Pray for Families (Hearing and Healing)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they listened but never heard?  Have you ever tried to explain to someone how their actions/words had a negative impact on you and rather than acknowledging the negative effect that their actions/words had, they instead tried to explain the why behind their actions/words?  Do you remember how that made you feel?  Dwell there for just a moment. 

They have treated lightly the injury to my people: “Peace, peace!” they say, though there is no peace. They have acted shamefully, committing abominations, yet they are not at all ashamed, they do not know how to blush.  Jeremiah 6:14-15

We all have the need to be heard and acknowledged.  Forgiveness/healing is slowed and even impeded without the acknowledgment of an injury and subsequent apology. 

Heal me, LORD, that I may be healed; save me, that I may be saved, for you are my praise.  Jeremiah 17:14

Spend some time this week being present in each moment.  Listen.  Hear.  Acknowledge.  Empathize, and as appropriate, apologize.  Let the healing begin.  Pray that you may be an instrument of healing in your family, in your church, in your workplace, and in your community. 

For I will restore your health; I will heal your injuries—oracle of the LORD. Jeremiah 30:17

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Let the healing begin.  Pass it on!  

Pray for Marriages (Holiness)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

How many of you think of your marriage as holy?  Considering that the role of a husband or wife is to get their spouse to heaven, I believe most of us probably have some work to do!  And that’s before even looking in the mirror! We best start by praying.

Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17

Read some scripture daily, so that you may know the Truth.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word. So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. Ephesians 5:26-28

Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. Ephesians 5:3-4

To the rest I say (not the Lord): if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she is willing to go on living with him, he should not divorce her; and if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to go on living with her, she should not divorce her husband. For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, whereas in fact they are holy. 1 Corinthians 7:12-14

For I, the LORD, am your God. You shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11:44

Let us continue to pray for one another.  Seek first to be holy yourself. Pray daily for your spouse.  Then pray that the Lord will provide the grace for all marriages to become holy and thus reflect the love of Christ in this world.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Encourage one another to pray and strive for holiness.  Pass it on!  

Pray for Families (Invitation to Love)

Greeting Prayer Warriors,

As we enter into Lent, we begin to hear throughout all the gospels themes such as “die to self,”  “pick up your cross and follow me,”  “sacrifice,” “lose your life for my sake,” and so on.  On a bad day all these “commands” can sound “exhausting” and like something we’ll consider tomorrow when we’re not so dead tired from all of life’s obligations! 

Let’s not start our Lenten walk with a to-do list of all we plan to accomplish, but rather start with the desire to meditate on this beautiful story of sacrificial Love.  Christ is asking us to change our lives, but perhaps to take the first step we just have to reframe what He is asking us by looking at it in a different light.  Imagine Him saying to you:

Your name, I made you as a unique gem to bring a special light into this world.  For you to reflect your true brilliance as a gem and fulfill the role for which I created you, I need you to allow me to shape and mold you. Trials you receive may feel like painful cuts, but I see how they will only increase the way in which you reflect my light into this darkened world.  Will you trust me in your pain? I promise clarity and light will come.

Alternately, perhaps He whispers to you:

Your name, sparks danced when I conceived of you, because they knew I desired to use you as my light of love in this world.  You have difficulty seeing how you will have an impact on anything, but indeed if you don’t run from the fire of my love, you will be a spark that touches several lives.  Many fear the flame, but as it touches the wick of your heart, my love with burst forth through you to others.  Will you please draw close to me? My heart burns with love for you, please don’t snuff me out of your life.

Do not fear or be troubled. Did I not announce it to you long ago? I declared it, and you are my witnesses. Is there any God but me? There is no other Rock, I know of none! Isaiah 44:8

Let us pray for one another and for our families, that during Lent we each discover just how Christ is calling each one of us to walk with Him.   By meditating on His Passion and willfully saying yes to His call, “come follow me”, we will be transformed into the change that is needed in this world—hearts aflame with His love, bringing hope to all.

As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. 1 Peter 4:10

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Radiate His love into the world.  Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (The Brokenhearted)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors,

The heart is the core of our being.  It sustains our life with each beat.  The heart is also the seat of our soul, so when one’s heart is broken, their world may feels as if it’s crashing down and their soul may begin to despair. 

Insult has broken my heart, and I despair; I looked for compassion, but there was none, for comforters, but found none.  Psalm 69:21

Providentially, we have a loving Lord who is true love Himself.  He knows first hand what it’s like to be lonely, abandoned, and have a heart pierced.  He never abandons us but rather joins us in our pain and sorrow.  With unwavering love, He pours out His heart to heal us and to give us new life. We only need to turn to him for help.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed. Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.  Psalm 34:19-10

So today, let us pray for marriages that are suffering from heartbreak, betrayal, or deceit.  May the precious blood of our Lord bring them healing, new life, and restored hope.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Let the healing begin.  Pray and pass it on!  

Pray for Families (Knowing You Are Loved)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

With Valentine’s Day drawing near, many are saddened because they think they don’t have a Valentine and are thus unloved.  But that is not true, as the Lord has a deep and everlasting love for each of you!

We constantly long for love.  Could it be that what we truly long for is something much greater than we think…Love Himself?

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away!  Song of Solomon 2:13

I wrote a poem for all of you, so that you might know you are loved!

Unknown Love

A heart that yearns, for that Unknown; to fill the emptiness unsown.

A seed of love is all it takes, to grow and flower for His sake.

A light of knowledge from above, calls each of us to His feast of Love.

All are welcome to receive; an open heart is all you need. 

Our heart is filled; it may just burst, because we learn He loved us first.

We love because he first loved us! 1 John 4:19

The more love you share with others, the greater your capacity to love will be.  Exercise that heart muscle! Love your family, friends, neighbors, and strangers.  Praying for one another is a beautiful expression of love.  Keep on praying!  It is an immeasurable gift!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Change the world one heart at a time. Love, and then the world will come to know Love. Pass it on!!!  

Pray for Marriages (Shocking Hugs)

National Marriage Week

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Decades ago while in my late 20’s, I bought a sweatshirt for myself that said its wearer was a member of the “Hug Club”.  It must have said something like “free hugs” or “hugs given” but the sentiment I remember is that hugs make people feel better on every level. 

So this weekend I was intrigued to learn about the “heart to heart hug”.  It is a way for spouses, regardless of their state in marriage, to connect when one spouse is in need of an embrace for any reason. When a spouse is in need of a hug, they simply ask for a “heart to heart hug”.  The asker can hug for all long as they need, and no words are exchanged. The theory is that there is no place a women feels more secure than in their husband’s arms and that a husband only knows who he truly is in his wife’s arms. An unanticipated byproduct is that it can often bring couples closer together. 

No matter how good or bad a marriage is you can never underestimate the power of a hug.

Extol her, and she will exalt you; she will bring you honors if you embrace her; She will put on your head a graceful diadem; a glorious crown will she bestow on you.” Proverbs 4:8-9

Pray that through the warmth and security of hugs, the Lord will awaken hearts that have flat-lined and reignite hearts that have lost their rhythm.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Prayer can unite hearts and return them to a normal rhythm.  Shock someone and pass this on!