Panic Prayers and Awesome Answers

So I'm taking a break from my assignments to share a couple of really relevant truths, aware that I have lots to do and I can’t play football for Canterbury Vineyard Football Club at the weekend if it isn’t all done. So this may be brief and to the point; a first for one of my blogs.

I had a mass panic on Sunday night where the devil crept in and brought up some thoughts and fears I really didn’t need. What they did was mask the reality of God’s nature. Basically I woke up fretting because as I saw, or as the enemy had made me see I had a bucket load of work to do. I am possibly the worst organised person in the world. When God gifted people with administrative skills, I missed the cut, so I was panicking because I had two essays to write, stuff to organise for the university
hockey team, plus training and a game and stuff to do at the Canterbury Vineyard warehouse this week, I also had to work some shifts in my part time job to earn a little bit of cash to eat and of course I had some lectures to go to and bits to prepare for the seminars. I didn’t sleep.

I prayed. Not for the first time in panic and desperation, asking for some sort of help because as far as I was concerned I’d left it all too late and seriously messed this one up. I told my girlfriend, and wisely she helped me plan out my week/time management. Effectively what she really said was ‘you have more time than you think’. I have no doubt that her answer was God’s answer to my prayer.
The bumper-sticker-cliche that is, ‘Dont worry about tomorrow, God is already there’ is another one of those underrated and ignored sentiments. What has he done since? Kicked me up the bottom for one.

I remembered something that happened while I was at the warehouse a couple of weeks ago. What thought I was praying into was whether or not I should do a Cause To Live For Year internship at CV next year. I basically wanted convincing that I am ‘qualified’ to do it to be honest. Instead what I got from God was an essay title. Now along with my lack of organisational skills, I also have a relatively
short attention span, my mind wanders. So for a moment I was like, ‘woah here we go again’, before I realised I hadn’t really wandered at all. What my prayer had actually ended up being wasn’t ‘Shall I do this internship? Is this what you are calling me to do?’ but more of a ‘What shall I do?’ If there is any proof that God is a joker then look no further. He knew what I was praying for, instead he took
my vague question generally and told me to write an essay. I was like, ‘Eh?’

Where I was debating things far off in the futureish (September), my focus on the immediate had been lost. Hence why I was in a panic frame of mind. God refocused me for the here and now. I have work concerns which are as much His concern as mine. Incidently the essay title He gave me was to explore the ‘role of religion in Shakespeare’s Henry V’. So Monday morning when the panic subsides
I realise that actually God has this whole thing under control. He has my future in His hands and I don’t need to worry about it yet. Let’s just get this out of the way for now. So with His backing I got a 2000 word essay done in, probably a day if you put together the hours including research. Which to my mind is absolutely ridiculous. I look for magnificent signs and wonders and miracles, and get
discouraged when I don’t see them, especially as our expectation levels are raised higher and higher. Some times is easy to pass of simplistic and relatively mundane events, such as motivation to write an essay as our own doing. But hey, I pray for help because I'm despairing that I have too much on and within two days I’ve got life sorted to a manageable, OK level. God is really, really good.

And when praying into the whole internship and trying to recognise in myself that I have pastoral giftings my prayers have also been answered to an extent. I wanted to know if this was me, so what did God do? Presented me with situations in which I could be pastoral. Nothing big and shiny and in your face. Just reoccurring situations where people have needed to chat, hang out, needed a wise word (the wisdom of course having nothing to do with me). I’ve been there to do God’s business. OK big man I get the hint.

Finally if I wanted any more evidence that God is just freakin’ awesome then I look at my girlfriend. Before Christmas she didn’t necessarily know God. Now she is hearing His heart. Just last week she said to me she felt God tell her to pray for someone.

The devil spreads lies like wildfire, no more so than when he is feeling threatened. Experience shows he is feeling threatened. Aslan is on the move. Know the goodness of God and remember it during the hard times. The hard times are there because what you are doing is good.