Dinosaur Land feels benign, happy--even at the points of King Kong and the giant shark--until one suddenly walks up on the epic battle. In this corner of Dino Land, beasts bare their teeth, chomp, puncture, bleed, die.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex wins over and over, it would seem, but it acts merely according to its nature. It can't help having a big appetite, sharp teeth, violent tendencies. And--against the Triceratops, at least--it doesn't come away unscathed.
This would be the point at which I confess: sometimes I feel involved in an epic battle of my own, and I'm not...at least not against my own kind. I'm not a meat-eating dinosaur. I'm not a dinosaur, at all. I am (or should be) in control of my actions and words. Whenever I'm not, others suffer. I suffer. Thus, my prayer for today:
Heavenly Father, help me remember: according to Your Word, I don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Help me take a deep breath. Help me remember to pray before confronting or criticizing anyone. Help me know when to walk away or how to best approach someone with whom I disagree. Make me better and more for Your kingdom, and I pray the same for my brothers and sisters reading here. Help us shine Your light and not hinder Your work by getting caught up in unnecessary conflict. In Your Son's perfect and holy name I pray, amen.
Now it's your turn! Would you like to participate in an old-fashioned prayer meeting of the blogosphere? Here are some ideas:
- You can pray about my prayer request.
- You can share a prayer request by means of a comment.
- You can share a prayer request on your personal blog and direct me to your post by means of a comment.
- You can pray about a participant's prayer request.
- You can write a prayer about my, your, or someone else's prayer request (in comments hither or yon, on your blog, etc.). If your prayer is somewhere other than this place, please direct me as you can and will.
- You can join in praying my or someone else's prayer.
- You can share an update regarding a prayer request you've made here, in the past.
Thank you again for being here, and I hope to see you next week, if not before.
" Help me remember to pray before confronting or criticizing anyone." This is what I need to pray, too. I'm finding there is that little voice telling me to shut up/keep my mouth closed in certain situations, and when I listen, it ends up okay - and when I tell that voice to shut up --- disaster.
ReplyDeleteDear God, I pray for myself and for Brandee and for everyone else needing some self-control these days, or really everyday. There really is no self-control when it comes down to it because we will eventually fail at that. Therefore, God, would You please keep pestering us with Your still small voice so that we would be controlled by Your Spirit? So that we would be filled with love, peace, patience, gentleness and self-control (and all the other parts of Your fruit I am forgetting). In Jesus' name. Amen.
Agreeing with you in this prayer, Amanda. Fruits of the Spirit, yes.
DeleteI'll pray that this whole enterprise will be blessed.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chris. It's a blessing to have you among us.
DeleteThank You, Lord, for even moving Brandee to pray a prayer that honors You so much. You say that if we ask anything according to Your will You hear us, and if we know that You hear whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we have asked of You. Her prayer is so clearly according to Your will revealed in Your Word that I think You for answering her prayer, both now and in the days to come.
ReplyDeleteAnd Father God, won't You please keep healing my little nephew J from his trampoline accident injuries and let there be no permanent dental complications? Also, please give his daddy a better fitting job where he can thrive to Your glory, and love on him like crazy during the job search.
Thank You, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you, Christina. You're so good to me.
DeleteFather, adding my prayers to Christina's for her nephew and his complete and rapid healing. Asking your blessings upon this family. Praying for peace, provision, closeness. In Jesus's name, amen.