Let Time With God Take The Place of Worrying

Taken from Stormie Omarian’s Praying Through the Bible Book of Prayers

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Luke 12:25

Dear God, I pray You would help me to stop worrying about things and start spending more time in Your presence, I know the time I waste by worrying is better used to pray and to hear Your voice speaking to my heart. You are my source of strength, hope, love, peace and rest and I want to be connected with You and not the things that concern me.

Read and Consider Luke 12: 22-34.

See Stormie’s Study Bible - Going Deeper thoughts below:

None of us can add a single moment to our lives by worrying. In fact, the opposite is probably more true; we actually lose life when we worry. We are wasting the time we spend worrying and we may be causing health problems that could ultimately shorten our lives.

Jesus tells us to refuse to worry because no matter what problems we have, He has already overcome them. “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We can find freedom from anxiety just by spending time with Him. “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” (Psalm 94:19).

When you are anxious, it means you aren’t trusting God to take care of you. But He will prove His faithfulness if you run to Him. “Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well” (Luke 12:29-31).
God says we don’t need to be anxious about anything; we just need to pray about everything. So instead of worrying, actively bring your cares to Him, Prayer is not empty, powerless ,wishful thinking. It is a powerful connection with the One who is the source of our comfort, strength and hope. So take your worries about the future to the One who holds your future in his hands.

What Do I Do Now Than I’m on My Knees?

Taken from The Power of a Praying Woman Bible by Stormie Omartian

I used Stormie Omartian’s Notes from the Heart as a portion of my devotional for the Dallas County Cowboy Church Women’s luncheon May 7, 2011. I pray that this prayer guide is as helpful for you as it has been for me - Ginger Lambert

Below are the steps for praying that Stormie Omartian suggests:

1. Tell God you are glad He is your heavenly Father. This establishes your relationship with God in the clearest of terms, because this is who God ultimately is to you.
2. Give God worship and praise.
3. Choose something that you are especially thankful for about God and tell him how grateful you are.
4. Give you day to the Lord. When you lift up your day before the Lord and put Him in charge of it, He will help you walk through it with great success.
5. Present yourself to the Lord. When you present your body as “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” you are acknowledging your dependence upon Him physically as well as spiritually and emotionally. (Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Good—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1)
6. Confess your sins before God and ask him to help you live His way. (Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23-24) 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
7. Ask God to help you speak only words that bring life. (May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14) Prepare your heart by filling it with God’s word.
8. Ask God for what you need. Tell the Lord whatever it is that you need.
9. Pray God’s will in your life. The more we ask God to keep us in His perfect will, the less chance we will end up outside of it.
10. Pray for other people and situations. List all who come to your mind. Pray for any situation that you know needs your prayers.


Note: All scriptures referenced are from the New International Version of the Bible.



Stormie’s suggested prayer following the 10 steps:
1. Lord, I come before you today and thank you that You are my heavenly Father.
2. Lord, I worship You for who You are and all that You have done. (Then Praise him for everything that comes to your mind.)
3. Lord, I thank You that you are more powerful than anything I face or any enemy that opposes me. (Choose another attribute of God you are especially thankful for today.)
4. Lord, I give my day to You and ask You to bless it in every way.
5. Lord, I present myself to You this day as a ‘living sacrifice’ and ask You to help me be a good steward of this temple of your Spirit.
6. Search Me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Help me to live in obedience to your ways.
7. Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart always be acceptable in Your sight. Lord, may the words I say today bring life and truth to everyone who hears them. Lord put a monitor on my mouth so that every word proceeding from my lips is loving, truthful, kind, comforting, edifying, wise, encouraging and God-glorifying.
8. Lord, I ask You to meet all of my needs today. Specifically I ask for the following things....
9. Lord, may Your will be done in my life this day and every day.
10. Lord I pray for the following people.... In Jesus name I pray all these things.

Life is a Walk

I am beginning a new study and thought now is a very good time for me to start recording my thoughts and blogging again. I like to journal, but don't seem to go back and read my hand written thoughts. I think I will read past posts more often!

I am starting the study Just Enough Light for the Step I'm on by Stormie Omartian. I have her Bible and have been also reading her book Praying through the Bible.

Life is a walk. Each day we take steps. Our tomorrow is determined by the steps we take today. The first words of this book! Lord, I pray that you will order my steps today. I want to make a difference, and seem to be at a crossroads in my life. It seems that the harder I work at slowing down my life, the busier I get! Lord keep me on track. Help me to only do those things that are important. Help me to fill my mind with prayer, scripture and uplifting thoughts. Don't let me fall into a trap of time wasting activities.

Stormie says, "It doesn't matter what your situation is at this moment, Wherever you are, God has a path for you that is filled with good things. Show me the way in which I should walk and the thing I should do" Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do. Jeremiah 42.3 NIV. "Every time we ask God to show us what to do in a situation, we also need to ask Him to help us do it." The Lord must really want me to keep this verse in my heart. I read this verse and Stormie's prayer and wrote it in my journal only three days ago! Now as I start reading this new book it is the very first verse I come across.

Stormie's prayer with this verse: LORD God, I pray You would show me where to go and what to do. I want to always be in the right place at the right time. I lift up to You the specific decisions I need to make today with regard to certain situations in my life. Enable me to hear Your voice instructing me, and help me to do what You are showing me to do. I also added, Lord, give Dr. Muller wisdom in how to best treat my knee. Lord help me to do what I need to do to keep my knee healthy. Lord heal my knee and shoulder! Thank You Lord that my knee is so much better, after the injection, I really did hurt and wondered if my knee would ever feel right again. Only three days later, I am no longer in such pain and it feels so much more normal! Thank you Lord for Dr. Muller's wisdom in treating me.

Stormie's Prayer Light - Father God, I don't want to take one step without You. I reach up for Your hand and ask that you lead me in Your way. Thank You that no matter where I am right now, even if I have gotten way off course, in this moment as I put my hands in Yours, You will make a path from where I am to where I need to be. And You will lead me on it. I love that Your grace abounds to me in that way. Keep me on the path You have for me and take me where You want me to go. "Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8 NIV. I know that when I try to run the race without You, I get off course. So I commit this day to walk Your way. Thank You that even if I become weak and stumble, You will help me to rise again and continue on. And though I can't see exactly where I am going, I'm certain that You can and will enable me to get to where I need to be. Thank You, Lord and You are teaching me how to walk in total dependence upon You, for I know therein lies my greatest blessing.

A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Psalm 37:23

For some time now, I have known that the Lord is leading me to teach in some way. I feel that I am being prepared for something. I have come across a Preceipt training class in July, and am going to be praying to know if this is where the Lord is leading me.

Titus teaches us to be eager to do what is Good!

Pray that God will help you to depend more and more on Him as you live and serve in this godless age. From Stormie Omartian:

• Praise God for the promise that He is a God of truth and His Word can always be trusted. a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. Titus 1:2
• Ask the Holy spirit to show you what specifically you need to do (or stop doing) in order to live in a way that honors God. Likewise teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers, or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home to be kind and to be subject to their husband. Titus 2:3-5
• Ask God to give you a pure heart that is "eager to do what is good." Titus 2:14

Praying Titus 2:11-14 - Jesus, enable me to rise above the lusts of the flesh and the temptations of the world so that I might be purified and made ready for the work You have for me to do.

From Charles Spurgeon's daily devotions:

• Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
• Am I renewed in the spirit of my mind?
• Am I growing in grace?
• Does my conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Savior?
• Am I looking for the coming of the Lord and watching as a servant should do who expects his master?
• What more can I do for Jesus?

Such inquiries as these urgently demand our attention. Let us be peacemakers and endeavor to lead others, both by our precept and example to "avoid foolish questions." Titus 3:9

Prayer is Never out of Season

Prayer is never out of season--in summer and in winter its results are precious. True prayer is true power. You may not always get what you ask, but you will always have your true needs supplied. When God does not answer His children according to the letter, He does so according to the Spirit. If you ask for course grain, will you be angry because He gives you the finest flour. Do not forget to make your request for the Lord is ready to grant your desires. Prayer is an open door which none can shut.
... "and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven." 2 Chronicles 30:27

Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. Do not think that your prayer, however weak or trembling, will be unregarded. Our God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it.
"He does not forget the cry of the humble." Psalm 9:12

God marks prayers down in the registry of his memory. He puts our prayers, like rose leaves between the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there will be a precious fragrance springing up from it.

(From daily devotional of Charles Spurgeon)

Meditate

Peace, beauty and love, it surrounds us and is practicing meditating and it is working!- My daughter-in-law posted this on FB today. As I was doing my morning Bible Study - (I am doing a Precept study of Psalm 119), meditate was the word that kept jumping off the page to me me. I have a special journal I am using for my precept study, on the front of that journal is - Rejoice in the Lord always Philippians 4:4. As I read in Philippians again I got a message on meditating--- ok Lord, you want me to really use this today. So I decided it was time for me to start documenting some of my devotionals as blog posts.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beatiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Philippians 4:8-9 (The Message Bible)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anythuing is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 (NIV)
What more can we ask for than for the God of peace to be with us! Lord today I claim that promise!

Stormie Omartian Prayer Themes for Philippians:

• Pray often for your family and friends, and tell them that you thank God for them every time you remember them in your prayers (1:3-6)
• Pray for an overwhelming hunger and thirst to know Christ and that He would become the greatest passion in your life (3:7-11)
• Take to heart Paul's suggestion to not worry about anything but "in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God" 4:6

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your reqests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7 These verses always remind us to go to the Lord in prayer, but remember to worship and prase God for who he is, and to also go to him with THANKSGIVING for everything!

"Thank you Lord, that You have promised to give us everything we need and give us the desires of our hearts."

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Thank you Lord for today is the day you have made - let me be happy in it!

Prayer -- The Responsibility of the Church

April 11, 2010-Cowboy Church

Scripture Acts 12 - Peter's Miraculous Escape from Prison -

That's when King Herod got it into his head to go after some of the church members. He murdered James, John's brother. When he saw how much it raised his popularity ratings with the Jews, he arrested Peter--all this during the Passover Week, mind you--and had him thrown in jail, putting four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. He was planning a public lynching after Passover. Acts 12: 1-5 (MSG)



All the time Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously. Acts 12:5 (MSG)



Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even thought shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby. And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances! Acts 12: 6 (MSG)



Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up.: "Hurry!" The handcuffs fell off his wrists. (NIV - "Quick get up.")The Angel said "Get dressed. Put on your shoes" Peter did it. Then, "Grab your coat and let's get out of here." Peter followed him, but didn't believe it was really an angel--he thought he was dreaming. Acts 12:7-9

Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze. At the first intersection the angel left him going his own way. That's when Peter realized it was no dream. "I can't believe it--this really happened. The Master sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's vicious little production and the spectacle that the Jewish mob was looking forward to."
Still shaking his head, amazed, he went to Mary's house, the Mary who was John Mark;s mother. The house was packed with praying friends. When he knocked on the door to the courtyard, a young woman named Rhoda came to see who it was. But when she recognized his voice--Peter's voice! she was so excited and eager to tell everyone Peter was there that she forgot to open the door and left him standing in the street. .....Finally they opened up and saw him--and went wild! Peter put his hands up and calmed them down. He described how the Master had gotten him out of jail, then said,"Tell James and the brothers what's happened." He left them and went off to another place. Acts 12: 9-17 (MSG)



Prayer is the most important mission of church members.

• When we earnestly pray heaven comes to our rescue. The help of heaven is sent to our side. The power of heaven is dispersed to us. Acts 12:5 tells us that the church was praying for Peter. Although, Peter was facing certain death the next day, he was at peace. He trusted God completely.


• There is light in the darkness. In Verse 7 when the Angel appeared, it flooded the room with light


• God raises us up. The Presence, the Power, the Light of God will lift us up. God's Angel was an answer to the Church's prayers! Peter was lifted up and saved from certain death by Herod.


• When we pray-the chains that bind us drop off. Prayer looses the chains that bind us.


• Get ready to go! Peter did not hesitate, he obeyed the Angel, even though he thought he was dreaming.


• Follow me. We must follow God even if we do not understand. Peter followed even though he did not understand.


• God silences the opposition. God removed the chains, kept the guards from reacting, and rescued Peter from the prison and delivered him to the City where Peter could joined his friends at Mary's house. Mary's house was packed with friends praying for Peter.


• When God is answering our prayers he opens all doors for us. The chains fell from Peter. The guards did nothing to keep Peter from leaving the prison, and the gate to the city opened for Peter.


• In time we will understand all that God has done. We may not understand God's answer all the time, but our prayers are answered in God's time not our time.


• You will see the answer to prayer.


• Praise God for the great things he has done.

God answers the prayer of a sinner immediately, when he asks for forgiveness and God's saving grace.

As the Church it is our daily responsibility to pray for the church, the pastor, the elders and leadership, members and one another. Only when the church prays will our desires, dreams, goals and purpose be fulfilled. Our prayers are always heard by God and he answers our prayers, but in his time not our time.