Our Lenten Devotional series has certainly sped past. It’s hard to believe we are in our final week’s journey to the cross and then to Easter Sunday. To start off this week, let’s spend some time reviewing the past five weeks of study. Thanks so much for joining us, and be sure you make some time to spend with our Lord this week as we journey through Holy Week. Just click below to read our review.
May God bless you this week!
Welcome to Day 34 of our Lenten Devotional. We’ve made a lot of progress so far! I trust that you are ready to tackle this week’s study. As we are about two weeks away from Easter, we are going to zero in this week on spiritual spring cleaning. Let’s finish off the hard work this week of getting clean hands and a pure heart so that next week we are ready to follow Jesus on the path to the cross.
Thanks for joining us! Just click below to ready today’s devotional.
May the Lord bless your study this week!
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Welcome to Day 8 of our Lent Devotional, Drowning in Debt. Another tough topic today, but I trust the Lord is walking with you each day. Thanks for joining us! Just click on the link below to read today’s post.
“That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;” Colossians 1:10In the last blog post, we discussed four ways you could do this in 2012. After having some time to mull these over and maybe try a few of the suggestions, let’s look at the next four items on the list.
5. Choose a non-fiction Christian book to read that challenges you. Before you start reading this book, pray and ask that God will change you in the process. Ask Him to show you what you need to learn from this book, and pray that you would be open to making the changes God wants you to make. Stick with it, even if it’s slow going. Actively read the book. If the book is your own copy, this means you should write in the margins, highlight sections you want to remember, and make notes in the text. The more you interact with the text, the more of it you will take in. Try to repeat this process a few times this year. If you’d like a few book suggestions, you could start with one of these:
6. Schedule a retreat at a retreat center. Do this with a group from your church, some of your friends, or take a night or two or three by yourself at a retreat center and spend some time with God in prayer. I know you spend time in prayer at your own home, too, but there’s just something different about getting away to a retreat center that you can’t duplicate elsewhere. First of all, when you’re away from home, you can’t be distracted by all the work you think you should be doing at your house. You’ll be able to use the time to completely disengage from the responsibilities of child care, cleaning the house, or doing the laundry–guilt free.
Secondly, retreat centers have resources for you to take advantage of like prayer labyrinths, chapels, libraries and even classes for you to take. Try it. You’ll love it. Ask God to show you what He wants you to learn from the weekend. Be sure you write down what you are learning and where you go from here. You can use the following link to help you find a retreat center near you, searching by your state: Retreat Finder. Keep in mind that not all of the sites listed are Christian, so research the listings before you make a reservation. I even found a site close to my house that does not charge a set fee–it’s on a donation basis!
7. Begin a new spiritual discipline in your life. Have you ever wanted to explore fasting? Or perhaps you have an interest in journaling, or maybe the discipline of self-examen has piqued your interest. Spend some time learning about a discipline and then begin to incorporate it into your life. Both Dallas Willard and Richard Foster have classic books available on the disciplines, and either book would be a good place for you to start learning.
8. Begin praying through the World Watch List of the 50 most hostile, restrictive countries in the world (to Christianity). Open Doors USA compiles this annual list. Click for the 2014 version.
I’m excited about living a life of purpose in 2012. I wonder how God will change me through this process. Have you tried any of the suggestions yet, or are you planning on doing one soon? If so, we’d love for you to leave a comment and tell us about it.We’ve got four more suggestions to go, and Mary is going to cover those in the next blog post.
Until then, pray on!
It’s hard to believe it, but the holiday season is quickly approaching. This year, Advent begins on Sunday, November 27. I’ve been busy updating my Advent devotional, More Than A Baby. Each day’s devotion features the following:
You can click here to see a sample page of the 2011 More Than A Baby devotional.
If you’d like to make the Christmas season more meaningful, my devotional will help you prepare your heart for this joyous season.
The updated version will be available for sale on our Web site on November 15. Here is the link to take you to the page. More Than a Baby. (If you click before November 15, you’ll be taken to the sales page for last year’s version).
Let’s approach this Christmas with a heart that’s ready to receive the our Savior by taking a few minutes each morning to study and worship the Lord!
Pray on!
Or perhaps you hear about a situation on the radio that you want to pray for, or you want to add a particular country to your prayer list. It’s easy for these random thoughts and requests to fall into the black hole in our minds.
Part of the problem is that we often think of these requests or someone shares them with us when we’re out and about in the midst of a busy day or maybe when we’re at church. We’re usually distracted by what we’re already doing, so it’s easy for the request to get lost in the multitude of other things that are already going on.
Well, I’ve stumbled upon a few ways to deal with this situation.
One solution is an idea my sister Mary shared with me. When she fears she may forget to pray as promised later because of all the distractions of the here and now, she stops and says, “Sure, I’ll pray for you. Let’s do it right now.” And then she stops and prays with the person right then, trusting that the Holy Spirit will bring that request to mind later when she needs to pray again.
Just lately, I’ve decided to try another tactic to capture these type of what I call “butterfly prayers” that flutter at me through my day. I decided to make a prayer board and hang it on the wall in my home office. I chose my office, because that is where I spend most of my time during the day. I’ve started carrying a small notebook in my purse, and as I hear of requests I need to remember, I write them in my notebook and then add my butterfly prayers to my board to help me remember them. What’s different about these prayers is that often times they’re for people or things not on my usual prayer lists–which makes me prone to forgetting them. And they’re often requests that are time sensitive; they need intensive prayer for a set amount of time. Well, now every time I glance at the board, I see them.
I’ve also added a few other things to the prayer board that I want to be reminded of frequently. Let’s look at a some ways to use this prayer board and brainstorm what you may want to add to it.
First of all, to make the board, I just purchased a bulletin board. You can stop there if you want and be ready to go, but I also covered mine with colorful paper. I added a few sparkly stickers to the top and purchased some fun tacks. That’s certainly not necessary, but it spiffs it up a bit. Then I hung it right where I would see it frequently. (Just a home improvement hint: my husband recommends using Velcro strips. They’re fast, forgiving, and don’t leave holes in the walls!) Now for a few ideas on how to use the board.
Be sure you change out the information on your board as you’re done praying for past requests and new ones come along. You may even want to change the decor on the board to match the seasons and spiritual holidays to help you focus on them as we celebrate them throughout the year.
These are just some ideas to get you started. I’m sure you can think of others, and I’d love it if you’d share those in the comments section below.
Enjoy your prayer board and …
Pray on!