Morning Prayer

As I have been on our trip across America, I have often watched God’s word come alive as I see the beauty all around me that He has created.

That was so true this particular morning. I was in Wyoming surrounded by beautiful mountains and cliffs. As I opened my Bible to my praise reading for that day (Psalm 90:1-2), it happened to be about mountains. : ) I love it when God makes our lessons so tied in to what we are doing at the moment.

I wanted to share the beauty of that moment with you, so I read the scripture and recorded a prayer on video with the camera pointed at God’s awesome creation. I pray it will bless you in your day today!

Pray on!

SaveSave

Words

in the beginning

my Father who art in heaven

we hold these truths to be self evident

I have a dream

I do

i pledge allegiance

never, never, never, never give up

Words are important.

Words start nations, start wars, start movements, start families.

With our words we choose to bless or curse, to love or to hate, to give up or go on.

I’ve been parked in the book of James lately. I can’t get away from it. It’s everywhere in my mind, my heart, my books, my radio, my church. Words change things, especially God’s Word. Jesus is the Word. In the beginning was the word. The word is God. The word is with God.

Consider these holy words:

“For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

Do you get it?

Our tongues aka our words are powerful. Just like the rudder on a ship, our words chart our course. Our words set our destination.Winds and storms of life come upon us. A phone call. An email. A text. Bam. Out of the clear blue sky. Everything shifts. It was this, but now this! Look at our verse. The winds and storms of life threaten to blow us off course, but what keeps us tracking? The rudder of words. Words. Our words. We stay the course when God’s word become our words.

What we speak into the storms of life makes a difference. We can go forward or join the fray. We can walk on in faith or join the destruction.

Into the storms of life speak, plant, pray, say, pour, splash, shout His Word.

Healing words.

Helping words.

Holy words.

Speak His words.

By Mary Kane

From Withered to Revived

I winced as I looked at my six-pack of wilted impatiens. Leftover from my butterfly garden, they had sat under the tree for two weeks waiting for me to find a garden bed to squeeze them into. Originally bursting with color, the now shriveled, drooping blossoms showed little signs of life. I picked them up to toss them into the trash.

“There’s no way they’ll ever recover from this,” I thought. As I opened the trash can, something made me stop. What could it hurt to plant them in the bed out front? It took only minutes to plant the bedraggled plants and water them.

A few hours later I opened the front door to walk out to the mailbox. A flash of pink caught my eye and I stopped astounded. The withered flowers were completely revived, their leaves and blossoms plumped out nicely, the picture of health. I couldn’t believe it. I had been certain they were beyond hope. All they needed was good soil, a thorough watering, and some time to revive.

“It’s the same for people too,” the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart. I mulled that thought over and let its truth sink in.

There was a time in my life when I’ve felt like those flowers. For months after my infant daughter died, I was depleted, devoid of energy, joy … life. I wasn’t sure I would ever recover from the blow of losing her. I barely went through the motions of life. My friends and family stuck by me and kept praying. Several months after she died, I joined a Bible Study Fellowship group and God started slowly putting me back together. Over the course of the next year, I was planted in the fertile soil of my group and watered by God’s word and the testimony and encouragement of wise women. At the end of that year, I had revived.

Maybe you’re there today. Perhaps you think life is over for you. Too much heartache, too many mistakes. Your blooming days are behind you. I’m here to tell you that if you plant yourself in the fertile soil of a healthy church or Christ-based group and water yourself with His word, you will recover. Expose your wounds/sin to the healing light of God’s truth and love and give yourself time to heal and hope.

Get ready to bloom again. God is going to do a mighty work in your life!

Pray on!

i hear: he speaks

“Look at me and listen,” I often tell my class of lively fifth graders, “this is important.” My students are so quick to get caught up in what their friends are saying that they often miss important information they need to be successful with the task at hand.

I wonder how many times God has wanted to say the same thing to me.

“Look at me and listen! You need to learn this truth so you can be successful. Stop listening to the enemy, the world, yourself and listen to Me!”

God’s word is the only source of truth we can trust. Plus, it is through His word we find healing, salvation and purpose for our lives. When He speaks, we need to listen.

To listen to the latest episode of i hear, please push the play button below.

http://onlybyprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/He-speaks.m4a

Don’t forget to leave a comment below about what you learned today. We’d love to hear from you!

Have a blessed day and remember to listen to Him.

i pray: relationships

ipray

i pray

short podcasts to bring the sacred into your everyday

Do you only have a few minutes for prayer today? You’re in the right place! Try one of our new i pray podcasts. A few minutes is all you need to pray God’s word into any situation by interceding for friends, family, and yourself.

Today we’re praying for relationships. In His word, God makes it clear how important it is to maintain unity when possible. With so many fractured family relationships, let’s take the offensive and start praying for God to restore and heal relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings, friends, and the workplace.

Short & Sweet: The Word

Thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 119:11

Oh, no. NO! Rats.

My iPod lost power and shut down. I was sitting amid a crowd of about 3000 women at the Revive ’15 conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, listening to Dr. Eric Mason bring home his message about our purpose in Christ. He was pounding out his message on the podium as God was pounding it out on my heart.

I was tracking with him.

I was on it.

I was deep in the Scriptures when – my device went blank.

Dead. Dark.

My connection to the Word of God shut down. It was a sick desperate feeling. I felt as blank as my screen. I clenched my device and shook it in hopes of stirring up a few life-giving sparks of energy. I frantically eyed the screen again. Still blank. Bereft. Hopeless. Unconnected.

I was as powerless and empty as my iPod.

Unplugged. From my e-version Bible, yes, but not from the Word of God. My heart was still plugged in. For years and years I have been making regular deposits of God’s Word. Verses, passages, and chapters of Scripture secreted away in the depths of my heart for an emergency, for such a time as this.

A hunger for the Word.

As I clutched my dead device in my hand, I thought of my brothers and sisters of every tribe and tongue, in towns and villages across the continents who have no iPods. Living without the Word of God at their fingertips is a daily experience. They would give their lives for a page or a scrap of Scripture. I was distraught after being deprived of my Bible for one minute. Imagine going months or years without a verse of the living Word.

What if all the Bible you had tomorrow is all the Bible you have today?

In other words, what if the only Scripture available to you is the Word you have hidden in your heart? Would it be enough to sustain you for days, weeks, and months? Would you be able to nourish your family and share with strangers?

The Ten Commandments have been removed from public forums, and fights over the Pledge of Allegiance ring throughout our land. We may face the day when the Word of God is outlawed. Are you ready?

To hide, hid, hidden.

The Hebrew word for hid is tsaphan, which means “to hide, to treasure, to store up.” When we hide something, we are protecting it from harm, from theft. When I treasure something, I like to look at it, and think about it. My treasure gives me pleasure even when I can’t see it or touch it. Just knowing God’s Word is there brings joy. When I store something, I’m making provision for a future need. I may not have a need right now for verses on healing, but I may need them next week, next month or next year. While our Bibles may be taken from our hands, the Word of God can never be taken from our hearts.

Action Points:

Post scripture around your house. Keep Bible verses by your bathroom mirror or by the kitchen sink. Run through your verses when you’re doing chores or getting ready for the day.
Think of a problem you are currently facing. Find some verses that deal with your issue. Write your verses on note cards and carry them with you where ever you go. Say your verses when you have a chance (stoplights, lines at the grocery stores, waiting for appointments, etc.).

Resources: Scripture memory apps and websites

Memverse: a Bible memory website
Remember Me: a Bible memory app
10 Tips for Memorizing Scripture: Bible memory tips website

Life is sweet! Put the Word in your heart.