Good and Angry

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

“When I am angry I can pray well.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546)

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It’s Not New to God

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

Mad at God? You can tell him.You won’t be the first.

 

Psalm 13:1 (ESV)
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

Job 3:11
Why did I not die at birth?

Jonah 4:3
O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die.

Psalm 109:10-11
May his children wander about and beg . . .
May the creditor seize all that he has.

God’s heard it all before.

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God Simply Knows

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Upset? Got problems?

Tell God all about it
(he already knows).

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Honest Prayer

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

I used to put my best face on my private prayers. I thought I had to be good to talk with God. Then I realized that if God was all-knowing, he already knew my true feelings. He’d rather have honest anger than fake goodness.

Be brutally honest with God. He can take it. But here’s the catch . . . he’ll be honest in return. It’s not his nature to lie.

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Next Prayer School Lesson

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

For those of you following the Prayer School series, read Lesson 9 – Prayer History here.

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What God Knows

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Back when our children were young, someone might say, “Your boys are so well-behaved.” We’d think, “You gotta be kidding!”

I wonder if God feels that way. Does he think, when someone admires another’s faith, “If you only knew what I know.”

 

So which side do you show God? Your best, or your worst?

  • I’m at my best when I’m talking to God
  • God sees me at my worst
  • I burn hot and cold

All of the above, God knows.

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Sheltered Re-Entry

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

More than 2 million people in the United States are incarcerated. Our prisons and jails are fertile fields for ministry. Most prisoners will eventually complete their terms and head back into their communities.

 “Are our communities prepared for this huge influx of returning citizens? Are our churches ready to open their doors and welcome individuals that deserve a second chance? Are we prepared to deal with the conflicts caused by having victims and perpetrators entering the same place of worship?”
Prisoner Re-entry and Aftercare Ministries
American Baptist Home Missions Societies

Lord, teach us teach us to pray, teach us to love, teach us to care. Grant these prisoners new life–in you and in their communities. May we willingly embrace them as brothers and sisters in the faith. Amen.

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Stranger Love

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Lord, fill me with your love for folks I don’t know so I can earnestly pray for their physical and spiritual well-being.

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Simply Salvation

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Not sure how to pray for a stranger?

You can’t go wrong praying for their salvation.

 

2 Peter 3:9 (CEV)
God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.

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Let No One Go Unprayed For

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Shirlee Abbott

Why we pray for people we don’t know:

 

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)

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