It's Marriage Prayer Friday!

Since Larry is out of town this week and I'm keeping the home fires burning with his support only via prayer and iPhone FaceTime, I am falling behind on some things and shifting priorities.  So I am going to quote from a favorite prayer book this week instead of writing from scratch.  The book I'm quoting from was something I found several years ago and it proved very valuable in helping me learn to pray more Biblically for my marriage. I trust it will be a blessing for you today!

Precious Lord, 

Our prayer today is that You will flood our hearts with the light of Your truth. Chase away every dark shadow of distraction, protected sin, procrastination, or disobedience. 

Lord, since the day we said "I do," the future we've been called to share together has been dear to us. But we lose sight of it so easily. We become prisoners of the now—in how we treat each other, in how we spend our time and our money and our energy, in what we think about... 

Some days the destiny You promise just slips into the shadows. But You can turn any darkness into dawn (Amos 5:8). And because we are Your dearly loved children, You ask us to imitate You and exhibit the fruit of the light—all goodness, righteousness and truth (Eph. 5:1,8-9). 

Shine here, Lord! At each step, turn every dark confusion about our purposes and our future into bright light of understanding, as You've promised (Isa. 42:16). Yes, lead us—even in new and unfamiliar paths today—to bring glory to You. 

Amen. 

This is taken from "Praying the Bible for Your Marriage" (page 154) by David & Heather Kopp.

FINDING GLORY Wednesday

This is a wonderful season for reflecting on the presence, love, power, and purposes of God. Larry and I have been part of a Finding Glory Group this fall and are so thankful for the opportunity to share life with them in light of God’s amazing work among us. Each of us has experienced times of confusion, anger and temptation to question our faith yet we are learning how to stay rooted in the Truth and we are all excited to share the Gospel with others.

We have also prayed that you, too, are convinced that your own "Glory Stories" have profound influence with others because of the power of the Holy Spirit. Talking about how God is present in our lives and hearts has the power to change eternity for someone. Please take today’s scriptures and discussion questions seriously and with enthusiasm:

Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; 
he is to be feared above all gods. Psalm 96:2-4

If you had only 3 or 4 minutes and one opportunity today to explain to someone how God has proven Himself to be present in your life lately, what would your Glory Story be? How would you make a declaration of God’s presence in your life?

Please consider sharing a Glory Story right here in the comments section below today's post. The enemy shudders at the idea that we are all sharing boldly of Christ's power and presence in our lives!

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.

Christmas Throwback

We drove to Springfield, Missouri and back to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving. It involved almost 24 hours driving and required a certain amount of caffeine. My usual “drug” of choice is green tea but that would have triggered too many stops. After peering into the cooler at the gas station for a moment, I decided on a Pepsi Throwback.

In case you’re unfamiliar, the Throwback line is marketed with the Pepsi and Mountain Dew brands. It started as a “limited time only” theme but is now widely available because the retro style packaging and “made with REAL sugar” idea went over well. Despite what corn farmers are saying, there are still people out there who believe there is some advantage to pure cane sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup that soft drink companies used to replace sugar in the 1980s.

So anyhow...I was sitting in the car listening to Christmas music with the kids and staring at my Pepsi bottle. It got me thinking. Well, yes, I do tend to be a thinker but I also had a blog to write and had been prayerfully pondering what kinds of things I might write about this Christmas season. So it may be no surprise that fireworks of questions and ideas started floating around in my brain:

• What would it look like if I re-packaged the Christmas season at my house (to better reflect the original sentiments and circumstances around Jesus’ birth)?
• What could I do in my personal Bible reading and reflections this season to help me capture the anticipation and excitement of the original Christmas?
• What would it take to convince the skeptics that there truly is something of great value about Jesus — that no substitution can be made?
• What, if anything, is useful about the latest packaging of Christmas?

For starters, I decided that I’m going to do some review of Bible prophecies related to Christmas. I’ve listed below just a few of the most well known but I’m going to spend this week exploring more (and I hope you will too). After all, these were the original things God was saying about the Messiah. God’s original, first-hand introductions have valuable things to say to us today just as they did to those who first heard them.

Lord, give me ears to hear You as I look back at the ways you introduced Your Son to my ancestors and as I remember the first ways I heard about you myself. Stir up in me a spirit of hunger, enthusiasm and gratitude as I prepare to receive You anew this Christmas season. Show me how to use this information to tell others that You have come for them also! AMEN

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Fulfilled — Matthew 1:22-23)

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Fulfilled — Matthew 2:1)

Jeremiah 31:15 This is what the Lord says: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.' (Fulfilled — Matthew 2:16-18)


Hosea 11:1: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.  (Fulfilled — Matthew 2:14-15)

I welcome and value your “Christmas Throwback” questions, ideas and insights so please feel free to chime in! This could be both fun and meaningful.