Christ Connection | Kevin Senapatiratne

Short prayers: Small change to power your life

kevin — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:03:22 +0000

I love instigating things. It can be dangerous if I am daring my brother-in-law to climb through the McDonalds play land, but at the same time simple changes can make a big impact on our lives. This is true of short prayers. Short prayers become the punctuation of our life and the space that fills our moments with power. We can even make it a little game. Missionary Frank Laubach made the challenge to have a “Game with minutes.” The goal was to see if he could turn his thoughts to God even one second for every minute of the day. Do you think you could do that? Here are 3 quick ways to improve your score.

Shoot your prayers up.

Nehemiah was about to have an important meeting with the king and so he shot a prayer to heaven. As you go through your day try to bring every challenge that you face and launch it heavenward.

Shoot your prayers through people.

Author Mark Batterson in speaking of Frank Laubach brought up an idea I really like. He suggested as you go through your day shooting people with prayer in your mind as if they were arrows. Next time at the Wal-Mart checkout line send short arrows of prayer through the people in front of you or the person helping you check out. It might be the prayer that pushes them over the edge to run to Jesus.

Shoot Bible prayers inward.

In church history we read about what I like to call “breath prayers”. The idea is simply holding some scripture in your heart all day long as a source of prayer. For example I could pray the prayer Jesus taught, “Have mercy on me a sinner.” As often as it comes to mind pray that simple sentence over your life. Pick short prayers from the Bible or come up with your own like: “Lord help me to live today as if it was the Super bowl of my life.”

Each time you steal moments with God in prayer you are connecting to the source of true power. Today, how many minutes could you give God at least one second? Tomorrow you can try to beat your score from today. And I bet that if you ever get to a full day of minutes you would write to me to say thanks. Are you game?

What is prayer? The Prayer of Jabez

kevin — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:49:08 +0000

One of the questions that the early disciples asked Jesus was for him to teach them to pray. Is that one of your questions? One of the great ways that I learn about prayer is from the prayers of others. Today I want to tackle one of the most popular examples of prayer in the Bible in the last years: The prayer of Jabez. This prayer is found in 1 Chronicles 4:10, “He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!’ And God granted him his request.” Jabez was popularized in 2000 when Bruce Wilkinson published a book on the subject and according to one source sold 9 million copies. It is still popular today with over 27,000 hits on Google every single month. I want to make 3 quick observations based on the popularity of the book.

This book reminded the church of the importance of asking for bigger things. In a day when people can go to extremes with a “name it and claim it” theology we are reminded, not only in this passage but throughout the Bible, we are encouraged to ask largely of God.
It is amazing the impact that people expressed by praying just one passage of Scripture on their lives. What if we were to grab a hold of all of the passages on prayer in the Bible?
The popularity of the book and the ongoing interest in this prayer teaches me that most Christians are longing for something more. To ask that God would expand their territory means they really are not satisfied with the life that they are living. Let us pray that God would awaken the church to all that is possible when we pray and lay down our lives to serve God.

What are your thoughts on the prayer of Jabez?

Quick obedience?

kevin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:03:32 +0000

Having a 5 year old means teaching obedience is just part of my life. A while ago I read an article, not sure the source, where they talked about “quick obedience”. It is easy for a child to become distracted by a toy, begin to negotiate, or in general meander toward obedience. For that reason I have added to my vocabulary, “quick obedience.” It speaks about urgency in our obedience. Yes I am really talking about “our” obedience to the Lord. It is easy for me to be distracted by other items, begin to negotiate, or in general meander toward obedience. Are we willing to live by a “quick obedience”?

10 takeaways from Bold Venture 2012

kevin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:35:40 +0000

This pastor Thursday-Saturday I was one of the speakers at the Bold Venture Men’s Conference in Philadelphia hosted by Lee Grady. It is not your normal conference because there are small groups, fellowship time and an emphasis on nobody being superstars. Just thought it would be fun to pass along 10 takeaways from this event for me.

Those Russians can cook. A Russian church was our host. It was my first full Russian meal and I came home weighing more than when I left.
Relationships can form fast in the right environment. We benefit from places where safety is established, vulnerability is cherished, and struggles are expected.
Don’t waste your suffering. Robert Walker challenged us with this principle. Since you are going through your suffering anyways learn as much as you can from the season.
We overcome our fears when our love and vision is strong enough. We heard this from Bruce who not only taught this principle but lives it as he travels to Pakistan to rescue kids in slavery.
There is a lot of hurt and pain in the world. On Friday night I heard some of the most heart wrenching testimonies I had ever heard. There is need for great love all around.
Don’t mess with New Jersey. There was a strong/vocal Jersey contingency so I figured I better include this before they give me another 4 person hug. J
Creativity can open a lot of doors to touch lives. This struck me as Sujo John shared about his partnership with India high fashion to help women caught in sex slavery.
Evangelism and discipleship are two sides of the same coin. Too often we separate the two and talk “either/or” rather than “both/and”.
It can be fun to minister with friends. I am getting to know some of the other speakers and it was fun to minister together with them.
There is power in relational discipleship. I was once again impacted by the way that Lee Grady invested in the lives of others especially the young guys. And the way he explained it I can relate to living the same way.

A Mistake I Often Make-Confession Time.

kevin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:22:22 +0000

I have a confession to make. I have messed this up often when I was a senior pastor and still slip up today. Where is this area of weakness? I often forget to enjoy the moment. The vision that God has given me burns deep within me and I am very achievement oriented. This is a strength of mine, but our strengths are many times the place where we are vulnerable as well. By seeing clearly the direction I am headed, and having the ability to quickly slip into task mode it is easy to forget to celebrate the victories of today. When I was a local pastor this struggle was even worse. As the team lay exhausted on the ground after a great event where victories had been won, I was already charging up the next hill. Rather than enjoying the opportunities that the size of our church had at that moment, the vision of the future pushed me on while missing golden opportunities.

I was reminded of this last week as I had breakfast with Al Jones pastor of New Life Assembly of God in Cokato, MN. This is a growing church of about 100 in size. He shared with enthusiasm how once a month the church would have a fellowship meal (read potluck). They would eat together and spend time together for hours. He shared how they were capitalizing on the fact that they were still small enough to do this and it was a tool for discipleship and deep ministry. Since they were small enough they could just sit around on a Sunday afternoon and ministry could happen. Way to capture and enjoy the moment Al! Rather than just build the next small group program they were enjoying each other’s company and the church was going larger and deeper in the process. This was a great reminder that although we are to pursue with passion the calling God has given us we must never forget to celebrate, capitalize and mine the opportunities of the moment that God has given us as well. Thanks for listen to my confession and now off to enjoy the rest of the day.

Why your encouragement matters

kevin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:58:15 +0000

I read these verses again this morning. “Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jonathan reassured him. ‘My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware.’” 1 Samuel 23:16, 17 NLT I love these verses and the message they bring. Jonathan knew that his dad was trying to kill David. Jonathan showed the depth of his friendship by coming to him in his time of need just to encourage him to stay strong in his faith in God. Someone has said, “Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul.” Can you remember a time when someone gave that kind of encouragement to you? And maybe even more powerful, can you remember a time when you were able to give that kind of encouragement to someone else? Could you be that kind of encouragement to someone today?

Pray Like You Mean It

kevin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:32:05 +0000

Great 10 minute video on Prayer:

An article I wrote a while ago for the Pentecostal Evangel

kevin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:10:26 +0000

Since many of you are new to my ministry I thought I would re-post an article that I wrote for the Pentecostal Evangel magazine online in 2006. Hope that you enjoy.

How is your relationship with the Holy Spirit going?

My wife, Jennie, and I have been married for over nine years. We look forward to our 10th wedding anniversary in December. Now someone might say that the “initial” point in our married life was our wedding day. Like other married couples we celebrate that event. In our living room and throughout the house we have pictures or mementos. Over the years during hard times, we may look back on promises we made that day to encourage us.

On the other hand, if we only had the same depth of relationship we had on our wedding day, our marriage would never have lasted. We have grown in our relationship through our experiences together. This does not take away from our experience that day because it was the foundation of everything after that point.

The same is true when we talk about the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit — speaking in tongues. Those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit will look back on that “initial” experience with fondness. We may celebrate it from time to time in our walk in the Spirit. It is a point that took our relationship with the Holy Spirit to a whole new level.

The challenge is to continue to grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. He wants to deepen that relationship with us. The apostle Paul says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25, NIV). Isn’t this the picture of two in a relationship growing and deepening in their relationship? Our desire must be to know the Spirit more intimately. It should be a growing passion.

One example of this attitude is found in the command “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy” (1 Corinthians 14:1). The Holy Spirit desires to take our relationship to a whole new level but are we comfortable just looking back at pictures of a past time?

As Pentecostals around the world have celebrated the 100th anniversary of Azusa Street this year, we have had a great opportunity to look back and look forward.

Will we personally allow our “initial” experience with the Holy Spirit to drive us to a much deeper walk with Him? The Holy Spirit visited us in the past. Will we ask Him to reside with us again today? Will we ask the Holy Spirit to take us to a new place in our relationship with Him? While always celebrating His initial meeting with me, I pray that He would continue to deepen His relationship with me. Will you do this, too?

Prayer thoughts messing with a prayer guy!

kevin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:01:27 +0000

I have been watching some YouTube videos in the past few months that have been rattling my cage a bit. It may be a little odd for a “prayer guy” to say these two quotes are challenging to me, but we must always be growing and stretching in our walk with God. The first quote is by Pastor John Piper. “It is simply staggering that God would ordain that prayers cause things to happen that would not happen if you do not pray.” How true is that? And the second quote on a different video was by Pastor Mark Batterson. “The greatest tragedies in life are the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.” Although prayer is ultimately about our deep and growing friendship with God we must never forget that in God’s purpose and plan our prayer makes a difference. And John Piper’s word, “staggering” captures my feeling the more that I think about it. But will we ask? Will I ask? Will you ask?

I am intent on not leaving answers to prayer on the table.

25 Places I would love to speak

kevin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 02:11:44 +0000

Below is 25 places that I would like to speak, but haven’t already. This is just for fun. You may or may not agree with some of these churches, but I still think it would be fun to do. Some of them are obvious and some I add some notes.

Brookyln Tabernacle-Got to love a church with that kind of prayer meeting.
International House of Prayer
Angelus Temple-Matthew Barnett
Phoenix First-Tommy Barnett
Times Square Church
Full Gospel Church-Seoul Korea- World’s Largest Church
North Point Community Church-Andy Stanley
Willow Creek Community Church
Leadership Summit –WCA-Talk about multiplying effect
Catalyst Conference-Love young leaders
Saddleback-Rick Warren
The Potter’s House-T.D. Jakes
New Hope Christian Fellowship- Wayne Cordeiro-Hawaii oh yeah!
Good News – Kandy Sri Lanka- Out of the way church I went to as a kid.
Calvary Church-Colombo Sri Lanka-One of the few churches I attended as a kid that I haven’t spoke as of yet.
Underground church in China-I just want to attend one-These are heroes I just want to be around.
A church where Charles Finney spoke. He is one of the more interesting people in church history.
Church in Bristol England- George Mueller is from there. He is one of my heroes.
Church in either Iraq, Iran, Pakistan or Afghanistan
Hillsong, Australia
Eaglebrook Church-Minneapolis, MN-This is my parents church.
The Oaks with Scott Wilson
First Assembly – North Little Rock
National Community Church-Washington DC-Mark Batterson and the capital.
Las Lajas Catherdral-Colombia, South America-Google a picture of this building. Interesting place.