one of the things i love the most about the holidays is getting together with our families and just the way people seem to cheer up during this part of the year...i remember going to my MaMa Gladys's house every Christmas and eating mexican food...you never knew who would show up and whether they would be ex's or adopted into our family or in law's...maybe some of you had those types of families too...the food would be prepared and it would be piled up on the dining room table and all over the kitchen...the plates were set and silver ware on the table...drinks were made...we would all gather in the dining room and gather around the table to pray...that's what i loved the most...MaMa would start praying and you could hear the love and desire to serve God in her voice...she would pray for Johnny, her lost son, and she would pray that God would just give her one more year, but if he didn't she was ready to go....then she would always thank God for her family and how they were serving God in some capacity at the time...tears would fall off her aged face and those tears were real as they get...
it was real and i know God heard her prayer...Johnny is now in church and back on the right track with God...She is 95 years old and if you ask her how she is making it she will tell you, after she gripes about us not coming to see her often enough, God is seeing her through...
i know she has spent countless hours praying for each of us...i know my mother has spent countless hours praying for me and my brother...then as she became a grandmother, she prays more now than ever...
1 Thes. tells us to "pray continually"....
do we pray and speak with God? do we take the time to talk to our Maker? does God hear you prayer? who do you pray for? when you comment on a post asking for prayers, do you do it?
i think sometimes we take it for granted...i once heard a cool way to look at prayer...
it was known as the A.C.T.S. of prayer...
Adoration - tell God how great he is
Confession - confess you shortcomings and sin
Thanksgiving - tell him what you are thankful for
Supplication - give him you list of requests
it is a different way of looking at it...too many times we just take God our laundry list of prayers...
Challenge:
Complete the A.C.T.S. of prayer by yourself and really think about what you are doing.
Challenge 2:
Complete the A.C.T.S. of prayer with you family tonight as a group.
Families that Pray together, Stay together...
justinpresley1977@gmail.com
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