I agree with what my friend Tom says here about showing emotion in the pulpit.
How to Read the Whole Bible in 2014
If you need a Bible reading plan I’m sure you’ll find one here.
Barnabas Piper helps us make an important distinction.
Your Most Courageous Resolution for 2014
Jon Bloom invites us to make the most courageous or resolutions in 2014.
This will blow your mind:
(HT: 22 Words)
I thought it might be beneficial to give everyone a quick rundown of how this will work.
Every Morning
Lord willing, every morning before 9am ET, I will post to the Facebook group a status including a verse, a short commentary, and a sample prayer. Your task will be to comment on that status with your own prayer or simply “like” the post as a means of accountability. It also can get a little confusing in the Facebook group—so I will pin the daily prayer so it is the first thing that you see.
I am thankful for several volunteers that have written prayers and short devotions for their daughter (s). We have people from all walks of life. Some of you are praying for an expectant child while others are praying for adult children. I’ve received prayers from a wide range of parents. Praying for your daughter is different than praying for your wife. For one, you might have several daughters and only one wife. For the sake of consistency we will write the prayers in the singular. You can switch it to plural if you have more daughters. It’s impossible to write widely enough and still be coherent. Therefore, adapt the prayers as you deem necessary.
I also challenge you to pray for the other parents in this group. Rather than just praying a general prayer, I would encourage you to click on the link that reveals our group members. Pick 5-10 random people and pray specifically for these men and women that they would be the mothers and fathers that God calls them to be, and that they would find their lasting satisfaction in God.
Blog Followers
There have also been a few people that have indicated they would like to accept this prayer challenge but are not on Facebook. Have no fears. Simply follow Borrowed Light and I’ll post the verse, commentary, and sample prayer before 9:00am ET every day.
For your accountability you can simply comment on the blog post. I’ll commit to praying for those that comment…and if you see other parents commenting on the blog post be sure to pray for them as well.
Keep It Going
I would also encourage you to keep inviting your friends. Furthermore, I want to encourage you to interact with one another throughout this challenge. Feel free to post some of your struggles. Post answers to our prayers. And please give us even more specific prayers.
Let’s stand in awe of how God is going to change our hearts and work and move in our lives through His gift of prayer.
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus…
There is great value in making a list of pros and cons when trying to make a decision. But I’m convinced that it’s not decisive. Consider Paul.
He could have likely made a list of a hundred reasons why he shouldn’t have been an apostle. He could have been just like Moses and gave the Lord a thousand reasons why he isn’t the man for the job. And those thousand reasons would have been just as valid as that of Moses. And they would have mattered just as little as they did that day by the burning bush.
You see, God always carries the trump card. If he plays it on the “pro” side or the “con” side it doesn’t matter what—or how many things—are on the other side of that list. God wins.
When you are pressed with a decision remember that.
Not Mysticism…
I’m not advocating some sort of mystical hide and seek with the Lord. As I read through the Scriptures I don’t see him playing that way. Fundamentally, I believe the Lord speaks to us through His Word.
In other words, you can make a list of 250 reasons why you ought to shack up with your girlfriend before marriage. And each of those reasons might seem very good. But at the end of the day God, through His Word, has already played the trump card on the other side.
But there are other times when God’s Word doesn’t tell us specifically what to do. There wasn’t a Bible verse that told me to marry my wife. I had plenty of guidance about what type of woman I should pursue. I had counsel form Scripture to seek counsel from others. But at the end of the day we have to rely on God’s ability to communicate to us His desire.
God always carries the trump card.
You disobey that and he has a way of turning every one of those perceived pros into a con. At the end of the day, I want to have a heart that believes that whatever side the Lord is on (no matter how difficult) that is the side that I want to be on. I want to delight when God lays that trump card on the table. I want to delight because His way is always better and everything He does is for our good and His glory.
In August we launched the Pray For Your Wife challenge, in October we completed the Pray For Your Son challenge. Starting on January 1st we will begin 31 days of praying for our daughters.
Just as with the P4W and the P4S challenge this will help our prayers to have a FACE:
If you also need these things and want to pray for your daughter, here are steps to join.
First, join the Pray For Your Daughter: 31 Day Challenge Facebook group. It is a closed group so you’ll have to ask for an invite. If you have any problems email me ( mike [at] fbjasper [dot] org )
Secondly, get the word out. Retweet this post. Like it on Facebook. Do whatever you can to involve more and more men and women.
Lastly, volunteer. I will not be writing all of these prayers. That is were you come in. If you want to help write a few prayers for your daughter, then sign up.
How Will it Work?
Every day I will post a particular focus for our prayers along with a sample prayer. You can comment with your own prayers, etc. Also you will be challenged to “like” that status if you prayed for your daughter that day, as a means of accountability. My hope is that we create a little community where we can pray for our daughters, share our concerns, pray for one another as parents, etc.
I also would love to share testimonies of what the Lord does through our prayers for our daughters.
Don’t worry if your daughter is 5 months old or 65 years old, she still needs prayer.
Will you join us?
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UPDATE: Sorry about the confusing references to “sons”. I did a cut and paste job that I thought I had edited but apparently something didn’t save correctly or I didn’t edit correctly. Should be fixed now.