*The Prayer-Care-Share Life
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God has helped me a great deal with these four keys to memorizing Scripture. You too will find them helpful, especially if you are trying to commit large portions of Scripture to memory. They are to Slow Down, Calm Down, Focus, and Pray. God gave me these things in the struggle to memorize. But I believe you can find each of these emphasized in the fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5, primarily in the fruit of patience.
From an unpaid, non-pastoral lay person:
Saw a sign that read, "The Church has left the Building," in front of a church in Palatine, Illinois on May 9th.
They had added more to their sign below this phrase, probably about on-line worship and stuff.
But I really didn’t see that part.
I HAD ALREADY RECEIVED GOD’S MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!
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PTAP's Vision "To see the global church praying for the Arabian Peninsula so that the gospel and churches will be planted for every indigenous people in the Arabian Peninsula" |
Yesterday we concluded our group study of Paul Miller's "A Praying Life". We've been meeting online for the last 6 sessions, and we did lose quite a few people along the way. We've been following the outline of the book loosely and bringing in other materials and topics for the class.
We ended our study by looking at community prayer, that is, praying effectively in a group setting. This was one of the items identified at the beginning as an item that the group wanted to discuss, and we had it in our "parking lot".
We recognized that community prayer is more complex than private prayer because it adds a horizontal dimension. Community prayer is all about praying to God, with people. It can be tough to maintain that balance - so many groups I've prayed with have suffered from people praying more for others in the group to hear than for God to hear. Not so much from pride like the Pharisee, but just from a lack of understanding of the dynamics of group prayer. Prayers end up horizontally-focused, long and winding and full of information that God didn't need - not to mention focused on surface issues rather than the deeper works God wants to do.
We discussed the "ABCs" - Agreement, Brevity, and Christ-centeredness, and how these support each other in an effective group prayer setting.
The whole series was well-received, despite the interruption from the coronavirus. I'm sure we'll do this again, possibly with some additional tweaks. We had to cancel our planned prayer service at the end of March due to the lockdown, but hopefully we'll be able to proceed on schedule at the end of June. And we continue to pray about where God is leading us next to develop a culture of prayer.
Recently a friend asked me, “What is the most important lesson you hope to teach your grandchildren?” After thinking about this question, I thought I would like to share one of the lessons I hope my grandchildren will learn from my husband and me.
As my grandchildren walk through their journey of life, they are going to face many challenges and disappointments. God will allow challenging situations in their lives for a purpose—to develop character and spiritual growth. The trials and challenges are inevitable, they must learn to expect them, acknowledge them, and learn from them.
The challenges they face are not meant to destroy them but designed to make them capable to fulfill their God-given assignments. Their trials and challenges create an environment where they will see the true nature of their dependency on God. It is through their problems, failures, weaknesses, and neediness they will learn to rely on God. Their challenges, trials, and disappointments can be blessings in disguise.
As grandparents, we can model for our grandchildren from our experience that “Life is hard, but God is good.” We have a wonderful intercessor sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for us to call on him. We can come to Him with boldness and confidence at any time. When we call him, He will never put us on hold, His line is never busy, and we do not have to press a number for our language, or leave a voice mail, He is always available. In I Peter 5:7 we read, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.”
According to Paul in Philippians 4:6-7 my grandchildren will only find fulfillment if they don’t get anxious or worry about anything, but pray about everything, telling God about their needs and thank Him for all He has done for them. Then they will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything they can understand. His peace will guard their hearts and minds as they live in Christ Jesus.
I would like you to share a lesson you would like to teach your grandchildren in the comment section or send me an email at info@grandparentingwithapurpose.com. If you have enjoyed this blog, share it with your friends.
Remember a beautiful rose has thorns.
I have developed “Thirty-one Scriptures to Pray for Grandchildren” that many grandparents have found helpful to pray Scripture for their grandchildren. Just by joining the mailing list on the right side of this page, you will receive the blogs about grandparenting and prayer suggestions. I will email you a free downloadable copy of “Thirty-one Scriptures to Pray for your Grandchildren” you can print.
Recently a friend asked me, “What is the most important lesson you hope to teach your grandchildren?” After thinking about this question, I thought I would like to share one of the lessons I hope my grandchildren will learn from my husband and me.
As my grandchildren walk through their journey of life, they are going to face many challenges and disappointments. God will allow challenging situations in their lives for a purpose—to develop character and spiritual growth. The trials and challenges are inevitable, they must learn to expect them, acknowledge them, and learn from them.
The challenges they face are not meant to destroy them but designed to make them capable to fulfill their God-given assignments. Their trials and challenges create an environment where they will see the true nature of their dependency on God. It is through their problems, failures, weaknesses, and neediness they will learn to rely on God. Their challenges, trials, and disappointments can be blessings in disguise.
As grandparents, we can model for our grandchildren from our experience that “Life is hard, but God is good.” We have a wonderful intercessor sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for us to call on him. We can come to Him with boldness and confidence at any time. When we call him, He will never put us on hold, His line is never busy, and we do not have to press a number for our language, or leave a voice mail, He is always available. In I Peter 5:7 we read, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.”
According to Paul in Philippians 4:6-7 my grandchildren will only find fulfillment if they don’t get anxious or worry about anything, but pray about everything, telling God about their needs and thank Him for all He has done for them. Then they will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything they can understand. His peace will guard their hearts and minds as they live in Christ Jesus.
I would like you to share a lesson you would like to teach your grandchildren in the comment section or send me an email at info@grandparentingwithapurpose.com. If you have enjoyed this blog, share it with your friends.
Remember a beautiful rose has thorns.
I have developed “Thirty-one Scriptures to Pray for Grandchildren” that many grandparents have found helpful to pray Scripture for their grandchildren. Just by joining the mailing list on the right side of this page, you will receive the blogs about grandparenting and prayer suggestions. I will email you a free downloadable copy of “Thirty-one Scriptures to Pray for your Grandchildren” you can print.
I am writing especially to you who are pastors, but much of what I have to say will apply to any believer in Jesus Christ. I suspect that much of what is pressed upon us by the church growth movement and its widely accepted continuations are little more than superstition. Some of these things remind me of the labors of Jacob in the 30th chapter of Genesis. Jacob put striped sticks before the eyes of the livestock while they were breeding so that they would bear striped and spotted offspring which were to be his wages.
I have recently been trying to memorize chapter by chapter through Genesis. And frankly, I had great difficulty with this chapter. I did not believe for a minute that what those animals saw had any relation to how their offspring turned out. However, I am pretty sure that Jacob believed it while he was doing it. And low and behold, it worked! Jacob became extremely rich. That may be the mantra of some in the church growth movement. Whatever works must be right.
I didn't really get any peace about this until I was into the 31st chapter, and discovered that at least eventually Jacob found out that his strategy was not what increased his flocks. And Moses had to have known it when he penned chapter 30. God made the animals produce the offspring that were designated as Jacob's wages, not his machinations.
Now, let me say emphatically that the Bible teaches that God and God alone adds numerically to His church. I am aware that by God's grace and in union with God's Spirit we, like Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:11, seek to persuade people. But we do not do it with cleverness, sidestepping truth that is uncomfortable, or appealing to worldliness. We persuade in the fear of God, the conviction of the word of God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is not to say that you can never bring success by gimmicks. I once heard someone quip, "That church would have grown if there wasn't a God." But I strongly suspect that if you reach people by any means but the movement of the Holy Spirit, they are still lost. And they will often do harm to the fellowship before they leave completely.
What then can we do to become successful? Let me suggest some things that lead to long-term success, at least in the eyes of God.
Praying for and during RamadanRamadan is starting on April 23, 2020 (or April 24, 2020) this year. During the month of Ramadan, billions of Muslims will be fasting, praying, and reading the Quran as a community. Lockdowns, curfews, and restrictions on public gatherings across most countries due to COVID-19 have dampened Ramadan preparations this year.
As our Muslim cousins shelter in place, we want to pray and ask that Jesus visit them during this month in dreams and visions. We want to pray and ask that Jesus reveals Himself to many many Muslims during this month.
Let us join with others this year in praying for Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula and throughout the world during the month of Ramadan.
Prayer Resources:
Prayercast - https://prayercast.com/love-muslims-home.html
30 days of prayer - https://www.30daysprayer.com/participate/
While this quarantine is difficult for people all over the world, it is not quite as hard on writers. I do not simply mean that people need our reading material to fill the time. Writers need solitude to write. While many of us have had to learn to write in the midst of the hubbub, it always helps to be alone. This doesn't mean that we are not going stir crazy like everyone else. But this is an opportunity of which we must take advantage. Since most writers support ourselves with day jobs, you may find that you have more time to write than ever before. That is true even if you're having trouble paying the rent.
This is also an important time for a Christian to develop the character and the depth of your soul as a writer. I actually began this nearly a year before the pandemic broke out. The quarantine is a good opportunity to continue what I have begun. I am memorizing the Bible like never before. I do not memorize to have important things to quote in my writing or to impress my friends at church. I memorize Scripture so that God will plant His mind, His insights, His character in me. The mind of Christ is essential for growing as a writer.
I am going through the New Testament taking an entire week with each chapter. I read the whole chapter every day for a week. Each day I memorize a portion of that chapter, usually getting the entire chapter memorized in a week. I start by reading over the first verse of the chapter until I can say it. Next, I read over the second verse until I can say it. Then I go back and read both verses together and go on to the third verse. If I am working on 1 John, two or maybe three verses will be all I need to memorize each day. If I am trying to memorize a chapter, say early in Luke, with over 60 verses, I need to memorize more each day, and I often take a little more than a week to memorize it. After I have memorized a chapter, I review it every day for two weeks. This way I am working on three chapters of Scripture all the time. To review the passages, I use the same process as my memorization. I read the first verse in the passage over until I can say it. Usually the second day I have to memorize it all over again. I go on from there to the next and then the next. I often stumble over verses I have been reviewing for weeks. If I think I am in some kind of competition, I will be discouraged. But this is between me and God, and I trust Him to be working in my life as I spend the time with Him.
I do not have a photographic memory. I could not begin to quote verses that I memorized 6 months ago without reviewing them again. But in the process of memorizing and especially reviewing, God's Spirit works on my heart. He uses His word to plant Himself in me. Although I am writing something that tends to consume my time and thoughts, I am convinced that Scripture memory is my most crucial task in these days.
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#StayHome #WashHands #ShareJoy #PrayOften
PRAYING DEEP IN GOD’S WORD
Prayerfully Memorizing Scripture
There is a sense in which the most important part of a tree is its root system. The stability and nourishment of a tree come from its roots. And, of course, the roots grow more slowly than the branches. So it is with our spiritual lives.
For this reason and others, I recommend Scripture memory as a discipline of prayer. It is not impossible to prayerfully memorize an entire chapter each week. The main issue is slowing down to memorize, allowing God to nourish your soul. Here is the process.
Read a verse over until you can say it. Then go to the next verse. When you have it down, go back to the first and read them together. Then memorize the next. When you have it memorized, go over all three together. Continue this process until you come to a good stopping place. If you divide a chapter into seven segments, you can memorize it in a week. The next day you will have to re-memorize these verses before you start on a new passage. You will soon find this rearranging your entire schedule. And you and God may be pleased with the outcome.
Time spent in prayerful review is the key to memorizing. In reviewing Scriptures I have already memorized, I inevitably misquote some of the verses. I try to resist quickly correcting myself and going on. I often go over the verse several times until I get it right. I use this same process to review each chapter for two weeks. That means I am always reviewing two chapters while memorizing another. I am aware that this will require a significant amount of time. And the current quarantine may be the perfect time to embark on this project.
You will find that such scripture memory produces fervent prayer. I didn't realize this until I started memorizing in this way. Three kinds of prayer come automatically in this process.
Even though it is automatic, such praying will also have to be intentional. You do not want to become so preoccupied with memorizing that you forget to pray. Scripture memory requires commitment. You will sometimes have to work at it when you are exhausted. You may have to pick up again after being too busy for a day or a week. You may want to set long term goals like memorizing the Psalms in six months, or committing the Gospels, an Epistle, or the entire New Testament to memory. Right now I memorize two chapters from the New Testament, then one from the Old Testament before returning to the New. All the time I work at this, I pray for God to work in my life. While God often uses memorized verses to minister to others, calling Scriptures to mind at crucial times, that is not not my main purpose in this. I do it for God to plant Himself in me.
This method is not “the law of the Meads and the Persians.” I encourage you to adjust this as God leads you. However, I do warn you against trying to shorten the time you spend doing it. God will bless every moment you spend in His word and prayer.
Your most powerful praying may come through the word of God.
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
Website
YouTube
Amazon Author's Page
https://www.amazon.com/David-Young/e/B008C7VLAQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
It had been one of those long, sleepless nights – the kind where you keep waking up and talking to God. The issue causing my insomnia, was troubling, and I kept thinking, that I just needed to keep talking with God about it. After all, I had spent a career teaching and preaching that God wanted to hear from us. It was still dark when I finally gave up, and got up. I got dressed and got in the car to look for a place to eat breakfast, still talking with God. As the car engine came on, the Sirius radio began to play – SXM Channel 65, enLigthen. It was Sheri Easter, singing, “I'll be quiet so You can hear my heart.” Half way to breakfast, it hit me. God had heard all of my words that He needed to hear. I just needed to be quiet and let God hear my heart. Reflecting on the words of the song, my mind transferred to Psalm 46:10, “Be still, (cease striving, NASB; calm down, Contemporary English Version) and know that I am God.” Then my mind switched to Habakkuk 2:20, “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him” or better yet, the paraphrase of The Message, “Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!” Sometimes we need to talk with God. Sometimes we need to just be quiet.
What do you do when you have to wait a long time for something to happen? With the quarantine over Covid19 many of us are finding more time on our hands than ever before. Waiting can be difficult, almost painful. Many years ago, I served as a student summer missionary in Uganda. Possibly the most striking difference between the East African culture and the one I grew up in, was that people had little concept of hurry. I used to joke that I sometimes needed to get off alone and just hurry.
However, God has been teaching me that my inability to slow down and wait in the Lord is a major hindrance to my spiritual life. This is a common problem in the west. We can remedy this by devoting wait-time and more to prayer.
In the garden before the cross Jesus asked some of His disciples if they could not even watch with Him for one hour. He wasn’t talking about binge-watching TV. He told them and us to watch and pray. As you develop the change of temperament required to stay in God’s presence, you may find yourself seeking opportunities to “be still” in prayer. Let me suggest some ways to pray when you are waiting that may develop into greater spiritual discipline.
Begin prayer on the majesty of God.
Jesus began the model prayer with praise—Hallowed be Thy Name. Nothing transforms an anxious spirit or boredom into joy like praise.
Pray for the Kingdom of God.
From praise Jesus shifted His prayer to the kingdom. You can make arrangements to pray for missionaries or unreached people groups while you are waiting in a long line at the store or elsewhere. On your smartphone you can carry lists of mission needs to pray for regularly.
Pray for yourself.
Jesus told us to pray for our daily bread. It is worthwhile to try to discern what your needs really are. One of those needs is spiritual growth. Seeking spiritual growth will surely involve examining yourself and confessing sins. In the Lord's prayer Jesus told us to ask for forgiveness as we also forgive those who have sinned against us. You will need God to work in your heart to love and forgive people who hate or misuse you. Are you asking God to work in your heart?
Focus on other people.
You can pray for others around you, maybe in the grocery store line. You could develop the habit of praying for everyone around you wherever you go. That is sometimes easiest when you have to wait with nothing else to do.
You may not need a smartphone or a written list to pray for those in your extended family. You can also pray for the members of your Bible class or your entire church roll when you are forced to wait.
Your most valuable praying may come in the word of God.
One of the ways to pray for a full hour is to pray through the Lord's Prayer. As you pray, “Hallowed be Thy name,” spend time lifting the wonder and Majesty of God. Then pray for His Kingdom in your life and across the Earth. Go through the whole prayer expanding on every part. You can do this with many Scriptures.
I recommend Scripture memory as a prayer discipline. This is a great way to fill wait time with powerful prayer. Three kinds of prayer come automatically when we are memorizing scripture. Ask God to help you memorize. Then ask Him to plant His word in your heart to transform your life. And while memorizing, God will often bring people and needs to mind. Take time to pray for each of them.
We’re in a pandemic! What is God waiting for?
So many in the world have said, "no," to Him--and He Respects that. God isn't causing Covid-19. But He's not Intervening. He is Waiting on the sidelines--to be invited back in: to be called by His Creations.
We Creatures of His have free will: the right to say "yes" or "no" to God. And we humans have been sending Him a lot of negativity in recent decades. So, how's that working out for us?
Selah is not translated in our English Bibles. We just have the transliteration of the Hebrew word. But if you follow its usage, you can get a good grip on its meaning. It is used at the end of each stanza of Psalm 46. I have italicized it for you.
Literally, Selah means, step up. It could have been a musical notation. I like the speculation that it was used when the people ascended Mt. Zion with singing. As they came to a pause in the music, they would all take a step, or several steps, up. They would pause to take a step nearer to God.
There is a delightful little poem in Spurgeon's Treasury of David.
But as I said, whatever the meaning of the word, the most telling thing about selah is where it is placed in the text. Selah is a call to be still and know God.
Selah is used as a pause to reflect.
Is your Grandparenting a Blessing or Painful?
Grandparenting is a special blessing but can also be a pain. Messy family relationships can leave grandparents hurting, depressed, discouraged, and hopeless. Divorce, drugs, alcohol, and adult children walking away from their faith cause broken hearts for grandparents.
Grandparents are always excited when they learn they are going to be grandparents especially when they there waiting for their first grandchild to be born. The average age of first-time grandparents is around age 47.
The babies are so cute and loveable. My friend, Susan enjoyed just watching her precious baby granddaughter sleep so peacefully. Her smiles warmed her heart, and later she loved to hear her laughing. Then she became a toddler running into her arms and bringing her so much joy. I could hardly wait to teach her about Jesus and take her to church. Then she was told by her son, “We do not want you to talk to her about Jesus”. Susan and her husband’s hearts melted. They had been waiting for the opportunity to teach her about their faith. This story is repeated often. Many grandparents have been told they are not to teach their grandchildren about Jesus.
One grandparent told me that her son said to her that she could not see her grandchild again because the child told him “Grandma wants to take me to Sunday school”. He didn’t believe in God anymore, so he didn’t want his child to learn about Jesus. Closed doors to grandchildren cause broken hearts and relationships.
I have a friend whose son and his girlfriend had a 14-month boy. They went on a trip for a couple of days and left the baby with the girl friend’s parents. They both died in a car accident. Since the girlfriend’s parents were caring for the child, they thought they were in charge of the child and alienated the father’s parent’s time with the child. The father’s parents had to go to court to be able to have time with the child to teach him about Jesus.
The pain is very difficult because it causes a rift between the child’s parent and the grandparents. The grandparent loses one of its greatest joys of life. The hurt is compounded when there is a spiritual separation between the child’s parent and the grandparent. When an adult child rejects his parent’s faith, the parents feel a rejection of the adult child.
The pain is suffocating. Alienation is painful and takes a significant toll on grandparents, especially as their friends are enjoying their grandchildren. A grandparent’s pain is often private; they feel as they have failed in raising their adult child causing a reflection on themselves. Or the grandchild’s parents are going through a divorce, and your adult child does not get custody, making it more difficult to have time with the grandchild.
I am thankful I am not an estranged grandparent, but my heart breaks when I hear the stories of my loved ones.
Broken-hearted/Estranged grandparents have two choices:
Check-in next week for suggestions for the brokenhearted
I have 2 suggestions if you are a Brokenhearted/ Estranged grandparent.
Grandparents @ Prayer group is an excellent safe place for grandparents to share their concerns with other grandparents. My group met this week; some grandparents shared their broken heart with us, feeling safe to share their concern with tears for their grandchildren. We prayed with them and will continue to pray with them in the days ahead, carrying their burden as Paul tells us in Galatians 6:2. (To learn more about Grandparents @ Prayer see the appendix.)
We cannot change others or our circumstances, but we have a powerful God. He loves our grandchildren and their parents as much and more than we do.
Don’t let the enemy get you obsessed with your hurting issues, give them to Jesus because if you are obsessed with your pain, then the enemy has the victory. Trust God to wrap His arms around you and provide you with peace as you wait for Him to answer your prayers. While you are waiting, God may be working but you are not aware of. Ask God if reconciliation is possible, even though you don’t think you have done anything wrong. Asking for forgiveness may be the beginning of healing.
We learn the most from God when life is hard, and we have to trust Him. We often forget that the same God we enjoy in our mountain top experiences is walking with us through the valleys of our lives.
Many hurting grandparents are raising their grandchildren because their parents are ill, in the military, in prison or various situations, especially today with the Opioids epidemic.
The rewards and challenges of parenting the second time around when parents are absent or unable to raise their children, grandparents are often the ones who step in. Raising a second generation brings many rewards, along with the struggles, including the fulfillment of giving your grandkids a sense of security, developing a deeper relationship with them, and keeping the family together.
As grandparents age, raising children can sometimes be challenging. Taking care of themselves mentally, physically, and spiritually is vital to our overall health and our ability to live prosperous lives and raise healthy grandchildren.
Generations United cites grandparents are raising a 2013-2015 study by the Casey Foundation saying around 2.6 million grandchildren. The 2010 Census showed that about 8% of all grandchildren under 18 are living with grandparents. That number grew by about 30% from 2009. Now ten years later, who knows what it is, especially with the opioid issues among millennial parents.
CDC estimates more than 42,000 people overdosed on opioids in 2016. Fentanyl-related drugs are one of the primary reasons. The opioid epidemic is showing no sign of slowing down in the United States with deaths from opioid-related overdoses now outpacing car accident fatalities.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/deaths-from-opioid...
If you know grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, pray for them. Many say they feel alienated and lonely because they don’t seem to fit in anywhere. Many are retired on a fixed income and find raising the grandchildren very challenging financially as well as physically and emotionally. Often they are raising their grandchildren because their parent’s lifestyle doesn’t allow them to raise their own children.
Some hurting grandparents have children and grandchildren in the military. Often grandparents have a big part of raising their grandchildren when either the mother or father or both are deployed. If you know someone who has a loved one in the military ask them how you can pray for them, especially if their loved one is deployed. It is especially hard for them when their loved one is wounded or will not be coming home.
I am thankful I am not an estranged grandparent, but my heart breaks when I hear the stories of many grandparents who have a broken heart.
If your adult child has walked away from their faith, you are not alone. Many grandparents share your heartache. Try to keep open communication with them. Let them know you love them and pray for them even though you do not accept their behavior.
We learn the most from God when life is hard, and we have to trust Him. The same God we enjoy in our mountain top experiences is walking with us through the valleys of our lives.
Study Guide
What are your options if you are an estranged grandparent?
Prayer
Dear Father, thank you for the grandchildren you have given to us. I pray they will experience your presence with them, even though their home is not a happy, safe place at times. Give the grandparents who are raising their grandchildren's physical and emotional strength, wisdom, and provisions to do the best they can under the circumstances. Help me to live a godly example before my grandchildren so they will want to walk with You In Jesus’ name, Amen.
By Lillian Penner, Author of Grandparenting with a Purpose, pennerlp@gmail.com
