Praying With Paul

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
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Caught Up and Comforted

Passage

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Prayer

Dear Father, who lifts our spirits, According to your teaching, we look for the Lord himself to descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. We firmly believe that the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we, they and us, will be with the Lord and with you forever. Guide us to comfort and console one another with these words. Help us remember that our faith is the victory that overcomes the failure, sin, sickness, and death of this world! In the name of our conquering and returning Savior. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Preparedness

Passage

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Prayer

Dear Father, Grant that we may live as sons of the light and daughters of the day. Grant that we may understand the prophecies of Jesus and his servants regarding the day of the Lord. Help us to stay awake, to be sober, to be ready. Clothe us with the breastplate of faith and love. Protect us with the helmet of salvation! We thank you, Father, that you have not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep, we might live for him. Grant that we may encourage one another and build one another up through these words and through sharing our faith. In the name of Jesus I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Esteem, Peace, and Help

Passage

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

Prayer

Dear Father, patient one, Give us hearts that gladly show respect for those who labor among us and who lead us and admonish us in the Lord. Fill us with great esteem and deep love for them because of their work in the Lord. May we always be at peace among ourselves. Keep us from being idle or faint-hearted. May we admonish and encourage those who are. Help us help those who are weak and to be patient with everyone. Let none of us repay evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. In the name of Jesus I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Joy, Prayer, the Spirit's Fire

Passage

1 Thessalonians 5:16-23

Prayer

Dear Father, holy God, Help me always to be joyful and to pray continually, giving thanks to you in all circumstances, since this is your will for me in Christ Jesus. May I never put out the Spirit's fire in myself. May I never be contemptuous of the prophetic word and the interpretation of it. But let me test everything I hear. Help me hold on to what is good, and to avoid everything that is evil. May you yourself, Father, make every part of me holy. In the name of your Holy Son, Jesus, who gave us the Spirit, I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Presentations

Passage

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Prayer

Dear Father, all honor to you,I present my body to you, O Lord. Give it health, energy and stamina. Give it healing, as needed.I present my soul, my personality to you, my God. Impress on it the characteristics that honor you and are pleasing to other people, for their good.I present my spirit to you, dear God. May I be wholly joined to you, one spirit with the Lord.In Jesus' precious and glorious name. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Soul, Body and Spirit

Passage

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Prayer

Dear Father, all worthy God, Please give me the mind of Christ so that my body may be a temple of the spirit of holiness which is his. May you yourself, O Father, make me holy through and through. May my whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless by your power at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I trust you to do this because you are the one who has called me, and you are faithful. Your word says that you will do it! By the authority of Jesus and in his name I ask for this growth in grace. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Evidence of Righteousness

Passage

2 Thessalonians 1:3-12

Prayer

Dear Father, Thank you now, and every day, for every loyal soul whose faith is growing abundantly, whose love for others is increasing, whose stance is steadfast, and who endures in the face of persecutions and afflictions. May they take their experience as evidence of your righteous judgment - that you are making them worthy of your kingdom, for which they are suffering - that you will reveal your wrath, not against them, but against those who trouble them and who do not know you and who refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. We believe in this Jesus and come to you through him. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Christ Is Coming

Passage

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Prayer

Dear Father, righteous one, Keep us from being led astray by misapplications of prophecy. Help us to understand the things you teach in your word about the consummation of Christ's victory against lawlessness. Keep us from believing in pretended signs and wonders and wicked deception. Guard our minds that we should believe your truth and our hearts that we should take pleasure only in righteousness. Thanks be to you, our God, that you chose us from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth.In the name of Jesus I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Make Us Worthy

Passage

2 Thessalonians 1:3-12

Prayer

Dear Father, almighty God, Hasten your coming, that glorious time when even those who already believe will marvel at your greatness. We have believed. We now believe. We intend to keep on believing. Mighty God, make all of us worthy of your call. Fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by your power. Let the name of Jesus be glorified in us, and us in him, according to that grace which comes from you and the Lord Jesus. In his name I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Eternal Comfort

Passage

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Prayer

Dear Father, Thank you for calling us to salvation through the Good News of Christ, so that we may obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus. Help us to stand firm and hold fast to the traditions of your holy apostles. May the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and you, our Father, who loved us and gave eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort our hearts and establish them in every good work and word. In the name of Jesus I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Cause Us to Pray

Passage

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5, 16-18

Prayer

Dear Father, who hears our prayers, May all of your people pray earnestly for each other, and especially for your ministers, that your word may speed on and triumph among others, just as it has among us. Deliver us from wicked and evil people who have no faith in you. Give us deep trust in your faithfulness, that you will strengthen us and guard us from evil. Give us obedient hearts that we may live out the teachings of your word. Direct our hearts to your love and to the steadfastness of Christ. Lord of peace, give peace at all times and in all ways. Be with us! Fill us with the grace of the Lord Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Work and Discipline

Passage

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Prayer

Dear Father, God who worked to create all things, Guide us and empower us to do our work in quietness, to avoid idleness, and to earn our own living. Help us not to grow weary in well-doing. Help us to follow the example of your emissaries, of Paul and the others, who did not seize some economic advantage from their positions, but worked to provide for their own needs. Help us to encourage and enforce a good work ethic among Christians so that we may be highly regarded among all people. Help us to be disciplined among ourselves, to exhort and warn each other, but also to be kind and loving and to treat each other as beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Faith and Good Conscience

Passage

1 Timothy 1:3-11, 18-20

Prayer

Dear Father,Keep us from believing any teaching different from that which your genuine apostles taught about our Lord Jesus Christ. Let what they aimed for arise in our hearts: love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.Don't let us take a legalistic approach to our life under you. By the law we can see what not to do, by Jesus we see a real direction for our lives. Let us live by him and for him.Help us wage a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.In the name of Jesus I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Fit for Service

Passage

1 Timothy 1:12-15

Prayer

Dear Father, Thank you for the strength that you give us to minister to others. We bless you for judging us faithful and for committing talents to us by which we may help others.In spite of our offenses against you, you show great mercy in overlooking our ignorance and unbelief and by now giving us opportunities and encouragement to serve you. You have made the graciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ overflow to us in the faith and the love that are available in him. How sure and worthy of full acceptance is the truth that our Lord Jesus came into the world to save sinners. We were sinners! Thank you for the salvation that you wrought for us through him, in whose name I now pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

________________________________
Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Enemies into Friends

Passage

1 Timothy 1:16-17

Prayer

Dear Father, king of the ages, Thank you for the cleansing of our sins through Christ. Thank you that you take people who are in outright opposition to your will, as was Saul of Tarsus, and hundreds since him, and bring them up short, rebuke their disobedience, and then enlist them in your own army. Praise you, God, for making friends of your former enemies. All glory to you for the demonstration of patience made perfect. Now to you, King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be glory and honor for ever and ever. Amen.