Prayer – Karen Gamble Writes

Psalm 63:6

I often wake up at least twice a night.

I used to either get up, get a drink of water, and walk through the house wondering why I was awake, or else lie there and grumble to myself about being awake when all I wanted to do was sleep.

Then I came across Psalm 63:6:

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. (NIV)

I realized instead of being in a foul mood about being awake I could talk to the Lord about things on my mind, or pray about/review Scripture or sermons I’d recently heard..

As I began to do this, my attitude began to change.

I began to look forward to waking up in the middle of the night and having these quiet moments with the Lord.

My sleep began to improve.

i began to wake up more rested than before.

Best of all, I wake up with my mind more focused on the Lord than it has ever been.

What I thought was a problem and inconvenience turned into one of the sweetest and best parts of not just my day but my faith walk.

I still have times when I wake up grumpy because I’m awake in the middle of the night, but the moment I look to God and begin talking to Him, the bad mood leaves and peace washes over me.

I relax and feel so much better.

If you wake up in the middle of the night I hope you will try this and see how much it can improve your mood, your faith walk, and even your life.

Let me know how it goes.

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises .Psalm 119:148 (NIV)

I previously wrote a longer version of this post. You can find it here: Praying In the Night.

I wrote today’s post discussing it again because it is an important topic and it is good to occasionally have reminders.

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Prayer Language

One of the struggles I’ve had with praying is feeling comfortable with what I’m saying.

When I was a child I was taught to pray by my grandmother.

Because she read the King James Bible (KJV), she used that grammar and vocabulary when she prayed.

Not that there is anything wrong with that version of the Bible.

There isn’t.

It’s just that it’s a very old version and was written in Old English and some of our words and ways of saying things have changed.

For example, instead of you, the KJV says thou.

Instead of brothers it says brethren.

Still the same message, just different vocabulary.

As I grew up, I tended to pray the way my grandmother did.

It felt stiff, bulky, and awkward.

In short, it felt fake.

I thought that was how you were supposed to pray and that because it made no sense to me I must not be doing it right.

I knew prayer was supposed to be respectful and reverent, but I thought I had to speak God’s language to be heard.

So, after awhile I just stopped praying.

Then, one day I found this verse:

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8

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The Idolatry of Prayer

One thing Christians say and hear a lot is that when things are going on or we are dealing with situations, we should just pray about it.

Praying is a very important part of our faith walk.

There’s just one question, though::

What is our motive for praying?

Really deep down, why are we praying?

Is it:

Because we’re supposed to?

Because we know God will probably help?

Because we have something we want God to do?

Because we want God to intervene in a situation and cause it to turn out the way we think it should?

Or, is it because we know God is our only hope and that He is the only one who can handle the situation so that it turns out the way it should?

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Praying the Psalms

I recently did a bible study that involved reading and praying through the book of Psalms.

As I was doing it, I began to see that virtually every verse in there is either a promise, a praise, or both.

Praying the book of Psalms is a tall order. It took working on it daily for a little over 4 months to get through it.

I didn’t try to rush.

I didn’t try to cover a lot of territory at one time.

I just paid careful attention to the verse I was on and the various parts of it.

The study started at chapter one so that’s where I started.

As I read each verse, I prayed it in one of several ways.

I either:

-Prayed it as it was written, which worked for a lot of the praise verses;

-Prayed, “help me not to…”,. whatever the verse was warning against doing;

-Prayed, “help me to….”, whatever the verse was saying we should do or be;

-Prayed, “show me when I act this way so I can correct it…”, whenever the verse was warning against certain unhealthy actions and attitudes

Or,

-Prayed, “help me to remember who You are”, whenever the verse declared His majesty or mentioned any of His traits, grace, or goodness.

It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I found that the farther along I went, the more aware I became of God’s good will toward us.

I began to feel more open to Him and to His love.

I also began to feel an urge to praise Him, even when I wasn’t reading a Psalm.

The more I read, the more I saw God’s character.

I saw clearly His desire for us as well as the way He wants to protect and bless us.

It took a long time to complete but I learned so much and it changed me in so many good ways.

I plan to try to do it at least once a year.

I’m certain the more I do it, the deeper my understanding and love for Him will become.

If you’ve never prayed the Psalms I highly recommend it.

If you can’t commit to the whole book then pick a chapter and try it.

There’s so much good stuff in there, you’ll be really glad you did!

Let me know if you have other ideas about how to pray the Psalms.

I’d love to try them!

For my post on praying scriptures in general, please see my post, Praying Scriptures

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Prisoner Alert

One of my personal prayer focuses is Christians imprisoned around the world for the cause of Christ.

Currently, there are 23 known men around the world who are in prison for sharing their love of Jesus with others.

The website, PrisonerAlert, a ministry of the Voice of the Martyrs, lists these men by name and gives a brief biography of each as well as listing where they are held.

By clicking on the individual prisoner’s profile you can find a place where you can write them a letter of encouragement and/or petition a government official to ask them to release that prisoner.

Will you please pray for these men and ask God to strengthen, empower, embolden, and comfort them?

Will you also pray for their release?

It is my hope that through their experiences others will be drawn to a relationship with God and that rather than squashing faith in Christ, their imprisonment will cause the love of Jesus to spread far and wide as these men stand strong for what they believe in.

For more information, please visit the website PrisonerAlert.com.

For information on countries which restrict Christianity or the sharing of the gospel, please visit The Voice of the Martyrs.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. –Hebrews 13:3

Category: Death, Faith, Life, Prayer | LEAVE A COMMENT

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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I Choose to Love Them

I look at this family member I dislike so much.

This person who has repeatedly and intentionally hurt and used me.

And I think how could anyone expect me to love someone so detestable?

But then a small still voice whispers,

“the same way I could love you,

not because you deserve it

but because love conquers all

and covers a multitude of sins.”

…and in that moment I’m brought back to the reality of my salvation.

A reality that forces me to remember it’s not about whether they are good enough to be loved.

It’s about whether or not I am willing to love just because I have the chance.

So I choose to.

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International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church 2020

Tomorrow is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Traditionally celebrated on the first Sunday of November, it’s purpose is to highlight the need to pray for our Christian Brothers and Sisters around the world who are not free to openly worship Christ.

Please spend some time this weekend praying for the Persecuted Church.

More information may be found at Voice of the Martyrs.

They have information on ways to pray as well as opportunities to write to Christians inprisoned for their faith.

They also have a phone app called, Pray Today. This app offers a daily prayer prompt for people groups and countries in need of prayer due to the religious persecution they face.

It can be found in your app store or visit their website by clicking here.

Category: Death, Faith, Prayer | LEAVE A COMMENT

Today’s World

I haven’t said anything about what’s been going on in the world lately because I don’t believe in saying anything bad and I don’t believe in giving my opinion unless doing so will be helpful.

The more this has gone on, though, the more I feel the need to say something.

I want to speak some truth about the current world situation.

The truth of our world’s current crisis is this:

The world is broken and will never be completely fixed until Jesus comes back.

Because of this, there is always going to be something bad going on in the world.

That doesn’t mean it is okay that these things are going on.

It doesn’t mean we should just accept it, turn a blind eye, and keep going.

On the contrary, we should be fighting against these terrible injustices wherever and whenever they rear their ugly heads.

The thing is, these dramas and traumas are only symptoms of the problem.

The problem is people have turned away from God and are now doing what is pleasing in their own sight instead of trying to honor God and do what He wants.

Society has turned from God’s truth and focused on chasing sin.

We’ve lost sight of what Jesus said are the first and second greatest commandments.

In Matthew chapter 22 the Pharisees were trying to test Jesus.

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P.R.A.Y. Sheet

I’ve created a handy reference to guide you through the steps of prayer.

It is based on the letters of the word PRAY:

Praise – Praise and thank God for all He has done, is doing, and will do for you and those around you. Praise Him for His goodness, His grace and mercy, His character, anything about Him that is good.

If you want to find phrases to use, look through the book of Psalms. It is full of things to praise God for.

Repent – Confess anything you need to, either that you knew before you started praying, or that comes up as you are praying and praising God.

Repent – to agree with God that the action was wrong, that He is right, to apologize to Him, and to commit to not do it again.

Ask – Make any requests you have for you or for others.

Share with God anything that is on your heart, or that you feel you need to talk to Him about, both good and bad, big or small.

Yes – Commit to doing, changing, improving, stopping anything you feel prompted or led to.

Agree to follow God and His path, and to improve your serve and commitment to Him.

Close with a few words of thanking God for hearing your prayer and for listening to you. Tell Him how you appreciate the gift of being able to come to Him at any time.

I hope the simple explanations this sheet contains will help you in your prayer life.

Feel free to download a copy and tuck it in your Bible or prayer journal.

Free Downloadable/Printable PRAY Sheet PDF

This P.R.A.Y. sheet was written as part of my lesson outline on How to Pray.

Free Downloadable/Printable How to Pray Lesson Outline PDF

A list of all available lessons can be found on my Lessons Outlines page

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