Attitudes of Prayer

Necessity

"Time spent alone with God is not wasted. It changes us , it changes our surroundings; and every Christian who would live a life that counts and would have power, must take time to pray." M.E. Andross
We need to talk to God. I f I pray because it's what's expected or someone told me to or because I'm afraid of something bad happening if I don't, it isn't truly necessary to me. God wants me to desire to pray, regardless of circumstances. It's also His will that we talk to him before things get in a mess, instead of praying when we're smack down in the middle of it.

There is NO substitute for a willing prayer.

Oughtness

"Therefore whether the desire for prayer is on you or not, get to your closet at the set time, shut yourself in with God ; wait on Him, seek His face, realize Him, pray" R.F.Horton

We need an inner sense of obligation. D.L. Moody once said "If you have so much business to attend to that you have no time to pray, depend upon it, you have more business on hand than God ever intended you should have." Prayer , though a privilage, is not a luxury, something to do in your free time. Service and prayer can't be separated.

Fruitful Repetition

"True Prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fulness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length." C.H. Spurgeon

Is it wrong to say the same things time after time in prayer...is this what the Bible calls vain repetition? I don't believe so... my prayers tend to run along the same lines, praying for the same people and the same issues, thanking God for the same things because , until those prayers are answered and they are still upon my heart, I need to pray for those. Jesus didn't warn us against repetition! He warns against "vain" repetition. The definition of vain:
1.
excessively proud of or concerned about one's own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited: a vain dandy.
2.
proceeding from or showing personal vanity: vain remarks.
3.
ineffectual or unsuccessful; futile: a vain effort.
4.
without real significance, value, or importance; baseless or worthless: vain pageantry; vain display.

No, I think vain repetition comes into play when you have a memorized prayer , void of any thought, never putting anything into it. When you've got it scripted to the point that you can recite it without your heart truly being into it.

Privilage

"Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed but as rather a privilage to e enjoyed , a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty" E.M. Bounds

Prayer is a privilage because an all powerful God of the universe calls us to pray. Everytime I pray , I need to remember that it is a special, personal invitation, made possible by God giving his Son, Jesus Christ as an atonement for my sins so I could , as Paul said "Approach the throne of grace boldly."

Humbleness

"Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence." W.S. Bowd.

Humility is being able to see myself as God sees me, as I really am...someone who is not worthy of blessings from Him, but on the recieving end anyhow. My privilage and ability to pray to a Holy God does not come about because of who I am, but rather, who Jesus is and what he's done for me.

"You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more until you have prayed." A.J. Gordon.

Have a Blessed (prayer filled) Day!

Seeking Out Your Blessings...

If you're a wife, mother, homemaker, I'm sure you can relate to what I'm about to say. There are days around here that I feel like everything is in chaos...the house stays in a perpetual mess, never stays clean for more than 2 minutes, kids don't listen, potty training is not going so well, somebody's always calling your name and you feel like screaming, but no one could hear you over the noise. It would help us, I believe, to try to actively look for the blessings in all of this. Crazy as it sounds, there are blessings there...you may have to wade through the chaos, but they are there...So, this morning, I am going to share the blessings I have found and I would encourage you to do the same.

Thank You Lord for mountains of laundry. Because it means I have been blessed with a family! A husband who messes up work clothes because he's blessed to have a job again and kids thatare healthy and can run around and get dirty.

Thank You Lord for an unending stream of picking up. Because it mean Ihave , not only been blessed with a home, but a slew of material possessions that manage to make their way into the floor.

Thank You Lord for a sink that is NEVER void of dirty dishes because it means that my family is well fed and we are not hungry. A sink full of dishes mean a fullfillment of the promise YOU made to provide for our needs.

Help Me, O Lord, to seek out the blessings in the midst of the chaos...
Have a blessed day...

Fallen Leaves...

Went to Mom and Dad's for a nature walk yesterday...beautiful day! Gathered leaves for a collection. Gonna use Modge Podge to preserve them and display them in some fashion....not sure how just yet.

Have a Blessed Day!

Catch-up, Please!

Okay, so it's been fairly uneventful here. Which is sorta good and sorta not...leaves little to blog home about. We are into school work and housework and churchwork and not much else. Doing a Polar unit study with the kids. We're a little over halfway done with it. I am always amazed at how much I learn while I'm "teaching".
This was an activity we did to study icebergs... froze water overnight in a ziploc bag and then dumped it in water. It showed why icebergs are so dangerous...because only small part of it is visible...the bulk of the berg lies underneath the water.We did an experiment to show why plants and trees don't grow in the arctic tundra. We put some lima beans in wet paper towels and put them in a warm place and them put some in the fridge. And after a week the beans in the warm place sprouted and the ones in the cold didn't.
We've found several short documentary videos online about arctic and antarctic animals...fascinating how God engineered these things. My fave...the emperor penguin...the dad's really man up...or , ummm penguin up in this instance...No deadbeats in the penguin colonies.
Lot's of dressup and imaginative play going on, as well. Jack is obsessed with all things dinosaur...hasn't uttered a word about cars in over a month. He loves to play Dinosaur Hunter with anyone who will play....

Lillie Anna lost her first tooth... I can not believe I have a child old enough to lose teeth...She was very concerned about it at first, but now has embraced her toothlessness with pride.

And for her birthday got a nifty digtal arts studio for the computer...the kids have gotten so much enjoyment out of it...Thanks Aunt Shanna and Uncle Paul. Lillie used it the other day to make crowns for everyone...Jack's , of course, had dinosaurs on it...Lillie's had princesses, of course, and not sure what Chloe's theme was....

Jackson is becoming quite the good big brother to little Chloe...reading her a pirate story yesterday at nap time.
Have a blessed day!