Tag: prayer

Doesn’t God know what I need? Then, why pray?

Doesn’t God know what I need? Then, why pray?

God is sovereign and omniscient. Scripture reminds me that He has known every detail of my life since before creation. He has known my failures, my victories, my sorrows, and my joys. Isn’t that what David wrote so eloquently in Psalm 139? That being true, why prayer? Does prayer change the course of my life in any way? Yet we are commanded “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6)

man praying in church

During this Christian journey, there have been moments when[bctt tweet=”my prayer has been a cry of sheer desperation from a broken heart & shattered life.”]I have known years of great sorrow, when the pleas seemed to go unanswered. This was particularly true during the long years in which I could not understand how the wonder of loving someone could be the source of my greatest suffering as well. How God’s plan for the salvation of my beloved husband would lead me through the darkest valleys of desperation was beyond my comprehension. Those years of agonizing prayer drew me in ever closer to God’s arms of love. Then God did what my finite brain thought unimaginable. Once my husband found Christ as His Savior, all would be well. Then God took him home and I was left a widow. My grief was almost more than I could bear; yet, I knew I must for my children’s sake. I prayed then for strength.

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How to Pray When Prayer Seems a Soliloquy of Desperation

How to pray when prayer seems a soliloquy of desperation

Prayer at times can be great and mighty praise with songs of joy!! There are seasons in everyone’s life where prayer seems a soliloquy of desperation. During this Christian journey, I have known both. I do not know which season of life you may be in. For any of you who are at this moment in a season of life that feels more than you can bear. Are you living in a moment in which your prayers seem to be cries of desperation into the darkness? Perhaps a diagnosis of cancer, a broken heart, or you have lost your job? A moment in which you don’t know what to do and it feels as though God is silent.

 

lwjas0416

© Lars Justinen/Licensed from GoodSalt.com

[bctt tweet=”How do you pray when prayer seems merely a soliloquy of desperation?”] I have been there at times in this pilgrimage journey and though I cannot pretend to know the burden of your heart today; I can pray for you and with you. In the book of Psalms are many such prayers to guide us; although, sometimes silence is all we can bring into God’s presence. He hears that as well.

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How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life

How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life

This Christian pilgrimage is laden with many dangers. It is filled with adversities whose battle cry is for the vanquishment of true joy from our hearts. So often we live on an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. Too often, our prayer lives follow that same rollercoaster of disparate cries for help to fleeting waves of “hello” as we skip along the path. We remember to pray most when we have our bucket list of wants to present or when tragedy strikes. Yet, prayer is meant for so much more than that. Look at Ephesians 6, where Paul warns us that we are in the midst of war and must be prepared at all times. Our only weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit” (Ephesians 6: 17-18). The strength and muscle which wields the sword in battle is prayer. We need our prayer muscles built so that we can wield the Spirit’s sword of the Word with powerful might. A body builder spends hours in the gym to develop strength.

muscle builderPicture used by permission of the artist Ronald Barba who owns the copyright.  For information on go to http://www.barba-art.com

[bctt tweet=”To have strength to wield our spiritual sword in battle, we need an awesome iron pumped prayer life”] How do we do that? We begin by daily setting aside time to be with our heavenly Father. We need to realize that prayer is much more than our “to do list for God.” Prayer is the power source for our sustained joy in this Christian life. Prayer is the power source for our victory in the battles of this life. And prayer is the power source for our hope. Prayer is the power lifting exercise that gives us the strength to wield the Spirits Sword of the Word. At the same time, the weights needed to spiritually pump iron are the words of God!

IRON PUMPING WEIGHT OF THE SCRIPTURE

 

There are 5 ways that the scripture serves to strengthen our prayers.

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4 Challenges to Prayer and 1 Awesome Prayer

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” CS Lewis

I am finding that each morning this is getting easier to get up and leave all devices turned off so that I might talk with my Heavenly Father.  That I might lay before Him the challenges that are before me for today, the longings of my heart, and ever more precious the moments to just sit in His presence letting all thoughts fade into only seeing and delighting in Him.  What a place of peace that brings.

broken-and-contrite-heart-ronald-barbaUsed by permission of Ronald Barba who holds the copyright.  For more information go to http://www.barba-art.com

[bctt tweet=”Sometimes, prayer is just sitting quietly in God’s presence, letting Him fill you with His Joy”]

These are 4 challenges to prayer I have noticed and some helpful hints to overcome them.

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5 PSALMS TO ASSIST YOUR HEART TO PRAY

5 Psalms to Assist Your Heart to Pray

So, this is day two of our 30 day challenge in prayer.  How are you doing?  I must say that setting aside 30 minutes with no interruptions is not easy at first.  For me the interruptions are my own brain wandering away to other things.   So, what helped me today was the minute my brain seemed to wander: I pulled out my Bible and opened to the Psalms and began to out loud pray the words from the Psalms to God.

broken-and-contrite-heart-ronald-barbaPicture used by permission of Ronald Barba and is protected under copyright laws.

[bctt tweet=”Our two most powerful weapons  are God’s Word and Prayer. Combined they are a formidable force.”]  A force that will empower us to success and guarantee victory!!!  What will that look like in my life?  I am not certain. What I am certain of:  whatever God’s view of success and victory is for my life, I want that.

Here are the words of  5 Psalms that helped me to focus today.  I hope they inspire you as well.

Psalm 8: O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens…3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?…9O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

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