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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!

Hope because Christ came and hope because He is coming back 🙂

Isn’t that what Jesus gave us: Hope. He came and made it possible for us to have a real relationship with God Now, because God IS with us 🙂

He Saved us from ourselves! And because He did, we get to go to Heaven 🙂

And He is coming back-soon! And when He gets here, so many will kneel in joy! And there will be no more fighting, no more worries and fears, only joy and peace-forever!

And that my friends, is so worth waiting for!

Have a truly Happy and Holy Christmas!

Thank You Jesus!

“You don’t need to be certain to Pray,
just start a conversation with God”

We don’t spend enough time in church learning How To Pray.  And that is so important.  Talking with our Lord and listening,  and building that friendship – it all matters so much!  

And just like on earth, building a friendship requires time.  Trust is built over time, and so it is with God.

However, although we are more than willing to put in the time, we sometimes we run out of words to say.  We’ve listened all we can and we’ve said everything we can think of, but we want to spend more time with God :).

  That is when “set” prayers like the Our Father are so helpful.  Because we can say them over and over.  And God knows that saying them is  our way of reaching out to Him when we have run out of words. We also need to say the Rosary.  Our Blessed Mother Mary has been such a great example and help for all of us and always leads us back to Jesus :).

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Yes, Joseph knew 🙂

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ^[a] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed^[b] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” -Matthew 1:18-21

He was so obedient to God, that when the flight to Egypt took place, He never hesitated!

“ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

“When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” – Matthew 2:13-15

Joseph was hand-picked by God to be Jesus’ earthly father. That says a lot right there! It’s so hard to give Joseph the declaration He deserves. How He loved Jesus, for He loved Him beyond all! He was his little boy! How he loved Mary. Doing for her all of the things our own husbands do for us!

I always think of Joseph as a man of quiet faith, strong faith and overwhelming love. When I need to be stronger in trusting and obeying God, it’s Joseph I turn to :). Never putting Himself forward, He always made sure that Mary and Jesus had what they needed.

A carpenter from Nazereth, he spent hours teaching Jesus and loving him, and talking with him and giving Him all that He had.

Joseph made Mary’s life so much easier! From physically helping Her, to praying with Her, to holding Her when She was scared. Joseph was her earthly partner in all She did. How wonderful was He!

And He spent hours upon hours with Jesus. Teaching Him, loving Him, carrying Him. He gave Him so many hugs and smiles :). And Jesus loved Him so! No matter how difficult the circumstances, Joseph always put Jesus first and Jesus knew it! Just as Jesus knew that Joseph gave Him everything He had.

Thank You Joseph for saying Yes!