a specific promise?

Oh, about 100 times or so!

4. Do you prefer stillness or action?

I'm a Pentecostal. What do you think my answer will be? ;-) I prefer action, and I prefer movement, as I said above, but I have learned to value stillness in a way I did not only a few years ago.

5. If ( and this is slightly tongue in cheek) you were promised one gift spiritual or otherwise what would you choose to recieve?

Success. I do not mean in the sense of making money or becoming well-known (though that would be nice, let's face it) but I mean that the deepest longing of my heart is to fulfill whatever purpose God had in allowing me life in the first place. I was not supposed to live, then not supposed to be "okay" -- but God worked through so many ways to allow me to have a life, a ministry, health, and on and on. Click on the link if you want to read about it. Anyway, life is for a purpose. I believe that deeply. And I do not want to waste the gift of life.