What's prayer got to do with it?

Another piece of my heart today ... and it's broken, if it's anything.  Does God care?  Yes, and not only does He see my tears over injustice, He brushes them off my cheek, saves them, and prepares them to be poured out as a precious offering of prayer and praise.

"And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people." - Revelation 5:8 (NLT)

When we cry our prayers, they move His hand, because when they are poured out, they will be pleasing offerings of worship as He answers.




I'd like to dedicate myself more and more to pray over this, because I do believe the root cause of this is evil. Satan does not care about human life.  It's why he loves abortion and slavery and the devaluation of women and sex, which God originally intended to bring forth life, not to steal it.  God values our lives. They are treasures to Him. And when we have His heart, we have His eyes - eyes to see and to cry these precious intercessions for the lives of women and children all over the globe.

Would you join me?

Three initiatives of prayer I'd like to begin/pass on to you, my readers. If you'd like to participate, please let me know in the comments below.  I believe as we join together to encourage one another and pray for Justice, God will be pleased with that unity and look upon our requests with favor.

1. Red Light Prayer - every time you stop at a red light while you're driving, spend the time in prayer for red light districts and slaves around the world. Ask God to rescue those who have been trafficked and abused, and plead with Him to guide them to restorative care that will show these cherished souls His Gospel and great love.

2. Pray with your group - if you have a small group through your church, a group of friends you meet with regularly, a Bible study, etc. you can pray with them.  Intercede together on behalf of abolitionists, rescue fighters, and restoration counselors, and victims, as well as for the criminals, traffickers, and sex-buyers to be restored and reformed.  I will be giving you some resources for prayer starters in a group, including those from a few of the organizations I support.

3. Fasting once a week. I plan to fast one meal or one day per week for the purpose of praying and interceding as well.  Most likely I'll choose Tuesdays, but if another time works better for you, don't let that get in the way.  During these times we'll be praying specific Scriptures on behalf of justice and the value of life to prevail.

My [audacious] goal for this prayer initiative is to have 100 of you on my list of prayer partners.  Will you join me?  If yes, I have three ways for you to stay connected to this virtual prayer circle.

1. email me robynleelangdon@gmail.com 
2. leave a comment with at least your first name below
3. message me on facebook (Robyn Mills Langdon, if you're not already my friend)

Here is a sample of what we might pray:

"But deal well with [her], O Sovereign Lord,
    for the sake of your own reputation!
Rescue [Your precious daughter]
    because you are so faithful and good.
For [she is] poor and needy,
    and [her] heart is full of pain.
[She is] fading like a shadow at dusk;
     [and] brushed off like a locust.
[Her] knees are weak from fasting,
    and [she is] skin and bones.
[A] joke to people everywhere;
    when they see [her], they shake their heads in scorn.

Help [this helpless victim], O Lord my God!
    Save [her] because of your unfailing love.
Let them see that this is your doing,
    that you yourself have done it, Lord.
Then let them curse [us] if they like,
    but you will bless [Your beloved]!
When they attack [her], they will be disgraced!
    But [we], your servant[s], will go right on rejoicing!
May [her] accusers be clothed with disgrace;
    may their humiliation cover them like a cloak.
But [we] will give repeated thanks to the Lord,
    praising him to everyone.
For he stands beside the needy,
    ready to save them from those who condemn them."

             -Psalm 109:21-31 (NLT)

                                                                                                                 

Finally, I want to leave you with This song.

May it bless your heart and move you to prayer. If your prayers lead you to tears, remember where those tears are going - straight to His throne as incense, pleasing in favor and guiding His hand to move on her behalf.

I look forward to praying with you, my friends.  

Together we fight with the truth of His love.  His love of each life.

ministry: inward or outward {and where my church leans}

(Thank you for grace as I experiment with new looks for the nest. Feel free to [gently] let me know if you really love something or don't particularly care for it. And please remember God made me a writer, not a web designer. *wink*)

Sometimes it strikes me as odd the way church culture becomes a science, mostly because in my mind things should just come organically. We come together to love on God and care for each other. How complicated can it be?  Well, check out the Leadership shelf at your local Christian book store, or click on a google search about it ... yeah, not so simple.

My husband is the lead pastor of Crossroads Church, which he (we?) planted in 2007. From the start we knew it was to be for the purpose of reaching the lost in this community.  Okay, that was Christian-ese, so let me put it this way: we started a new church to tell people who weren't yet following Christ about Him and invite them to know His love and walk in His good plan for life. (Eh, that was slightly better.)  One more try - I'll let our mission statement speak for itself: "Crossroads Church is committed to create authentic followers of Christ who alter their world through loving relationships with God and others."  Our slogan is "Alter Your World"  ... I like to think we do.

photo credit Naveen Michael

But we're a small church.  Actually, one of our members calls us an "itty bitty church." That's debatable. I'll estimate our adherence to around 125; you can call us what you like.  Regardless, I believe we have big influence.

Here are a  few examples:

• we have an active ministry to our local prison, where virtually every time one of our team members visits to lead a church service or Bible study, inmates receive Christ as their Savior and commit to follow Him.  If and when the inmates are released - they occasionally come find us on a Sunday morning for worship and discipleship.
• we regularly visit our local strip club and offer love and the Gospel to the dancers and bouncers who work there. When they find a hunger for God, they come to us.  The leader of this ministry told my husband that on their facebook page, they "liked" our church's page. I don't know about you, but that seriously speaks volumes to me. 
• our children and youth serve on a regular basis at three nursing homes and the local youth shelter, where these people can't come to "church," but we bring Jesus to them.
• we have a van ministry of people who are willing to go and pick up the people who are unable to drive themselves and their families to church on Sundays.
• we have taken teams to foreign countries to reach people with the Good News who otherwise would not have heard it

I have many more examples, but I run the risk of boasting in "us" ... so I'll let those speak, and re-focus your worship on Him with this - without Jesus as a constant guide to my husband and our leadership, we would not be able to do any of these things.  Jesus tells us to go and reach outward. Over and over, again and again, with relentless reminders, encouragement, and His strength.  In a consumer society where most people think church is just another thing to be consumed, Jesus reminds us constantly that the Church is God's people proclaiming His goodness. He is the light, and we are flashlight vessels, purposed to shine into dark places. 

"The greatest challenge for the smaller church is to remain significant in the community." - David Campbell, lead pastor of Timbo Valley Assembly of God in Enrichment Journal: Spring 2013 [Small Church, Big Impact]

We have found a trend during our 13 years of ministry ... people don't usually need much help looking inward.  When you get a hold of Jesus, it's comfortable, rewarding, and natural to care for fellow sheep.  They tend to have similar interests, like Bible study and singing songs together and eating together.  It's even pretty natural for them to care for one another when they are hurting, though that does require a bit of leadership and instruction.  If left to drift, we will most likely drift inward.  With minimal encouragement and guidance, the sheep will care for and about one another.  Which is why a pastor and his leadership team must continue to point and lead them outward.

A church member recently told me, "I wish I could just tell everyone that church is not just about coming to church and sitting there."  I had to laugh.  Coming from me or my husband, that statement means one thing. Coming from a sheep it's an whole other entity.  It's this: I think people may truly be getting [and living] what we've been preaching for nearly six years!

Some balance here, before you think me heartless for people in the pews (that's an inside joke - we don't have pews - we meet in a movie theater): we don't want to communicate to our flock that their needs don't matter. In our outward focus, we never want to lose sight of family. Church is family to us. (That could be why when people leave it feels like abandonment or divorce - I don't know the answer to that one yet.) We love them and we hold them accountable to loving one another.  And many people do need to come to church and just sit. Especially if they've been hurt by Christians before. Or if they've never been to church before.  So, there is a time for that.  Trust is earned, largely.  And in many hearts, we have a long way to go before they will trust us enough to let us point them out.  People's felt needs matter. Their spiritual health matters. 

Community matters.  I should know - I lead the small group ministry. We call it Life Groups, and we like to say we "Do Life Together."  It's probably the most "inward" thing we do as a church.  But even in creating this family-like community where people can find growth, trust, intimacy, and healing ... we still are also reaching out.  We invite others to be a part of these groups, keeping an open-chair mentality, and we are always encouraging people to share with those who don't yet know Christ that they are welcome to come and check Him out - at a small group or on a Sunday.  Healthy Life Groups will be growing spiritually and numerically.  Outreach has quite a bit to do with both.  In a research study on this topic it was found that:

 "Groups that saw their purpose as primarily about reaching out to others were exactly twice as likely to report the highest levels of spiritual vibrancy, compared with those that saw their primary purpose as spiritual growth." -Josh Hunt in Make Your Small Group Grow: Simple Stuff That Really Works 

So what? "What do you want me to do with this, Robyn?" you ask ...

How about this - 

1. If you're in ministry as a pastor, a pastor's wife, or a team leader within a church - take a deep breath and realize we'll most likely always be fighting this uphill battle to keep our churches focused outward, so let Jesus help you every steep step.  This is a battleground where Satan would absolutely love to trick us into thinking church is all about dressing up in our suits and looking pretty for one another.  The Truth is this:

"For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." -Luke 10:19 (NLT)

Following Christ means we do the same and we teach our flock how to do that too. I can not make it any more simple.

2. If you are attending or belong to a church, follow your shepherd when he goes out.  Pray for your heart to grow in love for the lost.  Know that church is not a building or a place, but God's people coming together to adore Him and proclaim His goodness to those who don't yet know Him or love Him.  Receive wholeness and healing from Christ and His word, and remember that once you have received it, you will be going out.

"You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." - 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 (NLT)

Light's purpose is only fulfilled in the darkness. The Good News is only news to those who have not yet heard or believed.

We are the church when we reach out.

a little bird told me ...

I've been thinking about purpose lately.  How do I spend the precious moments I am given doing what I was made to do, and doing that well?  It hasn't been an easy answer. I have a feeling I might keep asking the same question and reevaluating whether or not my purpose is being accomplished for the next ... eh, say 50-60 years. [My great-grandmother lived until she was 96 - I'm thinking I might have a few more years too.]

I believe in this verse:

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires." -Psalm 37:4 (NLT)

And the give in that verse - I believe happens two-fold.  When I choose to be delighted in God, reaching for Him with open hands more than I reach for anything or anyone else, He will both plant divine desires in my heart and make them come to pass. It's a win-win.  Do you see?

What He has planted in my heart is this purpose for my life:

To reveal the extravagant love of Christ to others by offering them the love that I have been given.

My name means "shining with fame."  There is a part of me that despises it, though.  Because I don't do well with fame.  I'm a closet introvert, if I'm honest. I don't do well with criticism, and everyone remotely famous has plenty of critics. And I can't stand it when I get the credit God deserves.  It makes me want to run into the corner and scream "Don't look at me!"  Recently, the Father has refined me, however, and I'm embracing my identity and purpose with fresh courage, determined to shine His fame. If I am continually deliberate, He will fulfill the seed He planted in my heart, and also give me the desire and bring it to pass.  This desire to reveal His love to others.  To you, precious reader.

I want to open a new column here in the nest - and I'm calling it "a little bird told me."

In these posts, I'd like to field a question from you. If you send me your questions, I will answer with His love and truth, and straight from His Word. You can email it to me, and sign it like a "Dear Abby" signature. I vow to keep your name out of the post, even if I see it in your email address. Here's an example:

Dear Robyn -
Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever going to accomplish God's purpose for me.  Sometimes He seems so far away and I get confused about what I should be doing with my life.  Friends tell me one thing, my parents and family members tell me another, and my heart says something totally different. How can I tell what He wants?
-Floundering in Confusion

And then I'll answer with a post here under the label a little bird told me.  I promise to shine His love through my words, and offer His Word and wisdom in my answer.

Sound good?

So - how about it? Will you flood my inbox?  Send me an email today with your question - about life, God, the Bible ... anything. (Okay, that last one was slightly scary, but I'm believing Him for answers, so I'll be alright.)  Of course I reserve the right to answer you in a private email as opposed to here in the nest if for any reason God guides me to do that.   

So, right now, before you forget - won't you write me? robynleelangdon@gmail.com [Please insert "a little bird told me" in the subject line so I can flag it.]

I can't wait to hear from you ...

when the battle rages, gratitude is still good coping

I've said it before here.  Sometimes all I have left is exactly what He wants of me.

Today - as warfare crashes all around on all sides - I have one method of coping left among all that I've tried - this choice to focus on thanks.  Where is the gift He's giving me now? How can I open my hands to it?  How can I respond in grateful praise?

And the heat of battle literally blows away on the wind of truth.  Like an illusion the opposition vaporizes into nothing. That's just how powerful my God is.

(a European Robin) Photo credit: Wikimedia

It's Thursday and I get to. Share these praises with you. Boast in my clear conscience - not glorifying myself, but rather Him (2 Corinthians 1:12), every chance I can get.  Here in the nest - I brag on my Jesus and thank Him for big and small and everything in between.

- for dozens of note cards full of Your Words - I can't stop writing it down, and if I drown in these stacks and piles it will be a happy death

- this song and these lyrics: "You have overcome the grave, Your glory fills the highest place, there's no greater love than This."

- J initiating his KidsChurch homework and wanting to finish it all without a single prompt from me (who are you and what have you done with my son *chuckle*)

- more Scripture to remind me the value of Simple

- refreshing sunshine

- an opportunity to share big dreams with my Guy

- faith to trust you during the wait, and not to despise the development of what You're doing in me

- happy birds in my trees

- J praising You for good dreams and answered prayers. Thank You for revealing Your goodness to my children

- progress on the new building, and Your big plans to bring souls to You and glorify Yourself there

- for calling me daughter and friend - I'm so humbled

- for K, and the way she loves me and pursues excellence

- new pens

- coconut hand lotion

- Your faithfulness to all your promises - to bless and to discipline (reminder from Francis Chan)

- privilege to pray Your precious Word over people I love and care for with Your passion inside of me


Lord, this gratitude is what I have and You tell me it's what You want. What brings You glory. What You were after from the beginning of my days. The reason You give to me and give to me and give to me - so I'll thank You. To put a smile on Your face. To take this moment for what it is - Your gift to me. Thank You for Your Son. For Your great and inconceivable sacrifice. For Scandalous Grace. I am unworthy, but You make me worthy in His blood. You clothe me in all these gifts and all this righteousness and my coping for unrighteousness again is this - Gratitude.  Thank You. Always, Thank You.

An update on SIMPLE

To pursue Simple has been mostly counter-cultural. At the dawn of April it's been three months of this word, My One Word, and so far, I can tell you - a simple life is not an easy life.  I cannot drift on the current of breathing and just come upon it, floating there.  Oh no.  I'm swimming upstream, dodging branches, bodies, entangling weeds, and wave after strong wave of urgent (urgent is a noun today - work with me) to get to what it is to be simple.  Many days I don't get there, to that shore, but some days I do.  And oh, is it lovely!

photo credit: KLNphotography

So, practically - 

• I've packed all of my craft supplies away.  And wonder of all wonders, I feel not a twinge of depravity. I don't miss the mess in the playroom, or the constant reminder that I haven't made enough cards for the people I love. As a matter of fact, I haven't even sent the ones I had stocked up!  Jesus requested that I put the hobby aside for a time, and when I did ... well I have a feeling you know how wonderfully rewarding it is to obey.
• I have not painted my finger nails for over 3 months. And - shocker - I do not feel any less beautiful.  I'm not facing insecurity or comparison issues.  The only pain of this sacrifice is when I pass by the aisle in the store and see the pretty colors, but how long does that really last anyway? 30 seconds? Yeah, I'm good. Less wasted time and less frustration when they inevitably chip the next day.
• I have focused more on prayer and less on "doing."  I'm learning the value in praying for people, and letting go of the guilt I feel when I don't bring a meal or pay a visit or bake a cookie.  The simplicity of talking to Him and laying more things into His hands, truly trusting that He is faithful.

And intellectually - I've learned so much too.  It's amazing how often I see the word, the concept, and the practice of Simple when I'm looking for it.  All over my devotions, novels I'm reading, posters, signs, sermons, conversations, and Scripture.  Like these two (ironically from my favorite book of the Bible):

"For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you." -2 Corinthians 1:12 (NKJV)

"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." - 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NKJV)

Isn't it beautiful? The thought, the idea, the practice, the concept - God wants me to live in simplicity?  You mean He is glad when I know one thing - Jesus Christ and following Him?  Today it feels like a breath of fresh air ... as if I've been living in a city of pollution for months.  When the no-name snake comes to slither his way into my mind with corrupting complications do you know what I've been learning to do?  Simple - pray.  Focus back on Christ and what I know of His faithfulness.  Don't get me wrong - some of those re-focusing moments have been the toughest, but when I reach that shore of Simple again ... really - bliss.  Confidence. Strength. Faith. Security.  All that I've been seeking for years.  When the simple grace of God flows through me abundantly toward others rather than some flashy, fleshly intellectualism ... wow.  Humble. Peaceful. Hopeful. Gifts easy to give and even easier to receive.

It feels like ... like I'm really following Jesus, and loving it.

I can't get enough of the simple message of this song.

I need Him. He wants me to need Him.  I'm glad when I realize that need, and the faithfulness of how He meets it every single time.

Have you chosen your One Word for the year? It's not too late.  Here's the link to the website, author, and book that started this movement.  And for a jump start try these simple steps:

• pray - ask God to show you your word
• put aside all of your other "resolutions" (are you still working on January's list - good for you!)
• make a list of words, and let Him help you narrow it down until one remains
• put it in a place you'll see it every day
• open your heart for the rest of 2013 and let Him teach you what it means in your life

If you'd like a handy button like mine:

then you can click on over to Melanie's Blog - if you ask nicely, she just might make you one too ;)

So, to cap off this simple post - 

Lord, thank You so much for the gift of this word.  Thank you for showing me that the struggle to reach simplicity is truly worth it when I get there. Please show me more - here are my hands, open to receive more simple and more of You.  I hope with a confident, assured hope that this year will continue to yield more of this goodness.  Show me more ways to fight off the devil when he tries to tempt me with confusion and needless complexity.  Guide me to more of Your simple truth and please continue to prune my life in ways that will glorify You.  

a vision of something different

I'm going to be honest. Tuesdays aren't easy for me.  I committed to God that I would research, pray, educate myself, and promote awareness about Human Trafficking every Tuesday but ... it's painful.  Some weeks I contemplate not doing any of it.  It's so hard to force myself to look at this horror.  It hurts to fill my mind with thoughts of children as young as four years old being raped in exchange for money (and often not even for exchange, but just as abuse).  And if you've been with me for the past few months on Tuesdays, I know you're probably feeling the same way.  Just to let you know, I have a passion to fight for abolition on the other days of the week too.  My research has been nearly non-stop.  And when I'm not researching, I'm often praying.  I'm in desperate need of balance, and I'm thankful for my husband, my children, my church, my job, and my friends who help me to find the strength to fight and the time to pursue all God has called me to do.  The truth is, as much as I want to take a break, God keeps calling me back to this.  Because how could I take a break when she can't?

photo credit: joy.org

What keeps me fighting most days is a vision. A vision of something different.

A vision of children and women valued as treasured human beings, not sex objects.

A vision of healing for those who thought it once impossible.

A vision of an army of abolitionists, rising up to defend the defenseless, vulnerable, weak.

A vision of brothers who refuse to let their sisters be raped by strangers, who stand against their own parents who sell daughters to brothels and pimps.

A vision of reformed sex-buyers and traffickers who have come to their senses because they looked into the eyes of a girl and saw Jesus there.

A vision of prayers like continual cries, rising to the Father's ears and bringing Him glory when He delivers these souls into His Kingdom.

A vision of rescue for girls too young to know this evil.

A vision of people who will stand up and say, "This is not funny."

A vision of a generation of girls who know they are worthy of being loved as a princess, because they have known the joy of being loved by the King.

A vision of many, many men and women who will just listen.  Long and hard and with nothing but compassion.

A vision of intellectuals, professionals, politicians, and prosecutors who will speak up and do something.

A vision of fathers who open their eyes to an option other than poverty or selling their daughters - the option to be the provider of their families, as God calls and leads.

Do you see it too?

"There’s hope for your future,
    declares the Lord.
        Your children will return home!"
                 -Jeremiah 31:17 (CEB)

Lord, You see this vision too, don't You?  I believe You can do this. Change our world. Free slaves.  I have to believe in Your power to overcome, to redeem, restore, and revive.  Without that faith, I won't be able to keep fighting this unspeakable, evil, terror-stricken, torture-driven horror.  But with this faith in Your capable hands to change a human heart - I can keep going.  Please return our children, humanity's children who belong to all of us, home.  That is the only hope for our future. And if You are declaring it, then I choose to believe it again today.

He was thankful for this?!

Today is a special Thankful Thursday.  To me, it is just as, if not more holy than Thanksgiving Thursday in November.  It wasn't until I moved to a predominately-Catholic region that I learned the sacredness of Maundy Thursday, but the past few years have brought a wonderful joy to my heart on this day of the year. To remember with gratitude what He did.  Is that not what every ordinance celebration of Communion should be too?

"He took the cup and gave thanks ..." -Matthew 26:27 (NLV)

Really?  He was thankful for this -

Knowing it would mean this - 

Today, again - His gratitude stuns me.

Can I have that kind of thankfulness?  What did He ask me to remember?

"These are the things we are never to forget. The love of Jesus, with its constraining power, is to be kept fresh in our memory. Christ has instituted this service that it may speak to our senses of the love of God that has been expressed in our behalf. There can be no union between our souls and God except through Christ. The union and love between brother and brother must be cemented and rendered eternal but the love of Jesus. And nothing less than the death of Christ could make His love efficacious for us. It is only because of His death that we can look with joy to His second coming. His sacrifice is the center of our hope. Upon this we must fix our faith."   -Ellen G. White in The Desire of Ages

On most Thursdays, I list several items from my gratitude journal recorded throughout the week.  Today I want to list just one.  I want to remember, like He did so many years ago - above all - gratitude for the New Deal.  He got pain, suffering, and death. I get eternity with Him and hope for today.

Oh, God - I'm so very thankful!