praying Scripture part 2

last week i wrote about praying Scripture. if you missed that post, you can look here. each week at Bible study, darla, our wonderful leader, prints out a bunch of verses to pray over our families. this week we are also praying over our church staff. and i think it'd be a good idea to also pray over the staff's spouses... they've got a tough job. satan tends to attack those who are working hard for the Lord, and our church staff and spouses need all the prayer they can get. so the verses from this week are as follows if you'd like to pray along:


1 Peter:
2d; 1:13; 1:15-16; 1:22b; 2:9b; 2:11; 2:23; 3:8-9a; 3:15; 4:2; 4:7; 4:8; 4:9; 4:10; 4:19; 5:5b; 5:6; 5:7; 5:8-9; 5:10

another thing we discussed on here has been thanksgiving. i have tried to make it through ann voskamp's book "one thousand gifts" and still haven't finished...because...once again in case you've forgotten or didn't know...i am a slacker. although i haven't finished it yet, i am still keeping a thankfulness journal. mine has a yard gnome on it. because i'm cool like that. yours could have a yard gnome, too, or flowers or chinese writing...we don't discriminate. and it truly has changed my attitude and how i face each day. something that the devotional "Jesus Calling" has taught me is that this life is not going to be free of struggle and pain. we live in a broken world. so telling God, "i'll be thankful when...." and hoping all brokenness and hurtful situations will dissipate and THEN we'll give thanks is not the way God desires us to be. and it'll never happen. God deserves our praise all the time. no matter what. bad, good, happy, sad, sick, healthy, upbeat, or downtrodden, God is always good. and His Word tells us to pray without ceasing. and to always give thanks. --isn't that hard to do? when my mom had breast cancer, it was hard for me to give thanks. i was ticked. when our youngest was sick and in the hospital so often and he couldn't seem to stay well, it was hard to give thanks. when i see marriages around me that are falling apart, it is so hard to give thanks. when fathers of young children die and leave behind their beautiful families, it is hard to give thanks. but do these hard and at times devastating things mean God is not good? no.

"the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." --psalm 34:18.
that is something to be thankful for.
"... God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." --acts 2:24.
He is powerful.
"...through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the law of moses." --acts 13:39
mmm. isn't He good? He has saved us!
"...if God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not with Him freely give us all things?" --romans 8:31-32
He loves us. He gave it all up for us.

the Word of God is rich with promises that we will never be alone, that He loves us, that He redeems, restores, forgives. He is worthy of our thanksgiving and praise.

if you are struggling with pain, suffering, feeling alone, or even discontentedness, here are some verses darla shared with us today about thanksgiving:
                                                    psalm 92:1               ephesians 5:4
                                                    psalm 95:2               phil 4:6-8
                                                    psalm 100:4             col 2:6-7
                                                                     heb 12:28
there's one for each day of the week for yah in case you'd like to start praying Scriptures of thankgiving. when i read these verses, the things i am experiencing seem like "momentary, light affliction" (2 corinthians 4:17).

may i encourage you to join me in praying for our families, church staff, and staff's spouses this week, as well as taking time to thank the Lord for who He is and all the wonderful things He has done for us?