Daily Prayer: July 2013

no matter what

"God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble"

(Psalm 46:1)

Although we know that God always hears our prayers, we also know that He doesn't always answer them in the way that we desired. But He does answer them in the way that is best according to His Sovereign Authority. We can rest in the fact that our LORD cares about the desires of our heart. He cares deeply about those thingss that concern us. But He also knows the whole picture of our lives so He does things and allows things according to His will for us.

My sister, who is 53, has been on a journey with cancer for a solid year now and the intended goal was remission from the terrible disease. Yesterday marked exactly one year from diagnosis and we found ourselves in the Bone Marrow Tranplant Unit awaiting results from the tests that were done 2 weeks ago. The Lord had given me a sweet peace all week long and so when the news came that didn't match up with our hopes, I didn't crumble. I was heart broken, but I was okay. We were okay.

So now, my precious sister begins a new regimen of chemotherapy. She starts the whole process over again. And although the stem cell transplant did decrease the disease by 62%, multiple myeloma is a formidable foe in its resliance. But we march forward in the strength of The Lord. We set our eyes back on Him and put our faith and our trust in the One who can heal. We continue to believe that He is performing a miracle in her. We continue to know that He is good. We continue to believe in the power of prayer and in the power of our mighty and awesome God.

Because no matter what, He is enough. And He is good. And He is my God.

Amen

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Friends

Father, thank you for friends from long ago and now. Thank you for the memories of good times together and for anticipation of good times together still to come. Thank you for reconnection and renewal of friendships that had faded. Thank you for being able to see how you have worked through the years. Amen

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SECRET SINS EXPOSED

Psalms 90:8 "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Sitting on the couch, sipping a cup of tea my Bible open on my lap. Reading Psalm 90. As I read a beam of sun came through the window, and exposed what appeared to be a clean room.

I was amazed at the dust on the coffee table, and a couple of spots on the carpet. Yes, that sunbeam was exposing my dust and dirt.

This verse suddenly had new and profound meaning for me. I drew a little picture in the margin of my Bible and wrote "God pervades us as the sunbeam reveals all the impurities in our life! Search me O God!

Dear Heavenly Father, help me not to be afraid of your sunbeam revealing my secret sins. This is only for my purification. Help me to see it, confess it, and get on with basking in your light, and the light of your Word. I love you. Amen.

Amen

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A Barrowed Prayer

Galatians 4:6 (NLT)
And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

Father sometimes my mind gets too cluttered like falling leaves getting stuck in a drain spout or too many people trying to squeeze through a revolving door. It seems it would be nice to barrow a prayer and say that goes for me too. But in reality it would be better to express my weary mind through my own slow thoughts though I might heartily agree with the supplications if more energetic saints.

So let me just say that I love you and deeply value your incredible generosity and grace that you allow to flow so freely into my life. I marvel at your mercy, am humbled by your love and overwhelmed by your personal care. To call you my Father is a privilege beyond measure, and a blessing beyond containment.

So though I feel like using a borrowed prayer, I will simply look up into your tender eyes and say Abba.

Amen

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prayer for your mind...

Prayer to prepare your mind for a wonderful work of the Lord...

God, I offer my mind to You today,

May every thought, every intention,

and every motive be in constant agreement with

Your holiness. Please forgive me for every way

I have sinned against You in my mind.

Please wash my mind and purify it.

Empower me to fix my mind on You today.

I desire my mind to be set apart for Your glory.

(taken from Duty or Delight by Tammie Head)

Amen

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Rainbow

I saw a beautiful rainbow today, and it reminded me of the promises God gives us, and that the Creator of the universe loves us and call us his children.
Father, thank you for reminders of your grace and love. Amen

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SEIZE THE MOMENT

We have a Cactus on our back fence and once in a while it blooms. The pod shows up, and the next day you have this beautiful bloom, and then "poof" within a few hours, less than a day...it's gone. Swivilled up to nothing.

I took this picture this morning, and by nightfall it will be gone. It made me think of praying. We might tell someone with all good intentions we will pray for them...and then "poof" we forget, and the moment has passed and a blessing lost.

Dear Lord, help me daily to seize the moments to come to you in prayer. For the little things in life and the large ones. Help me to pray for those I love and care about, and not let a fleeting moment pass that I can lift someone up in prayer. Thank you for always listening, and ready to give us an answer and the grace to accept that answer. I love You. Amen.

Amen

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LEADERS

Romans 13:1 (NLT)
….all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

Romans 13:4 (NLT)
….The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good.

Psalms 101:4-7 (NLT)
⁴I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil. ⁵I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride. ⁶I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me. ⁷I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence.

Father, when I think of why you established government and King David’s criteria for leaders in his administration how I pray that from local cities to our nation’s capital there would be such a standard for men and women in public service.

There is a need for national repentance and returning to YOU. Help us Father, to turn from our selfish, self-serving and self-seeking ways. Our nation is divided and disgraced by the hypocrisy and hedonism we embrace. We should be blushing from the shame of our sin and yet we are brazen and arrogant in our foolishness.

Father we could be so much better. We could have peace and prosperity if we would only be mindful and obedient. Your Word reminds us that: “Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34 (NLT)

Father, help our leaders to lead the way back to YOU! Amen

Amen

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Do not fear

"It is the LORD who goes before you;

He will not leave you nor forsake you.

Do not fear nor be dismayed"

(Deuteronomy 31:8)

Amen

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To know and do God's will ...

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

... a prayer from Scot McKnight at the Jesus Creed blog.

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Father, help us to remember that in Christ we are brothers and sisters with each other and fellow workers in the Kingdom. Help us to see each other the way you see us. Amen

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THE LORD IS MY PEACE

"The Lord is my peace. I shall not live in anxiety. He puts me under his wing of comfort and calms my spirit within me. He takes all my anxieties on Himself and helps me to focus on Him. Yes, though I walk through a time of grave uncertainties and fierce anxieties, I will not fret ~~for You are my peace. Your Word and Your presence calm me now. You hold my uncertainties in the palm of your hand. You soothe my anxious mind ~~You smooth my wrinkled brow. Surely serenity and trust in You shall fill me all the days of my life. And I shall keep my mind stayed on you forever." I love You, Amen.

Taken from Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow
Amen

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SAFE

Psalm 91:2 "I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Lord, this verse gives me great comfort as I face and live the realities of life on earth. You are my refuge who shelters me in the storms of life. You are my fortress that shields me from the onslaught of evil. You are my God, the Creator, and the Ruler of Heaven and Earth. You are my God, the Savor and Redeemer of my soul. You are my God who is Holy and Love. You are my God whom I trust alone.

And last Sunday when we had to evacuate the sanctuary because of a pipe bomb in the Church parking lot, Psalm 91:2 was the reminder of Your presence and care of me and all in that setting.

Father, I am amazed, having written Psalm 91:2 on a 3x5 card and placed it in my shirt pocket was the reassurance that You our God and I trust You.

Amen

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Missions

Dear Father God,

Today I ask Your hand of blessing and protection on all the traveling missions groups this summer. By this morning my youngest daughter will have arrived on the tiny island of Grenada where she and her group will help a local church with Vacation Bible School. I pray that You would reach deep into her heart and the hearts of those along with her, that You would work a mighty work in their lives. I ray not only that You would bless our mission team, but that You would bless those they have gone to minister to. And of course, I pray for safety too.

Thank you, Lord, for being there and here both at the same time.

Amen

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For a needed Intervention ...

To any who are faced with a tangle of troubles, so complex that you feel you are lost in a maze,
I pray for an intervention of the Spirit.

May God cut through those tangles with a swift and clear action of love.

May you find the answers you need.

May you be blessed with the strength to carry on until you arrive on steady ground.

May the people you need in your life appear.

May healing replace anxiety and peace the sense of loss.

In every way, may your life be made calm, your spirit given a chance to rest.

Amen

...prayer offered on Facebook by a friend of a friend.

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He hears

When we cry out to our loving God, we certainly stand on His Word that He hears us. Many times in the scriptures we see that our loving God indeed hears our cries.

"O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and

night before thee; Let my prayer come

before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry"

(Psalm 88:1-2)

But, we need to make sure that we are confessed up and cleansed before we come before Him in prayer. In Psalm 66:18, the Word tells us "if I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me".

Unconfessed sin in our life closes the ears of God, denies His Sovereignty and Holiness and denies His redemptive mercy. We need to always pour out our hearts in confession and ask forgiveness of our sins before we begin uttering our prayers to Him. When we do this, He will hear our cries and respond to them. He is a loving and caring God.

Amen

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A letter to our Father

Dear Father,

Thank you for the blessings of knowing you and being in your presence. There is none like you. We are in awe of your love for us. We stand amazed at your creation.

We are in need. We are bereft of wisdom. Apart from you we are unloving and uncaring. We need you and pray for your help that we might help those in need.

May the words of our lips, the meditations of our hearts and the prayers of our souls be found acceptable in your sight and effectual in their intents.

Amen

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Traveling Prayer

Father, thank you for protection on the highways. We don't often know all the dangers you keep us from. Please continue to be with those who travel. Speed their way and give them your mercies as they go on their way. Amen

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JARS OF CLAY

2 Corinthians 4:7 "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us."

Dear Lord, Help us not to cloud God's glory
Nor with self His light to dim;
May each thought to Christ be captive,
Emptied to be filled with Him ~ Amen
(Anon.)
Let the brilliance of the treasure of Christ shine through you as you live for Him.

Amen

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A Prayer of Moses

Deuteronomy 34:10-12 (ESV)
¹⁰ And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, ¹¹ none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Psalm 90:1 (ESV)
BOOK FOUR A PRAYER OF MOSES, THE MAN OF GOD. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Psalm 90:16 (ESV)
¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

Father as I read and mediate on Psalm 90 I am so impressed with your servant and your friend Moses. He had such a special relationship with you and non-greater than your personal and private conversations with him. He saw and experienced so much of your glorious power. And what impresses me is his concern for the children of his people.

Deuteronomy 4:39-40 (ESV)
³⁹ know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰ Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time."

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (ESV)
⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Father, Moses heart felt compassion and concern for the children certainly reminds us of your love for children. How concerned you are that they know you, and experience your love and glorious power in their lives. This moves me to pray for my own children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to know the joy of your fellowship, the sustaining power of your strength and the eternal love in which you hold them.

I pray with Moses, “shown your glorious power to the children.”

Father, help me to do my part in telling your story for your glory and for the sake of my children and the generations to come.

In the powerful name of Jesus

Amen

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YHWH

When we pray to our Father in heaven, we are praying to the One Supreme being. We are praying to the Name above all Names. The True Authority. The One Living God that can hear our cries, care about our cries and respond to our cries.

He is the Supreme Deity. His Name is YHWH. The LORD. The Great I AM. He was, He is and He always will be. God is self-existent. He is self-sufficient. He is eternal and He is consistent. His very name, YHWH, reveals His divine being.

When we bow our hearts, we need to be reminded of just how awesome the God is that we are petitioning our prayers to. He is THE mighty, THE great and THE awesome God.

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning,

O LORD; in the morning will I

direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."

(Psalm 5:3)

"Hear me when I call, O God of

my righteousness; thou hast enlarged me

when I was in distress; have mercy

upon me and hear my prayer."

(Psalm 4:1)

"The LORD hath heard my

supplication; the LORD

will receive my prayer."

(Psalm 6:9)

We truly serve an amazing and powerful and loving God. Each time we lift our hearts to Him, we need to be mindful of who we are calling out to. YHWH. The LORD. The great I AM. The One true and Living God of all creation.

Amen

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Grace

Father, I pray for your children who are having a hard time grasping their identity in Christ, who do not fully realize what it is to live in your grace and love. Show them their true identity as your beloved sons and daughters. Open their eyes and let them see that your grace is enough for everything. Let that grace flood their hearts and flow out onto others. Amen

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