Pray for Families (Bridging the distance)

Greetings Prayer Angels,

When we miss a family member or relative, when our heart yearns for their presence, what we really miss is how that person makes us feel, which is usually loved, supported, alive, happy, strong, secure, empowered, understood, complete, etc.  When we miss a loved one and feel emptied of such positive feelings, we may try to fill that emptiness and seek comfort in emotionally numbing things, such as excessive food, alcohol, or drugs, which one hopes will bring comfort.  But the Lord wants us to turn to Him instead. He wants you to minimize the distance there is between the two of you. He is the one longing for you and hopes that you run to Him as he meets you half way.  He will fill your emptiness.

When we are faced with the absence of a loved one, whether the separation is a physical, emotional, or spiritual distance, it can create much pain and heartache.  Let’s focus our prayer today on minimizing the distance felt among relatives, the healing of hearts within families, and a renewed trust that the Lord will fill the empty spaces in our heart, if only we let Him.

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

For those who have relatives who are geographically separated from them due to jobs, lifestyles, or divorce, let us pray,

Lord, bridge this distance with your love and bring healing to our hearts.

For those who are emotionally separated due to family riffs, substance abuse, custody issues, emotional abuse, or psychological issues, let us pray,

Lord, bridge this distance with your love and bring healing to our hearts.

For those who are separated spiritually from their relatives, let us pray,

Lord, bridge this distance with your love and bring healing to our hearts.

For the courage of each person to take the first step in minimizing the distance by trusting in You, let us pray,

Lord, bridge this distance with your love and bring healing to our hearts.

May His Peace ground you,

May the gift of His Joy lift you,

and may his enduring Love fulfill your longing, 

as I walk with you on this journey,

Janet

Bridge the distance.  Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Made to be loved)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

People were made to be loved.  Things were made to be used.

People were made to be loved.  Things were made to be used.

It seems nowadays, we have gotten our wires terribly crossed.  People are used for one’s personal pleasures and gains, while ”things” are being adored and cherished.

Perhaps this is why marriages are at an all time low and divorces at an all time high? 

Being used for one’s selfish pleasures versus being deeply cherished elicits two different human responses.  Being cherished brings two individuals closer together. Being used, and this is often reciprocal, may bring people together but never in a lasting way, because when we treat people as things, we are quick to discard them when they are no longer of use to us.

We were made for love.  We were made for Love.  When we unite ourselves to Love we are better able to love one another as His love will flow through us.  Now that is Divine!

His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4

Lord, we are broken and flawed.  Help us surrender our self-centered ways and empty ourselves of all that is not of you.  May we open our hearts to your divine love, allowing it to transform us.  May we in turn love as you love, with total self-giving.  Strengthen all married couples and conform their love to yours, so that each may become a beacon of your love, beckoning all who are lost to be renewed in hope.  Come, be our Light!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Be a light to the world.  Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (Compassion, Love, Generosity)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

I have a coworker who LOVES dogs.  So much so that she will drive through low-income neighborhoods to pick up stray dogs, and if it appears that they don’t have an owner or have been abandoned, she will take them to a shelter in a high-income neighborhood.   “Why?” I asked?  “Because,” she responded,  “ ’shelters’ in low income neighborhoods will exterminate the dogs while high income neighborhood shelters will find them homes.

While being stuck by her compassion and love for dogs, I was also struck by the similarities this story shares with the plight of unwanted, unborn babies.   Abortion mills are placed in low-income neighborhoods capitalizing on the indigent, oppressed, and needy.  They don’t offer adoption options, nor support services for raising babies, nor do they refer to such agencies.

As Christians, it begs the question, what are we doing to support the indigent, the vulnerable, or the needy?  Are we donating our time, talents, or treasure?  Are we speaking up for those who can’t speak up for themselves?  Are we directly or indirectly supporting shelter or (ex)termination?

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17

Lord, we are all your treasured children, your beloved family.  Help our hearts to grow in compassion, love, and generosity.  May we joyfully respond to your call to truly live as brothers and sisters in Christ, one family united in love, always seeking the best interests of the other.  In praise and thanksgiving, let us be your hands, your feet, and your voice in this world.  Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

May your actions magnify your faith.   Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (Hope and Trust)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Nothing rocks me more than learning of someone struggling in their marriage, especially when they are moving toward despair.  It’s like they are in a submarine that keeps diving and diving into the darkest depths until the rays of sunlight become invisible and their hopes of seeing the light diminish.  It is at this moment they must pray for hope.  More than ever they must trust in the Lord.  Yet, when one is in the darkest depths, it is often the hardest time to pray.

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?  Romans 8:24

Prayer is the periscope.  When we pray on behalf of our brothers and sisters, we help raise the periscope so that their hope may be strengthened, their trust renewed, and they once again can see the Light breaking though their darkness. 

By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15

The LORD will fight for you; you have only to keep still.” Exodus 14:14

Dear Lord, may your healing rays of Light penetrate the dark crevasses within marriages. Renew all in hope, trust, and faith.  Enkindle the flickering remains of love and fan into flame a newer, stronger love.  May the growing flames incinerate what was bad and illumine all that is good. We ask this in the most precious name of Jesus!  Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Be a periscope for those lost in the depths of darkness.  Pass it on!