Tag Archives: prayer

WEDNESDAY WISDOM SEARCHING LINK UP

WEDNESDAY WISDOM SEARCHING #2

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Hey there everyone, it’s been a month already and it’s time for our next…wisdom search4Thank you to all of you who took the time to link up and also for your comments on what Worship meant to you.

The one thing that came out of the posts and comments was the word Grace. This may seem wrong when the link up was on Worship but as we try to be the best we can be, God extends His Grace to us, because no matter how hard we try we will always stumble and have issues.

Grace is God’s unmerited favour… Wow I just, love that, there is nothing we can do to earn His Grace, He just extends it to us freely.

Okay this months link up will be on PRAYER.

Now if you have been reading my Good Morning Mondays Posts you will know that I have been reading Fervent. Fervent is written by Priscilla Shirer who is the female lead in the movie War Room.

Now I don’t want to make this post about this great book but about what God’s word says about prayer and how that applies to us in our daily life, but this book has definitely helped me along my journey of grasping it.

Obviously by the title Priscilla talks about being fervent in our prayer life, she also talks about defining who our enemy really is and then planning and praying strategic prayers.

I found this quote from A. W. Tozer…

It is because of the hasty and superficial conversation with God that the sense of sin so so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you should.

So I had already gotten from Fervent that our prayer should be just that and now Tozer is telling us that it shouldn’t be hasty or superficial.

Definition of Prayer: 

  1. a devout petition to God;
  2. a spiritual communion with God, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration or confession.

The Lord’s Prayer leads us through each of these, adoration, supplication, confession and thanksgiving. The steps are there laid out for us in Matthew 6:9-13.

I was going along really well on this prayer study until I got to…

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing

Here i hit a bit of a stumbling block, that was there when I looked at Worship.

How can I put aside everything happening around the home, school, house work, attitudes, piano practice, to pray without ceasing???

It is somewhat easy to take the time to sit down maybe in the morning and talk with God, I find it relatively easy to do so again before I go to sleep, but what about never ceasing in prayer??

Can we live in constant communion with God??

This led me to scriptures on sin…

Psalm 51:4 Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Psalm 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.

I definitely acknowledge that I am a sinner and my sin is always before me, I also definitely need to be in constant communion with God.

It is because of my failures and inadequacies that I have a desire to pray without ceasing, if I had no sin I doubt that I would have a need for God.

So what does your prayer life look like???? Where has God been challenging you on this point???

I am looking forward to coming together to discuss prayer over the next month and I am also looking forward to reading your posts.

Also please don’t be offended if I delete your post if it doesn’t relate to prayer, pop over to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up each week if you have something else you would like to share.

Okay, let’s get to it…

An InLinkz Link-up

 

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs


Diaries of the Heart

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM MILLY

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I really enjoy the movie/musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It is fun and colourful and full of life, but there is so much we can learn from the main female character Milly.

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If you have never seen the movie go here for full details, this link will tell you all the back ground.

Milly the main female character meets Adam, a typical boy meets girl type of scenario except that these two are older and I am sure it was love at first sight, especially for Milly, and they marry the same day.

Unfortunately the marriage doesn’t start out with a basis of truth. Adam doesn’t tell Milly about his 6 grown brothers or the fact that they all live in the same house. Milly waxes on about how wonderful it will be to only cook for 1 man (after serving at the local tavern) and how much she was going to do and grow – basically on the long journey home she shared all her heart and visions for their marriage.

Adam on the other hand sits there and doesn’t really say anything, nothing to give away what she was about to walk into.

When they arrive Milly is confronted with 6 rather grubby backswoodsmen who might as well have lived in the pig pen for all they cared for their home.  They basically demand some food and then eat it like they were animals. Milly has had about enough and overturns the tables and goes to their room.

I am sure as she grasps her Bible she is wondering about what she has gotten herself into and how God could help her. Adam arrives and was going to sleep in a tree (outside their window) to save face but she eventually invites him in and their marriage commences.

Now I am not saying all of the above to down men – my point is what can we as women, wives and mothers learn from Milly.

She was tough, physically and spiritually, but she was all woman. She loved Adam from the start and decided that she would make it work. She didn’t pack her bags and head back to town, she toughed it out. She trained her 6 new brothers to be men and then gentlemen and taught them manners and how to behave.

She didn’t, that I saw work on her husband, she just loved him and cared for him as a wife should.

She stuck with it even when, at the barn raising, there was a big fight, which Adam is all into but the brothers hang back for Milly’s sake.

When the boys fall in love and Adam and them go and steal 6 young women from town, Milly takes in the girls and loves them and sends Adam and the boys to the barn.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, the 6 brothers and the 6 girls fall in love, Milly has a baby and Adam has taken off to the hunters shack.

When Adam learns of his daughters birth he returns to say goodbye, but just seeing his baby girl makes him realise how much he loves Milly and Hannah and how much he needs them.

Milly must have prayed hard that winter for Adam that he would see the errors of his ways and come home. Maybe she even almost gave up hope, but her prayers were answered and her marriage becomes one of love, trust and security.

MV5BMTk4NDA0OTIxN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODE2MjQ4NA@@._V1_SY100_CR13,0,100,100_AL_So what can we learn from Milly???

Even in the best of relationships issues will arise that give us heart ache, so instead of packing our bags and heading for the nearest bus station, let’s be like Milly and stick with it.

Let’s stick with it and pray for God to change our situation, but to change it only to glorify Him.

1 Corinthians 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Diaries of the Heart

NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US….

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We received some sad and disappointing news last night.

Last year I asked you to pray for a good friend of ours Mr H as he was going into hospital to have a cancerous tumour removed from his liver.

The operation had been a success and his test results in the New Year had been clear and favourable, which was such a blessing after two years of fighting the cancer.

During his follow up tests this last week Mr H received news that there was more cancer in his lymph node and possibly another spot on his liver.

Understandably both Mr H and his wife and family are very upset over this news. They all thought that he was on the mend. He was looking much better and was getting his cheekiness back, we were all positive he would receive a good result.

So I must admit I was feeling rather down and sad this morning during worship, but it never ceases to amaze me how God speaks to us at just the right moment, how he can take away our fear and give us peace.

Our first hymn this morning was

nothing in all creation

What a comfort this was this morning to sing this knowing that even though we are facing difficult times that nothing can separate us from God, not even death.

Mr H has no fear of death and he definitely isn’t worried about dying but naturally he is concerned for his wife and grown daughters and leaving them behind. His faith is a wonderful example to us.

Thank you Lord that you hold us so close to you thank you that you love us that much.

7448835930_92db32399b_qIf you can please pray for Mr H and his family, he has three grown daughter, two of whom are married.

 

Diaries of the Heart

SLEEPING OR PRAYING – WHAT’LL IT BE

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Another day has gone by and it is bed time.  I am tired, it’s been hot and we’ve been busy, and in town shopping,

I’m sitting here thinking that I need to go to bed.  My men folk are out at a fire brigade training session and will not be home for a while yet.

I could go to bed and read and pray or just sleep, but I know that I should be praying for my family.

I know of a family where the grandmother prays for her children and her grandchildren every day.  She prays for their relationship with God and for their future, she is definitely a God fearing woman who knows the power of prayer and all her children walk with the Lord.

I want to be a praying mother and now grandmother.  Each night I pray for the safety of our children and grandchildren.  I pray for our unmarried children’s future spouses and their safety.

But I want to be able to pray more and to be able to stay awake at night instead of falling asleep.  I sometimes joke that if I can’t sleep I pray, but that’s not really the way I want it to be.  I want to be a God fearing prayerful women who knows and understands the power of prayer.  I want my sons and daughters to be prayerful people who put their trust in God and not in man.

I want to pray for them to turn their backs on the ways of the world and keep their eyes on Jesus.  I want us to be in the world and not of the world.

So I think I will go to bed and pray.

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PS: I wrote this post a month or so ago hence the reference to warm weather.

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS LINK PARTY

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS #19

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Hi everyone, and welcome back to another Good Morning Mondays.

I hope you have all had a good week and a restful weekend and that you are all ready to start the new week with gusto!!!

Our week has been good and we have schooled and done piano – just the usual.

We went to our Revelation Bible Study on Tuesday night and we are all enjoying this and it is great for our younger children to learn to listen and sit still.

Wednesday night was Ash Wednesday and we went to church.  We don’t usually do this but we have decided to this year and to teach the children about Lent and what it means. We don’t want them to see it as a time where we “give up” chocolate, but we want them to understand the lead up to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

We have instigated nightly bible readings with our No 2 daughter reading a Psalm and No 1 son reading a chapter of Proverbs.  We usually read bible stories but have decided that the children are getting older and are ready for more.

We have also instigated a weekly prayer list and have asked them to choose who they want to pray for, our only stipulation is that there be Christians and non-Christians on that list.  We want to get past the thank you Lord for our good day and onto a more meaningful prayer time.

Sometimes at tea time we are just tired and want the children to go to bed, but they are quick to remind us of our prayer time and who they are praying for.

The children did a great job with some cleaning during the week, so after No 2 daughter mopped the floor and it was drying I took them to our local park for some hot chips and a play on the swings. This park is in a small town about 12 kms away, our nearest shopping town is 40 kms.

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This doesn’t happen very often so it was a treat for them and they had done a great job.

Unfortunately No 2 son was sick with gastro on Saturday morning so we had to cancel a visit from our No 1 daughter and family.  I must admit I had a good cry over this, as we haven’t seen them since Christmas and they have been travelling around part of Australia and we were keen to get together with them.

My husband also decided that we couldn’t go to the 1 year old dedication and birthday party this afternoon in case we infected anyone else. This was very sad also but the right decision due to the amount of young children attending and we didn’t want anyone else to get sick.

This party was for the youngest son of our friends.  He is number 8 and a real cutie.  He has downs syndrome but he is such a blessing and we so wanted to show our support for them all. God doesn’t make mistakes and he has placed this beautiful little boy into a lovely home with supportive siblings and parents.  If you have time I would love you to pray for him – let’s name him little J.  Please pray also for his parents for wisdom in how they teach and train him.

So there has been good and sad this week.  I spent most of Saturday feeling sorry for myself and then Saturday night feeling bad about that. I guess I had a pity party – and I am definitely not proud of the fact, I really needed to build a bridge and get over it.

Our youngest two children made me these beautiful cards for my birthday and they made me feel so loved.  It is amazing how forgiving and loving they are, I am really blessed to be their mother.

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My husband has put in a special prayer request and asks that if you have time to prayer for the following:

Sunday night starts the week of the Melbourne Bible Blitz for the Gideons International in Australia.  They will spend the week handing out Bibles at the universities in Melbourne and going around the hospitals, doctors surgeries, police academy, prisons, and on street witnessing. Their hope is to hand out 200,000 scriptures (Proverbs, Psalms and New Testament in one) and 18 tonnes of Bibles.

My husband and No 1 son will spend from Sunday afternoon until Wednesday evening in Melbourne (300 kms away) handing out, witnessing and transporting scriptures.

Please pray for open hearts and minds as they do this and please pray for all attending to be kept safe and well.

Thank you.

Okay, enough about us.

Here are our top 3 posts this week…

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 Meal Plan and A Homemaking Routine Update by Jayne at Tiny Toadstool Cottage

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Too Much Stuff by Latisha at Ask Latisha

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Living on His Income a book review by Laura at Harvest Lane Cottage

My personal favourite this week is…thmb54e11a71dbbf4Grocery No Spend Challenge by Taylor Made Ranch

Imagine not going grocery shopping for a whole month. Pop over and have a look at this post if you want to see how it goes.

I want you all to know that I find it very hard to pick a favourite post each week.  I would love to be able to feature you all.

Congratulations to everyone for being featured and thank you to all of you who took the time and linked up.

I hope you are all learning as much as I am.  I am so blessed by you all and the relationship that we are building.

This week coming up is looking at being cooler (we had a hot weekend) so I will be very motivated to get heaps done (and praying that none of the rest of us get sick).

We have a Lenten church service on Wednesday and hopefully a sewing day with my friend.  We have had to cancel the last two due to them being sick, hopefully it won’t be us this week.  We will also be catching up with our daughter and family sometime soon and we are all looking forward to that.

I have been challenged this week to allow my younger two children to do more and take on more responsibilities.  It is amazing what they can do and how they respond with praise.

So I pray that you all will have a blessed week and I want to encourage you all to keep on keeping on and stay close to God, and He will guide you.

Blessings.


Diaries of the Heart

WHEN PEOPLE HURT US…

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Why did they do that?  Why did they say that? How can people be so hurtful?

These are questions that I have asked many times over, usually the answer is I don’t know why.

What do you do when people say things or do things that upset you? How do you handle the situation?

There are a few things we should do and a few things we shouldn’t.

  • We shouldn’t retaliate or hit back;
  • We shouldn’t curse them or be angry.

Sometimes there is just no answer as to why people are the way they are.  Retaliating isn’t the way to go and we are trying to teach our children to not hit back when it happens to them, by showing them how we handle these situations.

  • We should forgive them;
  • We should bless them;
  • We should pray for them.

Our family has a saying: build a bridge and get over it, but can we really get over it without forgiveness.  Another thing we can do is to ask God to bless those who hurt us.

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My husband heard the saying the other day – “being able to forgive mightn’t be able to help yesterday but will bless you tomorrow”.

We can never go back but we can always move forward with God and his help.  Forgiving others will enable us to go on and actually release us to prayer for them.

Luke 6:28-29 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold you tunic either.

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.

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Do you find yourself walking around the house having conversations in your head with people who have upset you?  I find myself doing this quite often – saying to those who have hurt me what I really wanted to say to their face.  Then the Holy Spirit convicts me and I stop myself and ask for forgiveness and ask God to bless them and their family. This act really helps me stop thinking about it and helps me turn my feelings of frustration and anger to love, prayer and forgiveness.

So when people hurt you in either word or deed, ask God to help you turn the other cheek and forgive them and then ask God to bless them.

This post is linked up here…

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