Author: princessleah

As a kid I used to think that our prayers needed to be eloquent and have great big words in them to be effective. I was so glad when I discovered that God is so much more about heart than any other factor. He wants our heart, and when we pray from our heart, we are letting the real us show through to a real God who is really concerned about our real life. Prayer isn’t a performance, we don’t get graded on how well we do, or sound, or the manner in which we speak. God loves to hear our voice, praying from a heart of love and concern, speaking to His heart. So erase all those thought that you can’t pray in front of someone else, or that you don’t pray as effectively as someone who has a college degree or a bunch of letters after your name. I see a child expressing concern about an owie that their friend has being beautiful in the ears of God. God wants us to come to Him in childlike faith, believing that He hears us, He answers us, and that things on this earth are subject to change because God is able and willing to act on our behalf. He sees the big picture and knows the end from the beginning and wants our prayer to be answered so that we can experience a little more of heaven on earth. So let the spirit of God guide you as you pray. Have your list is you want, but be willing to be prompted to pray for something or someone you may not even know the details about, just because you are prompted by the Holy Spirit. Spirit directed prayer can change things on this earth!

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Intro: Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. This week we are talking again about the one another’s of the New Testament and how we can experience authentic relationships. This week’s one another is praying for one aother. It is near and dear to my heart, because I love to pray! I know God hears and answers and prayer changes things on this earth. I encourage you the Word for one another regularly! Here is your daily eword.

James 5:16 is such a great scripture. It tells us to pray for one another, that we will be healed. What I love about prayer is that it not only changes the circumstances of the other one another’s we may be praying for, but it can change us in the process. This verse speaks to me that I don’t have to be 100% well to pray for someone who needs healing. In fact it says that they will be healed, and the one praying will be healed! When I got that revelation a few decades ago, is when I got turned on to prayer in a significant way. God can use me, when I open up my heart in prayer for someone else. When we take our heart’s concerns to the Lord in prayer, God’s power and ability, his wisdom and instruction can be released into our life. We get to grow by praying, and at the same time, the ones we are praying for get to see changes in their life too. I have a plaque in my home that says prayer changes things. It does, but it also changes people. It starts when we open our heart up to God, and he begins working in us. At the same time, He is working on the situation, or the people involved and things can begin to change from that moment. You’ve heard me say this before. If it’s not good yet, it’s not done yet. Keep standing in prayer. Things are going to get better. Don’t loose hope. Hang in there and keep on praying.

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Because the focus in my life is encouragement, I have a harder time with admonishment, which means to caution or gently reprove. What I have found is that the oreo principle works really well when it comes to admonishment. I find that admonishment is most effective when it begins and ends with encouragement. Admonishment can use a little cushion, and encouragement can be just what is needed. I have noticed this with myself, that I can hear 5 compliments, and 1 negative comment, and my focus is all about the negative. It doesn’t matter that I had 5 times more compliments, our focus turns toward the negative. To keep that from happening with a godly admonishment, we have to have the big picture in mind. We know that the person admonishing us has our best interest at heart, and we know we are loved, then we can receive it with a right heart, and make the necessary changes. In our world, receiving correction doesn’t generally come gracefully. We get mad, we blame others, we let our hearts get hard. None of this has to happen! Let’s love one another enough to point out blind spots. Let’s love one another enough to admonish one another to be the best person that God has called us to be. We can do this.

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The word admonish actually means to caution or gently reprove. There are times we all need correction, and being involved in a body of believers, and even in a small group setting, we can gently admonish others in their blind spots. If I have lipstick on my teeth, or a string hanging from my jacket, a good friend would let me know that. If I have an area in my life that needs correcting, I am thankful for friends who will help me see that too. Of course, the person who would do that for you would be someone close enough to have permission to do that, without causing an offense or our defenses rising. Who in your life does that for you? We each need someone, or a group of people, who help us see things from a different light. I have a few friends who have gone through destructive relationships that ended in divorce, and I tell them right up front, before they ever consider moving on to a new relationship that I am on their search committee. Of course I am joking, but I want them to know, that I will help them weigh in on their new relationship decisions, because often women choose another abusive, or negative relationship the next time around. They dismiss or are blinded to negative traits that will lead them to the same situation, only round two. Let’s choose to put ourselves in situations where we have accountability. That protection comes in the family of God, and is available if we seek it out.

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A very effective way we learn as Christians is in a small group. Our church calls small groups Grace Groups, and we encourage every member to be involved in a small group. The wonderful advantage of being in a small group is you have a circle of friends to be accountable to, and you have a place where you feel you belong. In a large church, you can come in late and leave early and never make any human connections. If we want our churches to be a place of community, connections in a small group are a wonderful option. From Bible Studies, to interest groups, even to groups focused on outreach and helping others, just meeting together on a regular basis, learning together, studying together, eating together, working together, small groups give us the opportunity to put our faith into action. Part of getting to gether is sharing life. Sharing life experiences, life struggles, and life victories. We can encourage those who are going through tough circumstances, and we can rejoice with those who have made it through. Small groups can be like a big potluck dinner, where everyone brings something tasty to eat. When we share life together, we sit at the table and enjoy the best of fare. I want to encourage you to be a part of the buffet set before you in a small group. You will be better for it.

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Romans 15:14 tells us to instruct one another. One on my daughters has been in school for many, many years. She has been learning formally working toward her PHD and is teaching at the University of Utah at the same time. She is getting a formal education, working toward a formal PHD. Most learning happens in a much less formal way. Mothers teach their babies so much in the first two years of life. Kids learn by watching others in daily life, what to do, and what not to do. Family learning is more than often called training. We can teach with our words, but we train with our life. If our teaching and our training doesn’t line up, or our words and actions aren’t aligned, all of our teaching and words will be nullified. How you act on Sunday at church, shouldn’t be an act! It should be how you live your life 24/7! Monday through Sunday, our words and our actions should line up. It is called walking the walk, and talking the talk. We can instruct others, not just with our words, but with our life, day after day. Our conversations and daily activities are often the most common way we teach or instruct others. So remember every day, people are watching you, and learning from you.

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As all the birds are flying south, it is interesting to watch the ones that stay around. You don’t see sparrows flying in formation. I heard one explanation of why they don’t, that was comical. Here is the reasoning, geese are going someplace, sparrows are going nowhere. Do you want to go somewhere in life? I sure do. If we look at the goose, and what scientists surmise that geese fly 70% farther as a team than on their own, I would say that as humans, we need others! We really are better together. Geese flying in formation gives us an awesome illustration of how we can be learning from each other. They demonstrate how one is the mentor for a while, and then they become the mentored. Two of the best lessons we could teach someone in our sphere of influence is to learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and learn to lean on Jesus. We are God’s sheep, as it says in John chapter 10, and we can recognize and obey His voice. I confess that over my life everyday. You can say that too! I am God’s sheep and I know His voice. That helps us learn over and over again that leaning on Jesus is the best way to live. When we lean on Him and not our own understanding, we can know that He will direct our paths. So if you want to go somewhere, join the team, and learn to lean!

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This time of year it is so cool to be outside and look in the sky and see geese flying in formation. The lead goose does the most work, and then the others switch with him so they can get their energy restored, and then be able to lead again. Scientists say that they go 70 percent further than they could go on their own. What we can learn from geese is that teamwork is a big deal! At home, many hands make light work when it comes to housework. You get the family involved. Everyone has to clean a toilet, everyone has to vacuum, we all work together. When you think about the body, it only makes sense. When we have more people doing the work of the ministry, no one person has to do it all. A wonderful example would be in children’s ministry. If every parent served once a month, there would be more than enough volunteers to have every area of the ministry covered. Then if grandmas, who just loved holding babies would volunteer for nursery or toddler ministry, many of the young moms could get a much needed break from their kiddos. If junior high and high school kids volunteered to help lead teachers, there would always be more than enough helpers to make Kids Ministry amazing every Sunday and Wednesday night. So think of the goose, and find a way to volunteer at your church. Maybe your Children’s Pastor will send me a thank you note!!! We can do much more together as a team.

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Intro: Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. This week we are talking again about the one another’s of the New Testament. Romans 15:4 tells us to instruct one another, and Col 3:16 reminds us that we are to admonish each other. Here are some encouraging words about enriching our relationships by pooling our wisdom and remaining teachable. Prov 15:31 shows us how we can be at home with the wise. Here is your daily eword.

One of the main topics I love talking about is having one hand up to learn, and one hand out to teach. We call it being a mentor or being mentored. We all have something we can share with someone else, and we all have something we can learn from someone else. What we have learned benefits not only us, but others as well, if we let it. It works in the home, it works in church, it works in our relationships at work, in our community, really wherever. It even works with your spouse if you are married! What this really speaks to is community. We are part of a body, and just like a family, we are here to help each other. Don’t you just love the family of God? I love my family too! I love it when I learn something from one of my kids. I do realize as I am growing older, how many things I do that I learned from my mom. That makes me more aware that my kids are watching, observing and learning. They probably will do may things just like I do! What are some valuable lessons you gleaned from your parents? Are you passing them on to your kids? That’s what we do in families, that’s what we do in the family of God. Once you learn something, pass it on!

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Encourage yourself. Stir yourself up. I love that the Bible tells us to encourage each other. I hope you are doing that on a regular basis to those around you. Be the cheerleader, be the encourager, be the edifier, be the one to stir each other up to love and good works. I have noticed that sometimes, no one is around to be your cheerleader and that is the time that we can use the same spoon that we stir others up with to stir ourselves up. Give yourself a pat on the back. Tell yourself you did a good job! Make sure you do that for others, but if no one is around to do it for you, you can be your own encourager. The Holy Spirit on the inside of you is there doing that for you all the time. You can depend on the Holy Spirit inside of you to know who needs encouragement around you. It is important that we tell people how much they have touched our lives. We can speak the Word of God over their lives and remind them that God’s heart is for them. That will help them draw closer to Jesus, which is our whole intent. Encourage others, encourage yourself, and depend on the Holy Spirit within you to lift up the broken hearted and bring hope to the hopeless.

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