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.

Day 5:Restoration

“Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope, even today I declare, that I will restore double to you.” Zechariah 9: 12

Restoration: [res-tuh–rey-shuh n] noun

1. a putting back into a former position, dignity, etc.
2. something that is restored, as by renovating.
3. the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment. the replacement or giving back of something lost, stolen, etc.

The Garden of Eden. A place of joy,  fellowship, righteousness and purity. Man gave away the blessing of Eden by believing a lie of Satan. God waits to restore His blessing to man when he believes the truth of the Gospel. The Enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. double. The Hebrew  word for restoration is shuwb, which means to return, to go back, to turn away from sin, to turn back to God. Restoration only comes through God and the power of His Word. According to the definition, our responsibility is to turn from sin, and turn to God. Speak His Word into your broken places, and let the restoration begin.

Pray For Restoration

Restoration for Relationships: Dearest Father, because of our sin, we have many broken, damaged relationships. First and foremost is our relationship with You. Thank You that by accepting Jesus’ death on the cross, our relationship with You is restored. We pray for Your healing in strained relationships with our spouses,  parents, friends, coworkers, in-laws and siblings. Your specialty, Lord, is bringing dead things to life. Please restore our relationships. We give thanks for Your goodness and healing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Restoration for Hearts: Father, we give thanks that You provide restoration for broken hearts. Our hearts have been shattered because of our choices, the choices of others, sickness, death, and job loss. Your Word promises that You use ALL things for our good. Please restore our hearts to health so they will beat only for You. We thank You, Father. Amen.

Restoration for Minds: Heavenly Father, we thank You for healing of our minds. Help us to think correctly so we may act correctly. Our minds have been influenced and damaged by lies we have been exposed to by the Enemy and by our own choices. Please restore our minds so we will love You with all our hearts, souls and minds. Thank You that You have given us  sound minds. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our minds be pleasing in Your sight, oh God, our Rock and our Redeemer.

More Restoration

Prayer of Restoration a specific prayer by Mary Kane

Scriptures for a Sound Mind an article by Joyce Meyer

Comment

Please leave a comment below in the Speak Your Mind section on what God teaches you today about restoration.

restoration. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/light (accessed: November 18, 2014).

Hebrew definition taken form:

“Hebrew Lexicon :: H7725 (NKJV).” Blue Letter Bible. Sowing Circle. Web. 19 Nov, 2014. <http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7725&t=NKJV>.

Mary Kane

Join Mary Kane and Jane VanOsdol as they discuss the popular topic of Praying for Your Teens.

In this two-part podcast, Mary and Jane discuss the issues that affect teens’ lives–and their parents’. They’ll cover the topics of spiritual growth, physical safety, health, relationships, jobs, education and their futures.

The teen years are critical years for kids. Decisions they make now can affect them for better or for worse for years to come. Don’t send your kids out “unprayed”! Learn how to pray for them as you traverse these years with them. Mary and Jane also feature several of their favorite resources that they’ve used through the teen years with their children.

Jane VanOsdol

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Resources

And The Bride Wore White: Seven Secrets to Sexual Purity (Celebration Edition)By Dannah Gresh

God in the AlleyBy Greg Paul

Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, the Respect He Desperately NeedsBy Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

Love is a DecisionBy Gary Smalley

Mean Girls: Facing Your Beauty Turned BeastBy Hayley DiMarco

The Case for Christ/The Case for Faith, 2 Volumes in 1

The New Evidence That Demands a VerdictBy Josh McDowell

The Power of Praying for Your Adult ChildrenBy Stormie Omartian

The Power of a Praying ParentBy Stormie Omartian

Wild at HeartBy John Eldredge

In this devotional book, Jane’s daughter, Amber, is a contributing author.

This Is Now: A Girl-to-Girl Devotional for Teens By Patti M. Hummel

Through my adult years, I’ve developed a love for gardening. There’s just something about watching a bare plot of grass transform into a flower-filled haven, alive with fluttering butterflies, birds and bees. Or you just can’t beat popping that first luscious cherry tomato still warm from the summer sun into your mouth.

When my children were little, I tried to get them interested in helping me tend the garden. They would plant a few seeds or help me transplant tender young plants into the ground for a few minutes, but soon their backs would hurt or they would be hot or their attention would wander to a more thrilling activity. And weeding? I never had any willing participants when it was time to take back control of the
garden from invaders! Even at harvest time, they weren’t too enthused to help gather the vegetables. Biting chiggers, mosquitos and “itchy grass”–from all the weeds!–sent them slinking off to more fun activities. But, they were sure happy to help eat our tomatoes or beans or lettuce.

You know, I guess we adults aren’t that much different than kids when it comes to our “spiritual crops.” Most of us love to celebrate when a hard-fought spiritual victory has been won–a drug addiction beaten, a troublesome teen sees the light, a friend decides to follow Christ, or a cancer goes into remission. But I wonder, how many more victories could we be a part of if we were willing to “sow more seeds, pick more weeds and water the crops”?

Our verse from Genesis today tells us that there is a seedtime and a harvesttime. I think the time part can be a problem for all of us. It takes time and effort to hold someone accountable for an addiction, to stick by a teenager who is in “rebel-mode,” to meet at the inner-city center and develop relationships with the kids, or to hold someone’s hand while they’re throwing up from chemo. It’s hard, it’s messy and tough love isn’t a lot of fun. But, isn’t that what Jesus calls us to? Being there in the seedtime will increase the chance that we’ll get to see some harvests. Sometimes we plant a seed that someone else gets to harvest, or we get to harvest the seed that someone else planted! However God works it out, let’s think about planting a seed in a life today.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for the times of sowing and harvesting that make up the cycle of life. Show us where you want us to sow some seeds this month. Amen.

“While the earth remains Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat,Winter and summer,

And day and night

Shall not cease.”

Genesis 8:22