Tag: prayer

A Big Mess of Our Own Making

On By vickleaIn Scripture8 Comments

The United States is in a big mess, not that we didn’t make the mess, just an observation that it exists. Of course, we made the mess, so we might as well own it. For years, we have rested on our laurels, knowing that we are the best, the most powerful, the peacekeeper of the world. And then, things started to change. First, with a President who wanted to put America first. Now, we have a President who wants to put America last. Neither attitude is right. The correct attitude is to clean up America and put her at the feet of Jesus, submissive to the will of God.

“And Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he was king for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord, and he walked in the ways of David his father and did not turn either to the right or left. And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a young boy, he began to seek out the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem from high places, Asherah poles, idols, and carved and cast images. So they tore down the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense altars that were above them and smashed the Asherah poles and carved and cast images. And he crushed them to dust and scattered them before the graves of those who sacrificed to them. In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, he broke down the altars, beat Asherah poles and the images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭34:1-4, 6-7‬ ‭MEV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/1171/2ch.34.1-7.MEV

An eight-year old ruler of Israel was wiser than any of our 500 + Congressmen, our President and our Supreme Court. He recognized that the way back to prosperity and peace was by cleaning out the sin and the idols and following only God. My prayer for our nation is that we turn back to God.

It broke my heart yesterday when I saw what was happening in Afghanistan. No, I do not think that we could or should stay there forever, but whenever a vacancy is allowed to happen, evil has a tendency to sweep in and take over. That is what is happening in Afghanistan. Evil is reigning there, and we are powerless to stop it. The plan to leave the country in the hands of their own military failed because they were not ready. Do you leave your three year old to cook dinner after showing her how it is done? And when she gets burned or destroys the house, do you then say, “I thought you were ready for this responsibility. I guess I was wrong” and then walk away? How sad that this is exactly what the U.S.A. did to Afghanistan!

My prayer today:

Have a blessed and safe day. Please keep the Afghanis in your prayers.

A Prayer to Remember

On By vickleaIn prayer4 Comments

This prayer was in Dr. Denison’s post this morning and it bears sharing.

Scottish minister John Baillie prayed: “Let me remember that my mortal body is only the servant of my immortal soul. Let me remember how uncertain my hold is on my own physical life. Let me remember that here I have no continuing city, but only a place for a brief stay and a time for testing and training.

“Let me understand the vanity of what is time bound and the glory of the eternal. Let my world be centered not in myself, but in you.”

Amen!

Prayer for Family Members Who Are Distant

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

www.bible.com/1171/php.1.9-11.mev

So, yesterday was a good and hard day. Mother’s Day is generally a difficult day for me because my children are no longer at home. Of course, they aren’t! They grew up, spread their wings and flew away, just as they are supposed to do. But the fact that this is the natural order of things doesn’t keep me from missing them and my grandchildren. But I pray for them daily and in my devotional this morning, I had this perfect prayer for each child, grandchild and distant family member. I am sharing it with you so that you can pray for your loved ones to abound in love, knowledge and discernment. Don’t you just love that word “abound”? It is more than enough…flowing over. You can also join me in praying for our loved ones to be found blameless and pure in Christ and filled with the fruit of righteousness. What a prayer! Having prayed this prayer for each child and grandchild, naming them each individually, I feel closer to each of them and not so alone here. God has placed them in my heart, just as they are in His.

May God bless each of you with a good day filled with love for your family and for Him.

A Prayer for Love, Knowledge and Insight

On By vickleaIn Scripture7 Comments

It has been almost twenty years since our youngest child left home for college. That was the beginning of the end of having children at home, the beginning of becoming an “empty nester.” When each child left, I gave them plenty of advice: finances, relationships, and finding a good church to go to. I prayed for them daily; in fact, their names and a prayer were never far from my thoughts and still are. But this prayer that I found in my devotional this morning is what I should have been praying for all of these years.

It is Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, but it is also a prayer that we can and should apply to all of our loved ones. For it is in this prayer that we find the love, the knowledge and the insight necessary to fulfill a life of promise in Christ. It is a prayer for making good choices and to one day be able to stand before the Lord “blameless.” It’s not enough to know God’s Word; it has to be applied to one’s life. That is my prayer for my children, for my friends, for other family members and for my lost loved ones and friends. Jesus saves. He left us the Holy Spirit to give us insight and discernment, His Word to give us knowledge. If we stay close to Him, we “abound in love.” How can we do any less than love others when He chose to die for all?

Yes, I pray for our children daily. I also pray for others whom God brings to my mind. Prayer is a powerful weapon in the hands of the saints of God. We need to use it as Paul did, to teach and to bless.

Have a blessed day filled with abounding love, knowledge and insight!

A Promise for All Times

On By vickleaIn Scripture5 Comments

www.bible.com/111/mat.18.20.niv

When I feel defeated or discouraged, I tell my husband and he prays. Often, I call our daughter and she prays with us, too. When I am ill, or when I fall and get hurt or when I just feel lonely, I ask my husband and daughter for prayer. I used to call or text our pastor, but we are in the middle of changing churches and the new pastors don’t know me well, so I don’t feel comfortable sharing a lot with them yet. Nevertheless, I do have prayer warriors to call. The best news, though, is that when I am totally alone, I can call on the Lord. Jesus is always with me because He has sent His Comforter, the Holy Spirit who is constantly with me. So, when I am driving and get scared (because I don’t drive very much anymore), I send up a prayer and know that the Lord is hearing me. I don’t have to be in a big crowd or even next to a phone to send up a prayer and know that my Father in Heaven hears me and is working on an answer for me. This morning, I awakened with pain in my shoulder and my hip from my physical therapy yesterday. Balancing on one leg is hard for me, even before I broke my foot. But I have to work on strengthening it, so that is one of the exercises I do. Before I even got out of bed, I praised God for a new day and asked for healing for my aching parts. My husband was sleeping soundly next to me, so I didn’t wake him up to join me in prayer. I just prayed, knowing that the Comforter was with me and would help me get out of bed and start a new day. Two or three isn’t many, and with Jesus with you, that means you can pray all by yourself in your prayer closet.

Prayer requests for you prayer warriors out there: Angie, with cancer on her spine and a friend named John who is having open heart surgery tomorrow

Thanks for the prayers and support. If you need prayer, just let me know in the comments and I will pray for you. God bless you in this new day. Expect great things from God!

When Do We Trust God?

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

www.bible.com/1171/psa.62.8.mev

The answer to the question that I have posed is in the Scripture–ALL the time! When things are going well, when things are going badly, when you’re well, when you’re ill, basically always. When you pray, it’s okay to tell God that you are having problems with faith. In fact, I prayed this morning for God to help my unbelief. It’s not that I doubt the existence of God, but that just sometimes like many of you, I get discouraged. The pain in my body was overwhelming this morning; there were not enough ice packs to take care of all of it. Nevertheless, I arose, thanked God for a new day, and here I am with this Scripture verse that God gave me in my devotional this morning. Perhaps this verse is only for me, but I’m sharing it here just in case someone else out there in the blogosphere needs it. It’s okay to tell God exactly how you’re feeling because He already knows and provides a shelter for us in His loving arms. God is good…all the time. I repeat that mantra to myself frequently, sometimes to remind myself and sometimes as a praise to Him. I hope that you remember that God wants what is best for you, all the time. He is always there to answer, even when you may be like me and suffering and grumpy. It’s amazing to me that God never gets grumpy with me! Blessings, my friends, for a day that is filled with God’s goodness and a day of trust and amazement at God’s goodness to you!

Any Place He Will

On By vickleaIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Here in the United States, all eyes are on the Congressional meeting on January 6th that will determine once and for all who will be our next President. Guess what? The outcome will NOT be a surprise to God and He already has His hands on the winner. Does that mean that the President (or king or emperor or whoever is in charge of a country) will always make Godly choices? No, because man always has a free will choice. But it does mean that nothing is a surprise to God. After all, He created all men and knows their hearts. Fortunately for those of us who are believers, all is not lost when someone is in charge who does not believe in Godly principles. Look at the part of the verse that tells us that God is in control! “He turned it to any place He will.”

God always looks at our hearts. We may think that our choices are good ones. We may not even realize that they are ultimately selfish, but God looks at our hearts. After all, God is making decisions for everyone in the world, not just me, and not just you. He is not our puppet and we are not His puppets. We are in a relationship together, with God knowing all and my knowing what He allows me to know.

This is a very important verse because sometimes in the past I have thought that if I would only give up something or do more for God, then God would be pleased with me and grant me the answers to my prayers. 🤔 Not exactly how it works in the kingdom of God. God prefers that we choose to do what is right than that we try to make bargains with Him. Just make wise choices!

All of these verses spoke to my heart today as I face a Christmas season unlike any we have ever had before. Our daughter Hope, our first born, has Covid. So do her son and daughter and her husband. The children probably contracted it at the nursing home where they work and brought it home to the others. Meanwhile, here is mom who is very concerned about their health, even though all but Aaron (the daddy) seem to be having mild cases. Nevertheless, I know that they are in God’s hands and the visit that we had planned for Christmas will happen eventually, God willing. I do ask that if you believe in prayer, you pray for them. Aaron is asthmatic and has a severe headache and cough. Well, enough said about the disease that was an unexpected “gift” from China. Let’s remember to glorify God this season and to remember that He has everything under control. We may not see it or feel it, but His Spirit is working on the behalf of our nation, ourselves and our families.

Blessings, my friends, for a weekend filled with His love and His joy that only comes when you know that He alone is King of the earth!