Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
Welcome back to our Prayer Group, where we are focusing our Scripture reading and devotion time to the power of prayer, during the global pandemic that we are facing. Each week, I plan to post here, 2-3 times, with a heart for prayer for our country and a desire to learn more of God's truth through Scripture. I am honored to have you gather here with me. Our prayer focus thus far.... 1. Pray for healing and restoration of our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14-15) 2. Pray earnestly together as believers. (James 5:16-17) (Matthew 18:20) "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity." 1 Timothy 2:1-2 "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them." Want to know how to pray for others? Here is the answer and it's simple: Pray for ALL people, ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf, and be thankful for them. That's it. We don't have to know them personally, or know all the details of their situation, or know exactly what prayer needs they may have. God knows all those things. He just asks us to pray for them, pray for their needs, and be thankful for them. "Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority." As simple as it is to pray for others, be sure to pray this way specifically for our leaders and those who are in authority. Pray that our nation's leaders are given the gift of wisdom and that they are quick to listen to wise council. "Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers." ~ Proverbs 11:14 "Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success." Proverbs 15: 22 "So that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity." Praying for others, putting someone else above ourselves, brings forth blessing. It brings us peace, marked with godliness and dignity. Today, as we are kneeling together in prayer, let's lift up ALL the people of our country, especially our president and national leaders who are trying to make the right decisions for our nation. Let's ask God to give them His wisdom. Heavenly Father, Thank you for ALLthe people in our country. You created each one, for Your purpose, help me not to forget that. You know ALL hearts and ALL needs in each person's life. I pray that You would protect them, provide for them, save them, guide them, and strengthen each of them in this time of crisis. Lord, thank you for our president and all of the leaders of this nation. The weight they have on their shoulders right now, is incomprehensible, as they have the responsibility of every citizen upon their hands. Father, if these leaders do not know Jesus as their Savior, I first ask You to open their hearts to You, and second, I ask that You give them wisdom. May they come together as a team and make wise, informed, and selfless choices that will bring healing, unity, and blessing to this nation. I pray for ALLthe people of our land, O God, that You will heal each of us and bring us out of this trial and that You will use this crisis to bring revival across the country and turn the hearts of this country back to You. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Please share your prayer requests in the comment section, and check back later this week for more in this series. I'll be praying for each of you. Joyfully His, Andrea
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Good morning, Sweet Sisters! Happy spring!
Thank you for joining me here, to lift our nation, communities and families in prayer. Today is our first post in this Prayer Group series. I plan to post a couple times each week, focusing each post on the power of prayer. Please feel free to share your own prayers in the comments and if you have any specific requests please share them as well so our community can pray together with you! "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops." ~ James 5:16-18 "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." Repentance, honesty and openness with our fellow believers and sincere prayer for each other, brings forth healing. That healing may be physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, or even relational. When we stand together in prayer, for and with each other, we are not alone and our prayers become powerful. God is among us and He hears our prayers. "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them." ~ Matthew 18:20 "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." Earnest means to show sincere and intense conviction. Our prayers should be passionate and sincere and come from a clean, repentant heart. "Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops." What an amazing example of an earnest prayer! I want that kind of eagerness, faith, and earnestness in my prayer life. Today, let's kneel together in earnest prayer, seeking God, and asking Him to heal and restore our nation. Heavenly Father, I come before you seeking your forgiveness. Forgive me for my sins, my lack of faith, my poor attitude and my lack of sincerity. Thank you, God, for your provision. You have never left us nor forsaken us. You alone, hold the future, please forgive us for fearing what could come. We come together today as a community of believers asking you to heal our land. Bring physical healing for those who are sick and impacted with this new virus. Bring financial healing to our land as our economy is falling. But most of all, bring spiritual healing to those who don't know you as their Lord. Use this crisis to soften hearts towards you. Use this time of difficulty to allow your people to be your hands and feet and show your love to everyone. Use this uncertainty to strengthen the faith of your people so we can stand earnestly before you seeking Your help, Your wisdom, Your guidance, and salvation. Have mercy on us, Lord, protect us, provide for us, and give us wisdom to face this crisis. We love you, Lord, thank you for loving us. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Share your prayer needs in the comments and come back Monday for more encouragement, God's Word and time in prayer. I'll be praying for each of you, every day. Joyfully His, Andrea Dear Sisters in Christ,
I hope this post finds you each healthy, safe and at peace during the extreme circumstances our nation is now facing. With the first day of spring approaching this Friday, I had intended to post the schedule for a new spring Bible Study to begin next week. After much prayer and study, I feel the need to do something a bit different. We have entered a time of great uncertainty. Not only has this coronavirus pandemic brought great risk to the health of our nation, but it is also causing an economical fall. These are scary times. And this situation is bringing forth fear and worry in epic proportions. I understand. As strong as I want my faith to be, I would be lying to myself if I didn't admit to my on fears at this time. Every time my mind wants to wander to the what ifs, and the uncertainty, and the fear that surrounds it all, I keep thinking: we can do our best to be wise and make smart decisions right now, but the best thing I can do is trust God and pray. He is in control. This pandemic is NO surprise to Him. He saw it coming, and He knows the end results. I trust Him with everything I have, so I have to trust Him with this. In light of this, I want to challenge myself to pray earnestly, continually, and faithfully for our nation and this crisis we are facing. So, instead of beginning our Spring Bible Study.....for the next several weeks (or however long God leads), I will be posting a series on prayer for our country, our communities and our families. I want to invite you to join me in this prayer journey and please feel free to share it with your sisters in Christ. The Lord loves to hear from His children, and "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."(Matthew 18:20) "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place." ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 My plan is to start this "Prayer Group" this Friday, March 20th. Let's bring in the spring- on our knees, humbling ourselves before God, seeking Him, and asking Him to heal and restore our land. We may not be able to gather face to face, but together we can share our prayers and thoughts here, and encourage one another during this difficult time. Hope to "see" you all here on Friday! I'm praying for each of you and your families; for your health, safety and peace that passes all understanding. Joyfully His, Andrea Hello Sweet Sisters!
I am so sorry our Isaiah study has dragged out so long. I have had internet connection problems in my home for several weeks and unable to post. Because of sickness, we have stayed home, so I have been unable to get wifi connection somewhere else, as well. My goal is to finish our study in Isaiah over the next two weeks, so I will post the reading plan for both weeks, here today. Tuesday (2/4) - Isaiah 51-52 Wednesday (2/5) Isaiah 53-54 Thursday (2/6) - Isaiah 55-56 Friday (2/7) - Isaiah 57-58 Monday (2/10) - Isaiah 59-60 Tuesday (2/11) - Isaiah 61-62 Wednesday (2/12) - Isaiah 63-64 Thursday (2/13) - Isaiah 65 Friday (2/14) - Isaiah 66 We will finish up Isaiah, next week! Again, I'm sorry for all the delays and inconvenience. I hope to get back on schedule, have the technical issues resolved, and post more often! Praying for each of you! Joyfully His, Andrea Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
Monday is here and we are doubling up to finish our reading in Isaiah. I won't keep you long today, we will just jump right into our reading plan! Monday -Isaiah 41-42 Tuesday - Isaiah 43-44 Wednesday - Isaiah 45-46 Thursday - Isaiah 47-48 Friday - Isaiah 49-50 Keep reading God's Word! I hope to be back here later this week! I'm praying for each of you today. Joyfully His, Andrea I'm not one to jump on the "new year's resolution" bandwagon. It usually just doesn't work for me long term. So, in the past few years I have decided to work on certain character traits throughout the year, that I feel I personally need to work on. I want to be all that God wants me to be, I want to be my best self. It is a constant work in progress, but I pray daily for God to show me what I need to work on.
I'm sharing these goals here in hopes to keep me accountable. This year, my goals are: *Be more patient- Slow down and enjoy each moment, I don't want to rush through things. *Be quiet - By nature, I am a loud person. This year, I am working on being soft spoken and thinking before I speak. *No worry - Well, this will be the hard one! I am a worrier. I worry about EVERYTHING. It causes me great anxiety, and this year I have decided no more will I be chained to my worries. I am building my faith and trying VERY hard to let go of my tendency to worry. (It's Day 8, and I'm struggling greatly, but I am not giving up!) *Choose Joy- This, of course, goes hand in hand with not worrying, but it is also just a daily choice. Each day, I am choosing JOY. No matter what the day brings, bad or good news, I'm going to rejoice, be thankful, and praise God for what He has given me. I have many more struggles, but these are the things I feel I need to change, now. What are your goals for this year? Share them in the comments. "But forget all that - It is nothing compared to what I'm going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." ~Isaiah 43:18-19 Praying for each of you! Joyfully His, Andrea Happy New Year, Sweet Readers!
If there are any of you left out there still reading this blog, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! I did not mean to take a two month hiatus, but sometimes life just goes that way. In November, when I last posted, my entire family came down with two separate viruses back to back, that kept us down for three weeks. Then, we found out we are expecting another sweet blessing and my morning (ALL DAY AND NIGHT) sickness brought me to my knees for several weeks. I am now feeling much better as I am heading out of my first trimester and now that the holidays are behind us, I am making way for the blessings that 2020 will hold! I have been at this little space here now for over 4 years, and I am thankful for what God has done here. If nothing else, this blog has made me more accountable to reading the Bible every day and has allowed me to share Christ with each of you. 2020 is bringing on many new things for my family and because of that it will be bringing new things for this blog as well. Redeeming Elegance will still bring the encouragement and support to read Scripture daily, but this year my goal is to also share Biblical womanhood straight from God's word. I am striving to live a life modeled after the Titus 2 woman. Titus 2 gives all women, older and younger, clear directions on what God expects of us. I am trying to follow those directions for myself as well as teach them to my daughters. And with help from the Lord, I want to encourage each of you with those directions as well. I am finding myself in between the ages that are directed there: on one hand I am still having and raising young children, but on the other hand I've been married many years and have a grown child as well. For many years now, I have been seeking out those older woman to teach the things of Titus 2 and unfortunately, I haven't had much luck. Even in the churches it is clear by the way our younger women dress and act, that there aren't many older women following God's direction in mentoring the younger wives and mothers. So, if you are looking for that same encouragement, please join me here each week. I'm praying God blesses each of us on this journey of Biblical womanhood. As for our Bible reading, we were in the middle of Isaiah. Many of you may have continued your reading and finished the book. I hope you did! But for those who didn't, we are going to play a game of catch up. We will double up on our chapters the next few weeks to finish out Isaiah and get ready for a new study! Here is this week's reading plan: Monday - Isaiah 31-32 Tuesday - Isaiah 33-34 Wednesday -Isaiah 35-36 Thursday - Isaiah 37-38 Friday - Isaiah 39-40 Thank you for your support of Redeeming Elegance! I look forward to all God has in store for us this year! I'm praying for each of you! Joyfully His, Andrea "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock." ~ Isaiah 26:3-4
God gives perfect peace to the righteous, those who trust Him and fill their minds with Him. He is our Rock! The foundation of our faith. He is faithful and because of that, we can always trust Him. Perfect peace doesn't mean we won't face trials, loss, hardship, or sorrow. But it does mean if we fully trust God- for who He is, what He has given us, and the future we have only in Him- through Him we have perfect peace. Because with God all things are possible. With God it is possible to get back up when we fall, to smile again after heartbreak, to face those who have hurt us and to continue living when we don't think we can take another step. Perfect peace is knowing God and trusting Him completely, no matter what the world throws at us. May we all find perfect peace in God. May we trust Him and not worry about tomorrow, but instead, may we live for Him today.! Have a wonderful week! Joyfully His, Andrea Good morning, Sisters!
I am caught back up, and have our reading plan ready on time this week! Our journey through Isaiah is a lengthy one, but God is revealing so much to me. I am excited to jump back into Scripture with you this week! Here is our reading plan: Monday - Isaiah 26 Tuesday - Isaiah 27 Wednesday - Isaiah 28 Thursday - Isaiah 29 Friday - Isaiah 30 I'm praying for each of you this week! Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea Hello Ladies!
I am so sorry I am a day behind so I will keep this short and sweet: This week's reading plan: Tuesday - Isaiah 21 Wednesday - Isaiah 22 Thursday - Isaiah23 Friday - Isaiah 24 Saturday - Isaiah 25 Keep reading God's Word! Joyfully His, Andrea |
For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. " AuthorHi! I'm Andrea, wife to my handsome hubby, homeschooling mama to my 7 amazing blessings, and daughter of the King of kings. I am so glad you have stopped by my little piece of the web. My prayer is that the Lord will use this blog to encourage you in your personal, daily walk with Christ. Archives
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