3 Simple Ways to Pray

Prayer

Do you want to have an active prayer life, but don’t know where to start? I’ve been there, and I know  it’s an overwhelming place to be.

I think our enemy loves us to make prayer more complicated than simply talking to God.

When we make prayer complicated, we become paralyzed in our relationship with God. We quit talking to him. We quit seeing Him work. We start walking around focused on the temporal things of here and now. We loose hope.

But when we pray simple, heart-felt prayers…

things change.

Impossible situations become possible. 

Here are a few of my impossible turned possible answered prayers:

  • A marriage built on Christ’s solid foundation
  • A baby’s heartbeat inside my belly
  • A safe delivery minutes away from an emergency C Section with my second baby
  • A daughter adopted from Africa
  • A loved one consumed by alcoholism, now 10 years sober and loving Jesus since the last drop (when they  tell their story, they credit their sobriety to my prayers:)

These are just a few “drop to your knees, beg God, and don’t shut up until he grants your request,” answered prayers.  They are “run on the treadmill and yell as you rebuke satan’s attempts” prayers.  They are “handwritten through tears on a page” prayers.  They are “Why God!!!” prayers.  “Can’t this be done already, God,” prayers.  They are “pray out loud and I don’t care who’s watching or hearing” prayers.

But then, there are “tending” prayers; prayers that have to be planted, watered, and cultivated.  These are the dreams stirring inside our hearts.  The whisper callings, like the word “adoption” written on the bottom of my prayer list 6 or 7 years ago.  It slowly crept up the list year after year, until finally, it was fifth on my list, just below myself, my husband, and our two bio kids.  What if I hadn’t heard him whisper and written this dream down?  What if I wouldn’t have prayed about it and just kept asking him, “If you want us to adopt one day, Lord, please keep pressing it on our hearts?”

Our life would look different. The biggest thing that would look different, though, would be our relationship with God.

We know God through intentional prayer.  

I am telling you, I am more of a Jesus Hippie than I have ever been in my whole life, but one thing cannot be debated:

You have to be intentional about talking to a best friend you can’t see or hear.  

Can we see him through his amazing creation?  Yes!  Can we hear him through his word?  Yes!  But you know what I mean:  He isn’t sitting across the table from us in the flesh.

 

So, here’s a few ways I talk to God in prayer: 

Prayer Journaling:  I sit down with a notebook, a pen, a bible, and a full heart of concerns. I address God by one of his names in the word, Praise Him so I remember who I am releasing all my needs to–the one who actually thought me up and knit me together in my mother’s womb, and then, I pour out.  I write pages, and pages until I can’t really think of anything I’m uncertain about anymore. Sometimes, if I can find my highlighter, I highlight the really important parts.  Not for God, but for me, so I can open it back up and remember I already asked God to take care of it– it’s right there, highlighted and all.  I close it out with a handwritten amen, and leave it at His feet.  Then, when I need a good dose of faith, I look back through all my prayer journals and realize He’s currently working on something that is going to be an answered prayer someday.  🙂

Prayer List: When I start a new prayer journal, I write out a prayer list on the very last page.  My husband and kids are always at the top.  ( If you don’t commit to praying for them, who will?) And then my extended family, friends, our ministries, and any God-whispered dreams that might be in our future.  At the bottom there is always room for me to add on more people who need prayer in the weeks and months to come.  I try to pray for everyone on my list everyday. The great thing is, that once you look at it, and pray sequentially down the list a few times, you can remember your list even when it is not in front of you, like when you are on a run, or driving down the road, for instance, and you can pray then!  I also find keeping my prayer list at the kitchen sink makes it handy to remember to pray for the people on it as I am preparing meals and cleaning up.

Praying Aloud:  This is one of my favorite kinds of prayer. I love to pray aloud over my kids as I tuck them in at night.  I also love meeting my friends to pray aloud over each other.  But I also really like going in my closet and praying aloud to God, like he is there in the flesh. And if you think about your other relationships, how would they be doing if you never spoke aloud to them?  Like, what if you texted your friends, emailed them, sent them letters, but never spoke to them? Never took time to speak, and then just listen?  You probably wouldn’t have a very strong connection with that friend.  It is the same with God.  I just really think He wants to hear our voice.  He loves to hear it, in fact.  When he hears us speak to him, he is delighted and cannot wait to listen.

And with that, I must share my favorite,  most life-changing verse on prayer:

“And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

And since we know he hears us when we make our requests,

we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”

1 John 5:14-15

The hard thing is trusting him with the details of how he answers our prayers.  We can be confident he is listening, and working things together for good, but we have to plow forward and keep praying when he doesn’t answer in our timeframe or in the way we ask him to.  We have to trust that he is good, and that sometimes our prayers are answered for eternal good over temporal good.  One day, in heaven, we will see in full, but on this side of forever, we have to walk in faith  that he doesn’t withhold any good thing from his children (even though we think that thing would be really good right now!)

So friends, what’s your favorite way to pray?

What prayers has the Lord faithfully answered for you lately?

How can I pray for you?  

Your brokenness is welcome here.

He is always there to listen.

At his feet with you,

Amy ❤

 

 

 

 

 

Racial Tension: What We Tell Our Kids

Uncategorized

img_4229“Police gonna shoot me?” My daughter asked.

“No, baby, police are nice.  They are here to help us,” we answered.

I saw two years of helping our African American daughter overcome her fear of policemen fly out the window.

I thought she was asleep, but her little ears had heard every word of our conversation about the shooting, protesting, and rioting in Charlotte.  She pieced together that police shoot black people.  Uh oh.  This is not good.

In her birth country of Uganda, the policeman walked around with large AK-47’s outside of every public business.  They maintained order through fear.  Everyone saw their weapons and knew they best obey the law.  It is an impression that has held her in unhealthy fear of policeman since she has come home to live in America.  Last year in Kindergarten, we worked on this so much.  My husband and I would require her to speak to police officers when we were out and about.  A sheriff came with his patrol car to visit our homeschool co-op.  We talked about it a lot.  I slowly saw her walk more freely by officers as the fear was replaced with trust.

And then, she started seeing and hearing bits and pieces on the news of the racial tension between law enforcement and African Americans.  The work we had been putting in starting coming undone.  The questions started to surface.  I was really at a loss of how to explain all of this.  I decided to tell her what she needed to know to understand.  She has a lot to learn about black history, and I look forward to teaching her.  But I can’t give her the history of the slave trade, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and present day racial tension all in one day, or one week for that matter.  She is a six year old adopted child from a third world country, and English is her second language. I’m pretty sure that would get all jumbled up into her mind and cause some terrible nightmares.

What I can do is teach her what the Word says about people in authority, which includes police officers:

Respect for Authority
Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 2 So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. 3 For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. 4 The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. 5 So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.   Romans 13:1-5

The apostle Paul is not saying here that civil rulers will always do what is right.  They are fallible humans, just like you and I.  They become fearful when they believe a civilian has a firearm, and they make decisions in the blink of an eye to try to save their own lives.  And some law enforcement, because they are human, may be racist.  They may see my daughter or grandchild one day and make judgement of them based on their skin color.  (And of course, this hurts my heart but it is the reality of a fallen world that we live in).

What I do desire to do is to impart a legacy of love instead of hate in all my children; my black and white ones.

When they hear a human life has been lost,

I want their hearts to be moved to compassion instead of judgement.

We jump right over loving people in hard places when we rush to determine whether a police officer should have pulled the trigger.  All the people in this situation are hurting.  A family member is being grieved.  A police officer is having to face the fact that they took a life, whether it was necessary to save their own or not.  They will have to live with the reality that their hand took another person’s life for the rest of their own life.

Should we hurry up and post our opinion of the situation on social media?  Should we run out on the streets of the city in the dark of night in protest?  NO.

We should pray.  

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

We should listen to the hurting.

” Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”  James 1:19

We should love.  

“and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.” ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:7

The last verse means love for ALL PEOPLE;  including the people you don’t agree with.  This is hard.  This is the difficult love that is challenging and takes the transformation that  only Jesus can bring.

This is the gospel simplified: to love God and love people.  This is where we turn and default to in complicated situations when we don’t have all the answers.  

This is what we tell our kids about racial tension.  We don’t have all the answers.  We aren’t perfect.  We aren’t holding hands and singing “Kumbaya”on the streets of downtown Charlotte.  What we are doing is showing them what God’s Word says about situations like this one, and praying He fills in the gaps with His Love.  I encourage you to do the same, sweet Mama or Papa.  Whatever we say to our kids  about this is going to be shaping and molding their hearts.  We don’t have to walk in perfection.  Let’s walk with them under grace and answer hard questions through the lens of His Word.

Under Grace With You,

Amy ❤

Diving Deeper into God’s Word 

Bible Study

imageI’ve been enjoying sharing some of my bible study methods in this blog series! Today I want to share some ways I dive deeper into God’s Word, and interact with it so I can better understand and apply it to my life.

It can be so discouraging to sit down with your bible, read it, and walk away feeling unmoved and  unchanged.  Sometimes all I have to do is read it and I hear God loud and clear. Other times, I have to dive below the surface, looking deeper to hear His voice.

The bible was originally recorded in the native language of the people who revorded it; Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.  If you want to dive deeper into bible study, then studying these languages is a great place to start.  You don’t have to learn the language, you can look into the word meanings and synonyms of the verse you are studying and gain a better insight in just a few minutes.  Let me show you how!

Pick a verse of scripture you would like to dive deeper into. For this post, I’ll be using John 15:8).

Then go to the Blue Letter Bible website.  Type in the verse and hit the green search button.image

Once you get to the chapter, click on the “verse address” again.  In this case, it was “Jhn 15:8.”

Here’s where it  can get tricky.  Click on the combo of a lower case letter and numbers under the “Strong’s” column of the word you would like to dig deeper into.


Now, you have found the REALLY GOOD STUFF!  This is where you get to see the Greek (in this case because it’s New Testament) word, listen to it pronounced if you would like, see it’s part of speech, other words in English used in the bible that came from this word, synonyms of this word, its definition, and every verse of the bible this root word shows up in.  This is the deep.  You could study the word “glorified” through this one page for hours and have your socks knocked off by how glorious our God is.

I really cannot downplay how much I love studying the Word in this way.  I have been using it for years.   It is the resource I use to write bible studies.  But it is not just for writing bible studies.
I use it in my personal quiet time too, to dive deeper and just KNOW GOD MORE DEEPLY.  Here’s how:

I pick words that are intriguing to me out of the verse.  Then, I write down the words that are listed under the “Strong’s Definition” to expand on the concept of this word, and help me really wrap my mind around what the Lord was trying to teach us when he included this in scripture.  For example, in this verse, the word “glorified” could also be translated “magnify.”  So I took away that I want to show how God is working in big ways even in small things, like a magnifying glass would magnify something.  Just by interchanging those two words, I was able to take that illustration with me and think on it all day, asking God to be magnified through little ol’ me.

The words I studied next were: disciples, produce, and fruit.

After I finish expanding on the most intriguing words in the verse, I use those words to paraphrase the verse, and I turn it into a prayer.  I really just ask God do whatever the verse at hand says.

I hope this post has inspired you to dive deeper into the Word on your own!  I just cannot relay enough how much I love this website!  I have a humongous concordance sitting on the shelf  that does the same thing, but having it at your fingertips to click is so much more convenient!

Have you ever used this site before?  What are your favorite websites to dive deeper into God’s Word?  I want to hear about it!  Comment below!

Memorizing Scripture to Light Your Path

Bible Study

It was so dark that my flashlight was shedding just enough brightness to see the next steps in front of us.  The stars were shinning but they were only good for pretty jewels to look at in the heavens.  The crickets were singing their lullabies, but I wasn’t wrapped up snugly in my covers.  At 5:30 am yesterday, I was pounding the pavement, running 15 miles with my husband on his birthday.  That’s right, 15 miles!

But when your favorite smiles that smile at you and says,

“All I want for my birthday is for your to run that 15 mile run with me,”  you do it.  (Well, if you are me you do it, my friends at dinner last night had a different answer if their husband said this!  lol)

Running has always been a time for me to meditate on scripture, clear my head, and pray.  The Holy Spirit brought this scripture to my mind first, followed by a flood of others:

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:105

I saw this verse of scripture alive right in from of me.

 His Word, my light, revealing just enough of what I needed to see for my next two,three, or sometimes just the next step ahead.

We rounded the corner of the trail, where tall trees hovered over us on both sides, and it became even darker.  

“What if I didn’t have this light?  I would have to quit, because I’d be scared to death to trip and fall on a twig or worse, step on a snake!”

Have you ever been here friends?  Have you found yourself on a path (maybe even one that you were certain you followed Jesus on) and felt surrounded by darkness, and danger, trembling in fear?  Did you have His Word hidden in your heart?  Did the Spirit bring it to mind and give you enough light, faith, and hope to take the next step?

I have been there so many times!

Stuck in Africa, alone, separated from my family for months to finish our adoption process. Dark.  Scary.  But He  shed just enough light through his Word day by day to stay the course.

 Motherhood.  Do I need to expand on this?!

Ministry.  Living on half the salary that we used to. That was scary with some dark days.

Marriage. Let’s be honest, it’s not always easy.

There have been and are going to be some dark days.  And on those dark days, it’s going to be so much easier to grab our flashlight and shine it if we know where it is and how to use it!  And even easier if we have his Word hidden in our hearts (memorized) so all we have to do is recall it to mind, having a built in light to direct us when the path ahead is hard to see and treacherous.

So, here are some of my favorite ways to memorize scripture:

Write a verse on an index card.

 Highlight the key words (no more than 3 or 4).

 Memorize the highlighted words.

Use the highlighted words to be a springboard for recalling the words following.

Memorize a passage of scripture:

Print out the passage or chapter of scripture.

Highlight the key words in each verse of the passage.

Memorize a verse a day, as you carry the printed page with you wherever you go.  Pull it out of your purse instead of your phone when you have free moments.

 It’s amazing how His Word will transform your mind!  If you know it by heart, you can think on it wherever you are, and He will give you just enough light for the next steps on your journey!

Your Fellow Sojourner,

Amy ❤

Bible Study & Prayer 101: How To Read The Bible 

Bible Study

What would I tell someone who wanted to read the bible for the first time ever or just get back to the basics of bible study?

Reading the Word of God is so important to me. I could make a list of twenty different verses before I get started as to why I feel this way. But I will start with one:

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4 NLT

Jesus was responding to the enemy who was trying to get him to turn rocks into loaves of bread when he was starving hungry.  It’s the way I feel every morning.  If I don’t get some of the Word with my coffee, I am hungry for something lasting that is not going to be consumable and dissipated by the end of the hour or the end of the day.  I need the Word to REFOCUS {pun intended} on what really matters, or else I will be running on empty by the time I reach the bottom of my coffee cup.  Sometimes it may be a quick read on the bible app on my phone.  This was my Word life when my babies were really babies.  But now I can count on them sleeping until at least 7:00am, so I have time to sit down and really drink Jesus in while the house is still quiet.  When I was thinking of what I would want to tell a friend face to face about getting back to the basics of bible study, this is where the Lord directed me:

 Get a  bible you like.  (If you can’t understand “thou shalt” and giveth and taketh, please for the love do not, I repeat, DO NOT TRY TO READ THAT BIBLE!  I think this prevents many, many people from reading the bible.  They have heard people say things like “King James Version” is the only true translation.

Here’s what I have to say about that:  Jesus spoke in a way the people surrounding him would understand.   The Word made flesh used words that were relatable personally to everyday people. He spoke and taught using parables that the crowds would internalize.  When he spoke to fisherman, he told stories about fishing for people.  When he was with shepherds, he spoke of sheep and following the Shepherd.

So please, find freedom to read a bible you can understand.  My favorite is the New Living Translation, which is a very modern language that is very similar to the way I speak.  I also enjoy looking at the Message Paraphrase.  My sweet husband got me a journaling bible for Christmas, and it is an ESV.  I tried ya’ll, I really did.  And I still reference  BIG BERT ( my hugemongous ESV study bible my home church gave me) {Big Bertha’s brother} at times.  But the Lord knows my mind wanders when I read it.

I would also suggest a bible that has footnotes and introductions to the different books, so that you are able to gain background knowledge of the person who wrote the book (through the inspiration and breath of God) and about the context of what was taking place during that time in history.

AND

Get a journal so you can remember what jumps out at you while you read and so that you can pray while you take notes.  Even if you can’t get into prayer journaling, writing down what you hear God speak to you is very important.

I always have a book I am “in.” I was in the prophets (middle of the bible) recently.  But my husband started a sermon series on Colossians so I jumped over there with him so I could follow along deeply and have more oneness with him.

Generally, I read a chapter a day.

From my own experience, I think spending a few minutes in prayer changes my perspective and allows me to {acknowledge the teacher} before I dive in.

“God I don’t know what to do about this…”

And a lot of times I confess things I have a poor attitude  about, “Lord, these kids are some messy children!”

And then I begin reading with purpose. 

I’m looking and listening for situations that are similar to things happening in my life. 

When I see a verse that fits that description, I write it down. I highlight it. Then I pray it over my situation and my family, my friends, etc.

I don’t leave the verse there. I memorize it, write it on a post it, take a pic of it on my phone, or stage my bible or journal somewhere I can remember, think, and pray about it throughout my day. 

Don’t you get hungry for snacks during the day? I get “hangry” (hungry/angry) without enough real food and without Word nourishment throughout my day. If I have memorized that one verse that stuck out to me, I can chew on it for hours and ingest a little at a time. It’s amazing how much God teaches me and helps me apply and live out by thinking about his Word.

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” Hebrews 4:12

The next post, I will go beyond the basics about how I dig deeper in the Word.

Deeper= knowing Jesus better! ❤