prayer

Happy Release Week to Amelia Rhodes for her new book Pray A to Z: A Practical Guide to Pray for Your Community! My copy of this book is already well-loved. Whether you’re a seasoned prayer warrior or just beginning to talk to God, Pray A to Z is guaranteed to bring new meaning to your prayer life. Profound in its simplicity, this book is an invaluable tool to keep us in conversation with God, and to keep the needs of others at the forefront of our minds. Because we pray to a God who answers, I can’t wait to see how this book changes the world around us. Amelia is here to answer a few questions for us today, and her publisher has generously offered a free copy of Pray A to Z to TWO winners! (Details on the giveaway after the interview.) Q: Pray A to Z is not an instruction book on the mechanics of prayer, but rather a guide to praying for one’s community, born from your personal experiences. Where did the idea of praying from A to Z come from? One day within the span of a few hours, I received phone calls and text messages from a number of friends who were all dealing with very heavy struggles. Each one asked me to pray for them.  Of course, I said I would, but at that point I recognized how often I fail to follow through on praying long-term for people. As I prayed that day, I also asked God to help me with my prayer life. I realized how many people I knew were struggling with the same types of things — adoptions, cancer, marriages. The idea of praying by topic seemed natural, and then I decided to see if I could make an A to Z list of all the needs and struggles facing our communities today.  Q: You lead readers in praying through the alphabet for their community, but there are more than just 26 topics in this book. Share with us how the book is structured and how you have organized the individual letters. Each letter features prayers and prompts on five topics. Three topics for each letter focus on prayers of petition, and two focus on praise. So we pray about adoptions, abuse and alcoholism and then praise God for His abundance and that He is almighty. We pray for marriages, missionaries and ministers and those in the military while praising God for His majesty and mercy. Q: Why did you feel it important to include aspects of praise and adoration, rather than having only need-based topics? The needs get heavy and overwhelming. I found that incorporating praise brings the focus back to our great God. Praising Him helps us recognize how every need we have is met in who God is. Q: What are some of the prayer needs you cover in the book? I covered the needs of families in our communities, such as foster families, special needs families, pregnancy crises, raising children, marriages, divorce, adoption and infertility. I also take a look at many of the justice issues facing our societies today, including prejudice, homelessness, hunger, human trafficking, refugees and violence. The prayers also include topics related to how we interact with our communities, including generosity, kindness, estranged relationships, joy, obedience to God, vanity and our yearnings. Q: Why is it hard for us to pray with focused intention for the requests of those around us? Our world has become increasingly chaotic, with an endless stream of chatter and alerts from our tech devices. Every week the news reports more heartbreaking tragedies. I find with so many things calling for my attention, it can be easy to let prayer get squeezed out of the day. Sometimes I just don’t know where to begin, or I can’t find the words to express the ache in my soul. My heart and mind often jump from need to need. Writing and then reading these prayers and verses has become a starting place to bring my focused attention to God in prayer for my community. About Amelia: Amelia Rhodes lives in Michigan with her husband and two children. Amelia encourages women to discover who they are in Christ and to deepen their relationships with each other. She is the author of Pray A to Z: A Practical Guide to Pray for Your Community (Worthy Inspired, 2016) and Isn't it Time for a Coffee Break? Doing life together in an all-about-me kind of world. Her writing has also been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Upper Room, and GEMS' Girls Clubs.  Connect with her online at www.ameliarhodes.com. Twitter: @amrhodes Facebook: @ameliarhodeswriter Instagram: @ameliamrhodes   Giveaway Details! To enter the drawing for your own copy of Pray to Z, please leave a comment telling us why you'd like it! If you have subscribed to my (Jocelyn's) newsletter, tell me that in your comment and receive an extra point.  (Psst, if you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so right here--and receive a free gift when you confirm your subscription!) Thanks for your patience as I approve the comments as I have time! Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win! Looking forward to hearing from all of you. Winners will be drawn using random.org on November 22. Winners, I will email you to ask for your mailing address. Pray A to Z is available wherever books are sold, including: Amazon, BarnesandNoble, ChristianBook, and BooksaMillion.  

We are closing in on the end of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Those of us who have read novels and nonfiction about this gruesome time have developed a better understanding of the monumental sacrifices made by families of those who fought for either side. Today I'd like to turn our attention to the fact that military families  continue to make sacrifices for the United States of America. Won't you join me in praying for these men and women? I asked Chaplain (Capt.) Scott Koeman for some specific things we can be praying for. Here is the insightful list he shared with me: Pray that they would have the Peace of Christ with them-- especially if they travel outside of his Forward Operating Base (FOB) Pray that they will depend on the Love of God to keep them from bitterness at others (who needlessly make life difficult on their subordinates especially when they aren't the most competent leader). Pray for Protection. Psalm I25:2 "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore." Pray that they will be vigilant if they are called upon to fire upon the enemy. Psalm 144:1-2 "Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me." Pray that the enemy will be turned back. Psalm 40:14 "May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion: may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace." Pray that our service members will be fulfilled in their jobs. Without purpose time out here is extremely long and difficult. Pray that service members and spouses will resist lowering themselves to low levels of conversations and instead seek to be examples of goodness and righteousness. Pray that service members find "good and solid" Christian brothers/sisters to have fellowship with. Pray for the leadership in Platoons, Companies, Battalions, Brigades Leadership can make or break a man. They have the biggest impact. Chaplain Koeman is married to Benita Koeman, founder of OperationWeAreHere.com, a clearinghouse of resources for the military community.