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Contributed by @houseonrocks

"If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
the raging waters
would have swept us away.

Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth" (Psalm 124).

Matthew 7:16-20

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contributed by @heavenlydesigns.co

"By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them" (Matthew 7:16-20).

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Artwork by @robertsolcan

🙏4 Lessons from Paul about Prayer

🙏Pray All throughout the Day (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Every moment of every day can act as an invitation to prayer. Some of these prayers might be more formal or more specific. Maybe you’re thanking God before a meal, or asking for his help in a particular circumstance. But, in order to pray continually, as Paul says, sometimes our prayers might look a little less traditional, like a quick conversation with him about something you noticed on your drive to work or a word spoken to him about that person you saw in the coffee shop.

🙏Ask God for Anything (Philippians 4:6-7)
Paul tells us to feel free to ask God for anything. It doesn’t matter how big or how small our requests are– God wants us to share them all with him. While God might not always answer our prayers in the ways we expect or desire, we can rest assured that he works for our good and the good of the world. When we don’t see the good in our present circumstances (because, let’s be real, sometimes we won’t), Paul encourages us to cling to the promise that God can still bring us peace, even when and where we least expect it.

🙏The Spirit Helps Us (Romans 8:26)
In the moments when we’re feeling lost, weak, overwhelmed, or heartbroken, we can offer these feelings to God in prayer. Sometimes we’re unable to come up with the right words to pray, the desire to pray, or when we don’t know what to pray for— in these times, we can rely on the intercession of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to lift up our needs to God. We can commune with God, even if it’s in silence, trusting that he’ll still know and meet our every need as he sees best.

🙏Use Scripture to Pray (Colossians 1:9-14)
Having our heart tuned to Scripture helps us learn more about the character and story of God, and provides beautiful and relevant words to bring to God in prayer. Some people find great peace in praying the Psalms, where there are words for both celebration and lament. Others might find the blessings and prayers Paul uses in his own letters (like in the verse above!) to be meaningful.

You should’ve been done with this yesterday. And, you could’ve been done the yesterday before that. But, for some reason, your brain keeps kicking the job further down your “to-do” list. After all, what’s one more day?
 
Each day you put it off, it gets a little bit harder to pick it back up. After all, there are so many better things you’d rather be doing. It’s hard to make time for this. Plus, you work better under pressure. Maybe you just need more time to *think* about it. Or, maybe there’s even a part of you that’s just worried: what if you’re really bad at it? 
 
Thoughts like these can make a procrastinator’s avoidance tendencies go into overdrive, causing us to push the job off even more (for real though, how long do you think it took to write this prayer?). 
 
Thankfully, we can come to God with these worries too, and ask for his strength— and some supernatural focus— to set out and do our work well.
 
While you still might procrastinate a little, maybe this verse and prayer will help you out when it’s time to hunker down and really get things done.
 
𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
 
𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬
God over space and time, I want to spend my hours right now doing pretty much anything but this… Please, remove all my distractions, but also remove my doubt in my abilities to complete this project well. Give me the confidence and motivation to move forward with my work, and help me see how you are at work, even in the smallest of tasks. Show me how to prioritize what’s important and how to best accomplish what needs to be done. Amen.

Where do you struggle with procrastination the most?

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐲𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐥, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲
@bronte.rygiel

Sometimes it can be hard to feel seen by Jesus. He isn’t physically walking around our world today like he was 2,000 years ago. But even back then, it’s not like Jesus could see everything that was going on all the time anyway… right? Well, about that— Jesus tells Nathanael, the very first time He meets him, that He’s seen Nathanael before, under the fig tree. Before Nathanael even knew Jesus, Jesus saw him. Nathanael would go on to become one of Jesus’s disciples, but he didn’t know that yet. Jesus had so much in store and planned for him, before they’d even met.

In the same way, Jesus sees and knows us today, even though we don’t see Him face to face. He knows every little detail about our lives and our futures. He sees us in our darkest places when we feel utterly alone. He sees us in our highest moments when everything is going right. He sees us, He knows us, He is with us.

𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟏:𝟒𝟖
"`How do you know me?` Nathanael asked. `Before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,` Jesus answered.”

𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭
Jesus knows us.
Jesus sees us…
…even when we don’t realize it.

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞
Wise and Infinite God, thank you for seeing and knowing me fully. I know you were there when ______.

Forgiving Father, I know I’ll fall short and let you down. Thank you for not leaving me or forsaking me.

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬
I can find it hard to believe that you’re with me in _________. Help me to remember that I’m never alone.

Creator and Lover of all, I struggle to believe that I’m known and still loved. Help me to see that you know me and still love me, despite my flaws.

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
All-Seeing and Knowing God, today as I go through _______, remind me that you’re walking beside me through it all.

Compassionate Lord, when I wake up in the morning, help me to rest in the fact that I’m known and held in your hand.

contributed by @verywildflower

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For by Him all things were created that are
in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.
And He is before all things,
and in Him all things consist.
And He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He may have the preeminence.
‭‭| Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬-‭18‬

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