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Everything you ever needed to know about prayer, you probably learned in Kindergarten! Remember the Stop, Look, Listen warning from your teacher or your parents about crossing the street? Those three words are good reminders for praying. Here’s a quick rundown. Stop – Push the off button! We need to be still because we are called to enter into the rest of God, and you can’t be resting and rushing at the same time! Stopping is Waiting – take a breather – give God more than just a moment of your time. Choose to spend time in His presence. Look for cues – God gives us spiritual vision. He wants to show us great and mighty things that we know not of, as it says in Jer 33:3. We are His sheep, but if we’re not looking His direction we might miss where He is leading. Listen – Be a listener – Unclog your ears. If you have ears to hear….really hear. You are His sheep, you know the sound of His voice. When you ask Him to lead you, He’ll bring the Word to your remembrance as it says in John 14:26. It is important for us to get the Word on the inside of us as it says in Matt 4:4 because we can’t live on natural food alone, God’s Word is sustenance to us. God isn’t trying to keep us from hearing Him. As it says in John 16:14-15, God will take what is His and reveal it to you! He longs for us to “hear” His voice. If you really are committed to using words from your mouth in prayer to God, we can put these principles into action. Let’s stop, let’s look and then let’s listen. We have the ability to connect up with the power of God and see things change. I am so grateful we don’t have to settle for our own ability, or to settle for how things are when it comes to circumstances we are facing. Things are subject to change, we are subject to change…..and the most exciting thing is that God is not. He never changes, so we can count on Him. What a secure place to rest.

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To be an effective pray-er, you need compassion for those outside your inner circle. How much time do you spend praying for those who don’t know Christ yet? My husband calls unbelievers pre-Christians, and I love that, because we believe that they won’t be unbelievers forever, and we want them to come to know Christ soon. It’s easy to look at sinners in the world and get discouraged. Jonah did just that when God asked him to go and as a missionary to Nineveh. He was more than a little reluctant. The Ninevites were not the most desirable people to go to, and Jonah was disobedient to what God has asked him to do. In the long run, after a three day tour in the “Mouth of Fish Cruise Line”, he changed his tune, and became willing to do what was asked of him. What is interesting about Jonah’s story is that the fish actually was a rescue ship for him. Had God’s mercy not intervened, he would have been at the bottom of the ocean instead of the belly of a fish! Jonah may have gone through what we feel when sharing our faith with the lost. We could be afraid of rejection, or even afraid of looking foolish. In the big picture of life, especially with earth being short and heaven being long, we need to just get over it! If they reject you, it is really Christ they are rejecting. If we look foolish, why not be a fool for Christ. I do think we should not be trying to get rejected, or on purpose looking foolish….that in itself would be foolish. But when we do share Christ, let’s make sure that we realize we could be changing someone’s whole destiny. Their life journey changes from bound for hell, to bound for glory! Our prayers for those pre-Christians really do have an effect. God can prepare the soil of their heart, to receive the Word that we will share with them. We can ask Him to remove blinders from their eyes so that they can see the goodness of God. The Bible does say that it is the goodness of God that draws men and women to salvation. Let’s do our part by praying for the lost to be saved.

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Does the list of things you need to pray for seem overwhelming? I know in my own life, there are times when it feels like the list is so long, I don’t know where to start. I want to keep all of my bases covered, and make sure everything and everyone around me is covered in prayer, and that involves a lot of people! Just getting an opportunity to pray through the phone or mailing list from our own church body takes a very long time. Praying for my own family, then extended family, …..the list goes on and on and on. While I want to be praying for safety, protection, healing, or blessing for all of the long list, I have come to realize that the best prayer at the moment, is the one that is most needed at the moment. That is where I have the opportunity to be sensitive to the Spirit of God and tune in to what is most important at the moment. That is often called “Spirit directed prayer” and it is very helpful at all times, but especially when you don’t have an extended period of time to pray for a long list. Listen for cues, promptings from the Holy Spirit- they are supernatural urgings to pray for someone specifically. When you get a flash of someone’s face, or out of the blue think of someone- pray for them! Maybe even give them a call and find out if there is something specific you can be lifting up before God for them. Teach yourself to walk in the consciousness of God. God consciousness comes as we keep our eyes focused on Jesus throughout the day. Are you more God-conscious than you are conscious of your own self? Sometimes we look only in the natural when God says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty in the realm of the spirit. Let’s be people of prayer who are sensitive to the voice of God, and listen when He speaks…..then obey.

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This week we will be talking about the power of our words in our own prayer life. One of the greatest tragedies for believers is that instead of praying about everything, we try to figure things out on our own, or to make things happen without God’s help. We are given great power when we pray, if only we will pray! When we do, we hook up with the power of God and great things can take place. As it says in Ephesians, God wants to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. So when we give Him the opportunity to work on our behalf, things can change! Miracles can happen! When it comes to using our words in prayer, the greatest encouragement I could give you is to just pray! Prayer is just talking to God, and since He is supposed to be our closest companion and our Lord (or boss), we should be communicating with Him on a regular basis, just like we communicate meningfully with friends and family. Regular for God isn’t once a week, it is all through the day, constantly communing with Him as we go about our normal activities. The familiar scripture in I Thessalonians 5:17 says 3 simple words….pray without ceasing. It almost sounds impossible, but it isn’t. When we keep an ongoing dialog with God during the day, that is what we are doing. We can also use that time to be praying in the Spirit, believing that God is praying through us, things that we might not even be aware of. Often we can be diverting things that were part of the enemies destructive plan for us. So this week, remember to open your mouth, use your words, and pray. God wants to work through you so stand back and watch as you see your prayers not only change circumstances and work a change in you, they may even change the world.

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One of my favorite verses about prayer comes right out of James 5:16. I especially like it in the Amplified Bible! It says, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman) makes great power available, effective in it’s working. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. I really like the part of the verse that says great power is made available when we pray. Here is your daily eword about the power of our words in prayer.

Monday
There are some pretty amazing verses in the Bible that almost sound too good to be true when it comes to prayer. Our words have the power of life and death within them, and God makes it very clear that although we have a choice about what we say, His choice for our words is that we choose life! God wants our words to be life giving and beneficial to the hearer. Another of those astounding verses is in James 1:5 which says that if we lack wisdom, ask of God, and He will give it to us liberally. It is amazing to think that God is willing to give the wisdom we need, if only we ask. Mark 11:24 is another astounding scripture. It says whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. God’s heart for us is that we are so connected to Him that the requests we ask for would be in line with his will for us. God loves to answer prayer! He is the one who invented it. Do these words from Matthew 7:7 and 8 sound too good to be true? Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. It sounds like if we want answered prayer, we should be asking, seeking and knocking. So with your mouth, you can

We have a lot to be praying for as believers. We should regularly be praying for our own families, our church locally, for Christians around the world, our communities, the lost, our nation, and our leaders both spiritual and political. I know sometimes it can seem like there is just too much to be praying for. Well, just like anything in God, you don’t have to do it all at once. We can start with a teaspoon and then bring out the backhoe. I love it that we don’t have to feel like we have totally covered one area before we can move on to the next! We don’t even have to be walking in total health to pray for someone who is sick. Just look at the first part of James 5:16….it says to pray for each other, that you may be healed! So as we think about our words when it comes to prayer, let’s make a decision to just pray. Be a person of prayer. Pray without ceasing. Pray when it is convenient, and when it isn’t. Pray when you feel like it, and when you don’t! Prayer isn’t optional for the believer…..it should be as natural for us a breathing, so I’m encouraging you….Just do it! Let’s be people who pray!

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I hope you are ready to make a pattern of speaking life words a lifestyle. So when it comes to talking about the power of words, and how they affect our relationships, we have some choices to make. What kind of words will you let out of your lips? Will you choose to listen not only with your ears, but also with your heart? Will you try to see and understand where someone else is coming from? Do you see that you really can do better in your conversations? Do you know that what you say has lasting effects? I’m hoping your answer to all of those questions is yes. Sometimes it is helpful to have a jump start, so here are some positive words to add to your vocabulary.
I accept you
I affirm you
I appreciate you
I think you are brave
I think you are beautiful
I’m blessed to have you in my life
Thanks for caring for me
You make me comfortable
I’m contented when I’m with you
You make me feel hopeful
Thanks for being kind
I’m proud to know you
You are a good parent
I’m refreshed, relaxed, renewed, and rejuvenated
in your presence.
I’m secure in our relationship
I feel supported by you
I appreciate that you are tender, thoughtful, and tenacious :)
You understand me
You make me feel warm and wanted
From that list of suggestions, I think you can find at least one good thing to say, and then say it……over and over! Be encouraged today that you can speak words that will bless and encourage someone you know!

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Hi kids, this is Dorette with an encouraging word for kids today. The Bible says that the words of our mouth can bring help or hinder. I encourage you to speak life words from your mouth, and be an encourager to those around you. It is a great way to live! Here is your dailyeword for kids today.

It is a real bummer to feel bad on the inside. There are lots of words that people say that can hurt your heart. Those negative feeling words like “you annoy me”, or “you embarrass me”, or “you bug me”, can really hurt on the inside. They make us feel uncomfortable, unimportant, and unloved. Do you know that it is just as easy to say something nice as it is to say something mean? It takes the same muscles to move your mouth, and the same time to think about what you say, but the results go in totally opposite directions. Wouldn’t you rather feel loved and accepted than unloved and rejected? I know I would. Well one thing we know for sure is that we are totally loved and accepted by God. He loves us through and through. Another thing that we know is that the love of God has been placed in our heart, and we can love with His love, which is without conditions. So I’m going to encourage you to use those mouth muscles, and that brain “muscle” to think about and say kind words. If you think about it, if negative words hurt you, they hurt others too. If positive words make you feel good, they make others feel good too. I know it may seem uncomfortable or hard to do, especially if you are not used to saying things that are kind on purpose, but I know once you start, you will be happy with the results. So why not find something nice to say to someone and just say it. It may make their day! I know it will make you feel good on the inside too.

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We are talking this week about how our words affect others. Today we’re going to talk to married people, or those who will someday be married. (That’s probably most of you!) What kind of words are you speaking to your spouse? What percentage would you say are encouraging and constructive? What percentage would you say are discouraging or destructive? That may be a hard one to answer, because as I have said before, often we treat our families and our spouses less kindly than we treat everybody else. Do you think it is about time to change that? I think it is! Let’s make a pact, right here and right now, that we will only speak to our mates, the way we want to be spoken to. Do you think that might change your marriage completely? Wonderful! Even in times of conflict, we can still be nice, we can still speak in control, and we can still speak in an edifying manner. When it comes to issues that need to be dealt with, we don’t have to brush them under the rug, we can be kind, and our words can be constructive. I like constructive words spoken to me, so I can do the same for my spouse. Since we are to pursue peace with all men as the Bible says, that should start at home. Why not make your home life a little more peaceful, by speaking kindly to your spouse. That could be one of the best things you can do for your kids. Not only does it bring confidence into your home, it brings peace. What you model in your home, will very likely be how your kids will treat their spouse, so let’s be excellent examples. So today, I’m encouraging you…..to speak nicely to your spouse, let your words be edifying, uplifting and encouraging. Very likely, the words you’ll be hearing will take on a different tone, because of the seed you have sown!

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Have you heard the phrase, what you hear is what you speak? I am so thankful for the many encouraging words I have heard in my life. I am so blessed. Have you noticed how often this statement is true? How people have been treated, is often how they treat others. It applies not only to words, but to actions. I find it so admirable when you find someone who has experienced negative words, or who has been treated poorly in their life, who really makes an effort never to act or speak like they have been treated in their past. Counselors and psychologists will tell us that it is really rare for someone who has been raised in a totally negative environment to take a 180 degree turn and act exactly the opposite. It definitely takes an act of the will, but also takes the power of God! When you see someone who was raised in an angry environment ,really make an effort to react another way, you know it is going against the world’s prediction for that person’s life. As much as we know the truth of the saying “hurt people, hurt people”, it doesn’t have to be that way for the believer. If we have been hurt, we can make a choice to walk in forgiveness, and then change directions. That is what happens in salvation, we make a choice to change direction. If you know someone who is trying to overcome negativity in their own life, and are trying to live the opposite of how they were treated, try to be an encouragement to them with your words. It is no easy task, and your encouragement may be just what they need to keep trying. Old patterns are hard to break, but it is possible with the power of God, and words of encouragement from a thoughtful friend.

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Our words have impact. Can you remember back to a time when you were cut to the quick by someone’s words? Or a time when someone said something to you that made you believe you could accomplish anything? Words can be that extreme. Proverbs says that the power of life and death is in the tongue. Our words are either destructive or constructive. It is interesting to examine our words and see what our speech is motivated by. Words that are destructive are full of: bitterness, envy, selfish ambition, earthy concerns and desires, unspiritual thoughts and ideas, disorder and evil. It’s not hard to see that the enemy is the motivating factor behind destructive words. Constructive words are motivated by: mercy, love for others, peace, consideration, submission, sincerity, impartiality, and righteousness and unselfishness. These are the kinds of things that God desires for us to communicate. When we build, lift and encourage with our words, we are using our ability to lift people to a higher place, exactly what God wants to do in our lives. When talking with others, let’s make a determination to put a guard on our lips, and let nothing but constructive words come out. Sometimes that means we just keep our mouth shut! Like Thumper in the movie BAMBI, “If you don’t have somethin’ nice to say, don’t say nothin’ at all”. My sister has a cute plaque at her door that says, be nice or leave! It portrays the same thought. Find ways to say (and do) nice things. Look for good, just like Phil 4:8-9 tells us to do. Think and speak about things that bring blessing and healing. Then your impact will only positive!

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