Entries Tagged 'Prayer' ↓

A few weeks ago, I prepared a list of prayer points, at Centre Grove’s request, to help guide people in praying for us during this time of transition. I’ve updated the prayer points for this post and invite you to be in prayer for us as well as Centre Grove and West Side as we get started.

• Ask God to strengthen us as we continue to get settled in Clearfield.
• Ask God to grant us favor at Centre Grove and West Side and with the people of Clearfield. May God give us a renewed sense of vision and passion, as well as courage to lead others as God leads us.
• Ask God to bless Ethan who’s making his second major move in less than 5 months (of course, this time, he gets to keep the same parents, culture, language, etc. ). We plan to say more about how he’s handling the transition sometime later.
• Ask God to give us wisdom (knowing what’s right) and courage (doing what’s right, even when it’s hard).
• Ask God to bless our walks with God, including our daily time with God. May God give us listening hearts so that we may discern God’s yearning for ourselves, our family, and for the communities God calls us to lead.

See also: Praying for Pastors and Prayers for the Journey.

Thanks for your prayers!

A few months ago, Randy wrote an entry called, Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, which included a few suggested verses of Scripture to pray for children.

Another good resource for parents to incorporate into their prayers is an article from Christian Parenting Today called 40 Ways to Pray for Your Children. The article includes 40 topical prayers parents can use to pray for their children.

One of the things we’ve enjoyed with blogging about our adoption journey has been the interaction we’ve been able to have with other families who are adopting. In fact, several comments on the blog were posted by people who are on their own adoption journey.

Our adoption journey began 14 months ago with a series of group sessions with our homestudy agency, with five other couples. We wrote about it in our first adoption-related post.

We’ve kept in contact with another couple from our adoption group, Brandy and Ben (Brandy has posted a couple comments on our blog, here and here). We just heard that they’re traveling to Guatemala on Monday (3/10) to pick up a 7.5-month-old baby girl. Please remember them as they travel to Guatemala on Monday and return on Saturday.

Undoubtedly, every trip is a different experience. And the challenges related to the way each country does things are different as well. Korea’s program is pretty smooth, compared to many other countries/programs. Brandy and Ben’s process up to this point has been a roller coaster. In fact, after they received their referral, adoptions from Guatemala were put on hold, and they didn’t know if/when they’d ever be able to go and get their daughter. Thankfully, they are able to go now. Pray that the remainder of their process goes as smoothly as possible!

As we understand it, Ben and Brandy will receive their child about two hours after landing in country and will have their baby girl the entire time they are in Guatemala. They hope to do some site-seeing while they are there, but a lot of their plans may very well depend on how the baby is handling the transition (we know what that’s like!).

Of course, their trip reminds us of our own trip. We’re grateful for our experience to/in/from Korea; it was an experience we’ll never forget. We trust the same will be true for Brandy and Ben as well!

In my journal this morning, I (Randy) wrote a prayer related to the time crunch we’re currently facing. We are expecting to receive a call to go to Korea to pick up our baby anytime within the next few weeks AND we are actively (frantically?) working toward finishing the first complete, 5-chapter rough draft of our dissertations.

Our hope is that we can submit our drafts to our mentor about a week from now, which would give us a few/several weeks for edits/polishing. Somewhere in the middle of that process, however, we’ll make a trip to Korea to begin a new journey that will, no doubt, create changes in our lives, and throw an interesting twist into the mix of our graduation timeline.

In light of all this, I prayed the following prayer this morning …

While it seems a bit crazy, Lord, to undertake an adoption process while writing dissertations, we believe, O God, that we have followed your leading. We believe that you have had us at Asbury to further our spiritual and leadership development and that you will even use our current work to make a difference somehow in the cause of your kingdom! We also believe that you had a child created especially for us. And  because you have shown yourself faithful to us in the past, we believe that you will finish what you have started in a way that strengthens our faith and brings you glory. Amen.

Not sure what God’s going to do. But I look forward to it!

Tricia Lawrenson, wife of Nathan Lawrenson, who is the son of Rick Lawrenson, lead pastor of Nags Head Church (a great church to visit when vacationing at the Outer Banks of North Carolina). We’ve attended Nags Head Church once and have shared a couple meals with Rick and his wife Gail. Other than that, most of our interaction takes place through an online forum for pastors.

Tricia, who is 24 weeks pregnant, needs our prayers as she also battles Cystic Fibrosis. The good news is, 24 weeks happens to be the minimum length of time that a baby can survive outside the womb, but the reality is, she and baby (and family) need God’s intervention and help.

You can follow Tricia’s journey at Nate’s blog. And we especially encourage you to check out Tricia’s latest prayer requests.

O God, we surround Tricia and Nate and the baby with our prayers, and we ask you to overwhelm them with your loving-yet-incredibly-powerful presence. Walk with them through the coming days, weeks, and months, and when they feel like they can’t take another step, please hold them and carry them. Thank you for this family, Lord; they are your servants. Please watch over them, God, and work in their lives in ways that they, and others who witness your acts, will spend the rest of their lives talking about! Amen.

Regular readers of our blog will know that we are thinking a lot about parenting these days as we prepare to bring Ethan home from Korea. Part of our thinking recently has been about how best to pray for him — now and in the years to come!

Randy recently posted several prayers for the journey. These will be good, especially down the road as Ethan begins to make more decisions for himself. “Praying the scriptures is a powerful way to pray!”

We’ve just begun to gather some scriptures that we want to incorporate into our prayers for Ethan. Here’s what we’ve collected so far …

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. (Zephaniah 3.17)

Ephesians 6.1-4 offers some valuable praying material. Here, Paul admonishes children, “obey your parents,” and “honor your father and mother,” noting that “this is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, ‘things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.’” But Paul also cautions parents, “do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.” Good stuff to pray.

I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1.16-20

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3.14-21)

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Ephesians 6.10-18)

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen. (Jude 1.24-25)

Well, this should get us started. We believe that praying the scriptures is a powerful way to pray. If praying the scriptures is unfamiliar to you, here’s an example …

O God, we give you all the glory, for who you who and for all you have blessed us with. Thank you so much for blessing us with Ethan. God, you are able to keep Ethan from falling away. We trust, O God, that you will bring him with great joy into your glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to you, who alone are God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are yours before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

The idea is simply to incorporate the language of scripture into your prayers. In some cases you can use the actual language; other times, you may need to change it into the form of a prayer.

Some resources we found online (although we know little about them) that look like they might be worth checking out if you’d like more resources: Praying the Scriptures for Your Children (2001) and Praying the Scriptures for Your Teenager: Discover How to Pray God’s Will for Their Lives (2007), both by Jodie Berndt.

Also check out Kevin Martineau’s recent piece on praying for our children.

What do you pray when you pray for your children? What Scriptures do you pray for them? Feel free to share in the comments section.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the miracle of the coming of God in human form. Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8.12)The world in which we live can be a dark place. It doesn’t matter who you are, you face darkness in some way. It may be your place of work. It may be a health difficulty in your life or in someone you love. It may be a broken relationship, even separation by death and you face your first Christmas without this loved one. There may be darkness in recesses of your own life, left behind by someone who did you wrong, abused you, used you. Perhaps the uncertainty of the future puts you in a dark place.“I am the light of the world” (Jesus) For me (Joleen), even in the the bright hope of becoming a parent as we are in the process of adopting Ethan Quinn a shadow is cast by his absence this Christmas.But Jesus is our light. The light which guides us along the path of life. The light that chases away the darkness of fear and the unexpected. The light that brings hope to the hopeless and allows us to see beyond our present circumstances. He is the light that heals and that fills the void.If you need some light in your life … if you need some hope … light a candle, any candle and pray these simple words …

Christ be my light. Bring light to my darkness. Bring me the hope that I long for.

Do you ever need God’s direction for your life? More than a decade ago, I (Randy) started collecting prayers in the Scriptures where the pray-er asks God for help on the journey of life. I started this collection at a time when Joleen and I really needed God’s direction in our lives and ministries.

“Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow.”

Years later, I still find myself praying through this list from time to time. I think these words can be tremendously helpful to anyone who needs God’s direction so I’ll post them here. I encourage you to let these words guide your prayers for God’s direction …

Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Tell me clearly what to do, and show me which way to turn. (Psalm 5.8)

If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God. (Psalm 50.23b)

Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow. (Psalm 25.4)

Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Travel steadily along his path. He will honor you, giving you the land. (Psalm 37.34)

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. (Psalm 143.10)

Zeal without knowledge is not good. A person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way. (Proverbs 19.2)

If you plan and work hard, you will have plenty; if you get in a hurry, you will end up poor. (Proverbs 21.5)

If you have some prayers for the journey from the Scriptures to add to this list (or any other comments), please leave a comment. Thanks!

I (Randy) recently came across the following prayer from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (edited by Arthur Bennett). The language is a bit archaic, but the spirit of the prayer is relevant.

O GOD,
I know that I often do Thy work without Thy power,
and sin by my dead, heartless, blind service,
my lack of inward light, love, delight,
my mind, heart, tongue moving without Thy help.

I see sin in my heart in seeking the approbation of others;

This is my vileness, to make men’s opinion my rule, whereas
I should see what good I have done,
and give thee glory,
consider what sin I have committed and mourn for that.

It is my deceit to preach, and pray,
and to stir up other’s spiritual affections
in order to beget commendations,
whereas my rule should be daily to consider myself more vile than any man in my own eyes.

But Thou dost show Thy power by my frailty,
so that the more feeble I am, the more fit to be used,
for Thou dost pitch a tent of grace in my weakness.

Help me to rejoice in my infirmities and give Thee praise,
to acknowledge my deficiencies before others
and not be discouraged by them,
that they may see Thy glory more clearly.

Teach me that I must act by a power supernatural,
whereby I can attempt things above my strength,
and bear evils beyond my strength,
acting for Christ in all, and
having His superior power to help me.

Let me learn of Paul
whose presence was mean,
his weakness great,
his utterance contemptible,
yet Thou didst account him faithful and blessed.

Lord, let me lean on Thee as he did,
and find my ministry Thine. (187)

We recently posted a prayer guide for leaders that’s a couple of years old. We’ve since started working on a prayer guide for married couples. This guide grows out of a desire for us to be more intentional about praying together and/or praying for one another. It’s a work-in-progress, which means it will probably go through a lot of revisions in the next few weeks (and will always change according to our needs), but we thought we’d go ahead and post it, so, here it is. Of course, you may have to tweak it to fit your own needs.

Couples’ Prayer Guide

Sunday :: Surrender

• Pray that we will be completely yielded to God.
• Pray that we will be whole-hearted in our devotion to God.
• Pray that we be persistent and persevering on the journey.

Monday :: Character / Integrity

• Pray for one another’s character development.
• Pray for one another’s purity.
• Pray that our character always outpaces our gifts.

Tuesday :: Marriage

• Pray that we maintain/grow a loving relationship.
• Pray that we maintain oneness/intimacy.
• Pray that we communicate well.

Wednesday :: Parenting

• Pray for God’s wisdom.
• Pray that our home will be a place of peace.
• Pray that we will “train up” our child well.

Thursday :: Growth

• Pray for one another’s spiritual growth.
• Pray that we remain committed to being lifelong learners.
• Pray for one another’s gift development.

Friday :: Health / Well-Being

• Pray for one another’s health and well-being.
• Pray that we consistently exercise and eat well.
• Pray that we consistently take time off each day, days off each week, and vacation time.

Saturday :: Legacy / Impact

• Pray that our lives impact others.
• Pray that we remain good stewards.
• Pray that we make a difference for eternity.