“He Hears Us” — Devotion Written for WOW on Prayer

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Janet

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14 NIV

Sixteen years ago, my husband and I moved our family to our current home out in the country. We loved everything about where we lived except for one thing. It did not have a swimming pool. My husband and I talked about our desire for a pool often. My oldest daughter Laura had been paying attention to our discussions. So, after a year of listening to us she decided to go ahead and ask. When I wasn’t paying attention, my 11-year-old daughter went to the computer and created a printout that she took and hung on my bedroom door with a piece of tape. It read, “Dear Mom and Dad, the four kids that you brought into the world would like a pool. Please buy one from Walmart. Thank you.” Her request was quickly met. My husband and I went to Walmart and bought the biggest above ground pool that they had. Our kids had nine years of enjoyment in that pool as they grew up. I have treasured that printout she made for several years. Each time that I see it, I smile and think about how our sweet girl, had the confidence to ask Rich and I for her desire.

Our verses this month at WOW have been about prayer. Prayer is communing with God and communicating with Him. It is our lifeline and connection to God through faith. Prayer is our invitation from God into a deep love relationship of oneness – us being closely attached, connected, inseparable, and indivisible with Him. Prayer is a lifestyle not an activity. This lifestyle is a conscious awareness of God’s presence at all times. It is experiencing everything with reference to Him.

This week’s verse is a precious promise that God gives us regarding a lifestyle of prayer. He assures us that we can have “confidence” in “approaching” Him. We can “ask anything according to His will”, and He will hear us. In a small way, it is how my daughter Laura approached my husband and me 15 years ago. As our daughter, she lived with us in a close and intimate relationship. She spent her days with us, listening to our words, and talking to us. She told us about her thoughts, wants, and desires. She knew that we loved her, and she loved us very much. So, confidence to make her request came easily. God desires that kind of relationship with us. He wants us to listen to Him through His Word. He wants us to communicate and commune with Him. As we do this, we will understand what to pray about. As we surrender our will to God and obey Him, we will understand what God desires and we can ask Him in “confidence.” Laura knew that my husband and I wanted to buy a pool. She had heard our conversations. She also knew that it would be our joy for her to ask. It is God’s joy when we come to Him in prayer that is prompted by the Holy Spirit, according to His Word, and born out of our deep love for Him that desires to do His will.

As we have talked about prayer the past few weeks, have you felt a desire to deepen your relationship with your heavenly Father? He desires for us to approach Him in “confidence.” He longs for us to know that He has promised that “He hears us.” He loves it when we come close to Him in prayer. May our days be spent in prayer – conversing and communing with Him!

This week’s song is once again “Draw Me Nearer” by Meredith Andrews. As we listen, may our desire to be closely attached to our heavenly Father in a relationship of oneness grow. We are His and He longs for us to experience Him intimately in a relationship of prayer.

Love,

Janet Nelson, Devoted and Determined

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?e=6c56f70e45&u=fdd901aba4864456762de5de3&id=015e8dabc9

A Life of Prayer — Devotion written for WOW Ministry

Posted on April 18, 2024 by Janet

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18 NIV

My mother-in-law, Evelyn, was a woman of prayer. Her example has left a huge mark on my life. She would tell me frequently of the hours she had spent talking to God. Her entire day was spent with her being conscience of His presence with her. She would talk to Him while she worked around her house, drove her car, or walked around her yard. She loved to talk to Him about the beautiful flowers she enjoyed. She asked Him to bless her meals as she cooked them, asking Him to help them to turn out good. She told Him about the things that made her happy. She poured out her sorrows to Him. I knew that her life revolved around her time spent with God. Several times during the week she called me. Her bright cheery voice came through my phone, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Janet, I’ve been talking to Jesus this morning. I’ve been praying for you…” At the time, I wasn’t as appreciative of her sunshiny optimism. But now I can see how blessed I was. She modeled to me the very thing that I needed the most, an intimate relationship with God that was cultivated in her lifestyle of prayer.

This month our verses at WOW have been about prayer. Prayer is communing with God and communicating with Him. It is our lifeline and connection to Him through faith. It is a conscious awareness of God’s presence at all times. Prayer is knowing that EVERYTHING in our lives is something we communicate with God about. Our verse this week encourages us to pray “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” God loves to hear us praise Him for who He is. He loves to hear us thank Him for what He has done. He loves to hear us ask Him for guidance along our way. He desires us to tell Him the very things that cause our hearts to ache. He wants us to come to Him with everything!

The beauty of this lifestyle of prayer is that our God not only desires for us to pray, but He also helps us to pray. The Holy Spirit prompts us, enables us, and empowers us in prayer. As we “pray in the Spirit”, our prayers are moved and guided by Him. Evelyn prayed this way. Many times, she would tell me how she felt like the Holy Spirit had prompted her to pray for a loved one. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was sure that He had directed her to pray. Later she would hear testimony of how God stepped into the circumstance that person had experienced. This confirmed to her that the Holy Spirit had led her to pray.

These memories of my praying mother-in-law have stirred in me a desire. It is a desire to live my life experiencing God moment by moment in prayer. Perhaps as you read this, the desire is growing in you? God has given us this desire. He tells us to pray because He knows that a lifestyle of prayer is what is the very best for us. It ensures that our connection with God is close and intimate. This is what we were created for. He wants us to know Him through prayer and to make Him known by displaying our relationship of oneness to God with everyone we encounter.

This week’s song is “Draw Me Nearer” by Meredith Andrews. As we listen to the words, may the Holy Spirit awaken a desire within us to experience a close and intimate relationship with Him through prayer.

Love,

Janet Nelson, Devoted and Determined

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

https://mailchi.mp/wowjcmo/wow-devotion-john-6224041?e=6c56f70e45

Season of Singing

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Janet

It seems that the world becomes alive when Spring arrives. A few of days ago I watched the sunrise from my upper deck. As I was praying and awaiting the display of colors to come, the sound of birds singing and doves cooing filled the air. It was so beautiful. I took out my phone to record a small portion of the song. The words of this verse came to my heart:

”My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”“
‭‭Song of Songs‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬, ‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Life holds many seasons of winter, when all is cold, the days are short and the birds do not sing. If we are not careful we will forget to listen for the voice of our “Beloved”, Jesus. However, He is calling. His desire is for us to arise and “come.” When we come to Jesus we can leave the death and darkness of winter behind. He is life, light, and love. He wants us to come with Him to experience Him fully!

Creation is singing a chorus of praise to Him. As we embrace the relationship Jesus is calling us to, we will find that we were created to sing that song of praise as well.

”You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.“
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our lives in Christ are a “season of singing!” The closer we are to Him the greater the song of worship becomes in our hearts. We cannot help but proclaim: Jesus is so good! Jesus is so wonderful! His power is beyond comparison! His love towards us is more than I could ever imagine!

His praises cannot be contained by the birds of spring or a heart made alive by His transforming touch!

“Be Alert and of Sober Mind” — Prayer (Devotion Written for WOW Ministry)

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Janet

“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” 1 Peter 4:7 NIV

When I was little, I was a daddy’s girl. There was nothing that I loved more than spending time with my dad. I have fond memories of sitting out in his garage watching him work on our family’s car while I would sit there and talk away to him telling him all about my 6-year-old life. I LOVED being with my dad. However, time went on and life changes happened. I still loved him, but I became busy with my friends, my activities, and my life. After high school, I moved to a different town. My time with my dad became less and less as well as our conversations. Truth be told I forgot what a joy it was to be with him. The past year things have been different in our relationship. Dad is now 86 and I am 53, our relationship has matured and deepened. Lately, we have engaged in the most wonderful conversations. I’ve asked him questions about his younger years and discovered things about him that I never knew. We’ve talked about memories, both good and bad. We’ve made plans for the future as well. Once again, this daddy’s girl has found what she needed, time with her dad in a close relationship.

This month the verses at WOW are about prayer. Prayer is our connection to God through faith. Prayer is our invitation from God into a deep love relationship of oneness closely attached, connected, inseparable, and indivisible with Him. Prayer develops our relationship with God demonstrating our trust and utter dependence upon Him. You and I are our heavenly Father’s “Daddy’s girl”. God longs for us to spend time with Him, lots of it. Prayer is us spending time with Him engaging in conversation not just occasionally, but throughout our entire day, month, year, and life.

Our WOW verse for this week speaks of the need to “be alert and of sober mind so that you can pray.” Our world around us holds so many distractions that pull us away from relating to God in a life of prayer. Our enemy would like nothing better for us than to focus on all these distractions so that we would not live in a close and intimate relationship with God. His desire is for us to be disconnected from our heavenly Father. He wants to render us useless and to keep us from living fully in that relationship for which we were created. This is why we must be spiritually alert and watchful as we live our daily lives. It is easy to drift away from a close and vibrant relationship with God, as I drifted from the close relationship I had with my earthly dad as a little girl. It is easy to lose focus of why God has invited us to be closely connected with Him in prayer. Especially if we come to God with our thoughts, our wants, our desires, and our ways in mind. If our lives are filled with the self-centeredness of an uncircumcised heart, we will not experience the close relationship of oneness that God desires us to have through prayer. This is why we must “be alert and of sober mind so that ‘we’ may pray.”

As you are reading these words, do you feel the pushing and pulling of the world’s influences trying to keep you from that intimate time of relationship with your heavenly Father as His “Daddy’s girl”? God’s desire is for us to focus attentively on Him and Him alone moment by moment throughout our day. He wants us to experience Him more fully in a living relationship of prayer. May we fix our hearts and our minds on Him so that we can truly be “alert and of sober mind.” May we guard our hearts from anything that would try to influence us and draw us away from God’s life-giving connection to Him, our relationship of oneness with Him through prayer.

This week’s song speaks of a deep and intimate relationship with God that is developed in a lifestyle of prayer. It is “Heart of the Father” by Ryan Ellis. May we know His closeness and love as we experience more and more of Him!

Click here for this week’s song “Heart of the Father” by Ryan Ellis.

Love,

Janet Nelson, Devoted and Determined

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

https://mailchi.mp/wowjcmo/wow-devotion-john-6223293?e=6c56f70e45

“House of Prayer” — Devotion Written for WOW Ministry

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Janet

“When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” 
Luke 19:45-46 NIV

Two years ago, the youngest of our four children graduated from High School. This signaled the beginning of my husband and I gradually becoming empty nesters. For 26 years, our lives had revolved around our kids. Many of those years consisted of my husband working long hours and sharing the weekends together with me and the kids. We rarely had time alone together. Suddenly, we found ourselves, alone, sitting side by side in our living room recliners with nothing to do. At times, I resented our new way of life. I liked having my time with our kids. I did things my way, after my own plans that centered around their activities. I was used to my independence and being in control. However, my husband desired for this new season in our lives to be a time that our relationship of oneness would deepen and grow. Every time he had a day off from work, he would wake up and ask me, “what are we going to do today?” I did not understand that this was his invitation to participate in a closer relationship. I didn’t realize I needed to drop my plans and my independent ways. Thankfully, I am changing and once again I am enjoying the gift that God gave to me 32 years ago when he and I were dating, our one-on-one relationship spending time together.

This month our weekly verses at WOW are about prayer. Prayer is our lifeline and connection to God through faith — totally relying on, being fully assured of, and strictly adhering to God and His Word. Faith gives birth to prayer. Prayer is absolutely dependent upon faith. Prayer is our invitation from God into a deep love relationship of oneness closely attached, connected, inseparable, and indivisible with Him. Prayer develops our relationship with God demonstrating our trust and utter dependence upon Him.

God deeply desires that we have a close and intimate relationship of oneness with Him. Jesus came to our world to make this possible. Our verses this week are an account of when Jesus came to the temple, a place of communion with God. When He arrived, He saw that the people had made the temple into a place of business instead. He began to drive out those who had turned His house into something other than its design, “a house of prayer.” Those people were used to doing things their way and after their plans, but Jesus came to introduce a “new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20) of a relationship of oneness. Jesus wanted His temple, His dwelling place, to be “a house of prayer.”

Jesus wants our lives to be one with His as well. He desires us to be “a house of prayer” or communion with Him. However, we have hindrances, sin, that need to be cleaned out in order for us to fully realize the depths of a relationship of oneness He desires. These keep us from being closely connected to God by faith through prayer. This is why we must allow God to cut the sin away through His circumcision of our hearts.

Two years ago, my husband longed for a closer relationship, and I realized I needed to repent of my independent ways. As I have, our time together is becoming beautiful. Jesus comes to us the same way. He is offering to cut away the things that separate us from Him. They leave our lives nothing more than a “den of robbers”, trapped in death, darkness, and destruction. How will we respond? May we respond, “Yes, anything that is not of You, cut away, clean it out. I want a relationship of intimacy communing with You, God, through prayer!”

Click this link to access our song this week: Kim Walker-Smith – Make Room (Lyrics) (youtube.com). May we desire to be free of all the sins that keep us from a close relationship of oneness with our Heavenly Father. Let us make room for Him. So, we may experience Him through a life of prayer.

Love,

Janet Nelson

Devoted and Determined

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

https://mailchi.mp/wowjcmo/wow-devotion-john-6222729?e=6c56f70e45