1. A Packed Schedule

I pray more when I have margins in my schedule. This is a no brainer but for some reason I keep going in circles when it comes to this hinderance to prayer. I think the reason is because I enjoy being needed and getting things done. If there’s something good that needs to get done and I can do it, I think to myself, “Why not do it?” If I can help my kids out, ease my wife’s hectic schedule, save some money and fix something on my own or spend some time with a discouraged friend, then why not do it? But prayer is born out of facing all the things we can’t do in life. We turn and cry out to the Lord because we can’t do something or we don’t know how to do something. But a busy life is usually busy because we are invested in what we can do. So when I’m consumed with what I can do, then I have less time to sit and think about the many things that are beyond my control but not beyond Christ’s love in me. But when I have time to sit and face the things beyond my control but not beyond the Spirit’s love in me, that’s when I start to pray.

2. An Unstressed Life

I pray when I’m in need. I cry out to the Father when a dear friend is diagnosed with cancer or with some illness that I’ve never heard of before. I plead with Jesus when a dad or mom has been laid off of work and they have children to care for, rent to pay and now a new job to find. I come before the Spirit when I’m stuck in conflict and yet I’m longing to respond with the humility and love of Jesus. I intercede before the Lord for friends when they are holding on to the truth that they are new creations in Christ, while at the same time fighting their old nature that’s betraying their sainthood. I pray when I or others are in need. But when life is not stressful, when family relationships are at peace, when friends are doing well, when my business plan is rolling out “as planned”, when I’m not sick, when the people I interact with are pleasant and respectful… that’s when I pray less.

3. A Conflicted Heart

Prayer is personal and intimate conversation with the Lord. It’s open and unhindered communication with one who knows us better than we know ourselves. So, if I am doing something or desire to do something I know is contrary to the Lord’s character, or if I am dwelling on things I know are not pleasing to Him… well, I’m not going to want to talk with Him. We experience this relational dynamic almost every day in our family, friends and work relationships. If you’ve failed to meet a deadline at work, you’re not going to want to go out to lunch with your supervisor. If you’ve cheated on a test or turned in copied homework, then you’re not going to stick around after class and chat with your professor. If you’ve chosen not to listen to your parent or ignored your spouse’s request, then you’re not going to initiate conversation with them. The same is true with the Lord. Your prayer life won’t move forward until you’ve faced the conflict you know is between you and the Lord.

by Arman

It’s good to be back home! I have a little bit of jet-lag and there is fresh snow outside (definitely not L.A. weather). I don’t have the luxury of resting much – too busy with my church, publishing company and American football team but I am very grateful for a short season I got to spend in Cali, where I could rest so well.

I’d like to share with you just one most amazing thing that happened upon my arrival. It has to do with my football team. As you know I played for the Almaty Horde before coming to L.A. Our coach is a big and tough Kazakh guy, who absolutely loves American football. I’d say it’s his main idol. He’s ready to give it all on the field, he’d be happy to practice or watch football any time of day or night and he dreams about visiting the U.S. At the same time, he has big anger issues, gets easily provoked, and has a long track record of starting fights and beating players. He even tried to fight me back when I just joined the team in 2020 during one of our practices. I think it’s been his way of reaffirming his leadership. If it were not for the sake of making Christ’s name known, I’d never had chosen to play under (or work or follow) such a leader.

It took some time, but by God’s grace by the end of 2020 I gained respect and trust from my coach and the whole team. But bursts of anger and aggression continued although more rarely than before. As I was finishing my coaching internship in the US, I started questioning whether I’d be able to co-lead the team with our current coach. Reading our team chat, it looked like the team was falling apart. We had only 12 players for our finals in mid-October (our guys still played like lions and lost 24-6 against the team that had 25 guys). Then for the last game in September, we only had 8 players which meant they couldn’t even play the full game. On the average, 5-7 guys showed up for practices, and some practices had to be canceled altogether because just a couple of people showed up. I was watching all this happen from the other side of the world but every time I talked to the coach on the phone, he kept saying that everything was great. He blamed the players for being irresponsible and for the lack of discipline but was blind to the true reasons of the situation.

After much prayer and seeking counsel from various people (including Pastor Rocky), I decided I was going to confront our coach after I returned to Kazakhstan and if he was not to listen to my counsel, then I would start a new team. I talked to my little brother Aslan who plays as our lineman, and he confirmed my guess that the team spirit was very low, and he was considering quitting too.

This week our coach and I met to talk. I was confident that his response would be bad, and that there was absolutely nothing in my own strength to convince him for a need to change and allow me to start the reformation as a new coach. At first, he was very defensive. Somehow, he convinced himself that things were fine and that all we needed to do was to recruit a few new players. For all of the issues I brought up he had an excuse. The conversation was getting more heated, and I ran out of words and was ready to give up and tell him that I was leaving. But after a moment of silence he asked, “What do you think is the problem?” And that led to an hour-long conversation of me trying to speak the truth in love. It seems that these couple of points made him think hard:

1. That the coach’s job is somewhat similar to a pastor’s job. Would he describe himself as a good shepherd?

2. That God doesn’t care about his football accomplishments, but He hates the sin of unrighteous anger and violence against people He entrusts him to coach.

3. That anger hurts people around him – not only on the team, but also in his family and at work.

Time after time I reaffirmed him in that the only reason I told him these tough things was my love for him and for our team. And by God’s grace when I finally asked him what he thought about me taking over the responsibilities of the head coach [without actually having the title] he answered, “What would you like me to do – just play or help you as an assistant coach?” – I couldn’t believe my ears! I told him that I needed him as a coach and not just a player with all his experience and knowledge of all the technical aspects of the game. 

My non-believing brother was shocked upon hearing what happened. Right before my meeting he asked me whether I was praying about it. Now I could tell him how God answered the prayer! At our elders’ meeting at church yesterday I told the brothers that I firmly believe now that God has His children on our team and that’s the only reason He wanted me to stay there and continue my ministry.

Please pray for the following:

1. God’s wisdom in how I lead the team. I think I kind of know what I need to do but without God’s wisdom I am doomed to fail. It looks like we’ll have 16 guys at our Saturday practice, and it will be my first time being there as a coach and not a player.

2. God’s continued blessing on my relationship with our coach and the whole team. It will be an interesting dynamic because our core group of players have played the game much longer than me. Pray especially that I’d have no fear of man as a new coach (and not pretend I know everything just because I spent a few months with an American team) but would display humility and show God’s love and care to everyone.

3. God’s glory and His name to be known by all my teammates!

by Danny Qian

After returning to the U.S. from my tour of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), I was processing and dealing with so much from my time in combat that I didn’t know what to say or how to react even to a simple acknowledgment of my time in service from any civilians (whether family, friends, co-workers, or people I had just met). Even a simple, “Thank you for your service”, from them would cause me to experience a deep sense of anxiety as I would break eye contact and become awkwardly silent. I constantly thought to myself, “What is wrong with me?” I realized that I didn’t want to reflect on that time in my life or want people to even know that I was a veteran and fought in OIF. Maybe it was my feeling of guilt, that many of my brothers and sisters in arms did not make it back alive or with all their limbs, but I did. Maybe there were other trauma related issues with the things I witnessed and experienced that was going on in my head and psyche that needed to be processed and dealt with. One thing I do know is that the millions of war veterans in the U.S. departed their home one way and returned very different, if not completely changed. 

I am still trying to understand and process my post-OIF, often enigmatic and sometimes unsettling thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By the grace of God and his providence, I accepted Jesus during my time in Iraq. By the grace of God and through His amazing power of healing, I am so much better now when compared to how I was the first year or two of returning to the U.S. from Iraq. However, many of my brothers and sisters in arms never recovered as much as I have. I have personally witnessed and heard from others the countless stories of severe depression, drug and alcohol abuse, inability to get or hold any jobs due to psychological issues and acts of taking one’s own life. One Marine who took his own life was from my platoon and served with me for many years. I believe that just as the curse of sin has caused our body to be susceptible to disease and death, sin also caused our minds to be susceptible to psychological and mental damage. Mental health struggles can become debilitating without the proper treatments. 

Families are also impacted by a veteran’s time in service. During my time away, my parents and then girlfriend (now my wife) were constantly anxious about my well being to the point that my mom went to the ER because her elevated level of stress during that period caused certain physiological issues. There were definitely many uneasy telephone calls with loved ones before I had to depart the base for a long mission. Although I returned from my missions every time I stepped outside the wires, I could imagine those visits where an officer notifies the parents of their deceased son or daughter, or the wife or husband of the deceased spouse, and how earth shattering and painful that must feel for all the loved ones. 

I think during this Veterans Day, we really need to pray for the veterans who are dealing with mental health issues, struggling to return to the civilian world, or simply attempting to transition their way of life after years of acquiring and utilizing a skill set that just doesn’t transfer over to the civilian marketplace (i.e. an artilleryman or sniper in the military). Also, I would encourage everyone to pray for the families of the veterans who are in constant worry and left to manage life in the absence of their veteran during a tour of duty or time away. May God’s blessings cover our great nation and the Spirit guide our leaders to bring honor and glory to our Lord.

by Dan Christian

12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand; forget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?14 But You do see, for You note mischief and vexation, that You may take it into Your hands; to You the helpless commits himself; You have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till You find none.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, You hear the desire of the afflicted; You will strengthen their heart; You will incline Your ear
18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Psalm 10:12-18 (ESV)

Almighty God, I cry out to You on behalf of the powerless.

Father, I am outraged at the injustice and oppression that wreaks havoc in our land. 

Many of those in positions of power are misusing their power to mistreat those without power. 

And the pent-up anger of a powerlessness that has been unjustly—cruelly—treated again and again explodes in violence that only feeds the brutality of the powerful.

God, please bring an end to this vicious cycle of death and destruction!

Lord, Your Word says You hear the desire of the afflicted, and there are afflicted people on all sides of this chaos—afflicted people who are powerless to save themselves from the injustice that is thrust on them.

Father, I cannot begin to understand the pain of these who face cruel injustice day after day, year after year, century after century.

I do not understand the depth of their pain, but I can understand in a small way the experience of powerlessness. I have felt that.

And in fact I feel something of that powerlessness now, seeing a centuries-long problem that infiltrates every corner of our society. I feel very small.

But that is precisely why I pray to You, O God. 

You are not powerless. “To You the helpless commits himself…”

You are the God of justice. Make Your power and justice known!

God, You see, You hear, You act. 

Please open my eyes to see the pain on all sides of this divide.

Please allow me to hear the stories of the powerless, that my heart would break as Yours does.

Please show me how to act. But whatever action You lead me to, may it only come after much weeping over all that I see and grieving over all that I hear.

Help me to see and hear like Jesus did, in ways that move my heart to compassion and my hands and voice to action.

I do not want to remain silent. I do not want to cower in fear over saying the wrong thing or being misunderstood. 

So I start with prayer. I begin with lament. “Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand; forget not the afflicted!”

Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

by Ron Miyake

How have you viewed this time of “Safer at Home” and social distancing? Maybe for some of us, it’s been difficult not being able to see people and doing things like we did before. Maybe we miss the interaction and just being able to be with people. Then maybe for others of us, it’s been a good time to be at home, work from home, and to not be so hurried with the way life was going. 

Whichever way we view this time, one of the things that I’ve wondered was, “Lord, what do You want this time to look like?” “How do You want me/us to spend this time?” 

One of the things we have been doing is our Monday Prayer Meetings. When Pastor Rocky brought this idea up, what flashed through my mind were all the other prayer meetings that we’ve tried to do over the years. Prayer meetings on Saturdays, Sundays, weekdays, mornings, evenings, over 12 or 24 hours, and even people praying during the worship services in “the cave”.  When the idea of having our Monday Prayer Meetings at 6:30 am  and 7:30 pm, I wondered, would people actually show up? And you know what, they have! But even more than numbers, I’m reminded that the Lord is with us as we’ve prayed.

It seems like with the Zoom format, it’s been very easy for people to join in from their homes. It’s been great to join together with the church family from different areas and even of different ages joining together to seek the Lord and lift up our prayers and concerns. It’s been great to be together, to see each other, and to lift up prayers for us, our church, our community, state, country, and the world.

In the midst of Covid-19, this new way of meeting together regularly and being able to pray together every week has been such an encouraging and enjoyable time. Even when we stop having to do the “Safer at Home”, I want to continue having these Zoom Monday Prayer Meetings.

I hope you will join us!