Pray for Marriages (Jesus, You Take Over)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

 

Sometimes in marriage, a couple hits a dead end.  They just feel stuck and see no way out, no way of righting the wrongs. While this is a real feeling and quite painful, it can feel unresolvable and thus only escapable when the couple relies too much on themselves to figure things out, and not enough on God.  

 

We must abandon our will, for God’s. It begins with a simple prayer, “Jesus, you take over”.  When you see no resolution, humble yourself before the Lord and pray, “Jesus, you take over”. When you don’t know what to do, pray “Jesus, you take over”.  When you are wavering between fight and flight, pray “Jesus, you take over”.  When your tongue wants to act as a sword to slay versus pray, fall to your knees and beg “Jesus, you take over”.

 

“Indeed, this is our God; we looked to him, and he saved us! This is the LORD to whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”

 

There is wisdom in realizing we can do nothing without Jesus. Humility and abandonment will bring your peace.  And our collective prayers for marriage will be the wave that takes you back to the safety of shore.

 

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

 

You don’t have to take care of everything; Call on Jesus! Pass it on! 

 

Pray for Families (Warriors not Worriers)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

 

Now that we are 3 weeks into Lent, how are you feeling?  Are you a warrior or a worrier? Maybe you’ve struggled to get your footing this Lent, and you are not off to a good start. Be kind to yourself for it’s not too late to get on track. Focus on the greatness the Lord has called you too.  Not worldly greatness, but heavenly glory. You were not made to fit in but to stand out.  You were created to embrace your warrior spirit and not to cower.  Spend some time in contemplation and ask the Lord to show you what he desires of you. It may be the smallest of things.  He may call you to far away places or ask you to serve him in your own home. You are the child of the Most High King, you loves you more than you can imagine. Embrace your royalty so that you can help you family embrace theirs. 

Therefore, … be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

 

Lord, in our human frailty we repeatedly stumble and fall, but with confidence we know that with your grace we will become the warriors you called us to be.  Help us to embrace your call to holiness and step out boldly to do your work. You truly value the smallest act done with the greatest love.  Help us begin in our homes by serving our family. Amen. 

 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

 

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

 

Everyone needs encouragement during Lent. Pass it on ! 

Pray for Marriages (Germinating Love)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Many of us consider ourselves fairly decent human beings: resilient, generous, kind, caring, etc., yet, how deep is our ability to love, especially in imitation of Christ? My finger is pointing at me. If Adam and Eve sold us out for an apple, what’s my price? Or shall I ask, what’s my vice?  Is it pride, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, or the pursuit of control, power, adulation? What must I root out to love God more before it grows so large it topples upon me?  

People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient [...] ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. 2 Timothy 3:2-4

I contend that one’s desire to love God more, predicts one’s ability to survive the storms and temptations of marriage. But how do we grow in desire? By spending more time with the Lord, in the Word, in prayer, in meditation, or in conversation. Over time, intimacy grows and the seeds of our desire will be germinated through God’s grace. As we draw closer to love Himself, we will desire to imitate Him more, thus showing greater love to our spouse.  However, without prayer,  how long will it be before the roots of our vices entangle us and  develop into self-loathing or hate towards our spouse?

You too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

Lent is a great time to reflect, identify, and root out all that doesn’t lead to holiness in your marriage. It’s also a good time to practice humility, kindness, self-control, and more words of affirmation and love.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

Pray for all marriages, that during this Lenten season, more love will spring forth.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Plant some new seeds of love in your marriage and pray for Son-shine! Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (Parental Endurance)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Looking back at my parenting years, I’ve gained a lot of perspective.  One, that parenting never ends. Adult children still need you, just in different ways. I’ve also come to appreciate what a blessing it is that God creates a strong desire for parenthood within you, so that you can only imagine the joy of having a  baby, versus the intensity, difficulty, responsibility, frustration, and sacrifice of parenthood.  

I’ve learned that without God to guide you, encourage you, and surround you with supportive friends, family, or strangers, the parenting hill to climb would just be too overwhelming.  In humility and gratitude, I am grateful that God never asks for perfection, only that we take His hand and be led, or in some instances, allow Him to carry us and all of our burdens.

Perhaps it is exactly because of our trials that our reliance on God increases which produces the wisdom of heart to lead our children to Jesus.

Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. 1 Peter 12:14

It is through the prayers of others that parents are lifted up each day, allowing them to continue the journey with a renewed vigor. They will know that God is with them, for even in the desert they will find flowers of joy.  So let us lift the masses in prayer!

Heavenly Father, look with love and compassion upon parents, especially those struggling in their responsibilities the most. Help them tend to the hearts and minds of their children to guard their purity, praise their goodness, maintain their sense of security, and affirm or reprove them as needed. Give them the strength to stand firm against the (satanic) culture that seeks to destroy their childrens’ souls. Unite them with like-minded families, so they can build a community of love and support for one another. Renew their hope when they see their children traveling down paths that point away from you. Increase their faith and humility, allowing them to bend their knees in prayer and confidently ask for your grace and intercession. Lord, you know the crosses you allow for each parent. Increase their joy.  Gift each parent with the virtue they need most right now in their parenting, whether they are engaging with a small child or a young adult.  Father, you love them more than we ever can. Give each child the grace they need to find their way to You. Send them a few extra Guardian Angels too! With confident trust in your mercy and love. Amen.

I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 

2 Tim 4:7

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

May prayers for parents never stop!! Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (New Parent Romance Not Rage)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

 

Reminiscing on when I was a new parent, I think of all the joys and all of the frustrations, especially in regards to communicating with my spouse. In those first few years, it was so easy for resentments to grow, especially since parenting was and is exhausting! I learned quickly that being an at-home parent was a blessing, but so under-appreciated!  I was used to kudos, rewards, affirmations, and business lunches.  Once I became a stay-at-home mom, there were zero kudos, many failures, no affirmations, and no time for lunch other than the baby’s leftovers!  I longed to be out of my robe before noon and feared the doorbell would ring and catch me off guard!  Affirmations were the occasional smile or hug from my child, when they weren’t colicky, cranky, or sick. I was very jealous of my spouse who at work could take breaks, go to lunch and get his work done. Worst of all was when he came home and would look around the house and ask, “What have you done all day??”  Rage never leads to romance. 

 

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27

 

This week, let’s pray for the marriages of the parents of the young. 

 

Lord, parenting is the ultimate virtue-builder, but it arrives like an unexpected earthquake. No one is ever prepared for the aftershocks. In prayer, we beg you to lavish new parents with grace, that they may never slide into despair, build up resentments, or lose hope.  Keep them tightly yoked, so that they may grow in virtue together.  Give them hearts of understanding, bending to the needs of the other. Help them to communicate and listen to each other’s frustrations, desires, and hopes so that rage abates and romance flourishes. Strengthen their faith, so that they may pass on the truth of your love and become a living testament to your unwavering support.  Jesus, we trust in You!

 

In everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints ,…by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God; 2 Corinthians 6: 4,6-7

 

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

 

Support the marriage of new parents. Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Why We Pray)

Greeting Prayer Warriors,

 

Our individual life journey, our path to God, is highly unique and designed just for us. Thus, you will find that no one else quite understands the difficulties of your trek, your inner trials, and the pain of carrying your crosses. No one.  

 

Yet we still desire and need compassion. Rather than focusing on seeking the compassion we need, perhaps we should challenge ourselves to spend more time during Lent being compassionate and understanding towards others. They too are struggling. Let’s keep our actions focused outwards, loving others more than self, especially family.  Then let us self-reflect inwardly, in supplication and thanksgiving, seeking to grow in faith, hope, and charity.

 

Bless the LORD, my soul; all my being, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, my soul; and do not forget all his gifts, who pardons all your sins, and heals all your ills, who redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with mercy and compassion, who fills your days with good things, so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5

 

Sometimes it’s the simplest actions that are the hardest to initiate. That’s why we pray. In prayer, we never walk alone.

 

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

 

Elevate your prayers to a new level. Join them with those of the angels and the saints.  Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Self Awareness)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

 

We have spent years praying for marriages.  This week, to mix things up, I want you to spend time each day praying for your own marriage.  Pause, reflect, and ask the Lord to reveal to you what His will is for your marriage right now.  What is He asking of you?  What might you need to do differently? Are their wounds that may need His healing?  What obstacles is He asking you to overcome with His grace?  

 

Carve out some quite time with the Lord and have an intimate conversation. Have a heart to heart about your hopes and fears for this stage of your marriage. You just may be surprised as to what the Lord reveals to you or even asks of you.  Pray for courage and fortitude.  The smallest steps may be the hardest to take.

 

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:11-12

 

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

 

Another may need the encouragement to pray for self, as they may be the one person they forget to pray for! Pass it on!

Pray for Families (United in Him)

Greeting Prayer Warriors, 

 

As I enter into Lent, there is much to contemplate. Looking deep within oneself is always difficult, but not so daunting when one accepts that the Lord has grasped you by the hand. Yet, it’s still intimidating knowing that to walk with Him means to walk the way of the cross. 

 

Today, living according to God’s law is counter-cultural. While the Lord asks us to humble ourselves, fast, and give alms, today’s world looks down upon those who don’t strive for money, power, celebrity, beauty and constant admiration via “likes” and “followers”.

 

Be counter cultural and pledge to spend this Lent being a follower of Christ and fasting from all that distracts you from doing just that. Amp up your time with the Lord, so that you may learn to be like Him. Spend time contemplating how before His earthly ministry, he fasted for 40 days.  

 

Is this the manner of fasting I would choose, a day to afflict oneself? To bow one’s head like a reed, and lie upon sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Isaiah 58:5-6

 

Within your family, who have you bound unjustly through unforgiveness? Who have you treated unfairly? What are you yoked to that destroys your soul and affects those around you?  Now think externally. Who is being oppressed and bound?  

 

My thoughts go immediately to the Ukrainian people. Under God, we are one family. During this penitential season, can you pray more for their protection?  Can you fast, asking for a quick end to the conflict, perhaps a peace accord? Can you help give alms in the way of helping to fund the relief efforts?  

 

Your prayer can unify not only your family, but the world.  Lent is a good time to listen to the Lord, take His hand, and follow His lead. 

 

I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one. John 17:22

 

Peace, Joy, and Love, 

Janet

 

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, not only will change another’s life, but it will transform your own!  Pass it on!