prayer life
Ignoring God’s Warning Signs
“I long to encounter You in the midst of my circumstances. So I’ll look for signs of Your Presence as I walk along the path of Life. A grateful attitude opens both my heart and my eyes— enabling me to see You in myriad tiny details as well as in the big picture of my life. I need to slow down and take time to notice all Your blessings—thanking You for them and enjoying Your many gifts.” – Jesus Listens, November 24th Fourteen years ago, I suffered heat stroke in sight of the finish line of a community race I’d been training to win. It was eighty degrees, with high humidity, and I’d trained for months in unusually cool-for-summer seventy degree mornings. I had my time goals for each mile—my “splits,” as they’re called in the running world—written on my hand. My brain locked onto those times...
God Is Surrounding What’s Surrounding You
“Help me to stay mindful of You as I go step by step through this day. Your Presence with me is a precious promise—and a comforting protection.” – Jesus Listens, October 29th My brother was thirteen years old when a band of bullies on bikes encircled him like buzzards taunting their prey. He was outmanned and outnumbered. I thought it was the end. But then my dad pulled up in his Pontiac. He didn’t even get out of the car, but simply rolled down the window and gave a look that said, “I dare you.” The bullies scattered like mice when the lights came on. Prayer As we pray for ourselves and the ones we love, it’s easy to think the spiritual forces surrounding us are too strong to defeat, too shrewd to outsmart, or too slippery to take hold of. The prophet Elisha’s servant felt the same way. I...
Just for Today, Lord
“Help me to walk in the way of wisdom—trusting You no matter what happens in my life.” Jesus Listens, September 19 He was given the gift of one day. One sunset. One sunrise. Just one rotation of the planet before he left it. Unlike the average American, he wasn’t gifted with almost eighty years of life on this earth. No, he was given the gift of one day. However, the way Jude Samuel Shook unwrapped the divine gift of his one day gave us, his grandparents, a gift that has changed the way we now live every day. A little boy who lived on this earth for just a handful of hard-fought hours taught us how to live our years. Jude’s Story Our son Josh and his wife, Kelli, found out at their twenty-week pregnancy doctor’s visit that something was severely wrong with Jude’s kidneys. The doctor explai...
Feeling the Warmth of His Unconditional Love
Sometimes I hear you whispering in my heart, “I take great delight in you.”It’s hard for me to receive this blessing, but I know it’s based on theunconditional Love You have for all your children. Jesus Listens, May 2 We live and feel deepest from the gut, not from the head. The love I have for my child, the way I felt during the first dance at my wedding, the doubled-over weight I’ve held staring into the casket of a lost loved one, and the laughter that comes from watching my niece open a gift on Christmas morning—none of that emerges from an intellectual equation I’ve solved. It comes from somewhere deeper, somewhere more instinctive, an emotional place. That’s how author of Hebrews describes Jesus’ response to sin and the havoc it wreaks on our lives—a gut-level, emotional response of ...
Four Spiritual Tools to Build Your Brain Power
You formed me with an amazing brain that can communicate with You, think rationally, create things, make decisions, and much more.” –Jesus Listens, February 12 Your brain is a powerful place. It’s the command center of all that you think, feel, and do. That means all of the functions of your emotions, desires, perceptions, ideas, and memories take place inside your brain, which contains about 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion interconnections. Did you know the way you think constructs neural pathways in your brain? You can compare this pathway creation process to the way a semitruck makes deep tread marks in packed snow. These deeply-embedded thoughts produce your feelings, both good and bad. If you spend a lot of time worrying or feeling angry or fearful, then your brain builds neural ...
5 Ways Fasting and Prayer Can Boost Your Faith
“My soul thirsts for You—the living God. The deepest yearnings of my heart are for intimacy with You, Lord.” – Jesus Listens, June 30 You have the choice to change your life with a simple decision. If faithfully done, choosing to fast and pray will alter your existence, rock your spiritual world, and bring your life on this earth into God’s perspective. I was drawn to fasting when I read in Matthew 6:16 that Jesus didn’t say “if” you fast, but “when” you fast. I knew I needed to follow what I believed was a call to fasting, but where to start? Most think a fast only pertains to food, yet in scripture we read that Daniel fasted from specific things: “I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over” (Daniel 10:3 NIV). E...
Have You Ever Found Yourself Worrying While Praying?
The following article first appeared on FoxNews.com on November 26, 2021. When our two children, Stephanie and Eric, were young teenagers, my husband and I let them travel alone from Nashville, Tennessee to Melbourne, Australia, where we were living and working as missionaries. This was a very long journey, requiring multiple changes in major airports. I was feeling quite anxious about their making this trip by themselves, and I was praying about it almost constantly. However, as I prayed, I was worrying much more than I was trusting God. Eventually, I realized this kind of praying was displeasing to God—and it certainly wasn’t relieving my anxiety. So one morning as I brought my concerns about this trip to Jesus, He helped me find a better way to pray. He showed me that if I kept on...
What Are You Praying For?
Whether your prayers are ones of gratitude or prayers for help and healing, Jesus is eagerly listening. He wants us to turn to Him in all aspects of our lives; during times of celebration and times of struggle. We asked several guests of The Jesus Calling Podcast to share their personal prayers with us. Watch the videos below to see the importance of prayer to a variety of guests. And then head over to our social handles and tell us, what are you praying for today? Superstar singer and entertainer Patti LaBelle shares her daily prayer of thanks. [embedded content] Pastor Louie Giglio discusses his prayers for guidance, discernment, and courage. [embedded content] Watch author and businesswoman Sarah Jakes Roberts talk about her greatest prayer right now. [embedded content] Join Our Telegra...
Living from the Outflow of a Thriving Prayer Life
I don’t want to be a better “pray-er.” Don’t get me wrong, I would love to pray “better,” but that’s not my end goal. My end goal isn’t a perfect fifteen minutes each morning sitting with the Lord. My end goal isn’t a really great formula that elevates my prayers. Prayer that affects your life My heart’s desire is to live from the outflow of a thriving prayer life. That nuance may seem small. Well, of course I don’t just want to pray better. I want prayer to actually affect my life. But those few words, “living from the outflow,” change the way I approach prayer. I no longer isolate my time of prayer to each morning but, instead, allow it to keep cropping up throughout my day. Prayer throughout your day This morning, I prayed the scriptures found in Ephesians 1:16–20 for several friends th...
To Hold Your Head High, Bow It in Prayer
Standing in the confined space between hefty metal doors, we waited to be buzzed through to enter the cinder-block prison gymnasium. Soon the room would fill to capacity with more than 300 inmates in blue jumpsuits, ready to gather for church. I was filled with a mixture of nervous jitters and excitement, anticipating the work God would do in the lives of the women in front of me. I’d been thinking about these women for days leading up to my visit. I imagined their shoulders slumped under the heaviness of separation from family. I thought their eyes would be downcast from the strain of loneliness and isolation, the burden of broken relationships, the heavy feelings of defeat. A piercing sound signaled our entrance into the room. As the women filed in, we noticed they were radia...
Praying for Our Teens
“If my teens are doing something wrong, Lord, please let them get caught.” Believe it or not, when I began writing Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens, almost every mom or dad I interviewed said the “let my kids get caught” prayer—a parent’s version of Numbers 32:23—was at or near the top of their list. I like that prayer (and my kids will tell you that I prayed it myself, plenty of times), but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it feels a bit risky. As one mom told me, “I hate to pray that my kids’ sin will be exposed, because that’s a prayer that God always seems to answer.” I know just what she means. God does reveal stuff—and once I get past the initial disappointment or anger over whatever it is, I can find myself battling worry and fear. Was this a one-time whoopsie? Or is it a de...
Pushing Through Prayer Obstacles
When you bring Me prayer requests, lay out your concerns before Me. Speak to Me candidly; pour out your heart. Then thank Me for the answers that I have set into motion long before you can discern results. Jesus Calling, January 11 I sat staring at my computer screen, trying to write a sermon for Sunday, and a full hour passed before I realized I had nothing to offer. The church my wife and I started from scratch was 4 years old and growing like crazy. I, however, was not. I was spiritually exhausted, defeated, and depleted. My only connection to God was tethered to the content I was struggling to create for others. Something had to change. I needed another way to connect with God and refuel my spiritual life. I needed prayer. Finding it hard to pray But the truth is at some point in our l...
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