Hello my friends, and welcome to this week’s edition of the Prayers for the Week post. Have you ever been thumbing through your Bible, with some problem or quandry or concern or whatever on your mind, and all of a sudden, you find a Bible verse and it just hits you that this is the exact verse that you needed to read? Well, it happens to me every day!
This past Wednesday, I found that my daughter Sophie had been drawing when she shouldn’t have been; it is something that we are working on because it is taking away from her school studies. Sophie is a very creative person, and she draws very well, at least, in this biased father’s opinion. Well, we talked a bit about it, about how she needs to not do that during school, and all of that, and she told me that it is hard sometimes to not do it, even though she knows she ought not to do it. We both agreed that she would try and prevent it in the future.
Well, later that same day, I was on the computer, checking my blog feeds that I look at, and some of them are Bible related sites that share a verse every day. Well, that day, it just so happened that one of the verses was 1st Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
My friends, I wasn’t searching for a verse, I wasn’t in my Bible, I was online — and still God found the right verse for me to share with Sophie to help her in her struggles! God is Great, my friends!
In short, I have one last thing to say before we get to the prayers and praises for this week, and this is it: Trust God, look in His Word, search for some inspiration; you will find it and then some in the Bible — all you need to do is open your eyes to it.
Praises!
- Yesterday Cindy, Sophie and I went to our church to participate in the morning shift for Stop Hunger Now, an organization that gets people together to package the ingredients needed to make meals for people in challenged countries — for example, the Philippines. Our shift was from 10A-Noon, and when we were done, we had packaged over 41,000 meals for the organization! If you have never done this, look them up — it is a joy and a blessing, and it is fun too, and in the end, you will know that you made a difference in the world and that you did what Jesus describes in Matthew 25:31-46:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” - Huge praise for my friend Bambi! Thank you all for praying for her as she underwent treatment for cancer. Here is the best status update of the day! Praise God, to Him be the Glory — great things He has done, and continues to do!Hope Everyone had a great weekend.
My wife had surgery and everything went great she is NOW CANCER FREE. PRAISE GOD!!!
Prayer Requests…
- Please pray for my sister Robin — here is what she wrote on Facebook:
Sweet Flash crossed the Rainbow Bridge tonight. He was an amazing dog who brought joy into our lives while stealing the couch!
Flash was a Greyhound that they rescued. He is survived by Lotto, another Greyhound, and was 12 years old — the normal life expectancy for a Grey is 9-10 years. Thank you for praying for Robin and her family. - My friend Stephanie left a prayer request for Lilly, a little girl who is battling cancer. Here is what was written:
Sometime today the phone will ring with the results from Lilly’s MRI . We will know if the spot they detected on her cat scan is cancer or not. I ask everyone to please pray harder than you ever have for my Lilly. I just want my daughter to be cancer free, to LIVE. To have a life outside those hospital walls. She’s had 4 months living a life outside the hospital, only 4 months in her whole life. We need a miracle, again. Please pray, share, think happy thoughts that our Lilly is cancer free!
Please pray healing prayers for Lilly, lift her up to the Lord, and use the power of prayer to help her overcome her illness. Thank you everyone!
UPDATE: I received this update later that day:Great news!! Lilly is cancer free!! Thank you so much for the prayers!! God is great!! - My friend Emily needs prayers for her Dad, who is in critical condition. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:
Thank you so much for those of you who have checked on and prayed for our dad. His condition is very critical right now. His heart, which is normally the culprit, is actually a doing okay. The doctors told us he is “very critical” due to liver failure, which is now causing kidney failure. We just don’t know what is causing it.
Right now, we covet your prayers for healing from our Heavenly Father. We ask that you pray for his speedy recovery, and that God would be glorified in it. Thank you so much for your calls, cards, prayers and support.Thank you everyone for praying! - Please pray for my friend Lori, who has battled cancer for far too long. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:
Sometimes I want to wave a white flag. Yesterday my doctor called with the results from my biopsy. It came back positive for cancer. The extent of the lymph node cancer is still not known and this is separate. Thursday I will get shots to boost my white count and my surgery is Friday.
Please pray with me:Father God, it is in times of tribulation such as what Your servant Lori is going through that we turn to You for help. You are the Great Healer, and if You are willing, Lori will be healed of her cancer. Lord, please carry Lori as long as You need to — grant her Your Peace, Your Comfort, and Your Strength to see her through all of this. Lord, please look after her medical team and guide their hands so that they may treat Lori the way You need her to be treated and so that she may be healed of this horrific disease. Despite all of the worry and heartache that Lori is going through, I find comfort in Your Word, specifically Jeremiah 29:11, which fills my heart with Your Peace every time I read it:“For I know the plans for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Lord, please let Your Word remind Sister Lori of all the good that You will do for her, and let it help her to find the Peace that she needs.
We ask all these things in the name of Your Son Jesus, with Thanksgiving. Amen.
In the end, my friends, what it comes down to is this question, at least for me:
“How much does God mean to you, and how far are you willing to go to be closer to Him?” If you are willing to make the effort, then I urge you to make the Bible your friend, carry it everywhere, whenever you have a moment, turn in the book to somewhere, anywhere, and read a few verses. You will be amazed to see how much you will get out of that little time investment, and how often God will point you right to a part of Scripture that you needed to hear!
Until next week, my friends, may God keep you safe from harm, may He take the sorrows and trials and tribulations of your life and turn them into beautiful Glories; and may He see you back here, next week, for our next Prayers for the Week post. Until then, my friends, please pray over these requests and praises, and please add your prayer requests to our comments so that we can pray for you!
Mike I have been having severe pain in my jaw for a week now. Both the my dentist and doctor have failed to stop the pain. It has kept me from work as it becomes so severe I can not concentrate on driving. I drive a semi so being able to keep my mind on the road is important. A change of careers may also be needed. I pray that God will lead me to the solution of my pain and open up a door if getting off the road is what I need to do.
Vickie, I will pray for you. Please pray along with me:
Father God, your servant Vickie is in pain and suffering — and it is causing her to have to lose work that she needs. We know that Your ways are mysterious to us, sometimes, but Lord, please lift up Your Servant Vickie so that she may be able to get past the pain, and focus on You instead. Lord, if it is Your Will that she change her career, please place that upon her as well.
We ask these things in the name of Your Son Jesus with Thanksgiving. Amen.