Prayer Cards

"When we do something like creating beautiful prayer cards we're setting ourselves up for success." (These are the words of Kari Patterson, who inspired me with her idea of  making beautiful prayer cards.)


"Of course there are lots of ways to pray, but this is just one way to help stay accountable to praying regularly for those in your life. When I leave it all to chance I find that I pray about my own little stuff about 99% of the time and then I run into a friend who was actually going through something hard and realize I hadn't even prayed for her! That's certainly not fun, but I just have to be honest about myself and know that I need something objective to help me keep others in mind."


"Here's what they are and why I love 'em.
I used to make them out of index cards with a Bic pen-no nonsense. But why not make them beautiful? Now, I make them from textured paper, a colored header, and good black pen that makes me write neatly.
There are 8 of them. One for each day of the week and one that says Daily. On my little cards there's a title and then a list of what to pray for each day." KP


And so, Saturday before last we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of crafting, creating, laughing and sharing together! Here are the results:)...

The Sweet Aroma of Worship

"I know you, like me, desire the sweet aroma of worship to envelop you, and radiate from your very being, to scent all that you touch and do.

One of the specific offerings mandated by the law of God was the burning of incense. As you survey the list below, see for yourself how "sweet" the sacrificial offering of incense was."

• Incense was a costly offering.
• Incense was a sign of the acknowledgment of deity.
• Incense produced an aromatic odor.
• Incense was known as the "sweet smoke."
• Incense could be burned only by priests.
• Incense was offered up only in "the holy place."
• Incense is used in the Bible as a symbol for prayer.
• Incense was offered up and burned every morning and evening along with the other daily morning and evening sacrifices.

"In one particular psalm, David prayed to God with outstretched heart and hands, "Let my prayer be set before You as incense" (Psalm 141:2).

"The prayer of David's was not a hasty, or spontaneous, impulsive outburst of worship and emotion. There is certainly a place for such impromptu prayer in our lives, but here David mentioned his prayer in a different light-it was "set before" God. He was pleading with God that his prayers would be as disciplined and regular as the offering of incense and burnt offerings were required to be according to God's law (Exodus 29:38-30:9)."

~From Chapter 8

A friend of mine was speaking of all she had to accomplish in a day, and how her little charges took up so much of her time and attention. She realized the only way she was to ever have quiet time with her Lord was to get up a set time before they arrived. Otherwise, she would come to the end of her day without having had that essential lingering in the Holy Place. My dear, unmarried friends, what an admonition this is for us to build these "set times"  into our morning routines so that we can go into our days with the sweet aroma of prayerful worship lingering on our person. I am tired, or too busy, you may say. Oh, but think of how busy you will be when you have little ones vying for your every moment! We must cultivate our prayer lives now, so that if, and when our lives change, we will have already mastered the discipline of a"set time."

~Sarah

Reading

I have been so behind! So much to read and so little time! :) So I just read chapter six. But it was so good! And I can't wait to read more! I loved the part at the end of the chapter where she had the list of names of well-known people and the time they devoted to prayer. Very challenging.

An Unexpected Result

"As I began to simply focus on Him, amazingly, I felt that much more loved of Him. We have an example of this transfer of affection~from following Him as Lord, to loving Him as Savior~in Hosea 2:16 "...in that day," says the Lord...you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call me 'My Master.'" Prayer suddenly became a natural desire. I did not feel I had to struggle to be heard~ I knew He was right there~as if His arms were tight around me. Of course, He loved me no more than before, I just began to realize His love in  brand new way. Certainly years earlier, in response to that love, I had come to love Him too, yet realized only a small part of the joy He intended. It was like an endless supply of sugar cubes which were there all along, but whose sweetness was yet to be tasted."~Jennifer Lamp

Thoughts on Prayer

At our bookclub meeting we discussed not just things from the book, but some of our own thoughts on prayer. Here are a few we mentioned:

- Pray specifically and intentionally


- Pray with a big perspective
(Not just personally, but nationally. Bible study is one thing that will help you to do this)

- Pray with a passion, not just an obligation

- Use worldly things as prayer cues

- When you pray for others pray like they are really there
(Picture them standing beside you with your hand on their shoulder. This will help you pray more specifically)

- Prayer Lists help
(It keeps us on track and keeps us from rambling during our prayer time, it also helps us to look back at past prayer lists and see all the prayers God has answered)

- Pray for your relationships
(Family, friends, whoever, it will make them last!)

- Spend time in prayer to cultivate your relationship with God

- Don't do all the talking during your prayer time
(Be sure to take time to listen to what God has to say to you)

- Put forth an effort for God in your prayer life
(We put forth an effort for those we love, whether it is dressing up or making a special dish for them. Find ways to put forth effort in your relationship with God to show Him you care)

- Pray out-loud
(This will help you keep your focus on what you are praying about)

- Pray like God is really there
(Because He is!)

A Father Who Loves Me

Friend to Friend-Sharon Jaynes

"One thing that makes the New Testament distinctively different from the Old Testament is that Jehovah God, the creator of the Universe and all it contains, invites us to call Him daddy.  It is the name of God that Jesus referred to more than any other. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He said:

"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  This then is how you should pray:  'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...' (Matthew 6:6-9).

If you are a parent, you can imagine how discouraging it would be if your children only talked to you when they wanted something.  Quite the contrary, we talk to our children to discipline, instruct, nurture, train, comfort, encourage, guide, and teach.  Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is much the same.  We are called children of God and He longs to gather us under His wing like a mother hen and speak to us in the quietness of prayer.  Our heavenly Father is always available and attentive, compassionate and caring, and interested and involved.

Sometimes, God wants to speak to us in our times of prayer simply to tell us how deeply He loves us."

Prayer Calendar

For an ongoing record of the fruit of your commitment to pray faithfully, print off a "Prayer Calendar," or use the one in the back of your book. Just mark off the days you do pray, and leave those blank when you don't pray. And then, my dear sister, one picture is worth a thousand words!

Checklist for Prayer

 Anna mentioned the benefits of the checklist at the end of each chapter. In order to become women of prayer we have to be intentional and that takes discipline. Have you personally considered and applied these evaluations? Here are the ones from chapter two:

 Evaluate your heart-Identify three things you can do to turn your back on the world and your heart toward spiritual things, toward the heavenly, toward the eternal.

 Evaluate your lifestyle-Think about your daily routine and note the multitude of ways you spend your God-given time (some of which is meant to be spent in prayer!)

 Evaluate your priorities-Ask God to show you areas of foolishness in your life. Pray this prayer: "Lord, please reveal those things in my life that are secondary to a life committed to prayer. What lesser things are wasting my time and energy?"

"It's fun to talk about prayer

and easy to think about prayer.

But to actually put your feet-and heart!-

on the pathway to prayer,

to make your desire to pray a reality,

requires discipline.

-Elizabeth George

~Sarah

The better part

In chapter 2-Ten Reasons Women Don't Pray-Part 1, Mrs. George discusses the first three reasons (or excuses!) we don't pray:

1. Worldliness
2. Busyness
3. Foolishness

Mine would be busyness.

"The story in the Bible of the two sisters who hosted Jesus and His disciples in their home shows us that priority-order must be established between our spiritual duties and our daily duties and then carefully guarded. The tale of these two sisters teaches us that there is a need in every woman's life to acknowledge the priority-order between these two types of duties every day [groan!] The woman's names were Martha and Mary, and you can read about them in Luke 10:38-42.

In a nutshell, Martha [me,] the older sister, was a woman characterized by busyness. Hers was a life consumed with service-with puttering and fluttering, with stewing and doing, with COMPULSIVE ATTENTION to DETAILS [so me,] all carried to such a point that she "lost it" on the glorious day when Jesus came to stay a while at her house. She literally fell apart when her sister stopped her kitchen work to go sit at the feet of Jesus, God-in-the-flesh!

Clearly both sisters loved Jesus. And it's obvious that both served Him. But Mary, as Jesus pointed out, knew  when to stop with the busyness and do the best thing, the one thing (verse 42) that is most needful, necessary, and meaningful-to spend time with God."

What about you? What reason (or excuse) can you most identify with in your own life?

"A woman who is too busy to pray is simply too busy!"
~Sarah

"Christopher Robin" Prayers;)

"It is an ongoing challenge to continue in the journey of prayer until we "get it," until we can even say that we've begun to know something about prayer and a little bit about how it is accomplished. And until that happens, a lot of us pray what I call "Christopher Robin" prayers. He's the little boy who struggled with his evening "Vespers." He became so distracted by anything and everything that he couldn't remember who or what to pray for. He ultimately ended up praying "God bless_________" prayers, filling in the blank with each of his family members' names. Can I ever relate to Christopher Robin's "prayer" experience (and maybe you can, too)!-excerpt from chapter one


For me, I don't think it's as much distraction as a lack of intelligent, thoughtful praying. Okay, maybe that is distraction! We're in such a hurry to get our prayers said, that we don't take the time to really think about what God wants to do in the life of our loved one or a situation.

Here's an example. Recently, I joined Gospel for Asia's Prayer Team. Yesterday, I received an email asking us to pray for those with leprosy. I could quickly pray, "Lord, please bless the lepers in Asia," or I could pray the following...


Pray the Lord will raise up more compassionate workers to love and care for these despised people.
Ask the Lord to physically heal the lepers.
Pray they will choose to follow the Savior.
Pray for God to provide opportunities for their children to go to school and get jobs once they graduate.
Pray for wisdom and the Lord's provision for the clinic workers.
Pray for them to understand the love of Jesus as GFA-supported workers explain it to them.


God isn't afraid of specifics.
~Sarah

Making Prayer A Priority

The book is great! But I'm going to be honest with you guys, making a commitment and setting goals is not easy for me to do! Even with prayer. So the 'Checklist for Prayer' at the end of each chapter has been a little challenging for me. I think the hardest one for me to do so far is the one where you schedule prayer appointments. It sounds so good! And it's so needful! But when it comes right down to it, I like to do things I know I can do. I don't want to make a commitment unless I am positively sure I can keep it. And with our crazy schedule how am I supposed to make these appointments every single day?! This led me to examine my prayer life. I usually pray in the mornings. But if I run out of time before I'm supposed to be at work I try to pray when I get home, if something comes up when I get home then I usually try to squeeze time to pray in where I can. :) And I sometimes end up praying after I am in bed and the lights are out. (And you can probably guess I fall asleep during these prayer times.) After examining my prayer life I realized how important it really is to schedule my prayer time. I've made my schedule. Please pray for me! I want prayer to be at the top of my priority list and not get pushed around. If y'all have any suggestions for me, let me know! Can't wait to hear you guys' comments.

Anna

Solitude-"An Inner Adventure"

"A Woman's Call to Prayer- I opened my book to the first page of the first chapter, and this phrase jumped out at me, "of seeking out and arranging for solitude." How many of us seek out and arrange for solitude? To be quite honest, solitude isn't high on my "to do" list! Perhaps this stood out to me because I just recently read the definition of solitude. "Loneliness is feeling alone. Solitude is actually being alone, but still feeling full. Solitude is quiet and focused; loneliness feels frenetic and frantic. Loneliness concentrates on externals, solitude on the "inner adventure." Loneliness listens to what others think and say about you. Solitude inclines to what God has said from the beginning. Loneliness focuses on want, on deficiency, on lack. Solitude rejoices in presence, provision, and purpose. Solitude requires a willingness to practice." The first challenge of this book for me is solitude! ~Sarah

New Book!

Dear Sisters,

I have missed our book and chats tremendously! I hope the convening season was a blessed time for you and your families.

"Hinds Feet on High Places," was such a huge success, that I have been reluctant to decide on a new one. While praying about this very thing, I read the following Scripture, and felt a confirmation for the book I was considering. Zechariah 8;20-23, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts (in Jerusalem), and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him (that is a Jew), saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you."

It seems that I am bombarded with "prayer requests" from family, friends,coworkers and even strangers at a dizzying pace, not to mention the needs of my own life. I feel an urgency in my own personal walk to strengthen my prayer life. In the above Scripture God was saying that others would follow, if someone would step up, and lead in prayer and seeking the Lord! 

A Woman's Call to Prayer-Making Your Desire to Pray a Reality by Elizabeth George will be very different than Hind's feet on High Places, but I believe it can be just as beneficial to our spiritual journeys. 

"You can have an exciting prayer life! Are you a prayer "wanna-be" who wonders how to take your first step into prayer? Or are you a seasoned prayer-warrior who aspires to continue in the battle? Elizabeth George will help you make your desire to pray a reality. You'll learn practical ways to...

*establish a regular time for prayer

*refresh your commitment to pray

*pray from your heart for daily needs

*lift family and friends up to God

*discover God's will for your life

*worship God through prayer

If you want to begin-or improve!-your journey of prayer, I invite you to join us.

Answering His call to prayer, 

Sarah Beth

"Prayer is the highest activity of which the human spirit is capable."