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Showing posts with the label prayer

From the Blog Posts of MSI Press Authors: Not So Still, Small Voice (Yavelberg)

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  From Arthur Yavelberg, author of A Theology for the Rest of Us -- Not So Still, Small Voice In times of terrible tragedies—whether personal or world-wide—many in the West think of the Bible and pray.  While the text of the prayer may be general–”Please fix this!”–there is usually the hope that there will be some dramatic, divine intervention—much like, say, God splitting the Red Sea in the Book of  Exodus .  However, while there are many examples of such miracles in both the Old and the New Testaments, there are also accounts where God’s presence is not at all obvious.  For instance, in the Book of Genesis, the  Joseph  of “The Coat of Many Colors” fame is despised by his brothers, sold into slavery and spends years in an Egyptian dungeon—only to rise to power by the side of the Egyptian vizier, save the lands from a devastating drought and rescue his family.  As Joseph tells his bewildered brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now be

Guest Post from Dr. Ortman: Change of Heart

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  CHANGE OF HEART “I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.” --Ezekiel 36: 26   “I hate change!” If I received a dollar for every time a patient said that to me, I could work for free.   They often add, “Change replaces the familiar with the unknown. The unknown scares me.” In response, I remind my anxious patients, “If there is no change, you are dead. The future is always unknown, of course, because it does not yet exist. You are now in the process of creating your own future.” I also ask them,”Why are you here meeting with me, except to change?” They tell me how miserable they feel and powerless to do anything about it. Frightening change is the price of relief. Therapy is for healing and growth. Some of my patients imagine that their trying life circumstances cause their distress. In our work together they learn that only changing their minds and hearts, their outlooks, atti

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Sharing a Concord Pastor's Pause for Prayer

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Well, I cannot write anything better about St. Patrick's Day than the pause for prayer posted by the Concord Pastor (who has maintained a great blog for a great many years, by the way). [Information via Dr. Elizabeth Mahlou , MSI Press author.] Read the post from A Concord Pastor HERE . For more posts about prayer, click HERE. For more posts about saints, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

Daily Excerpt: Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers (McGregor): Introduction

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  Excerpt from Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers Introduction   This book is for you— whatever your religious affiliation—even if you have no religious affiliation at all. This book is for you, whether you’re a Protestant, Jew, or Catholic, a member of one of the many other religions of the world, or an unaffiliated believer, long away from the religion you were brought up in but still a believer in God and desirous of communicating with Him. This book is for you, whether you’re a devout and regular church or temple-goer or a person who hasn’t set foot in a house of worship for years but sees God in every field of flowers and every glorious sunrise—whether you are a person who, in a recent times of trouble or joy, is rediscovering a need to communicate with the Almighty or a person who is raising a small child and wants that child’s life to include a relationship with God, whether or not your child also attends formal worship services.             This is a book mad

In Listicle: Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers

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Congratulations to Cynthia MacGregor for snagging  a mention in a listicle for her book Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers as a "gift beginning with E." Check it out! GIFTS THAT BEGIN WITH E

Book of the Week: Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers

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About the Book People are often at a loss to find the right words to say in prayer. Whether you're a believer but unchurched or are a devout member of a religion, if you wish to expand your home worship, finding the right words to say to God can be a problematic issue. The prayers in Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers are nonsectarian-suited for Protestants, Jews, and Catholics, as well as unaffiliated deists who believe in God but not in organized religion. They cover a raft of occasions on which individuals or families may wish to say a prayer. If prayer is an integral part of your life, or you would like it to be, you'll find the help you want in Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers. Delightfully illustrated by Zhenya Yanovich of Moscow & Siberia (Russia) and Charlottesvile (VA< USA). Book Endorsement "This book is a keeper. It gets to the heart of our communication with God." Rev. Grant A. Houser, M. Th. Review of the Book

Excerpt from Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers: General Prayers

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General Prayers – Communicating with God – for Adults and Children Sometimes you want to talk to God when it isn’t an occasion or a specified time of day and when there isn’t something happening in your life that you want to ask God for or thank God for. You just feel a need to reach out to Him and talk to Him. You might be inspired by an especially pretty sunset, or there may be something else that you want to say that doesn’t fall under a particular prayer category.               I’ve always wondered whether maybe God likes those prayers best, when He hears from us at times when we want to talk to Him not to ask him for something, or to pray at a time we think we’re supposed to, but “just because.” Don’t you appreciate the phone call from a friend who says, “I was thinking about you, so I thought I’d pick up the phone and say Hi”? Don’t you appreciate the spontaneous kiss from your child—or from anyone else—that isn’t a Hello kiss, a Goodbye kiss, a Good morning kiss, or