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Prayers for the Week: Standing in Faith

Standing in Faith

1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ~ Hebrews 11:1-3 (ESV)

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Standing in Faith

Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us for our weekly prayers for the week post. Today we are standing in faith — remembering through the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, exactly how our Christian forefathers walked in faith with God.

In our fallen world, we all fall short. The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. All means all. It means you, it means me, it means we all have fallen short. The good news, though, is that Jesus died on the cross as payment for all of our sins, and the beauty is that our faith in believing that miraculous event is what saves us from our sin. Here’s the Gospel Truth for all of us:

If you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross after living a sinless life, and that He was resurrected from the dead after 3 days, and that He will come back to earth again to establish His Kingdom here, then you will be saved, and are granted Eternal Life.

Believing that miraculous truth is an act of faith, my brothers and sisters, and when we are standing in faith that God is in control, all of our difficulties are more easily managed.

If you find your faith lacking, take time to read Hebrews 11. I’ve linked to it for you. In this incredible chapter, we learn about so many incredible heros from the Bible, and how they acted out of faith in God. While you are reading that chapter, make sure and pray to God that He would give you greater faith, and He will do so. Turn to Him, draw on His Strength, and you will see a difference in your life. Now, please continue reading as we pray for our Prayer Requests and Praises below.

Prayer Requests & Praises

  • Stephanie has a prayer request: Please keep our fur baby, Chief, in your prayers!! He’s extremely sick, and we just had to leave him with the vet for observation. He’s older than Ava, so he was our youngest baby for a quite a while.
  • I’m asking for prayers for my Dad: Asking for prayers for my dad, Joe. We learned today that he has lung cancer. He is determined to beat it, and will be seeing the same oncologist that my Mom saw when she had breast cancer. The prayer requests are for Healing, of course, as well as for Peace, Comfort, and Strength. Thanks, everyone!
  • I’m also asking for prayers for my friend Michelle: Please pray for my friend Michelle and her family. Michelle’s mom passed away this morning. Please pray for God’s Peace, Comfort, Strength, and Love to surround them all in their grief. Thanks everyone!
  • We’re praying for Paul’s daughter, Patricia: Hey everyone, today Paul’s daughter Patricia has her 8th surgery since she had her baby back in December. She has had severe complications, and we are praying for her complete healing with today’s surgery. Please pray for Patricia, her husband Michael, their child Cayden, and for the surgical team. Pray for God’s Complete Healing, and for Peace, Comfort, and Strength today and moving forward for them. Thanks everyone!
  • Hey Everyone, please pray for some friends of mine. I can’t go into details but their daughter was the subject of an attempted kidnapping. All are safe, it was not successful, but it is definitely a scary world we live in. Please be observant in your day to day activities, pay attention to your surroundings, and focus on the people and vehicles around you as much as possible. Thanks everyone! Pray for Peace for them.
  • Hey everyone pray for Monica and her husband — they are moving to the Roanoke area so are selling their house in Ohio. Please pray that it sells quickly and that they find their next home easily. Thanks everyone!
  • Dawn has a prayer request as well: My hubby and I have been approached by Family Life leadership to be directors of the Indianapolis Weekend to Remember event. We have served with this group for five years just in a different capacity. This would be a pretty large commitment for us given this conference usually has over 800 attendees. Would like prayer as we go to the decision making process! Thank you!
  • Today I’m remembering all of the lives that were changed with the invasion of Normandy 75 years ago. The world was significantly different in the aftermath of that courageous battle, but there were countless families that lost someone on both sides that day. Remember all of those that lost someone, and thank God for them.
  • Lastly, a special praise for all of the kids graduating, and for those passing their end of year tests. Pray for those that have tests left to take, that they would be successful in them, and also pray for success for those taking summer courses as well.
  • Now, please pray the Lord’s Prayer with us. If you have a prayer request to leave with us, please leave us a comment, or connect with us on our Prayers for the Week group on Facebook.

The Lord’s Prayer

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 who trespass against us.
Lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and Power, and Glory
Forever and ever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
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Prayers for the Week – A New Year

 

2-Corinthians-5_17

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s Prayers for the Week! Happy New Year, everyone! 2014 is now gone, and 2015 has come on strong. I hope that you have a wonderful year, full of Peace, Love, Happiness, Joy, Success, but most of all, full of the Love that God has for us.

With the turning of the calendar, it is only right, at least in my mind, that we take stock of where we are in our lives.  For me, 2014 was a fairly good year, but there are many things I didn’t finish that I hope to accomplish in 2015.  More importantly, though, the turning of the year gives us a chance to take stock at where we are Spiritually in our walk with God.  Are we on the narrow road or the wide road, are with walking with God, or is God wondering where we are?  All of these questions are ones that we should look at now, and if we are traveling the wrong path, now is a great time to make a change so that we can enjoy a more meaningful, close relationship with our Lord and Savior.  The Bible verse I’ve selected today seems very appropriate for today:

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Are you in Christ, as Paul writes?  If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.  If you are in Christ, then your life has changed, your old self is gone, and the new you is totally different from the old you.  This does  not mean that you are now perfect, that you never make mistakes, that you never stray from the path that Jesus walks.  However, what it does mean is that you recognize when you stray, you recognize that you have sinned, and you ask God to forgive you when you do sin.  The longer you have been in Christ, the worse it feels when you do sin, at least for me.  When I sin, immediately I feel an overpowering emotion — guilt.  When I sin, I realize that I have just turned my back on God, that I have decided to walk my own path, that I have made a decision that God’s Sacrifice — His ultimate Sacrifice — just didn’t matter at this time.  When that happens, the guilt of my sin hits me, and I immediately ask God to forgive me.

If you are not sure you are in Christ, or if you know you are not in Christ — that is, if Christ doesn’t live on in your heart in the form of the Holy Spirit — there are things that you can do to change that.  First of all, you need to ask yourself, do I want Christ in my life?  Do I believe in God, and more importantly, do I believe that God sent His Son Jesus to earth, and that His Son died for my sins?  Do I even think that I sin, do I recognize it when I do?

Before I turned to God, I would be hard pressed to admit that I recognized when I did sin.  Sure, I knew that it was wrong to curse, wrong to swear, that sort of thing, but did I think of it as sinning when I did it?  I don’t remember, now, to be honest.  I expect that at some level, deep down, I did know that — because how many of us look around the room before we say a curse word to make sure a young child doesn’t hear it.  Our thought is, that child shouldn’t hear those words — well, my friends, I’ve got news for you — none of us should hear those words…

The Sinner’s Prayer

If you want to be saved, if you know that you have never been saved, there is a prayer that you can pray. It is known as the Sinner’s Prayer, or the Prayer of Salvation. This prayer is not the only prayer that you can pray to be saved, but it is a good one. If you want to pray this prayer, follow along with the words below:

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness.

I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin.

You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.

Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.

Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself.

Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
Amen.

That’s all there is to it.  If you prayed that prayer, and you believe it in your heart, and you prayed it with all of you heart and soul, then you are saved.  If you did this today for the very first time, please let us know.  Nothing gives a Christian more joy than knowing that a new Brother and Sister in Christ has joined our ranks, so let us know in the comments if you are.  Now, please read our prayer requests, and pray for those that need our prayers.

Prayer Requests and Praises…

  • My friend Chelsea had a prayer request for her husband’s Grandpa.  Here is what she wrote:Thank you all for your prayers for Wyatt’s Grandpa the surgery went well!
  • My friend Carrie had a prayer request and a praise.  Here is what she wrote on Facebook:We made it home! Now pray for Kev as he drives to Plainview for the night shift! It is endless!
    His Dad made a turn-around, he is a living miracle! Thank you so much for the prayers.
  • Lastly, please pray with us as we lift up the families of those that were involved in the wreck of Air Asia.  Please pray for their Peace, their Strength, and their Love as they strive to deal with all of the grief and turmoil in their lives.  Please pray that God would be with them all in their time of need.

Now, please pray one last prayer — the prayer that Jesus taught His Disciples to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed by 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 who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever and ever.

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Prayers for the Week – Faith

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Faith.  Perhaps the most powerful word to be found in the Bible.  When it comes to Christians, what it all comes down to, in the end, is Faith.  Perhaps the greatest statements of Faith come from the 11th Chapter of Hebrews.  Throughout the entire chapter are examples of the kind of faith that God’s children had for Him; the belief that they had that God would not let them down — and He didn’t.  Read the entire chapter — you won’t be sorry if you take the time to do so — but for today, I’m going to share three verses with you.  Here is Hebrews 11:1-3:

1Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. 3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

In my mind, the verse that catches my eye most is verse 2 — “This is what the ancients were commended for.”  It is unfortunate, isn’t it, that the world has fallen as hard as it has, and so many people go through life without that faith that the ancients had.  Faith, like Abraham had with his son Isaac, knowing that God would spare him and not sacrifice him.  That kind of faith is almost non-existent today.  It is time for us all to find a stronger measure of our faith.  If you have some faith, that is good, work on making it stronger.  If you have a lot of faith, take it to the next step.  If you have no faith — tell us, and we’ll share with you all the ways that God will help you find your faith.  Now, let’s take our faith and pray over these requests.

Prayer Requests

  • You may remember this prayer request from my friend Carol last week: My friend Carol passed along this prayer request for her friend Cindy. Please read it and pray for them:My mom just called crying to say that my sister, Melissa, was diagnosed today with melanoma of the eye. They will be testing her to see if it has spread to her liver. I feel numb with disbelief. She will have a few radiation treatments as well as needing the eye removed. PLEASE everyone PRAY for her and ask everyone you know to pray for her. I and our family would appreciate it so very much. Cindy
    • I have an update from Carol, and it’s good news!  Here is what she wrote: God’s Grace is sufficient – and your prayers are appreciated.Cindy reported to me last night that Melissa found out yesterday that the melanoma has not spread and they will only have to remove the tumor and not the eye!!!!!  She will still need radiation treatment.  We do not know how her sight will be affected – but our prayers have been answered.  Cindy asked me to thank all of you for your loving prayers.

      In Christ,
      Carol

  • Please continue the prayers for Uncle Ted and Uncle Bob.  Uncle Bob has Stage 4 Lung Cancer, and a partially deflated lung.  Uncle Ted went for a second opinion.  In neither case do we have an additional update, and both are very serious. Your prayers mean the world to us — and we work on the Faith that we know that God will take care of his servants Ted and Bob in the way that is best for them and best for His Glory and Will.
  • Please also pray for Cindy’s family as her cousins Kathy, Earline, and Sandra lost their Aunt Joyce this week.  We all know that she is in a better place, but death is always hardest on the living, so please lift them up in your prayers and pray for God to send His Peace, Comfort, and Strength to them in their time of need.  Please also pray for Mr. Jack, Joyce’s husband, and their children Mike, Tammy and their families.
  • Please continue to pray for Sheila — she hasn’t heard back from her job interview, but she has Faith and should hear back from them in a couple of days.
  • Please pray for my friend Melissa — her dog Liam is really sick — not eating, having other difficulties, and the vet is having trouble figuring it out. Please pray for Liam, and for Melissa, because any of you with dogs or other pets in your lives know that when your pet is sick it is like your child is sick.  Please pray for healing and for comfort and Peace for Melissa.  Thanks!
  • Please also pray for Cindy’s co-worker Dee and her Mom, who has some health issues that she is dealing with.  Please pray for their healing and comfort and strength as needed, thanks!
  • Please, please, please pray for the prayer requests that we don’t know about.  Pray that God would lift up everyone that is hurting, and pray that they would turn to Him so that they may be helped by Him!

While there are a lot of prayer requests, there are also some incredible praises to lift up to God and thank Him for, so please read along!

Praises!

  • The single biggest praise I have this week is that my niece Stephanie is re-united with her husband Shane!  Shane was at basic training and AIT, and they have been apart for 5 months!  However, that is now over, and they are back together!  It was so great talking with them on Thursday night, and I am so proud of both of them.  Shane recently celebrated a birthday, and I know that being back home with his wife and their dog Zazzy is all the present he needs!
  • I also want to give praise to all the other graduates from the latest class of military training!  My friend Jessi saw her husband graduate, so congratulations to them and their son also, and thank you to all of you that serve our country!
  • Praises also go out to the Men’s Study bible study, which is now in full swing.  Please pray for our study to continue as strong as it has started, we have a great group of men this year!
  • Lastly, please give thanks for our great buddy Regan, who has really settled in nicely in his forever home.  We love having him in our lives, and he loves being a part of our family too!  Special praises continue to go out to our friends Bettie and Hannah and their family for fostering him before we adopted him.  They are really sweet people and we are truly grateful for the loving care that they gave him.  Here’s a picture of Sophie and Regan from yesterday in the car.  Thanks everyone!

Sophie and Regan

My friends, I hope that this week finds you well, and that you are able to pray and lift up these requests and praises.  Thank you for helping to bring good to the evil that the Internet is full of — it’s my honor to write these up each week, and if all works out, starting next week perhaps we’ll have a partner site that will also start lifting up their prayer requests and we’ll share our link with them and they’ll share their link with us.  The more of us that pray, the better we will be.  God Bless each and every one of you, and in closing, remember this verse from Philippians chapter 4, verse 13:

13I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

May God strengthen you this week, and remind you of the Faith that is stored within you, just waiting to be shown the light again.  Amen.

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