Day 177 - The Lord's Prayer and a cooking storm

The Lord’s Prayer and Relational Prayer (day 16 of PAPA Prayer by Larry Crabb)

I was grateful for the more detailed explanations of Chapter 9 - personal examples from Crabb’s personal life – because it revealed that I’d misunderstood the first basic outline of the acronym PAPA.

P – presenting myself to God – was better explained as telling God what He already knows - what is going on in myself at the time and not hiding under ‘religious’ language or goals – just talking to him like I would my Daddy. (for Crabb the precious name is PAPA – hence the title)

A – attending how I am thinking of God – being honest. For me this would be using the Word of God – telling God that in my finite way I’m tempted to consider his character to be like mine – impatient, bored, or tired of hearing the same old same old. However, scripture tells me He is … (and here I would fill in the appropriate scripture) Verses like Is. 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.

P – purging to me is only what God can do – getting rid of something. Crabb finally clears up that he too believes only God can do that. Purging to him is more like [recognizing] that saying yes to immediate satisfaction is often a way of saying no to trusting God with the hope that deeper satisfaction is available in Him. He describes idolatry as ‘filling up my empty stomach with junk food, so I have no appetite when the chef brings out the steak.’Recognizing that cry for ‘satisfaction’ as self-obsession - an unholy desire, he concludes, “I bow before God in brokenness – which is the proper position for listening.

A – approach God as the first thing in my life – The first three points are preparation to the acknowledgement that God is my greatest good.

Acknowledging God as :

the first thing in my thinking

the first thing in my affections

the first thing in my purposes

the first thing in my choices

I acknowledge that I want to trust HIM with my need for satisfaction by devoting my life to HIS pleasure.

Today:  Greek Salad with Gyro Meat, Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion 
Watermelon

Made a strawberry smoothie and forgot to drink it with all the cooking - ready for tomorrow!

Cooking storm:  Took all the veggies out of the fridge - and some cartons of chopped beef which I combined in the food processor with Italian Sausage, Tenuta's Italian Seasoning, Garlic Salt, Onion and Red Pepper.  Made:
Chop Suey, Beef n Beans, Blond Spaghetti (garlic-butter sauce instead of tomato sauce),  green beans for Ken's fav fritatta (add chopped bacon, eggs, 1/4 c. flour and 1/2 tsp. baking powder), and taco meat for a later salad or tostadas.  Still have veggies for a stir fry for later in the week. 

The rest of the week will be easier as I have his food prepared, and different meats for me are portioned.