Conversations, Reflections & Meditations


	Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family
Sign Guestbook \| View Guestbook Comments? Questions? [email protected]	Prayer topics Praying For My Neighbourhood Trading My Life For Temporary Things You Have Placed Urgency In My Being Unfailing, Dependable God, Please Help My Unbelief My Heart Cries Out to You, My God! Be My Center, Lord! Praying for my Neighbourhood Date: September 21, 2004 Thank You for the awesome time I had this morning prayer-walking my paper route. Help me to really show practical love for my neighbors. Thank You, Jesus! Thank You for helping me to know how to pray for each one, dear Holy Spirit – and for taking over in “tongues” when I didn’t know how or what to pray. Thank You for breaking the strongholds of satan’s power. Come in with Your Spirit and pour out Your fire, Lord, so the enemy cannot try to return into people’s lives. Thank You! Thank You for the lifting I felt… You know all about it. In Jesus’ name, amen. Return to the top Trading My Life for Temporary Things Date: September 22, 2004 Oh, dear God, don’t let me be a grumbler like the children of Israel in the wilderness. Help me to always remember and see all Your blessings and know that You are in control and are providing for all my needs. Dear Heavenly Father, yesterday I read the newspaper (front page, and classifieds), read a couple articles in Elle magazine, watched most of a “chick flick” comedy with the kids. Now none of these was really “bad” by the world’s standards, but none of them was good or spiritually edifying, either, and certainly they were not God’s standards. I’ll be honest, by the time I watched the movie in the evening I was really tired and in some ways I felt relieved to be able to just slump down and watch “fluff.” But then I found myself justifying the whole thing to my husband. Because I felt guilty for wasting time, and for “trading my life for temporary things… wasting my energy on what will not matter in eternal perspective… engaging in ‘here and now’ thinking… dealing with things the world thrusts on you.” Am I allowing my ‘obsession’ for reading and media to get in the way of Your mission for me in the world? Lord, I want to do Your will, but Lord, do You mean for me to get so tired? No! “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Yes, I have been feeling really joyful; the secretary at the school commented on it yesterday, for example. You promise that those who wait on You will “renew their strength, mount up on wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.” You keep Your promises! So what is happening here? Are You testing my faith, trust, patience? Are You giving me a message that there are things I am using my life for, that are not in Your purpose for me? Yes, I think that must be it (both things, but maybe especially the second). So… (oh, I hate to commit to this.. it’ll be a struggle, Lord… You’re going to have to help me, dear Holy Spirit!) I am hereby committing to not reading worldly materials (or even “fluff” spiritual ones), watching TV and movies, reading magazines, newspapers, etc, listening to radio (except French in background to learn the language… I am getting more and more convinced that You have a ministry for me in that area). Dear God, please pour out Your Spirit on our life group today. Bring people to the group and to You. Amen! Return to the top You Have Placed Urgency In My Being Date: September 23, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You so much for the life group meeting last night. Thank You for people opening their hearts. Lord, I hope I didn’t talk too much. I’m just so excited about what You have done, are doing, and will be doing. Of course it is all “eternal present” for You, You see the whole picture and I don’t, and when I do get glimpses of it, it’s just overwhelming, wonderful, exciting, magnificent! Wow! Lord, if I said too much, please forgive me and work it out for those who had to listen to me. Lord, I just feel like I’m going to burst if I don’t let it all out… like the prophet… it’s burning in me… I think it is because You have called me to preach. Lord, I can’t get away from that word. I try to rationalize it as speaking to women’s groups, or teaching, or whatever. But dear God, you told me: “Preach!” And that’s what Your commission says, too. “Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Yes, Lord, I know that can cover “friendship evangelism” and “kids clubs” and “sharing your testimony” and so on. But dear God, You told me “Preach!” Yes, Lord, like Peggy Kennedy. I just read my notes from one of her messages, Lord, and it’s full of good doctrine, good teaching… but what it always came down to was urging, with real urgency, urging sinners to give their lives to You, urging repentance from sinners and saved alike, urging holiness and growth and maturity from the saints, urging people to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Lord, “share” is nice, but “preach” is urgent. And Lord, You have placed urgency in my being. I’ve got to get out there. I’ve got to preach… share urgently… and Lord, I long to get others excited, too. Is that possible? Is it right? Or do they have to work through things first and learn slowly like I have? Lord God? Help me to know. Lord, I shared last night about my hurt and anger over ___ through the years, and how You have taught me to forgive and to love. I know now that all that “trouble” was for a purpose: for me. Lord, many time I asked You to change ___, to make ___ “better”. But Lord, all that time it was me You were changing. And that is good, and You taught me to forgive and love and wait and know that You are in control. But Lord, it’s still been, I see now, I admit, about “me.” Yes, I still want to see ___ “fixed.” But God, doing the “fixing” for ___, not for me (it’s always been for “me” that I’ve asked this, till now. I saw that this morning when I was hearing You in my bed… it’s easier, maybe, to hear You there, with the lights out and having to be quiet because everyone is sleeping). Lord, help me to do what I should have been doing all along, praying urgently for ___, and for all the other people You have given me to pray for and love. Lord, I have started doing that before, but somehow I always give up when I don’t get results right off. Oh dear God, help me to persevere, help me to see something of what You are doing, help me to really, really listen to my family and friends, see where they are at, and pray – intercede – constantly, intelligently, urgently, fervently, in partnership with You, Lord. Talk to me, show me, Holy Spirit. You pray through me and teach me to pray according to the will and purpose of God my Father. And help me to go out and preach the gospel, the good news of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to all the world! Return to the top Unfailing, Dependable God, Please Help My Unbelief! Date: September 27, 2004 God is the object of my faith! He is dependable! “My God rescues me from my enemies. He is my unfailing refuge, my deliverer, my rock of habitation, my Savior, my fortress, my Hope, my Jehovah God, my confidence, my sustainer, my helper, my teacher, my source of strength and power, my comforter, my source of truth and faithfulness, my redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. His righteousness and salvation is greater than I can know. He listens to me! He is to be praised and glorified. He is never far from me, and He hastens to help when I call.” (My summary of Psalm 71). I just realized as I wrote this (thank You for showing me!) that the reason I’ve always hated or feared the idea of counseling others is that I really haven’t trusted You myself to take care of everything (finances, my kids, my husband, etc) including myself. So how can I confidently tell others to trust You? Oh dear God, please forgive me. I do believe. Help my unbelief! Return to the top My Heart Cries Out to You, My God! Be My Center, Lord! Date: October 2, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You! Your Spirit is speaking Your message, Your word, in my heart and through Your Word today. Reading Exodus is so impressive of the total necessity for total holiness and justice and obedience and single-minded, undivided, constant worship and love of God, and love of my neighbor – friend and enemy alike – as myself. And oh, dear God, such righteousness, such perfection, Your perfection, can come only through the salvation You have supplied so unconditionally and lovingly, earnestly, through the blood of Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, and through the power and guidance of Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for my sore back! Thank You for Your love and Your knowledge and provision of everything that is good for me (whether I think it is great or not at the moment). Thank You for the way it’s forcing me to sit down, so I have more time for You. Thank You for my husband’s love in helping me with my paper route today. Thank You that I was able to prayer walk along the route. Thank You for giving me strength to do it, strength to battle the enemy when he tries to distract me, and Your guidance and help in praying from Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, dear Holy Spirit. I could not live out God’s purposes for my life, without You. Thank You, too, dear Father, and my dear Jesus, my Lord! Thank You, God, that You are already breaking through the spiritual darkness of my community, that the dawn is breaking, that Your light is coming and is bursting forth into the glorious brilliance of the full sunlight of Your great love and salvation and purpose in my neighborhood and my community and area. Dear God, please, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done. Make me strong, Lord. Show me how to live out Your love in totally practical ways in my community, unto my neighbors, and help me boldly speak forth Your words, Your message of the great salvation of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen! Thank You, dear God – Father, Son and Spirit, all. One God! Praise! Oh, Lord, what a morning I’ve had. What wonderful things You are speaking to me! Thank You for everything You have taught me this year. Thank You that You have placed me at this time in history, in this place, for Your purposes. Thank You for the love You have given me for reading and studying and learning… and maybe gifting me to teach, too… at least to enthusiastically share with others the awesomely wonderful things I am learning from You. Keep me in Your purposes every moment, dear God. In Jesus’ name! Oh, dear God, please, bring a great breakthrough of Your Spirit among all the native peoples of North America. And let it spread outward like wildfire among all those who have joined them in this great land. Heal the land, Lord. Heal the people. Stoke us out of our lethargy. Revive us, Lord. Destroy the power of satan. “Break our hearts with the things that break Yours.” Bring unity in our family, dear God, in our life group, in our church – in Your church, Your body, in this community, in this city and area and region and province and nation and continent and world. Burn up the chaff, dear God. Purify us. Make us holy in our lives as well as in our spirits which have been washed by Jesus’ blood. Oh, dear God. Heal us. Teach us, help us, to lay on our faces before You in total humility and repentance. Teach me to do this, Lord. Help me to truly fast and pray. Dear God, make us cast away our love of the world, our own goals and our selfish, self-centered desires. Help us to put You, Lord, at the center of our beings, our lives. Make us holy, God. Unite us. Help us to love each other unconditionally, with the love of God. Help us forgive, and accept forgiveness. Revive us, Lord. Make us holy, holy, holy. Help us love God with all our hearts and minds and spirits and souls. Help us love our neighbors as ourselves, as we love God also. Unite us – and finally, dear God, transform us – our family, street, neighborhood, life group, church, body of local believers, community, region, nation, world. In the precious name of Jesus, amen. Oh – please bless all our church and life group pastors and leaders. Strengthen them, bless them, help us help and bless them, dear Lord, in Jesus’ name. Protect them and their families, Lord, from the enemy’s attacks. Meet all their needs as they seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness – please add your answers to all their other needs as Your word promises, Lord. Thank You. Amen. Return to the top
Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family


	Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family
Sign Guestbook \| View Guestbook Comments? Questions? [email protected]	Prayer topics Praying For My Neighbourhood Trading My Life For Temporary Things You Have Placed Urgency In My Being Unfailing, Dependable God, Please Help My Unbelief My Heart Cries Out to You, My God! Be My Center, Lord! Praying for my Neighbourhood Date: September 21, 2004 Thank You for the awesome time I had this morning prayer-walking my paper route. Help me to really show practical love for my neighbors. Thank You, Jesus! Thank You for helping me to know how to pray for each one, dear Holy Spirit – and for taking over in “tongues” when I didn’t know how or what to pray. Thank You for breaking the strongholds of satan’s power. Come in with Your Spirit and pour out Your fire, Lord, so the enemy cannot try to return into people’s lives. Thank You! Thank You for the lifting I felt… You know all about it. In Jesus’ name, amen. Return to the top Trading My Life for Temporary Things Date: September 22, 2004 Oh, dear God, don’t let me be a grumbler like the children of Israel in the wilderness. Help me to always remember and see all Your blessings and know that You are in control and are providing for all my needs. Dear Heavenly Father, yesterday I read the newspaper (front page, and classifieds), read a couple articles in Elle magazine, watched most of a “chick flick” comedy with the kids. Now none of these was really “bad” by the world’s standards, but none of them was good or spiritually edifying, either, and certainly they were not God’s standards. I’ll be honest, by the time I watched the movie in the evening I was really tired and in some ways I felt relieved to be able to just slump down and watch “fluff.” But then I found myself justifying the whole thing to my husband. Because I felt guilty for wasting time, and for “trading my life for temporary things… wasting my energy on what will not matter in eternal perspective… engaging in ‘here and now’ thinking… dealing with things the world thrusts on you.” Am I allowing my ‘obsession’ for reading and media to get in the way of Your mission for me in the world? Lord, I want to do Your will, but Lord, do You mean for me to get so tired? No! “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Yes, I have been feeling really joyful; the secretary at the school commented on it yesterday, for example. You promise that those who wait on You will “renew their strength, mount up on wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.” You keep Your promises! So what is happening here? Are You testing my faith, trust, patience? Are You giving me a message that there are things I am using my life for, that are not in Your purpose for me? Yes, I think that must be it (both things, but maybe especially the second). So… (oh, I hate to commit to this.. it’ll be a struggle, Lord… You’re going to have to help me, dear Holy Spirit!) I am hereby committing to not reading worldly materials (or even “fluff” spiritual ones), watching TV and movies, reading magazines, newspapers, etc, listening to radio (except French in background to learn the language… I am getting more and more convinced that You have a ministry for me in that area). Dear God, please pour out Your Spirit on our life group today. Bring people to the group and to You. Amen! Return to the top You Have Placed Urgency In My Being Date: September 23, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You so much for the life group meeting last night. Thank You for people opening their hearts. Lord, I hope I didn’t talk too much. I’m just so excited about what You have done, are doing, and will be doing. Of course it is all “eternal present” for You, You see the whole picture and I don’t, and when I do get glimpses of it, it’s just overwhelming, wonderful, exciting, magnificent! Wow! Lord, if I said too much, please forgive me and work it out for those who had to listen to me. Lord, I just feel like I’m going to burst if I don’t let it all out… like the prophet… it’s burning in me… I think it is because You have called me to preach. Lord, I can’t get away from that word. I try to rationalize it as speaking to women’s groups, or teaching, or whatever. But dear God, you told me: “Preach!” And that’s what Your commission says, too. “Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Yes, Lord, I know that can cover “friendship evangelism” and “kids clubs” and “sharing your testimony” and so on. But dear God, You told me “Preach!” Yes, Lord, like Peggy Kennedy. I just read my notes from one of her messages, Lord, and it’s full of good doctrine, good teaching… but what it always came down to was urging, with real urgency, urging sinners to give their lives to You, urging repentance from sinners and saved alike, urging holiness and growth and maturity from the saints, urging people to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Lord, “share” is nice, but “preach” is urgent. And Lord, You have placed urgency in my being. I’ve got to get out there. I’ve got to preach… share urgently… and Lord, I long to get others excited, too. Is that possible? Is it right? Or do they have to work through things first and learn slowly like I have? Lord God? Help me to know. Lord, I shared last night about my hurt and anger over ___ through the years, and how You have taught me to forgive and to love. I know now that all that “trouble” was for a purpose: for me. Lord, many time I asked You to change ___, to make ___ “better”. But Lord, all that time it was me You were changing. And that is good, and You taught me to forgive and love and wait and know that You are in control. But Lord, it’s still been, I see now, I admit, about “me.” Yes, I still want to see ___ “fixed.” But God, doing the “fixing” for ___, not for me (it’s always been for “me” that I’ve asked this, till now. I saw that this morning when I was hearing You in my bed… it’s easier, maybe, to hear You there, with the lights out and having to be quiet because everyone is sleeping). Lord, help me to do what I should have been doing all along, praying urgently for ___, and for all the other people You have given me to pray for and love. Lord, I have started doing that before, but somehow I always give up when I don’t get results right off. Oh dear God, help me to persevere, help me to see something of what You are doing, help me to really, really listen to my family and friends, see where they are at, and pray – intercede – constantly, intelligently, urgently, fervently, in partnership with You, Lord. Talk to me, show me, Holy Spirit. You pray through me and teach me to pray according to the will and purpose of God my Father. And help me to go out and preach the gospel, the good news of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to all the world! Return to the top Unfailing, Dependable God, Please Help My Unbelief! Date: September 27, 2004 God is the object of my faith! He is dependable! “My God rescues me from my enemies. He is my unfailing refuge, my deliverer, my rock of habitation, my Savior, my fortress, my Hope, my Jehovah God, my confidence, my sustainer, my helper, my teacher, my source of strength and power, my comforter, my source of truth and faithfulness, my redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. His righteousness and salvation is greater than I can know. He listens to me! He is to be praised and glorified. He is never far from me, and He hastens to help when I call.” (My summary of Psalm 71). I just realized as I wrote this (thank You for showing me!) that the reason I’ve always hated or feared the idea of counseling others is that I really haven’t trusted You myself to take care of everything (finances, my kids, my husband, etc) including myself. So how can I confidently tell others to trust You? Oh dear God, please forgive me. I do believe. Help my unbelief! Return to the top My Heart Cries Out to You, My God! Be My Center, Lord! Date: October 2, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You! Your Spirit is speaking Your message, Your word, in my heart and through Your Word today. Reading Exodus is so impressive of the total necessity for total holiness and justice and obedience and single-minded, undivided, constant worship and love of God, and love of my neighbor – friend and enemy alike – as myself. And oh, dear God, such righteousness, such perfection, Your perfection, can come only through the salvation You have supplied so unconditionally and lovingly, earnestly, through the blood of Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, and through the power and guidance of Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for my sore back! Thank You for Your love and Your knowledge and provision of everything that is good for me (whether I think it is great or not at the moment). Thank You for the way it’s forcing me to sit down, so I have more time for You. Thank You for my husband’s love in helping me with my paper route today. Thank You that I was able to prayer walk along the route. Thank You for giving me strength to do it, strength to battle the enemy when he tries to distract me, and Your guidance and help in praying from Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, dear Holy Spirit. I could not live out God’s purposes for my life, without You. Thank You, too, dear Father, and my dear Jesus, my Lord! Thank You, God, that You are already breaking through the spiritual darkness of my community, that the dawn is breaking, that Your light is coming and is bursting forth into the glorious brilliance of the full sunlight of Your great love and salvation and purpose in my neighborhood and my community and area. Dear God, please, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done. Make me strong, Lord. Show me how to live out Your love in totally practical ways in my community, unto my neighbors, and help me boldly speak forth Your words, Your message of the great salvation of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen! Thank You, dear God – Father, Son and Spirit, all. One God! Praise! Oh, Lord, what a morning I’ve had. What wonderful things You are speaking to me! Thank You for everything You have taught me this year. Thank You that You have placed me at this time in history, in this place, for Your purposes. Thank You for the love You have given me for reading and studying and learning… and maybe gifting me to teach, too… at least to enthusiastically share with others the awesomely wonderful things I am learning from You. Keep me in Your purposes every moment, dear God. In Jesus’ name! Oh, dear God, please, bring a great breakthrough of Your Spirit among all the native peoples of North America. And let it spread outward like wildfire among all those who have joined them in this great land. Heal the land, Lord. Heal the people. Stoke us out of our lethargy. Revive us, Lord. Destroy the power of satan. “Break our hearts with the things that break Yours.” Bring unity in our family, dear God, in our life group, in our church – in Your church, Your body, in this community, in this city and area and region and province and nation and continent and world. Burn up the chaff, dear God. Purify us. Make us holy in our lives as well as in our spirits which have been washed by Jesus’ blood. Oh, dear God. Heal us. Teach us, help us, to lay on our faces before You in total humility and repentance. Teach me to do this, Lord. Help me to truly fast and pray. Dear God, make us cast away our love of the world, our own goals and our selfish, self-centered desires. Help us to put You, Lord, at the center of our beings, our lives. Make us holy, God. Unite us. Help us to love each other unconditionally, with the love of God. Help us forgive, and accept forgiveness. Revive us, Lord. Make us holy, holy, holy. Help us love God with all our hearts and minds and spirits and souls. Help us love our neighbors as ourselves, as we love God also. Unite us – and finally, dear God, transform us – our family, street, neighborhood, life group, church, body of local believers, community, region, nation, world. In the precious name of Jesus, amen. Oh – please bless all our church and life group pastors and leaders. Strengthen them, bless them, help us help and bless them, dear Lord, in Jesus’ name. Protect them and their families, Lord, from the enemy’s attacks. Meet all their needs as they seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness – please add your answers to all their other needs as Your word promises, Lord. Thank You. Amen. Return to the top
Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family