Chris' prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord in Zion"

Each Tuesday, I spend an hour of my day with Jesus in Adoration, usually reading something spiritual. Today's spiritual reading was Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski. I didn't make it too far into the book, but what I did read about was pretty good. The authors spoke about how only God is "holy," which means "spiritually and morally perfect," and that all holy things come from Him. And for that, we are to worship Him.

Tonight's song echos that sentiment:

He is exalted over all the nations
Let them praise Your great and awesome name
We sing Holy, We sing Holy, We sing Holy
Is Your great and awesome name

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Jen's prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord in Zion"

When you're raised with a Christian background like me, summer means the time to get your Jesus freak on. Ha. Or in other words, reconnect with Jesus. When I was in middle school and high school, summer meant camps and Christian music festivals popping up everywhere. I always needed something to help refocus and direct my life back to Christ before school started back up in the fall.

I was reading Megan's post and thinking about my faith and how it's not nearly as on fire as it used to be back in high school when I had camps or Christian music festivals to attend. When Andy sings, "I wanna dance, I wanna sing" that's what summer was all about. You praised Jesus. And thus, you felt Jesus. And I was thinking about how Megan said something about not feeling Jesus' spirit as much or something and I was thinking, "Yeah, I'm not on fire either!" But the thing is, I KNOW my faith is more mature than it was in high school. I may not FEEL like I did back then with that pumped up energy, but that doesn't mean Jesus isn't there. I shouldn't rely on a camp or festival to bring back that zeal, I should just press forward on my own. And I'm glad this song and Megan's post could help me realize that.

Megan's prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord of Zion"

To be honest, my faith life is no where near where I want it to be. And it's nowhere near where it used to be. Last summer, God's love for me was so intense, it was almost tangible. I could feel it everywhere around me. There was no question as to whether or not I was loved.

Things have changed a little. Although I know God still loves me, and can see it, I'm having a hard time feeling it. The joy in my faith has been lost a little, and I'm not sure what to attribute that to. Having to remind myself that God loves me is a little different than just constantly experiencing it.

I want to rediscover those days of pure and constantly love from God. While I know it isn't gone cause I can see it, I need help figuring out how to feel it. I want back those days of pure joy in my faith.

I wanna dance
I wanna shout
I wanna sing "Hallelujah"

Katie's prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord in Zion"

The one thing that struck me about this song was it was basically the same 4 lines over and over again. (except for one little bit in the middle) You'd think that 3.5 minutes of the same 4 lines would get kinda boring after a while. And after listening to the song non-stop for 30 minutes, hearing the same thing over and over again would become annoying. But strangely, that's not the case. I never get tired of hearing Andy sing:

Great is the Lord in Zion
He is exalted over all the nations
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy, Holy, Holy, is your great and awesome name.

And if I never get tired of hearing it, then the same must be true for God. We all know God is great and awesome and holy, but how often to we proclaim that? How often do I proclaim that, or more accurately, how little do I proclaim that? Last Monday, I talked about increasing those prayers of thankfulness. I think today's lesson is about increasing those prayers of affirmation.

Great is the Lord in Zion
He is exalted over all the nations
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy, Holy, Holy, is your great and awesome name.