Tag: prayer

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The scripture for today, January 26, is 1st Samuel 1:26f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“And she said to him, ‘As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.”

Hannah was telling the priest that God had answered her prayer. How often do you tell someone God has answered our prayer? Or do you wander aimlessly from one prayer request to prayer request, and let the answer drift away from you unnoticed? Or worse, do you ask others to pray for something, but after once or twice you stop praying yourself?

Begin today to keep a list of your prayer requests. Write down the date you first began to pray for each. If your requests are all about yourself, begin including your neighbors, your co-workers, people you attend church with, your relatives, people in the newspaper.

Then begin a second list of your answers and the dates. You will be amazed how fast your Prayers Answered list grows. So do not let the answers drift away from you unnoticed.

Notice them.
Claim them.
Tell others.

And spend the rest of your life thanking God over and over and over….

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The scripture for today, January 4, is Philippians 1:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”

Do our prayers consist mostly of give me this, help me with that? Let us begin today to keep an on-going list of our prayer requests for the year, and another one of thanksgiving for when those prayers are answered. Let us begin today to tell God “Thank you.”

Let us also begin today to look around at our circumstances ~ whatever they may be ~ with joy. There can be some kind of joy in every circumstance if we look at it through eyes of joy.

A majority of the people in Philippi in northern Greece on the border of today’s Bulgaria (called Thrace in the first century) were barbarian-looking warrior Thracians. But these rough warriors also brought joy with their beautiful sculptures.

Philippians is a book about peace and joy. This is the book that says, “And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7)

This is also the book that says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (4:13).

Let us say ”thank you,” and in the process recognize our joy.

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The scripture for today, December 23, is 1st Samuel 12:23 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-COVER---Star-Song---flat“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”

It’s a sin not to pray for others!

Do your prayers get bogged down in the mire of me’s? Do you wonder why you can’t pray for more than a couple minutes ~ five on a good day? Satan gets you to do this; he is the enemy of prayer because he knows how powerful it is.

Who is on your prayer list? Pray for people by name. Your neighbors. People you work with. Your government officials ~ both good and bad. People in a nursing home. People in your congregation. People in the military. People being persecuted, imprisoned and even killed because they are Christians. Missionaries. Children in an orphan home. Sales people at the store. Local school teachers.

Pray for 15 minutes a day. Half an hour. An hour. It’s oh so easy when we stop praying only for self and pray for others.

Pray for them by name. And tell them that you do. Some people have never been told, “I am praying for you”.

Let us not sin by praying only for “me”.

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The scripture for today, November 20 (11/20), is Hebrews 11:20ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Cover-Bible Women-Createspace“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons….By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.”

Do we have children that were so loving and good when they were young, but when they became older they changed? Do we sometimes wonder, “How could I have gone so wrong with my children?” True, they have free will. But do we feel like failures because our children did not turn out the way we had hoped and prayed?

Have faith ~ the faith of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Isaac blessed his sons with his land, even though he did not yet own the land. Jacob blessed his sons with power, even though they did yet not have power. Joseph blessed his sons and his brothers’ sons with the land, yet they no longer lived in it.

They all blessed their children with something they believed would happen some day, even though the evidence was not there. Why? Because they had faith in their children? Actually, it was mostly because they had faith in God. They had faith in what God would do for their children.

Let us keep on keeping on. Let us never stop having faith in what God (even after we die) will (not can, but will) do for our children.

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HS-COVER-KINDLEThe scripture for today, October 2 (10/2), is Daniel 10:2ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks…On the twenty-fourth day of the first month…I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude….Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”

The description of the speaker indicates he is an angel, possibly Gabriel. Michael is another known angel. In Daniel 12:1 he is called “Michael, the great prince who protects your people.” Jude 9 refers to Michael as an archangel who disputed with Satan over the body of Moses.

Revelation 12:7-9 says, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down ~ that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.”

Now, let us look back at Daniel 10. Daniel prayed for 21 days. The un-named angel (Gabriel?) appeared to him on the 24th day and said Daniel’s prayers had been heard the first day, but God’s angel could not break away to help because of fighting Satan’s angels.

Now look at Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Does our persistence in prayer give strength to the angels? Something to think about….

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The scripture for today, July 14 (7/14), is 2nd Chronicles 7:14 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

There is always a little bit of turmoil in all nations of the world.  Of course, there is more in some.  The average person cannot make their own nation call on God.  But the average person can do this:  “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone ~ for kings and all those in authority” (I Timothy 2:1-2).  Further, we should pray for them by name.

Even if you think some people in authority in your nation are against you, you must pray for them anyway.  Then wait quietly for God to work things out.  It may take Him a year, a decade or a lifetime to bring about your heart’s desire for your nation.  But keep praying.

Your job, in the mean time, is to follow God’s ways yourself.  Romans 13:1, 3-4 says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. …For rulers hold no terror for those who do right….For he is God’s servant to do you good.”

God is aware of the suffering going on in your nation.  He will not leave you or forsake you.

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The scripture for today, July 9 (7/9) is Deuteronomy 7:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

Our amazing God!  He loved our great great grandparents and He will love our great great grandchildren.  The average age of having children is 30.  Therefore, if we took this literally, 1000 generations would be 30,000 years.  In that case, we’ve only just begun.

If taken figuratively, 10 to the Jews meant all inclusiveness, and 1000 is 10 x 10 x 10 or all inclusiveness times all inclusiveness times all inclusiveness.  This means God will love us all inclusive years, times all inclusive years, times all inclusive years ~ for eternity!

And God gives everything we ask of him if it is good for us.  All He asks in return is for us to give the little bit that He asks of us ~ faithfulness and keeping his few commandments.   What a grand arrangement!

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The scripture for today, July 8 (7/8), is Ecclesiastes 7:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”

Years ago there was a little boy who belonged to the Pee-Wee Baseball League.  A lot of teams played in different parts of a very large ball field.  He would get in line to wait his turn to bat the ball.  But he’d become impatient, feeling that he should be able to bat as often as he wanted.

So he’d take off across the field and get in the line of another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.  When he didn’t go to bat as soon as he thought he should, he’d take off across the field in yet another direction and get in line of yet another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.

After doing all that, he’d finally give up and come back to his own team.  By that time, if he had just stayed in line with his own team, he could have come up to bat 2 or 3 times.  His pride got in the way, his impatience got in the way, and he ended up losing all his turns.

What we hope and dream for may happen today, or a year from now, a decade from now. Let us learn to wait for our turn.

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The scripture for today, July 7 (7/7), is Matthew 7:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

How beautiful.  The Creator of the universe pays attention to each and every one of us. How does He do it? How does He even sort us all out when thousands of us are praying to Him at the same time?

Sometimes we may not think He is listening to our prayers.  But it takes time to answer some of them.  If I am praying to meet my future husband or wife, God may have to move him or her from the other side of the country, get a new job for him or her, and arrange for us to “accidentally” bump into each other.  This is just one example.

Also, when Jesus said whatever we seek will be given to us, he had already explained that we must “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).  So only within that context, God will give us our heart’s desire.

Maybe today you can do a little bit of extra seeking and extra knocking.

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The scripture for today, June 18 (6/18), is 2nd Chronicles 6:18a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“But will God really dwell on earth with men?  The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you.”

Did you ever want to see God, to talk to him face to face?  Perhaps something bad had just happened in your life and you had this urge to complaint to him, then let him explain why. Or did you ever want to touch God?  Perhaps you were so very lonely that you desperately needed his arms around you, and feel his touch as he brushed away your tears.

But, if we could see him and touch him, it would mean that he could not be with others in the world at that time, and could not hear anyone else’s prayers at that time except yours. Let us be grateful that we cannot see and touch him for now.  He is always available to all of us, regardless of where we are in this vast world and regardless of how many others are praying to him at that moment.

How he can sort out all our prayers at once is mind-boggling.  How he can be everywhere at once is amazing.