Tag: prayer

Psalm 121- Part I

~ Mom Morsels
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He’s with You in Your Uphill Battles

Psalm 121 has become very meaningful to me. I found Psalm 121 in my mother’s Bible. My mom passed this year and I really miss her, but the Good Shepherd has been close and brought comfort to me and my family. In the past 6 months since I found this Psalm that was so dear to my mom, four different times it has been brought back to me.

I went for prayer at my church, and one of the ladies praying for me, said she had a scripture for me that had come to her mind-it was Psalm 121. My husband and I went to see a movie and this psalm was quoted in the movie. In June, I went on a missions trip to Uganda and a friend left me a card with scriptures on it, and yes, there it was again Psalm 121. While in Uganda, I got to share the messages on hope from this blog. After I shared, I asked the believers present to gather in small groups for prayer, and I also joined a group. One of the men in our group suggested we pray for the person to our right. When my turn came, the person next to me said, “I don’t have a prayer for you. I have a scripture.” And, yup, there it was again, he gave me Psalm 121!

In July, my husband and I went on a silent retreat to the North Georgia mountains for a time of prayer, scripture meditation, and reading. While there, it dawned on me that since God brought this psalm to me so many times, maybe I ought to study it! You think? …sometimes I am a little slow. I even wondered if God might be sitting up in heaven saying, “Well, it took four times, but she finally got the message!” He’s such a patient and loving Father. So I want to share what I learned as I studied this psalm.

This psalm is part of a group of psalms, Psalms 120-134 that were written as a “Song of Ascents”. Scholars have different theories on when these songs were sung, but many commentaries agree that one of the times they were sung was as the Israelite worshippers traveled up the high hills of Jerusalem to the Temple for the three pilgrim festivals. This reminds me of times in our Christian walk, when we feel like we are in an uphill battle, yet we proceed with hope in our hearts, knowing Jesus is calling us higher, knowing He wants us closer.

ASCENTS H4608 means “elevation, that is the act (literally a journey to a higher place), a climactic progression, degree, go up, step, ascent.” This is so true of our walk with Christ, as He is always drawing us higher; He is always drawing us closer to Him. I have often looked back after going through a difficult time, and felt that I have grown so much closer to God through the struggles. The journey may be hard, and walking up hill takes more effort. In fact, we might even complain as we struggle to make it up the hill; we might even have to stop along the way to rest and recover our strength, our will to continue. But when we make it to the top, to where He leads us, we can look back and see He has brought us to a better place.

My husband and I recently went to Banff, Alberta, Canada in the middle of the Canadian Rockies. We had the opportunity to go up to one of the mountain tops in a Gondola. What a view! The Gondola made it easy to get to the top, but there was also a winding path that you could walk up, and some folks did walk to the top. It would take a lot of effort to walk to the top, but the view was absolutely breathtaking and would be well worth the effort!

Can I encourage you today, not to give up? Can I encourage you that there are times in our Christian walk, when we feel like we are going uphill? PLEASE KEEP GOING. I want to reassure you with this verse Psalm 9:9-10 New American Standard Bible:

The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
A stronghold in times of trouble;
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

He is our STRONGHOLD in times of trouble. Stronghold H4869 means “high place, refuge, secure height, retreat, stronghold, cliff or lofty inaccessible place, altitude.” He lifts us up ON HIGH when trouble surrounds us. Recently there have been a lot of floods from tornados and hurricanes. The devastation has been terrible-please pray for those who have been affected. When the waters of the floods surround us, where do we want to be? We want to be up on HIGH. That is where God takes us when we are in times of trouble. He takes us up ON HIGH. Who else is on high- He is! As this verse states, He will not forsake us in times of trouble. Though He might seem far away-He isn’t. Hang onto His promise, that He is there with you, because He has said He will never forsake you, if you seek Him.

So moms,

BE COMFORTED THAT AS YOU JOURNEY THROUGH HARD UPHILL BATTLES, GOD IS THER WITH YOU!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Faith-filled Prayer

~ Mom Morsels
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Praying in Faith for our Children

I used to feel so defeated, so discouraged as I prayed for my children. When I prayed I had a picture of them in my head, but it was a picture of them as they were then, with all their struggles, trials, difficulties, misbehaviors, attitudes; I prayed what I saw before my eyes. God showed me that this was the wrong way to pray for my children. This is praying BY SIGHT not BY FAITH.

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 New American Standard Bible:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

So in order to have faith, we have to have “things hoped for”. What things do you hope for your children? As a mom, I know you can see the giftings and uniqueness in each of your children. I know you have dreams for them. THAT is a “thing hoped for”. Hoping for what they will be, who they will become, that is what you base your faith on. So when you pray for your children, have that HOPE and DREAM for your child before your eyes. That is praying IN FAITH for them.

One of our children at 5 years old, asked if she could look at a science book with nature pictures by herself instead of me reading to her for our before bed reading time. She had just started reading but still was so interested in that science book that she wanted to put all her focus into it. That was unusual for a child to do that. I took note. I treasured that in my heart. Today this child is a young adult who is in horticulture school and who has a job working with plants. She comes home from school with these amazingly beautiful flower arrangements as she is learning her craft. That was something I saw in her at a young age, that is something I prayed for her and hoped for her.

Many times as you pray for your child, you will be praying for things “not seen”. You might not see the character you want them to have when they hit their sibling. You might not see the steadfastness in their walk with God, when they are older and are not reading their Bible as much as you think they should. You might not see the kindness you think they should have, as they yell at you when they are mad. But good news! What you see today is not who they will be eventually. So instead of feeling discouraged by the things you are NOT SEEING today, or the things you wish were present now but are not there, pray and believe God that those NOT SEEN things will be there one day. Pray, believing that God can and will build in your child the things you HOPE FOR. That is praying IN FAITH.

And you can pray in faith and then EAGERLY WAIT for what you hoped and prayed for. Romans 8:24b-25 NASB shows us:

…but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

As you pray in HOPE for your children, you can wait eagerly for that hope to be fulfilled. It will happen. There have been discouraging times we have had with our children, but we kept praying, hoping, waiting, and God came through. We PERSEVERED in prayer for our children. Don’t give up hope as you persevere in prayer for your children.

For younger children, plant those seeds of the Word-lots of them! And pray for them to fall on good soil in your child’s heart. For older children, where you have planted seeds already, as you pray, talk to the Lord of the Harvest and ask Him to help those seeds grow!

So moms, as we pray,

LET’S PRAY IN FAITH FOR THE THINGS WE HOPE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND WAIT FOR THEM EAGERLY. .

In His Love,

Suzanne

Small Beginnings

~ Mom Morsels
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Do Not Despise Small Beginnings

As mom’s I think we are in a unique position to encourage our children’s giftings. Often we can see the beginning of what God is doing in our children’s lives before anyone else can. Sometimes the gifting starts small, like a glimmer. Let’s look at Zechariah 4:10 New American Standard Bible:

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.

A little history here…the Israelites had just returned from their captivity in Babylon and were faced with the huge task of rebuilding the temple. This task seemed overwhelming. The temple lay in ruins. But it was in the midst of this, that God chose to speak a word of encouragement to the people. God spoke for the people to rejoice in small beginnings, because it is in small beginnings that there is HOPE for the completed task.

I am not sure about you, but I can certainly relate to this situation the Jewish people were facing. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the task of raising children. The task of raising these little people to love Jesus. The task of raising these little people to stand strong in this society we live in. I also needed a word of encouragement from the Lord for the task of parenting.

So God exhorts us to rejoice when we see small beginnings of His work. Small beginnings are by nature small, but they are BEGINNINGS, and beginnings offer hope toward what God is building in our children’s lives.

One of our daughters has a gift of intercession or prayer. When she was little and I was putting her to bed, I would sing to her and we would pray. Every night, and I mean EVERY night, as we prayed for our family, she would want to pray not only for our immediate family but for our entire extended family. And we have a big family! At the time, this was 36 people! But we did-we prayed for all of them, every night. I’m going to be honest here, that this was a little annoying that she insisted on praying for every single person every single night, but I did pray for them all with her.

Also, I taught our children to pray whenever they heard an ambulance go by. We prayed that God would comfort the person and that the person would cry out to God in their time of need. If I happened to forget, this child ALWAYS reminded me to pray when she heard an ambulance go by. Even as a young adult, she recently told me that she still prays when an ambulance goes by.

This is the same child, who at age 8, I told her about a little boy who was in desperate need of a kidney. Then every night for the next 6 weeks, she reminded me to pray for this little boy when we said prayers together at night. She remembered on her own to pray for him until we found out how he was doing. And the little boy got a new kidney.

These all seemed like small things, but what I didn’t realize at the time is that these were small beginnings in her gifting for prayer. I am so glad that I didn’t rush her through praying for every member of our extended family every night. Or that I did’t say to her, “No, we’re not going to do that. It will take too long.” I am so glad that I prayed with her for every ambulance that went by. And that I prayed with her every night for 6 weeks for the little boy who needed a kidney. Mostly I’m so glad that without realizing it, I was planting seeds in her of the importance of prayer and without knowing it, I was encouraging her gift of intercession.

So, mom’s, this is just an encouragement, to realize that some times our children’s giftings start out as small beginnings, and to

NOT DESPISE SMALL BEGINNINGS, BECAUSE THEY MIGHT JUST BE THE START OF HIS WORK IN OUR CHILDREN.

In His Love,

Suzanne