Blessed Sunday to you all! Worship was really wonderful today. I will share a portion of today’s message in a just a bit. Travis got home from the prom very sleepy, but safe. He slept until about lunchtime and then just rested for the afternoon and then went to work. We do not have any grand plans for Memorial Day. I am just going to grill some chicken and run some errands.

John 17: 6-19 is the passage in which Jesus prays for His disciples. The entry tonight is inspired by the message from Pastor Joel. He began with the question, “How is your prayer life?” Prayer is about building a relationship with God. How could you build a relationship with someone if you did not talk to the person? When we talk with God it is a two way street; we talk and God listens and then we are asked to listen and let God talk to us. We are called to make prayer a priority.

Prayer is something that must be taught. Jesus was in constant contact with the Father. Jesus then modeled to His disciples that prayer life. He showed His disciples that He was constantly engaged with God.

In this passage Jesus prays for His disciples. Can you fathom that the Savior of the world is praying for us? God comes to us and we come to God. Jesus shows the disciples through His prayer life how to build a relationship with God. Jesus prays for protection for us from the evil one.

One of the things we learn when we pray is that we may not always get the answers we want, and the ones for whom we pray may not receive healing on this side of heaven, but when we pray, we strengthen our relationship with God, the Father. We listen and learn that God has his own time for everything.

After God, through Moses, led the nation of Israel out of Egypt, He called Moses to the top of Mount Nebo. God reminded Moses that he may look at the promised land, but he may not cross over into the land. But what Moses got was a face-to-face encounter and a long relationship with God.

Pastor shared this story. He had taken his son, Caleb, to the zoo. They saw a herd of Impalas. Now Impalas can jump 30 feet when they are running. Pastor and Caleb saw the herd with a little 3 foot fence and a hedgerow around it. They were amazed that the impalas didn’t jump out of their area then they saw a sign that explained that Impalas are animals that will not jump unless they can see where they are going to land. Impalas live by sight.

Are we impalas? Do we only take the leap when we see we are going to land or do we take a leap of faith and place ourselves in the hands of the Father and allow Him to carry us to where He wants us to be? The Apostle Paul tells us to live by faith and trust and not by sight. We can confidently place our trust in God if we have come to know Him through a life of prayer. God may lead us into uncharted water, but if our relationship is rooted in prayer then we can trust that wherever the path leads us we can confidently believe that we are on the right road and following the lead of the living God.

Take joy in the journey. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.