Monday Morning = Let's pray for each other!
"Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
"Confess your faults and weaknesses one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed." James 5:16
If I can figure out how to do it this morning, I would like to make Monday mornings a time for sharing of prayer requests, big or small and a day we try to pray for one another.
I don't know about you, but Monday mornings are "da bomb" only I don't mean great. This morning, I have a bad cold and 3 energetic boys who love to chase each other around the house screaming, climbing and jumping off the furniture and all I want is some peace and quiet to be able to think a coherent thought.
I would like to pray to be a more Spirit filled mom and to be able to love my children today with clear limits and lots of positive attention. I need help not to be overly focused on getting things done and to also take care of myself so that I am not losing my temper during the dinner and bedtime hour. or in our case hours....
I want to find my joy and strength in the Lord and not in myself, or anything I do or in how others view me or respond to me.
A source of joy does not fluctuate like everything else.
Well, one prayer answered already.
My kids love Star Wars and so this weekend I bought them some long sponge pool noodles to use as light sabers in the yard figuring it is better than the sticks they have been using.
My kids had a blast with those in the front yard while waiting for my oldest son to get picked up for school and mom got some peace and quiet. So thankful to see them playing happily together. Thank you Lord for pool noodles and boy energy.
If you have a prayer request that you would like to share, small or large, write it out in a comment and we can be starting the week in prayer for each other.
Love,
Susan
Monday, April 22, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Amazing God! and a prayer for my sons
Amazing God!
and a prayer for my sons
"Behold,
I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for
me?
Jeremiah
32:27
"'Not
by might, nor by power but by my spirit,' says the Lord of hosts."
Zechariah 4:6
I
recently wrote a poem about Moses's mom because I was so encouraged
with how God did such an amazing thing in such a hopeless situation.
Imagine
being not just a woman but a slave woman in the ancient world.
Is
there any one with less power or control over her life than a slave
woman in ancient Egypt?
Pitted
against a world power greater than all other cultures of the time,
and a Pharaoh's decree to end her son's life.
Armed
soldiers bent upon their task. Who could withstand them?
Where
could they flee? across the barren dessert? sure death there.
What
resource did she have?
Who
could she turn to for aid and help?
Could
you cast your baby into a river even in a pitch coated basket?
Imagine
the desperation she must have felt to undertake such an action.
But
there had to be some small seed of faith and prayer for look what God
did...
The one
and only person with in thousands of miles who could save her baby's
life finds her baby and not only spares his life but adopts him and
cares and provides for him the very best the world had to offer at
the time.
No
army, diplomat or plea would have had any effect upon the heart of a
man willing to kill thousands of innocent babies for his own ends.
Except
one, his own beautiful and captivating daughter.
Not
only was Moses saved but his mother got to nurse him herself and
receive wages for it. What an absolutely amazing thing God did.
And
even more amazing still.... her son grows up and chooses faith in God
over all the best that this world had to offer.
Luxury,
power, education, comfort .... it was all on a platter for his
taking.
What
kind of influences had he been surrounded with all his years in
Pharaoh's court? Surely no godly ones.
And yet
he was able somehow to see through and beyond all those pleasures of
the soul to what is eternal and truly valuable.
Was not
this another miracle of God's power and most likely a mother's prayer
and faith.?
“By
faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the
people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He
considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures
of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” Hebrews 11: 24-25
“A
Basket of Faith”
A
Prayer of Jochebed,
the
mother of Moses
Dear
Lord,
Please
watch over my little one.
I
place him into your loving care.
I
cannot protect him from those who wish him harm.
I
cannot keep him safe or even alive without you.
I
want to hold him to myself,
and
never let him go,
but this will be his most certain death.
But
how to let him go?
I
do know that my God rules heaven and earth
He
is GREAT
and
can do the AMAZING
and
the UNFORESEEN
even
the ABSOLUTELY UNTHINKABLE
I
can only prepare this little basket,
cover
it with pitch,
pad
it with my softest blanket
and
then release him into the currents out of my control.
AND
PRAY
What
will happen to him?
I
do not know.
But
I do know the One
who
holds my little basket
and
all it contains
in
His hands.
“But
the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”
Daniel 11:32
Exodus
1 – 2:10 NIV
1 These
are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob,
each with his family: 2 Reuben,
Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar,
Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan
and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The
descendants of Jacob numbered seventy[a]
in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Now
Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but
the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly,
increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled
with them.
8 Then
a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
9 “Look,”
he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous
for us. 10 Come,
we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more
numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against
us and leave the country.”
11 So
they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor,
and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But
the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so
the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and
worked them ruthlessly. 14 They
made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with
all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the
Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15 The
king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah
and Puah, 16 “When
you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery
stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a
girl, let her live.” 17 The
midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt
had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then
the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have
you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19 The
midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian
women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
20 So
God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even
more numerous. 21 And
because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then
Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that
is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Footnotes:
Exodus
1:5
Masoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint
(see also Acts 7:14 and note at Gen. 46:27) seventy-five
2Now
a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and
she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was
a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But
when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket[a]
for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child
in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His
sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then
Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her
attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among
the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She
opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for
him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7 Then
his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of
the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes,
go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
9 Pharaoh’s
daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I
will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
9
Pharaoh's
daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and
I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10
When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he
became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of
the water."
Footnotes:
Thursday, April 18, 2013
She Refused to be Determined by Her Past and its ParametersOvercoming the Voices of ShameThis is what you are...This is what you always will be.....
because this happened to you...
because you did...
You can never .....
You will never.....
"Can a leopard change its spots?
| |||
Jeremiah 13:23
And yet....
the power of Christ to redeem and transform when we believe His words -
Romans 12:2 "...transformed by the renewing of your minds..."
< Joshua 2 >>
New International Version 1984
Rahab and the Spies1Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitutea named Rahab and stayed there.2The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”4But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.8Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Seab for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.c 11When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.”14“Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”15So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16Now she had said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”17The men said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”21“Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.22When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them. 23Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. 24They said to Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”
Footnotes:
a 1 Or possibly an innkeeper
b 10 Hebrew Yam Suph; that is, Sea of Reeds
c 10 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them.
Rahab was a prostitute.
"by faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who disbelieved, having received the spies with peace." Hebrew 11:31
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
A Time to Weep
A Time to Weep
"Jesus wept"
John 11:35 NIV
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)