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A Prayer Against Distraction

10 June 2022

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Prayer

A Prayer Against Distraction

She Prays on Fridays

What’s your plan for the day? I’ll bet you are multitasking and fighting to get everything done on your “To Do” list. How’s that going? If you and I are anything alike, half the battle is me and my personal wanderings. I spend too much time fighting against distraction, landing in a wilderness—miles, and miles from where I intended to go.

The “what if’s,” “maybe I should,” “ooh, look at that,” “oh, I forgot about X,” cat videos and social media scrolling, creep in, seeping into my thoughts and my thumbs, turning my actions away from my original agenda, and often in an opposing direction.

I know you get it because current data supports my predicament. Researchers have found that 47% of our days are spent in this wilderness wandering. Apparently, this wandering is so common and natural that we don’t even realize it is happening.

This finding shouldn’t be surprising in light of John 10:10.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

How better for the enemy to steal our focus and attention, far from experiencing the life Jesus came to give, than to lead us into distraction before we realize it’s even happening?

If you and I desire, not only to become the most productive versions of ourselves but women who live in abundance through Christ, we need to do what is unnatural, spending our efforts working against distraction.

The Good News in our Battle Against Distraction

The good news is that we are not alone. This recent discovery by researchers is nothing new. We don’t have a discourse on the thinking behind David’s writing of Psalm 119, but we can deduce where his problem areas surfaced. He aggressively attacks the battle with thought and action.

He recognizes the problem.
Then he sees the solution in seeking hard after God.
In that process, he prays –affirming his battle plan.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. Psalm 119:15 ESV

But fixing his eyes and mind on God’s truth is not his only defense. Not only does David go on the offensive, he makes some defensive moves.

Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:36

This one Psalm has found its way into my prayers regularly – for the sole reasons I expressed above. I can’t make good decisions without divine intervention. My deep need and depravity and longing for what seems natural – overpowers me and I lose.

Unless I do exactly what David models here.

How to Win Against Distraction

Recognize the problem

Attack the problem by doing what is not natural

Praying for God to enable me to be victorious in seeking Him over that which seeks to weaken me, shrink my reach, make me ineffective, and live a life absent of abundance.

I find Proverbs 4:25 to be helpful as I think and move and pray.

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25

We could go on looking to other places in the Bible that illustrate this same fight – and hear from different people from various centuries who knew the battle well. From Job to the writers of Psalms, Solomon, Luke, Matthew, Peter, Paul, and the author of Hebrews, to name a few, the battle against distraction is as old as time and common to all peoples.

Today, let’s advance toward abundant life in Jesus through prayer – to help us do what we cannot and experience what we might miss otherwise.

A Prayer Against Distractions

Lord,

I am so thankful for your timeless Word that meets us in our culture, our circumstances, and our need. Today I pray over my friend what I, myself need. Help her to recognize her need to move away from distraction and toward You. And as she does, make her away of what is stealing her attention and affection from you. If it’s too much on her agenda, give her the wisdom to know what NOT to do.

When her mind wanders into the wilderness of wastefulness, help her see how and when it’s happening. Instead, draw her focus to your word. Make it clear, easy to understand, and enable her to embrace what you give over every natural inclination that beds down in her heart. Show her how to meditate on you and what it means to fix her eyes on you. And at the same time, turn her attention away from all that will not last. Supernaturally enable her to look directly forward, and gaze on you and the eternal purposes you have planned. Give her life in your ways, and nothing less.

Thank you for transforming her thought life to experience the abundance that lies in you.

In the glorious and unmatched name of Jesus.

Amen

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God is For You

3 June 2022

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Prayer

God is For You

She Prays on Friday

She Prays exists for two main reasons. One reason results from the rich depository of resources I have discovered for my own prayers in Scriptures, and the second is the realization that a woman might not have anyone in her life praying over her. Even if we cannot be together, in the flesh, I can pray the Word of God over you. There is nothing more effective than praying Scripture into the lives of others. And the easiest place for finding a biblical treasure trove to utilize is in the Psalms. Today I pray you leave with an overwhelming sense that God is for you.

How can you know God is for you?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

Simply stated, the Bible tells us He is. And because He is, Paul moves us to consider the limits God will go on our behalf.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

I’m not really thinking along the lines of whether God is going to give you a new Mercedes or help you win the lottery. You can ask-but I’m thinking more about personal transformation, and greater Kingdom-type long-lasting ventures. Things like:

People transformation
Situation-reversals
Relationship reconciliation, and
Mountain-moving of all sorts.

The Offer

Herein lies the offer with a solid guarantee. Do you want to be different? Do you want to see a change in a relationship? Does anyone you work with need the hope found in Jesus? Is there any situation in your family that cries for reconciliation? Are there broken friendships that needs restoration? Are you waiting for God to move a mountain of obstacles in some miraculous way? What about the people you live around? Is there anything you are facing or anyone you know with consequences that are literally life or death in severity.

For thousands of years God has been placing His people in just the right location in exactly the situations necessary, exposing them to needs, hurts, atrocities, pain and disparity. Why? For what purpose? So that we would pray, begging Him to move on their behalf, and believe.

We must ask ourselves if we really expect God to do what we request? Are we ready for Him to do what is not humanly possible—to make a way in the darkest, bleakest situations? Because, if God is for us, who can be against us?

Still, God is for you.

What about you?

Do you believe God is for you?

Are you convinced, like Paul, that He for you in your situation? We’re not manipulating God here. God is Sovereign. He will do what He will do. But are we living today as if our God is for us. personally? If so, are there things that you and I need to get in place if God were to actually answer our prayers? This is the confidence in which Paul encourages us to pray.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

A Prayer for knowing God is for you

Father,

I pray for my friend, reading today, thanking you for essentially, having her back. Help her believe You are the God who knows her and loves her, regardless of what she has done or failed to do. The reasoning is so clear. You love her so much; you did not spare the pain or torture or humiliation or rejection or even an excruciating death from your own son to offer her such love.

Today, I ask that you grant her what she needs. I pray for a boldness on her part to ask with expectation. Give her the boldness to petition You with a “How will you not graciously give her all things?” mindset. Prepare her for your response. Heal hurts. Repair brokenness. Open doors. Make a way forward. Usher in transformation. More than anything, help her to know you as the God who is for her.

Amen.

Have you received my FREE gift to you? Get 3 resources to help you experience more of God in your everyday life. It’s filled with practical helps for living out what really matters.

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If you would like to become a part of the private FB group, She Prays, we would love to have you. Click the image to join.

Don’t forget to check out the latest FREE reading plan available from YouVersion?

She has over TWENTY different reading plans for you to choose from. Just click on the images below to check it out:

You can meet Cheri on the She Yearns blog for more truth-saturated, Gospel-centered encouragement like this:

God as our Rock and Stronghold

27 May 2022

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Prayer

God as our Rock and Stronghold

What kind of week have you had?

I ask, because the headlines are pretty gloomy, filled with bad news, scandal, horrific tragedy, and more bad news.

I ask because we just lost the third young person from our church body within the last few months.

I ask because there are times when we need to be reminded of who God is when it feels like there is nothing left to rely on or trust in.

I ask because regardless of what comes our way in a week, God remains unchanging.

Unlike the world in which we live or anything it has to offer, He is as dependable as an immovable mountain. In fact, He calls Himself, “a Rock like no other” meaning – regardless of what else you try to stand upon, they have nothing on Him – He, alone possesses eternal strength. He is our rock and stronghold.

God as our Rock and Stronghold

He says as much to Isaiah.

Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.” Isaiah 44:8

And then in 1 Samuel, after Hannah has waited and prayed. Then lived to see and know of God’s abilities to be who He says he is and do what He says he can do, she testifies of this quality.

Hannah Testifies God is a Rock.

There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.1 Sam 2:2

In other words, whatever you are trying, trusting in, or relying upon—cannot stand against the One who is our place of refuge, our salvation, our strength, safety, and protection from men. There is no one else or no other source who can do what He can do. Not one.

Because of the kind of week we sometimes experience, we need to remember this unchanging characteristic of our God. I find it more than timely and appropriate to pray a verse out of Psalm 71 today that is along this theme.

Be to me a rock of refuge in which to dwell, and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually resort, which you have appointed to save me, for you are my Rock and my Fortress. Psalm 71:3

Our “Rock of Refuge”

I don’t know if you need a “rock of refuge” right now, but I thought today would be a good day to remind us that He is exactly that. The reality is that life can get so crazy and cloudy that even something so basic as this fundamental Truth that most of us know can seem far off. Even the Psalmist feels the need to ask for Him to be His “rock of refuge.”

What about a “Sheltering Stronghold?”

Last year, a good percentage of glass fell out of one of our doors. Nothing happened to make it fall out, it simply gave way. The door could no longer serve as a stronghold for keeping out what needs to be out and protecting what is inside. The door became weak and compromised. Easy to penetrate. It more than illuminated our need to ask God to be a “sheltering stronghold” to whom you and I can go.

Then the Psalmist pronounces something extremely important that is likely taken on a whole new dimension in recent days and hours.

For You are my Rock and my Fortress.

He recognizes his reliance cannot be on his defense system, his bank account, the business he has owned and ran for 15 – 20 years that has been so successful, or the established chain that has experienced rampant success. His ability to feed his family may vanish, and one day can turn life completely on its head. There is one thing he really knows:

You are my Rock and my Fortress.

This is what you and I need to really know today as well. Because of these realities of Who God is, we can place our confidence in Him.

A Prayer for Making the Lord our Rock and Stronghold

Lord,

I am so thankful for your Word today.

For the assurances of Who you are and what you promise us – even when we cannot see how it’s all going to turn out.

Right now we are lifting up your Word back to you. We ask you to be who you say you are. Would you be the “Rock,” where there is no other? Be our “rock of refuge” when we are scared, or when we don’t know what is going to happen.

We ask that you be our “sheltering stronghold.” Become for us a force that is impenetrable to whatever is coming against us for Your glory. Not that we ask to escape suffering to further your Kingdom, but that You be our stronghold in the midst of whatever You call us to. Help us to know you as our Rock and our Fortress and let nothing else compare or compete. You alone, the Rock. Our Rescuer. We ask that you be this in our lives today, for we desperately need you and for Your name to be known.

In the glorious and unmatched name of Jesus.

Amen

Have you received my FREE gift to you? Get 3 resources to help you experience more of God in your everyday life. It’s filled with practical helps for living out what really matters.

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You can meet Cheri on the She Yearns blog for more truth-saturated, Gospel-centered encouragement like this:

Praying Through Times of Testing

20 May 2022

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Prayer

Praying Through Times of Testing

Sometimes you can read a chapter or a passage of verses in the Bible that feels like the person writing is sitting near you, telling you a story. That’s how Psalm 66 lands on me. It’s conversational as if the writer is talking to an actual person, and he’s telling the account passionately in just a few words. In these moments we have together, I want to pick up on that passion by sharing his words with you, and then use them as a framework for a prayer you and I can pray through times of testing.

Psalm 66:5-12

Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
6He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
7who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
Psalm 66:5-8

The Invitation

The first section calls the friend or audience to come in close. He wants you to see with your mind and heart what God has accomplished. No. They were not there to experience the wonders described, but they have been the benefactors. They didn’t watch the people cross the Red Sea, but they are a part of the community that came from that legacy.

Because of what God has done (that which we did not see but can experience the effects) the writer drawer on the listener to raise her eyes upward. Stop and praise the Lord in a manner He can hear it from you. Then he gives us some reasons that are not locked away in a history book or grandpa’s storytime.

9who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.

God has kept you alive.

Think of all your near misses. Do any come to mind? Personally, I have experienced more than enough to legitimize this point. I’ve walked away from a plane crash in was in, car accidents, and tornadoes. From what I understand, as an infant, I wasn’t expected to make it out of the hospital alive. I’m sure you can think of similar accounts. The bottom line is this: If you are breathing, it’s on purpose for a purpose. Girl, Praise God!

Then our writer does something you and I don’t always like to reflect upon or raise our hands in the air to celebrate.

10For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;

God uses tests, nets, and enemies

According to Scripture, there are times in our lives when God tests us. He brings us “into the net.” Not that He leads us into situations so that we will fail or will be destroyed, but He will allow circumstances, difficulties, bad guys, and impossible situations access to us without intervening. In other words, God allows adversity that has been at times, unbearable, varied, and seemingly constant–just one thing after another, on purpose.

I wouldn’t do it His way. You and I might even say, we don’t like His way. It’s been awful at times. Crushing. Painful. And difficult. Yet, the Psalmist is not finished:

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Yes, we go through the times of testing, but He does not leave us there in the net, or in the storm, fire, or dying under the weight of it all. I don’t believe the Psalmist is saying there is a particular location on this planet this side of heaven that is absent of drama, problem-free, with no more nets. But there is abundance in reliance on Jesus through the mess, looking upward at Him through the difficulties rather than focusing on what doesn’t last and cannot save. And it’s right here for us to use as we pray.

This one is a prayer that helps turn our eyes upward, speaking these things back to God in gratitude. If we are in the middle of the difficulties, buried under the weight, we can pray for Him to be true to this word. Also, we can pray for this victory and the presence of God over someone else, which is what I am about to do for you.

A Prayer for Times of Testing

Lord Jesus,

In this moment, I bless your Name. Thank you for the mighty works you have done to get us here today, praying, and able to know your Word freely. More specifically, I thank you for the life of my friend reading. For Your perfect purposes You have preserved her. Help her live in complete assurance and freedom. There is no accident, coincidence, or mistake that You have provided for her presence, her abilities, her availabilities, and her positioning.

We know that to ready her, equip her, and to show her to Whom she belongs, You have tested and will test her. In fact, You may be testing her now, allowing her to experience untold difficulties, strains and struggles we cannot alleviate. So Lord, I ask that you give her the strength to rely on You. Help her to see through to the end, keeping her eyes looking upward, and not be given to discouragement. Give her eyes to see beyong the testing toward Your abundance–whatever that looks like from Your perspective.

In the glorious and unmatched name of Jesus.

Amen

Have you received my FREE gift to you? Get 3 resources to help you experience more of God in your everyday life with practical helps for living out what really matters.

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Don’t forget to check out the latest FREE reading plan available from YouVersion?

She has over TWENTY different reading plans for you to choose from. Just click on the images below to check it out:

You can meet Cheri on the She Yearns blog for more truth-saturated, Gospel-centered encouragement like this:

How to Pray for a Fearless Trust

13 May 2022

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Prayer

Firm and Fearless Trust

by Cheri Strange

Welcome to the She Prays, spotlighting Scripture and praying it over you, for your strengthening and encouragement. Today we are looking at how to pray for a fearless trust. I found myself sitting down this week, with burdens not my own, but yours, hers, and beyond. I needed to know how to trust when all the pieces don’t fit and I am tempted to do mental acrobatics trying to figure it all out on my own.

I’m a serious person. (In fact, recently a woman at a conference felt like I was too focused and serious, making her way to me to pray in a heavenly language over my “problem.”) I accepted it. Maybe there is hope for humor development after all.

Still, I live in the deep places. It’s not that I like living in all the mental mire and heaviness. It’s just, that I can’t get past the practical. When the bottom falls out of your life, Who or what can you and I depend upon? Maybe you come to the crux of the matter by receiving a diagnosis so challenging, that it sucks the air out of your lungs. The job you depend upon is taken away by a failing economy. The relationship is facing destruction, or the losses or injustices you have experienced exceed what you can endure. These moments are when our theology matters.

Who are we going to trust in these kinds of places?

Oh sure, God is good, and trusting Him makes sense when all is right with the world. But what about in the gritty deep places of disappointment, loss, loneliness, and the seasons when nothing makes sense? My serious take on life does not result because I’m a sour Sally, but because I believe the words of Jesus.

In this world, you will have trouble…John 16:33

Trouble in the world is not something we will likely escape. In fact, it is to be expected. If we don’t have a faith that can hold up when the world shuts down, when we can’t get the things we need, when we are forced into difficult situations and so many other unknowns, what foundation will we have? I’m aiming for one that believes the second part of what Jesus promises is equally true.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Yes. Jesus assures us will have trouble. Without escape, we will need to deal with the serious and heavy at some point. At the same time, Jesus declares He has overcome the world. Not he will later, he might, he has a good shot at it, the odds are in his favor, but He has. The foundation and surety of Jesus are what we stand upon. Nothing less. We can trust Him for all of our unknowns.

Trusting God where we are, even if we find ourselves submerged in the hard ugly stuff is possible because He is already there. Positioned. Ready. Waiting. But you and I often forget this truth because of the enormity of the trouble upon us. That’s when we need God’s Word handy. The book of Psalms is the perfect place for finding the words that reflect our needs.

Psalms for a Fearless Trust

For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.
He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. Psalm 112:6-8

Arming ourselves with these verses we can preach to ourselves on days when life is candy canes and cotton candy, as well as when we don’t know how our feet will stand.

The Psalmist is calling us to be, first of all, unmoved. He is calling us not only to be immovable but to be unafraid of bad news. (Not that bad news doesn’t come, but you and I are not to be afraid of it.) This woman’s heart is firm because, instead of focusing on her surroundings and allowing “What if’s” to dominate her day, she is trusting in the Lord.

It’s not firm because she has plenty of money in the bank and her job is secure, or because her health is guaranteed. No. This powerful segment is all about the ugly. It’s as if he is saying, “If the bottom were to fall out of your life—this is the faith needed to get through victoriously.” The woman who does this— would be one firmly planted, knowing exactly in whom she trusted. She would know Jesus was worthy of her total reliance.

In this serious predicament, the woman who believes the Word of God about God, possesses a steady heart. Her heart is not racing in fear or dread. She’s not riled up over the world coming to a stop, or all of her dreams falling apart. She will not be afraid until there is victory over the foe–invisible or otherwise.

Transforming your outlook

These three verses can transform our entire outlook if we will believe them about our own situations and believe the One on Whom we can rely. Take these verses and use them. Preach to yourself this weekend. When you find yourself afraid, pull these out. When you and I are unsettled, we can go to these words of God. Then remember to pray them back to God, for he is listening. He is already taking action on your behalf and mine, remaining ever faithful.

Prayer for a Firm and Fearless Trust

Lord,

In these moments I ask that you make yourself known to my friend. That you will make her faith immovable no matter what comes at her. I pray that you protect her mind and her heart against fear and in many different ways reassure her of your trustworthiness and dependability for her life.

Give her a firm trust in You. Settle her heart in her unsettled time, in a way that is completely unnatural so much so that people will know that it must be because of You. Make your name Great in her life.

As the Psalmist once again asks for you to make him unafraid, I request the same of my friend here. I don’t know how to give it to her or what she should do, but we trust you. Give her nothing short of a firm and fearless trust in You.

In the glorious and unmatched name of Jesus.

Amen

Have you received my FREE gift to you? Get 3 resources to help you experience more of God in your everyday life with practical helps for living out what really matters.

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Don’t forget to check out the latest FREE reading plan available from YouVersion?

She has over TWENTY different reading plans for you to choose from. Just click on the images below to check it out:

Be sure to check out the Stirring Faith Podcast, where you will find encouraging episodes like this one:

You can meet Cheri on the She Yearns blog for more truth-saturated, Gospel-centered encouragement like this: