Monday Morning Insights

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    Praying Dreams… Dreaming Prayers

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    I can see Mexico from just inside the Texas line, and I can see most of my prayer requests from just inside what might be possible anyway. We work hard at raising support for our start-up, for example, so praying about finding more supporters is, in one sense, just asking God to speed up what we’re already doing. That’s a good thing, but when does the impossible stuff happen?

    This cold reality led me to a second question: if my praying is not bold, how can my vision for the start-up be bold? I know God does above what we ask and think (Eph. 3:20) but am I making this happen by default because my intercessory baseline is so low? At times I pray in the Spirit as well as with my mind, but even this doesn’t seem to be a substitute for the kind of “boldness” and “persistence” described in Jesus now-troubling story.

    My quandary led to a third question: can I really dream any bigger than I can pray, and would I really want to? My mainstream friends talk a lot about “vision,” but I sometimes get the sense that they are enamored with scale for its own sake. My friends outside the mainstream often favor the deconstruction of big church. My concern here is that their dreams may prove to be too small. So when I talk about “big” I don’t mean scale in any sense, but the transformation of lives and communities.

    My final self-interrogation was this: just how big are you prepared to pray and to dream? I realize that there are many other issues involved in prayer, and that without the Holy Spirit’s help, we don’t even know what we ought to pray. But my personal challenge right now is to be bold and persistent, to seek God for the things so far from the borders of myself that they scare me to death.

    So as we began our descent into Dallas, I turned the page in my journal and started writing dreams…

    I ask you today… just how big are you prepared to pray and to dream?

    About the Author: Earl Creps has spent several years visiting congregations that are attempting to engage emerging culture. Until recently he directsed doctoral studies for the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri (http://www.agts.edu ), where he spoke, trained, and consulted with ministries around the country. Having pastored three churches, one Boomer, one Builder, and one GenX, Earl and his wife Janet are now working on planting a new church in Berkley, California. Earl’s book, Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, was published by Jossey-Bass/Leadership Network in 2006. Currently, he is working on another book about Reverse Mentoring. Connect with Earl at http://www.earlcreps.com

    In an airplane somewhere over Texas I read the account in Luke 12 of Jesus teaching the disciples about prayer. The story about the demanding friend asking for bread from a neighbor in the middle of the night is the central illustration in Jesus' instructions. The man received his request, not because of the relationship per se, but because of what the NIV translates as “boldness” (or “persistence”). Journaling the story while still airborne produced this challenge: how much bold praying do I really do? Thinking back through the last few months, which include a transition from seminary life to church-starting in Berkeley, California, I concluded that my prayers are pretty tame, despite the state of near-desperation which is the church starter’s life. Most of the things I ask God for are items just over the border from my own abilities...

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