“I pray to keep your commandments in heart and in mind,
as I walk down the path less chosen.
Remind that I’m equal to those around me,
for I have also sinned against you.
Help me remember
that I’m a new being in you,
That every day is fresh with you,
That you love me
and that I am forgiven
In your shadow I will find rest.
Lord guide my every step.
No more do I need to linger in my past,
for I am free from the chains
that held me back.
Do not let arrogance get to my heart,
but with every step, help me believe
that I am blessed and rich in spirit.
Take charge of the day
and Run the future,
may your will be done.”
Amen.
We often hear of a growth after or during a storm, and this is another way of saying that God’s hands are at work during the hardest time of our lives. Even if we cannot sense any type of guidance. God is at work no matter what type of trial life throws at us. He is able and willing to use it all to transform us. The important part of our struggles is how we face it and how we stand against the storms of this life. We should remember that we are not fighting against flesh and blood. The battle we face as believers goes beyond the physical realm, it’s a spiritual warfare. What is war without a weapon? Do we not capture moments in movies where gun fights turns to fist fights, when both leading characters miraculously run out ammunition at the same time? Yes we do, and we should take the same approach during trials of this life. We are to equip ourselves with the word of God, prayers and a community of believer that would pray for us. Prayer is very essential to you and I. I will use my own experience to explain it to you simply because that's the easiest one for me to write about.
Last summer I went through a period of my life like never before; it was more than I could bear. I knew I couldn’t face it alone, so I quickly started to look for anything that can sustain me. I knew I needed to pray, but prayers are hard to utter when fighting for faith. So I wrote the above “Run it” prayer down in a notebook. I never prayed the lengthen version of that prayer, but I always caught myself praying the very last part, which says “Take charge of the day and run the future, and may your will be done.” I held on to that prayer, it reminded me that I needed not to worry because God is in charge, He runs my present and my future. Did that prayer alone sustain me? No I had the church family to sustain me. I attended a small group meeting at my church in order to do life with others. Pastor always says “do not do life alone” and attending small group meetings thought me how important that statement is. Being part of the group, I was able to see more of the world outside of my own. My own little world is what I live daily and that’s were my issues lay. Being in a group with my spiritual brothers and sisters, helped me look beyond myself. Proverbs 27:17 says:” As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That is exactly what takes place when we get together and open up, share, pray and walk the faith out with one another. I was getting sharpened every time I attended the small group.
“Run it” and the small group were very essential during my storm. I prayed “Run it” when I had to wake up early for work, on my way to school, and when I just can’t deal with an issue anymore. When all the thinking I could do were done, “Run it” was the ending thought. God ran it when the gaming controller was in my hands, not because I believed that it is very important that I won a game nor because God cared about the heart of every gamer out there in the world. The reason was deeper than that. I was dealing with a sense of failure in so many parts of my life, to the point that pride and hope for success would be taken anywhere I could find it. “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”(I Corinthians 10:31). Whether I win or lose, what truly matter is having the heart of a servant. My pride and hope for success should not be in a meaningless place such as that. As for the feeling of failure I have I Corinthians 2:9 and it says “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.” Run it Lord for they may look like failures today, and I can’t sense or feel the good that is to come, but I trust you to put it all together in such a way it edifies you, and blows my mind. “Run it” in the middle of my storm did not seem like much at the time, I even lost track of how and when I formulated this prayer. It became my weapon of choice, it became my cellphone I wouldn’t leave the house without it.
In the urban culture that I live in, many people use the phrase “run it”. Therefore some will argue that I just decided to use a common catch phrase, but clearly you can see that mine is a prayer. It’s a weapon that I use against the enemy along with my Bible which it’s like a phone with many apps and they all just happen to be verses. I encourage you to walk with God, talk (pray), come up with a short prayer when you can’t find the strength to pray long prayers, and most importantly surround yourself with a church family.
