Tag: prayer

Knowing What to Do

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

In this world we live in in which evil is rampant and godly leadership doesn’t exist, I am often baffled about what to do. The Bible gives the answer.

We need to call on God for help. He has never changed and never will. When the people of Israel faced many enemies on all sides, they realized that the only help that was possible was from God.

Our enemies are currently spiritual ones…those who whisper in the ears of non-believers (and unfortunately, even some believers) that whatever they want to believe and do, that will be okay. After all, in the current climate of permissiveness and debauchery, there is no standard of right and wrong. However, we who believe in the God of the Bible, know that there are standards and that God cannot possibly be pleased with our nation (or the world, for that matter) right now. In order to survive in this chaotic miasma of sin, we have to daily call on the Lord for help just to get through the day. When we see people flaunting their sin before God, do we speak out or remain silent and pray. I pray that God will give me the wisdom for what to do. The sins of today don’t just affect our current generation but all generations to come. Being “woke” doesn’t just make you broke as the pundits are saying, but it also leads you and those who follow you into the arms of the Destroyer. The attack is real, but so is God. Thus when we don’t know what to do about all the evil around us, prayer is my weapon of choice. I pray that God will help the Christians around the world to hold the line and to declare His truth.

God Will Arise

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

While we Christians sometimes despair at all of the wickedness in the world, let me assure you that God is not dismayed. He knows, and we should know, that God will not forever put up with all of this foolishness. Pride month? We know what God’s Word says about pride, right?

So our heartfelt and faithful prayer should be for God to rise up.

And to that prayer, I can only say: Amen!

A Prayer with Confident Hope

On By vickleaIn prayer, Scripture1 Comment

I pray daily, throughout the day. Some days my prayer is a whisper, a hopeful murmuring to the Lord. Other days, my prayer is intense. Yesterday was a day of intense prayer as our grandson was traveling alone to D.C. to start his new internship there. But his trip was delayed due to car troubles, so he ended up having to travel at night. So, my husband and I prayed that God would work out things with the car and get him there safely. God came through for Isaac as he left about 6 p.m., arrived at 9 and missed a lot of the awful traffic on the beltway. Sigh of relief and praise of thanksgiving that he arrived safely in spite of all of the obstacles. Of course, prayers will continue for him and our other loved one in the days ahead. I must admit that sometimes I am ashamed of how little confidence I have that God will answer my prayers. I pray, wait for an answer and hope that it will come but I am not surprised when the answer is delayed or doesn’t take the form that I thought it would. There is a prayer in scripture that addressed that for me this morning.

Knowing that God is the source of hope helps me to trust in His sovereignty. My confidence is in His answering in His timing and in a way that is best for all concerned. Look at the powerful words in this verse: joy, peace, trust, overflow and confident hope. This is a verse that I need to personalize daily and pray over myself as I come before the Lord and present my thanksgiving and petitions. Today, I pray this prayer for each of my readers, with the confident hope that God will completely fill you with His joy and peace as you trust in Him.

The Prayer-Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli

Prayer and Peace

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Just when I was beginning to think that I was on the mountaintop, looking down into the valleys of all my trials and worries, a new medical test comes along, and boom! There I am, calling out to God for help to get through this one. I awakened a lot during the night, knowing that my EMG is early this morning. Each time, God would bring a praise song to my mind and I would drift back to sleep. It doesn’t help my state of mind that I have had this test before, know that it’s uncomfortable and takes about an hour of pins and electric shocks, simultaneously. Nevertheless, I am trusting God to get me through it without tears of anguish and frustration. The last time I had the test was over eight years ago, after my stroke, so I don’t recall a lot, just the pain and the feeling that it was taking a long time. I think a “long time” is relative when you are in pain that is being dealt out by a machine in the hands of a technician who gently says that it will be slightly uncomfortable. But, just as God has been with me through all the other tests, He will walk with me through this one, too. It reminds me of the wilderness experience of the Israelites. God took them through the wilderness, not around it. So, through this trial I go and I am confident that I will come out the other side, more compassionate for others going through tedious and painful medical procedures.

Fixing my thoughts on God helped me sleep during the night, so I know that fixing my thoughts on Him will help me get through the pain of electricity coursing through my body. Honestly, childbirth does hurt more, so there is that. And I know that my Lamaze breathing helped the last time I had the test done, so I will take deep breaths and with each inhale, I will say a prayer of thanksgiving that I am able to have the test done and a prayer that the test will show what the doctors need to know.

I think that peace comes as a result of prayers, so I am wearing my full armor today, including the shoes on my feet that come from the peace of God’s Good News. As He continues to remind me, nothing will happen to me today that He and I cannot handle together!

Be Strong

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song2 Comments

How does one go about getting strong so you can be strong? The physical trainer will say that exercise is the solution. Lift weights, use a bike or a treadmill, or join the latest fad on a Peloton. What does being strong mean? Does it mean that your brain and other faculties are working well, in sync with each other, so that you feel well and healthy? Some of the health gurus would tell you which vitamins to take and foods to eat and what you should avoid to make your body stronger. But my focus is on our spiritual body. How does one get strong in the Lord?

There is really only one way that I know of and that is to spend time with Him, reading His Word and talking to Him. God speaks to us through His Word, inspires us to personalize His Word through His Holy Spirit and makes us stronger in Him as we grow closer to Him. It’s important to spend time with God every day, not neglecting to strengthen our spiritual body, the part of us that will live forever with our Father in Heaven. Many train for marathons and long bicycle races with hours of endurance runs or rides. We are training for a race that will take us into the presence of the King of Kings, so we cannot grow weary and give up in the middle. We have to keep running that race, keep picking up our Bible daily and looking to His Word as our source for wisdom and strength. God’s power is endless, infinite as He is. In our finite minds, it is hard to conceive of a power that created the world from nothing and rules it with sacrificial love. But it is that power, that strength that we need to tap into and hold on tightly once we do. It is only in being plugged into our source of power that we can then be a source for others to get plugged in and come out know our Mighty God.

Be Strong in the Lord

A Prayer to Start the Day

On By vickleaIn praise, Scripture2 Comments

Before I pray each day, I praise and worship, so let’s start with giving God the honor and glory due His Name.

Just take a few minutes to sit quietly in God’s presence and worship Him, not for what He has done but because of who He is.

My prayer for you today is from God’s Word. May it touch your heart and soul and burrow down deep into the places that you need it most.

Understanding all that God has done for you is key to establishing a relationship of glorifying Him. We can have confident hope that we are His!

But there is more! So much more! The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is there for us to tap into once we understand it. We can only get that understanding by spending time with Him. I pray that an urgent desire to spend time with God, understanding His great power and love for you, fills you today. Time with God is precious. Spend it wisely and well, and have a great and blessed day!

A Saturday Blessing

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Remember that God is the absolute source of all hope! I needed this today and hope that it ministers to someone else out there.

Answered prayer: my brother got a job after being unemployed for six months.

Prayer request: our daughter has a melanoma on the back of her right shoulder and is having surgery on Thursday.

Praise report: All of my heart tests came back normal with no irregularities.

Prayer request: I have to meet with a vascular specialist because my veins in my legs are leaking and causing some issues. Also, I have an MRI on my brain Tuesday. The doctors are still looking for the reason why I get light-headed and faint.

That’s it for today. Anything I can pray for you for? I will be glad to agree with you and lift you before His throne.

Calming My Fears

On By vickleaIn Scripture6 Comments

Yesterday was a difficult day for me since I had to go to the cardiologist for a consultation about some problems I have been having. The day started early, with the cat demanding to be fed and then knocking over a bottle of open water, leaving me a mess to clean up before I could settle into the rest of my routine. My husband got up and got ready to take me to see the doctor and prayed for me before I went in. My problems may or may not be serious, but anything dealing with the heart and circulation is scary for me. I couldn’t help but think of my best friend Heidi who had vascular surgery, got an infection, had a leg amputated and ending up dying of sepsis only a few years later. Not thrilled about the idea of any kind of surgery, I went into the office with trepidation and told my husband that I would call him if I needed him to come in and be with me.

Of course, God was with me all along, calmed my fears and is still calming me today as I face four different tests that will determine what is going on. All I know is that I have passed out a couple of times, without warning, and I am losing feeling in my lower extremities. The doctor wants to eliminate a heart issue, so I have to wear a heart monitor for a month, have an ultrasound on my heart, another ultrasound on my legs and a nuclear stress test. I am waiting for the Bio company to send the heart monitor which is supposed to arrive by next week. Meanwhile, my anxiety kicked in and I needed this Scripture verse this morning.

God assured me that He is right beside me. He is delighting in me, in spite of my doubts and fears and He is calming me. He is rejoicing over me while I rejoice in His love and His presence with me. Yes, it is a trying time for me, but there are many going through much worse and I am thankful that the doctors are willing to do the tests that can give them the information that they need to go forward. My heart has worked well for me for over seventy years and I know that the One who determines my future is in total control of my present. That being said, I would appreciate prayers from any of you who agree with me about God’s sovereignty.

May the Lord bless your going out and your coming in and may each step you take and each decision you make glorify Him.