Category Archives: Prayer

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April 5, 2014

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Challenges & Difficulty, Prayer, Wisdom & Guidance

We Can Learn from Our Troubles

My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways. You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won’t need anything. [James 1:2-4 (GW)]

Lord, I’ve got a problem; I need your direction. Help me find the words I need; show me what I should do. As I pray, however, I realize that you’ve already answered me. You gave me what I need to know today in the lessons you taught me in the dark moments of yesterday. You taught me well and those experiences will guide me through this problem. Thank you, Lord, for the troubling and challenging times of my life. They have prepared and strengthened me for the trials of today and the tougher challenges of tomorrow. Thank you, God, for giving me guidance; may I be wise enough to follow your advice!

If any of you needs wisdom to know what you should do, you should ask God, and he will give it to you. God is generous to everyone and doesn’t find fault with them. [James 1:5 (GW)]

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April 2, 2014

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Attitudes & Behavior, Prayer

Time for an “I” Exam

God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any bad thing in me. Lead me on the road to everlasting life. [Psalm 139:23-24 (NCV)]

Note to self: The Psalmist doesn’t ask God to examine anyone else’s heart or to fix anyone else’s soul, just his! Lord, keep me from expecting you to fix other people when I’m the one in need of repair.

Create in me a pure heart, God, and make my spirit right again. Psalm 51:10 (NCV)

 

 

 

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March 29, 2014

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Fruit of the Spirit, God's Promises, Peace of God, Prayer, Spiritual Gifts, Worry

The Peace of God is Promised

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)]

When Paul told the Philippians to be sure to present their requests to God in prayer, it’s important to note that he never said they would get exactly what they’d requested. What they would get, he told them, was the peace of God.

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. [Philippians 4:6-7 (MSG)]

 

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March 27, 2014

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Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, Patience & Perseverance, Prayer

We Have Hope Because We Have Him!

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. [Romans 12:12 (NLT)]

Oh Lord, when we’re tempted to give up, please remind us instead to look up! Lift our eyes off our problems and up to you: our source of hope, strength and safety.

You can have hope without faith, but you cannot have faith without hope! [Randy Furco]

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February 20, 2014

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God's Plan, Prayer

The Butterfly Effect

butterflyOh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? [Romans 11:33-34 (NLT]

A simplified explanation of the “butterfly effect” is that a small change to one thing can result in a large change to a seemingly unrelated thing or condition somewhere else. In theory, the flap of a butterfly’s wing could cause a hurricane several weeks later. When we say our prayers and ask for something or someone to change, we need to remember that God is the only one who can see all of the ramifications of that alteration. While we have a very limited concept of what the future will bring, God’s view is all-encompassing. He has a perfect view of yesterday, today, and tomorrow all at once. He sees not just our lives, but all of the lives before us, with us and that will come after us. He knows exactly what will happen if he grants our prayers, not just to us but to everyone else, too.

Thank you, God, for your limitless vision and infinite wisdom when answering our prayers.

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February 11, 2014

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Attitudes & Behavior, Love & Works, Prayer

All the World is Not a Stage

Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. [Matthew 6:1 (MSG)]

Guide us, Lord, so that our actions speak louder than our words; let our hearts speak loudest of all. Keep us humble and our motives pure so that neither words nor actions are ever used to impress you or other people. May we be more faithful, loving and generous in private than we ever are in public.

And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? [Matthew 6:5 (MSG)]