Posts Tagged ‘prayer’

A Praying Power Journal

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Although Christians feel as if they do not pray enough, they do realize the power of prayer. Praying power is an awesome power and just getting into the habit of regular prayer is a power unto itself. You may be encouraged to pray more and to pray often for certain people or for certain goals, by keeping a prayer journal.

Praying Power

Thanking God for his blessings is a great way to exercise your praying power. While many of us save prayer for asking for things, mature Christians set aside prayer time to simply communicate with God and to thank Him for all that He has done for them. When we set aside time to simply communicate with God and not ask for anything in particular, it is a powerful improvement in our relationship with Him.

Many people feel His Word, the Bible, is a way God and His Son communicate with us, and that we pray in order to communicate with them. Others set aside prayer for request, praying for health or wealth or whatever the need is at any given time. However, when you keep a prayer journal, you are reminded to expand your prayer life to include others besides yourself and you are reminded that prayer isn’t just about asking for things.

One of God’s wishes is for us to take the time to pray. Even Jesus prayed to God when he could have just spoken to him. Maybe it was for our example that Jesus got away by himself to pray to the Father but if that is correct, it is an example worth putting to good use.

Keeping a prayer journal is an excellent way to keep track of our prayers and the progress. It also helps remind us what we have prayed for on previous days. It really is fascinating to look back and see how our prayers were answered. Many Christians are even shocked months later to look at the things they prayed for. This often happens because as our prayer life improves, so does our maturity in the faith. Still, it is a great exercise to use to grow in our relationship with the Father and the Son.

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When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayers

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

After graduating college, my husband Tim and I served as missionaries in Africa for a few years. Many times throughout my life I have reflected back to the experiences I had and the lessons that I learned during the time we were there.

Tim and I had some friends who were also working as missionaries and we had a trip planned to visit with them. Where we lived and in those days a trip like this was a major undertaking. We had never made the drive and there were no road signs or traffic lights to help us find the way. No gas stations to fuel up or to get directions if we missed a turn.

The car was loaded with our belongings, enough gasoline for the trip there and back, lunches, snacks, and lots of items that we were transporting to the friends we were to visit. But less than an hour from home, the car began to sputter and spit, and just refused to run right.

Tim looked at the engine and tried a few things to see if it would help, but with no success. We stopped to pray and ask for God’s help to get the car fixed and to help us make the rest of the trip. When it became clear that the car wasn’t going to cooperate, we turned around and headed home. I was sad and confused as to why God didn’t answer our prayer so the trip would go on.

After returning home we had a mechanic check out the car. He was amazed at what he found and he told us we were lucky to be alive! The gas line was leaking right down into the engine and he couldn’t believe that the engine hadn’t exploded already. If we had made the rest of the trip, tragedy would have almost certainly happened.

We were stunned! God knew what our need was even though we didn’t. He answered our prayer by making it impossible for us to continue our trip successfully, and by giving us the wisdom to turn around and head home. How thankful we were for His goodness!

Thank you, Father, that Your knowledge is so vast that it sees beyond the surface to the core of our deepest needs. Your wisdom never ceases to amaze me!

Following several years as a missionary, Dr. Ann Shorb began a career in counseling and is the founder of CCES in Hanover, PA. She provides a variety of services including Christian premarital counseling and help with help with overcoming sexual addiction.

categories: prayer,god,god’s love,god’s protection,christianity,religion,bible,christian,religious

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How You Can Have A Quiet Time With God

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

For most Christians having a daily quiet time in Scripture and prayer is one of the most difficult aspects of our spiritual lives. Our enemy knows that this time each day is critical to our walk and our strength as believers, and he will do anything within his power to prevent us from getting this time. For this reason it is important that we make it a habit to have time with God each day.

The first step is to decide on a time of day that will work best for you, and block this time off for nothing but your quiet time with God. Choose a time that will present as few distractions as possible, and then make it happen. After all, we keep track of everything else in our lives and plan our other appointments and activities. Doesn’t time with God demand the same attention?

Find a quiet place where you will not be distracted. Get away from things that will interrupt your time with God and give Him your full attention. Maybe there is a room in your house where you can get away, or maybe it’s easier at your office before everyone else arrives.

The third and final step is to come up with a plan for what you will be doing with your quiet time. You may choose to study a specific book of the Bible (or group of books), read through the entire Bible, or follow along through a devotional book or workbook.

Looking at the next year in advance, plan how you will be dedicating your quiet time with God. Choose a path of study that you think will have a practical impact on your life. Ask for God’s leading as He shows you what to study and how to spend your time in Scripture.

Just like diet and exercise are critical to your physical health, time alone with God is critical to your spiritual and emotional health. Make that standing appointment for every day and do what ever you can to keep it each day.

Father, I know how important it is that I have time alone with you each day. Help me to put aside the distractions and to prioritize this time. Show me what you would have me to study and how I can apply it to my daily life.

Ann Shorb is a counselor that practices in central PA. Through her organization, Christian counseling provider & Educational Services, she provides marriage counseling, help with ADHD, depression, grief, and more.

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Five Necessities for Change and Healing

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Being a counselor, I work with people on a daily basis who are searching for change. The Bible tells us that in order to make positive changes and to experience healing, we need to have five elements in place.

My favorite book, aside from the Bible, is The Search for Significance. Throughout the book, author Robert McGee speaks that all five of these elements must be in place to achieve long-term healing and change. If any of them are missing you will have trouble reaching that stage. The five elements are:

1. Honesty – You must be honest with God, with yourself, and with others. Be willing to share the truth and take the first step towards healing.

2. Affirming Relationships – The Bible speaks of the responsibility of friends and family to confront, encourage, and build up christian brothers and sisters. We read of the need to bear each other’s burdens. Part of change and healing is having healthy relationships with others who will do this for us.

3. Right thinking based on the truth of God’s Word – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect (mature), thoroughly furnished unto all good works, (II Timothy 3:16-17).

4. Direction and power of the Holy Spirit – When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth . . . (John 16:13).

5. Time – It’s a process! Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 3:12-14).

Honesty is first on the list because without it there will never be any progress. Before you can even begin to experience change and healing you have to be able to reach a stage of honesty. If you are facing a point in your life where you feel that change is needed, ask God to show you where you need to change and be willing to step back and look at your life and be honest with yourself and with God.

We need to be willing to admit that we have a problem in order to move forward with the changing process. We also need to have a close friend who we can rely on to work with us and hold us accountable. Honesty is necessary with this person as well. Honesty is truly the first step towards change and healing!

Ann Shorb works in central Pennsylvania as a Biblical counselor that provides services for help with sexual addiction, Christian Marriage Counseling, and other types of counseling.

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