by Stacey | Oct 30, 2014 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Last week we prayed powerful Scripture over our husbands, and this week we apply the same principle to how we pray for our children. Praying Scripture is more than uttering a collection of magic words or reciting a written script. Praying Scripture is admitting that we need God’s help—even to pray. I need God’s help to pray for my kids, because He knows better than I do what they really need most.
Father God, who not only loves me with an everlasting love, but also loves my children with an everlasting love, who desires that none should perish, but that all should come to know You through the Lord through Jesus Christ, please hear my prayer.
I pray that (insert your children’s name) will delight in your laws and meditate on them day and night. Make them like trees planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season whose leaf does not wither. May Your Word dwell in them richly, teaching and admonishing them with thankfulness in their hearts to you. May they seek You, seek Your wisdom, and Your kingdom first, asking for wisdom in faith without doubting that You are the giver of good gifts.
Take their heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh. Strengthen them through the power of Your Spirit so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. May they be rooted and grounded in love and fully understand the depth of Christ’s love for them. Fill them with the fullness of You.
Give them a desire to, through the power of your Spirit, put off their old selves and be renewed in the spirit of their minds to put on their new self, created after the likeness of Christ. Remove all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander and malice, stirring up love for one another—tender-hearted and forgiving love that mimics the love Christ has for them.
Grant them complete satisfaction in their current state, teaching them thankfulness and contentment. Hide Your words in their hearts, filling their minds with life changing Scripture, gently yielding their wills to Yours.
Lord, have your way with them.
There is nothing more powerful that I could pray for my children then the very words and desires of God. Moms, let’s move our prayers from surface comfort toward deeper and truly life changing prayers.
2 Peter 3:9, Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 1, Colossians 3:16, Matthew 6:33, James 1:5, James 1:17, Ezekiel 36:26, Ephesians 4:17-19, Ephesians 4:22-24, Ephesians 4:31-32, Hebrews 13:5, Psalm 119:11
by Stacey | Oct 23, 2014 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
I just returned from a conference where I was reminded of the privilege and honour I have as a wife to pray for my husband. And Ladies, lifting your husband before the Lord is one of the most important things you will do—and you need to do it daily.
I loved this conference session because the instructor, Bethany Donaldson, does something I love. She prays Scripture. Praying Scripture is a powerful prayer because when you pray God’s Word, you are praying God’s will. And I don’t know about you, but I want my husband to be in God’s will.
If you want to join me in this pursuit of prayer on behalf of our husbands, here are some Scriptures you can pray. Insert your husband’s name.
Lord, Please answer me when I call. Be gracious with me and hear my prayer. Give ear to my words and consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, for to You, I pray.
I lift up (insert name) before you, asking that he may be filled with knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so he may walk in a manner worthy of You, fully pleasing to You, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of you. It is my prayer that his love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that he may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
May he look beyond his own interests and be concerned about others and seek Your kingdom first. May he delight in your Word and meditate on it day and night. May he delight in your commands and be blessed by You.
Keep him above reproach, keep him from being arrogant or quick-tempered, drunk, violent, or greedy. Instead, may he desire to be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. May he hold firm to the trustworthy word that is taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
May he flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. May he put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. May he submit himself to You, resist the devil until the devil flees from him, and draw nearer to You.
Father God, please make his way straight, spread your protection over him, cover him with favour as a shield. Lead him in Your righteousness.
These beautiful words are not mine, dear sisters. They are the very words of God prayed back to Him. They are God’s will for my husband. They are God’s will for your husband. And praying His will is a very powerful prayer.
Colossians 1:9-10, Philippians 1:9-11, Matthew 6:33, Philippians 2:4, Titus 1:7-9, 2 Timothy 2:22, Romans 13:14, James 4:7-8, Psalm 4 and 5
by Stacey | Oct 2, 2014 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
God is Jehovah Jireh, my provider—my sustainer—His grace is sufficient for me. Set aside my worries, my obsessiveness, my planning, and instead, choose the better thing. Choose to praise His name for bringing me to the place where I must depend on Him. The place where faith truly comes alive.
His Word reverberates through my soul. The last chord fades, and my hands remained raised because—
He. Is. Able.
And I don’t just know it, I KNOW it.
Because I’ve been here before. And he’s brought me here again, close to him, so the prayers cried here will change me.
Beloved. I am loved with His everlasting love, love that does not merely rebuild from the brokenness, but re-creates. Nothing is wasted. Nothing. He knows my sorrow, my pain, my need. he has collected my tears in a bottle.
I am not able. But He is.
He is the great I am.
by Stacey | Sep 25, 2014 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
I had a birthday yesterday. A big one. And I can’t help but look back over the last 40 years and thank God for His hand in my life. It seemed like an appropriate time to repost this letter to my 16-year-old self.
To that 16-year-old girl, forever trying to prove herself, seeking acceptance, and standing at a fork in the road, I say: There’s hope Sweet Sixteen.
You’re going to take the wrong road. A road that will lead you to a day, two years later, where you weepingly confess your wandering heart to the Lord. That wrong road changes everything, and your dad comforts you saying, “Honey, it may seem like the end of the world, but it gets better.”
Sweet Sixteen, your Dad is right. It gets better.
God in an act of marvelous grace will bring you back to that fork, and this time you will choose differently. God will redeem those lost years wasted on your own strength, on your own wisdom, forging your own way.
It will be ten years before some scars heal. More for others. It will be nearly fifteen years before you settle into yourself and really move forward. But Dad is right. It gets better.
Your sister really is the best friend you’ll ever have. Your brothers of few words are deep thinkers who love completely. Your parents are your biggest cheerleaders and your in-laws are not in-laws. They’re family. And family matters.
All things young eyes can fail to see.
You will marry the most wonderful man and wonder if you will ever have children with him. You will move away. You will come home again. You will embrace life, even when it knocks you down.
Then you will get back up.
Your mother heart will come to appreciate your Mother’s heart, and all that she quietly did for you. And you will quietly do it all for your children.
You will learn life, even your own life, is not really about you. It is so much bigger than that. The thought will both scare you and comfort you in a strange and intimate dance.
You will wish you could go back and do things differently, but you eventually accept your past as a piece of you, making you who you are. That drives you to your knees interceding for the three tiny souls entrusted to your care.
Sweet Sixteen, Dad is right. It gets better. And the unconditional love he gave you paves a way of acceptance of unconditional love from your heavenly Father.
You don’t know Him as well now as you one day will. Like so many things, you won’t fully appreciate Him when the path is easy, but you will when the path gets hard. And it gets hard.
Your black and white world will accept some grey -in some things – but not others. You’ll come full circle and discover some things really are black and white after all.
And when you come full circle, embrace the dance, Sweet Sixteen.
by Stacey | Sep 4, 2014 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
The day is hard. Correction. The season is hard. Hard enough that it is tempting to doubt and fall into despair. But You, Lord, are my refuge and strength. You are my help in times of trouble. I don’t understand, but I don’t need to understand. I need to believe that Your ways and thoughts are higher than mine and that you love me.
Give me eyes that see beyond now. Give me feet that walk the hard road of obedience. Give me a heart in beat with Yours. Give me the faith to believe that my ram is coming.
“It had to have been the darkest day of Abraham’s life as he trudged up the mountain, with firewood strapped to his son’s back. Every step took Abraham closer to what he believed to be the sad ending of a hopeless situation – the death of his son. Yet in spite of his sorrow, Abraham trusted God. His heart wasn’t soaring with joy. He wasn’t dancing up the mountain. But he put one foot in front of the other. Walking through the darkness of the situation; obeying His God’s commands.
Unbeknownst to Abraham, something else was walking up that mountain. Quietly. Out of sight. On the other side of the mountain. Something else was putting one foot in front of the other. Only Abraham couldn’t see it.
For every step Abraham took, a ram on the other side of the mountain took a step.”
– See more at: Proverbs 31 Ministries Devotions
My ram is coming. So is yours. We cannot see it, but with every heartbeat, believe that God’s response to your need is climbing up the other side of the mountain. You will meet at the peak where you will fall to your knees worshipping with Abraham at the place named, The Lord Will Provide.
by Stacey | Aug 22, 2014 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Today our precious Kate, who we adopted nine years ago, turns ten, but her story is much older. It was woven into the fabric of our marriage before she was born.
Kevin and I planned to have a family, but after many years of marriage, we had to consider that maybe our future didn’t include children. In that difficult season of life we struggled to see past our desires to consider that maybe God had a bigger plan in motion.
Difficulties have a way of highlighting sinful tendencies that are easily normalized when life is easy. I-want-it-my-way attitudes and foot-stomping tantrums prevail when God says no. Yet, these are the precious moments where our Holy Lord enters into our pain and speaks directly to our hearts, speaks directly to the sin hiding there and exposes it. After one such encounter, I journaled this conversation with God:
God, if you bless us with children, I will praise you. I will tell of your goodness, your faithfulness and love. I will use every opportunity to share how much you care about the things we hold dear in our hearts. And If you never bless us with children, if for some reason a family is not part of your plan for our future, I will still praise you. I will tell of your goodness, your faithfulness and love. I will use every opportunity to share how much you care about the things we hold dear in our hearts. My love for you and my trust in you will not depend on how you answer this desire in my life. You have nothing to prove to me. You are my God and You are enough.
Sweet contentment came after surrender. Despite the fear, despite the anger, despite the anguish, God was there, and He was telling me that He was enough.
God never gave me a sneak peek at the three beautiful children He had chosen for us. We waited another year before receiving the gift of international adoption, and an additional four years before adopting the boys. Similarly, you might not get a sneak peek at the beauty God can raise from the ashes in your life. Today, I can look back with a better understanding of what God was doing. I can see how God used our wait, our trials, and our disappointment to shape me for my good and His glory. He taught me lessons about trust, about unconditional love, and about Him. HE IS ENOUGH.
Some well-intended people have said in the past that Kate is lucky to have us. I respectfully disagree. We are the ones blessed to have her. Through her, God has stretched me, changed me, and drawn me closer to Him. And through her, He has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams.
Thank you, God. It’s her birthday, yet I am blessed to receive the gift of motherhood.
Who is like the Lord Our God?… He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 113:9
