Creating a Prayer Strategy

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023Leave a comment

Welcome to Positive Life Principles with Karol Ladd. I’m so glad you have joined me here for a healthy dose of encouragement and wisdom. During the month of January, I’ve asked my friend Candace Gray to be my guest blogger and share her insights on starting the new year in a positive and productive way. Enjoy and be strengthened!

– Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

Do you have a strategic approach to your prayers? Being strategic is about being consistent and intentional. Making progress on meaningful goals can be a fight, so you need a battle strategy for the year. Here are some things to consider: how & when will you pray? What and who will you pray for? What are your go-to Scriptures that encourage you and remind you of truth? Who are the people who will encourage you, pray with you and challenge you? Finally, does your prayer strategy include bold requests?

There are many benefits and specific promises tied to prayer. James 5:16 tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Here are some suggestions for being strategic in prayer:

Ask, Seek, Knock continuously. Matthew 7:7-10. This passage is an encouragement to be persistent and consistent in prayer and you will be rewarded with a response. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (7:7)” Furthermore, the passage explains the heart of God and His willingness to respond to His children. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will give Him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him. (7:9-10)”

Be bold. In Matthew 14:29, Peter asked Jesus to allow him to walk on water. Jesus’s response to him was, “Come.” He allowed Peter to walk on water just because Peter was bold enough to ask. Not one to waste an opportunity, Jesus used the experience to show His power and increase Peter’s faith.

Ask with confidence. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” Don’t over-analyze your prayers and hold back in what you ask of God. If you pray for something that is not in alignment with God’s will, know that He is good and He will sort it out. He does not punish you for asking. Instead, He teaches you so that you grow in understanding His will. Therefore, present the desires of your heart to God and let Him guide you in His will. If I pray for something that’s not good for me and is not born out of the right motives, God, in His kindness, will help me to come to that realization. In His mercy, He will not give me something that He knows will be harmful to me.

In the spirit of confidence in God and pursuing a focused, purposeful and bold new year, pray and seek:

God’s vision for you for this year;
Ability to do more than you think is possible this year;
Wisdom, creativity and practical ideas for accomplishing your goals this year.

About Candace: Candace Gray is a seasoned leader with a track record of living a life of purpose and helping others to do the same. She is a Senior Director for Buckner Children and Family Services and a longtime member of Concord Church in Dallas.

If you’d like to follow her full 21-day devotional series, go to www.candacegray.com

Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash

Look Up!

January 9, 2023Leave a comment

Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can.

Genesis 15:5

Guest Blogger Candace Gray

Do you ever feel weighed down by the daily grind of life? Have you suffered some disappointment in the last year that caused you to lose hope? Perhaps you’re in a long season of waiting and not seeing any change. Going through a hard season can make you lose vision and shrink your view of what’s possible. As you start this year, stir up your hope by remembering there are tremendous possibilities with God.

Abraham found himself in a discouraging place. He wanted much more than what he saw in his life at the time. He wanted a child and he had none; he wanted a home and he’d been uprooted from his home and told to go to an unknown place. Furthermore, God had promised to bless him with not just one child, but with numerous descendants and God had promised not just a home but a nation that would have its own land. Yet there was a big gap between what Abraham was experiencing and what God had promised. So, God told Abraham to “look up at the stars and count them if you can.” It was an encouragement to look beyond what he could see around him and understand that God has as many ways as there are stars to fulfill His promises. The same is true for you and me. Looking up represents seeing the vast power of God and His ability to bring about amazing things in your life. As you approach the new year, fix your gaze on Him. He is I AM (Exodus 3:14), meaning He is able to do more than you can ask or imagine.

Don’t stop believing in God’s good plans for you. Life is better when you focus on the wide sky of possibilities rather than the narrow view created by your disappointments. When you play small, there is no energy, no vision and no confidence to make bold moves. When you think and look toward the sky, there are infinite possibilities and a great and powerful God working for your good. Even through adversity and delays, He’s growing you and preparing you to be blessed and to be a blessing. Turn your gaze from your disappointments to the sky and remember I AM.

Questions for Reflection:

What disappointments did you encounter last year? Did they cause you to lose hope?
Where is your focus now – on you and your circumstances or on God?

My guest blogger this month is Candace Gray. She is a seasoned leader with a track record of living a life of purpose and helping others to do the same. Candace is a Senior Director for Buckner Children and Family Services and a longtime member of Concord Church in Dallas.

If you’d like to follow her full 21-day devotional series, go to www.candacegray.com

Photo by Klemen Vrankar on Unsplash

He Provides

April 2, 2022April 2, 2022Leave a comment

“God himself will provide the lamb

for the burnt offering, my son.”

Genesis 22:8

It was a tense moment. In the book of Genesis, we read the story of Isaac and Abraham headed up the mountain to present a burnt offering to God, but there was no lamb. God was testing Abraham’s heart to see if he would be willing to offer even his only son. Abraham prophetically stated a truth that would be fulfilled several thousand years later in Christ, as God provided the Lamb who died on our behalf.

The angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from offering Isaac. The Bible then tells us, Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. God provided a lamb that day on the mountain, and God has provided a lamb for all who will believe. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

As we celebrate Easter this month, may our hearts be drawn to the great sacrifice God made for us in sending His only Son to offer His life on our behalf. But the story doesn’t stop at the cross! In three days, He rose from the grave demonstrating victory over sin and death! What joy and victory for those who place their faith in Him!

Photo by Danny Lines on Unsplash

Close Beside Us

March 1, 2022Leave a comment

Even when I walk through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
For you are close beside me.
Psalm 23:4

You are not alone. Your Shepherd is close beside you. He protects and comforts you in the midst of your darkest valleys. Do not be afraid for you do not walk your path by yourself. It is a great comfort to know that when we face the scariest times in our lives, He is there with us. The Bible doesn’t say that we will never walk through dark times, but it does reassure us that we won’t walk through them alone.

What great assurance we have in knowing that the Lord our God will not leave us. Do not fear about things that may happen or the possibility of valleys in your life. The “what ifs” need not linger as long as we remember that our good Shepherd will protect and comfort us in the midst. Let us walk in confidence and not fear for the road ahead.

Blessings with a Purpose

October 2, 2021Leave a comment

I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you. Genesis 12:2

God not only blesses us, but he blesses us for a purpose. He blesses us so we will be a blessing. The word bless means, “to benefit.” It implies abundantly or greatly. In the Bible we are reminded that God blessed Abraham abundantly by building a great nation through his seed. He made Abraham’s name great.

God’s blessings are different toward each one of us. Sometimes our blessings may come through the most difficult of trials. The purest gold comes through the most intense heat, and the most beautiful gems are formed through immense pressure. Other blessings may be in the rich joy of family members or friends in our lives.

Everyone can look at unique ways God has blessed their lives. The question is, “Are we focusing on the blessings God has given us or on the frustrations?” Let’s thank God each day for the wonderful ways He blesses us, and then let’s be diligent to use our blessings to bless the world around us.

How does God want to use your gifts and talents to benefit others today?