The Lord awakened me this morning with you and this week’s lesson on my mind. I prayed fervently for God to be at work in and through our next lesson as we learn to take His Word and pray it back to Him.
Prayer is one of my passions because praying God’s Word has completely transformed my prayer life. Through this transformation, I have witnessed specific and powerful answers to prayer. Why? Because when we pray God’s Word back to Him, He must honor it. True to His character, He cannot go back on His Word.
Think about these two questions:
Mom, can I have a piece of candy?
Mom, remember yesterday you promised me a piece of candy? May I have it now, please?
Which statement resonates more strongly in your heart…the one in which your child simply asks for a piece of candy, or the one in which your child reminds you of your promise? The latter, of course. When we pray God’ s Word back to Him, we are reminding Him of His promises.
It is important to realize that God’s honoring His Word does not always result in a “yes” to our prayers, but be assured that His answer will be in line with His Word and true to His character. This is why KNOWING the Word is so important in prayer.
So, after a few housekeeping details, let’s begin today’s lesson.
Registration: To register for the study and for announcements of future on-line studies, please leave a comment on my blog with your first name and e-mail address or e-mail me at Deuteronomysix@aol.com.
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Now back to the lesson. Below please find this week’s lesson and homework.
Homework Questions: Please do as many questions as time allows. Your time reading and studying is when God will do His greatest work!
Prayer:
Lord, this week we dig into Your living and active Word. We invite You to speak in very personal and powerful ways as we seek hard after You. Listening is hard for us. Quieting our hearts, being still seems impossible in this busy world. We are driven to do and to go…to accomplish and to achieve. This week enable us through the power of Your Holy Spirit to REST…to BE STILL…to hear Your still small voice. Help us to be and not to do. We want to sit in the Light of Your Presence and soak up all that You have for us. Make us comfortable as we sit at Your feet. Teach us to pray, Lord. Teach us to pray!! We ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
1. Praying powerful and effective prayers begins with incorporating God’s Word into your prayers. This week we read John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” The key to answered prayer is knowing God’s Word. Take some time to find these verses and note what each says about God’s Word.
a. Deuteronomy 8:3
b. Deuteronomy 6:6-9
c. Deuteronomy 11:18-19
d. Psalm 119:9
e. Pslam 119:105, 130
f. 2 Samuel 22:31; Proverbs 30:5
g. Isaiah 55:11
h. Hebrews 4:12
i. James 1:22
j 2 Peter 1:19-21
k. Matthew 24:35
l. Jeremiah 15:16
m. Colossians 3:16
2. Take some time to sit with God’s Word. Pray before you open your Bible, “Father, open the eyes of my heart so I can see the wonderful things in your Law.” Perhaps you will choose a familiar book…. a gospel, the Psalms, or a book whose name you don’t even recognize. Whatever book you choose, as you gaze into God’s Word, ask for ears to hear and a heart to receive what He is speaking to you. Search the Scriptures. Listen for His voice. Seek His perspective on what you read. When you pinpoint the Scriptures that speak to your heart, write them down, and spend some time pondering and praying through them. Ask the Lord what He wants you to do with what you have read and learned.
3. For our final excercise this week, we will choose some verses of Scripture and pray them back to God. Let me share a personal example. Lamentations 2:19 says, “Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him in prayer, pleading for your children.” In this verse, God calls parents to pray for their children. In response to this, I felt led to pray for my children. I started with baby steps and selected a few verses and prayed them for my children. Here are a few examples of the short prayers I have written for Lauren and Bo.
Lord, please hide Your Word in Lauren’s heart so her desire is to please You and obey You in all she says and does. (Psalm 119:11)
Help Bo trust in You with all His heart and lean not on his own understanding and to acknowledge You in all his ways. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Remind Lauren when she feels discouraged and like she cannot accomplish what is set before her that she can do all things through You who strengthens her. (Philippians 4:13)
Clothe Bo in humility and teach him to put others first. (Ephesians 4:2, Luke 18:14)
Grow Lauren and Bo in wisdom, stature, and favor with You and with man. (Luke 2:52, Daniel 1)
Assignment: For the next few days, search God’s Word for verses that address concerns in your life (marriage, fear, anger, anxiety/worry, depression/hopelessness, lonliness, doubt, unforgiveness, bitterness).
For example, if you struggle with worry, look up the word anxious or worry or peace in the concordance in the back of your Bible and find verses that include those words. Write them down, personalize them, and pray them back to God. When I searched, I found Philippians 4:6-7: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. The you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (NLT)
Your prayer could read like this:
Father, I have so much on my mind right now. I cannot even sleep at night. I feel so anxious. Your Word asks me to pray about everything. So right now, Father, I am coming to You with my worries, especially___________. Father, I thank You for Your faithfulness. I thank You that You are in control of all things. I want to experience Your peace. So right now I am giving all of my worries to You, Lord, and claiming Your promise that in doing this, Your peace, the peace that passes all understanding, will guard my heart and mind. I thank You that I will be filled with Your peace from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I trust You for this.
[The prayers in Question 3 are taken from Chapter 9 in my book, Hidden Joy in A Dark Corner: The Transforming Power of God’s Story. You can find it at Proverbs 31 as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many Christian bookstores]
Please share bits and pieces of your prayers on the blog this week. Reading each other’s prayers will not only be a great encouragement but also a wonderful way to see practical application of this lesson.
Blessings,
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This is such a challenge for me…thank you
I am so enJOYing this study. God has been pointing all "sorts" of tools to use with my prayer life – OF COURSE HIS WORD. Studies like this one really does help me to focus better, sit still and really listen to Him. Thank you Wendy. I am praying that I can be that "prayer warrior" that people will ask me to pray for them; but more important to be able to show them what I have learned about prayer and God's Word.
Dori Cox
dori_cox@hotmail.com
Thanks!
I just want to make sure I am signed up for future notices.
Cindy
cindy.martin25@yahoo.com
Thank you Wendy this study on prayer iam asking for you to pray for may Son Randy and his wife Yvonne they both lost there jobs they have 6 children if they dont get jobs they wont be abel to pay there rent thank you Mary
thank you so much for this study!
Wow, for so long I prayed to be able to 'focus' when I study His word, something I needed to connect my daily devontionals with my prayer.I don't need focus, my heart is already focused on HIM, I can now practice discipline. Through this study, I was spoken to. SIT, BE STILL, LISTEN. Praise God, for your teachings, Wendy. and thank you.
Lord, I know it's not in your will to be hurtful and rude to others, even when it feels like we can justify it, and sometimes the day and the person just gets under our skin we react harshly to something innocently said – I'm in that place too often right now and desperately want out! Please guard what I say (Ps. 141:3) so that what comes out of my mouth wont be rude, hurtful, snippy, or arrogant – but rather responses that will be helpful, not hurtful, to others, and will benefit not only the person I'm speaking to, but other listeners as well (Eph 4:29) that they too might be less rude, snippy, quick to make "you're just bothering me with your countless questions and issues" type comments. This I ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Friends, we have several women in our study who live in New Zealand. I am not sure what cities they live in, but let us be in prayer for these women, their families, and for the people of New Zealand in the aftermath of the horrific earthquake that has devastated Christchurch and surrounding areas.
Pray for God's protection, for believers to reach out to be His hands and feet and provide what the people need, pray healing for those who have been wounded, and comfort for the families of those who have died. Pray for rescuers to have eyes to see and ears to hear to find those who are hidden in the rubble.
Love,
Wendy
Good morning Ladies:)
Wendy, what a wonderful study! I am excited for the homework this week!!
@ Meaghan~ when I read your comment, I immediatley could relate. I have a woman in my life, who is a Christian, that I have a hard time genuinely loving like Christ commands us to love others. But He convicted me to continue to just pray for her and pray for my heart to change. And like Wendy has taught in this lesson, the more I prayed Scripture and the more I prayed for HIS love to penetrate me, my thoughts and attitude slowly started to change. I daily have to keep praying over this, but He has been leading me to truly caring for her. Praying you have a great week and that His words penetrate your soul:)
Wendy,
I have been studying prayer for a long time now. I love to study prayer and the prayers of faithful, loyal men and women of God. I love to study God's promises so I can turn around and pray them back to God.
I believe in the power of prayer because if it is God's Word , then it is powerful.
I pray prayers such as you. I pray His Word. I pray for example:
Father, Teach my son your statues, keep him from ungodly counsel and the seat of the scorners and from the way of the sinners, please root him and water him and prosper him. Father bring my prodigal daughter back to your fold as you showed us in the parables the lost coin found, and the prodigal son come back to you. Please cause her heart to be crushed by Your Word and for her to delight and meditate on You and Your Word. Father enlarge my children's territory and cause them to know Your hand on them to both chastise because You love them but also to know Your hand of love and protection and mercy. Father keep them on Your path of Righteousness for Your name sake.
And I always ask in Jesus Name , amen
I also pray : Father I am asking , seeking , and knocking for Your help in all of this, I am asking believing so please help any unbelief in me. I am asking in Your Son's name. I am asking good and not evil and praying according to Your Word, please answer and show me great and mighty things that I know not, and please as you said make it all work together for good.
These are Romans 8:28, Jer.33:3, John 15:7, Psalm 1, and other Scriptures.
Thank you Wendy for showing me more on prayer. Thanks for encouraging me in prayer life. Thanks for being obedient to share the Gospel.
May God continue to bless you and use you for His Glory.
I am really enjoying this study and have not started on homework yet, but will when I get home from work. Your study has encouraged a dear sister in my church to start a prayer meeting on Tuesday night and we start tonight at 6:15. I want to invite everyone to pray with us. You may not be able to be there in person, but We can all pray together in spirit. There are so many things we can pray for together like, the salvation of the lost, job lost, sexual and family abuse, and so many more. I know God hears all of our prayers as one or many. Think of us or pray along during our new prayer time. Thank you all for your comments. I do not usually comment, but I will try to get better.
YSIC,
Trudy
thdishmon@hotmail.com
oh girls, I need help with this one. I am working on my homework and I am on number 2. I prayed to the Lord and asked him to guide me to his word and to speak to me. I was lead to Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus Tells the Parable of the Workers Paid Equality. i believe that the meaning of this parable is that God shows no favorites, those who repent will be forgiven and will have a place in God's kingdom. In the parable Jesus states :So the last will be first, and the first will be last. " I relate this to my own life, I am a good person and follow God's ten rules, the rapist of my daughter is NOT a good person and does not follow his 10 rules. If he repents to God, he will be forgiven and end up in the same kingdom as me and my family. Help me with this… God is showing me this parable for a reason, what am I not getting? I pray for understanding but I am not getting it. What is blocking me? Wendy, I have read your book and you wrote that you needed to forgive your rapist before you could move on. I cannot find forgiveness. Please if any one has some words of wisdom, please share. Jennifer
Hi Wendy,
I signed up for the bible study before it started but I have not received none of th mails you sent out. Could you please send weeks 1 – 3 so that I can print them and get started.
Thank you.
AnnMarie – dixoname@msn.com
Jennifer,
Let me pray for you. Unforgiveness is what is blocking you and it can only be found in the Lord. Tears stream down my face as I write these words and my heart truly aches for you.
Abba Father, It is so hard for us to understand forgiveness. Yet you say in your word, that we must forgive as you forgave us. Each of us regardless of our righteous works are standing in dirty rags as compared to the Holy One. But you, who are good and loving and perfect, stepped out of Heaven and in order to forgive us, in order to atone for our stuff, you laid your very life down as if it were you who sinned.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.
Lord, my sweet sister Jennifer (and her daughter) are suffering right now. Lord, how they are suffering because of an evil act. Forgivness of the perpetrator, of their enemy, seems like an odd request; yet, it is what you ask us to do. Father, I ask for you to do what you do…transform their hearts. Lord,increase in their hearts so that unforgiveness might decrease because only your Perfect Love will Cast Out the Fear and loathing. Lead Jennifer and her daughter to trust in your justice. I lift them up.
Father, in your own way, I pray that the person responsible for this will also have his heart transformed. As hard as is it is to pray this way, I must. Please do a miracle inside everyone involved's hearts.
I ask this not in Robin's name and in Robin's power. I ask this in Jesus' most excellent, all sufficient, power, justice, truth, faithfulness, grace, and mercy….Amen.
Dearest Jennifer,
My heart aches for you and for your daughter. I understand how hard it can be to forgive someone of such an atrocity; believe me I do understand, especially since the memories don't disappear when forgiveness is given. Satan is trying to keep you separated from God; like looking at God through a frosted windowpane, you know He's there because you can see His blurry image, but until forgiveness is given…He will remain a blur.
Based on what you have said, you have a desire to forgive, but your heart is torn with the thought that her rapist would be in heaven if he seeks God's forgiveness. When I was struggling to forgive, my conversation with God went something like this…(I kept a journal in those days.)
“God, how can you forgive him for what he’s done?”
“I’ve forgiven you haven’t I?”
“I haven’t sexually assaulted anyone either.”
“Would you like me to list your sins?”
“Ummm…don’t You forget our sins.”
“I Am that I Am, I don’t forget anything, but I have forgiven you and your sin is not held against you. My Son died to set you free and he set … free too. If you withhold forgiveness from him, I can withhold my forgiveness from you.”
“Wait…what! If I don’t forgive him I won’t be forgiven?!”
“When you refuse forgiveness, you are living in sin. You have to let go; otherwise, this will hold you back forever. I still have plans for your life.”
“…wish you’d fill me in on that.”
“In time.”
“Heavenly Father, help me to forgive …, for what he has done to me. Help me to release this anger and forgive. Amen.”
“Don’t forget to pray for him too.”
“Heavenly Father, I hope he runs into a pole.”
“Not what I meant. Try again.”
“Dad, please help him know that what he did was wrong and that it has hurt me more than words can express. Help him to repent. Fill his life with your presence. Help me not to hold his sin against him just as You do not hold my sin against me. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior, and my Brother. Amen.”
I was 13 when everything happened and it wasn’t until I was 16 that I was able to truly forgive him. I’d like to say that after I submitted to God everything was hunky dory, but even at 27 I still feel the pain of what he did to me. The difference is that I have a peace I never thought I could have. This thing no longer holds me back or hinders me in my faith walk with God.
Of all the verses I had rolling around in my head these are the 2 that I felt would be of the most help and I truly hope they do. My prayers are with you and your daughter.
Philippians 4:6,13
Proverbs 3:5-6
With all my love,
Heather Bleier
The most difficult thing I found was to "be still". With all of today's demands and Must-Dos I find myself distracted or making a to-do list while I pray or study! I loved Wendy's comment that prayer is a discipline. I see where my life falls short in other areas of discipline (i.e. eating a whole package of Girl Scout Thin Mints!) I want to make prayer my most important discipline, then all other areas will fall in line. Thank you all for your prayers.
Robin and Heather,
Thank you so much for the words of wisdom and also for praying for me and Holly. I want so bad to take this heavy rock off of my shoulders and i know in my heart the only way to crush the rock is to forgive, read the word and prayer. I am so thankful to the Lord for guiding me to this blog of Wendy's. I am on a path to learn and find peace. Yes, satin is working to keep me from peace…I am weak now but i know in my heart I am going to beat him. I am a fighter and I am going to win with the help of the Lord. Thank you Heather for having me look up Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and learn not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. Oh, how those words hit home. Thank you for leading me to Philippians 4: 6, 13. I will not type out the verse but I assure you I have written the precious words on a post-it note and will carry it with me. I again ask anyone for guidance.
My dear Father,
I pray to you for peace and I pray to you to help me to find forgiveness for Holly's rapist. I need to forgive him so that I can move on and receive a close relationship with you. I also pray from Wendy and my new friends that they will be able to give me advice so that I can make my way to you. I do love you Lord, please help me Amen
One more, Jennifer, 1 John 4:18. The whole of 1 John 4 I read today with you in mind. His perfect love will cast out the fear.
Still busy with the home work and loving it.
Praying for all the needs exposed and for the people of New Zealand.
Praying and my heart crying for Jeniffer and her daughter. we have a great worship song in Dutch about forgiveness written by some one who needed to forgive her rapist. If appriciated I will try to translate. Few senteces:
If there is forgiveness, there can be healing
Ow God I need you I cannot do this on my own
Give me the power of your love to go on even if the scars will remain, because your love is stronger then death and your forgiveness is deeper then my need!
And my I ask prayer for my 7yo son who is having a lot of heasaches lately. 2morrow they are going to take his blood and hoping to find something.
Thanks,
Wendelijn
Lord, Give the doctor's your wisdom and eyes to see into Wendelijn's son's condition. I pray that your healing hand will be upon his head. I pray that Wendelijn will have a double portion of your strength as they journey through this diagnosis process.
In Jesus Name, Amen
I arose in the night crying for my children. I cried for my prodigal at 2:00 am. , and this morning couldn't get any words out to pray , and finally God spoke to my heart to get up and then I got a text and an email from my prodigal that told me she had got married a week ago. Now this is hard, for this is not what I prayed for. I prayed for God to bring her to repentance and restore her to Him and to us. I prayed for Him to protect her from this strange man. I am not angry at God. I do not understand. His ways are higher than mine. He knows my pain and later today I sat at His feet crying and He comforted me, and gave me His peace. I know that I will keep praying and crying out for her. He will answer His way and make all work together for good, because I love Him. This morning I cried my heart out. I still am crying. I have been so hurt. So robbed as a mother in my dreams of a wedding etc with my daughter, and for a Christian son in law. But someday God will bring my stray lamb home and save her husband too. I will pray His Words to Him again and again. He will hear this mother's cry and He will break the arm of the enemy. Why did this happen when I had prayed so earnestly? I do not know. I do know that God did not fail. I know that my daughter has a will and chose to not honor God in this situation. I do know that He is not mocked and He loves her and may chastise her to bring her back to the fold. I do know that God is greater than the enemy and holds my child in His hands and will not lose her soul.
I need prayer please. Thanks for praying with me. I am broken, but God heals the broken hearted.
Wendelijn and girls friends,
Thank you for the beautiful song about forgiveness. I will copy the words and learn them by heart. I will also remember you and your son in my prayers. Expressing to our Lord to heal your son and to help you stay strong.
To the person in the above blog, I will also keep you and your daughter in my prayers. I will pray that God leads your daughter to the right path and that he also heals your broken heart. I too have a broken heart, but I do believe that I am heading to the healing place. I am reading the Bible every chance I get and confessing to God all of my sins. I am also working on forgiveness. This is going to be a long road, but all I can say is that I am glad that I am on it.
i am very excited about doing the last part of the homework. I will leave all of you at this time as I am going to do my homework and them head off to bed. Before I fall asleep, I will pray for all of my new friends. Good night, Jennifer
Sweet friends,
How precious it is to know the Lord drew this group of women together through this study to minister to each other through prayer. He knew your needs and knew the hearts that would be touched by and pray for those needs.
I am truly overwhelmed at how He is using this study to draw us together in prayer and draw us closer to His heart…to trust Him in our pain and know that we are not alone. He is watching over us and planned this for us long before time began.
Father, we praise You for Your Faithfulness…for Your Goodness…for Your Word that is unchanging, everlasting Truth. We boldly come before Your throne on behalf of the prayer requests lifted during this study – those spoken and those unspoken. Reign Your Holy spirit down upon each and every woman. Cover us with Your Love. Amaze us with the power of Your Holy Spirit. Allow us to see You at work in our midst. Help us to forgive. Draw back prodigals. Heal the sick. Bring Joy into hopelessness. Shine Your Light into places of darkness and despair.
We Love You, Lord, and know that you are more than able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ever ask or imagine through the power of Your Holy Spirit that is at work among us. We give ourselves totally to You. We make ourselves available to be Your prayer warriors. We boldly come before Your throne and trust You with all we have laid before You because You tell us in Your Word that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective! We stand on that promise today and pray expectantly in the powerful Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jer 1:5a and Psalm 139:13
Lord, You are the great physician who knows our inner most parts better than anyone. Before you formed us in the womb You knew us and before laying the foundations of the earth You called us by name. Please open the eyes of the doctors watching over Wendelijn's son. Reveal to them the path they must take to bring healing.
Isaiah 55:9
Keep our minds on higher things that Your ways would become our ways. Be with her and her daughter. Though I may not k ow their names, You know everything about their lives. Guide her path back into Your loving arms. Grant her mother a patient and compassionate heart. Move in the heart of her daughter's husband and draw them both back to You. Perhaps Your plan is to bring in two and not just one. We ask that Your will, not ours would be done. In the name of Your precious Son, our Savior and Brother, Jesus Christ, Amen!!
For anyone who has a heart that is opened by music, here's an oldie but a goodie: "Margaret Becker – Keep My Mind" You'll probably have to copy and paste the link into your address bar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUwW7p5dyVw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I used to 'rock out' to Becker when I was in High school, good times.
Yours in Christ,
Heather Bleier
HALLELUAH!!!
As your prayers were during our nighttime…
This morning for the first time in about 3-4 weeks my son Mischa did not have any headache at all. They used to appear esp. during the mornings in severe but short attacks.
Now he is gone playing with his nephew. Also the color in his face is much better!
THANK YOU JESUS for hearing our prayers and thank you sisters for praying for this little boy so far away from y'áll!
Feel so blessed and so much love for all of you!
Wendelijn
ow yeah and I will remember all your needs in my prayers!
And I LOVE Magret Becker too!
She was also very famous overseas!
One of my fave's Its never for nothing!
Wendelijn
Praise God, Wendilijn. Thank You, Thank you, Lord. Our prayers are at your throne. They are an offering of sweet smelling incense. THank You, Jesus!!!
Ladies,
"Better than a Hallelujah Sometimes" has been on my heart for this bible study. Here's an excerpt from it.
'God hears a lullaby, a soldier asking not to let him die. It's better than a Hallelujah sometimes. We pour out our misery. God just hears a melody. Beautiful the mess we are. Honest cries from breaking hearts.'
Here's the video on You Tube. I may have posted this already. However, the melody is so strong for us, I thought I would post again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm5kx3xqmg0
Thank you, Heather for the Maggie Becker song. I loved it. My heart is singing, "Keep my eyes fixed on you!"
Wendelijn… I am praising God alongside you! Thank you Lord for hearing every one of our hearts' cries. Thank you for healing Wendelijn's precious Mischa. Lord, continue to bless him with abundant health. Please honor Wendelijin's humble heart, the way she seeks you and give both her and Mischa health to their bodies (Proverbs 3:7-8).
Thank you Lord for the way you perfectly knitted this group together. It's so plain to see the healing that you intend for Jennifer and Holly and for the sweet Mom who knows You will bring her prodigal… and an unexpected prodigal… back home.
Lord this morning, please give me eyes to see and a heart so incredibly sensitive to each opportunity You present to me. I have a day where it would be easy to lose sight of what's truly important and get caught in busyness. But Lord, I want to live on a different plane of existence today and always. Guide me to live wisely, making the most of every opportunity. Lord, show me the way… whisper Your will to me and give me ears to hear (Eph 5:15-17)
So much love to all you beautiful girls!
I rejoice with you and your son! God is good!
Soul Tattoo is another fun song from Becker along with Say the Name. It's funny because I'd go from listening to her to Soul CD to Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. LOL, not the most uplifting CD, but it gave me a good outlet for the anger I was feeling back then. Work is calling my name, so I'd better get to it! Love you everyone :-)!
Yours in Christ,
Heather Bleier
Wendy,
This blog from you speaks so loudly to me. I started my own business a year ago. I have felt so much pressure to work, work, work. However for the past six months a quite voice inside of me has said, be still. I have almost felt guilty about the days I take off from my business to clean my house:). It's an amazing thing because those are the days when I am on my knees scrubbing or just enjoying the smell of cleanliness that I am closest to God. I do believe that God wants us to slow down and draw nearer to Him. Thank you for the reminder!! Tami
Hi girls, First of all I have to say that I am so happy that Wendelijn's son is doing better! Wow!!!!!!! Secondly, I have to share this with all of you. One of my co-workers invited me to her church for a Beth Moore dvd bible study . This group meets once a week for 11 weeks, this study is a lecture series on Revelation. I was not able to attend the first session because I was out of town. I did go to the second session…I listen to the 1 hour and 15 minute dvd, came out of the study feeling overwhelmed and very lost. I did the homework for the week but was not able to complete all of it because I did not understand. I really was not wanting to go to the third session (last night) but for some reason I felt like I needed to go. Like the second week, I listen to about an hour of the lecture. I understood bits of it but felt out of place and very uncomfortable. I was relieved when the hour turned 7:00. I needed to leave about 15 minutes early due to my son's basketball team was having a dinner for the basketball players and their families. Yea, I had an excuse to leave early. I left and thought to myself, this is too deep for me, I am not ready. When I got home, I had a text on my phone from one of my friends who attended the bible study. She informed me that she had the dvd and if I was interested I could watch the part that I missed. To make a long story short, I went and picked up the dvd, put it in my computer and watch the last fifteen minutes. The last fifteen minutes of this dvd was a message for me….It simply stated that to have a relationship with God you must have forgiveness. When I heard this , I could not believe what I was hearing. It was like God was talking to me himself. This is so deep!! I thanked my friend for giving me the cd. She told me that the message hit home and that she thought it could really minister to me. She also said that she knew that I might not be ready to embrace the message. She informed me that she said a quick prayer and the answer she received was to bring me the DVD. Now is that the Holy Spirit working !!! I am participating in 2 bibles studies (my first time ever), and the message that I am receiving from both of these studies is FORGIVENESS. Now, I have the message and know that I need to forgive. I just have to find out how to do it. Am I going to be able to forgive Holly's rapist by reading the word and praying? Feeling overwhelmed and enjoying this snowy day, Jennifer
Hi Ladies,
I just caught up on the comments fromt he last day and will definitly be praying for your needs that are listed!
@jennifer~ I LOVE when the Lord speaks so clearly like He did to you last night!! there is no denying that it was fromt he Lord:) I DO believe He will bring you to a place of forgiveness..just stay disciplined in coming before Him constantly in prayer and praying back His promises. Remember, you are fighting a battle and the Enemy wants to see you trapped in this state of unforgiveness, which will in turn build a wall between you and the Lord. I would also recommend asking some close friends of yours who are strong Christians to continue to pray for you..that way you know you have others who are fighting alongside of you and for you! I am not in your situation, but I have been struggling with showing genuine love to a Christian friend. God convicted me of it and I just started praying hard for my heart and praying His Word..over time, He changed my heart and has brought peace btwn me and my friend.
Praying for you right now!
~Colleen
Dear Lord I come to you today in prayer. First of all please answer the prayers of my girlfriends who blog on Wendy's page. I ask for healing the sick, soften hearts and forgiveness. Please bring me to a place of forgiveness, I know that I need to forgive Michael Blanks for his act against Holly. Show me the way. Help me to fight off the enemy…he is trying to keep me from you. I also pray that my husband finds forgiveness too. His heart is hard and it needs to be soften. Please bring him to your word. Thank you for this snow day and for the extra time for cleaning my house and the free time to spend with you. Amen
I'm praying this verse for my two sons–Ephesians 1:17.
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give (Tyler and Shea) the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that (they) may know him better."
I love the way I'm finding Bible verses that express my thoughts and yearnings perfectly. Thank you so much for this study; it is really blessing me.
Sharon
Wow! Praise the Lord for such enlightenment through HIS WORD and your words of encouragement, Wendy!!! And all of you! What a JOY be a part of this "online-study-experience'. Even as the weeks pass, I think of even more people (both men and women) in my life who could benefit from this Study…
I am a busy mom (of three) who home-schools and works part time, so I am the first to admit that I need that extra NUDGE on a daily basis to be reminded of HOW IMPORTANT & REWARDING it is to BE IN HIS WORD!!!!! So, I look forward to your prayers, your putting a light upon specific passages that continue to speak to me and your encouragement!!! Wow, what a blessing to also be receiving so much enlightenment on PRAYER.
My whole life, I've prayed… wondering if I was praying right or wrong… and now, I feel like I've learned that when I used to pray like this "Lord, if it's in your WILL, I pray you will open this door or close that door" … I feel like I can even back it up EVEN MORE with validity by (as you suggest, Wendy), PRAYING HIS WORD BACK TO HIM!!!!! How beautiful is that! I think I've tried to do that in the past, but now, even more, I am understanding what that means — and even then, to stretch it further -0 I am learning with my daughter in First Grade at home how important it is to TRUST & BELIEVE THE LORD… but to ASLO "Wait Upon The Lord!!" That is so hard sometimes. I am humbled again – -and It blows my mind how the Lord works on both ends of our lives… the scriptures we've been studying this week in "school" is Psalm 33:20… So in line with the scriptures you've blessed us with this week.
Thanks for the encouragement… and especially to point me to the scripture, Deuteronomy 8:3, which has humbled me beyond belief this week, as our family has been experiencing some challenging times (in the eyes of society) but this verse, again, validates what we've been going through and I give HIm all the Praise & Glory!
Giving thanks in ALL circumstances. (1 Thesalonians 5:18)
Mark 6:31 – Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to rest, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Leviticus 23:5 – There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work, wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.
Leviticus 26:2 – Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
That is what I want, Lord, except that I am already eating all the food I want (and it isn’t healthy). Lord, I pray for your complete rest. I pray that you would change my heart from one of stress and compromises to one of peace and obedience to your laws. Jesus came to transform my life, and transforming it he is. If only I had stayed true to the course when I was young! Help me to stay true now. Help me to plan well, and work super hard when I need to, but to rest in you on Sundays, every Sunday! No shopping, no going here and there, no working or worrying about work. Help me to be confident, and to plan well, so that I can be up and review my week Monday morning, and know what I have planned, and not put off anything, so that everything is ready, and I can have peace.
Help me to engage my sons in this so that they, too, do not expect me to work for them, but they may also plan to rest, and to allow for rest around them.
That is enough for today, Lord. Thank you for your blessing on my time.
In your name, Amen.
Hi Girls,
Wanted to share that my son is still headache free! Yesterday we even went on a skiing trip and today he had a soccermatch he is his energetic self again! I shared with him that I asked women to pray and now he is headache free. That God heals, he got wet eyes, then a bigt smile and replied: wow that is so cool! I saw that he captured this in his heart and it will be a testimony to him growing up!
Now for Jennifer you share so much with us and I thank God for stepping in your life and leading you to forgiveness. Still you wonder how too… I have been in a place where I needed to forgive but wasn't shure if I could, but I wanted to be able to do just that.
I spoke about it with another woman and she made it clear to me that the first big step in this process was taken, the will to come to forginess. I was going the right direction and I would make it to the finish she ensured me. Just understanding that made a huge difference to me. I see this happening with you and want to encourage you that you are going in the right directioin and in Gods time you will be able to forgive fully!
Have a blessed day all!
Wendelijn
Woohoo Wendeljn! I love how God isn't just healing your son's body… but He's bringing him to a closer, more intimate relationship. Thank you for these awe inspiring updates!
Jennifer, I have never faced an atrocity such as what you are in the midst of. I literally cannot imagine. I remember reading Wendy's book "Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner" and there were times when I couldn't bear to read what happened to this beautiful, dear lady whom I've grown to love through these Bible studies. Reading through her testimony was so incredibly powerful. If you haven't read it, I so encourage you. I gave it to my best friend who was repeatedly raped at a church and it has played an integral part of her healing and her road to forgiveness.
I know you already know all the verses on forgiveness. I will say that in our humanity, I stand along side you and am convicted that I would not be able to feel forgiveness for Holly's rapist. This is where the Holy Spirit can and will take over if you can release that grip (easy for me to say, very emotional and so difficult to do!). You can't do it on your own because you are a GREAT, dear, caring Mom. But THROUGH Christ, you can do it! It won't be in your power, but His! Forgiveness will be a gift for YOU! I love this quote from Ann Landers, "Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head"
Precious friends. I thank God for letting me be in your midst. Wendy… God bless you for your generosity in giving us this study for free- what a gift we have opened.
With love…
Morning everyone,
Today I have been one distracted little girl! I tried getting up at 5:30am like usual, but ended up dragging myself from my bed at 8:00am to get started on my power hour with God. I have decided that 8:00am is not a friendly time to try and do my devos, too easy for me to be distracted. I gave up trying to focus on scouring the Word after 30 minutes of reading the same passages over and over, but not taking in what I was reading. Then I read over what I'd been writing in my journal the past week and I praised God for the answered prayers at the same time lifting up more for those in need.
So now I'm sitting here looking at the worship bulletin for tomorrow because I'm the worship leader (the singers in praise team rotate leading every week). This gave me something specific to focus on as I studied. Two verses jumped out that I wanted to share and pray back to God.
Father, we are more precious in your sight than we can possibly imagine. Earthly parents are imperfect and can forget the blessing their children are to them, but You have engraved us on the palm of Your hand. You will never forget the sacrifice You have made to set us free. Our lives are are filled with worry, so much so that we begin worrying about things that haven't even happened yet! Help us to focus on today, to seek you before anything else. Yes we need to be prepared for tomorrow, but not to worry for worry can't change anything except the pretty little lines on our face! We LOVE You Lord! Our hearts overflow and You still keep pouring on the love. Help us to share that love through our deeds and not simply our words, putting our faith You into action. Let us be Your holy city as You reside within our hearts not only transforming, but conforming us to Your holy and precious will! For in You, we are more than conquerors and cannot be separated from the love You have for us. AMEN!
James 2:14-18, Matthew 5:14-16, Matthew 6:24-34, Romans 8:37-38, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 49:15-16
Well then, that spilled out from I hardly know where! My heart is pounding in my chest and it feels amazing, like I've run a mile and could climb a mountain; neither of which I have done in quite a long time, lol. On that note my sisters, I have to dash away and finish my worship notes before starting with the rest of my day, but here's the awesome song that jumped started my heart today.
"Made to Worship" by Chris Tomlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9taG2SSp8k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Yours in Christ,
Heather Bleier
Ladies,
Three years ago, as I cried out to the Lord about my weight and stress level, a picture of a fat suit nailed to the cross of Christ flashed in my mind. The Lord has had me working on this for the last three years. Little by little he has given me discernment on these issues and shined a floodlight onto the behavior patterns that were holding me back. Last night, I had a major breakthrough about it.
Through this study I see God answering our heart cries. Our broken-snot bubbled cries for help for our sons and daughters, for forgiveness, and healing. My specific thing was on the back burner as I just tried to be present and pray for the needs of others. Since the issue is something that the Lord has put on my heart for the last three years, and has revealed a good bit of the plan, I still struggle through the issue especially faced with going back to work. So…I did ask for prayer about it. Faithful friends via the internet (you sweet ladies) answered the call.
…and Boy Howdy, did God answer, Hallelujah!
For the last four to five weeks, God has been impressing on me to 'write the word of God on my hands, tie it around my forehead, bind it around my neck, and EAT IT!'. The direction and the application was clear, do this to stop substituting work and food for Him. However, I didn't understand the how until this morning at 2:35 a.m.
Last week's study session lead me to Psalm 119:103, Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4, Jeremiah 15:16, Ezekiel 3:1-2, and 1 Peter 2:2 and Exodus 24 & 25.
The word of the Lord is sweet like honey. Man does/shall not live by bread alone. When your words came to me I ate them. Son of man open your mouth and eat what I give you, fill your stomach with it. Newborn babies eat spiritual milk. God's directions to the Israelites on how to build the temple.
He has been showing me that there are two sides–physical and spiritual. He has given me an idea of exactly what to do to remember this lesson, stand up to the temptation, and how he will remove this stronghold in my life.
I must bind it to my hands, tie it ot my neck, put it in my mouth, and bind it to my forehead..literally.
So, I will be building myself a tool kit:
Neck–necklace with Amor Vincent Omnia & Prayer Box (my husband already gave me these)
Mouth–honey flavored gum with the verses written on them
Hands–temporary tattoos with the verses on them
Mind-flash cards with the verses on them; and an MP3 recording of me saying them to myself
I am also moved to make some extra ones to give away. If you would like one of these, please send me a message at robin_concept.events@yahoo.com and I will send you one.
So, that is a really long story…Needless to say I will be writing some blog posts about it to. Stay Tuned!
Thank you, Jesus for this group of women. Thank you for listening to our cries. Thank you for moving in such a HUGE way in each of our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Praying for you all.
Love,
Robin
I could probably say thank you all day long, HOWEVER, that would still not tell you just how much I am enjoying this study. Want to know the funny part??? I am still on week #2 because of a work commitment I wasn't able to spend a lot of time on it during the actual 2nd week. I take that as a blessing because I am enjoying it so much that I have week #3 & #4 yet to dive into. I wish I knew eloquent words to describe just how much this is "Cultivating a Heart of Prayer" in me!! My relationship and understanding and knowledge of God and His desires for me is growing by "leaps and bounds" simply because of finding and joining this study. May God richly bless you for your blessing me and everyone else in this study!!
Robin, I don't know if you'll see this comment, but thank you for the verses! I just received (finally) Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst, but don't have time to do the work because of this Bible study and the chronological Bible one with Wendy Pope. Where on earth do you get honey flavored gum with verses written on it?
Also Wendilijn — I love that story! Thank you, Lord, for your healing on Wendilijn's son! Thank you for Wendilijn's faith and for your light shining here in Europe. You are good. Amen
Terri in Stockholm–
I've been trying to get to Made to Crave, too. I'm hoping I'll have everything line up to get it soon.
As far as the gum, The world is a large place. If I can't find it, I will make honey flavored gum. I'm determined to do what God put on my heart.
Send me your address and I'll send you some.