Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

The week before Israel was attacked my family went to see the movie Route 60 which is about the Biblical Highway from Bethlehem to Beersheba. While watching the movie God gave me a visual of a painting that I should paint. I literally started crying as I saw the image in my mind. We never really understand why God speaks to us and most of the time it can't be explained. 

God reminded me of my desire to paint the Western Wall also known as the Wailing Wall because people go there to pray to God. It is believed to be the holiest place to pray because of location, but also because it is believed the holy presence of God never leaves this place.

I have prayed there on four different occasions. I remember being humbled by people walking backwards when they were done praying so they did not turn their back to the wall out of respect to God. The prayers stuffed in the wall intrigued me. I saw people from many nations honoring the place and space as holy. I knew a wonder and awe that never left me. Mostly because God was teaching me so much about His love for the nations through these trips. 

I started my sketch that weekend based off this photo. I wanted to paint a picture that reminded us to pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. How little did I know that war would break out soon in Israel.

I have prayed and worshipped as I painted this painting. I have prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and the protection of the innocent on both sides of the wall. God is for the peace of anyone who is for Him. God hates evil and desires all to know Him. I have cried as I painted this and I have rejoiced in the LORD. 

The little bird is to remind us of peace. This year God has used birds to minister to my soul in a deep way. I pray the bird causes us to want to abide under the Vine. It is in Jesus that we know the Prince of Peace. This is our shelter and where fruit is born. I wanted all the leaves over the bird to symbolize that those who abide in Him know good fruit. Those that don't are like the barren side of the painting.

I hope to paint more scenes as God allows. I am so thankful for the gift of creative worship and prayer.

My journey of learning about the power of praying God's Word over one person every year

While at a mother and daughter conference, my friend Tracy shared that she prayed through the Bible for each of her children and when they were in 8th grade she would give them the Bible. I went home and told Greg about what Tracy did and said we needed to do this for our kids. We bought the Heritage Bible and prayed through it for Mikayla and Grant. Greg took Grant the first year and I took Mikayla. We gave them the Bibles for Christmas and then told them they had to give them back to us so we could pray through them. Our children knew what we were doing. On the year that I was to pray through Grant’s Bible, he asked me to draw pictures in his. So, I added graffiti art and drawings to portray what I was learning or wanted to emphasize.

I have been praying through the Bible for over 18 years now. Developing a legacy of praying through the Word of God starts with one Bible and making the commitment to pray from Genesis to Revelation over someone. It is about the consistent habit of daily committing to reading and praying. The focus should be about what God puts on your heart as you read and pray for that person. If you take time to ask GOD to help you to write prayers on every page and ask Him to show you how to pray through the Scripture over that person, you will be amazed at the truths He will encourage you to pray. I have been humbled over and over as the person will say back to me the very words I prayed over them. 

This can also be done for a specific ministry, organization, or even a people group. You might even consider drawing through the Bible as you go to provide visual reminders of what you are learning or praying. If you want to develop praying through the Bible as a habit, I recommend you choose a different translation each year. It is important to consider the person or ministry when you seek to pray through a Bible that will be relevant to them personally. I like to pick one that I know will have special meaning for them. So, when I prayed through the Bible for my husband, I used the Our Godly Heritage Bible. When I prayed for my children, I used the Legacy Bible. When I prayed for Grace University, I used the Apologetics Bible. When I prayed for my son-in-love, I prayed through the John C. Maxwell, Leadership Bible.

It is a lot of fun to take specific words, principles, commands, or promises and make these your focus for the prayer. I have also found that if I include the study notes as part of my prayer prompt, I will have more ideas for what to pray. I found that I prayed way more when I read the Bible this way and I discovered that my prayers were more powerful because I was given examples of answers to prayers on a regular basis. So, choosing the translation proves to be a significant part of the process. 

For example, I prayed through the Leadership Bible over myself when I worked on my doctorate as I asked God to teach me how to become a leader for His kingdom work. I don’t know if I will ever see the fullness of all God has accomplished because of those prayers, but I can tell you that I am doing things I never would have dreamed of doing for His kingdom work. 

Through the years God has caused me to give two different Bibles away. The first was to one of my girls I had the privilege of serving at camp. It came easily and honestly; I didn’t think much of it. After watching her grow up and share with me how much it meant, I realized that God might ask me again. He did! 

This time I did not want to do it. I had prayed through the Bible from cover to cover over our university and I found that the prayers I was praying were becoming very important to me personally as well. I wanted and needed the reminders I was praying daily.

Our school was about to face a hard transition, and, in my prayers, He was preparing me for what was about to come. I did not know it at the time but looking back I get it now. God put on my heart I was to give my Bible to the new interim President to encourage him. I did not want to. I had spent over 2 ½ years praying through that Bible. I didn’t know if he would appreciate the richness of the prayers that I was handing to him. I knew he knew the importance and value of prayer, but I didn’t know if he would understand the depth of prayer I had invested in that Bible over the university. The prayers were like my faithful companions that encouraged me and I did not want to let go of them. But, I obeyed. I gave it to him hoping that God would use it to strengthen him. I don’t even know if he ever even opened the Bible, but I do know that God heard every single prayer and He was answering in behalf of the university in a very painful transition. I discovered that the beauty of transformation happened in me more than the one or ones that I prayed for as I read the Bible. 

Each year GOD taught me a little more. Well, at times A LOT more! It has been fun to go back and look at the Bibles that I have prayed through. My first Bible I prayed through is not as mature as the one I pray through today. I can see how over time GOD changed me through prayer. Truly, it has been radical and eternal in ways I never even imagined. I discovered when I was praying through a difficult season that God gave me a depth of love and compassion that I did not want to have at times. I discovered that God gave me a forgiving heart when I did not think it possible to forgive. I discovered that He opened doors that I never imagined would open and shut doors I wished He would have allowed me to walk through. It has been an incredible journey to travel.

There are a few practical things to consider as you pick a Bible to pray through. Often my ink bleeds through because the pages are too thin, or I used the wrong kind of pen. I know in some cultures they might not appreciate the mess this creates. But, for me these pages represent the relationship that has been birthed between me and God over the one I prayed. But, in case you are not as sentimental as I am and not one to be so careless, I would recommend that you pick a Bible with thick paper. Keep in mind that the nice leather-bound Bibles often have paper that is thin as onion skin. Paper seems to be thicker in the hardcover Bibles. So, you will have to decide if that is important. Over time, I learned to buy special no bleed pens. It took years before I learned that I could do this! You can buy these in color even. I have also learned to write prayers only in columns, so it doesn’t bleed into the text on the other page. But sometimes I don’t do this and I just celebrate what GOD was doing in me and through me. You will have to determine what you can handle and move on from there. For me the content of the Bible was more important to me so I celebrate what ever the columns and paper quality might be so I can get the content that I find relevant to the person I was praying over. 

Over time, I realized that I need to give some people a challenge when they engaged the Word of God. I recognized that when I understood the character of God, I am better able to understand my own character so I have encouraged my leaders to read the Bible with the intent of writing down every name and character of God they can discover in the columns. I loved watching the revelations that were discovered by my women at Grace university when they took me seriously about this challenge. I loved watching them discover how to pray through the Bible to know HIM and not read a rule book! These moments proved to be profound and I now have the joy of seeing them out serving Him in many places living out the prayers they prayed.

I have also challenged leaders to pray for a people group they are seeking to reach. I now have the privilege of watching one that took this challenge as she serves overseas in a most unreached people group. There have been hard moments, too. Like when one of my women prayed through the Bible for her boyfriend thinking they would marry only to have him break it off after a few months of her praying. Her heart was invested because of the prayers. God knew what was best so the prayers accomplished His will, but I learned to not recommend praying for the opposite sex until there was a final commitment to marriage. I can bear witness to the fact that praying through the Bible over my Greg proved so fruitful on so many levels of deepening my love and respect for him. 

So what do you do with all the leaders you work with that you know you should be praying for, but don’t have the time to pray through the entire Bible for each of them? Probably, the one leadership challenge that has become one of my other core prayers is to choose one leadership word and verse to pray over the person and the entire team. Every year I ask leaders I work with to choose one character trait of God that they want to be known for that year. I then choose a verse and pray that verse the entire year over this leader. I write these in the front of my Bible or in the front of my prayer journal so I can know how to pray for them and to pray consistently. This keeps me accountable in praying for many people on a smaller scale. I will also pray the leadership words for each individual over the team so that we all benefit from the character traits that are important to our team. I have been doing this over ten years now and God has humbled me with so many stories of how He has used that one word to transform the person as both of us focused on praying it into their lives. I have also been blessed by those that have taken up this challenge as a yearly habit for their lives and teams as well.

If you consider reading the whole Bible and praying it for a year, it may seem like a huge and daunting task. May this African proverb encourage you, “A path is made by simply walking.” It is the daily small steps of reading and praying that will build up over time and before you know it you will have been praying through the Bible through many years and God will use that accumulative effort because His Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11). You will grow and fruit will be born in tge kingdom because of your prayers. So, read and pray. God will use it! He promises!

How to pray

I was recently asked how I pray. Here are two videos that share what has been the most transformational in my spiritual walk. These videos provide my persinal prayer walk journey. 

How to pray Scripture from Genesis to Revelation

How to pray a specific verse from a section of Scripture

A Prayer to Pray When You Hear of Wars and Rumors of Wars

 

How do I live in prayer and worship during seasons of war? 

I turned to King David to see how he prayed since he was known as the man after God's own heart. David recognized that the LORD's training was continuous. It never ends. It does not matter if it is training the hands for a physical battle or if it is training the hands for a spiritual battle the LORD will train His warrior for the battle. We must remember that our physical battles and our spiritual battles are opportunities for spiritual strength to be trained and revealed. We do not face either one without the LORD's preparation if we are His child calling upon His name. 

Consider reading Psalm 144. 

Do you see that David used praise as a weapon of war? 

Do you see how David spends more time talking about God rather than the enemy? 

In what ways might David's Psalm be a sacrifice of praise? 

How does this Psalm show that David feared the LORD and not man? 

My Rock and My Fortress (Psalm 144 Of David) 

1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; 2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. 3 O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? 4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke! 6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them! 7 Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,from the hand of foreigners, 8 whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 9 I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp, I will play to you, 10 who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword. 11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 12 May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; 13 may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; 14 may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets! 15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord! 

What character traits of God do you see? 

How can you pray these character traits over you, your family, your nation? 

What character trait do you cling to right now and why? 

What do you learn about David? 

What do you learn about the enemy? 

What do you need to do based on what you discovered? 

In case you did not know, the word foreigner here does not mean nationality! It references the person or people that reject God and the commands of God. This person or people groups' actions are traitorous. They are liars and deceivers with both their words and actions. This person or people group cannot be trusted and does not respect the sanctity of life. These are the ones that David is asking God to scatter.

www.audioscripture.org www.tararye.com www.whollyloved.com

Prayer for Afghanistan

How to Pray for Afghanistan 

Father, You are with us! You are our help in our time! You promise in Scripture that if we call to You, You will hear us and You will answer. We come right now on behalf of a nation that has fallen to evil. You hate evil. You are the Most High God of all nations and You are a God of love who cares about what happens to Your children and to innocent people. 

You warned us in Scripture that when we hear of wars and rumors of wars to not be alarmed. You told us that nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. You reminded us that these things will be because they are the birth pains of what is to come. You commanded us to be on our guard and to be ready to be witnesses before rulers that will beat us. Father, it is not easy! Help us! 

Right now, Your children are in dangerous situations and innocent people are being violated because evil seeks to reign for moment. We know that victory is in YOU! We know that good will overcome evil. 

You tell us that when we lose our earthly tent to remember that this is not our home. You are building us a home that is eternal. We need to focus on our heavenly home and not our earthly home. We know we do not belong here! 

Thank you for the promises that though mountains may be moved, Your steadfast love will remain. It cannot be shaken. And the covenant of peace YOU give us cannot be removed. For You are faithful and true and Your compassion overflows and Your peace surpasses all understanding. 

As men, women, children are in hiding right now and fear for their lives. We come and ask that You keep them hidden. Just as Jesus, Peter, and Paul were able to escape through the crowds unseen give them the ability to be unseen and escape. 

Numerous times in Scripture when the enemy was greater than those who are for You, You routed the enemy by their own hands. Please cause confusion in their camps. Cause them to destroy one another and through natural means be removed from the scene before attack even begins.

 

Wisdom begins in the fear of YOU! And wisdom is greater than any form of strength. Pour out YOUR wise counsel upon Your people and the innocents! 

The word refuge is a place you run to because you have been forced out by danger or crisis. LORD, YOU ARE OUR REFUGE! It is not a place, but a person. 

You promise that You will be our dwelling place that You are trustworthy, faithful, and true. That You will protect us like a mother hen covers her chicks under her wings. 

You promise You will hear us, You will answer us, You will deliver us, You will give us long life, and You will give salvation to all who call upon YOUR NAME! 

We come now and ask You to rescue brothers, sisters, and innocents from the enemy’s snares. Rescue them from illness. 

Please command Your angels to go before them. Help them to take courage! Give them boldness. 

Show them how to be Your witness. Give them opportunity to share about Jesus and how YOU so LOVED the WORLD that YOU GAVE YOUR SON, JESUS! And that ALL who BELIEVE in HIM will NOT PERISH, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE! 

We run to You and trust YOU! You will never leave us and never forsake us. In Jesus Name, amen!

The following Bible verses are what the above prayer is based on. 

Please take the time to read them and pray through them yourself. Ask God to use them to make you strong and confident as you pray and to grow in faith. 

Verses: 

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." (Psalm 46:1-3). 

When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me (Psalm 86:7). 

For the kingdom is the Lord’s. And He rules over the nations (Psalm 22:8). 

This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place (Jeremiah 22:3). 

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers (Proverbs 6:16-19). 

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence (Psalm 11:5). 

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them (Mark 13:7-9). 

“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ (Deuteronomy 20:1-4). 

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place (1 Corinthians 15:57). 

O give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries (Psalm 60:11-12). 

 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1). 

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you (Isaiah 54:10). 

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you (Philippians 4:7). 

They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff. 30But Jesus passed through the crowd and went on His way (Luke 4:29-30). 

Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him (Acts 12:8-10). 

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:25-31). 

As soon as they began singing, the LORD confused the enemy camp (2 Chronicles 20:22). 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10). 

Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked, 20 for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out (Proverbs 24:19-20). 

Being wise is better than being strong; yes, knowledge is more important than strength. After all, you must make careful plans before you fight a battle, and the more good advice you get, the more likely you are to win. Wise sayings are too deep for stupid people to understand. They have nothing to say when important matters are being discussed. If you are always planning evil, you will earn a reputation as a troublemaker. Any scheme a fool thinks up is sinful. People hate a person who has nothing but scorn for others. If you are weak in a crisis, you are weak indeed (Proverbs 24:5-10/GNBUK). 

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, 10 no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91). 

Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance (Acts 28:31). 

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him (Ephesians 3:12). 

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). 

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

How to pray through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation

https://youtu.be/cWwCul6-9T8

Do you sometimes wonder does God hear my prayers?  How do I pray in God's will? This will help you to know what to look for to help you pray with authority, power, and in the will of God.