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Blog
An Invitation to be Redefined by Prayer
Written by Michelle J. Goff
February is Iron Rose Sister Ministries’ Prayer Month—always has been, always will be. We prefer to adopt a “pray without ceasing” mentality, but it is encouraging when we can set aside a specific time to pray together over the same things.
As we usually do, we have made a Prayer Calendar available that has a prayer prompt and a scripture reference for each day. There is also an information page that has more detailed instructions about other Prayer Month activities, like the new Monday evening open prayer hour we are offering via Zoom.
The first of those Prayer Nights is tonight, February 1, 7pm Central (and all other time zones listed on the info page). We will have four Breakout Rooms: one for English-speaking women, one for Spanish-speaking women, one for women who want to pray and/or hear prayers in both English and Spanish, and finally one for men that want to join in prayer for Iron Rose Sister Ministries. Prayers in that room will also be in English and Spanish. The Zoom link for the Monday Prayer Nights is also on that info page.
Our biggest prayer for our Prayer Month is that each of us individually and all of us as a we join in prayer, will be redefined by it.
May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. (Ps. 141:2)
James 5:13-18 details many of the merits and purposes of prayer. As you read these verses below, mediate on how both the person doing the praying and the person being prayed over are being redefined by prayer, even before any answer to that prayer is revealed by God.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
How does the process of redefinition happen through prayer?
How have you been redefined by prayer in the past?
Are you ready to be redefined by prayer along with us this month?
Good Morning!
Written by Jennifer Percell, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in St. Joseph, MO
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. (Ps. 65:8, NIV)
Good Morning Sisters! Yes, it is morning, the morning of joy. Every day that we wake up and have opportunity to praise the great God of heaven is a new morning of joy.
Several months ago, these statements would have only brought pain to my heart. My heart was wrapped in a great cloud of darkness. Not only were we isolated in a frightening pandemic, my beloved older sister was suffering a terrible illness, I had many concerns for my children, and I was suffering a difficult illness myself. There seemed to be little hope to brighten any morning.
My prayers were quite desperate in those months. Since I am bound by human perspective, I could see little chance of change in any of the situations that were weighing me down. My desperate pleas were that God would bring some change to seemingly unchangeable circumstances. Those prayers did little to comfort me though, because I could not see the possibilities. I knew God's vision was so much greater than mine, but since I could not see resolutions, my heart refused to hope.
As I write today, we are still in the midst of a frightening pandemic. My sister's illness has progressed to a terrible condition, my illness remains undiagnosed and quite painful, and I still feel great concern for my children and grandchildren. In the midst of all of this I struggle to describe my joy. The deep rivers of unquenchable joy that have overtaken me feed my hungry soul in a way I have not known in my 61 years of this hard life.
The way that God reached His great strong hands into my very being and reshaped my heart was more effective and perfect than any surgery that may attempt to heal my body. I laugh out loud at my weak perspective that believed change was not possible. Can anyone look at 2020 and feel that life does not change? The changes wrought by experiencing great upheaval seem to us to be very negative. If I could recount to you the answered prayers God gave to me through the last months, you would see—you could not help but see—His great hand on every single moment of my days. You would see, as I have seen, that when life is most hopeless is when our vision can finally clear, and the incredible, indescribable love of the God of heaven will shine in brilliant technicolor rainbows.
As you cry your tears and sob with fear, please open your eyes and see Him. See Him reaching into your heart, making tender, gentle adjustments to your perspective. I wish I could describe how it works. If I could, I would not need Him so much. Step out of your darkness and allow the warmth of His light to nurture you. My sisters, the morning is so very, very beautiful.
Read from His word right now, read how the Potter works in Jeremiah 18:4, and Isaiah 29:16 and 64:8.
Read Lamentations 3:1-59 and sing new songs of everlasting joy. How is your morning going?
