Praying the Bible and Psalm 119:1 (and 2 Chronicles 7:14, an everyday prayer)

Note 1 to readers and friends: Every day, I will try to include some blessings counted (with the hopes it inspires you to count your own), additional prayer, thoughts on prayer and the Bible, a devotional of sorts, and the verse to pray the Bible. I will share my areas of sunshine and storm and the lessons I have learned as well. I think you will see there is (or will be) depth to this blog as I hope to inspire you to pray the Bible as well. God bless you.

Note 2 to readers and friends: Each of these prayers are meant to be prayed over and over. They are not meant to be one and done prayers. Hence, this blog can be read in any order and at any time. Each blog post is meant to be timeless for the most part. There are a couple of timely prayers here and there, but I am sure if you read them in the future, they will inspire you to pray for your own prayer and that time regarding the current events of your day.

Lord, thank You for: yesterday, tomorrow, this moment, this day, this week, this month, this year, this decade, this home, this family, and this life. Thank You for every single blessing that surrounds each and for the blessings I will receive today. Help me, Father God, to not miss counting one blessing. The more I count, the more I see You, and the more I am able to see You working my life, around my life, and through my life. It is through Your blessing and favor I see You glory and get to know You all the more.

Thank You for Jesus Christ being born so He could die on the cross and be resurrected, for the forgiveness of my sins, and so I can live in and for eternity with Him.

Thank You for the Bible, Your Word, O Lord.

Thank You for prayer.

And, thank you for teaching me how to pray the Bible more and more each day, and how to get the most out of it as well. To You be the glory.

Father God, You my Rock and Redeemer, my Friend, the Way, The Truth, the Light, the Life, my Father and Daddy, the One Most High, the One and Only. I praise and worship You.

Thank You for a good cup of coffee or tea.

Thank You for breakfast.

Thank You for the feel of sheets as they cocoon me at night.

Thank You for waking to a snuggling grey kitten. Help me to snuggle up to You and Your Word.

Thank You for an orange cat who is hanging out close to me on the sofa and that he is resting so well. Help me rest in You and Your Word.

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Teach me, Father, how to pray the Bible.

Give me the desire and the want to pray and pray the Bible... and to do so all day and night.

Lord, tell me what to pray and when. Put the prayers on my lips, heart, and mind.
Please, Father God, help me to not get sidetracked and to stay on task of praying through Bible 24/7/365 without exception.

I want to begin with this verse first:

A VERSE TO PRAY SEVERAL TIMES A DAY EVERY DAY FOR OUR HOME, NATION, THE CHURCH, AND THE WORLD

2 Chronicles 7:14 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

I will let you form your own prayers around 2 Chronicles 7:14 first. Then, later, I will write a blog post on the verse.

I was serious, by the way. We really need to pray this verse all day long and save our friends, families, homes, neighborhoods, nations, the Church, and the world.

PRAYING THROUGH PSALM 119

As You know, Lord, there is a chapter in the Holy Bible which has been on my heart and mind for years now. I have tried repeatedly to prayer journal about, to blog about it, and pray it through. However, I usually stop. I unfortunately get sidetracked. Needless to be say, I think it is time to pray through the Psalm and learn everything I can about Your Word and prayer. So, here it goes.

Lord, help me pray this Psalm 24/7/365 AND learn as much as I can from it.

PRAYING THE BIBLE AND PSALM 119:1

Father God, help me understand, live/apply, and remember the verses of Your Word. For, if I do, my way will be blameless and I will be happy.

Help me follow Your teachings and instructions, God, so I can be blessed from living a pure and blameless life.

How fortunate, blessed, and happy am I, if I am undefiled, pure, blameless, and mind upright I and minds when I live and walk according to the Bible.

Lord, this verse shows the importance of being in Your Word and praying through it.  If I do, then I will be happy, blessed, and and fortunate. Let me be honest here. I do not think I could ever get enough of any of those, particularly the blessed part. Your favor is everything. Your blessings are what I can count and they will last for eternity.

Father, help me pray the Bible and counting my blessings all day and night long. (I also pray this for all of the areas of prayer on my prayer list.)

Pray about the U.S. presidential elections

Forgive me, friends, for posting two blog posts in one day. However, I think you will learn this about me. If I do, it is for a very good reason and I try not to make a habit of doing so. Please give me grace for this today. However, with what happened last night, I thought it was important for me to address the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections and what happened last night.

Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race.

Donald Trump is now the heir apparent, so to speak.

My husband and I received several emails and texts about this and people wondered how we could be so calm about this. Here is how:

We are voting for a platform, not a person. The Republican platform is the only one that lines up with biblical principles. They do not believe in abortion or socialism or fascism. They call terror terror.

We vote for our president and commander-in-chief, not our pastor-in-chief.

Voting is not about emotions, it is about principles.

We know who is really in charge. God is and no one else. We either trust God or we don't. And, here is a hint. If we say we trust God, and follow with a but, however, or if, or any kind of discourse, then we really don't trust  Him.

None of this is a surprise to God.

Voting for the woman who lied about Benghazi, who refuses to fight terror, and who did not properly handle classified information with her email, and who believes in abortion is not the one we should vote for biblically. If she cannot properly handle our national security, she cannot (and should not) be trusted.

Pray that Trump wins and that he lives and presides over the country with biblical values. Pray this every second of every day. Prayers can and will and do make a difference. We can pray for him so much that he can be the best president ever, regardless of how he appears, if we all take praying seriously, and we should. Then, he could be the best man of God and biblical values in the office. Our prayers can make him that way.

So, stop worrying and fretting and complaining. Pray instead that he becomes a God-fearing, Bible-centered man, who leads with those values and that he makes the U.S. Truly one nation under God again.

This is our obligation. Pray. And, vote for him, not for Hillary, and not a blank ballot. The latter actually give Hillary the vote. Not going to the polls is something we will have to answer to one day. Part of rendering to Caesar is voting. Part of our biblical obligation is voting. So, pray and vote. These are the only two things that can save our nation.

Praying the Bible and Psalm 119:28

Lord, You and your Word have perfect timing. I had no idea I was battling the familiar grief until...

Lord, as You know, I started out praying another verse today. However, I was stopped in my tracks after I read a Christian blog post about Mother's Day. The next thing I knew, I was a sobbing mess, which is rare for me these days, and I had something dawn on me. And, it seems in my times of tears You teach me so wonderfully. I think it is because of the verse I want to pray today.

This thought makes me smile. One that is easily found because I have Your Word tucked in way deep inside so silly emotional moments are short-lived while Your Word, and its impact, are eternal.

Gotta love it when I sit at our dining room table, windows and blinds wide open with multiple houses could look in as I cry. Sheesh. I was too transfixed to move. The blog post got my attention. It was for those who have lost a child or who are childless.

Ugh. I have pulled myself together, Abba. The tears start again. I still sit at the same dining room table. Maybe if I don't sob and just let the tears fall, no one will tell what I'm really doing. Or, why should I care?

Lord, You know how hard Mother's Day around Father's Day is for us, for B (my hubby) and me. It's the days we wish we could lack ourselves away a reminded pretend like it isn't happening. We do not go to church. We try not to make any plans. We just get lost in our own little world.

We do not regret not having kids. We couldn't. And, in many ways, we are at peace we didn't have them. But, there are times we miss what could have been. What should have been. If it wasn't for Eve and that fruit, this would never had been a problem.

I still think it is kind of funny, Lord, how both of us are infertile. Not one. Both. It kind of helps since neither one of us have to feel the guilt since we cannot. We both cannot, so no guilt ever known here. Thank you for that.

There was a verse that got me through the second time IVF didn't work. It comes to mind from time to time still.

It is what held me up after the realization we would never have children of our own. Other than four-leggeds. And, oh how we have invested in them!

What makes Mother's Day particularly difficult this year is how we lost two of our four-leggeds. One at the end of September 2015 and the other at the end of January 2016. Two losses in four months, Lord.

So, Father God, we are childless and have lost two.

Ouch.

I haven't cried about Kara cat, Zack Beagle, or not having children in quite some time. Not a cry like I cried today.

But, that verse, Lord.  That verse came to mind and I realized it is the perfect verse to pray. Particularly  today. Particularly since I am also grieving the pain terrorism has caused. A U.S. Navy SEAL was lost in battle today in Iraq. It is terrible to have to fight war, but terrorists cannot be allowed to torture, rape, and slaughter people like they are. It is necessary to fight this war, but the wounded and deaths that result are terrible losses. I thank You, Lord, for them and their sacrifices so I can sit here blubbering at my dining room table. This loss puts mine into proper perspective.

Lord, I cry for his family, friends, and team. I cry to You to bring comfort and resolve that this war is a just one and that his sacrifice was truly worthwhile and will not be forgotten. I will uphold everyone associated with him in my prayers. His loss. Before Mother's Day... Lord, be with those left behind and bring them this verse...

PRAYING THE BIBLE AND PSALM 119:28

Your Word says how David was weary and heavy and he wept from sorrow and grief. He asked You, Lord, to strengthen and encourage him from and through Your Word and its promises.

Lord, my heart is heavy. Encourage and strengthen me according to the promises of Your Word.

This verse is a prayer and is about the Word. It is a perfect verse to show and display how to pray the Bible and it tells why it is so important to pray the Bible to begin with, God.

Strengthen me by the promises of the Bible, Lord.

My strength is insufficient at best.

I seek real strength. Strength of an all-powerful, all-loving,  ever-present, all-knowing God is truly real strength. And, I get that strength through praying Your Word.

Praying Your Word is like weight training. It's good strength building.

Lord, help me keep turning to the Bible, to You alone, for strength. Your strength, given through praying the Word, is infinitely better than my strength.

Praying the Bible is the answer to everything and everyone.

Thank You, Daddy, for all of this. To You be the glory forever and ever.

Please give Your strength to all associated with the fallen U.S. service member.

Also, give Your strength to all families and friends who have lost loved ones because of terror.

God, encourage and strengthen all of those who have lost a mom, lost a child, or cannot have children.

Anyone hurting today is this crazy, mixed-up world, please let Your beautiful Word encourage them and give them strength.

Strengthen us and encourage us through You Word, Lord. All the time.

Help us to continually seek the Bible to pray all day long so we can continually, moment by moment, be enriched by Your Word.