Here’s the path to peace that never ends: By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).
Here’s the promise of peace that never ends: Of His peace there will be no end (Isaiah 9:7).
I will praise God’s name with singing,
and I will honor him with thanksgiving.
For this will please the Lord (Psalm 69:30-31 bold mine).
God is worthy of our highest praise because of who He is.
He is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come (Revelation 4:8).
May we so love those for whom we pray,
that we feel their needs as acutely as our own,
and intercede for them with sensitivity, understanding, and imagination.*
*adapted from John Calvin
We prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves (Nehemiah 4:9).
Tell God what you need and do what you can to get it.
God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. . . . And this is what he says to all humanity: the fear of the Lord is true wisdom (Job 28:23-24, 28).
He also says: If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you (James 1:5).
Fear of the Lord and prayer are the way to wisdom.
I was in distress.
But the Lord heard when I called to him.
He has put joy in my heart (from Psalm 4:1-7).
We can do so little. God can do so much. That’s why we pray.
The righteous cry and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles (Psalm 34:17).
Throughout my pregnancy I read the Psalms. I noticed God’s lovingkindness mentioned over and over again. On October 5, 1987, I delivered a baby boy. We named him Jonathan because we knew he was a gift from God.
When he was 3 days old we learned he was dangerously sick with Strep B. My constant thought and prayer was simple: “God, you’ve been telling me that nothing happens outside of your lovingkindness. I trust you.”
Our pastor visited and asked, “How can you be so peaceful?
I answered, “I am trusting in the lovingkindness of God.”
P.S. God completely healed Jonathan. We are so grateful! He is a very good gift from God.
You should know this about God: “God does not just sweep life away; instead he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him (2 Samuel 14:14).”
One young man came back when he “became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him (Luke 15:16).”
Ask the Lord to devise a way to bring your loved one back.
A Blog on Prayer 