Prayers

 

Happy Thursday to one and all!

I want to thank you all for your continued interest in receiving the Weekly Thoughts emails, they have been so much of a huge blessing to write and you have each been blessings to me as well.  I also want to thank those of you who joined in praying for my family and I, things have not drastically changed but our outlooks have stayed positive and we can feel God's presence in our lives! 

As I am sure you noticed our prayer list has grown quite a bit and I want to thank you each for praying with me each week as I send out the Weekly Thoughts.  I would like to ask that when you think of it, may you please remember these individuals in your daily prayers?  It is my personal belief that prayer is the most powerful free gift we can give and it is in the top 2 or 3 as far as the best tool God has granted us!  If I can supply updates I will however some of these requests are coming to me from "parties" twice or three times removed from the person we are praying for and so the best I can say is that when they are no longer given to me on prayer lists then hopefully that means they are doing much, much better. 

Again, I am sincerely and deeply grateful for each and every one of you and your time each week and I thank you for joining me in prayer for these brothers and sisters in Christ who need our spiritual hugs.  Please do not hesitate to ask me to add someone to our prayer lists.  Confidentiality is key and I use only first names in my emails to protect privacy since these Thoughts emails are also posted online for anyone to read. 

You can never have too many prayers!

Love through Christ,

Niki

Led By His Spirit

 

Romans 8:14 "because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

 

Sometimes, when I read a Bible verse, I feel like a kid in a candy store and I think, "OOOOOO!!!  I WANT that!!!"  Wouldn't it be great if we could be filled with His Spirit all the time?  If we could be led by His Spirit in all of our decisions?  If we could always feel like we truly are His children?  I really do want that!  I know it is a long road ahead and it may be filled with bumps or fumbles but isn't it worth it for that kind of relationship with God?  I think before we can be led by His Spirit we need to quiet our hearts and minds until they are totally still so that we can hear His voice.  If we are then led by His Spirit imagine how well we can begin to feel His presence.  And if we are led by His Spirit and filled with His presence then imagine how many fewer regrets we will have along our path in life...and how much more of a "given" it will be for that path to be His path for our lives.  Oh yes, I definitely want that!  Are you in?  Let's Pray:

 

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your Spirit and the chance to be led by You.  Thank You for guiding us to the right path via Your precious Words in the Bible.  Please help us to be still and listen for Your voice so that we may be entirely led by Your Spirit and truly be called Your sons and daughters.  Lord we ask that You please continue to grant Your holy and supernatural guidance to our clergy, leading them so they may rightly lead us.  Please keep our troops and service men & women in Your extraordinary favor and protection, delivering them from harm as they stand up to protect us.  God we also ask that You please grant Your miraculous healing to all our friends and family who may be in need, especially Summer, Sharon, Melissa, Morgan, Phyllis, Carolyn, Randy, Emily, Brenda, Sheila,Mr & Mrs Jones, Darlene and Brandy's Mom.  Grant them not only Your divine and gracious healing hand but also Your presence, wrapping them each in a Spiritual hug of comfort and peace.  Finally, we lift up to You Mike, Deanna and Lauren and ask that You please grant Mike & Deanna peace and hope as they await Lauren's birth and also please grant Lauren a safe arrival and a healthy, long life devoted to You.  We ask all these things may be done according to Your will and in Jesus name.  Amen.

 

Have a blessed week ahead!!!

Love through Christ,

Niki

Quick Apology...

I want to thank you all for your interest in reading these weekly messages.  You inspire me to spend more and more time with God each day!  I am very sorry that I got so lax in posting the messages here and will work hard to make sure that it does not happen again.

Love through Christ,

Niki

Eternal Encouragement

 

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

 

Have you ever felt as though you were at the bottom of your barrel and nothing could pick you up and make things right again?  Have you ever turned to a friend for encouragement but then left feeling just as discouraged as when you came?  Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians gently reminds us that God gives us good hope and encouragement and we should look to His grace to encourage our hearts and give us the strength to go on.  It is still our choice as to whether or not we allow God's grace to penetrate our hearts, minds and souls.  God gives us the free will to choose if we will allow Him to lead us to serve Him through our good deeds and words that He inspires in us.  But God has already given us through His grace "eternal encouragement and good hope," because He gave us the promise of eternal life with Him once we leave this earth through His ultimate sacrifice, the death of His one and only Son.  If Jesus can bear the pain and suffering of the entire world then how can we not allow this encouragement to bubble up from within us?  I know I personally have days where it is all I can do to hang onto this, and some days where this encouragement is fought something fierce with the struggles and stresses that face us over and over again.  However, at the end of the day I am able to face another because I do quiet the battle within and listen to God's still voice telling me that He is in control and He has an awesome plan for my life!  And do you know what else?  If you quiet your heart and mind I know He is trying to tell you the same thing, His plan for your life is awesome!  Please join me in prayer:

 

Father in heaven,

We thank you for Your eternal good hope and encouragement that You have given us through Christ Jesus Your only Son.  Please continue to lift us up, encourage us and grant us the quiet moments with You where we can hear Your voice telling us to keep our chins up because You are with us and You are planning great things for our futures.  Lord, we are so very thankful for all you have done for Summer and Sharon.  We ask that You please continue to grant them what they need most, Your healing and blessings.  We lift up to you also Mike,Deanna and Lauren.  Please grant Mike and Deanna your good hope and encouragement as they await Lauren's birth.  Please grant Lauren Your blessings, healing and extraordinary favor for a healthy and long life.  God we also remember our clergy and ask that You may continue to bless them with messages that inspire and encourage us.  We pray for daily protection and deliverance for our troops and service men and women, they sacrifice so much to protect us and we pray that they know we love and appreciate and support them wholly.  Please also bless and protect every one who reads this message, granting Your favor before them today and always.  We ask that all these things may be done according to Your will and in Jesus name.  Amen.

 

Have a blessed weekend and week ahead!!

Love through Christ,

Niki

1-12-2008: Give Careful Thought

 

Haggai 1:7 "This is what the Lord Almighty says, "Give careful thought to your ways."

 

Have you ever said or done anything that you immediately wished you hadn't?  Or maybe it took a day or two for your remorse to set in?  If you are anything like me I'm sure you can relate!  God warns us through Haggai against impulsiveness.  He wants us to give careful thought to our ways - then we would not have as many moments we wished we could live over.  We are not told to simply think it over, God wants us to give our ways, our words, our actions careful thought.  So the next time you feel tempted to blurt something out, or feel an inkling to act impulsively please listen to your heart because it is probably telling you to think it over.  I know mine is!  Please pray with me:

Dear God,

Thank You for Your precious Word and all it's wisdom which it imposes to us.  Please help us to remember that the instruction manual for life has been given to us and all we need to do is read it and believe it.  Father, we continue to be in awe of Your merciful healing hand in those who are ill, injured or hurting in other ways.  We especially thank You for the healing that You have already worked in Summer, Sharon and all others we individually name here, healing that we can see and healing that only You know about.  Please continue to grant Your healing to each of them as we all keep our hope and faith in You.  We continue to be thankful for the men and women who serve us by laying their life on the line day after day to protect us, all branches of Military, Police, Firemen and Paramedics.  May You please grant them Your divine protection and also comfort and peace as many of their jobs take them far from their families and loved ones.  Be also Lord with their families and loved ones granting them Your peace, comfort and strength.  Lastly Father, I ask that You may please bless all who may read these words, grant them Your favor, protection, peace and grace each and every day of their lives.  We ask that all these things may be done according not as we want but as is Your will, in Jesus name.  Amen.

Have a blessed week ahead!!

Love Through Christ,

Niki

My own personal prayer request

 Good morning!

Today as I come before you with this request I am wanting to tell each of you that I am so grateful to be able to share my faith with you every week.  Often times to me a simple thank you does not seem enough to express how inspired you make me feel to know that what God is blessing me to say you are wanting to read.  I have made my emails to all have a "signature" leading to my web pages where I post the Weekly Thoughts and Daily Verses {though I am a little behind and plan to update a lot today} and I also ask for your prayer requests as I believe strongly in the power of prayer, the power of praying in numbers and also that prayer is the best gift we can ever give.  This morning, I ask for you to please remember my family in your prayers.  Most of you know that we made a big move 6 months ago, to NC where we had no family and just a few newfound church friends.  We feel this is where God wants us to be and that He has a plan for our lives here however things have been challenging.  Please pray that my daughter does not lose interest in learning because of one year at a bad school, that I may find a job closer to home that pays more and that we may continue to keep our faith and hope set in God as we have so far.  I thank you again so much!  Asking for help is something God has been teaching me to do lately and it has not been an easy lesson for me but it has been a very humbling one.  I pray that God blesses each of you today and always!

Love Through Christ,

Niki

1-5-2008: Opportunities

 

Colossians 4:5 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity."

 

The second half of this verse is what really is speaking to me this morning however the first is not to be overlooked.  I know it can be hard to maintain your compassion when you must deal with someone who does not understand you and whom you do not understand, whether it be a language barrier, a culture barrier or just a personality clash...it is made more difficult when the other individual is as willing as you are to make every effort to make the situation work.  However, considering our Lord Himself told us that whatever we do to others we are likewise also doing unto God, well, that makes it a whole other ball game, right?  I guess I'm going to tie these two halve together before I can even get to my other thoughts on the second half because I want to say that we should take every opportunity to treat outsiders as though they are Jesus standing or sitting before us.  How does that change our actions?  Does it change them at all?  Briefly I do want to add that when God closes one door He will open another or at least a window so there is always opportunity around us to make the most of.  We need to stay open to His voice and be ready and willing to give every situation, every opportunity our full passion, strength and love.  Let's pray together:

Heavenly Father,

We thank You for making each of us unique, different and special and we thank You for giving us opportunities to celebrate each other's strengths, ideas and cultures.  Please help us, Lord, to always treat everyone around us, especially "outsiders," as if it were You standing before us since in a way it truly is.  Please also assist us in making the most every opportunity You allow us to receive.  Father, we continue to be in awe of Your merciful healing hand in those who are ill, injured or hurting in other ways.  We especially thank You for the healing that You have already worked in Summer, Sharon and all others we individually name here, healing that we can see and healing that only You know about.  Please continue to grant Your healing to each of them as we all keep our hope and faith in You.  We continue to be thankful for the men and women who serve us by laying their life on the line day after day to protect us, all branches of Military, Police, Firemen and Paramedics.  May You please grant them Your divine protection and also comfort and peace as many of their jobs take them far from their families and loved ones.  Be also Lord with their families and loved ones granting them Your peace, comfort and strength.  Lastly Father, I ask that You may please bless all who may read these words, grant them Your favor, protection, peace and grace each and every day of their lives.  We ask that all these things may be done according not as we want but as is Your will, in Jesus name.  Amen.

Have a blessed weekend and week ahead!!

Love Through Christ,

Niki