Hello my friends, and welcome to this week’s Prayers for the Week! This week, my family and I are enjoying our vacation at Disneyland, so I don’t have a whole lot for you. Instead, my friends, I’m lifting this post up to all of you — please comment here or on our Facebook page with all of the Praises that you have in your life, and give thanks to God for all of our Blessings! Try to remember that Praising God is a very important thing to do; so many times we give all of our concerns to God without remembering to thank Him for all of the Blessings that he has given to us. As my Church sings in the Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” In fact, enjoy this rendition of the Doxology that I found on YouTube:
I know that, unfortunately, we all have as many problems as we have praises. God wants to hear all of our concerns, as it is written in 1Peter 5:7:
Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Write your concerns here, my friends. I implore you to do so! If you do, others will pray for you, I will pray for you, and God will hear us. In fact, it is my belief that just typing the words on your computer is, in itself, your prayer, and God hears that prayer also!
My friends, I do not pretend to know what this world has in store for us; I know that many of us suffer daily, and pray to God to free us from some of that suffering. I do know, however, that God sent His Son Jesus to us to save us from ourselves, if we but ask Him to save us. Have you asked Jesus into your life? Have you confessed to Him that you are a sinner, that you see that you are, and that you need Him to forgive you so that you may be closer to Him? If you do that, Scripture tells us that your sins will be forgiven as far as the east is from the west. I am reminded of the wonderful words of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as written by the Apostle John in John 16:33:
“I tell you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
I would like to close, my friends, by sharing with you one of my favorite songs of all time, sung for us by one of my favorite musical groups — Celtic Woman. This song, You Raise Me Up, may be performed by these musicians, but my friends, let me tell you, the words, the melody, and the beauty of this song is given to us by God Himself. Listen to it for what it is — God reaching out to us, reminding us that He will take care of us, that He will raise us up when we are down, if we but ask Him for help. That, my friends, is my closing prayer. Please pray along with me:
Lord, please lift us up, for all of us in some way, some form, are struggling and falling short of Your Glory. Lord, in times of struggle, give us the thoughts, the words, even, to call out to You for help, and allow us to give ourselves over fully to You so that You would take care of us. Starting today, Lord, please instill new hearts in all of us, hearts that are fully dependent on You. It is in the name of Your wonderful Son Jesus that we pray with Thanksgiving, today and everyday! Amen!
I need some prayers too, Mike. Please pray for my family. My uncle has been on life support for over a month and they have given up. Please help pray that they let him go home so he can be surrounded by his family and he can go peacefully. He is one of the best men I have ever met in my entire life!
Prayers for my friend Stacey’s family please! Lift them up, allow God to work His will and give them the Peace and comfort they all need right now. Thanks everyone!
I love reading your posts, all of them. Mine is a prayer request and a praise. I have cancer and am going through chemo. I’ve been fighting since April of 2012. Please pray that God continues to give me the strength to get through each and every day.
Now the praise. Thank you God for my life! Thank you for my cancer. I have gotten so much closer to my parents and family because of it. I also made a new friend through my trials. A pure and Godly woman. God, I don’t know what you have planned for me but I bet it’s awesome. Thank you for everything.
Prayers to you and your family. Praying for the first 2 replies as well.
In comparison to the first two, my prayers seem to be less needy, but prayers are needed still. I am a single mother to a teenager and have been disabled due to a rare orphan disease that took about 5 years and 25 doctors to diagnose properly–CIDP. It is similar to MS but attacks the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems instead of the central nervous system. It leaves me with severe chronic nerve pain 24/7 all over my body. It also causes spasms of my muscles, pretty much all over my body 24/7 as well. I recently has a flare that caused more damage due to a bout of the flu. So, I am in more pain as a result too.
Additionally, I have arthritis in my back, hips, knees, ankles–most joints on my lower body due to long term undiagnosed Lyme Disease. It took 8 yrs to find out that I had a probable positive test from one of those 25 doctors to re-test and find that I had a severe long term case which left many other issues that contribute to my disability and cannot be cured at this point, but only put into remission. I pray that the remission remains as it has for the last 2 yrs. We were afraid that it had re-activated during my recent CIDP flare as my arthritis has become more painful since the flare of CIDP. Thankfully, the tests came back negative!
I have 2 surgical procedures on my spine in the upcoming month to help reduce the pain of both. I have had these surgeries many times before. But, I have a new doctor in the practice performing these surgeries as the doctor who typically performs them is unavailable. I pray for wisdom and steady hands for the doctor performing these surgeries as they are directly in my spine and have major risks is something were to go wrong.
Additionally, I have been waiting for 3 weeks for my Dept of Social Services case worker to process my paper work for Medical Assistance. I qualify for Medical Assistance every 6 months based on showing proof that a large percentage–probably close to half of it–of my income is spent on medical expenses. Once they deduct my medical expenses from my income of SSDI and Child Support, I then qualify for Medical Assistance coverage. I need this to finally be processed. I need prayers that it gets done this week.
Without approval of my Medical Assistance, I cannot have my Personal Care Aide who typically comes for 2 hrs M-F to help me shower safely, blow drys my hair for me, cooks for me and assists with light housekeeping. I paid for her out of my own income for 3 weeks figuring that I would get the money back once she was paid by Medical Assistance since once it is finally approved, it is approve back to the date it lapsed – May 1st. I cannot pay her any further. Also as a result of paying her for the 3 weeks, I cannot pay my rent for this July.
Please keep me in your prayers that my pain will reduce and my surgeries will be safe and successful, that my Medical Assistance will finally be approved so i can get my aide back and some of my major medical bills will be covered too. Finally, that somehow, the funds will come to me that I can pay my rent for July.
Blessings to all.
Don’t think your prayers are any less needy. I see your trials and believe them to be just as needy. I couldn’t imagine being in your shoes at all. I will definitely be praying for you.
My friends, I haven’t had the time to reply until now, but please know that I’ve seen all of your comments and prayer requests and have been praying for them all. They will all be included in tomorrow’s Prayers for the Week post, so keep praying, and so will we! Thanks, may God Bless You and keep you safe for the coming week!