Worship - Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

Ordinary to Extraordinary Prayer: Warm-up

July 7, 2016 by Ellen 4 Comments

Do you have a dedicated time each day to sit quietly with God and read His Word? If not, maybe you’ve been wanting to begin, but just aren’t sure how or when to go about it! Over the next few weeks, I’ll walk you through several things that have worked for me. It may be a great starting point for you, until you get into a regular habit of meeting with God. We are each fearfully and wonderfully made, and blessedly unique, so you may have to change things up to suit your personality.

Your prayer time with God is your spiritual exercise. As with any exercise, there has to be a warm up. I’ve found three main areas help me get ready for my time with Jesus:

First, decide on a time and a place that you will meet with God. I find mornings work best for me, even though I am NOT a morning person. It is a wonderful beginning to my day, and I don’t get sidetracked with my never ending to-do list. You know, like laundry and cooking supper!

Begin the warm-up of your place the night before. Tidy up your prayer area. I like to have my area as neat as possible. When things are nice and orderly, I won’t be distracted, mentally putting away that book, or filing that bill. I’m kinda OCD like that.
Another thing I do the night before, is set the coffee pot. When I am ready to settle down in my special spot, I grab the coffee that is already brewed (in a favorite mug, of course), and head into my prayer room. If you have a favorite candle, light it up! Make this a special time, something you will look forward to each day.

Finally, have all your resources in one place. Mine are in a pretty basket by the sofa. My little basket overflows with my Bible, prayer journal, and pens. I use my favorite colored pens, because you never know what kind of mood you’ll be in, or if you’ll want to Pray in Color or do some scripture mapping!

You can buy a pretty journal to record your prayers, or just use an inexpensive composition notebook. I use loose leaf paper, and store the pages in a binder. At the end of the year, I take my pages out, and tuck them away in a pretty storage box in my closet. I have about eight years of journals in that box. One day, my grandchildren will be able to read how I prayed for them.

Sometimes, I will have a “to-do” that I can’t get off my mind. Usually it’s a work related item that will need attention as soon as I get to the office. I jot these little things in my prayer journal, laying them out before God. I put them on His altar, releasing them from my mind.

Scripture is a great warm up for your mind. Have a reading plan (we’ll go into more detail next week about God’s Word). But also have some go to scriptures to ignite your prayer time. Invite the Holy Spirit to teach and lead you.
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10

The most important heart warm up is confession. Beth More once said that before she ever begins her prayer time, she falls on her face before Almighty God, acknowledging her sins to Him. Whether or not I am physically on my knees or face before Him, my heart is pouring out to Him. Mentally and spiritually I am telling Jesus: “I messed up yesterday. My heart and motives were wrong. Forgive me, Lord!”
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19

Be open with God, bringing everything to Him. Confess, repent and return to Jesus. Refreshing will come as you spend time in His presence.

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Keep trying until you find what works for you. Remember to give yourself grace. But do start! Today is a great day to begin a habit of meeting with the Lord.

Next week we’ll discuss reading scripture to move our prayer times from Ordinary to Extraordinary. In the meantime, I have a list of “7 Scriptures to Ignite Your Prayer Time“. Click Subscribe for Updates (top right) to receive this free gift!

Grace be with you,

The Impossible Prayer

May 5, 2016 by Ellen 16 Comments

Do you believe in the power of prayer? I do. But I will forever and always believe in the miracle of prayer after I prayed this:

Most of you know my Mom passed away in 2011, after suffering a stroke. For two months, she fought to stay with us. She knew who we were, but the stroke had left her unable to speak.

After she died, I grieved her terribly. My prayer for months became this: “Lord I wish I could see Mama just one more time. Just one more time Lord. I know that’s not possible, but I just want to see her. I miss her.” I never thought to ask if I could hear her voice. My brother had heard Mama speak to him the night she passed away. She told him “It’s more beautiful than you can imagine.”

I’ve always loved that he heard her talking. And, yes, I was a tad bit jealous. But it never occurred to me to pray that I would hear her. I knew she hadn’t been able to talk after the stroke, and being the practical person that I am, I knew better than to pray that prayer.

Of course, wanting to see someone who has passed away is a pretty impractical prayer, too. But isn’t that the way it is when a dear one passes? Don’t we wish for one more chance to sit with them? One more chance to see their face? I did.

One particular Sunday, almost a year after Mama died, John set up his camera to get an updated picture of the both of us – a cute couples shot! He’s a great photographer, but, like the dentist whose kids have cavities, he forgets to take our own picture. After church, when we were both dressed in our finest, we went outside and struck a few poses. It was a beautiful day, I had good hair – which was a miracle – AND my make-up looked good. The picture he took was wonderful. But there was more.

When he showed it to me, I kept staring at my face. I wasn’t staring because I looked so good. It wasn’t a self-indulgent stare. It was a stare because my impossible prayer had been answered: I saw my Mama. In my face. I looked at my face in the picture, and it was a reflection of her. I knew God had answered, as only He could.

For days I would stare at the picture in the frame. I gazed at it for minutes at a time. But only when no one was around. I didn’t want anyone to think I was conceited, you know? I could not stop looking at it. I couldn’t. I saw Mama. She was right there. In front of me. It was a miracle. And yet, it was exactly what I had prayed for.

In our humanness, we tend to limit our prayers to those things only WE could accomplish. Today, on this National Day of Prayer, let’s be bold with our petitions to God. Let’s ask Him for these seemingly impossible requests:

◆ For the end to the travesty of abortion: “Deliver those who are being taken away to death…” Proverbs 24:11
◆ For God to intervene on behalf of our country: “O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous.” Psalm 7:9
◆ For a revival in this country the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries: “and if My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

And always, let’s remember this:

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

Grace be with you,

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