Pray for Families (The Blessing)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

No matter how wonderful or not so wonderful one’s family is, they are still your family.  There is an unbreakable bond.  Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandkids all add a layer of beauty and complexity to our lives.  They are all a blessing, even if occasionally some may feel like a curse.  In the end, they help us grow in virtue.

Let us pray today for our own families. Praise God for the blessing that they are!  Let us pray for them and all of their needs.

To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.  

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Make prayer a daily practice and Christ will bear fruit in you. Pass it on!  

Pray for Marriages (A Beautiful Aroma)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Can you think of a couple struggling in their marriage?  Most likely you can.  Pick a couple you know who is in great need of prayer and pray for them this week. Ask the Lord to help you identify the right couple.  Don’t know of anyone walking on a rocky road?  Commit to praying and ask the Lord that your prayers bear fruit for a couple of His choosing.

The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel. Revelation 8:4

Prayer is beautiful aroma before the Lord.  Your commitment delights the Lord. May He bless you abundantly!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Encourage prayer.  It benefits both the giver and the receiver.  Pass it on!

Pray for Family (Weathering the Seasons of Change)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

We all experience constant change, if it’s calm in our life it’s probably crazy in another family member’s. May we learn torest in the fact that the Lord has a purpose for it all.

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

A time to give birth, and a time to die;

Let us rejoice in new life and pray for the souls of those at the end of life.

A time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

Plant the seeds of kindness and uproot bitterness and jealousy.

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

Kill your pridefulness and heal relationships harmed by your self-love.

 A time to tear down, and a time to build.

Tear down your personal wall of protection and take time to build up another.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

Let your tears cleanse the sorrows of your heart, and laugh for joy and the generosity of our Lord.

A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Mourn for the years lost without knowing the Lord; dance for joy once you have found Him!

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;

Take the stones from your heart and use them to build a foundation of Love.

A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

Embrace those longing to be comforted, avoid embraces leading to lustful desires.

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

Seek the Lord with all your heart and all your strength; lose the arrogance of self-dependency.

A time to keep, and a time to cast away.   Ecclesiastes  3 1-6

Do not store up treasures here on earth but rather give them to those in need.

Pray for family that each person weather the seasons of one’s life with a greater understanding of Christ’s love for them.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

We are strengthened by climbing hills and walking through valleys, so praise God for the fortifying of your character! Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Change Me!)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

As you pray for your spouse, how often do you ask the Lord to change something about them?  While it may sound reasonable, what if (God forbid!) we are the ones who need to change?  Consider what would happen if you reacted differently to your spouse’s behavior, comments, or quirks?  How would their response be different if you eliminated the eye roll, the negative body posturing, the groan of disapproval, the raised voice, the accusations, the placing of blame, and so on?

Conversely, what if you suddenly decided to stop tolerating bad behavior?  What would happen?

How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:4-5

Lord, we will labor endlessly and without fruit if we believe we have the power to change anybody but ourselves.  Open my eyes to what I can change in my own behavior, so that my spouse may respond differently to me.  Give us each the grace to become the best version of ourselves, so that we may then live to honor and glorify you.  We are in need of your abundant graces so let the deluge begin! Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Love begins with our actions, words and deeds.  Love more! Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (The Tides of Life)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

People from every generation can tell you stories of their youth and all the crazy things they did as they followed the cultural trends of their time.  You are probably chuckling right now as you reminisce on the wild things you did.  Today is no different in that many embrace the current boundary-shifting culture and don’t seem to notice the undercurrent that is pulling them in.   But today is very different from yesteryears.  Historically, our country embraced Judeo-Christian values as its foundation, and thus most who were pulled out into the cultural sea eventually found themselves washed back ashore.   They may have become a little saltier as a result, but their core values eventually resurfaced.

Today many children are raised without a knowledge of Christ or God because they are no longer learning about Him at home or in school. Even public places have erased all signs of Him.  As many youth and young adults either actively or passively succumb to the cultural undercurrent, is there any hope that they will ever reach shore again?    Of course there is, because God loves His children and we will be praying for them!

As a shepherd examines his flock while he himself is among his scattered sheep, so will I examine my sheep. I will deliver them from every place where they were scattered on the day of dark clouds. The lost I will search out, the strays I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, and the sick I will heal. Ezekiel 34:12,16

Lord, protect your children from the tidal wave of desires that are counter-cultural to you. Give them a greater sense of you as they seek to fill the voids in their lives.  May our prayers for them be the protective armor they need in the battle against evil.  Put us in their daily path and use us as your buoys, lighthouses, and life rings.  In your death, you showed us how great your love was for us. May your ocean of mercy wash all of us to higher ground.  Jesus, we trust in You!

More powerful than the roar of many waters, more powerful than the breakers of the sea, powerful in the heavens is the LORD. Psalms 93:4

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Create a tidal wave of prayer.  Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (The Consequence of Ignorance)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Nothing is worse than being surprised by a marriage breakup of a friend, not even realizing that the couple was in trouble.   Let’s pray this week for marriages that are silently suffering, nearing the breaking point, often with one spouse being totally clueless. 

Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing.  
1 Thessalonians 5:17 x 3

Lord, help us to attune ourselves to the needs of our spouse and be open to meeting those needs. Help us also to sense the marital struggles of others.  Lord, we ask that through our prayers, you rescue those who don’t know, don’t see, or are apathetic to the internal marital struggles of their spouse.  May our prayers be the balm that soothes the pain of those not being understood, not being listened to, and who feel the gnawing ache of loneliness.  Jesus, we trust in your mercy and love.  Make haste and save marriages!  All glory and honor be yours, now and forever!  Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Encourage both the lonely and the apathetic. Pass it on!

Pray for Families (To Never Walk Alone)

Greeting Prayer Warriors,

Life is a journey that is never in a straight line.  We are born into a family and then propelled onto an unknown path. It can be tortuous at times, but we are never meant to walk it alone. We are meant to walk with others and to also be open to allowing others to walk with us. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow.  2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Let us pray for those struggling on the path of life.

Lord, help us to remember that in our greatest struggles, there you are.  You so often send family, friends, and even strangers to support us.  Thank you! May we return your kindness by bringing your love and support to others.  We pray for those with family members battling health issues, those crushed by other family issues, and those feeling let down by their life’s circumstances.  We especially pray for those who fear that you have abandoned them. Hear the pleas of each of our hearts, and lift or lighten the physical, emotional, or spiritual burdens of those in most need.  We trust in your mercy and love! Amen.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed. Psalm 34:19

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Everyone needs encouragement and to feel the love of Christ through others.  Share his love by passing it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Rest and Hope for the Weary)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

How many people do you know who are struggling to hold their marriages together? Next ponder how great the number of all those who are struggling and you have no idea. 

Blessed are those who persevere in marriages, even when their effort is not mutual. May they always place their hope and trust in God, and know He will do the heavy lifting when they can’t.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

Let us pray that they never lose hope and nor give way to despair.  May their blessings be abundant and may the Lord be their foundation, their source of love, and their protective shield.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Prayer changes everything.  Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Viral Love)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was known around the world and loved by people of all races and religion.  She was a shining light of God’s mercy and love.  In honor of the fact that she will be canonized as a saint on Sunday, I thought it relevant to share her wisdom on the family.

“How can we love Jesus in the world today? By loving Him in my husband, my wife, my children, my brothers and sisters, my parents, my neighbors, the poor.”

"If we really want to love others, we must first begin to love one another in our own home. Love begins at home, and so from here - from our own home - love will spread to my neighbor, in the street I live, in the town I live, in the whole world."

"True peace comes only from loving and caring and respecting each person as a child of God – my brother, my sister. I know how trying it must be at times. If you find it hard to see Jesus in the distressing disguise of someone, see that person in the Heart of Jesus. He loves (him)/her with the same love with which He loves you. This will help you to greater love – especially to the one most in need of it.”

Keep the joy of loving Jesus in your heart and share this joy with all you meet, especially your family.

Lord, remind us how to love and infuse us with the grace to do so

.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Heavenly Father, bless our families and clothe us with the love of Christ so that by acts of simple kindnesses, words of encouragement, or a welcoming physical presence we may be the vessel with which you inoculate others with your love.  May this Love then spread like a virus among us, transforming the world one person at a time.  Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

May the fire of His love in you go forth like an inferno. Pass it on!