Prayer

They Have Stunkers

What a good reminder that God IS listening to me and responding to me. Furthermore, He is waiting on me to talk to Him.

Godspeaks2us

“Oh!! Mrs. Tracey, we are talking about bees.” And with a bit of pride three year old Marion says, “But don’t touch them, they have stunkers. If you touch them you could get stunk.”

While this childlike blooper brought a moment of comic relief, it did not interfere with our continued conversation about bees. I knew exactly what she meant.

And so it is with God. We don’t have to be perfect, and our conversations with God don’t have to be flawless. He isn’t looking for perfection and correctness. As a matter of fact, we learn from Mathew 18:3 that He wants us to come to Him like a child.

Before children learn to speak, they babble with confidence. They do so boldly; and frankly they are uninhibited by their circumstances or the adults around them. We’ve all heard a baby verbalize during the quietest moments of a church service…

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The Smallest Things Can Have The Biggest Impact

For those of you that don’t know me, I love coffee. I love the taste. I love the warmth. I love the smell. I love it in the morning. I love it in the evening. I love it here and there. I love it anywhere. I would not, I could not, go a morning without my coffee. And yes, I would drink it with Green Eggs and Ham!!

Are you ready for this?  I am not drinking the thing I love so much. I’m currently fasting coffee. I’ve been on strict fasts before, but this one has been a challenge. Not only because of my coffee addiction, but because my daily habits and routines have come to a crashing halt. My motivation to…..well….to do just about everything plummeted below sea level. The first few days I thought I might actually wake up in Heaven! Cause of death: coffee withdrawals.

While I take a light hearted approach to the narrative of my fasting woes, my heart was heavy with sadness regarding a personal matter…the matter I have taken to fasting and prayer. But I was still foreboding over the potential for an undesirable outcome. My mind was diligently trying to prepare me for ‘What If’ this, or ‘What If’ that. The issue I am praying about doesn’t seem like it will have a desirable outcome: not according to what I am hearing or feeling. So my husband says something I’ve heard a billion times before: simple yet profound; short and sweet.

“So stop looking at what you see, hear and feel. Look at this situation through the eyes of Faith.”

This resonated with me!! This commonly regurgitated notion of living by faith and not by sight was exactly what I needed to catapult me to freedom (2 Corinthians 5:7)! It was this small, simple sentence that has had the biggest impact on my mindset. Being anxious about it was bringing me lower than my coffee withdrawals, and worrying won’t change one thing. But faith will!

Faith gives me hope that no matter the outcome, God is in control; that He loves me and my family more than I do; that He has good plans for us; that all things work together for my good; that He knows the desires of my heart. THIS is faith speaking now. No more what ifs.

I don’t know what the outcome will be, but seeing my situation through faith gives me peace about an unknown future.

Don’t be afraid to share some short and sweet spiritual encouragement to someone. It’s bigger than what you might think. And don’t underestimate the ‘small’ sacrifices you make. Let’s get back to my coffee, shall we? I’m only fasting coffee: nothing else. To you, this may seem small: but to me it’s huge, and God knows it. Regardless of the outcome of my circumstance, I know that great fruit will come forth out this time of fasting, prayer and reading His Word. God recognizes and honors our sacrifices, no matter how small.

Don’t overlook the small things anymore: a listening ear, a compliment, a word of encouragement, a text of appreciation or simple spiritual reminders……$5 in the offering plate, one home cooked meal for a sick friend or fasting coffee.

“Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Mathew 13:32  Remember, smallest things can have the biggest impact!

My Prayer Isn’t Good Enough!

We all encounter pressing and important issues. There are things we hold very dear to our hearts that cause us great concern, and we know it’s essential to take our petitions to God in prayer. But do we know how to pray about it?

If you’re like me, you may begin to question yourself during prayer: did I cover everything? Was I specific enough? Did I find the right scripture to claim over this situation? Did I pray long enough….loud enough…..often enough?  Did I say the right words during prayer? Did I pray believing? Did I follow the right prayer recipe?

It makes sense that we want to make sure we’ve crossed our T’s and dotted our i’s in prayer. Because in life HOW WE make a presentation, HOW WE represent ourselves on a resume’ and HOW WE perform, determines the success or failure of the outcome.

Just today in prayer I began to question myself, and as a result questioned the power of my prayer when God stopped me dead in my tracks before my thoughts could gain momentum. He burst that hot air balloon before it could shift me off course.

Listen to what God said: “You’re relying too much on YOURSELF!!!”

As I let that sink in, I began to realize that on some level, I had been putting pressure on myself by thinking the outcome of my prayer depended on how well I prayed. That is wrong thinking!! The outcome of our petitions does NOT rely on the petitioner, rather The One being petitioned: God Almighty!

He is a good God that desires to make our life easier, not more burdened down with the pressure of executing the perfect prayer or else. If you’ve struggled with negative ideas about prayer, it’s time to crumple up that chapter and start over. So take a deep breath: let yourself off the hook. Take the pressure off by trusting the outcome to Him; and pray your heart out to a God that is eager to hear your voice!

SPEAKING GOD’S WORD ABOUT PRAYER:

I’m so thankful that God knows my heart. I Samuel 16:7

God knows what I need before I even tell Him. Mathew 6:8

I can give God all my worries because He cares about me! 1 Peter 5:7

I’m not going to worry about it, because I’m going to pray about it. Philippians 4:6

When I don’t know what to pray the Holy Spirit helps me. Romans 8:26

I find mercy and grace to help in my time of need. Hebrews 4:16

I pray to God because I know He will hear me. Psalms 17:6

When I am stressed, I will call on God because He hears me from Heaven. Psalms 18:6

I know that God can do far more than I can ask. Ephesians 3:20

I know that everything is possible with God! Mark 10:27

Preparing For a Spiritual Snowmageddon

I know most all of you battled the grocery stores to stock cabinets before snowmageddon makes her grand entrance. Why? Because your preparedness enables you to make it through this snow storm. We have grocery shopped, filled out deck bin with fire wood, stacked my indoor wood basket, gathered my candles and laugh if you will, but I have filled our bath tub with water for flushing should we lose power. Ya never know, right? Better safe than sorry.

We prepare for things all the time:  study for tests, practice for a concert, save money for a rainy day, make a nursery for the new baby or formulate a retirement plan. There are just some things you can’t wait until the last minute to prepare for or we will be caught ill-equipped to handle what comes our way.  But do we “prepare” for a spiritual snowmageddon?

I’m not talking about having a doomsday prepper mentality. And I do NOT believe we should go around with forebodings; always expecting bad things to happen. But you can’t wait until you’re snowed in, and lose power to decide you need flashlight batteries and candles.

Yet, many times this is precisely what we do as Christians, and I’ll be the first to admit that I have done this.  But God wants us spiritually prepared so we can face any situation with power and victory. He has given us a survivor’s manual (The Bible), and our own personal guide (The Holy Spirit). Yes, it’s that simple!

You may say that you don’t understand the Bible when you read it, OR you may say that you don’t know how to pray. No worries, the Holy Spirit will teach you HOW!

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26 (rsv)

“…and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”  1 John 2:27 (niv)

They Have Stunkers

“Oh!! Mrs. Tracey, we are talking about bees.” And with a bit of pride three year old Marion says, “But don’t touch them, they have stunkers. If you touch them you could get stunk.”

While this childlike blooper brought a moment of comic relief, it did not interfere with our continued conversation about bees. I knew exactly what she meant.

And so it is with God. We don’t have to be perfect, and our conversations with God don’t have to be flawless. He isn’t looking for perfection and correctness. As a matter of fact, we learn from Mathew 18:3 that He wants us to come to Him like a child.

Before children learn to speak, they babble with confidence. They do so boldly; and frankly they are uninhibited by their circumstances or the adults around them. We’ve all heard a baby verbalize during the quietest moments of a church service; much to the chagrin of their mortified parents. Babies don’t care what they sound like. They don’t care when or where they sound off; and they certainly aren’t concerned if anyone around them even comprehends their unintelligible communication. But what they do know; what they are certain of; is that their loving mom or dad WILL respond. They will know what their child needs.

You may feel like your prayers don’t make sense, or that they’re hard to understand. You may not know big words, or have a fancy praying voice. You may even think it’s pointless for you to talk to God. Rest assured, our blunders will not hinder Him from knowing our hearts.

Let us be confident like these little babies and cry out with boldness to our loving Father! No matter what your level of communication is with God: He is listening, and He knows exactly what you mean. More importantly, He will respond!

Related Scriptures:
I Samuel 16:7
Hebrews 4:16
Psalm 17:6, 18:6, 66:19

Use the link below to view this, and devotionals by other authors at “Your Daily Bread”

Your Daily Bread-They Have Stunkers

Texting God

“Tell Me your ‘everyday’ kind of talk. I want to have THAT kind of conversation from you too! I want to be included,” the Lord spoke gently to my spirit immediately after I texted a friend. I had been texting back and forth with a friend, and the content of our communications was light and jovial: silly even. I smiled and chuckled out loud a time or two when reading my friend’s responses.

God wants that? I thought about that for a moment. I text people daily and often, as most of us do these days. Yet, do I reach out to God that often? And would I tell him the happy, silly moments, or do I just save the serious, heavy topics for Him?

God is interested in every aspect of our lives, and He is interested all the time.

The scripture tells us that God never leaves us or forsakes us, and to draw near unto God and He will draw near to us. This sounds like a God that is just waiting for the opportunity to engage with us as often as we desire to connect with Him. He’s all ears when it comes to us.

Some song lyrics come to mind by song writer and Worship Leader Zach Neese, “The more I seek You, the more I find You. The more I find You, the more I love You.” The more we reach out to God, the more we expand our communications with Him, the more we will love Him.

David understood this all too well because he said in Psalm 116:2, “Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” So let’s purpose to ‘text’ God daily and often, and fall more in love with our Lord: He’s ready to listen.

CLICK this link to worship to  The More I Seek You

Related Scriptures:
Psalms145:18
Deuteronomy 31:8 NLT
Hebrews 13:5
Isaiah 55:6-7
James 4:8

 

Praying God’s Word

Praying is essential for our daily lives. But sometimes we may find ourselves at a loss for words. Let me reassure you that our prayers do not have to fit inside a box, or be fashioned after some great prayer warrior. God already knows our hearts, so why do we try to pray in a manner  we THINK we should pray rather than just being ourselves?

The worlds were created by the Words from God’s mouth. When God speaks, things happen; things are created; situations change. All scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). The conclusion, when I pray scriptures from the Bible I am speaking the Word of God over my life and over my situation. That’s powerful friends.

In my reading I’ve come across a prayer in scripture that I want to share with you. It’s one I’ve been praying in recent days. I’ve paraphrased and personalized this prayer from Colossians 1:9-11 from the amplified version. I invite you to pray this prayer, and let God speak into your life today.

I pray oh Lord that You fill me with the knowledge of Your will, spiritual discernment and wisdom. I pray that I live my life in a way that is pleasing to You, and that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of God: knowing You in a deeper way. I pray to be strengthened with all power, and to live out my life with joy.