Irmo Campus

After the Weekend: New and Improved Part 3

After the weekend is a post to allow you to reflect and respond to the message presented at your Seacoast Campus this past weekend.  Use the questions and thoughts for personal reflection or for conversation with family and friends.  Fell free to comment in the "comments" section of the blog to join the conversation.

After The Weekend: New and Improved Part 3
Has prayer ever seemed confusing to you?  Do you treat God like a genie in a bottle or an emergency kit in time of need.

Pastor Greg talked about an opportunity he had to pray for his daughter in an airport this past week.  He explained how a new and improved prayer life would see us start to pray that people would be closer to God rather than praying for a change in circumstance.  Do you find that most of the time you are praying for a changed circumstance rather than a change in yourself?  What we need in stead is the power t

This part of Ephesians tells us that we should we pray to God the father through Jesus Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit.  He has counted us into His plan that we talked about last weekend.  In fact many of you may have stories of how God has used your prayer life to bring you and others close to God.  We would love to hear these.  Would you be willing to SHARE YOUR STORY with Seacoast Church?

Pastor Greg used a great illustration of a camera and paraphrased Ephesians 1:18 this way...

"I pray that the lens of your heart would be wide open, that you would capture a vision and that God would burn His image into the darkness of your past and present struggle and that your heart would be exposed to the Father's full-color image of you" 

Have you found that you have closed the aperture of your heart down and are not allowing God to flood light into your heart?

Have you found that you do not pray for your enemies?

Have you found that you do not pray at all?

We said last week that a great thing to do in your life is to right down your needs and your prayer requests so that you can remember them and give God the credit (rather than yourself) when he meets your needs.  If you did that maybe a good exercise would be to examine those requests and see if you are praying for circumstances or for you yo be closer to God.

After The Weekend Application:
Why not try this?
Monday:  Examine your prayer list and reflect on what you are praying for.
Tuesday:  Spend time praying for family and friends who do not know Christ.
Wednesday: Spend time praying for family and friends who know Christ that they would be close to God.
Thursday: Reflect on prayers that God has answered in your life over the time you have been a Christ-follower.
Friday: Check out the "Coming up this weekend" blog post for Part 4 and prepare your hearts and minds for a great weekend.

After The Weekend: New and Improved Part 2

After the weekend is a post to allow you to reflect and respond to the message presented at your Seacoast Campus this past weekend.  Use the questions and thoughts for personal reflection or for conversation with family and friends.  Fell free to comment in the "comments" section of the blog to join the conversation.

After The Weekend: New and Improved Part 2
Have you ever been chosen for something that really made you feel special?  Maybe a football team, a dance in middle school or perhaps you were adopted as a child. 

Pastor Greg talked about how it made him feel to be asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance.  How did being chosen for something special make you feel?

Why should we worship God - because he chose us.  Maybe you have a story in your life that really reminds you that God chose you.  Share your story with a friends or family member.  Maybe you would even like to SHARE YOUR STORY with Seacoast Church.

Pastor Greg talked about the spiritual blessings that Paul talks about in Eph. 1:3.  He said that "some of God's best blessings are spiritual, not financial".

Have there been times in your life when you truly recognized that a occurrence in your life is a blessing from God?  Maybe you can make a list of the things that God has done that was Him "lavishing" down on you.

In fact a great thing to do in your life is to right down your needs and your prayer requests so that you can remember them and give God the credit (rather than yourself) when he meets your needs.

After The Weekend Application:
Why not try this?
Monday:  Make a list of all of your blessings so far in 2007.
Tuesday:  Think of what you were like when God adopted you into His family and respond to God with thanksgiving.
Wednesday:  God planned in advance for you. (Eph. 1:11-12) Can you identify pieces of your life that you can see that God had planned for you?  Write them down.
Thursday: God has an inheritance for you if you are a Christ-follower.  Reflect today on spending an eternity with God.  Live like you were preparing for that day.
Friday: Check out the "Coming up this weekend" blog post for Part 3 and prepare your hearts and minds for a great weekend.