Tag: creativity; quiet reflection; being creative in quarantine; coronavirus creativity

Praying for Those in Authority

“The people who really rule the world are the those who know how to pray.”                               Derek Prince

In the third chapter of his book Secrets of a Prayer Warrior, Derek Prince provided clear guidance on why Christians must pray regularly and effectively for the leaders of our nation.  I will share here a summary of his work, and I encourage all who read this to buy this book and to begin to pray fervently for our nation and our leaders–all of them, not just those with whom you agree, or those with whom you disagree.

“Therefore I exhort first all all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”            1 Timothy 2:1 -4

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1) The primary activity of believers is Prayer.    In Isaiah 56:7, God tells his people, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”  Our first responsibility is to pray for all people and especially our government.

2) It is in our best interest to pray for our government.  As Christian pray for our government, our leaders will govern in ways that lead to the peace and safety of all people.

3) Our nation was founded on the principle that people should be allowed to leave quiet and peaceful lives that provide life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  This happens when the government provides a framework for law, order, and administration.

4) The outcome of good government is that it facilitates the preaching of the gospel.  And the end result is that people will be saved and come to know the truth of God’s love and mercy.

If we believe that our government has failed us, then we have to come to the realization that the government has failed for one of two reasons:

1) We have not prayed for our government as we ought to have.

2) We have prayed but without knowing the will of God.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 tells us that it is God’s will that we have good government.  We need to be praying earnestly and daily for our government. 

Prince writes, “We criticize. We complain. But we fail to pray.  This is why we see worldwide moral and ethical decline, both in leadership and in national culture.  We have not understood the limitless possibilities of praying according to God’s will as revealed in His Word.”

Imagine the power that can be released if all of God’s people in America prayed daily for our government leaders.  Let’s all commit to that goal.  I think that we will be amazed at what God will do.

Creativity in Quarantine

I received an email this week that contained a tweet by @martinkl.  The tweet read, “In 1665, the University of Cambridge temporarily closed due to the bubonic plague.  Isaac Newton had to work from home, and he used this time to develop calculus and the theory of gravity.”  Wow!  That is a truly productive use of a quarantine.

There is little in the news this weekend other than the coronavirus threat.  Like many others, I have sought to protect myself by avoiding crowds and spent most of the weekend in self-imposed quarantine.  I do not have any reason to believe that I have been exposed to the virus, nor do I have any of the serious underlying health conditions that would make me an ideal candidate for catching the disease.  But I am in my 60’s and I feel no reason to take unnecessary risks.

The quiet weekend left me with time to reflect and time to write.  I have been ‘stuck’ in writing a novel for several years, so much so that I laid it aside.  Last week I picked it back up and continued to struggle with how to move the story forward.  Tonight I had a break through.  Some people would call this a burst of creativity.  I believe that I heard from God.  After I prayed for guidance, I quietly waited and the Lord revealed His plan for this particularly novel.  In just a few moments, the story line became clear.  Don’t misunderstand me. It won’t be easy.  I have lots of work to do, which will involve a major editing and rewriting of the work I had done.  But, I can see where this story will go now, and it is much better than the story I had intended to write.

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I read a blog recently in which the author theorized that creativity blossoms in extended periods of quiet.  He encouraged people to block out 3 – 4 hours of interrupted time daily to do creative work. I concur totally. When I have uninterrupted periods of a few hours or more in which to write, I am more creative and productive than when I try to write in shorter blocks of time.  I believe that the blog author had discovered a Biblical principal.  God speaks to us when we are still and quite.   Psalm 46:10 admonishes us to ‘Be still, and know that I am God.”  In 1 Kings 19 Elijah seeks a revelation of the Lord, and the Lord appears to him as a gentle whisper.

Whether you go about life semi-normally for the next few weeks or you practice social distance and self-quarantining, I hope that you will take some extended time to be still and quiet.  You may find that this will be on of the greatest periods of creativity in your life.

 

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