Month: January 2016

In Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby writes about spiritual markers. He says “a spiritual marker identifies a time of transition, decision, or direction when I clearly know that God has guided me.” My first big spiritual maker happened in the summer of my eleventh year while I attended church camp. The theme for the camp was on prayer. My counselor, Aunt Peggy (all the counselors were called aunts or uncles) lead daily devotions on prayer and our relationship with God. It was there in that primitive camp cabin that I learned that I can have a personal relationship with God and Jesus and that relationship is strengthened through prayer.

Up until that camp, my prayers mainly consisted of a recited mealtime blessing and a bedtime prayer of asking God to bless my parents, my sisters, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, and a boatload of cousins. After camp, I realized I could talk to God about anything! I had two sisters, and I had always wanted a baby brother. So beginning at camp, I prayed for a baby brother. Philippians 4:6 had become real to me as I let my requests be known to God.

After coming home from camp, I announced to my parents that I was praying for a baby brother. My parents said, “That may not happen,” but I kept on praying for a baby brother. Eight weeks later my parents announced that my mom was going to have a baby, but it would probably be another girl. On February 23, 1966, my baby brother was born. When Daddy told me mom had a boy, I said, “Of course. God heard my prayer and answered me.” What a powerful lesson God taught me that year!

For many people it is a very hectic season of life right now.  Christmas breaks have just ended for students and families are once again juggling the busy schedule between working all day and juggling multiple family schedules.  I know because I have been there!  With all this being said it makes me wonder…?

At the beginning of December I began a personal study of the book of Psalms. I expected it to be awesome and super encouraging. The idea was to read through the book of Psalms in a month for my devotion time. First of all I didn’t finish, I have a few chapters to go but am hoping to finish by the end of this week. Fingers crossed. As I have read through the Psalms, I have started to take notice of the different prayers that David prayed and how different they look than mine.

Take for instance Psalm 110

1 The Lord says to my Lord:
Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
4 The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.

My prayers so often are about me, my needs and my wants; sometimes speaking of God’s greatness but more about me. David though, a man who loved God deeply and personally talks about God’s holiness and Him being just as a way of prayer and worship. David in this Psalm describes a battle that needs to be fought; a battle against evil, for God, for good and for God’s glory. I also want to be a part of this battle fighting for the Kingdom of God. Which leads me to a new kind of prayer, one that is less about me and more about HIM.

My prayer: “Lord, with your Spirit overcome my lack of generosity and my obsession with my own needs and security, so that I can truly be part of your work in the world.”

“The only hope in making a long-lasting difference for God is to learn to pray”* How do children learn to pray? They first learn to pray by hearing their parents pray. Children as young as one and two can be taught to pray.

Prayer is talking to God. When praying with preschoolers, use simple words and phrases your child can understand. As parents integrate prayer as a natural part of the day, preschoolers learn to turn to God to heal their booboos, pray for their sick dog, and express thanks to God for the macaroni and cheese at dinner.

Avoid teaching preschoolers memorized prayers. While the “Superman Blessing” and “Now I Lay Me” sound cute when preschoolers recite them, they do not teach children to talk to God about the concerns of their hearts. Encourage your child to use his/her own words. Give them a sentence prayer to complete such as, “Thank You, God, for …. “, “God help my friend ….”, or “God help me to …” Model praying spontaneous prayers throughout the day. Prayer is not just for mealtime and bedtime. God’s creation gives you many opportunities to express thankfulness to Him. When you are outside with your child, pray, “Thank You, God, for the pretty flowers” or “Thank You, God, for eyes to see the rainbow.”

Pray “on the spot” prayers. When your child comes to you with a problem or a worry, pray right then. Integrate prayer into discipline by praying for God to help your child be kind to his/her sibling or for God to forgive your child for wrong choices or actions. Teach older preschoolers the different kinds of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, prayers for people who are in need, prayers for oneself and family.

God instructs Jeremiah to “call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:12). By modeling and teaching children to pray, parents are laying the foundation for a lifetime of calling out to God through prayer.

• Ronnie Floyd, How to Pray

I’ve just finished reading the book, Fervent – A Woman’s Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer. This book was inspired by the War Room movie, and I can tell you if you enjoyed the movie, you’ll enjoy reading this book.

Pricilla Shirer gives a glimpse of ten strategies Satan might use to attack us. Of course his goal is to see us passionless, powerless, and especially prayerless. She says. “In prayer you gain your strength – the power to gird yourself with armor that extinguishes every weapon your enemy wields.” We pray because our own solutions don’t work and because prayer deploys, activates, and fortifies us against the attacks of the enemy.”

I’m so thankful that God didn’t leave us without His strength, which we access in prayer, through the power of His Holy Spirit, who indwells each of us as believers in Jesus Christ. I’ve personally been so encouraged knowing that all my strength is rooted in who I am in Him and in the WORD of GOD. In that relationship, as a child of God, I have access to the very throne room of God, and all of the resources of heaven.

When Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesians 3, he prayed that they would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. He asked that they would have power to grasp the depth of God’s love in Christ, and that they would know that love to the fullest. And then he proclaims, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us”… what a statement!

The battle has already been fought and won-We pray from victory not for victory!

Linda Warne