It's "Marriage Prayer Friday!"

On a daily basis, couples and families face challenging decisions, questions about the future, hopes, and dreams.  Today's prayer is for direction.  Please consider praying it along with your spouse.  Even if you usually pray privately or rarely pray out loud, would you consider reading this prayer out loud with your spouse tonight?  God promises to answer when two stand in prayerful agreement!

This prayer is inspired by Proverbs 3:5-7 and Ephesians 3:18.

A prayer for your own marriage—

LORD, You are completely trustworthy.  We know that we should not lean on our own understanding but it can be so hard to know what You would want us to do sometimes!  My spouse and I want to do what is right.  We want to follow the "straight path" but life is feeling more like a "long and winding road." We confess that we don't like the mystery of it all but we realize that there are some benefits in having to cling to You for direction.  If Your higher ways were perfectly clear to us, Lord, we would be even more tempted to run off on our own and forget about You.  Forgive us for doing that!  Would You point us in the way we should go and lead us one step at a time?  Show us who to listen to, who not to listen to.  Open good doors and close unhelpful ones.  Teach us, Lord, so that we can lead this family in the ways of truth, health, strength, love and joy.  Help us to hang out together with You more — reading the Bible, praying, being with people who know You — so that we know Your heart better and can make wise and discerning decisions.  Keep bringing us, as a couple, to places in scripture where we will see Your ways more clearly and have Your hope.  Thank You, God, for the many good gifts and perfect leadership You provide for this family!  AMEN

Something to pray for a friend's marriage—

LORD, You are completely trustworthy.  Right now I bring before you my married friends who want to do what is right.  They know they should not lean on their own understanding but they need help to find Your "straight path." Use times of unclarity to cause them to cling even more firmly to You for direction.  Forgive them for any times they have run off own their own and forgotten about You.  Please point them clearly in the way they should go and lead them one step at a time.  Show them who to listen to, who not to listen to.  Open good doors and close unhelpful ones.  Teach them, Lord, so that they can lead their family in the ways of truth, health, strength, love and joy.  Help them to hang out together with You more — reading the Bible, praying, being with people who know You — so that they know Your heart better and can make wise and discerning decisions.  Keep bringing them, as a couple, to places in scripture where they will see Your ways more clearly and have Your hope.  Thank You, God, for the many good gifts and perfect leadership You provide for these families I care so much about!  AMEN

FINDING GLORY Wednesday

Discussion last week was about hope. This week, we’re reflecting on joy. If you are just reading Finding Glory Wednesdays for the first time, we hope you will join the conversation. Please feel encouraged to share your ideas and perspectives whether you have been a past reader or not.

Today’s scriptures and discussion questions are:

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4:4

Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became for me a joy and a delight of my heart. Jeremiah 15:16

Have you ever felt “hungry” for God’s Word? Think about a time when you “devoured” a good book. What do you think the psalmist meant when he said that eating God’s words became joy for him?

These “Finding Glory Wednesdays” posts are an online discussion series based on the books Finding Glory in the Thorns and the companion Finding Glory in the Thorns: Group Discussion Guide by Larry and Lisa Jamieson. For more information about Finding Glory Groups, visit http://www.findingglory.com/findingglorygrou.html.

What's all the fuss about STORY?

I'm excited to share a really fun story today. It will take a little setting up but stick with me because this will kick your week off with a big smile.

Have you heard? Story is all the rage these days. Everyone is talking about it. Your story. My story. God's story. From a Christian perspective, here are some of the messages people are trying to bring across:

•    Our stories matter to God.

•    Our individual stories are part of God's larger story.

•    God's glory is magnified when our stories intersect with one another.

At Walk Right In Ministries, we have focused on what we call Glory Stories. These are stories that reflect God's presence in our lives — emphasizing the way God is active in our circumstances and the way we see Him revealing Himself through our trust and obedience. 

There is great opportunity in these story-telling trends, particularly as it relates to building awareness about our relationship with God and to the extent that it facilitates growing intimacy in that relationship. But there are a couple of things I remain prayerfully on guard about. 

In elevating the idea of story, I hope we keep in perspective Who is the star of the show. After all, our story would not exist without the Author-Creator and Savior-Redeemer. 

I also hope that by thinking about our stories in the context of God's story we grasp the reality that the stories of the Bible are, in fact, part of our historical record. I remember the exact season in my personal faith journey when a critical transition occurred for me. Those Bible stories I had been hearing as a child were no longer just morally good or entertaining tales that educated me about God. My eyes and heart were opened to the profound reality that those people I was learning about were my ancestors and that my life story was about a relationship with the living God!

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

I am excited and grateful to say I had received a touch from the Holy Spirit that forever changed the way I experienced scripture and my relationship with God. The Word of God had come alive to me. God had taken the more limited perspectives and attitudes of my childhood and grown them up into a soul-changing, life-altering understanding of the Bible's stories. That is a process of enlightenment that continues for me yet today and what a precious adventure it is.

Now here's the treat. Watch Peter recount this great story from the Bible and ask God to show you how you connect with it. Ask the Holy Spirit for an historical awakening within your soul.

FATHER GOD, thank you for being the author and perfecter of my faith. Please continue to work in my mind and heart deepening my sense of the truth of who I am in the history of Your creation. Increase my appreciation for how my story fits into the larger story of "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done."  And, Lord Jesus, I want to pray for the children I know who are learning the great stories of the Bible.  Awaken them to the truth of their history in relation to You. God, please cause my story to intersect with someone else's story this week in such a way that You are made known and glorified!  AMEN