psalm 141

I led our Monday morning prayer time. We had quite a few things that would've made sense to pray for... For our open house Thursday night at the Grey House, for more DTS students and staff, etc. But I was feeling like we needed to pray for those things while keeping in mind our greater purpose: the transformation of this great city that we live in. It's easy for me to get wrapped up in all of MY needs whenever I pray. I have to very conscious of making my prayers outward-focused, as opposed to being all about me. So that's what I was hoping for Monday morning--to pray for those things that are important to us and what we're doing, but keeping in mind our city and the hope that we have for it.

The passage we read was Psalm 141. We read through it a couple times, then went outside and prayed for YWAM Seattle while standing on the I-5 overpass, looking toward downtown. I was praying that we wouldn't give in to feelings of apathy, and that we would keep fighting for what we believe. Verse 5 of Psalm 141 kept running through my head:

"Let a righteous man (or the Righteous One) strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it."

It was one of those times where I felt pretty clearly that God wanted me to get the verse through my head. I started to realize that I had in fact been giving in to those same things that I was praying against... Starting to let down my guard, letting things slide, being more ok with mediocrity. It was pretty upsetting to realize those things, but then also a relief at the same time. It seems like that's the grace of God--not letting me slide too far, but gently rebuking me. I'm grateful that I serve a God who cares enough about me to scold me once in a while.