Prayer – Day Four
by Deb Weakly
“Prayer is where the action is.” John Wesley
1. Call your prayer Partner for your 10-Minute Prayer Call! God is the one who has the power to work in your heart and the hearts of those you love. Prayer changes everything! Done:______
2. Grab something hot and delicious to drink, your Bible, journal, a pen and a candle and go to the place where you meet with your Jesus.
3. Read James 5: 13- 16. Write the second part of verse 16 in your journal. I love how the New Living Translation says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
Praying God’s Word is Powerful!
If you’re like me and feel like you hardly ever have your life together, you find GREAT hope in the Word of God! When I read the Scriptures, I read that God loves me, and promises to give me wisdom and help in time of need, especially as a mom! The stories I find in the Bible feature REAL people with REAL problems, most of whom failed in one way or another. Even though they failed, God still brought beauty out of their ashes and mistakes, and He always showed Himself faithful to each and every one.
I love that about our God. He is faithful and trustworthy, and His Word is perfect; every word is flawless, and we can find our refuge in Him! Proverbs 30:5. Over the years, I have learned to lean on the flawless Word of God more and more.
Many years ago, I knew this woman at the YMCA who would read her Bible while on the treadmill and pray Scripture over her family. One dark morning, when my Dad was dying in the hospital, I was overwhelmed with despair and asked her if I could borrow her Bible while I was on the stair machine. My heart was carrying a deep sadness with the realization that I was losing my last living parent, and this load felt too heavy for me to bear.
I remember that day as if it were yesterday, because that was the day I felt the strengthening power of praying God’s Word!
Praying God’s Word is powerful because we are agreeing with God about our situation and praying His will over our lives. Every word in the Bible is true and shows what we can believe God for- His promises, and helps us to stay in faith and trust Him with our hopes, dreams, difficulties, and concerns, knowing He is faithful.
We see this truth in action in Psalms 145:13 “..The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”
When we pray Scripture, we hope for the right things and see things more from God’s perspective than our earthly one. We get to see His faithfulness play out before our very eyes. God Word constantly speaks hope and wisdom personally to us every day, and gives the power to be strong Christian wives and moms who look to God for help and not to ourselves. It helps us to feel stronger as moms because we are believing God more and walking closer with Him by faith.
A short time after my dad passed away, I went out and bought a little Bible to carry around with me. I underlined and highlighted the verses that I felt God was leading me to pray for my family, children’s spouses, descendants, and friends. I pray it while I am exercising and bring it with me to pray when I travel. What a difference this habit had made in my life! I can honestly say, by the grace of God, that I have seen God answer MANY of my prayers in faithful, and mighty ways.
I am sharing this with you today with hopes to encourage each of you to start praying the promises of God for your family, friends, and descendants. Pray and ask God to give you Scriptures to pray over your family. Purchase a little Bible and highlight the verses you want to pray and carry with you when you go places, or have to wait anywhere. You could also record the verses on your phone and listen to it in your car, when you’re on a walk, or in your bathroom getting ready for the day. Do whatever works! Remember, You do you!!
I have included a list of my 10 favorite verses to pray for your children (yourself and your husband too) to know the love of God’s and to love His Word. Print them out and put them on your fridge, your bathroom mirror, or anywhere you will see them frequently. Pray them over your children and wait in faith for God to answer. You can also print these scriptures here.
4. Question to ponder:
-Pray and ask God to give you verses to pray over your husband and children. Write them in your journal.
5. Faith-Filled Idea # 4: Print out these prayers and put them where you will see them. Pray them every day this week.
Prayer – Day Five
by Mari Jo Mast
“The Best kind of friend is a praying friend.”-Unknown
1.Head to your favorite resting place (sofa, lounge chair) as you prepare to lean in and hear from your Maker. He already knows everything about you. Everything. He is not put-off by your deepest failures but wants to have a relationship with you and help you.
2. Ask Him today for a special friend, someone you can partner in prayer with.
3. Read John 17 (Jesus’ prayer before his crucifixion). Pay special attention to verses 20-26. Write verse 21 in your prayer journal.
Partnering Together in Prayer is Powerful!
May I suggest that while a friend who won’t let you down is wonderful, what is even better is a friend who is willing to pray, lifting you up. Someone who knows and understands what is going on in your life (the good, bad and the ugly) and isn’t satisfied with the way things are, but believes with you for God’s best. A committed prayer partner who prays believing, faith-filled prayers of the Word that lead to higher, more stable ground until you experience victory (though it may seem light years away).
You see, there is such strength and power when we pray together. It meets a deep need in each of us. The need to be in unity with the Spirit of God, Jesus and each other as we pray what God wants. I believe this is what Jesus was praying for in John 17:20-26 when He prayed that we would be one. This is how we behold His glory. This is how miracles happen. He wants this unity more than we think we need it! But we need it more than we may realize.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am an ordinary 40 something Mom married to an extraordinarily, patient, loving guy (I really mean that). Our 7 kiddos (2 are now married to beautiful, God-ordained spouses and that makes 9) are completely normal. Ha!
My children are more accurately described as rambunctious, crazy, adorable, stiff-necked, rebellious, beautiful, stubborn, sweet and heart-warming. Am I redefining normal?
You should know, this Mom needs friends- and a whole lot of prayer!
A few years ago, a good friend whom I’ve known for quite some time approached me with an idea. What if we committed to praying with and for each other, our families, our husbands, and those around us, once a week? Both of us were dab smack right in the middle of raising our larger than average families, groping for life, and desperately wanting to come out on the other end at least half way sane. Above all, we wanted to see our kids come to pursue Truth and to love God with all of their hearts.
I didn’t just want, I NEEDED this. And so our partnership in prayer began with a few other equally desperate Moms. We wept as we confessed and shared failures, we willingly became transparent, we witnessed miracles and grew in unity until we became inseparable. But most of all we prayed. Boy did we pray! We were one big praying mess. Holy Mommas, crying out for Jesus in our lives (I’m pretty sure our kids thought we were Holy Weirdos)!
I still need this. It’s been almost four years under the bridge, we’re still a team, praying strong.
Recently, God has added the Help Club for Moms, providing an even larger circle of praying partners committed to doing life together. We do 10-minute prayer calls once a week, and goodness the difference that little phone call can make!
Moms, I’ve witnessed miracles come out of this! Yes, it does take commitment, but I don’t know where I would be today without the prayers of my friends. I can’t afford NOT to commit!
Finding a prayer partner is easy. Do you need one? Ask God to bring her to you! The only requirement is another transparent, desperate and willing person who needs prayer too. And that basically includes any honest Christian woman!
If you haven’t already, you should go ahead and find a few someones. Be willing to step out! Be friendly (Proverbs 18:24) and ask if they would like to do real life with you. I know how scary it is to be vulnerable in prayer, but the return is so worth it! Your life will never be the same.
This is what happens. We become ONE with Jesus and the Father when we pray together what God wants. And that changes everything!
” I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” John 17:21NLT
4. Questions to ponder:
-Would you commit to praying that God would send you a friend to partner in prayer with?
-Journal a prayer to the Lord laying that need before Him. He will provide!
5. Faith-Filled Idea:
-Pray for your children and their relationships. Talk to them about what a blessing it is when friends encourage each other to grow closer to God.
-Pray that the Lord would provide faithful friends for your children.
Prayer – Day Six
by Tara Fox
“We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.”-Oswald Chambers
1. It’s time to sit down and take in what Jesus has for you today. We serve a God who delights in us and loves when we come to him. If there is any condemnation or guilt you are feeling today, lay it at the feet of Jesus. Remember, Romans 8:1-2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
2.Take out your Bible and journal. Be ready to hear from the Living God. Read Romans 12: 10-12. Read the whole chapter for a wonderful blessing today! Take note of anything you feel the Lord brings to your heart.
Praying Through the Marathon
When I was in high school I ran track and field, the coach suggested I run hurdles! Anyone could have looked at me back then and decided it probably was not a good idea for me to run hurdles. I wish I had a picture to show you!
Why did I choose track and field? It was one of the only sports that didn’t include a ball and got me out of P.E.! To my own amazement, I made it through the season and was not ALWAYS the last one to cross the finish line! It was HARD work! But oh the joy I felt when I did it!
When I think about marriage in terms of track and field, it’s less of a sprint and more of a marathon…with hurdles.
As we are going through the hurdles of married life, we cannot make it running on our own strength. We women of God must fight the battle on our knees in prayer. Much of our married life will consist of praying and waiting…and waiting… and waiting.
What should we do while we wait? Throughout the Bible, we see many verses where we are instructed to pray continual, fervent, and steadfast prayers, all with confidence and thanksgiving while we are waiting for the answers of God.
As I am writing this study, my heart goes to a conversation between Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-45.
They were pouring out their emotions over the work that God had begun in their bodies and in their hearts. While awaiting their promised newborns, both women were waiting on the Lord to complete a work, a miracle that He had started.
Elizabeth said to Mary in Luke 1:45, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Not only are we blessed when God fulfills His promises, which He always does. We are blessed when we BELIEVE He will fulfill His promises while we are waiting.
What happens to us as we believe and wait on the Lord?
Gods word tells us Romans 5:3-5. “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”.
Also, in Isaiah 30:18 it says, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
According to these wonderful verses, when we wait on the Lord we receive perseverance, character, hope, AND we are blessed!
Did you also see the part that says God longs to be gracious to us? What a beautiful picture that the Lord is waiting too!
In times of waiting, God longs to draw us near to Himself. May we not miss the blessing of being close to God because we are so focused on His answers and help, and not so focused simply on our relationship with Him. Waiting with God can be a sweet time of fellowship with Him if we will let it.
God says in our Scripture reading for today in Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
We can be joyful in HOPE knowing and expecting that good is coming. We can be PATIENT in the difficult and sometimes unbearable times because our God doesn’t stop until he makes things new. We can be FAITHFUL in prayer because we know from the scripture in Romans above that he has poured out His Spirit on us, The Creator Himself is with us! We pray to El Shama, the God who hears!
Oh, the joy we can feel as we wait for the fulfillment of our Savior’s promises! Keep praying and trusting your loving Savior, my sweet friends! He longs to wait with you, show you His love and draw you near.
Love, Tara
3. Questions to ponder: Write the answers to these questions in your journal.
-What promises has God spoken over your life and marriage? If you are not sure, ask him.
-Is there anything you feel is too big or too late for God to accomplish? Start praying for this!
4. Prayer Faith-Filled Idea #6:
Do you have an “Elizabeth” in your life to share your God dreams? If so, send her a note today telling her how blessed you are to have her in your life. Better yet, take her out to lunch. Don’t take her for granted! If you don’t have this type of special sister-friend, start praying for God to bring you one. Record this prayer in your journal and watch and wait with expectantly for God’s to bring her to you!