{"id":5515,"date":"2012-12-05T00:01:54","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T06:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=5515"},"modified":"2013-01-25T00:38:55","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T05:38:55","slug":"winning-him-without-words-prepared-by-god-unanswered-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/05\/winning-him-without-words-prepared-by-god-unanswered-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Winning Him Without Words – Prepared by God – Unanswered Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GCH_Eph2_10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:7-10<\/p>\n

Somehow, reading these verses, I feel strangely uncomfortable and comforted at the same time. I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel uncomfortable when I read that God let His son go through trials and problems so much that He offered up prayers and petitions to his Father. I mean he WAS God, why did He have to go through that? On the other hand, I find myself comforted knowing that He went through trials, just like me! And now I can send up prayers and petitions, too. I don’t think He, Jesus, actually had to go through them; he could have been born and gone through life without one problem or trial. But He chose to be like us, to show us how to pray and be an example of how God wanted to prepare us for our own battles.<\/p>\n

I love this paragraph in our study that Dineen wrote: “In our trials, we can look to Jesus and see the pattern of preparation, and perhaps therein lies our joy-in knowing that the Father loves us as much as He loves His Son and is preparing us for the destiny He has planned for each of us, and for our husbands.”<\/p>\n

What trials are you going through, or have gone through, in your life and marriage that you can look and see the hand of God in the midst? Perhaps God has asked you to stay the course in your marriage through very tough and heavy circumstances. Maybe He’s asked you to show love to a man who acts unlovable, maybe he’s defensive and angry. Maybe you don’t feel loved by him, but God has called you to love him as He has loved you.<\/p>\n

God has equipped us for these and any other situations that might be presented to us on a daily basis. Let’s look at some scriptures that bear out this very thing:<\/p>\n

* 1 Corinthians 10:13\u00a0 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man and God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (NAS)<\/p>\n

* 2 Timothy 3:16-17\u00a0 All scripture is inspired by God and useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare<\/strong> and equip <\/strong>his people to do every good work. (NIV)<\/p>\n

* Ephesians 2:10\u00a0 We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works which God prepared<\/strong> us in advance to do.<\/p>\n

If we read these verses, and apply them, we know that not only is God preparing us, but He is equipping us for the battle, sometimes way ahead of it! Stay in the word, learn His way, and apply it to life. God does not say He won’t give us trials in this life. \u00a0He said we will<\/strong> have them, but He will help us and provide a way for us. \u00a0If the battle is short or long, He will be there for us.<\/p>\n

We know that God hears us from the verse Dineen shared, Psalm 17:6\u00a0 “I am praying to you because I know You will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray” (NLT), but do we really believe it? Sometimes it seems as though God is not listening. We pray and plead and send up our petitions and it seems we’re hitting a wall. We worry that He doesn’t see our situation or hear us, but because of His word, we know He does. So we wait….<\/p>\n

I know I’ve talked about my son and his addiction to drugs and alcohol and\u00a0 rebellion before, but let me just expand on it for a moment. Tristan’s rebellion started when he was 12. He suddenly became this angry, unhappy person I didn’t know. It went on a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol, and girls. He was soon more interested in partying than school, or life. He ran away a few times, screamed that he hated me on daily basis and moved out for a time when he was 17. He only came back because he was hungry.<\/p>\n

During this time, we prayed and prayed and prayed. God probably got tired of hearing my voice!! But hear me He did! \u00a0When Tristan turned 19 things started to change. He admitted his addiction and got help. He tells me everyday that he loves me, whether in a text or by mouth. He is 21 now and a productive member of society. He hasn’t come back to the Lord yet, but I’m still praying for that. But because we were in the word and had an active Christian life, God prepared us ahead of time for the battle. I can look back and see how God prepared me and listened to me in the heat of the battle. It was part of His plan for us. God heard me! \u00a0His timing may not have been\u00a0 my time, but He was faithful. I know<\/strong> He is hearing my prayers now; He’s proved it to me.\u00a0 He is hearing you, as well! \u00a0Rest in that.<\/p>\n

In Christ,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Donna<\/p>\n

Let’s Pray:<\/p>\n

God thank You for hearing our prayers and for preparing us for the battles You allow to happen in our lives. Help us to hear You, as well . May we stay as ever faithful to You, as You are to us. In Jesus’ name we pray-Amen<\/p>\n

Your Assignment: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Let us know the battles you are facing in your marriages and let’s us be privileged to pray for you as we all face the battlefield.<\/p>\n

***********************<\/p>\n

Our next Women\u2019s Online Bible Study<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u201cCrazy Love\u201d by Francis Chan<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

Begins January 6, 2013. <\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

To sign up for this Online Bible Study, click HERE<\/a><\/strong> and follow the instructions. You will also be given a link to where you can purchase this bible study. We\u2019re looking forward to learning about this \u201cCrazy Love\u201d with you!!<\/p>\n

We would LOVE to have your feedback on this study! Will you take a few minutes to complete the following survey? Your responses will help us create the best online bible study experience for you!\u00a0CLICK THIS LINK<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to fill out the short 10 question form. Your responses are completely anonymous, I promise!! Thank you so much!<\/p>\n

Please email Christi@girlfriendscoffeehour.com if you have any questions, or if you have a private comment that you would like to forward to one of our bloggers in regards to their post that day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[147,218,315,326,365,370,425,554,634,648,723,879,1126,1135],"class_list":["post-5515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-bible-study","tag-christianity","tag-dineen-miller","tag-donna-day","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus","tag-lynn-donovan","tag-marriage","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-relationships","tag-winning-him-without-words","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/gch_eph2_10-e1356048774928.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-1qX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5515"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8398,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515\/revisions\/8398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}