Tag Archives: prayer

I’m Praying For You

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today I’m praying for you.  I may not know you personally or you may be among my group of besties but I AM PRAYING for you.  Here are the requests I am making before the Throne:

Father in Heaven, grant every man and woman the ability to know You more and more.  Open hearts, minds, and souls to Your incredible love for each of us.  Make us aware that in Your Word we were not only created by You but created in Your image. (Genesis 1:27)

Creator of all that is, was, and is to come, help us know the great value You place in each of us.  Help us understand deeply in every cell of our bodies that You take great joy in Your sons and daughters.  You are the Redeemer of not only our souls, but our lives, our pasts, and our futures.  You see us during our times of deepest fear and greatest joy.  Help us know and understand Your great love for us.  (Psalm 31:7)

Abba, Father, I know You hear each of us.  You hear our praise. You hear our needs. You hear our nearly silent pleas for mercy. You hear us when we regret our sins. You hear us when we have no one but You.  Oh, Lord, hear this prayer.  Grant each of us the ability to totally trust in You. (I Chronicles 5:20)

I lift this prayer before the Throne of Grace, in the Precious Name of Jesus, my Lord, my Provider, my Savior…     Make it so!

This post is linked to Literacy Musing Monday’s.

5 Prayer Prompts

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Do you have times when what to pray evades?  Of course you do.  I do.  Everyone does.  There are many ways and methods of prayer.  Spoken.  Written.  Thought.  There are acronyms to keep us focused and cover all the things we ‘should’.  (ACTS – Acclamation Contrition Thanksgiving Supplication   PRAY – Praise Repent Access Yield)  How about just going before the Throne and giving God all that’s on, or in, your mind/heart.  Here are some ideas:

Tiny Praying HandsA prayer totally devoted to thanks for His provision.  Do one for each letter of the alphabet.  This could become quite long since He gives us EVERYTHING!

Tiny Praying HandsPrayers for someone who is causing you problems.  Not just what is happening on the surface but the whole story.  Dig in and lay it out.  Like King David did in some of the Psalms.  Don’t forget your part in it.

Tiny Praying HandsPray for our country and its leaders, its people, its problems, its challenges…

 

Tiny Praying HandsPraise Him!  Close the door and sing His praise.  Not just one song but maybe a whole CD.  Write a poem.  Take a walk and focus on His creation.  Draw.  Paint.  Sculpt.

Tiny Praying HandsCall a friend! (Matthew 18:19)  Grab your prayer lists, find a quiet place, and lay it all before God.  Agree before hand to stay totally focused on God.

Pray On prayer warriors.  God wants to hear and respond.

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers, incline Your ears, and grant us Your peace.  Help us as we strive to experience Your presence.  Let our prayers and our words be a pleasant fragrance before Your Throne.  Make it so in Jesus name.

Blessings to you and yours!

Marie

Signs

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Look around!  They’re everywhere!  Stop signs.  Sale signs.  Billboards.  Not just ‘man’ signs.  God did some pretty spectacular ones.  The rainbow.  The Babe in the manger.  Reversing the sun.  What?  Take a look at Isaiah 38:7-8.

Here’s the story in a nutshell.

~Hezekiah got sick.  Isaiah went to visit him and told him he was going to die.

~Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed, pointing out his righteous life.  He asked for nothing.

~God heard his prayer and gave him 15 more years.

~God said he would give Hezekiah a sign to assure Hezekiah He could and would do what He said He could.  God moved the sun’s shadow 10 notches backward on the sundial.  The near impossibility of that happening then or even now is astronomical.   Even though the people of that time believed the sun moved around the earth it was till going to be a really big event.

Are you watching for His signs?  (I’m not really referring to end times here.)  When God wants our attention He can use several ways to get it.  Working/speaking through other believers – Isaiah spoke God’s message to Hezekiah.  Motivation to pray and seek answers – Hezekiah turned to the wall, toward God in prayer.  Everyday activities, like watching television or listening to music, will start pointing you in the direction God wants you to go.  Discomfort/sickness – Hezekiah was on his death bed.  God signs are visible but we must be watching, waiting, and ready.  All we have to do is look!

Ah, Lord God, open my eyes, my ears, my heart, my mind to where You are working and what You want me to see.  Give me the ability to take all that is going on around me and see it through Your eyes.  Let me hear Your voice as I try to determine the right response.  Give me wisdom and knowledge to see it Your way.  Make it so in Jesus Name.

Blessings to you and yours!

Marie

I am a part of Holly Garth’s Launch Team for her new book, You’re Already Amazing.  From time to time you will see some of her work in this spot on the blog.  Enjoy it with me.  She is a very gifted writer for such a time as this.

With Jesus

You can also find this post in Pondering and Prayer.

A Satisfied Spirit is Persistent

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Do you find yourself annoyed at those who ask for the same thing over and over?  Well yes, we all do.  Jesus used this very human characteristic in the Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8) to show us a picture of prayer.

It sometimes appears that the Widow was using the old adage-the squeaking wheel gets the grease-to her advantage.  Meaning the one who complains the longest and loudest gets what they want.  That wasn’t Jesus’ intent.  If you look closely at verse 1 Jesus says (my words) pray, pray, pray.  Although the widow knew the only way to get the desired result was to seek justice, she also knew she needed God to lend a hand.  She was persistent in her quest.

In 1 Corinthians 15:58 Paul tells us to stand firm and let nothing move us in our work for the Lord.  This kind of persistence leads to having no doubt that our work for the Lord matters.

Galatians 6:9 says do not become weary in doing good.  We are to be persistent in every opportunity to be the ‘light in the darkness’ to both those who believe and those who don’t.

If Paul McCartney had not persisted we might have a song called “Scrambled Eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs”.  Instead through rewrite after rewrite.  We got,  “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away”.  “Yesterday” has been played on the radio more than 6 million times, more than any other record in history.  It is also McCartney’s favorite song.

The difference between failure and success-between the widow and the judge-between “Yesterday” and “Scrambled Eggs”- is persistence.

Heavenly Father, let us persist in all the ways that will show the world that You will always answer.  Let others see Jesus in us.  Make it so!

Keep The Appointment

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How often do we keep our God appointments?  Are we more likely to say…If I have time today…Maybe later…and then it’s time to sleep and we have had no or little contact with Him?

1 Samuel 13:14 tells us of the consequences for King Saul when he decided to go his way and not keep the appointment God had given him.

God is out looking for your replacement right now!  This time He’ll do the choosing.  When He finds him, he’ll appoint him leader of His people.  And all because you didn’t keep your appointment with God!    The Message

What was the appointment?  Samuel had told Saul to wait 7 days before attacking the Philistines at Gilgal.  At that time he, Samuel, would sacrifice to God and the battle could begin.  Saul waited the seven days, but in the meantime he was loosing his army to fear.  On the 7th day when Samuel didn’t show up immediately Saul took matters into his own hands and did the sacrifice himself.  Samuel showed up at the end of the sacrifice and said, “What on earth are you doing?”  Saul’s answer was much like our own when we feel we’ve waited long enough and have to take matters into our own hands.  Every time I decide I’ve waited long enough and it’s time to do it my way…there is a consequence.  The results are not the ones I wanted.  Saul’s consequence was not only the loss of his kingship but a serious bout of mental illness.

What is our appointment?  God only wants one thing of us.  He wants a relationship with us.  Each day I set aside specific time to spend with the Lord of my life.  I read His personal instructions to me (The Bible),  I talk to Him about my day, my thoughts, and lift others up (in prayer), and I sit quietly and enjoy the moments with Him (Psalm 46:10).  After reading the verse above, won’t you agree, it’s just to risky to miss the appointment.