Prayer of Blessing

Thursday, February 27, 2014



In Ephesians 1: 16-19 we see the apostle Paul offers a prayer for the Ephesians.
 I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.
 He first praises their strong faith and their love for God’s people everywhere. Then he prays for their spiritual wisdom and insight so that they might grow in their knowledge of God. Next he prays for their hearts to be flooded with light so that they could understand the confident hope that God has given them. Finally he prays that they would know God’s great power. Paul reminds the Ephesians that the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead was available to them.

If God’s power was available to the Ephesians, isn’t it available to us today? Of course, it is. We don’t always call on his mighty power to help us to overcome our life challenges. The God that Paul describes is the same God we worship today. He is far above “any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else.” God can do powerful things through us. Why don’t we ask him to help us do the hard things? Why don’t we consistently invoke his power when we need to make tough choices?

In his prayer Paul prays for the Ephesians to know God better. Paul knew that if the these believers got to know God better, they would grow, have more hope and would trust God’s power in their lives. Perhaps if we know God better we will trust him with both our little and big issues. How do we get to know people better? We spend time with them. We talk to them. We read about them. We can know God better by doing these same things.

Paul’s prayer of blessing for the Ephesians serves as an inspiration for us. What an honor it would be for someone to pray for me to have spiritual insight, to be flooded with God’s light, and to understand the greatness of God’s power.

I recently asked one of my Bible study classes to use this to pray for each other. Each woman prayed for another woman for a week. I revised the prayer to make it personal. The results were heartwarming. Women felt honored and blessed to be prayed for, but the women all agreed that the greatest blessing was found in praying for a sister in Christ, lifting her up and believing that God was doing a great work in that sister’s life.
Consider praying this prayer over those in your life who could use some encouragement.

·         I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.
·         I pray that your heart will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
·         I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Valentine's Day

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine Trivia


  • 2nd Highest Card Sending Holiday. The greeting card association estimates that approximately one billion Valentine's are sent annually world-wide, making it the second highest card sending holiday, behind Christmas.
  • Meaning of the Word Valentine. The name Valentine comes from the Latin word valor, meaning worthy.
  • Name for Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day was named for two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine who were associated with romantic love in the middle ages.
  • Official Holiday. St. Valentine's Day was declared an official holiday in 1537 when England's King Henry VIII declared it for the first time.
  • Unmarried Valentine's. In the Middle Ages, people believed that the first unmarried person of the opposite sex that they met on the morning of Valentine's Day was the person they were destined to marry.
  • Valentine Celtic Wooden Spoons. The ancient Celtic tradition of giving hand carved wooden love spoons as Valentine's gifts began in Wales. Often, hearts, keys, and keyholes, symbolizing that the receiver unlocked the giver's heart, were carved as decoration on the spoon.
  • Valentine Love Messages. Elaborate handmade love messages, cards and gifts for Valentine's Day became popular during the 17th century.
  • Women Card Buyers. The greeting card association estimates that 85% of all Valentine cards are purchased by women.   

     I love Valentine's Day and enjoy telling my loved ones how much they mean to me. Our family celebrates this holiday on the Sunday before Valentine's Day each year. We call it a "Love Feast." We exchange cards or small tokens of love and enjoy a delicious meal at the dining room table that's all decorated in red and white. 


    The greatest love we all have is from the creator of  love, our Heavenly Father. God IS love. He gave us the best symbol of love when he sent his son to earth to live as a man and then die for our eternal salvation. Jesus' entire ministry on earth was devoted to acts of love and his greatest desire for us is to love Him and to love each other.
    Someone cleverly created this special Valentine message.

























    Jesus wants us to be his Eternal Valentine!

 
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