Why Pray Scripture?

What is the benefit? Why read the Word? I try to study and memorize the Word as much as I can. Only because it directly affects my prayer life! If someone asks me for prayer at church, or on the phone, or I am praying in my private prayer time, scriptures will be brought to my mind that I have stored up in my memory. So then I pray those, as they are brought to my mind, over that person or situation. I also like to have my Bible open and reviewing scriptures before and during my time of prayer. Sometimes I get directed to certain places in the Bible. These places may be of scriptures I have forgotten or new ones. I often end up turning to a verse and then I will get a thought of someone in my head; I have learned that is my way of knowing to pray that scripture over that person or situation. I will not tell someone that I was praying for them unless prompted by the Holy Spirit.

2 years ago, I was awake at a very odd hour, like 4 in am, and I was praying scriptures from a brochure over the missions team. I got stuck on this one verse. I could not take my eyes off of it. I just said it out loud and gave it to God. I kept saying it out loud over and over for a good minute, then I got a picture in my head of someone dear to me. I prayed this scripture over them for about the next 4-5 minutes until I felt that I could move on. I made a mental note of the exact time. Later when I saw them, I got a thought in my head to tell them what scripture it was and what happened. They happened to be going through a physical ailment that scared them. They thought they were all alone and could not make it through at that very moment. They were trying to fight fear in prayer and could not believe what I told them!!! If you get woken in the middle of the night, then it may be God! He is looking for people who want to be used in prayer.

The Bible gives us the following powerful versus concerning the Word of God….

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1 John 5:14-15 (NIV) 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Okay, I’ll stop there. If we meditate on just those 3 scriptures, who wouldn’t want to pray scripture? I would just like to encourage you, don't think the Word is intimidating, just pick a spot and start there. Biblegateway.org also has a search engine that you can search topics and read all the scriptures pertaining to that topic right there online in the same spot. I have a Power Bible CD that a friend, Carol, recommended and I would highly recommend it if you enjoy studying the Greek and Hebrew, since it gives you the ancient words next to the translation with the definitions all with just a point and click of your mouse.

Please let me know how studying the Word helps you! Send me your testimony! I will be posting several topics and what the Word says regarding them throughout the year.

If a 1 & 1/2 Year Old Can Do It...

....then why is it so hard for us to do the same? We must make it a lifestyle! This clip of my son Malachi was taken on my phone 1 year ago, February 28, 2007. I was thinking, "Yes Malachi, you're making me look good!" Carrie & I showed this clip during a portion of the sermon a few weeks ago when Pastor Chris was preaching the series, "Extreme Makeover, Family Edition". We were asked to share what we did with our children to raise them to have a Christ-centered focus. Of course, (cough, cough) my little 2 1/2 years experience pales in comparison to Carrie's; so I had to let her have the most time of our 15 minutes or so. :) There are so many other parents with many great things they do, have done and are doing with their children. Please email us your pearls of wisdom so we can share here on the blog. One thing I am getting questions about is the book I referenced that my husband, Shawn, bought online: The Memory Bible Narrated by Kirk Cameron and written by Stephen Elkins. Here is what it looks like:



If our little ones can memorize a nursery rhyme, then they can memorize these little memory verse songs. They are all scripture which most Praise & Worship music is. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God; so Malachi gets these little songs stuck in his head and runs around singing them building every one's faith within an earshot! Amazing!

7 Steps to Answered Prayer

Be Specific and stand on Gods promises: Once you know what you want from God, find the scriptures that definitely promise you these things. Ask God for what you want: Then believe that you receive them according to the Word. Be positive in your thinking: Let every thought and desire affirm that you have what you have asked for. Guard your mind against every evil thought that tries to make you doubt God's Word: Do as Jesus, "it is written" and quote your scripture that promises you complete healing, etc... Meditate constantly: Speak out loud God's promises upon which you have based your answer to prayer. Continually thank God for the answer: In your every waking moment, think on the greatness of God and His goodness, and count your blessings. Once you have asked him for it, just stand in faith thanking God for making it happen rather than praying for it all over again! Make every prayer a statement of faith: It is thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words that lead the heart out of defeat and into victory. Interface Prayer Ministry www.freedomlifechurch.com Praise, Petition & Persevere!

1440 of them

I recently read Life Wide Open by David Jeremiah. One quote that really stuck out to me was this: “You have as much of God as you really want. People may say they wish their relationship was better with Him or they wish they had more time to spend with Him; but if a person truly desired this then they would do whatever it took to make it happen.” I did not make time to search the book for the exact verbiage but that is a good paraphrase.

OOOOOUCH! That hurt when I read that!

I began to think about this a lot. I have been one of those people. At any given minute in my life I have a choice; I can do homework, I can catch up on cleaning, I can play with the kids, I can converse with my husband, I can sleep, if the house is quiet and both kids are sleeping I can read my Bible, I can sit silently in God’s presence, I can pray, I can waste time online, etc… there are endless possibilities. So now I often stop myself and think about my priorities and instead of wasting that spare minute doing something that is not Kingdom minded, I decided to turn my countless wasted minutes into productive ones. After all we only have 1440 of them each day.

The Power of Prayer-Our 1st Testimony!!!!!

The following is a testimony from Charis Blacka! This was so encouraging to me that I asked her if I could post it here. Thanks Charis!! I know there are more out there!!!!

God has been very faithful to us. no matter what we go through with our finances or lack of child support we have a roof over our head and food to eat. i think that makes us a pretty blessed household. i have to share this with you. yesterday my car broke down. joe murphy was kind enough to ride over and take a look at it. while he was looking over the car i called carol to pray with me. just as we said amen, joe changed a fuse and the car cranked right up. coincidence??? i think not. it was totally God's doing for giving joe the wisdom of what to look for. He already new my need and provided the answer. i truly believe chandler and i are highly blessed and favored. even, though i fall so short daily tara, God continues to pour grace and mercy over us. God's girls ministry is blessing me with chandler's christmas. how awesome is that? i had no idea how i would be able to afford getting him anything. it is so tight for us. blessed and favored again that he put it on lesa's heart to help us. i am enjoying my bible study on monday nights at sozo. it has been very eye opening and helped me draw closer to the Lord.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS (original title, huh?)

It was truly our intention to keep this blog updated as frequently as possible. I just posted a separate Prayer Challenge, (see below). In my honest and wholehearted attempt to express what a life of trying to live prayerfully with God 24/7 is like for me, I also face that fear of rejection and fear of man. I struggle with it. But God desires obedience more than sacrifice so I have no choice but to put my experiences out there. I haven’t been doing a great job lately of focusing on God and focusing on my victory that I already have in Jesus. The Word says in Philippians 4:8. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” God just reminded me that I am not casting down every thought that does not line itself with the word. 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

I have had a horrible attitude lately and I have not been spending my time with God that I should be. Both the attitude and lack of focused time are products of each other. I used to have a daily focused time of intercession where I would just let the Holy Spirit lead me in prayer and bring things to my mind. I would think of scriptures then turn to them and then God would bring someone to mind and I would throw down in spiritual warfare prayer!!! It felt great! Since the birth of my son David and now having 2 little ones running around….I have had a very hard time getting back into the swing of things. I do have periodic times of intercessory prayer where I am sensitive to let God use me throughout the day while I am driving, walking, shopping, cleaning, etc… but when I feel best is when I have this focused one on one time with God only for intercession.

This time of intercession is separate from study time in Word and separate from my relationship with God where I try to talk and listen to Him 24/7 throughout my day. Those could also use a lot of work though too but I don’t want to blur the line of what I am referring to.

SO I was driving on Harpersville Rd. this morning and I drove by a house that had 2 snowmen in the front yard. All snow has melted from last weekend except for about ½ of each snowman. I had an encouraging thought from God, (I know this is from God because I have never really been an original thinker) just as the snowmen have survived, we are not to do it alone. Each snowflake sticks to the other and they form a large ball. I thought, “look at all that snow that is still packed together when all other snow has melted?" So He said through another thought, “Share your burdens, don't do it alone or you will melt away. It’s okay that you can’t get it together right now. Your life right now may not look the same, you are still doing your job, but it needs a little more work with the help of others.”

Then I thought of 1 Cor 9:24-27 which I have been mediating on for the past 2 days:

“24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Okay God so I get it, I need to discipline myself. I need a trainer. I need others to help out, to encourage me, to kick me in the butt. All great athletes have others helping them. So that is my only New Year’s resolution: to get help to keep up with this blog thing. Everyone should get a blog; it definitely helps to keep me accountable.

THIS WEEK'S PRAYER CHALLENGE

I will make it my personal goal to pray with my family _____ times per week for the next two weeks.

During the Extreme Makeover, Family Edition sermon this past weekend, Pastor Chris detailed our family roles in a Christ centered home. A family that prays together, stays together! Let's try it. Pastor Freddy worked with us to come up with an excellent challenge. Let us know how it's working for you!