How To Pray For Others

Hello my wonderful bloggy friends. I was having fun with the camera and decided to take a picture of myself today too.

Sunday service at Church was so wonderful! It was like he was preaching right to me. Some of it was a little uncomfortable, you know, I'm not "there" yet. Ha, preacher taught on 2 Timothy 1:7-8. He had the King James translation, it was For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.
Wow!! Is that me or what? How long have I battled fear? Most of 2007, that's for sure. I conquered the spirit of fear in the last week of November. Planning a post this week about that one!! Can't wait. Anyway, the Life Application Bible which I read out of says it a little differently. It says " For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. That is only verse 7. But it was powerful you know? So I have put down the fear and now I must take up the power that is mine already, I have to only have the faith to use it and pick it up and actually "use" it and then get that love, and sound mind down. These things are what I have been blogging about for months, how I want so much to walk in love and have peace again, to not have all of this stuff in my head. Wow, great sermon. Upon reflection, I think it is ridiculous how we have made out lives so complicated on this earth. We rush around like fools, do we really need all of this "stuff"? Why do we live this way? Sometimes I just want to pack up & move to the mountains and live so simply. We make it hard, not God. Simplify, simplify, that seems to be a theme with everyone in blog land and with my friends around town here. We are all a little sick of our business I think? Maybe a little homesick for God too? Do you ever just want to run home to God? I know I do. I just had to mention it. Good sermon.

I wanted to share something in my Life Application Bible. It is a model for praying for others based on Paul's teachings on prayer. This language just simplifies what Paul is saying & makes it easy to remember to pray this in our common day language.

Paul says to pray these 7 things when praying for others:

1. Be thankful for their faith and changed lives.

2. Ask God to help them know what he wants them to do.

3. Ask God to give them deep spiritual understanding.

4. Ask God to help them live for him.

5. Ask God to give them more knowledge of himself.

6. Ask God to give them strength for endurance.

7. Ask God to fill them with joy, strength and thankfulness.

I found this a few months ago and wrote it down on two sticky notes and placed it by my cash register at work so I could look at it every day until I had it memorized so I could pray it every day for all of us. Basically I tell God I am asking for the following things for myself, my husband, children, mom and Dad, family & friends and every person who calls on His name and His son Jesus. I think it's a great prayer concerning praying for others. I still pray at least once a week for every person who has ever hurt me too, I ask God to bless them and always speak this prayer just for them too. Guess I need to include dad in this list now too, ha ha.

There are so many unknowns in my life right now. The business still teeters on the brink of closing. But you know what? I don't worry anymore, I don't want it to but I have put that behind me. I know that God is taking me down a road He wants me on. As long as I know that, the fear is gone. It has been a long hard road to say that & have it actually be true but I am there. I live for today and tomorrow will take care it itself. If it closes will the landlord be awarded future rent causing us to declare bankruptcy? Or will I just have to pay what I owe still and close up and keep the online store? I sure hope so. My husband needs a secretary bad!!!!! I could do that for him and keep the online store so I could make money from home. Whatever it is, I know God will protect me. Good heavens, it feels SOOOO GOOOOD to be able to say that and mean it. A place of peace. Geeez louise, who would've thunk it? Work could always stop for my hubby's business, or it could keep going. I can't think about that, God has provided and his faith has always been much stronger than mine so who am I to worry? I am loving my peace about our future. For that, today, I am thankful. The day is young here at the store. I could ring up nobody or I could do hundreds, thousands even. I put no limits on my blessings, but I do know I will have a happy day and that's good enough for me.