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Prayer Requests 5-19-23

It’s Friday, so please remember to pray for Mumsee, Mike, and the Nestlings.

Anyone else?

Psalm 119:1-16

א Aleph

1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
    who walk according to the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes
    and seek him with all their heart—
3 they do no wrong
    but follow his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts
    that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
    in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
    when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
    as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees;
    do not utterly forsake me.

ב Beth

9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
    By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
    do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
    teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
    all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
    as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
    and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
    I will not neglect your word.

10 thoughts on “Prayer Requests 5-19-23”

  1. Kizzie, I am wondering if it is for salvation or restoration that I am suppose to be praying for your girls. Did they previously give indication when they were younger that they were believers? Have they just fallen away from the faith? In doing my Bible study in Ezekiel this morning, I read verse 34:16 and your girls came to mind.

    Liked by 3 people

  3. Janice – I used to pray for restoration of their faith. But since being exposed to, and learning more about, the Reformed faith, I have switched to praying for their salvation.

    One belief, associated with “Arminianism” (I put it in quotation marks because some denominations that are assumed to be Arminian are not fully so, not the stereotype, like my own denomination) is that one can be truly saved and then walk away (i.e. lose their salvation). But Reformed folks point out that we cannot lose our salvation, as Jesus says that He will not lose any that the Father gives to Him, so that those who seemed to be saved and then walked away weren’t really saved in the first place.

    But then there is the verse about how it will be worse for those who once believed and then left the faith, which kind of seems more on the “Arminian” side.

    So I guess I err on the side of caution, and pray for their salvation. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. And some believers can also stray for periods in their lives — and yet are, indeed, saved. Despite doubts and wanderings that take them from the fold, they will assuredly return to the faith. But those cases do leave us in a state of “not knowing” until then, and that is so hard with loved ones we care so much about.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. I don’t think there are normally big gaps in that salvation process, but it seems there can be wanderings that will raise questions until the full return & embrace occurs. ?

    Those are the secret things of God, though.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Thank you for explaining Kizzie. I think that at some point in the past that you have asked for prayer that the Holy Spirit would motivate (maybe) NG to move on something and it confused me because I think the Holy Spirit works with unbelievers from the outside to draw them to belief in Jesus, but does not indwell and motivate from an inwardly influence on them concerning other things. Just hoping for better understanding as I continue in prayer.

    Will pray for an excellent result from the induction, Mumsee. God bless you all during the waiting.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Janice – It seems to me that the Holy Spirit can move upon an unbeliever’s mind for the sake of a believer, if that makes sense. An example is how He will put “favor” for a believer in the mind/heart of an unbeliever or cause an unbeliever to change their mind in a way that benefits a believer. Does that make sense?

    In a different vein, God moved upon Pharaoh’s heart to harden it.

    (I am not saying that I would stand on this as a theological point, but it is something that I have heard about through various anecdotes from Christians I have known, and seems possible to me.)

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Mindy Belz on Twitter:

    ~ Four days after my husband died of cancer in March, Tim Keller sent a kind note from the hospital, and four days after that Steve Smallman gave the benediction at my husband’s service, and now all three are gone and the world feels tilted and strange, the compass points missing. ~

    Liked by 2 people

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