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Praying the Promises of His Word

The Lord calls us to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] minds” (Rom. 12:2). One of the most powerful ways we can do this is by praying the promises of His Word back to Him, since He has promised that His Word would not return void, but would accomplish its intended purpose (Is. 55:11). By God’s Word we can defeat the accusations and the temptations of Satan, as Christ did while tempted in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11).

The following prayer is one that I wrote over some time as I meditated on a number of promises from the Scripture that the Spirit called to my mind. What I mean by “meditation” is not that I repeated any verses as a mantra, as if they had power in themselves, but that I considered deeply what they meant, that I weighed the meaning of the words, that I waited to see if the Lord brought to mind other verses that touched on the same topics, and that I related all of this to what I was experiencing in life.

As a result, I was able to see something in these words that was greater,

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The Still, Silent Challenge

Do We Sit With Our Hearts?

I admit it. I have a difficult time being still.

I like background noise, action and movement. This probably explains why I am pathetic at relaxation exercises, Tai Chi and yoga. I just can’t seem to settle down. The room may be completely quiet, yet my thoughts, “to do” lists and anxieties are often at record-setting decibel levels.

And this noise is often a part of the addiction package. Why? Because it’s distracting. And anything that promises to provide escape from reality is tantalizing.

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Getting My Way with Prayer

The success of love is in the loving – it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done. ~ Mother Teresa

What do you usually pray about?

I think I frequently get prayer backwards.

When I first began my attempt to follow Jesus, I found fascination in the public prayers of more seasoned Christians. They prayed about every event in life, every choice and decision. They prayed for safety and health, for pregnancy, and for nearly any imaginable result.

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When Loving a Spouse is Difficult

Ask Angie: I cannot seem to find love for my husband. We have been through difficult times and we were not able to work together on anything. There were months when we did not speak to each other and just went on with our lives without communication. I have been hurt so much…. It is wrong but I cannot find forgiveness for him nor seem to be able to detach with love. Our children see the problem we have and now have issues in their lives since we did not show them a good marriage/ family…I have been working on my spirituality so much but still find that my heart is heavy.

Ask Angie: Dear Angie, It’s me again. I was reading the stories about the women who are married to alcoholics. My husband is not an alcoholic though he displays the same kind of behaviors. Life with him is unbearable at times. He told me last night, again, that most of the time he does not want to be married, and during those times he treats me like he does not want to be married. The few times he does want to be married, he looks at me with kindness, it’s very short lived. Then the cycle repeats itself. I am tired. I am getting physically sick from it. How does a Christian woman stay with a (Pastor) husband that 95 percent of the time does not want to be married and shows his wife no love?

Marriage Guidance: I will address the issues that are italicized above. Both of these women are experiencing similar issues in their marriage. Although one is having difficulty loving her husband, the other’s husband is having difficulty loving his wife. Please print out this marriage column and give it to your husbands. Read through the article resources together. Talk about the questions at the end of the articles. Marriage needs both husband and wife to be willing to put in the effort.

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What does “Pray Without Ceasing” Mean?

Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 declares that God’s will for us is that we

[p]ray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks.

To pray unceasingly does not mean spending twenty-four hours daily in prayer. >b>Rather, it means being open continually to God, sharing our thoughts and hopes with Him in mental prayer, and so on. It means, as we face a problem, praying, in a sentence, “Lord, help me with this problem”; or, “Give me patience as I talk with this trying person”; or, “Thank you for seeing me through that mess,” and similar prayers.

O. Hallesby years ago wrote, “We cannot breathe in the early morning in such a way that it will be sufficient until noon. Likewise, we cannot pray in the morning so as to suffice until noon.”

Continual sentence prayers are simply Christian breathing. They keep us alive and strong.

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Looking for God’s Answers To Our Prayers

1. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” Such longings and prayers are sincere and God loves them and loves to answer them. We do not know ourselves very well, nor the depth or pervasiveness of our sin, nor what it really requires of us in order to receive what we ask for.

2. We can’t help but have unreal, romantic imaginations and expectations about what God’s answers to our prayers will be. We are often unprepared for the answers we receive from God. They are not what we expect and we often do not see how they correspond to our prayers. Prayer does effect what God does! This is so important for you to grasp! God will do things when we pray that He will not do if we don’t pray!

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Discouraged? Wisdom Regarding Prayer

Scroll down the page. There are several helpful quotes,scriptures & prayers.

Probably the number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands
of believers is that we try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic
intercom. Until you know that life is war you cannot know what prayer
is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission…. But what
have millions of Christians done? We have stopped believing that we are
in a war. No urgency, no watching, no vigilance. No strategic planning.
Just easy peace and prosperity. And what did we do with the walkie
talkie? We tried to rig it up as an intercom in our houses and cabins
and boats and car – not to call in fire power for conflict with a moral
enemy, but to ask for more comforts in the den. ~ John Piper

2 Corinthians 10:3-4
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war
according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Father,
Forgive me if I simply seek easy peace and prosperity instead of
choosing to fight the good fight. There is a spiritual war raging. Keep
me alert and diligent to the wiles of the Evil One and help me to stand
strong as I pray forthrightly. Amen.

Promises, though they be for a time seemingly delayed, cannot be finally
frustrated… the heart of God is not turned though His face be hid; and
prayers are not flung back, though they be not instantly answered. ~ Timothy Cruso

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Perseverance in Prayer

“By running and exercising every day, you are the fitter to run in a race. Just so, the more often you come into God’s presence–the greater confidence, and freedom, and enlargement it will bring to your soul.”


No doubt by praying we learn to pray; and the more we pray–the more often we can pray, and the better we can pray. Those who pray by fits and starts are never likely to attain to that effectual, fervent prayer which avails so much.

Prayer is good,
the habit of prayer is better,
but the spirit of prayer is the best of all.
It is in the spirit of prayer, that we pray without ceasing.

It is astonishing what distances men can run, who have practiced often; and it is equally marvelous that they can maintain a high speed for a long time after they have acquired stamina and skill in using their muscles.

Likewise, great power in prayer is within our reach, but we must work to obtain it. Let us never imagine that Abraham could have interceded so successfully for Sodom, if he had not been in the practice of communion with God his entire lifetime. Jacob’s all-night at Peniel was not the first occasion on which he had met his God. We may even look at our Lord’s most choice and wonderful prayer with His disciples before His Passion, as the flower and fruit of His many nights of devotion, and of His rising up often and early, before daylight, to pray.

A man who becomes a great runner has to put himself in training, and to keep himself in it; and that training consists of much exercise and running. Those who have distinguished themselves for speed have not suddenly leaped into eminence, but have been runners a long time.

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Signs of Needing Recovery

Signs of needing Recovery

  • Behavior that sabotages successful management of our lives
  • Feeling the necessity to shut down feelings and to keep everything inside. (As children we learned that expressing our own wants and needs resulted in rejection. This in turn fueled intense feelings of inadequacy. No matter how hard we tried things only got worse). When we express our needs we risk being rejected.
  • low self esteem

  • insecurity, anxiety
  • Trying to save face rather than to acknowledge reality and accept the consequences of our actions. Hiding from our true feelings by staying “busy.” By staying busy we allow ourselves to ignore our true feelings and thus deny them.
  • Tendency to isolate
  • Need to be approved of by others. Being loyal to others even when loyalty is not deserved or warranted.
  • Easily intimidated by others.
  • confusing pity with love
  • giving in to others rather than taking care of our own wants and needs.

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