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Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Happy Reformation Day!
We actually have been celebrating Reformation Day all week, because today is busy with church and other activities. But really, is there a better way to mark the day than to fix our minds on Jesus by worshipping at church? Sounds like a great way to celebrate to me.
For my last day of my 31 Day Blogging challenge, and as a little Reformation Day gift, I am sharing a free prayer journal I've put together!
Last week, after I was reading in the book Face To Face: Praying The Scriptures For Intimate Worship by Kenneth Boa, I decided to look for a prayer journal printable I could use to write down my prayers as I read through the Scriptures in that book. I was hoping for something that followed a similar prayer format, but I didn't find anything, so I decided to make my own.
These prayer journal pages have a section for each type of prayer covered in Boa's book:
Adoration:
Praising God for Who He is.
Confession:
Asking forgiveness for our sins against God and others.
Renewal:
Asking God for help against temptation and for personal renewal.
Petition:
Requests for yourself.
Intercession:
Requests for others.
Affirmation:
Agreeing with God's will in prayer, and submitting to His will.
Thanksgiving:
Praising God for what He has done.
There are 31 of these daily prayer pages in the document, so you only have to print once and you should have enough pages for one month's worth of prayer time.
I included pages to record prayer requests, including check boxes for marking off each time you prayed, a place to write applicable Scripture verses for that request, and a place to record when the prayer was answered or to carry it forward to the next month. I put in a few pages with Bible verses on prayer as well!
I also highly recommend purchasing Face To Face if you struggle with prayer time as I often do. Though the prayer journal can be used easily without it, I've found this book so helpful for adding Scripture to my prayers, reminding me of important areas to cover in prayer, and keeping my mind focused (which is always a prayer challenge for me)!
Download the prayer journal here!
I hope you enjoy the prayer journal - it's my gift to you! Thanks for hanging out with me this month, friends! I have more posts planned for the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
This past year, I understood for the first time why some people don’t like watching the news.
I have always been a bit of a news junkie. Part of this may have come from being a dental hygienist. People are nervous at the dentist, and it helped to have some outside interest to divert their attention from their vulnerability and the dental poking and prodding that was coming. With current events, we are all in it together.
I used to hate it when a patient brought up a story I had heard nothing about. All I could say was “Oh really?”, which is not much of a distraction from the despised plaque-scraping.
I like to feel informed, I like to be able to contribute an opinion to the conversation, so I still turn on the news each morning and keep my radio dialed to talk stations. But in 2015, the news was heavy and dark, and for the first time I felt the weight of it. ISIS, persecution, refugees, Planned Parenthood atrocities, Supreme Court decisions. The world is changing at a rapid pace, and I don’t know if I want to watch where it’s heading anymore.
I’m no longer working as a hygienist, so I no longer need to keep up on the news for my patients’ sakes. It’s terribly tempting, as we head into another blank year on the calendar, to bury my head and ignore all the “negativity”.
But I won’t, because I know it would be irresponsible of me to do that. The world is spinning out of control, the country as a whole is turning it’s back on God more each day, and people are going their own way.
But it’s not too late for things to change.
If I didn’t believe that, I would bury my head and hunker down in my house with my family until Jesus comes back. We are not to the point of no return, but change in the world will only come through something that only those of us who follow Jesus can accomplish - prayer.
I have a little confession - I used to secretly think that there was little practical point in prayer. Nothing can thwart God’s will. Sure, there are benefits of prayer on our relationship with God, but I doubted whether prayer really changed anything else.
Through a recent in-depth study at our church, I’ve come to realize that God chooses to use our prayers as a catalyst to accomplish His work on earth. His will is that we pray, and He chooses to involve us in bringing about His will through our prayers. It’s kind of cool actually, that He chooses to include us, because He didn’t have to set it up that way at all. That is why prayer is powerful. Because God allows His will to be worked out on earth through prayer.
As I watch the news now, I realize how desperately our world needs prayer.
So what is my prayer for 2016? I pray that God will bring about a great revival, and that it will start within our own families.
We turn on the news, and it is easy to see how mainstream culture has forgotten the things of God. But I wonder how much of that same attitude has seeped into our families? Do we turn to God with our struggles and sorrows, or do we try to find our own solutions? Do we take our concerns about our world to Him, or do we turn the channel and try to forget what we saw? Are we modeling the truth of prayer for our kids, or just going through the motions?
I want to teach the importance of prayer to my children this year. I want to turn every news story or personal situation into a chance to show them that prayer matters. I want to make our nightly prayers more rich and meaningful, instead of rushing through them. (A cute resource for nightly bedtime prayers is Max Lucado’s Treasury of Bedtime Prayers, and I think it will be a good place to find inspiration when I have trouble coming up with the words.)
There will be no revival in this country without a revival of prayer. God tells us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much, and it is time for those who follow Jesus to pray fervently for hearts to turn back to God in our nation and world through each situation we see on the news every day.
In 2015, I had to practice taking that heavy, dark feeling and shining the light of prayer on it. In 2016, I want to pray more fervently that God would use the darkness to emphasize His light all the more. I pray that in the midst of these scary days in history, God would draw people to Himself. I pray that He would use me and my family, in whatever part of His story we must play, to bring our country back to Him.
Will you join me in praying for our nations as we start 2016? I don’t know what this new year will hold, but I do know that the future looks brighter when we turn our faces to Jesus.
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Lord, we need Your help. We have all turned aside to our own paths, and there is none of us who is without sin. Thank You for sending Jesus to pay for our sins. Thank You that when we believe in Him, You cover us with His righteousness.
Lord, forgive us when we forget that in the midst of these scary times, You are our Hope. Help us to remember to turn to You with our fears. I pray that You would bring about a revival in America, the greatest one in our history, and that You turn people here and around the world back to You.
Forgive us for our own failure to turn to You and our passivity in the face of evil and suffering. Please work in our own hearts to put You first, and to obey Your voice as we try to shine Your light in the darkness. May we all do the work that You have for us in 2016, and give us the strength to be fervent in prayer.
Amen.
(Note: This post is sponsored by Tommy Nelson, but the topic is something I am passionate about, and as always, all opinions are my own.)
(Note: This post is sponsored by Tommy Nelson, but the topic is something I am passionate about, and as always, all opinions are my own.)
I don't know about you, but it is easy for me to fall into a prayer rut - where I find myself using the same 'ole words, to pray the same 'ole things, from day to day. I do this when I am praying by myself, but also when I am praying for my kids at night.
I don't like getting into my prayer ruts when I pray with the kids at night, because I don't want them to get bored hearing me pray in the same way every night - and I don't like it when my own prayers start to feel stale, because then it is so much easier for my mind to wander.
I think the reason I do that is because there are a few core things that I want to pray for each night when we say our bedtime prayers, and it's hard to think of new ways to say it! To me, it's a constant battle to keep my personal prayer time, and prayers with the kids, interesting and fresh (I hope I'm not the only one who has trouble with this).
I think this is something that is worth paying attention to, because being able to come near to God in prayer is a huge privilege - and we can come boldly because of what Christ did for us on the cross! Something like that should never become boring, and it's something I want to work on.
I listened to a Focus On The Family broadcast the other day, and the speaker recommended trying to put theology into our daily, habitual prayers. I try to do that when I pray with the kids, but I realized that I could do a better job of it. I have been challenged lately to try to re-word things, and sneak more theology into my prayers with the kids.
So instead of "Please protect us while we sleep", it could be "Thank you, Lord, that you are so powerful, and in control of everything, and that You are always with us - thank you that you are able to protect us while we sleep, and we pray that You would." Or instead of "Bless this food to our bodies", it could be "God, we know that you have made everything, including out food, and we thank you that you have provided this meal for us. Thank you for the way you have wonderfully made our bodies to use this food for energy, and please protect us from any germs we might not know about."
Something like that. Those are kind of long examples, but you get the idea.
Another fun resource for ideas on changing up day-today prayers is Max Lucado's "Treasury of Bedtime Prayers". Don't let the title fool you, because there are prayers for every time of day in this book! As I was reading through it I was gathering ideas for changing up some of my wording when I pray with the kids.
The kids have also really enjoyed sitting and listening to the poems, Bible verses, and prayers in this book. Gwen has especially liked it - this book is just her speed, I think. I think she likes the rhythm of some of the poems, and the pictures are adorable - lots of cute woodland creatures and outdoor scenes. I think the illustrations are what make this book special to me - these are the kind of pictures I loved to look at in books when I was a girl!
We haven't read through all the prayers yet, because this book has a lot of them, but I have loved every one I have read so far! I think it is a great tool to focus the kids (and myself) on God's goodness right before bed.
I love the idea of focusing on theology and who God is during prayer, for a couple reasons - first it's a good way to sneak biblical truths into the kids brains without lecturing. And second, when you remember how great is the God to whom we pray, it is hard to stay bored! It is amazing that such an incredible God takes the time to listen to us. It reminds me of Psalms 144:3 - what are we that God pays attention to us? Prayer is something special, and I don't want to forget that.
Am I the only one who gets stuck in "prayer ruts"? What do you do to keep your prayer time fresh?
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Note: I received a copy of :Treasury Of Bedtime Prayers" for free from Tommy Nelson in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
I have a book for you to read.
I recently finished reading "Killing Christians" by Tom Doyle, and I have to tell you guys, this book might make my top ten list for the year. It's still early, but this book was so good.
I picked up this book thinking it would be like a different book I read a couple years ago that gave a lot of stats and facts about persecution of Christians around the world, and it was totally different than what I was expecting, in a good way! This book has eight main chapters, and each chapter reads like a chapter of a fiction book - except the stories that are told are not fiction, they are real. These stories are specifically focused on Christians in the middle east, so it is especially applicable to what is happening today.
I'm not going to sugar-coat it - these stories are brutal. The types of suffering that are described in these pages are horrific, and in a lot of ways it was difficult for me to read. I can't imagine going through what Christians in the middle east (especially converts from Islam) endure, and the way they endure it with such courage and faith is inspiring.
It may not be easy to read, but it is so important to be aware of what our brothers and sisters are suffering so we can pray for them! I especially loved one line at the end of the book.
"Even though personal hostility, danger, and martyrdom may not be present in your life, there is something else you are experiencing: you are suffering. Did you know that? . . . Your connection to those living in persecution is stronger than you may think - if one suffers, we all suffer. That is why you recently may have felt unsettled, angry, or disoriented by the pervasive evil in the world and overwhelmed at the bombardment of Christians globally as you view it on television or read about it online or in print media. You should feel this way. After all, it is an attack on your family."
That so perfectly describes how I have been feeling lately every time I hear about Christian kidnappings or executions in the news - it is almost a physical pain, and it finally makes sense to me why it makes me feel that way. We are the body of Christ. We are more connected than we realize.
I think it is so important as Christians to not forget those of our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and killed. It is tempting to turn off the news, close the windows on our computer and not think about it, but we can't do that. Our family needs us. They need our prayers, every single day. We should be petitioning our Heavenly Father on their behalf. We shouldn't let them suffer and die with no notice.
I just wanted to close this post with a resource that was shared at the end of this book, called 8thirty8. This is a challenge to set your phone for 8:38 PM each day, and when the alarm goes off, take a minute to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted. There is also an 8thirty8 Facebook page that will give you specific updates and situations to pray for.
It hurts to feel so helpless, but there is always something we can do - we can pray. And "Killing Christians" and 8thirty8 are great inspiration for doing just that.
Note: I received a digital copy of this book for free in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Attitudes matter.
I keep starting and re-starting this post, because I'm not exactly sure how to say what I want to say here. I've written before about the problem with venting and about being careful not to spout off careless words. But this week I was reminded again of how much I stink at controlling my tongue. And my attitudes - because the venting, careless words ultimately come from my poor attitudes.
What I hadn't thought about before was how much my bad attitudes can wear off onto those around me. And it's becoming painfully obvious as I think over the last few weeks.
This has mostly taken the form of me over-explaining my woes to those I love, to the point where they start to get irritated for me. Although sweet in a way, it's not good that I'm recruiting others in my life to carry my self-imposed burdens.
Most of the things I'm frustrated about or disappointed with are indeed frustrating or disappointing things. But does that mean I have to display my frustration for all to see and to pour my burden onto someone else to the point where they start to adopt my attitudes about the whole situation?
Something happened this past week that made it all the more obvious to me that my bad attitudes don't just affect me. They affect those around me, especially those within my own household.
The truth is, complaining about certain situations can make it more difficult for those close to you to remain at peace with the circumstances. In my case, though they try to encourage me, I just won't be encouraged, and my complaining eventually changes their attitudes as well.
It's a power I never consciously realized I had - to affect the attitudes of those in my family in a negative way through my own attitudes. I haven't been handling that power responsibly.
It's a fine line to walk - the difference between bearing one another's burdens in marriage and unnecessarily burdening one another with our complaints. We really aren't supposed to be complaining anyway (Philippians 2:14). Even to our spouses.
I think it would be much better to discuss situations with my spouse, take it to the Lord together in prayer, then let it go.
It's the letting go part that is hard. Instead I continue to sit there even after supposedly handing it over to the Lord - griping about things I can't change. That's not helping anyone - not me, not my family. I need to give it to Him and then stop complaining. Just stop.
Goodness knows the psalmists did quite a bit of venting to God when they were scared or frustrated or lost. But one thing I noticed as I was reading through some of the "complaining" psalms - once they poured out their hearts to God, they remembered God's power. They remembered His faithfulness. They let Him be the one to bear their burdens.
He needs to be the One I go to first - I need to give Him my burdens from the start instead of letting the default be dumping things on my family (and then maybe remembering to pray about it).
If I'm feeling irritated or overwhelmed about something, a little private "venting" time to God would be okay I think.
Because I can't change God's attitude, but He can change mine. And that's what I need help with in the first place.
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