Tag Archives: prayer

Parented by God

My best mornings begin with a special time alone with God. When my children were small, desperation had me setting my alarm early enough to fortify my spirit before facing the breakfast chaos.

In the shelter of my bed (sitting up to keep awake) I’d enjoy a quiet time with the Lord. It was like a spiritual snuggle with my Divine Parent before I faced my own parenting role.

The Bible has so many images of the parental aspects of God’s heart. One particular morning, I was thinking about Him as “Father to the fatherless.”

I’d grown up in a loving home and my parents lived nearby. By this point I was in my mid-thirties (a few years ago now!) with a husband and children of my own. I had grown up.

But part of me often felt like an orphaned child. That morning I poured out my fears and loneliness to Him in prayer. Abba… Papa… help me to stay in the shelter of Your care. Grow me under Your watchful eye.

After a while, I felt in my heart that it was time to get up. Lord, I sense our time together is over now….

I meant it as clarification: was I really supposed to get up? I hadn’t opened my Bible or paused to listen for His leading. I’d done all the talking. Again.

A gentle reassurance interrupted me: Oh, no… we’ve just begun.

His message, inaudible but understood, resonated in my soul.

What followed was the mental equivalent of that little scoot a parent gives a toddler to send her out to play after a hug. Warmed by His love, I scooted.

When Our Role is to Pray and Wait

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When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father…’
Luke 15:17-18a NLT*

Last week we talked about how if there’s something our loved ones need to learn or change in their thinking, we can trust God to make it plain to them. We were looking at how God works in the lives of believers (including our own lives!)

Today’s verse reminds me this principle also applies for those who don’t yet know Jesus. That’s a huge comfort as we pray for people who are outside of relationship with God. And it makes perfect sense. After all, it’s God who initiates the contact, who softens hearts and gives faith.

When the young man in the parable left home, his father’s only option was to pray. Jesus didn’t say he did, but I think it’s implied by how he was watching and waiting for his son’s return.

We don’t know how long he waited, either.

The father knew the trouble his son could get into, and he presumably prayed for physical and spiritual protection. I’m guessing he also prayed for God to change the young man’s heart and bring him home.

He may well have prayed in terms of love, light and freedom. [Please follow the link to read Ginny Jaques’ insightful article on praying for unsaved loved ones.]

God our Father, thank You for revealing Your love to us, shining Your light of truth on our lives, and giving us freedom to choose You. Help us as we pray for those we love who don’t yet trust You. Help us pray in love, power and confidence, and help us wait for Your perfect timing as You draw them to know You. You love them even more than we do, and in this we will rest.

∞

Amy Grant‘s song, “I’ll Be Waiting,” captures some of the longing heart for a wayward loved one.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

When Jesus Prays for Us

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“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
Luke 22:31-32, NLT*

This is Jesus talking. He who has the power to stop storms, banish demons and raise the dead. Yet all He does here is pray for the fallout. Couldn’t He have rejected Satan’s request? Placed a special protection around the disciples?

Of course He could.

The fact that He didn’t shows that, as with Job, the trial would be permitted because it would ultimately accomplish God’s purposes in the lives of His dearly loved people.

So He let it happen.

It can happen to us too.

Sometimes, as with Peter’s denial, it’s our failure. Sometimes, like with Job, it’s out of our control: circumstances and others’ actions. Either way, if we surrender it to God He can use it to shape and grow us into the image of His Son. (See Painfully Conformed, at Other Food: daily devos)

And Jesus intercedes for us. Just as He did for Peter.

Father God, I affirm Your sovereignty. Nothing can touch me outside of Your will. Your plans for me are good. I rely on the intercession of Your Son, and I ask for grace to cooperate with Your Holy Spirit who lives in me, so that whatever the day holds, I can offer it to You in worship and conduct myself in a manner worthy of Your Name.

∞

In hard times or in good times, instead of handling life alone we can take Third Day‘s invitation to “Cry Out to Jesus.”

Quiet Times with God

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My child, eat honey, for it is good,
and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste.
In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul.
If you find it, you will have a bright future,
and your hopes will not be cut short.
Proverbs 24:13-14, NLT*

I love the invitations to wisdom we find in the Bible, and how they’re free to those who will seek God and draw near to Him. They’re not conditional on our latent intelligence or on our spotless pasts, but they’re based on God and His love for us.

In these verses we’re encouraged to look for wisdom rather than waiting for it to magically appear. The honeycomb illustration implies an eager, childlike search for something we know we’ll like.

Where do we find wisdom?

From God, and through His Book. We need a daily quiet time with Him, to read, pray, listen and learn. It’s not enough to know about Him. We need to know Him.

Daily quiet times are hard habits to get into, and easy habits to break. There’s no point getting legalistic over them or guilting ourselves, but if we can find even five minutes to get alone with God, we’ll be the richer for it.

Morning, after lunch, bedtime, whenever works best for you. Consistency helps, but some schedules won’t allow it. I heard of one person who linked his devotional moments to his morning coffee time—something he looked forward to and something he made sure happened each day.

Often we don’t have time to stop and pray, but I find as I get myself out of bed a bit earlier for my quiet time, the rest of the day goes smoother. We can’t bribe God into giving us pleasant days, but if we’re aligned with His Spirit, we’re better prepared to face what comes.

Father God, what a privilege it is to spend time with You. It’s more than our minds can grasp, but You invite us and You enjoy us. Help us make this a priority in our daily lives, not as an obligation but as a respite, a delight, and a time of refreshing and nourishing. Thank You for Your grace and Your love for us.

∞

A good, soul-quieting song is “Draw Me Close to You,” sung here by Hillsong.

Too Busy Not to Pray (christianitytoday.com)

Piercing the Gloom

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After an evening struggling with discouragement, I woke the next morning from a dream about outnumbered soldiers in a battle where miracles were the only thing keeping them safe, where the final defenses were nearly breached but where victory may have happened at the end. And where the stakes were higher than the soldiers’ lives—where God had a higher purpose.

Lying in bed, thinking about my dream, I got a song: the Newsboys’ “Never Surrender, Never Say Die.”

Then my morning reading included this verse:

As soon as I pray, you answer me;
you encourage me by giving me strength.
Psalm 138:3, NLT*

Wow… I’d been praying for help, for focus and encouragement. I’d been doing my feeble best to keep my thoughts God-centered in the gloom.

This verse tells me God heard. And He answered as soon as I prayed. Not that I experienced the answer then, but I wonder how much easier the night would have been if I’d counted the prayer answered as soon as I prayed it—if I’d begun to thank Him for what He was in the process of doing, instead of waiting until I saw for myself.

Encouraged? Yes. Challenged? Yes. Thank You, God, and please help me be ready for next time.

∞

Rock-Solid Security

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Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion;
they will not be defeated but will endure forever.
Psalm 125:1, NLT*

Trusting God brings security. We won’t be defeated.

That’s not to say we won’t have pain and trouble, but it’s a reminder of the real battle, the long-term spiritual one.

Whatever our hard times, it’s easier to focus on the externals: the disease, rebellious child, unemployment. The things outside our control.

We’re not responsible for the externals. We’re responsible for our hearts, our focus, our faith.

Defeat is when we get our eyes off God. Victory is continuing to trust in spite of what we see, hear, feel, experience.

We can pray for healing, common sense, provision. But we also need to pray for ourselves, to remain strong in our private tests.

This is our temptation, our battle: will we continue to trust? This is where God makes a way, if we’ll only look for it.

Faithful God, You’ve promised to never leave us, and to always make a way out from under the temptations we face. You want us to stand victorious in Your strength, for Your glory and our wellbeing. Help us keep our focus on You despite whatever may go on around us. Help us plant even in tears, to do what needs doing, so we can reap with joy in Your time.

∞

Where do we look for security? Bebo Norman sings “I Will Lift My Eyes.”

Benefits of the ACTS Prayer

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One of the simpler and most familiar structures for prayer is ACTS. Not that we need a formula to approach God, but it can be good to have a guideline to keep from forgetting anything important. I’ve been using this one lately to stay focused, and have found some other benefits as well.

Adoration:

I have a bad habit of starting prayer in mid-conversation. I know we’re encouraged to develop the habit of praying unceasingly, but when I stop for an intentional “quiet time” prayer, just me and God, it’s worth going back to the beginning to remind myself Who He is. It’s polite, reverent, and it quiets my heart and puts everything in perspective.
Thinking of God’s attributes and authority reinforces it in my mind so I’m less likely to feel alone and unprotected in the rest of my day. (How sad is it to need reminding of His care?)

Confession:

Looking at God’s greatness is a great way to notice my own smallness and failings. Not that He wants to put me down – He can’t grow me in His image if I don’t see the problems and ask for His help and forgiveness. Regular confession helps me recognize the “little” sins that are easy to gloss over and allow to fester.
Receiving His forgiveness erases any barriers my sin has caused that might keep me from hearing or obeying Him.

Thanksgiving:

How can I be anything but thankful that He forgives me and wants to help and heal me?
Gratitude is crucial to my well-being and with all God does for me, it’s rude to take His gifts for granted. (Again, how sad is it that we forget to notice and say thank You?)

Supplication:

Okay, “supplication” is too outdated a word for something that’s still current, so I call this part “struggles.” It’s the “prayer requests” part that too often we jump into without bothering with the other aspects. Coming after the other parts of the prayer, it’s in better perspective. By this point, I’m better focused on God, we’ve cleared up any communications issues, and I’ve looked at some of the ways He’s showed His care. I’m now in a good place to confidently bring Him needs: mine and others’.
I suppose the S could also be for “surrender” because that’s the best thing to do with these issues. In bringing them to God, I need to release them with “not my will but Yours.” This is so much easier after spending a few minutes adoring, confessing and thanking, because I’m more aware of our relative positions and abilities. I’m less tempted to be sure I know best, and less tempted to doubt His care, integrity or power.

Period

We don’t really end with the “please help”. If we pray until we have peace about what’s troubling us, we end with confident trust in God’s care. Adding another letter would mess up the memory device, so I’ll end with a period. “Full stop,” as the British would say. For the purposes of intercessory prayer, the period declares “ I’ve given it to God and I’m leaving it there. He will deal with it in His perfect wisdom, love and time. I will not fret in the waiting.”
The period also reminds me to stop talking and listen. Prayer is, after all, dialogue. If I fill the time with my yammering, I miss God’s quiet voice.

ACTS. As well as the way this format helps me focus, I love how it can expand or contract to match the time I have for prayer. It’s a great way to start the day, and it puts me in an attitude of prayer that carries with me when I’m back in the fray. I still mess up, but even then if I’ve started well with prayer it’s easier to turn back to God and carry on.

The Kindness of God

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What can I offer the Lord
for all he has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
I will keep my promises to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Psalm 116:12-14, NLT*

The kindness of God has been on my mind a lot lately, and the depth of love He inspires when we see how good He is to us. I think that’s where the psalmist is going here with his question.

Earlier in the psalm he talks about the hard place he was in, and how God answered his desperate prayer. There’s no way he can repay his Rescuer, except with his life.

How then will he live?

He’ll accept and embrace the salvation. No holding it off because he’s not worthy and can’t earn it. Neither will he keep it to himself. He’ll declare God’s praises publicly so others will know God’s character.

And he’ll keep whatever promises and vows he makes to the Lord. I don’t think this is about any bargains he may have tried to make with God in the troubled time. I think it’s about integrity in his ongoing relationship with God and in the presence of witnesses.

He also commits to be part of corporate worship as well as private worship. I’m not sure if it’s for his own need or in honour of God, but despite any irritating, flawed or hypocritical people in his faith community, he won’t walk away. His example of faithfulness and his declarations of praise will encourage others’ faith, and theirs will encourage his.

As I pray for people struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and other disasters, and as I pray for people digging themselves deeper into trouble of their own making, I’m sad that sometimes we have to reach despair before we cry out to God for help. Yet He’s waiting like the prodigal’s father, arms outstretched, longing to bring good into our lives.

God, You are our Creator and Sustainer, our Saviour and our King. Your kindness reaches for us even while we’re running away from You. Soften the hearts of those who know You and of those who don’t, and help us all to look to You for help. Yes, we can fear Your discipline, but it’s when we experience Your love and Your mercy that our hearts are undone. We love You because You loved us first. Help us live in light of Your love.

∞

Todd Agnew’s song, “Kindness,” is one I’ve been singing in prayer for some of those I care for who are still running. May His kindness draw us all nearer.

In the Hard Times

Joy and Security

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Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.
Psalm 63:7-8, NLT*

I’ve been reading this psalm daily for a few weeks now, and although it’s short, it’s powerful. David is longing for God, and he’s aware of his enemies pressing in, yet the verses overflow with words like praise and joy and sing. He has his faith perspective in place.

I know about pressing through in prayer, bringing God our fears and troubles. Leaving those troubles with Him. Praying until it becomes about Him rather than about us. Until we’re worshipping. Praising.

I don’t do it nearly as often as I should.

That’s what David’s doing here. He hasn’t forgotten the desert or his enemies’ plots. He’s not denying or ignoring them.

But he sees God. He knows God is enough.

He’s not perching timidly in the shadow of God’s wings, trembling in that strong hand because the danger might snatch him away. He has no thought that God might drop him or fail to protect him.

Our God, You are strong and mighty to save. You are our strong tower, our refuge, our shelter and our Defender. You are our Good Shepherd. We know the words, but so often we don’t act like we believe them. We run to You and keep watching our troubles as if they might break through Your defenses. Faith tells us that can’t happen. Help us listen and be confident in You.

∞

The classic Newsboys worship song, “Strong Tower,” is a good confidence-builder.

*New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Janet Sketchley

Writing Christian Mysteries & Suspense

Tag Archives: prayer

Parented by God

When Our Role is to Pray and Wait

When Jesus Prays for Us

Quiet Times with God

Piercing the Gloom

Rock-Solid Security

Benefits of the ACTS Prayer

The Kindness of God

In the Hard Times

Joy and Security

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