Pray for Marriages (Living Worthy of Your Call)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Each of us is called. Some to marriage, some to monastic life, others to a life of consecrated virginity, and the list continues. Regardless of where we are, we must embrace the vocation we were called to as each has its divine purpose. While the path to holiness is not easy, we must give praise to the Lord for he gives us all the grace we need.

 I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over. Ephesians 4:1-6

My prayer is that each one of you will live out your vocation fully, all for the glory of God and that God will bless each of your marriages abundantly. Please join me in praying for each prayer warrior, and for those for whom they pray for. 

Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Prayer has endless benefits. Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Seeking the Lasting Possession)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

As we pray for different family members and the families of one another, we always hope for a rapid answer to our prayers as it is difficult to watch those we love struggle and suffer even to the smallest degree.  But perhaps we shouldn’t fear the cross as much as we do, as it is the path to Jesus. He uses crosses to shape and mold us, to humble us, strengthen us, and embolden us. Sometimes, He even allows us to offer our own suffering for the sanctification of another. Crosses are a gift.

We don’t know what the physical future holds for our family, our state, our country, and our world, but I have the sense that the sands are shifting.  We are constantly being introduced to a "new normal". Yet we can be confident in what our eternal future looks like, if we persevere in prayer and make/keep it as our forever daily normal.

Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession. Hebrews 10:32-34

Lord, may we accept all hardship with joy, keeping our eyes on eternity and never losing hope in your promises. May we praise you in good times and bad.

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised. “For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay. But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.” We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life. Hebrews 10:35-39

Lord, our greatest desire is to be in eternity with You, and with all of our family members. Hear our ongoing petitions, look kindly upon our steadfastness, have mercy on our missteps, and grant us and all who we hold dear, the perseverance and endurance to complete the journey and the faith to never lose sight of our destination. Send your angels to guard and guide us, until we are safely home with You. Amen.

And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of the LORD is his treasure. Isaiah 33:6

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Ongoing prayer is the guardrail on the path to eternity. Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Journey of a Lifetime)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

When you  enter marriage, you have a trunk filled with hope, boxes of dreams, a heart full of love, and lots and lots of baggage. The honeymoon is great, but when you get to your home and settle in, you start to unpack the baggage.  Much more baggage than you thought possible. There’s a large one marked “emotional”, another marked “physical”, there’s a case for “mental", and a round one for spiritual.  You had no idea you owned this much baggage until it all started showing up!  As if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, you then discover that your spouse has baggage arriving too! 

As much as you try to keep it locked up and put away, sometimes it just pops open and the contents spill, or perhaps even explode out.  Sometimes, tremors or even quakes result in the relationship, followed by aftershocks.  Not to worry or panic, as it is a time for trust.  Trust in the Lord.  When your heart feels depleted, He will stand in the gap, love you through any challenge, and fill you with His love.  

Though the mountains fall away and the hills be shaken, My love shall never fall away from you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.  Isaiah 54:10

With a heart replenished, he will help you locate that trunk of hope and the box of dreams and set you on a new journey.  All it takes is surrender and trust in His Divine Love and Mercy.

They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.  Isaiah 40:31

Lord, we ask your intercession for marriages.  When we are burdened by the excessive weight of our baggage, help us to trust, loosen our grip, and allow you to carry it away for us.  Grant our spouses patience, kindness, and understanding, and the ability to assess their own baggage first.   Jesus, we trust in You!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Let the Lord be your porter! It makes for a better journey!  Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (A Personal Journey)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors,

It’s enlightening to look back on your faith journey.  When I ponder mine, the realization hits me that I thought I was much holier (or at least a “good person”) when I was active in, yet totally ignorant of my faith.  God was just the Almighty One in heaven whom I prayed to.  I never gave much thought to Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, nor of the Holy Spirit other than when hearing about them in the Gospel.  I didn’t fathom that there could be more.  Yet, the Lord had a plan for me, knowing just when He would draw me closer.  Now that I have a more intimate relationship with Jesus I don’t feel holier.  No, I just have more clarity to see my sin and His mercy.  It’s a beautiful thing. 

Once you know Love, you want it for everyone. Thus, we begin to worry about family members who are very far from Him. Yet, the Lord loves them even more than we do! He wants to be in a relationship with them and never stops pursuing them! As we offer prayer and sacrifice for the conversion of their hearts, we may not understand exactly how our prayers work, but we can be assured of their efficaciousness. We must trust that the Lord hears every prayer and in His faithfulness, He will provide our loved ones the grace they need to turn to Him. He doesn’t call us to convert them as that is His role, rather, he asks us to love them, so that through us they may come to know the love of Christ, and become renewed in Him.

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us.  

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

God is so good! He is Love. He is Mercy. He is Peace. Praise be to Him who is so patient with His children!

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Love one another and radiate Christ. Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (Enduring Hope)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

We all begin journeys with a happy, hopeful, and adventurous heart, yet at a certain point they take on a life of their own and rarely go as planned.  Marriage is no different. Some of you reading this could never have anticipated the path of their marital journey. Perhaps the road kept forking, detours disoriented you, the weather was unrelenting, your ”traveling companions” kept increasing, making you go off-road for a while, and adding to the twists and turns of the trip. Sometimes you secretly wish to jump out of the car, but deep inside you hope that sunshine and roses are just around the bend.

If you can relate to any of this, or struggle with hope, keep pursuing this virtue!

Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.  Romans 8:24-27

Let us all pray for marriages, especially those most off course.  

Lord, we ask for an increase in the Cardinal Virtues, especially that of hope. When one feels beaten down, weary, or depressed, hope is hard to cling to. We ask for an outpouring of grace and the light of the Son, that hope might grow like a weed in the barren hearts of husbands and wives. May the prayers of all these warriors delight you Lord, prompting you to saturate all the parched souls with renewed hope.  Jesus, we trust in you!

Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Psalm 119:116

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet 

Everything is elevated with prayer. Amp of the volume by passing it on! 

Pray for Family (Gratitude for Blessings)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

The more time we spend with  friends and family, the more we learn, and the more we realize that there is much to pray about. Praying for the intentions of our family and our friends is always a good thing. However, praying to God by listing all of his to-do’s (our intentions) needs to be interspersed with some praise and thanksgiving.

How has God blessed you?  What prayers has he answered?  How has he directed your life or the life of your family members  in a positive way?  Stop, contemplate, and shower the Lord with praise and thanksgiving.  There is no better way to start the New Year.

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

I will begin by praising and thanking God for each one of you!

Peace, Joy, and Love, 

Janet

Praise Him. Thank Him. Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Imitating and Uniting)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

When one ponders Christ’s earthly life, they are given a roadmap of how to live. It’s a bit intimidating to say the least. Christ emptied himself, humbled himself, was loving, gentle, and kind, righteous, and obedient to the will of the Father. 

“Not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

When we get married, we make all sorts of vows to our spouse AND to God as we stand before Him. Yet, how hard those vows are to live as the years pass. Perhaps that’s why God designed marriage to be permanent, because it would be very easy on a bad day to find justification to leave! Yet all are called to imitate Christ; To be patient, sincere, and loving even when we feel persecuted, misunderstood, taken for granted, mistreated, etc. We are not called to be a doormat, but to perform works of mercy such as teach the ignorant, correct sinners, bear wrongs patiently, and forgive wrongs willingly, all with the gentleness of Jesus.  

Forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.  Luke 11:4

Turning the other cheek is hard. 

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

Grace becomes more plentiful when we pray and helps us grow in the needed virtues. Let’s unite in prayer, begging for grace and blessings to be multiplied exponentially, so that more marriages will flourish. Pray10!!!

When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 

Matthew 6:6

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Praying is easier when you know you're not alone, for warriors always spiritually unite! Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (To be the Victor!)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Who [indeed] is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:5

The above scripture sounds both basic and profound. Simply put, that one needs the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Word made flesh to conquer the world.. But belief is more than an assent of the mind. It requires actions and speech that affirm that belief.

The passage illuminates for us that Jesus is the foundation, step one on our road to salvation. To believe in him means we cling to our faith with each subsequent step up our own personal Calvary. All the while, the world will discourage, create obstacles, and encourage us to curse God. Our spiritual journey can feel like swimming upstream while everyone else appears to be having the time of their lives riding the chute down and skipping the climb all together. A Christian with faith can usually press on. However, Imagine the difficulty for non-believers who are happily enjoying the riches and glory of this world, to even contemplate that to believe in Christ and follow him might include deflating their pride and abandoning materialism?

Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Thus, we have yet another reason to pray for family. While it is not our job to convert others, it is the Holy Spirit’s. However, our prayers, sacrifices, and witnessing may be just what God uses to bring about a change of heart and an opening of the mind in another. So persevere in all forms of prayer for your family and when possible, with your family. Journey on in confidence, for our prayers accompany you!

Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet

We pray for the victory! Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (Resolving and Reconciling)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

Happy New Year!  Many celebrate the new year glad to have a “clean slate” to start from. The list can be written or mental, but for the most part it’s a resolution to change for the better. 

As Christians however, we never have to wait for a new year.  When we mess up, make bad decisions, fail to take appropriate care of our “temple”, present our worst self in our marriage and other relationships, and so on, we have the Lord to run to forgiveness. (This is of course after making amends where necessary.) He NEVER tires of forgiving us if we are contrite and resolve to change, even if it’s on a daily basis. Our metamorphosis toward holiness is ongoing, powered by the love and mercy of the Lord, as well as fortification from the sacraments. 

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:19

Resolve to make a daily examination of conscience. Be sure to assess your actions in your marital relationship as well. What might you tweak to more fully reflect Christ?

So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.  2 Corinthians 5:20-21

Use the daily gift of grace you are given. Today is a good day to start. Begin with prayer. 

I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Make reconciliation and forgiveness a daily habit, especially in your marriage!  Pass it on!