Category: Prayer

How to Make This a Year of Powerful Prayer

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 12 comments
Prayer is our lifeline to God, a connection we need to hold on to with all our might. Step into a powerful prayer life and know God in a deeper way. [FREE PRAYER GUIDE]

Prayer is our lifeline, an absolute necessity in our daily life, the breath that sustains us whether we realize it or not.

But prayer can be hard. We can’t see it. We can’t touch it. We can’t hold in our hands. Perhaps it’s hard to understand, or we feel discouraged about it. Maybe the busyness of life makes it hard to find the time.

We all have doubts and misunderstandings about things and prayer is no different. To some, it comes naturally. To others of us, it’s been a learning curve, something that’s developed over time, something we’ve had to work at and learn about. Find out more and pick up your FREE PRAYER GUIDE by clicking below.

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Praying the Bible to Renew Your Hope

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer, Praying Scriptures 20 comments
Free Prayer Kit! Pray 6 Bible verses to renew your hope. Study key words in each verse. Learn to write your own powerful prayers using the verses you are studying as a framework.

Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.  ~Oswald Chambers

Friends, prayer matters. Oswald Chambers says it so well in this quote.

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.” -Oswald Chambers

When life is hard, we tend to turn to prayer – or turn away from it. It can go either way, can’t it? It’s easy to lose hope. The Bible tells us we will experience trials and tribulations in this world (John 16:33, Romans 5:3-4, 1 Peter 5:10) and we surely know it from walking these paths, don’t we? So what’s a girl to do when she feels as if she’s loosing hope?

Click below to read more and pick up your free Journeys in Prayer Hope Kit!

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Now is the Right Season for Teaching Your Children to Pray!

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 6 comments
Now is the season to teach your children to pray! Join us as we talk about creative ideas for instilling the habit of prayer.

Have you ever heard the prayers of a young child? Sometimes they are sweet, sometimes they are funny, but one thing is for sure – a young child knows how to believe. It comes naturally to them. This is why now, while they are young, is the best season for helping them learn Biblical truths and develop good habits in their prayer lives. 

Join me today at Lisa Yvonne’s blog, www.gracefulabandon.com, as we discuss teaching children to pray! 

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Empower Your Life with Praise and Thanksgiving! (Part 2)

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 10 comments
Join me for part two of our discussion about the difference between thanksgiving and praise. Find practical resources for adding praise to your prayer life!

Last week we talked about how praise and thanksgiving empowers our life. It’s so exciting to know that such simple things can make such significant differences! It’s also true that misunderstanding certain things can keep us from experiencing all that God intends for us.

This week we’ll continue this discussion and look at some practical resources for adding praise to your prayer life. {{FREE PRINTABLES in our Resource Library!}}

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Empower Your Life with Praise and Thanksgiving!

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 17 comments
Did you know there’s a difference between thanksgiving and praise? Both are essential and can empower your life in many ways you may not realize! Click through to read more!

It’s November, the month we celebrate Thanksgiving, and that always brings to mind themes of thankful hearts and all that God has done. We know we should be sincerely grateful to God for our many blessings, and we are! But sometimes we miss another life changing aspect, and that is the element of praise.

Praise and thanksgiving are closely related and can significantly empower our lives. At the same time, there is a difference between the two, and this important fact was something I missed for a long time. I had always thought that giving thanks was what it meant to praise God. It was not until I realized the difference between thanksgiving and praise that I come to a new place in finding peace in difficult situations and began to experience powerful changes within all areas of my life.

So what’s the difference anyway?

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The Power of Continual Prayer

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer Leave a Comment
Have you ever wondered what it means to pray without ceasing? Do you feel it’s not possible to pray continually? Join us today as we see that an attitude of continual prayer is not only possible, it’s powerful!

Have you ever wondered what it means to pray without ceasing? Do you feel it’s not possible to pray continually? Join me today over at my friend Sarah Geringer’s blog as we see that an attitude of continual prayer is not only possible, it’s powerful!

Here’s a little sneak peak for you! I hope you will click over to Sarah’s blog to finish reading!

Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NIV)

Have you ever wondered about what it really means to pray continually?

On the surface, continual prayer might seem like an impossibility. As much as we would love to have more hours in our days for that sit-down kind of prayer time with Jesus, we have things to do, people to care for, and places to be. But we are clearly told to pray without ceasing. So what does that really mean?

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How to Handle Unrealistic Expectations in Your Prayer Life

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 30 comments
Do you feel frustrated or disillusioned in your prayer life? These very real experiences can sometimes be traced back to unrealistic expectations. Join us today as we look at three very common prayer life expectations through the lens of some truths from God’s Word.

Great things happen when we pray. It’s our open door to knowing God better and being in a close relationship with Him.

But what about those times when prayer doesn’t seem to be working? Maybe you feel frustrated in your prayer life. You might wonder if God is listening. Maybe you’ve asked yourself if prayer is really worth all the effort. Perhaps you feel disappointed because God does not seem to be answering.

These are very real experiences. I think I could safely say that nearly all of us have these kinds of struggles in some form or fashion in our prayer lives. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it is very important to evaluate why you might be feeling these things.

Join us today as we look at three very common prayer life expectations through the lens of some truths from God’s Word.

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Waiting in Prayer {Guest Post by Sarah Geringer}

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 29 comments
Have you ever had to wait for your prayers to be answered? Have you ever wondered how to wait well? Find encouragement today in a guest post by my friend, Sarah Geringer.

Have you ever had to wait in prayer? Me, too. I think that’s something we have all probably experienced and I’m not sure about you, but waiting is not my favorite thing to do! I’m all for getting things taken care of and wrapped up right now. The thing is, God’s time table is not the same as ours. And that’s what we’ll discuss today – waiting in prayer.

Today, I’m happy to introduce you to my friend, Sarah Geringer. Sarah writes and blogs at www.sarahgeringer.com. I’ve been encouraged by her words many times. Sarah is writing today about one aspect of prayer that is particularly hard – the aspect of waiting in prayer. Sarah gives us some practical steps that can encourage us and give us a little different perspective while we wait on the Lord. Sarah gives us some great tips on how to wait well! – Leslie

Waiting in Prayer by Sarah Geringer

In my heart, there is a waiting room for prayers. For some prayers, I’ve only had to wait a few hours to learn the answers. I didn’t have to wait long, but the pressure was still there. For other prayers, I had to wait many years for the answers. I’m still waiting on some prayers to be answered with anything other than “wait.”

I often meditate upon the truths in John Waller’s song “While I’m Waiting.” I play this song while I’m in that waiting room and pray through the truths, verse by verse.

I lean into hope. I put on a hopeful mindset when I pray. I trust that God has good things in store for me. If good things aren’t possible in my situation, then I trust that God has good lessons for me to learn in the circumstance. I hope for better days while I wait in prayer, and that hope shines a bright light in the otherwise dimly-lit waiting room.

Click below to read more of Sarah’s post. She give some practical and actionable steps to help you while you are waiting on the Lord!

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How to Strengthen Your Prayer Life Through Grace

Published by Leslie Newman Prayer 39 comments
Are you putting too much pressure on yourself? Remember GRACE and receive it to bring strength into your prayer life. His strength is made perfect in our weakness!

Grace has always seemed like a gentle thing to me. A soft something that settles down in the heart unnoticed at first, but there, nevertheless. And we feel it’s peace. The thing is, I’m not good at grace. I might be good at giving grace to others, but when it comes to receiving it for myself, that’s a whole different story.

I think we all probably struggle with being harder on ourselves than we are on others, but for some of us, it is magnified, especially if we struggle with perfectionism.

If you struggle with perfectionism one of the things that you may be doing is putting entirely too much pressure on yourself. It’s a vicious cycle because perfectionism tells you that you are never good enough. And that’s the total opposite of what grace says.

Grace would tell you that you are enough, because of Who God is. He created you and He loves you. All of you. Just the way you are.

If you listen to perfectionism and the voice inside your head that says you are not good enough, you are in for a rough journey. It’s a path that leaves no room for receiving God’s grace.

Satan doesn’t mind us traveling this road though, and this is because he wants us discouraged and defeated in all areas of our lives.

He especially wants to defeat us in our prayer lives. Prayer is where the battles are fought and won. And Satan is always the looser. This means that he will do everything he can to discourage us and keep us from praying. Often, these discouragements will come through negative thought processes.

One of these negative thought patterns involves the tendency to be way too hard on ourselves which creates a whole lot of unnecessary pressure in our lives.

Think about the things we say to ourselves sometimes. We would probably never say these things about other people, but we might constantly repeat them to ourselves.

• “I skipped my prayer time today. God will be disappointed in me.”
• “My prayers seem too simple. I’m not really smart enough.”
• “I don’t really understand the Bible. Who am I to be talking to God?”
• “My life is so chaotic. I’m a mess. God wants someone who has it more together.”
• “I’ve done some pretty bad things. There’s no way God can accept me because of the things I’ve done.

This list could go on and on, couldn’t it?

But there is an answer for this. Read to find out more! {FREE PRINTABLE!}

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Build A Better Prayer Life (By Avoiding This Perfectionism Pitfall)

Published by Leslie Newman Blog Posts, Prayer 32 comments
There is Someone who can do a better job building our prayer life than we can. Avoid this perfectionism pitfall in your prayer life! Read to find out more!

For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. (Hebrews 3:4, NKJV)

Prayer is a little like building a house. It takes a plan, a whole lot of time and effort, the right tools and a master builder.

Now if there’s anything a perfectionist likes, it’s a good plan, right? We like the tools, and we are willing to put in the time and effort. As a matter of fact, we are driven in many ways (and not all of them are healthy ways). We want to be efficient, and we focus on that end result, often at the expense of the process it takes to get there. These are all things we need to keep an eye on in our day to day life situations.

But we also have to watch out for these things in our prayer lives, because if we are not careful, we’ll focus so much on the plan that we’ll forget who the builder is.

Join me today as we talk more about prayer and a common perfectionism pitfall.

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