It's "Marriage Prayer Friday!"

Some marriages are facing great obstacles today. Thank you for standing with us right now in a moment of prayer for your own marriage and/or the marriage(s) of someone you know.

A prayer for your own marriage—

SOVEREIGN KING, my husband/wife and I are confronting great challenges. I am reminded today that there is indescribable power in Your Word. Jesus used it victoriously when confronted with temptation from the devil himself and will use it again one day to conquer the world. All I need, Lord, is the Word of God soaked up in my life in the context of a relationship with You. Please forgive me for trying to use other things in an effort to overcome obstacles. I confess that I have tried to use things like money, food, shopping, hobbies, manipulation, meanness, and even brute willpower to make me feel strong. Thank you for the reminder that You, through Your Word, are enough. Thank you that Your Word is alive, active and useful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and promises to penetrate even to the point of dividing soul and spirit (Heb 4:12). Help me never to forget that Your Word provides all I need for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that I am thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16). Please increase my hunger and discipline for staying steeped in Your Word so that I am deeply familiar with it, empowered by it, comforted by it, and fruitful in it. Please cause my saturation with You through the Bible to spill out into my marriage most of all. Thank you for changing my heart, oh God, and renewing a steadfast spirit within me. I'm grateful to pray these things in Jesus' name. AMEN

Something to pray for a friend's marriage—

SOVEREIGN KING, I know of at least one marriage among my family or friends that is confronting great challenges. I am grateful today that there is indescribable power in Your Word. Jesus used it victoriously when confronted with temptation from the devil himself and will use it again one day to conquer the world. All that my friends need, Lord, is the Word of God soaked up into their lives within the context of a relationship with You. Please forgive each of us for trying to use other things in an effort to overcome obstacles. I, like my friends, have tried to use things like money, food, shopping, hobbies, manipulation, meanness, and even brute willpower to make me feel strong. Please remind my friends that You, through Your Word, are enough. Show me how to graciously encourage my friends of that truth! Thank you that Your Word is alive, active and useful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and promises to penetrate even to the point of dividing soul and spirit (Heb 4:12). Help me and my friends never to forget that Your Word provides all we need for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that I am thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16). Please increase our hunger and discipline for staying steeped in Your Word so that we are deeply familiar with it, empowered by it, comforted by it, and fruitful in it. Please cause our saturation with You through the Bible to spill out into our relationships — our marriages most of all. Thank you for being the changer of hearts, oh God, and for renewing a steadfast spirit within us. I'm grateful to pray these things in Jesus' name. AMEN

FINDING GLORY Wednesday

This new online community format allows us to come together and share what is going on in our lives so that we might be encouraged by one another, learn from one another and pray for one another. Questions from the 7-week Bible Study curriculum Finding Glory in the Thorns: Group Discussion Guide serve as a starting point for our conversations. However, everyone is encouraged to get involved in this discussion whether you have read any of the Finding Glory resources or not.

Today’s scriptures and discussion questions are:

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. No my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour?' No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" JOHN 12:24-28

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I lve in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." GALATIANS 2:20

Sometimes the daily logistics, pressing needs, the desire to care for someone, and even our passions consume our lives. How do you prevent these things from consuming the very nature of who you are?

How do these Bible verses influence your answer?

For more information about Finding Glory Groups, visit http://www.findingglory.com/findingglorygrou.html.

Today's reflections are copyrighted excerpts taken from Finding Glory in the Thorns: Group Discussion Guide.

Restoring Order

I’m writing this morning with my tongue tucked slightly in my cheek. Since our family is beginning this week in recovery mode after a large graduation party, commencement ceremony and hosting out-of-town family, I have housecleaning on my mind. So just to keep things simple, I thought it might be funny to find a Bible verse on housecleaning. I figured there’d also be a lesson in it for me — and there was.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." MATTHEW 23:25-26

Um. Ouch? These verses challenge me to stay balanced today when I could easily focus entirely on party clean-up. There is plenty to tidy up and re-wash from the patio to the kitchen and I am certainly one to gain great calm when there is a sense of order around my home. Unfortunately, it’s tempting for me to get caught up chasing inner peace through the state of my external environment while, for a few days at least, neglecting the inner exercises that will cleanse, nourish and calm my soul.

Once again, God has nudged me towards a shift in priorities — making the inner work foremost and the external things secondary. I’ll make it a point first thing this morning to sit on the deck for a little while reading my Bible and prayer-writing in my journal. Whatever I have to do to keep Carly busy while I “clean the inside of the cup and dish,” I’ll do it! That’s the best way I can start a conversation with God that will continue throughout the day as I make my way from room to room, job to job, and joy to deeper joy.

The events of a glorious weekend celebrating with family and friends will be even sweeter in my memories because my restoration process was from the inside out.

Thank You once again, Jesus, for making something fun very practical. AMEN