Life of Kyle Prohaska

Awesome article…nice spot Jason.

http://churchesferry.blogspot.com/2009/04/neat-christian-guy-vs-godly-man.html

A friend of mine decided to have some fun Way to go Jeremiah!

This guy is absolutely awesome…and what a great store! I’m so bummed I didn’t get to visit this place while I was in LA. I would’ve stocked up on like every kind of soda they had, haha. I’m a sucker for Cream Soda so that would’ve been my doom walking in that place. I mean seriously…banana soda? That sounds amazing! This video is worth your time, not just because it’s cool but because the guy is just right darnit. The little guy is gone…

I’m just going to share a few things that came up in conversation today at church.  I’ve been going to the men’s bible study at my church, which has been a great way to strengthen the knowledge I have of God (or the little bit I have…him showing me things of course, I by no means wish to puff myself up on what I “know”), who He is, etc.  We spoke about prayer today, it’s importance, how we need to pray and why, etc.  I’ve often been guilty of much of what we spoke of today like rushing when we pray, putting a time limit on it, and all those other stupid things we do as Christians.

It’s funny how every time we talk about a topic, afterwards I talk to Rondel about it.  He’s an awesome guy that really knows his stuff, and we have great conversation on things.  Basically where we landed was, prayer and what it is, how we should view it, etc. are totally contrary to what the American Church often does with it.  I think Rondel was right in saying that prayer is one of the most misunderstood things in the church.  Have you ever heard that “prayer changes things?”  What about someone saying that because they prayed God sent this, or did that, or caused something to happen.  We’re so wrong in our thinking.  Prayer is a gift, it’s a Blessing.

Let me make this clear, and this is my biblical stance…that in no way does your prayer actually make anything happen, nor does it change things.  Prayer is simply a way God has laid out for us to take part in the Blessing that is His Will, and finding it.  You cannot pray for and receive anything outside of God’s Will right?  So if your praying for a big bank account and it’s not God’s plan for you, then you won’t be getting it will you? (not that praying for it is necessarily right anyways…be content).

Many have heard of the story where a great man of history started an orphanage, and often they found themselves praying for food and getting a knock on the door with someone asking if they needed food.  There they sat and began to pray, a guy shows up and says “the Lord woke me up and told me to bake bread for you this morning, do you need food?”  A milk truck also broke down outside and because they didn’t pasteurize at the time, they just gave it to the orphanage so it didn’t go to waste.  That is a true story and a great one, but I think that it’s used as an example for prayer in the wrong way.  As I talked to Rondel I said that whether they had prayed or not that God would bring them food/drink, did that change the fact that previously that early morning God had woken that man up to being baking?  The only thing that came of the prayer, was the fact that they were able (in being faithful to pray and trust the Lord) to enjoy the great Blessing that God had out for them in a different way.  If they didn’t pray, God would’ve Blessed them anyways because He provides for His children, but in trusting the Lord, praying for something that He promises in His Word that He will do anyways (provide), they were in a unique position to grow from seeing God’s faithfulness.  That’s just a specific example where they got to find out that God had already set His part of the deal in motion before their prayer, but still…

You get into a dangerous place to think that your prayers actually somehow alter God’s plan.  I know that a lot of people don’t think that way but in what we say and how we might say it we do convey that kind of attitude.  We need to be careful about how we look at prayer and what it actually does.  As a Christian, I don’t believe in coincidence, and I look at God as beyond time, beyond the linear way of thinking we have.  God’s plan will be carried out regardless, but whether or not you grow as it unfolds will depend on your prayer life and reading His Word as you seek out what that plan actually is.

Now that’s not to say that God would Bless a church who refuses to pray as He commands.  He doesn’t Bless you because your prayers are actually changing His Will, He’s simply rewarding what He said He would reward.  God and what He said in His Word never changes, but He’s allowing us to have the distinct honor as His children to be apart of His ongoing plan…THAT’S why we pray, because it’s the drive (at least it should be) of a Christian to be in the center of God’s Will and fulfill what He has set out for us to do.  How else will you know?  If you refuse and God is still going to use you, some of us are just going to need a few hard slaps upside the head or drastic circumstances in our lives before we “get it.”  I’m sure you would agree a lot of the time these probably weren’t necessary but because of our own idiocy God basically went “alright fine…make things hard for yourself.”  I know I have.  I wasn’t in the Spirit, I wasn’t in His Word, I wasn’t paying attention.  What He wanted was carried out, and He used me to do it, but man did it hurt a lot more than it needed to.

We pray for things that are good too, and when God doesn’t do it sometimes we’re like “come on…what’s the deal?”  Even things that are good aren’t always His Will.  Dying tomorrow isn’t exactly on my list of things to do, but if was God’s Will…it’ll happen.  When it comes to circumstances, although we’re human, I think it’s key to try and somewhat disconnect yourself from bad/good things when it comes to circumstances and answers we get from God.  Not bad/good as in sin/holy but I meant bad/good in terms of how we might view a situation based on how we feel.

Just my thoughts on what I got out of Sunday School today…take it for what you will.  I was just rambling

EDIT:

Ok I want to clear a few things up.  This has already been misread.  I didn’t say that you shouldn’t pray, and I didn’t say that because God’s Will is going to be carried out then why do anything?  That’s extreme Calvinism.  I’m not sure of my stance on the 5-points so I won’t go in there.  My defense on that kind of thinking just so it’s in here is if you hold to the fact that God’s Will will happen anyways so why witness or why pray or why whatever, then you obviously haven’t read the simple commandments where God said “go witness” or “go pray.”  That should be enough to destroy that way of thinking…at least you’d think so.

What I won’t budge on though is the fact that your prayers don’t change God’s Will.  Perhaps saying “change things” is what caused the confusion.  I believe that His Will is unchanging.  If you hold to the idea that your prayer will cause something, then why does God bring things along when you don’t to surprise you?  Because he wants to that’s why.  Does that mean you don’t pray?  Of course not, because your not God and you don’t know what his ultimate overall plan actually is…that’s why the thought of not praying because he’ll carry it out anyways is such a flawed concept.

Matthew 17:20 - “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The mountain moves but your power isn’t moving it, the Holy Spirit is working through you.  The milk and bread example was also just a specific case…where they had the information given to them that God’s plan was already at work.  That doesn’t always happen.  I guess my thoughts on the whole thing is we think in the present…you drop something…gravity hits…and it hits the ground.  God is beyond time.  The Bible is written in context of time.  When we pray and something happens, it just feels right to think “ah God just did that because we prayed for it.”  It doesn’t make sense to us that a God who knows the future would know our actions and thereby manufacture His Plan in accordance to it.  It’s the paradox that many struggle with, free will and all that jazz.  I won’t get into that or Romans 9 or anything of the sort…that’s a post for another day, and a long one at that.  It’s one of those topics I don’t think I’ll ever 100% settle on I guess…prayer and what it changes.  God’s plan is ever-unfolding as time here passes, but he knows the result…so I guess if you believe that your choices (or prayer for something) changes the results, then the only way to look at it properly I suppose is that God knows the end result but the end result that he knows about and all the spaces in-between are set by the choices that you and everyone else all make.  Deep…anyways…

Also I don’t think prayer is ONLY a blessing…we don’t actually do it for that…it’s only a byproduct.

The way I’ll wrap it up is to say that when you pray, pray with the mindset that Christ did…”not my will but yours.”  My only point in writing ANY of this was to convey that idea, maybe I didn’t do it very clearly.

Don’t pray for what you want, pray that God would help you to see what He wants, and that you’d be content with it.

I’m going to look into this and educate myself a bit more to see if I’m right or not…please don’t take what I personally say too seriously.  Line it up with the Word…as you should with whatever your doing.

I’m not one to be a die hard fan of any party…I think it’s all trivial now but this was still funny…

So Funny…

Looks great!

Is this some sort of new cuss word to be used in R rated movies and amongst angry relatives?  No, but it’s pretty darn funny.  The Obama Administration seems to think that anyone that thinks different from they do should be “flagged” by those on “their side” so they can keep a record of who’s “dangerous.”  What a load of garbage.  If your someone from that administration, some sort of government employee, etc…HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT?  How’s it feel getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (the average income in D.C. is insane) to help this D-Bag (yes I said it) that’s our current President continue to promote things that are going to shred our nation to smithereens?

Can I respect my commander and chief and call him a D-Bag?  I think I can, so none of that “you need to support our government and stop being a civil terrorist.”  I don’t hate America, I’m just not a fan of the American Government right now.  Just in case you didn’t know AMERICA IS NOT THE GOV’T…IT’S YOU!

So do everyone a favor and…GO FLAG YOURSELF!

An entry for the contest on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien!  Chris is a good friend of mine and I really want to see this win, lol.  That would be amazing  View and vote for the video!

I think the video is exactly the kind of thing they would chose honestly.  It has that funny and sappy nature that Conan often does with some clever comedy in there.  It feels like a tonight show skit to me

View & Rate Here!!!