Intercessory Prayer - Patricia Jordan

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. 1 Timothy 2:1 ESV

On New Year’s Day, I felt led to make an intercessory prayer for my extended family, although nothing specific came to mind. A few weeks later, one of my sisters texted that she and her husband would close on a house soon. I had no idea they had become discontented with their nice but older home that sat at the edge of their small town. It was built in the 1940s, but each new owner had updated it.

It was time to call my sister and catch up on their new plans. She told me that many young families were moving into their neighborhood. It was getting too busy and noisy for them.

A realtor’s sign in their yard quickly brought a young couple who wanted their house. The problem was where my sister and her husband would move. They had looked in the county but hadn’t found a house within their budget.

With their realtor, they looked again and found their perfect newer house—one on which the seller had just lowered the price. My sister and her husband locked in on the sale and buy dates and made a nice profit from selling their old home.

In buying their new home, the seller paid the $9,000 in closing costs. She had inherited the house and, with her husband, had lived there for decades. But now they had a new home built nearby and were eager to move into it.

None of this was a coincidence because that word is not found in the Bible and doesn’t exist in God’s plan. 

When we pray and intercede, we should want what God wants for us or others, not what we might want.

In the above verse, the Apostle Paul says we should give thanks for all people because God desires for all to be saved.

Praying for others’ salvation is a priority. Then, we should pray for wisdom, blessings, healings, and other prayer concerns. No one knows what the outcome will be. Prayers can have amazing outcomes, as when Elisha asked God to show his servant how protected they were.  

Make sure you are interceding for others. 

Adonia, let me be obedient to following your will. Amen

Patricia Jordan is a seventh-generation southerner from the Appalachian Mountains. She is thankful to return and live there after living in various parts of the world with her retired military husband. They have raised three daughters. She has published You Are Valuable (Westbow), which is her story of how she overcame chronic low-grade depression through Bible study, prayer, and talk therapy. Lately, she has turned her writing talents to writing devotions about walking with God.  

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

 

 

 

 

 

What's Stealing My Attention - Martin Wiles

Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21 NLT

Getting shoppers sidetracked is a retailer’s dream come true. Who hasn’t had to ask, “What’s stealing my attention?” And not for the better. 

After a long day of sweating in the hot, humid temperatures of a South Carolina August, my wife and I showered and readied ourselves for church. Moving isn’t fun, but we had no choice.

Following church, we stopped by the local Wal-Mart for a few necessities: curtain rods and a gallon of milk. Tired from a day of moving, I said, “Now, we’re just going to get those two things and leave, right?”

“That’s all,” my wife remarked.

As we entered the store, we began walking in the wrong direction: the garden center. “Your mom said they had chair cushions on sale.”

And so our visit went. Although we only came out with four items instead of two, I had to continually keep my wife pointed toward what we came to get. My recliner was calling my name, but the retailer’s reputation for putting things in my wife’s path that attracted her kept sidetracking her.

God did his best to keep the nation of Israel on track. He sent prophets, priests, and judges who kept his ways before them, but they kept getting sidetracked. The pagan nations around them put more attractive things in their path.

I’m not much different than God’s people of old. In fact, I’ve been known to get sidetracked in Wal-Mart myself—just not over the same things my wife does. That’s how the enemy of our souls works. Through experience, he learns what attracts us. He won’t try to sidetrack me with clothes or shoes because he knows they don’t interest me. But he will throw up a few tech gadgets, a new backpack, or a recently released Kindle book.

I had to continue telling my wife not to get sidetracked. “Keep your eyes focused on what we came for,” I reminded her.

I must do the same for myself. If I don’t, Satan will lead me in sinful or unhealthy directions. And like a puppy on a leash, I’ll follow if I’m not clothed in my spiritual armor. By the power of God’s Spirit, we can say no, get what we came to get, and go home.

Don’t get sidetracked by Satan’s attempt to convince you that you need things you don’t.

Father, give me the power to say no to Satan’s attempts to sidetrack me. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Crock Pot Scalloped Potatoes

 

Ingredients

2 POUNDS BAG CUBED HASHBROWNS, THAWED

    

8 OUNCES SOUR CREAM

1 CAN CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

2 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

1 CAN CHEDDAR CHEESE SOUP

1 TABLESPOON DRIED ONION FLAKES

TOPPING: 

1 CUP CORN FLAKES

½ STICK BUTTER

Directions

MIX THE SOUP, CHEESE, SOUR CREAM, AND ONION FLAKES TOGETHER AND SPOON OVER THE HASHBROWNS.

MELT BUTTER AND POUR OVER THE HASHBROWNS.

TOP WITH BUTTERED CORN FLAKES.

COOK ON LOW FOR 5-6 HOURS IN CROCKPOT.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Downsizing … of Sorts - Martin Wiles

Then he said, “I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods.” Luke12:18 NLT

“Where are we going put it? I think we’re turning into hoarders.”

My wife and I both have asked the question and made the statements. Our love for antiques—especially furniture—keeps us adding to our collection and trying to fit them into a small home. But on one of our moves, we decided we would downsize, of sorts. Not that we were going to sell anything. We would simply transfer some things from our home to our storage shed.

There were a few items we decided we could live without seeing or using. We loaded them into the back of our SUV and transported them several miles away. Perhaps our kids will want them someday. Or, maybe we’ll once again live in a larger place before we die. And of course, all of our stored pieces were assets we could sell if we needed money.

Jesus told about a rich man who was a hoarder, but he wasn’t into downsizing. He was into upsizing. His crops produced more than usual. His barns were full. There was nothing for him to do but build larger barns, store his goods, and eat, drink, and be merry. Life was good … or so he thought ... until God confronted him and told him his life would end that night.

Whether we downsize in actuality, we need to at least downsize in our thinking. Possessions are for this life. I will always love antiques and continue collecting them—and sell a few along the way. But I’m intelligent enough to know I can’t take them to heaven with me.

God gives us things of this life to enjoy, but they are for earth, not heaven or the new earth. Possessions are tangible, corruptible, breakable, and susceptible to theft. Placing our security or faith in them will always lead to disappointment.

Possessions can bring joy, but God expects us to use them to help others and also advance his Kingdom. Seeing what we have as temporary helps us do this with the right attitude, avoiding the rich man’s. He was selfish and thought only of himself. And, if by chance, our possessions turn our focus from God, we need to downsize.

Don’t let your possessions possess you. Downsize.

Father, I thank you for all you have given me. Help me use them to glorify your name and advance your work in this world. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

The Trudge - Lynne Phipps

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5 NIV

My dogs and I try to walk every day. Some days, we seem to fly around our route. Our time passes quickly and pleasantly and is over all too soon. But on other days, it’s more like the trudge. The Oxford Dictionary defines trudge as to walk slowly and with heavy steps, typically due to exhaustion or harsh conditions. 

Exhaustion or harsh conditions can also slow the journey of our souls. When life is going well, our relationship with the Lord always seems sweet and full of thankfulness and endless hope, like having wings. Our soul rejoices. The days fly by as we enjoy such calm, happy times. Yet when hardship arrives on our doorstep, life often becomes more of a trudge as we seek to move forward each day, dragging our faith along with us.

Years ago, I remember visiting a friend who was weary from life’s struggles. He quoted Paul’s words to me. When he had finished, he sighed and uttered, "I’m so sick of character building." We both laughed at his remark, yet I still remember feeling the weariness of his trudging soul. 

Amidst such trudging times, although we may feel alone, we never are. The Holy Spirit is trudging right beside us, reminding us of the following: 

The Lord himself goes before us (Deuteronomy 31:8).

He can lead us on the right path (Psalm 5:8).

He is the God of peace and can provide us with every good thing we need to do his will (Hebrews 13:21).

He is wonderful in counsel and wisdom (Isaiah 28:29).

He hears our pleas (Lamentation 3:56).

Therefore, let us not despair when life causes our souls to trudge. Rather, may we rejoice in the Lord’s love and ability to transform our trudgings into all good things in Christ Jesus: spiritual maturity and hope in the Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV).

He who gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak will help you through life’s trudges. 

Lord God, you who strengthen the weary and increase the power of the weak, thank you for always being with me, hearing my cries, and providing me with all I need to rejoice in my trudging so that I might persevere. Remind me that this produces character and hope, which will never disappoint. In Christ’s name, amen.

Lynne Phipps and her family live on a small hobby farm in the heart of Alberta, Canada’s farming country. She has been writing devotions for forty years and never tires of the spiritual correlation the Holy Spirit blesses her with. He uses normal everyday events and the behaviors of the multitude of glorious creatures He has brought across her path to point her to the truths of God. Lynne is a devotion writer for VineWords: Devotions and More.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Building Blocks of Healthy Relationships - Martin Wiles

And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians5:21 NLT

“I remember when you used to…”

Anytime I hear my wife say the above, I know she will follow it with something I once did but don’t anymore—things like opening the door for her when she’s getting in the car or entering a store or coming up behind her and putting my arms around her neck while we’re shopping.

My wife has a memory like an elephant and recalls many things I’ve long forgotten. Among them is how our relationship was when we first married. I tell her our relationship has matured. She thinks, Now that you’ve got me, you think you don’t need to do those things anymore. We’re probably both right to a degree, but we must work to maintain healthy relationships.  

Paul gives a list of instructions for husbands and wives. Some women don’t like the submission part, while some husbands take issue with loving their wives enough to die for them. But Paul prefaces the instructions with a command for mutual submission. Doing this requires building blocks.

Mutual love and submission entail intentionality. If I’m not intentional or determined to love my wife as Christ loved the church or to submit to her as I desire her to submit to me, it won’t happen. Anything important requires our undivided attention.

Thoughtful words and actions are essential. My wife loves to hear me tell her I love her, but she wants to see love in action. Holding her hand, opening a car door, giving her a card, kissing her first thing in the morning—all little things that mean a lot.

Honesty is also critical. Dishonesty will wreck any marriage or relationship. I know. I’ve been on the receiving end of dishonesty, and it leads to a dead end. We build trust in small ways over many years, but one wrong move can destroy what it took years to build.

Additionally, faithfulness is a must for healthy relationships. It follows on the heels of honesty. In the marriage ceremony, I promised to be faithful to my one wife until death parts us. No good reason exists to break that promise as long as I’m in the relationship.

Yet, more important than any other block is including God. Relationships that exclude him are headed for failure from the start.

Use the correct building blocks to erect healthy relationships in your life.

Father, give me wisdom to build healthy relationships with those you send into my life. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Southern Fried Chicken Strips

 

 

Ingredients

1 EGG

½ CUP BUTTERMILK

1 CUP PLAIN FLOUR

 ½ TEASPOON GARLIC POWDER

1 ½ TEASPOON PEPPER

½ TEASPOON SALT

½ TEASPOON PAPRIKA

2 POUNDS CHICKEN TENDERLOINS

OIL FOR FRYING

Directions

WHISK EGG & BUTTERMILK IN A BOWL.

COMBINE FLOUR, GARLIC POWDER, PEPPER, SALT, AND PAPRIKA.

DIP CHICKEN IN EGG MIXTURE, FLOUR, AND THEN IN EGG MIXTURE AGAIN.

HEAT OIL TO 375 DEGREES.

FRY CHICKEN FOR 2-3 MINUTES ON EACH SIDE.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.