prayer

by

If You Have Seen Me

I have spent decades of my life praying for my country. I love the United States of America. It is the greatest country, the most free and diverse land of opportunities. It is a nation that has spent billions of dollars to help less fortunate countries. It is now under attack at its very foundation, so lately I have been praying for her like never before.

A few weeks ago I gathered with others to pray first for many nations around the world, and then to end our days of prayer praying for the United States. During that time of prayer I saw something. I saw in my mind a large stone monument of the Ten Commandments being removed from in front of a government building. I saw the Ten Commandments being removed from classrooms. I saw the Ten Commandments being removed from homes and even some churches. Before the historical monuments were removed, they first removed the Ten Commandments.

I remember hearing people say that the decline of this country began when God was removed from our schools and government. As I prayed I searched for the words to invite God back into this nation. The words that I found caused me to love God even more.

You see laws on a stone monument have never changed a person’s heart. Evil in a person’s heart will not be stopped or changed by a set of laws. We see it everyday as the news is filled with people perpetrating evil in most of the daily headlines. To those who do not already know God, laws on a stone tablet may make them think of a legalistic demanding God. Many think of Him as a vengeful Old Testament God. However, what changed when Jesus came in the flesh?

He introduced us to God as Father. He showed us a compassionate, loving, caring, and merciful Father. So as I prayed I let go of those stone monuments in my heart and I invited God, as Father, back into our schools, government, prisons, hospitals, churches, homes, and hearts.

The people in this nation and throughout the entire earth are in need of a demonstration of the Father’s love. Let’s give it to them. Let it be said of each of us, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

“Jesus replied… Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9)

“…one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.” (Luke 11:1-4)

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

by

Afghanistan

At first I regretted seeing so many images from the US evacuation of Afghanistan. My head could handle the information and I could act through prayer and donations. However, my heart was struggling with the haunting images. The image of a parent passing his baby over razor wire to soldiers that he didn’t even know, in hopes of saving his baby’s life even if he could not save his own. The people falling from airplanes as they clung to the outside of the plane in desperation. Even now the tears come. The video of one little 10 year old girl after she and her brother made it to safety inside the airport, but who suddenly was brought to tears as they shared that they didn’t know if their parents had made it to safety. The lives lost, both military and civilians who died at the hands of a suicide bomber. The images haunted me. Part of me thought, I should have never looked at all the images and read all the stories. No I didn’t, wish I had buried my head in the sand, but I did wish I had not seen so many images that brought such grief to my heart.

Then Sunday came. My husband Michael and I went to church. Our Pastor, Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Southlake, TX was finishing up on his series entitled Good News. His last message was on death. I highly recommend all the messages in this series.

Even before the sermon, as we sang in worship to God, I started to see the images again. However, in that place, in the atmosphere of God’s Presence, I began to pray. Worship is loud enough there that I don’t think anyone heard me. As I sang I realized that I had brought each and every person that I had seen in those troubling images into that church with me, into His Presence with me and I began to pray for each and every one of them and all the people that they represent. I asked the King of the Universe to intervene.

Then the message on the bad news, sad news, and good news regarding death ministered to my heart and my mind. At the end of every message, Pastor Robert has us bow our heads, close our eyes and ask the Holy Spirit what He is saying to us through today’s message. I bowed my head. I closed my eyes. I asked the Holy Spirit, “What are you saying to me today?” Then came His response.

“They are with Me.”

I felt like He was talking about those that had perished, but at the same time, I felt like He also meant that those still in that horrific situation are also with Him or more so that He was with them.

I will continue to pray for those in Afghanistan and to pray for our leaders as the Bible instructs us. I will carry them with me into His Presence. Place them in His hands and trust Him. Then I will do whatever else He instructs me to do.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For You are with me….” Psalm 23:4, NKJV

by

His Way

I spent some time in prayer with a friend this week. We spent some of that time in worship with one of my new favorite songs, Defender by Rita Springer. It was just released with her new album Battles.

Here are some of the lyrics:

You go before I know, that You’ve even gone to win my war. You come back with the head of my enemy. You come back and You call it my victory… and all I did was praise, and all I did was worship…Hallelujah, You have saved me, so much better Your way.

As we worshiped my friend saw this picture. She saw herself on a plateau, facing an insurmountable wall of rock leading to the next plateau. On the face of the rock was a ladder. She was trying to climb it while trying to help her two little children up the ladder ahead of her and trying to pull her discouraged husband up the ladder behind her.

One side of the ladder kept breaking loose, making her task of getting her family up to the next plateau impossible. As we worshiped, she saw the plateau she was on begin to rise up with her and her family on it. The plateau rose until it was even with the one that had been above it. Now instead of climbing up, she and her family could now step over.

We may try to fight battles or climb ladders in our own strength and effort, but when we rest in Him, He can cause us to rise on His wings in victory.

We rest. We praise. We worship. He wars and He wins. He calls it our victory. His way is better.

Every valley shall be lifted up and filed up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low… And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed… Isaiah 40:4,5

 

 

by

Praying for You

There are times when something quite silly suddenly propels me into a place of prayer for something quite serious. That happened to me today when a song from the 90’s began playing on repeat in my mind. It just wouldn’t go away and I was actually getting quite annoyed.

I decided that maybe if I played the song on Youtube it might finally go away. I began listening to it and the next thing I know, I’m praying. Here are the verses that had been in my mind all morning.

Tell me how am I supposed to live without you/ Now that I’ve been lovin’ you so long/ How am I supposed to live without you/ How am I supposed to carry on/ When all that I’ve been livin’ for is gone.

Yes, I’m a little embarrassed to say that all morning long I’ve had a Michael Bolton song from the 1990’s playing in my head.

But as I listened to that chorus my heart suddenly ached for everyone dealing with loss this holiday season. I prayed as my heart ached for the husband spending the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without his spouse by his side. My heart ached for the wife lost and alone because her best friend, her husband is gone. I prayed for the mother and father who lost a child, young or old. I prayed for those who should be holding a new baby this holiday season, but whose hearts ache with grief because of their empty arms, the empty crib.

I’m praying for you today. I am praying for His peace that passes understanding. I’m praying for the comfort that only He can give at this time. I’m praying for the healing of your heart that only He can bring.

You are not alone. You are not forgotten. I’m praying for you today because you came up in my heart. I’m praying for you today because He put you there. I’m praying for you today because you are on His heart today.

Life be, Love be, Peace be in broken hearts today. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen

by

To Love is to Pray

I’ve shared in the past about well-known people such as celebrities that were tabloid train wrecks, always in the news for the wrong reasons. I’d pass the magazines at the checkout and see their picture with a shocking headline. I’d see the headlines and photos of on-line articles that I never read, but there before me was presented their steady decline. Then finally the headline stating what we all knew was coming, that this celebrity train wreck had tragically died.

I’m so very sorry to say that many times that was the moment that I realized that I had watched this person’s decline and had never once thought to pray for them.

Lord, Help me to truly see them and not judge them but pray for them!

So this morning I was thinking about a person in my life. I won’t say who it is but I will say it is not someone I live with. This person seems to make a lot of careless decisions and their decisions always seem to be made to their benefit without regard for others. I’ve often had the thought this person is irresponsible and selfish. I don’t think thoughts like this often, but somehow when a person is directly in our lives or related to us we seem free to make judgements on them and their behavior. Probably because their poor decisions can have an affect on our own lives.

So as this person came to mind this morning I suddenly felt convicted. I have seen this person and his/her actions. I have judged this person and his/her actions. But I don’t recall praying for this person.

Maybe they’re not a train wreck currently on the road to a tragic death. Maybe they are just really annoying friends or family. But do I really see them? Do I see them through His eyes? Am I seeing them to judge them or to pray for them? Am I praying for their peace and well-being for their sake and not my own?

How do you see your spouse? How do your see your family members? How do you see your in-laws? How do you see your boss or co-worker? How do you see others? Do you judge or do you pray?

 Lord, Help me to truly see them and not judge them but pray for them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

PS… Thank you to those who truly see me and pray for me!

by

Teach Me

Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. (Psalms 25:4-5, KJV)

I’ve written on this topic before, but felt very strongly this morning that I needed to do so again and in greater detail. In 1997 my nephew passed away a few short days after his birth. Many shared their thoughts on why this happened, why God did this. I knew God, but I knew very little about His nature and His ways. My prayer to Him in the midst of it all was this, “God I don’t know what happened, but I don’t believe You did this. Teach me about healing.”

Within two months I found myself at a new church, though neither my husband or I had considered leaving the church we had been in for years. There is so much to this story, but for the sake of space and time let me just say that less than a year later I had become a part of the healing ministry at that church including volunteering in their hospital ministry and being a part of their healing school. Many years later, many prayers later, hundreds of people ministered to and prayed for later, I became the person ‘in charge’ of the healing ministry at our church. I was in charge of training the hospital ministry team and coordinating the ministry. I taught healing school and trained the healing school volunteers. Sixteen years later I am still praying for the sick and seeing them recover. How? I asked Him to teach me about healing.

It didn’t take me long to realize what it meant to ask Him to teach me. I asked Him to teach me about prayer and soon found myself as a young woman with jet black hair, sitting in prayer meetings where just about everyone else in the room had white or gray hair. I’m not trying to make much of myself. I’m making much of my God! I asked Him to teach me about prayer and I ended up with wisdom beyond my years.

I asked Him to teach me about love and to teach me how to love. While at this same church, I not only taught classes on healing, but I also taught many classes on God’s love.

I’ve asked Him to teach me how to be a good wife. I’ve asked Him to teach me about anything and everything I can think of and He always does.

Recently I shared this with someone going through a very difficult situation. One of the things they were battling was tremendous fear. It was not only a battle that was specific to this situation, but one that they had struggled with for much of their life. I encouraged this person to ask God to teach them about His love. Perfected love (His perfect love) casts out all fear. I also encouraged them to ask God to teach them how to walk free from fear.

He longs to lead, guide, instruct, encourage, and teach us. We don’t have to walk through this life alone. We don’t have to try to figure it all out on our own. Trust me you will never figure it out on your own.

Ask Him, “Teach me”. Let Him help you to have the abundant life His Son gave His life for. Selah.

…one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray… (Luke 11:1, KJV)

by

I Forgive You

I guess I’m blogging again sooner than I expected. I was just overwhelmed by an experience in prayer. As I was scrolling through the status updates, photos and such on Facebook, I came across something that upset me. It was a photo of the US Ambassador to Libya, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, being dragged through the streets of Libya as he was being killed. I have seen the photos. I have heard the reports. Up until now, I looked away, but today I was overwhelmed with sadness for this man. So I decided to talk to God about it.

I wept before the Lord as I shared what was on my heart with Him. Praying that His Presence and mercy were there as this man lost his life. I focused on Ambassador Stevens face as I prayed. Not daring to look at the others in the photo. The ones that were murdering him. Suddenly I found myself weeping for the others in the photo. Men so completely lost that they brutally murdered another human being. I began to pray for them. I chose to forgive them. Yes, I want to see them come to justice, but more than that I want to see them come to God.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… (John 3:16, NKJV)

[God]… who desires all men to be saved… (1 Timothy 2:4, NKJV)

…”Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34, NKJV)

This last statement being the words that Jesus prayed for those who were nailing Him to the cross. He prayed for those who crucified Him.

I am reminded of the words of Stephen as he was being stoned.

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60, NKJV)

As I prayed I found myself forgiving the men who committed this atrocious act. As I prayed I found myself forgiving the politicians who allowed it to happen. It doesn’t mean that I will vote for them. But it does mean that I will not carry unforgiveness or hatred towards any man in my heart.

As I prayed I saw the faces of people who have wronged me. I forgave them.

The words that were pouring from my heart over and over again were, “I forgive you.”

The next face I saw was my own. I forgave myself for my own mistakes. But the words kept coming. “I forgive you.”

It  was as though I was no longer saying it, but I heard the words coming from the heart of Jesus towards all these people, including me. I sensed a longing in His heart for all men to know that He forgives them.

…”Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29, NKJV)

…the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all… (1 Timothy 2:5,6; NKJV)

Oh, Father that they may know Your love and Your forgiveness. Forgives us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more? …”I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” …”You have rightly judged.” (Luke 7:42, 43; NKJV)

by

Praying

Have you missed me? I went through a time of great transition and at the end of it all I ended up with a new job. I haven’t had a real job since 1995. Thus the posts to my blog have been few and far between. I hope to start blogging again soon. In the meantime, I will posts snippets of thoughts as I feel they would benefit the reader. Here is a little something I posted to facebook this morning and thought it could possibly benefit someone that might read my blog.

A friend asked me to answer the question why do you pray. I wanted to share my response with all my friends. The truth is that I don’t really think about praying. It’s a natural response from my spirit man due to my relationship with God. I don’t think each day, “Am I going to talk to my husband today?” I just do because I’m in a relationship with him. He’s my husband, my love, my friend, so I talk to him about everything. It’s the same with God. He’s my Father, my Savior, my Comforter, my Friend, my everything, so I talk to him about everything. Of course I talk to Him about situations in my life and in the world that I am asking/inviting Him to supernaturally intervene in on my or others’ behalf. However, the majority of my ‘praying’ is simply fellowshipping with Him about everything ♥

by

Praying for Huma

I have endeavored so far in this blog to keep pretty clear of politics as much as possible. This is a blog about love. Politics is one of those topics that can stir up the enemies of love, such as hate and fear. Politics can be so divisive. As a person who loves I try to find areas of agreement to focus on as much as possible. I’m not trying to push an agenda. I’m just trying to love people.

So today’s post is one that is quite out of the ordinary for this blog, but it is something quite common in my own life. I’m someone who loves this nation (the USA) and I’m someone who is very active in the political process.

So recently I have seen someone’s name batted around in the news a lot lately. I must say that I have seen a lot of headlines about her. I have heard others’ comments about her, but I have not read the articles, nor have I heard the comments that were recently made about her by at least one well-known Republican. I did hear some information about her and her associations that gave me some cause for concern. Mainly because of her position in our government.

Her name is Huma Abedin. She is the wife of former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner. She is also currently a top aide to our Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As I mentioned before, I have gotten the general idea of what was said about her and the general idea of the responses entirely from headlines and blurbs. I have chosen not to read the articles. I did see an interview some time before all this that brought into question her association to a group the could be a real danger to our nation. Do I know for a fact that she is associated with this group in any way? No, I do not. That’s not the point of this post today, or any future posts that I know of on this blog. So what is the point?

The point is after seeing the interview, after seeing the headlines for and against her, I began to have a sense of fear try to creep up with each headline. I began to have a sense of dislike (not hate, but that could not be far behind if I yield to it) towards her. Then I remembered His love. That love that drives out all fear (1 John 4:18).

I remembered Jesus’ words about praying for your enemies. Blessing and doing good to them. Now I don’t personally consider Huma Abedin an enemy. But I had my concerns that she might be associated with those who are enemies to this nation. Thus the fear tried to come.

So what is my response to all this? I am praying for her.

I am not praying with any particular agenda in mind. I am praying for her to know the love of a Heavenly Father.

Yes, I am praying for her for the sake of this nation.

Yes, I am praying for her for the sake of my loved ones and friends.

But mostly I am praying for her for her sake, and for her family’s sake.

I am not praying for her because I hate her or fear her. I am praying for her because I love her.

If My people, who are called by My Name , will humble themselves and pray… (2 Chronicles 7:14)

by

Love & Pray

I returned only a couple of days ago from a trip to Europe. There is a seven hour difference, so I found myself wide awake at 4 a.m. this morning. I lay in bed and listened to a song playing in my heart, How He Loves Us. A person came to mind. Someone I love. I began to pray for them as I lay there. At some point I began to think about why I was praying for them.

This person is in the ministry. She is sharing the gospel all over the world. Lives are being changed. While these are reasons to pray for her, I realized that the reason I was praying for her is because I love her. The people I pray for the most are the people I love the most. I don’t have to be asked to pray for my husband, my parents, my family, my closest friends. I love them, so I pray for them.

A scripture came to mind as I lay there.

…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… (Matthew 5:44, Amplified)

While we may not love what our enemies are doing to us, our motivation to pray for them must be the same. Our motivation must always be love.

For God so loved the world… (John 3:16, KJV

But God shows and clearly proves his own love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ…died for us. (Romans 5:8, Amplified)

The next time you find yourself faced with an enemy. The next time you decide to pray for your enemies. Find that place of love, God’s love for them, and pray.

There will be times when you feel the love of God rise up and feel compelled to pray for your enemies. But just as we hear that “love is choice” concerning our closest relationships, it is also a choice you can make with your enemies. You can choose to love and you can choose to pray for them.

…God has poured out his love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit… (Romans 5:5, NIV)

…You have loved back my life from the pit of corruption and nothingness… (Isaiah 38:17, Amplified)

Let us love. Let us pray. Let us win their lives back. Selah.