My devotion time

One of my prayers at night is that I am given wisdom in each situation I'm in. Especially homeschooling, but in all the battles I face each day. How do I get through them?

Proverbs 16:16 “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:13

And each day, I most certainly do.  But do I apply it?  Not always. I feel like God is pressing all kinds of things at me... and most are repetitious. But I am not always focused. 

I not only have gotten some good things from Psalms, Proverbs, and devotionals, but from the kids' bible stories too!  Sonlight does a really good job making connections between their books and selections. So it is not by chance that both a bible passage we read today and a story of a missionary were about the importance of prayer. Today we talked about Ahab and how the prophet Elijah had warned him that there would be famine in the land. Ahab paid no attention to him, but after awhile he saw that indeed there was no rain. So he searched for him for three years, never to find him. God sent Elijah back to tell Ahab there would be rain. (The full passage is in 1 Kings 17 & 18) Story short... Elijah went up to the mountain top to pray for rain. 

⁴¹ And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” ⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. ⁴³ And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. ⁴⁴ And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” ⁴⁵ And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

So, an "Aha" moment. Again. 
Prayer.
Seven times he prayed!

I'm so quick to pray once, and then be disappointed that my prayer wasn't answered.  The other story we read was about this man who prayed for several years for missionaries to come and deliver the gospel to his and other children.. the only problem was they lived far away in the jungle, and it was not in the missionaries territories. They would travel 80-100 miles one way to plead with the missionaries. After years of praying, it finally happened. They didn't give up.

I was reading my devotional the other day called A Confident Heart by Renee Swope.  The title was "Praying With Confidence" and the scripture was 1 John 5:14

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

 This is also the same verse that was spoken in church this last week. In the devotional she talked about taking scriptures from the Bible and turning them into powerful prayers. Using Gods word as a guide gave her a new sense of confidence and direction when she didn't know what to say. If you think about it, praying scriptures should give us confidence because we are praying Gods will when we are praying Gods word! Hebrews 4:12 says that Gods word is alive & active. We can ask God to show us verses that we can pray each day so that we can see His word come alive in our circumstances and become active in our lives.  What verses has God been showing you?

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lords glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.                       2 Corinthians 3:18

You armed me with strength for battle. Psalm 18:39