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Ten Lepers Cleansed

“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan

“So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”-Luke 17:11-19

I always thought how hurtful that must have been. How ungrateful that was. Jesus healed all ten because He loved each of them! But only one came back to say Thank You! After I read the story of the Ten Lepers and how many did not say thank you, I realized I always wanted to be the person that came back to say thank you. So when my prayers are answered, I always do.

I can’t explain what a wonderful difference that has made in my faith. I just wanted to give God my thanks so that He would know how grateful I was. But those “thanks” have always been a gift to me as well. Because they have cemented the knowledge that all of the good things I receive come from God 🙂

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Ending our prayers with “Thy Will Be Done” makes all the difference. And when we start them, we need to accept that God’s answer may be “Yes”. But it may also be “No” or “Not Yet”.

There is a very real difference between what we want and what we need. In addition, we can only see the short-term, but God sees the long term.

And God sees something else we don’t, God sees all of the people and how they are effected by our prayer. So when God answers, “No” or “Not Yet”, it’s because it’s not the right thing for us, but sometimes it’s just not the right thing for someone else. God weighs how our Prayers will effect everyone!

Praying God’s Will Be Done is the same as saying to God, I Trust you. I know that you love me, just as I know that whatever choices you make for me will be the best ones :).

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Welcome every Follower of Christ from Qatar! The Church of Our Lady was built in Qatar in 2008. It was the first Catholic church built since the “seventh century”. It was built from “contributions  from Catholics throughout the Arabian Peninsula.” Here is a link to the: Photo. And a link to more information: Information

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Garage Door

Short prayers are so important. Perhaps the most important. Because short prayers are the ones we often pray throughout the day. But they keep us in touch with Jesus. Connected to Him.

They build our faith. They keep our hearts and minds focused on God so that we stay connected to God throughout the day.

“Short” prayers can be “please”, “help”, “thank you”. They can be for big things or small. We might need help at work or be looking for our keys. We may have gotten in a car accident or we may be late for work. God cares about all the happenings of our life, big and small.

Perhaps we just want to say Thank You for the sunrise and it’s beauty. Or the beauty of water that we cross on our way to work. Perhaps we want to say Thank You for the beauty of the sun on the snow. Perhaps we just want to Thank God for the fact that we made it to our children’s school and then to work. Perhaps we just want His Help making our home a cozy sanctuary.

I know I needed His Help lifting a few things at home so I could clean a little. And I needed His Help to get the laundry done. And God Helped me. I needed His Help to send some items via UPS and a friend called right then and offered to take me. God does answer prayers, but we need to ask Him!

God still performs miracles, big and small, everyday! We just need to ask Him and believe :).

And we just need to recognize them 🙂

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

There are many who are newer to praying. Their conversation may be shorter and that is absolutely okay. But that is when set prayers are so helpful.

A great way to pray is to read the Bible. Everytime we do, we say a prayer and God smiles 🙂 We always need to read the Bible with the Help of the Holy Spirit. And when we ask the Holy Spirit to Help us read the Bible, He will be so glad that we did 🙂

A great “set” prayer is the “Our Father”. Jesus taught us how to pray to our Father-God. And if we have run out of words and listening, this is a great prayer!

Our Father:

“Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory. Amen.”

Another great prayer is the Rosary! Mary has been such a great Gift to us all. She has been such a great help and example, and always leads us back to Jesus.

How do you say the Irish rosary?

1. Make the Sign of the Cross and say the “Apostles’ Creed.” The Apostles’ Creed.
2. Say the “Our Father.”
3. Say three “Hail Marys.”
4. Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
5. Announce the First Mystery; then say the “Our Father.”
6. Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
7. Say the “Glory be to the Father.”

Hair Mary:

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. 
Amen.

Glory Be To The Father:

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

There is also a an Irish Protestant set prayer: “O LORD Jesus Christ, who as a child didst learn, and didst grow in wisdom; Grant us so to learn thy Holy Word, that we may walk in thy ways and daily grow more like unto thee, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.”

There is also a German Lutheran Prayer that reminds us to say Thank You!
I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You.

“Set prayers” tell God that although we have run out of words and we have listened as well as we can, we would still like to keep praying! They tell God how much we love Him and that we want to be closer to Him.

“Set Prayers” also offer us the wonderful opportunity of praying with each other! In our Holy Bible it says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This is so true and such a real comfort. Saying “set” prayers allows us to easily pray with another Christian or a group of Christians! How wonderful to know t hat Jesus is in the “midst” of us 🙂

There is also one more thing to remember. We can ask the Holy Spirit to pray with us. Even to pray for us. Set prayer or not, we are reaching out to our Lord and the Holy Spirit can truly Help us to do that!

One last word on set prayers. Whatever prayers we pray, we need to sincerely focus on them. It’s easy to let our minds wander to all the things going on or that we need to do on this earth. But this is our time that we spend with God, we need to spend it with Him!

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

We don’t often think of obedience as a part of prayer. But prayer is a two way street! We share and God shares. If we are Blessed enough that God actually tells us something we should do-then we need to do it!

Often we pray seeking God’s Will for our lives. If we are so Blessed as to hear His answer; we need to obey it!

It is such a Gift when God answers us while we are praying. And as we pray, we need to remember that we are praying to the God who created the entire world! The mountains, the oceans, the planet, the starts, the animals and…us! What a privilege it is to kneel before the King of it all, the Creator of it all! If God tells us to do anything; we need to do it!

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

One way we “listen to God” is when we pray. We pour out all of our thoughts and feelings, we ask Him what His will is for us in a certain situation(s). We bring to Him our “needs” We ask God what choices we should make.

But before we can truly hear some of God’s answers on what choices we should make, we need to truly surrender to God. Surrender is when we give ALL of ourselves, all of our wants, our needs, our feelings, our choices…everything we are to God. We let Him know that every choice in our lives belongs to Him.

We need to be willing to accept God’s answer, even if it is No or Not Yet. Not with resentment or disappointment, but with Peace. God’s Peace.

A pretty tall order! For example, are we willing to be poor, to be alone, to be sick…Surrendering to God doesn’t mean we will be any of those things, but it does mean we will be “willing” to be, if that is God’s Will for us.

Such a complete “surrender” needs prayer. Below are prayers that we can use, but we can also find or make our own:

The Surrender Novena: Let Jesus Take Care of Everything

Healing Prayer of Surrender

In order to truly hear God’s voice, we need to let God know that we will truly listen to and obey Him. And once we truly surrender to God, we will hear His Voice.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

There is a quote from a Christian song, “before you bring your needs, bring your heart”. How true! God wants to hear our needs. All of them. Big and small. But God wants to hear more than that!

He wants to hear about the happenings of our day and how we feel about them. He wants to hear about the happy parts of our day. And a thank you doesn’t hurt either! He also wants to hear about the hard parts of our day. About our fears and worries. God wants to hear about those we love, and those we don’t. In other words, God wants to hear about it all from our perspective!

And then God wants to hear about our needs – great and small! Perhaps someone we love is sick; perhaps we are sick. Perhaps we, or someone we know, needs a job. Perhaps one of our children needs to correct the path they are on. The list is endless!

Perhaps we are concerned about the welfare of a country, or those in it. Our God created this world; He can help one country in it! Or the people in it! There is no prayer too big for God.

There is a tendancy among some to think that they should only ask God for help with “big” things. They don’t want to “bother” God. But this is simply not true. God wants to be “bothered”! So if we need help with our day, a babysitter for our child, milk for our children, help with cooking dinner or growing our garden…God loves us more than we can imagine. We can ask Him anything and because He loves us, He will help us, if it is His Will for us.

And perhaps that is the most important point. As we are finishing our prayers, we need to end them with “Thy Will Be Done”. Sometimes we pray about what we want. Of course, we do! And God is happy to hear all of our prayers! But God knows more about what is needed than we do, so sometimes God has to say “No” or “Not Yet” for our own good and/or for the good of those we love. This is where Trust comes in. We need to Trust that God Loves us and knows what is best for us in the short run and the long run.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Many of us pray, but we need to pray more, and with more focus. Jesus is our Savior, but He is also our best friend! He cares about everything in our lives, big and small! He cares about those we love and He Loves Us 🙂

So often, we are so busy, that we don’t really devote enough time or focus to building our prayer life. And when we fail to do so, we let fears and emotions like anger creep into our lives. God can’t work through anger.

Sadly, our churches do not teach “How to Pray” too often. And yet, prayer may be one of the most important teachings we could share. How do we pray?

I heard someone say recently, “We don’t have to be certain, we just have to begin a conversation with God”. And perhaps that is the best way.

More experienced prayors will be able to have a very long conversation with God. They will tell God about their entire day. The things that made them happy and the things that made them sad. Their hopes and dreams, both for themselves and those they love. They will ask God to help both them and those they love.

Listening. Then there is listening to God. Something very, very important, but often forgotten. Prayer is a conversation between God and us. It helps us to build our relationship with God. But part of that conversation is listening to God.

Obedience. If God tells us to do something, we need to do it. ASAP. Joseph and Mary were so good at trusting God and obeying Him-immediately. We need to do the same!

There are many who are newer to praying. Their conversation may be shorter and that is absolutely okay. But that is when set prayers are so helpful. And a great way to pray is to read the Bible. Everytime we do, we say a prayer and God smiles. We can also pray “set prayers”. A “set” prayer is a prayer such as the Our Father that Jesus taught us. Set prayers tell God that although we have run out of words and we have listened as well as we can, we would still like to keep praying! They tell God how much we love Him and that we want to be closer to Him.

Short Prayers: Often, especially as our work day progresses, we do not have time for a long conversation or set prayers. This is when short prayers are so helpful. Maybe our prayer will be a simple Thank You. Or maybe our day is going badly, so our prayer will simply be a cry for help. Perhaps we were hit with doubts, and our prayer will simply be “Please grant me faith, thank you.”. Whatever our short prayers are thoughout the day, they are really important. Because they help us to maintain our relationship with God throughout the day. They will strengthen us and steady us. And they will help our faith grow.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

God does not want war for us, for any of us. The last war fought for a long time on U.S. soil was the Civil War. A controversial topic for many, to say the least.

But stepping away from the cause, let us think about the suffering that took place on U.S. soil. We have gone through so many other wars, WWI, WWII, the Vietnam War… and yet none of these “other” wars took place on U.S. Soil. Our women and children were not killed. Our homes were not destroyed. Our jobs were still there. We still ate and there was still water to drink. Doctors could still be found.

But in a war that takes place in a country, none of that remains true. Horrible suffering exists for all. There is not enough food or water. Doctors can not always be found. Electricity can be destroyed, leaving many cold or hot. People freeze to death. People starve to death. There are many who wander aimlessly, having just lost too much. Water is short. People are sick.

And fear and anger run rampant.

We need to pray that if a war ever breaks out on U.S. soil, we will keep Praying and Love each other well. We need to keep Trusting God. And above all, we need to keep our Faith in Jesus.

For Jesus is coming back soon!