Prayer Template

Learning to pray can sometimes seem a bit overwhelming and/or intimidating, especially if it’s something you aren’t familiar with it.

Knowing where to start might even be confusing.

It doesn’t have to be.

It’s a process that takes time to learn but with practice it can be mastered.

In an effort to help you get started, I’ve created an example of what to say.

 

Don’t worry about getting prayer perfect from the start..

Instead, focus on praying from a place of honesty, vulnerability, and respect.

As time goes by, you’ll grow and get a better grasp of it.

(Don’t worry if you cant yet pray this whole thing. Just start with one part. As often as you’re able, add a part or parts until you can pray them all at once.)

 

Let’s pray:

Father, thank You for your goodness, grace, and mercy.

Thank you for ________ (mention something He has done for you -big or small-: something good that happened today or something that you are grateful for).

Mention why it was good – helpful, comforting, improved your life or someone else’s.

Do this as few or as many times as needed to discuss the things that come to you.

 

Thank you I can trust You with all parts of my life and that I don’t have to worry but can instead ask You for help in prayer.

Father, I pray for ________ (mention a person or situation you are concerned about).

Give as few or as many details as you are comfortable with.

Do this as few or as many times as needed to discuss the things that come to you.

 

Lord, I am struggling with ________ (mention some area of sin you are dealing with).

Give as few or as many details as you are comfortable with.

Will you please help me to overcome this?

 

Thank you I can trust You to help me with these struggles and that You are working on these situations, even when I can’t see it.

Thank you I can trust You to do what is best in each of these situations.

 

Please give me the courage, strength, and wisdom to follow You, Your way.

 

Thank you for loving me more than I can ever ask or imagine.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

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Happy Easter 2023

Happy Easter!

Let’s celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus and the wonderful gift of Eternal Life He bought for us!

Praise be to God the Father forevermore!

 

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His love endures forever! – Psalm 118 and Psalm 136

To learn more about the Easter Season, please visit my Easter page, a compilation of previous Easter and Lent posts.
 

 

 

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Proverbs 17:9 Sunday School Lesson Outline

He who covers over an offense promotes love; 

But whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9 (NIV)

 

What does it mean cover over an offense?

It means to respond with love, even when someone acts ugly, rude, or hateful.

 

The second line, whoever repeats the matter, means that it is talking about a specific incident.

So, what this verse is saying is when someone does or says something to offend or hurt us, we should respond with love.

If someone steps on my foot, for example, I have the choice to either say, it’s okay and let it go, or to fuss at them for it.

 

But, what if it’s something they did on purpose?

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Proverbs 3:5-6 Sunday School Lesson Outline

Today’s verses are pretty well-known but they are good ones.

Turn to Proverbs 3:5-6:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to Him,

    and He will make your paths straight. NIV

 

We are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

What does that mean?

It means completely, in every way, in every situation, with everything we care about

Our kids, our fears, wants, dreams, health, decisions, actions

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

There is nothing in our lives or hearts that we are not supposed to trust Jesus with.

 

What does it mean to lean not on your own understanding?

It means to put aside how you understand things.

It means to realize that you don’t have it all figured out, but God does.

It’s being wise enough to know that when we trust God we don’t have to even try to understand everything.

It is choosing to lean on His understanding of things instead of ours.

We only have to obey Him and trust He will work it and handle it, no matter what our “it” is.

 

Trusting the Lord with our whole heart is not easy.

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Proverbs 11:2 Sunday School Lesson Outline

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (NIV)
When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom. (KJV)

 

I don’t know about you, but if I’m not very careful, my pride can sometimes trip me up.

Unfortunately, pride is not something that we deal with once and we’re done.

Pride stays with us and is typically an issue in some form or another our whole lives.

Not that we are bad or a failure, but because the flesh is stubborn and wants what it wants.

 

For this reason…

We have to choose to set our pride aside and humble ourselves on a daily, sometimes moment-by-moment basis.

 

Now there are 2 kinds of pride. One is good and one is bad.

 

The good one is like when you take pride in something you are doing.

You want to do a good job and you want to get it right.

You care about your work.

Wanting to do a good job and do the best you can is a good thing.

You enjoy doing a good job instead of a half-baked job.

That kind of pride is okay.

 

The other kind of pride is the one being addressed in this verse.

It’s the bad kind.

Here’s Google Dictionary’s definition of it:

Pride – over-inflated sense of self-importance.
When you think more of yourself than you should.

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Journaling

For several years now I’ve had the habit of journaling.

Typically, I do it first thing in the morning before I start my day.

I’ve found that writing before the world has a chance to distract me means that my truer, unguarded self comes out on the page.

 

Sometimes, I vent about people and events.

Sometimes I remind myself I need to buy milk.

Always. by the end of the second page I find God there.

As I’m listing my thoughts I begin to think about and then ask the Lord’s opinion on things.

I begin to become aware of where He’s working in my life and where I need to pray and ask Him to intervene and help me.

 

Some days I write 3 pages, some days I write 10.

Always, I make a point of laying aside all pretenses and focusing on being my true self, writing my real feelings.

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Did Judas Go to Heaven?

One question I’ve seen asked a lot is whether Judas Iscariot went to heaven.

Some say there is no way he could have since he betrayed Jesus.

Others assume he did because the Bible says he regretted what he’d done.

 

Let’s look at these a little further.

First of all, yes Judas did betray Jesus.

But, at the same time, so did Peter when he denied Christ 3 times before the cock crowed. (Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75 NIV)

 

If I am real honest with myself, there are times I betray Jesus, too.

No, I don’t do anything “big” like sending people to kill Him.

But…

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He Who Began A Perfect Work…

When my kids were young I taught them about Jesus as best as I could.

All 3 got saved and baptized at a fairly young age.

As they got older and started going out on their own and were exposed to the world a bit – school, friends’ houses, the mall, the movies, etc. – then later college – they began to witness and experience bad things..

Things people typically witness or experience in a broken world.

Painful things.

 

Before long they struggled with their faith as society bombarded them with all sorts of lies that downplayed God and emphasized self.

Lies that characterized God in false, disrespectful ways.

 

They weren’t always obvious.

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Praying in the Night

I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping.

Sometimes I woke up 3 or 4 times a night.

I would usually look at my phone, get up and walk around the house, or read before trying to go back to sleep.

Sometimes I would pray or read my bible.

Mostly, though, I just played on my phone.

 

Over time I began to sense that maybe the Lord was trying to talk to me during these wakeful moments.

I wasn’t sure, so I typically would just go back to sleep.

 

Then one day while doing my daily bible study I came upon this verse:

On my bed I remember You;
    I think of You through the watches of the night.Psalm 63:6 NIV

 

It was then I realized that not only was that probably the Lord prompting me, but that we are actually supposed to focus on Him as we are drifting off to sleep.

 

I read some cross-reference verses for this (what I call chasing a verse) and came across these:

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It’s Easter Sunday!

Today is Easter, the day we celebrate Christ’s triumphant rise from the grave.

It’s the day we remember how He beat death and hell as He paid for our sins so we can be reconciled to God.

 

Today – let us rejoice as we celebrate that Christ is risen indeed!

 

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV

 

To learn more about Easter read my post, What is Easter?.

 

To learn more about the Easter Season, please visit my Easter page, a compilation of previous Easter and Lent posts.