Category: Prayer

God's Presence, Prayer, Worship

Our Values: Prayer and Worship

by hcfwomenLeave a Comment on Our Values: Prayer and Worship

freedomsPrayer and worship create an atmosphere where everyone can experience the presence of God. Pastor Brad expounded on these core values in a powerful way during the “DNA of Harvest” series. Download the talk as soon as you can!

I’d like to share with you what prayer and worship mean to me day in and day out. I don’t see how one can separate prayer and worship. Prayer in this season of my life feels more like an opportunity to re-align myself with God’s heart. I still pray to ask for things from Father, but I also want to sense an increased closeness to hear what He wants to say to me. I want a deeper relationship with Him. Prayer and worship give me a pathway to come to Him and enter into that for which my heart so deeply longs.

It’s a chance to focus my attention on Him and what’s truly valuable in life. Worship inevitably begins to flow from my heart when I wait upon Him. I can’t help it. The more I focus my attention on who He is, what He’s done for me, what I will accomplish in the earth for His Name’s sake, I just can’t help but be grateful and awed, humble and exuberant, fierce and at rest. He’s so interesting! Prayer and worship open my eyes to see Him. I don’t want to miss it because I’m more taken with my issues, my problems or my pain.

Father taught me through prayer and worship that I am valuable to Him. He knows what I’m faced with each day. He’s not going to hang me out to dry, so to speak. Sometimes my circumstances may not look like I’d hoped, but He’s promised to never leave me nor forsake me. Prayer and worship give me an opportunity to declare His truth over my circumstances. I’m not denying that I may not feel good or that I’ve messed up in some way. What I am doing is choosing to recognize that He is greater than my pain or my regret. I am still right with God through the finished work of the cross in Christ. I will make Him my focus and allow Him to transform me rather than trying to fix myself out of my own resources.

Take a moment to think about the things you want to pass on to the next generation that you possess right now. I want my kids to have learned from me that no matter what their life experience is, they can always rise above it with prayer and worship. They can experience what gold will not buy and education will not provide if they will humble themselves and fix their gaze on the Lover of their souls.

This post was written by Jodi Leigh LaFrance. To read more about her, click here.

Faith, Parenting, Prayer

Unshakable

by hcfwomen3 Comments on Unshakable

Last family photo

Unshakable: (adjective) utterly firm or unwavering, incapable of being shaken.

Luke 6:47-49 tells us that anyone willing to come to the Lord and put His words into practice is like someone building a house on a foundation set upon a rock. The house can withstand any storm.

What we build our house upon may be all that is left after a storm passes…it matters!

Well, the only way to be unshakable is to have a solid foundation and you’ve got to start somewhere. Our journey started when I was told a diagnosis no mom wants to hear; death was inevitable for our unborn son. After an unexpected delivery at 28 weeks, he was diagnosed with 22 fatal conditions. He was beautiful, so very perfect in every way. After 3 surgeries, a few close calls and 66 days in NICU, he passed away peacefully as we held him.

His name was Callen Clark Wright and the journey of his incredibly short life changed our family forever…it made us unshakable.

When we first heard of a possible diagnosis, we laid the foundation for the situation before us and declared these things aloud: “We will not blame ourselves or each other, and most importantly we will NEVER blame God.” We had no idea what exactly was before us but we knew we had to have a foundation-a sturdy place to start.

During our time with Callen the one thing that remained true was that God was with us. Many people told us how they could clearly feel God’s presence and some could literally see Him. Most people do not understand how we are even still standing. Yes, the loss of a child is very painful in every way.

The grief process is not marked; there are no road maps to get through it, partly because it never ends. But there is hope. Hope that the foundation you built your family on will remain standing through the flood and will allow you to be unshakable in the midst of the process and eventually continue to build.

Being unshakable is not easy, and you cannot do it in your own strength. God is the key to becoming unshakable. He will help and guide you. God will bring joy from the pain. God is the perfect foundation to build upon because He is faithful, always constant, NEVER failing.

PRAY and call out to Him. God will meet you in your circumstance. No matter how small or big it may seem, He is still bigger. Nothing happens to us without passing through His hands first. He will allow us a chance to prevail and become stronger in our faith, but we must be unshakable in our relationship with Him to succeed.

Be encouraged! With God, YOU CAN DO THIS! All things are possible when He is your strength, your foundation, your UNSHAKABLE God Almighty!

This post was written by Victoria Wright. She attends the Plainview Harvest Campus with her husband Justin and two beautiful children, Caycen and Carly.