7 Prayers That Work

Dear Lord, Provider and Protector, Thank you, Lord, for everything. Absolutely everything. All the good is from you. All the bad is something good waiting to happen. Everything in your hands is a blessing. Thank you. I love you, Lord. Amen.

Lord Jesus, You personally know the pain of death. You know how afraid and sorrowful it makes us. You know that grief cuts deeply into the human soul, that it feels like there will never be an end to the heartbreak. Someone wonderful has died. You know that, too. The death of your children is beautiful to you, but it is so difficult for us. I am feeling grief for some good people who have lost a loved one. They are overwhelmed, shocked, traumatized, bereft. They feel an ache they never could have imagined. Only you can fill that gaping hole left by their loved one. Only you can pour hope and peace, ever so gradually, into their life. Only you can give them courage to live again-- to seek healing, to start over. When they're ready. I ask for your peace to fall on them right now. Erase the terror about the future. Block an regret about the past. Stop the panic about the present. I beg you, Holy Spirit, to speak words of love and comfort into the dark fearf...

It's Thanksgiving week! Dear Lord Provider, Remind me of something each day with week to thank you for, and not just the normal things, like family, friends, food, and health. Thank you for the hard things. I want to be thankful for my failures because you are doing something even greater in me than I can anticipate. I want to be thankful for my time--may I use it to worship you rather than worship the things I want or the attention I crave. And may I not stress about the time I don't have. I want to be thankful for the waiting--this state I keep finding myself in, when I believe you are working but I can't see what you're doing. I even want to be thankful for times of pain because you use my pain to showcase your love; you heal my pain because you love me. Thankfulness reminds me of who I am and what you do for me. It reminds me to praise you for you who are. You are grace, mercy, love, hope. You are my past, my present, and my future, my All-in-All...

Often, people talk about fasting because they want God to answer a request or give them some direction. This is only partly correct. Yes, prayer and fasting facilitates the ability to hear God clearly. But fasting is not a trigger for hearing God. When you need something, the solution is not to skip a meal and ask God to show up. That would make God our servant rather than our Lord. Fasting does, however, begin to prepare your heart, which is a trigger for changed motives and behavior. When accompanied by prayer and Bible-reading, fasting prepares you for dramatic change. It clears your mind and heart to receive wisdom from God and hear His voice. Notice the passage below (it's not one of the typical fasting passages): Jeremiah 36:6-7 So you go to the house of the  Lord  on a day of fasting  and read to the people from the scroll the words of the  Lord  that you wrote as I dictated.  Read them to all the people of Judah  who come in from their...

I'm reading my way through Jeremiah. There's a lot of prophecies and punishments pronounced against the Jews, particularly Judah. They are invaded by the Babylonians and hauled off as slaves. The famous verse Jer. 29:11 appears, promising a hope and a future, but the promise occurs in the context of abduction and 70 years enslavement in Babylon. The Jews--and us, if we make application--are blessed when they obey and punished when they don't. My reading today was Jeremiah 34-35. A family called the Recabites have kept a promise to live for generations without drinking alcohol, sowing crops, or building houses for generations, This came out of obeying a forefather's command. The theme of obedience--not the command itself--is praised by the Lord. Here's the principle that struck me and the prayer I took away from it: "Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Recites, 'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God is Israel says,: "You have obeyed the co...

Dear Lord Jesus, the God who saves us-- I'm so thrilled to be a part of your mission on earth. I sit in awe at how you love every single person, how you desire hope and purpose for them, how you call each person to yourself. Some don't hear you calling. They have too much pain or too many sorrows. Many are fighting to survive, and some are just fighting. I can help with that, if I care enough to get involved. I can sponsor a child, I can feed the hungry, I can welcome the stranger, I can befriend the lonely, I can visit a prisoner, I can provide for the needy, I can advocate for the weak, I can comfort the brokenhearted, I can provide healing for the sick, I can rescue the enslaved. But only if I'm willing. I can't pray and ask you if I should get involved because you've already told me to do it. Now it's strictly a matter of obedience. I must get involved. Give me courage and selflessness. I will take the next step. I will ...

This morning I read a friend Lori Hatcher 's blog called "Is it wrong pray for little needs?" I was just praying intermittently for my children to love God, for the poor in Africa, for our Compassion Sunday this week, and for my social media/publicity needs, and I was feeling guilty about how and why I pray. I know that God doesn't judge me for making prayer requests. He wants to hear them, and He wants to answer them. The crux of the issue is my heart. Do I want what He wants? Do I desire His kingdom? Or am I focused on building mine, making my little family kingdom more comfortable and less stressful? Do I pray because I want to spare myself pain and hardship or because I want God to use my hardships to advance His kingdom? God, I lay my anxieties and concerns at your feet. I trust you completely with them. Help me to not take these worries back from you today. Amen. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.-- 1 Peter 5:7