Encouraging Deep Roots

This week's Lent prayer focus is kind of a touchy subject for me as it has to do with praying for our government leaders. To be honest, it's because I'm unhappy with our current administration and the handling of just about every aspect of life. But as a Christian I'm called to pray for our leaders, regardless of how I feel. And that means even if you don't like the person in office. One of my irritation points is that Christians are very quick to quote the verses in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 until the person they didn't vote for or are unhappy with is in office.  I generally stay away from politics because it is a huge division point among many people. But regardless of how you feel or how you voted and who is in office, we are told in God's word to pray for them. And not just that they would do what you want, but we are to pray for God to work in their life.  So it seems a fitting way to end our 6 week Lenten prayers by praying with the responsibility of running our...

It got busy today and I almost forgot to post the prayer focus this week. You can find the complete Guide to Help You Walk Through Lent here.  I hope you are finding it helpful. I'm enjoying taking a slow day by day approach to reading and prayer.

I've been enjoying taking a slower, meditative approach to Easter this year and walking through Lent through daily readings and a different prayer focus each week has been enjoyable. I hope you are finding these meaningful as well. You can find the free Guide to Help You Walk Through Lent on my website by clicking here. This week's focus is praying scripture. Often we may not have the words to pray and I have always found it helpful to pray God's word for different situations and people. The guide has been updated with these week's focus and I'm am posting it here as well.

  Today starts week #3 of Lent and the prayer focus this week is outreach. I have updated the Guide to Help You Walk Through Lent on my website and will also post this week's focus down below.  Our church has been attempting to do a better job of getting out of our comfort zone and getting out into the community. The event I participated in on Saturday was one of those ways.  There were only a handful of booths at the community event  and they were businesses with some free handouts for the kids and were passing out their promotional literature. We didn't do any advertising for our church other than the banner with our name on it, but our focus was to be present there and focus solely on giving to our community. My prayer is that we will continue to find ways to connect with people in our community and communicate the peace, love and mercy that Christ offers.

Mark 14:3-9 ~ While He was in Bethany at the house of Simon who had a serious skin disease, as He was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of pure and expensive fragrant oil of nard. She broke the jar and poured it on His head. But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this fragrant oil been wasted? For this oil might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her. Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for Me. You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed My body in advance for burial. I assure you: Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.” The sweet smell of perfume filled the air and all conversation came to a screeching halt. Nard, which is derived from ...

I updated the Guide to Help You Walk Through Lent with the prayer focus for this second week of Lent. You can find the complete guide here.   I hope you find this helpful. The prayer focus this week is revival. My prayer is that God would revive our church, as well as my own heart, with a renewed devotion to follow Him. It's so easy to become distracted and to lose focus. I want to renew my passion for His word, for prayer, to live for Him and bring His love to those around me.

Yesterday was the beginning of Lent and for many people this is a time of self-denial and fasting from some activity. Unfortunately, it's also much like New Year's resolutions; the resolve to give up something often lasts only a day or so. Or many go through the motions of giving up something for Lent without really spending that time wrestling in prayer. I'm working through the readings found in the free resource I put together which can be found here: A Guide to Help You Walk Through Lent . As I read the passage found in Matthew this morning I noticed something about making resolves to follow God's leading. I highlighted the disciples' promises and actions in red and Jesus' actions in blue. The contrast is signficant.  Matthew 26:31-56 ~ Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will run away because of Me, for it is written:     I will strike the shepherd,     and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been resurrected, I will go ahead ...