13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ~ Romans 15:13 (ESV)
Hello my friends, and welcome to today’s Prayers for the Week post, written on remote location from Stephens City, VA. Yesterday my wife and I, our daughter, my niece and her husband (and our grand-niece), his Mom, and my sister and my Mom participated in the 10th Annual Step Sisters 5K. The Step Sisters is an organization that helps out breast cancer survivors by helping them around their home when they get home from the hospital, cleaning, cooking, that sort of thing. The Step Sisters helped out my mom when she had breast cancer, and yesterday, we were helping them out by participating in the annual 5K.
I asked Cindy for a verse that was speaking to her, and she came up with Romans 15:13. The reason, she said, was simple — today was all about hope. As soon as she said that, I knew exactly that Romans 15:13 was the verse to use.
I don’t have a long commentary today, so let’s go right into the real meat of the post, our prayer requests and praises.
Prayer Requests & Praises
- Shannon starts us off this week, with a prayer request for healing. Here is what she wrote: I had been having some bad headaches and nothing was working. Monday I had some trigger point injections in my lower head, neck and shoulders. The past 2 days I’ve been in more pain that I was with the actual headache. Please pray that the pain and soreness goes away soon and the injections work for the headaches. Thanks
- The other day I left this word of encouragement on the impact and power of prayer: So part of my morning routine as I’m walking our Golden Retriever River is to pray while we walk. It’s a great start to the day for me, and I lift up the group and all of the prayer requests we see while we’re walking. For me personally, I pray for Cindy, and I pray for our daughter Sophie — for the stresses that they see in their work/school life, and for Sophie to have the focus she needs to handle the tasks of the day. Additionally, I always pray for God to provide me with the wisdom needed to take care of my clients. For a while I wondered if remaining in the IT Industry was meant to be after my layoff, but through Bible study, I came to the realization that one of my gifts from God is the way I can tackle the challenges of IT work.Last week I spent the week wiring a new office space for one of my clients, and today I was there all day until about 4PM resolving the issues that came up from their move yesterday. While it was challenging, demanding work tackling the myriad of issues that they had (most self induced, I might add), we made it through, and I know it is in part because of the wisdom that God gave me that day.In the end, the thing I think I’m trying to say here is that prayer works, we have been witness to that in our lives, and even if the answered prayer isn’t forthcoming just yet, Believe and Expect God to handle it for you — because He will. I leave you with this verse as a reminder:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11
- We’ve got a big praise for Hayden’s Mom: Answered prayers for Hayden — his mom has been fighting cancer for a year now and is now in remission! Praise to God, the Great Physician!
- Prayers for my friend Rebekah who is fighting cancer and has a treatment today. Rebekah, this is a prayer group we have, so anytime you need any prayers, please feel free to list them here and the prayer warriors will pray with you and for you!
- Praise for my Dad’s cataract surgery, he had a great procedure and is doing great! Thank you all for the prayers you lifted up for him!
Now, please join us in praying the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those that trespass against us.Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.For Thine is the Kingdom, and Power, and Glory
Forever and ever. Amen.
