Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Ceaseless Prayer

Certain thoughts are prayers“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7

There are times throughout the day when you cannot take time to stop and kneel and pour your heart out to God. You do not have an hour to spend on your knees in intercession, travailing, giving all you have to move Heaven and Earth.

You breathe a prayer…

You start out your morning talking to the Lord. Hopefully you have taken time to get up early enough to begin your day with God. Is it worth it to set your alarm half an hour early? You bet it is! Is an hour too much? A half hour of Bible reading and a half hour of prayer, it really does go fast!

Of course there are no “rules”. Everyone has different schedules and no day is ever the same. God knows that. He doesn’t keep track, friend. But you will never, ever regret getting up early, sacrificing part of your day, to give yourself the gift of uninterrupted, intimate communion with the Creator of the Universe!

But does it end there? You have prayed early, you have read your Bible, even had a good devotion, a little study. You’re good to go! Is that it? Is that enough for the rest of the day? Are you finished until “Now I lay me down to sleep?”

No, no, a thousand times no!

God doesn’t intend to leave you the rest of the day without communication! Look at it this way: If you are married, would you get up and say “Good morning!” to your spouse and then not speak to them the rest of the day until you said “Good night!”? If you didn’t you would probably have quite the dysfunctional marriage!

Well, you wouldn’t have much of a relationship with Almighty God either. He wants communion…He wants intimacy!

The Apostle Paul tells us to “…pray without ceasing…” 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  All you have to do is breathe a prayer throughout the day. Some examples are:

“Jesus, have mercy.”
“Lord, give me strength.”
“Not my will but thine be done.”
“Here I am Lord, speak to me.”
“Jesus, speak peace into my heart today.”

And not just in times of need! But He deserves your praise as well!

“Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
“Thank you, Jesus!”
“God, I praise you for this day!”
“Lord, thank you for loving me today!”
“Lord, you are great and greatly to be praised!”
“Jesus, thank you for your protecting hand!”

And then sometimes you may have five minutes of uninterrupted time in your day where you can actually stop and talk to God. Take advantage of it! You don’t have to get down on your knees for it to count! You don’t have to quote the 23rd Psalm and go through any ritual for it to matter. He is right there in the room with you! Talk to Him just as you would a dear friend, that is just what He is!

You might be stuck in traffic. Turn off the radio, talk to the Maker. Get rid of the worries that are on your mind and hand them over to the One that can do something about them!

Is stress getting you down? He breathed into us the breath of life, He can breathe into us the peace that can calm us from the cares of this life as well! All of the tweets, phone calls, meetings, to-do lists may still be a part of your day but your prayer will be the stabilizing factor that keeps you calm and keeps you in contact with the Savior throughout the day.

We aren’t talking about New Age mysticism or meditation. That focus disengages the mind from thought. Please be careful not to get caught up in that teaching. It is not of God!

Have continual conversation with Him, ceaseless prayer, just as if He was walking with you through your day…because He is! You can talk to Him as if you would any other person and why not? Instead of just calling on Him when we need Him, wouldn’t it make more sense to include Him all along the way?

The most powerful communication is the quoting of scripture! Some of the easiest to learn are the Psalms. Once you learn how easy they are to memorize you want to learn more!

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

These are just examples of ways to keep in contact with your Savior throughout the day! He wants to be near to you, to help you, to strengthen you and to bring you unspeakable joy! He longs to be a part of your life.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6,7.

 

 

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Hospital for the Broken…

5-minute-friday-1Five Minute Friday…No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation.  Unscripted. Unedited. Real.

Today’s Word Prompt is “Broken”.
GO.

(This is a true story!)

She stumbles in, bruised, bleeding, badly beaten. “I am innocent, please take me in. They falsely accuse me and seek  my very life.”

“This is The Church, a hospital for the Broken, we can help you, please come inside.”

“Lord, shouldn’t we read her the Ten Commandments, show her all the rules, the ‘thou-shalt-nots’?”

“Love her, let her grow, love her some more.” He says, with pain and remembrance in His eyes.

The Church stands beside her. They do as the Lord commands. They love her, they do not condemn, nor do they judge her. She blossoms under the compassion and attention. She grows daily from the diet of the Word.

It isn’t long before she is ready to face her accusers. Acquitted she comes back to “The Hospital”.

But she is no longer “Broken”.

She is now a Wounded Healer.

She stands at the door and greets the Broken, “This is The Church, a hospital for the Broken, we can help you, please come inside…”

STOP.

 

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You Are For Me…

Today I am thrilled to share with you my dear friend Glenda Alphin, missionary to Finland! She and her husband Mark, and daughters Candace and Miranda, are “people-builders” in a foreign land. They are seeking to enlarge God’s Kingdom. Please visit their website, Reaching Finland. There is so much information there about what they do, how they do it and the people that they are reaching for the Kingdom. And the pictures! The beautiful pictures! We have had the pleasure to visit them in Helsinki, it is just breathtaking, with lots and lots of snow! Be blessed by the ministry of Glenda Alphin…

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It’s 3:45 a.m. in Finland, and I’m awake at this time for the second day in a row. I can always tell when we’re entering a new season, or a spiritual growth spurt, because God and I usually get more talk-time during the midnight hours. I’m set with candles burning, a hot cup of tea, and my journal — so here we go.

The idea for this blog started ruminating back toward the beginning of June after I watched a sweet young friend of mine being filled with the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. The peace that filled her heart, soul, and mind was almost tangible. Her eyes softened and her face changed somehow. But, the experience before she reached that point, where salvation became real and personal, was completely gut-wrenching to watch. We all have painful, life experiences. Some are more serious than others, but no matter the situation, our situations can make life difficult to endure.

Fast forward a week later, when this same young lady endured another trial of a lifetime. The pain and agony of deep, hurtful emotion was almost more than I could watch or bear. But what kept running through my mind was this: imagine her response if God had not filled her with His Spirit, and she had not been buried in the waters of baptism, just one week before. It was then that the song, “I know that you are for me” started running through my head. I knew it would turn into a blog, but didn’t have the words for it until now. The thought is simple, but the concept is deeper than any of us really understand.

When I look back over the last 10 years, I marvel at where we are versus where we were in 2003. Ten years ago last month, we sold our home and started on the missions journey to Finland; it took us about 7.5 years to arrive once that process started. So many things have happened since that time… let’s just say, there’s been a whole lot of water flow under our bridge of life, and there’s sure to be a whole lot more.

There have been a lot of times that we’ve wished we could skip a test or trial, a sickness or sadness. To say that pioneering a Oneness work in Finland is a cake walk would definitely be a lie.

Hard? Yes. Lonely sometimes? Absolutely.

Wish we could throw in the towel? No. Why? Because He’s for us. Romans/Kirje roomalaisille 8:31b says, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (KJV)

Every one of you could tell your own story right now. No matter the circumstance, we’ve all had times where we felt like sitting in a puddle of tears because life reached up and slapped us in the face. But we who have chosen to trust our Creator know this: whether it be sickness, job loss, death, loss of a friend, enduring persecution of any sort, a spiritual growth, trial, etc., one thing remains true: God is for us.

One of the things that I’ve told my young friend during Bible studies is this: “If you had been the only one on the earth, Jesus would have still given His life for you. He loves you that much.”

Friend, He would have done the same for you. He loves you that much. Today might seem impossible to bear. Your past may be too painful to consider. You may be afraid to consider the future. But all of the mental exercises become unnecessary once you stop and realize that, if you’d let Him, Jesus would carry all of your burdens for you.

Philippians/Kirje filippiläisille 4:7 says, “And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (MKJV) It’s a very real peace. I’ve experienced it more times than I can count, and I’ve watched the faces of other people as it has washed over their hearts and minds.

He’s for you.

We have friends here in Finland who are afraid to acknowledge God. Afraid to acknowledge that He can help them with their problems. Afraid to acknowledge that He might even be real, because then, they would have to acknowledge that they don’t know anything about Him. Or, they’re afraid to acknowledge that there might be more to Him, because that would require a theology shift in their mindset. The sad thing is that one day, they’ll have to acknowledge Him whether they want to or not.

And by then, it will be too late.

Why go through life alone? Why ignore the One who loved you more than life itself? “We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin. So we can go confidently to the throne of God’s kindness to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time.” (Hebrews/Kirje heprealaisille 4:15, 16)

If I could reach through the computer and shake you somehow, try to convince you that He loves you, I would. But instead, I have to hope that my words will have that effect somehow. Friend, please believe me, He’s for you.

Jesus, thank you for being for me. Thank you for loving me, caring for me, for continually reaching for me. Thank you for constantly reminding me that You’re watching over me, providing for me, taking care of me. It’s your love that enables me to go through each day of this life, and I can’t imagine living it without you.

 

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