prayer | Pedestrian God

Granting Wishes & Prayers

Mar 15 2018

Picture a child coming to Santa – not a crying, fearful child – but one who has finally seen Santa with their own eyes. Not only have they spotted Santa, but they get to approach him. To sit on his lap and tell him EVERYTHING they want for Christmas. These aren’t small, practical requests. These kids are thinking big. They want ponies, puppies, unicorns, race cars, and robots. Nothing is too big or off limits. After all, this is SANTA CLAUS! He owns his own toy factory!

Or picture Aladdin when he discovers Genie (and yes, absolutely hear Robin Williams’ impressions). He finds out he has three wishes! Sure, there are some rules. Unlike Santa, certain requests are off limits – Genie can’t kill anyone, make anyone fall in love, or bring people back from the dead. Aladdin’s in a unique position. If he plans well, he can have three wishes granted that will drastically change his life.

Now picture prayer.

How to Respond When God Answers Your Prayer

Jan 31 2018

We had a very special Sunday school class this past week as my fellow teacher, Stephanie, contrasted Zechariah’s and Mary’s responses to the Angel Gabriel when he delivered this similar messages to them:

Congratulations! You Will Have a Baby!

Wow! An angel delivered this message to Zechariah. And he responded…well…poorly to say the least.

Basically, here’s my recap of the scenario from Luke chapter 1:

Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, have been praying for a child. An angel appears and says, “Great news! God has answered your prayer and you’re going to be a daddy! He’s going to be AMAZING and you will be SO PROUD!” But Zechariah is NOT happy so he questions Gabriel. Angered, Gabriel yells at Zechariah and takes away his ability to speak until the baby is born!

Wow! Can you imagine not being able to speak for at least 9 months? I can’t. In fact, I can’t even imagine going 9 hours without speaking. Sometimes, not even 9 minutes.

As Stephanie was teaching the lesson, I was nodding my head, remembering this story which I’ve heard most of my life. But as we exaggerated the dialogue (we really like getting into the moment), I realized something for the first time. Zechariah had been praying for a baby.

Book Review: Fervent

Aug 15 2017

My first introduction to Priscilla Shirer was her Bible study on Jonah (Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted). I loved it! I was an almost-college-graduate who joined this study with the married women in our church. Each week we gathered together to watch Priscilla’s teaching videos and discuss our homework.

Since then, I have followed Priscilla Shirer on social media but haven’t had the opportunity to participate in another study. So I was absolutely thrilled when I came across her book Fervent.

I eagerly began to read. The book was incredibly timely because my prayer life had been gradually fading and her entire emphasis was prayer. Then, it felt too timely. So I quit.

I walked away from the book. Every chapter was more convicting than the last and I just couldn’t deal.

I moved onto a long string of just-for-fun books. The stress level of adding a foster child to our house caused me to withdraw from my spiritual growth books. I’ve always favored literature and fiction, but I had been carefully selecting at least one spiritual book to read every month or two.

It was time to finish what I had started and put Priscilla’s fervent prayer life into practice. So early August, I picked it up again. And it was every bit as challenging, convicting, and encouraging as it had been the first time.

Prayers for Fellow Believers

Oct 13 2015

When you pray for fellow believers, do your prayers feel deflated? So many times I want to sit down and pray for the girls in my Sunday School class, but my words feel empty and vague. One of the blessings of having Scripture is that we can use it in our prayer lives. Here’s a list of the top 5 prayers from the New Testament that we can pray for fellow believers.

1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Ephesians 1:17-19, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.”

Ephesians 3:16-19, “I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Philippians 1:9-11, “And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”

Colossians 1: 9b-12 , “We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.”

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