As we grow in the Lord and our prayer journey continues, God uses numerous methods to assist that growth. People who pray cross our path. Books, other media, and teachings are highlighted to us to glean from and study. Along my journey I met many wonderful believers that influenced my prayer life.

One person I will always remember is Mary. She would go to lunch with me at the job where we worked together. Just before eating Mary would always ask to say grace. I loved hearing her pray before the meal. Mary would talk to Jesus and thank Him for our day, thank Him for the fellowship, thank Him for the food, and occasionally make a request. 

Mary’s words exposed her heart and from them I knew she had a wonderful heart and an intimate walk with God. Just listening I would feel Mary’s love for her Lord and her desire to please Him. It was Mary’s lunchtime prayers that sent me on a search to experience more of the Lord for myself. I wonder how many people we could...

The Lord teaches us to pray that we might hear Him, obey Him, and take dominion on this earth. Prayer is not complicated. We just make it that way when we try to be in charge or turn it into something super-spiritual or ritualistic.

Prayer links us up with God, puts us in the Spirit realm, and creates a conduit to the supernatural. Once we find our path in the Spirit, we open the channel for God to change us, lead us, correct us, and communicate with us. Because our lives belong to Him, our hearts can be fully connected to Him through prayer. 

Once you taste of the daily flow of the Spirit, you begin to hear God’s secrets, God’s strategies, God’s systems, and God’s heart. Every Bible character we read about had some type of prayer life. Each one sought God for specific things such as faith, courage, cleansing, wisdom, perseverance, or fruitfulness. Paul said he prayed in the Spirit all the time. In fact, he said in I Corinthians 14: 18 (NKJV), “I...

Prayer has been an important part of my life since I was a little girl. Maybe it was my Lutheran Sunday school experiences that taught me to pray or perhaps it was my confirmation classes. Regardless of the initial source, I developed a heart to pray in my early years. At night I could not go to sleep until I said the Our Father, as well as my childhood prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

Matthew 6: 9-15 (KJV)  Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.

My teenage years became more stressful through a variety of circumstances and I remember praying even more....

Prayer is a significant, life-giving force for all of us as Mothers of Nations.

For the next several weeks, I would like to share with you my journey with the Lord as He taught me about prayer. Most of this instruction and insight was gleaned through what I would call “on the job training,” through circumstances and situations in my daily life where He gave direction and answers as I reached out to Him for wisdom and understanding. As an example, let me share with you an incident very early on in my Christian walk.  

Years ago my husband and I were off to a weekend retreat, excited to hear what the sponsors had to say on the topic of marriage. Upon our arrival we noticed that all kinds of people were attending this event with many different backgrounds, various church affiliations, and a wide span of ages. One of the first instructions given at the seminar was to listen to our leaders and not participate in any separate prayer meetings during the entire...

Today we will be finishing our study of symbols of the Word of God.  I pray that you have been blessed over these past six weeks as we have more closely looked at these comparisons. 

THE WORD IS LIKE A PEARL. 

Pearls are precious gems formed in darkness. They have the colors of the rainbow when brought to light. Beautiful and royal to look at, pearls need to be treasured. The Bible says in Matthew 7: 6 (NIV), "Do not give dogs what is sacred;  do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." 

The Word is not something that we should throw out to anyone at any time. Not everyone will be excited or even willing to hear it. There is always timing involved for fruit to manifest.  For many people in Arab nations with a Muslim religious dictator, the Word is not allowed in the country. If a Believer living in that nation were to take the Word and cast it before them, the Believer most...

I pray that the last several weeks of blog entries have been a blessing to you as we have examined several of the symbols used to exemplify the Word of God.  Today let’s briefly look at four more.

THE WORD IS LIKE A ROD.

Just as Moses had the rod of God in his hand and used it at God’s command, we as Mothers of Nations should have the Word of God ready and in our hand. When we need help, direction, understanding, comfort, or insight into a situation, the Word can be our guide. Moses’ rod was used to lead, separate, challenge the people, and confront the enemy. God’s Word does the very same things for us as we learn to use it in our lives.

Similarly, the Word can be used as a measuring stick. It can separate for us truth from a lie. Years ago when I went to Russia, we stood on street corners and preached the Word. After a mime team would demonstrate the message of salvation in the Word, we would give an altar call. The Russian people were able to decide...

Today we will examine three more symbols of the Word of God. This is our fourth installment of this particular study so please feel free to look back at the blogs from the past three weeks to be up-to-date with this discussion!

THE WORD IS LIKE MILK. 

In 1 Peter 2: 2 (Amplified) we read, “Like newborn babies, crave the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”   

Milk is the first thing fed to a newborn baby. If breastfed, the baby receives his/her nourishment from its mother. In this process, the child is helped so it can get a drink and be fed comfortably by bottle or breast. For many months this little one needs assistance getting the milk. Then one day, the baby has grown to a place where it desires to hold its own bottle. Soon after that the child is not full unless he/she gets a little cereal as well. The baby is growing and so are his/her needs for nourishment. 

Baby...

In the past two blogs we have examined how the Word of God is like a fire, a hammer and seed. Today we will look at two more symbols of God’s precious Word.

THE WORD IS LIKE A LAMP.

Have you ever walked into a dark room and not been able to find the light? More than once I have tripped, stumbled, hit my hand, or stubbed my toe trying to locate a light switch. Eventually when the light switch is found, the room is easy to move around in. The light makes maneuvering easy. The Word of God does the same thing. The Word functioning as a lamp or light helps guide our path.

Psalm 119: 105 (NKJV) Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 

Psalm 132: 17 (NKJV) There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for my anointed. 

In the Word are Scriptures that illuminate our path for such things as parenting, marriage, operating in God’s gifts, walking in integrity, counseling, finances, or really anything we face in life. For example, if you...

Last week we talked about the Word of God being like fire.  Today we are going to discuss two other symbols represented by God’s Word.

THE WORD IS LIKE A HAMMER.

Sometimes the Word is like a hammer.  The prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 23: 29 (NKJV),  “Is not my word like a fire? says the Lord.  And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.”  

Once when I was in Mexico, I watched a man take a hammer and all day long chisel away at some cement until the next layer was exposed.  He hit that cement over and over again, trying to remove the layer of painted cement on the surface.  He would pound and pound and all of us sitting nearby could hear, as well as see, that it would take him a long time to complete his task.  He had to stop and rest every so often because he was pounding with such great force, trying to chip away the cement.

The Word of God can hit our spirit and soul over and over again until it finally gets an...

When I was just a young girl, about ten years old, I distinctly remember my mother making this comment, “Oh, that lady’s religious.  She has Scripture plaques on the walls all over her home.” 

From that day on I related Scriptures on walls with being religious!

It was considered a negative thing from my family’s point of view to be a “religious” person.  Even though we went to church and practiced our Christian faith, having too many Scriptures around the house was crossing a line into being too religious according to my mother.

Today, I look back and realize that my mother did not have any comprehension of the power of God’s Word.  If she had, she would never have made such a negative remark about the Scriptures.  Unfortunately her statement affected my understanding regarding God’s Word for many years.  

It was ten years later that the Holy Spirit came into my life to open up my heart, ears, and...