In case you missed the announcement in the newsletter, I’m teaming up with Katie Orr to lead a group of ladies through my ebook, And When You Pray: Understanding the Lord’s Prayer. This 10-day Bible study is free to all newsletter subscribers. It was written to help you understand the Lord’s prayer, become more comfortable speaking with your Lord and Savior, and encourage you to submit to the Father’s will for your life. Our group study begins Monday, April 20th. We will be meeting Monday – Friday in Katie’s FOCUSed15 Study Group on Facebook for […]
And When You Pray :: More On Forgiveness
Today is the last day of the prayer challenge. Before opening your Bible ask the Lord to guide you in your study and to soften your heart to any truths you be resisting. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV) Jesus spoke these words after He said “amen” in verse 13. It is the second time He mentions forgiveness in the ten verses we’ve been studying. I believe this […]
And When You Pray :: Do Not Lead Us Into Temptation
Before we begin I just want to apologize again for not having this post up yesterday as I had planned and as you most likely expected. I have several different reasons for the delay, but long story short, other aspects of life got in the way and demanded priority. That said, I am so glad you are back to continue with this prayer challenge. Thank you for your patience and understanding. ~Kelli Open in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you study His word. “And do not lead us into temptation, […]
And When You Pray :: As We Forgive Our Debtors
Open your quiet time with God in prayer. Ask that He reveal His heart to you, ask that He reveal areas of disobedience in your life, and ask that He give you the grace to be obedient to His word. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12 NKJV) Forgiveness isn’t easy… at least for me it isn’t. When we don’t forgive, or can’t forgive, or refuse to forgive it’s generally because we are angry with someone. It’s these people that Jesus refers to as “our debtors,” and for one reason […]
And When You Pray :: Forgive Us Our Debts
Open this time in prayer, asking the Lord to reveal His heart to you. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12 NKJV) Forgive us our what? Like our bank loans and credit card debts? Uh, no. Debts in this passage is a metaphor for our sins, the violations we have commited against God and His holy law. Read Matthew 18:21-27. When the servant asked for leniency, how did his master respond (v 27)? The master had compassion toward his servant and our Master is full of compassion as well. Psalm 145:8 […]
And When You Pray :: Our Daily Bread
Once again open your time of studying the Word with prayer. Acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is the One who will open your eyes to see and understand the truth. “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11 NKJV) Daily bread — its kind of the same concept as a daily newspaper. Okay, I realize you’re probably thinking huh? But just hang with me a second. The phrase daily bread only appears twice in the New Testament. Once in Matthew and once in Luke, both times when the authors are writing about the Lord’s prayer. […]
And When You Pray :: Your Kingdom Come
Before you begin studying God’s word take a moment to pray. Ask that He sit with you this morning and reveal the truth of His word to you. Once you are done lets begin. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 NKJV) When I see or hear the word kingdom I can’t help but think of tall, magestic castles, kings and queens, and knights in shining armour. I picture a physical place where I can walk about great halls, look at royal thrones, and touch the […]
And When You Pray :: Our Father
Take a moment to pray, as you did yesterday, and ask God to reveal Himself to you today through His word. “In this manner, therefore, pray…” (Matthew 6:9a NKJV) The gospels record several different occasions in which Jesus prayed, but this is the only time we see the model prayer; and we do not read about Jesus saying this prayer repeatedly. Remember in the verses before He teaches us not to use vain repetitions. I believe we are welcome to pray this prayer word-for-word, however, it needs to be heart-felt and not said as a […]
And When You Pray :: Prayer Challenge
“And when you pray…” Those are the beginning words of Jesus in Matthew 6:5 (NKJV). It sounds like Jesus expects us to pray, does it not? He doesn’t say “if you pray”, but “when you pray.” The greek word for pray, proseuchomai, is used 90 times in 82 verses in the New Testament and in many of these verses we find Jesus Himself praying or teaching others how to pray. These verses are given to us so that we may also learn the importance of necessity for prayer in our own lives. Over the next week […]