Pray for the adopted

 

I have to be totally honest with you and say that I know nothing about being adopted or about adopting a child, but I'm hoping someone may have a story or testimony to share. God put on my heart for us to pray for not only the adopted, but also foster children, stepchildren, and the parents who raise them.

     Two of my dearest friends have adopted daughters (late teens to early 30s) and just happen to be going through some struggles with them right now. None of the conflicts are because they're adopted, but between that and the Pastor talking about how we're all adopted into our Father's family, it seemed like a group we should focus our prayers on this week.

     This is obviously a topic dear to our Lord because look at the people in the Bible who fit into this "category"...Moses, Samuel, and Jesus. Moses was adopted by Pharoah's daughter. Hannah surrendered Samuel to Eli. Jesus' true Father is Yahweh, but He was also the step-son of Joseph. 

     And then there's us. We who are God's children are adopted. More on that later.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV

If there's anyone you would like us to pray for this week, please let me know.

Let's pray for:

E.

R.

H.

and that their relationships with their mothers may strengthen.

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are adopted, who are in foster care, and who are living with a step-parent. May they feel loved and accepted. May their parents also feel loved and accepted by the child. Lord, please work in these relationships, especially during times of struggle, building a foundation of communication, love, and patience.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #adoption #adopted #chosen #love #family

Guilt from deliberate sin

 

It's also known as mortal sin.

     If we know something is wrong and we keep doing it anyway, does God forgive us when we repent? I assume so, but I also assume it grieves the Holy Spirit. I searched this subject and it took me through a long and winding journey with no real answers. 

     My thoughts, as one who has committed deliberate (and repetitive) sin, is that God forgives us when we come to Him with a sincerely repentant heart. If we ask for forgiveness knowing full well we're going to repeat the sin, He knows. It's in the back of our minds, even as we're praying for forgiveness. 

I believe the best thing to do is to pray for HELP. Ask Him to help you stop doing the sin. Ask Him for strength, wisdom, guidance, whatever it takes to free you from this temptation.

     The reason I bring this up is that I got to thinking about the things I haven't been able to let go of from my past and realized they were things that were premeditated; things that I KNEW were wrong but chose to do anyway. So, I think this feeling of guilt is maybe rooted in the fact that these sins were committed knowing full well that they were sins, and that I was going to do them anyway. It's kind of like that saying, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission." 

     I continue to work to better myself and to give things up to Him and not make a decision without Him. Jesus prayed all of the time. He lived a life without sin. What does that tell us about what we should be doing?

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:12-16 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are carrying around guilt and shame, especially for those who are troubled with the past and can't let go, even though our Father has forgiven them. Pray that they recognize that Jesus died for all of their sins, that those sins are now wiped away and they are now a new being in His eyes.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #guilt #shame #accusation #Satan #anxiety 

Innumerable evils

 

Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

For innumerable evils have surrounded me;

My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of my head;

Therefore my heart fails me.

Psalm 40:11b-12 NKJV

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are carrying around guilt and shame, especially for those who are troubled with the past and can't let go, even though our Father has forgiven them. Pray that they recognize that Jesus died for all of their sins, that those sins are now wiped away and they are now a new being in His eyes.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #guilt #shame #accusation #Satan #depression #anxiety #empathy #blessing

Unrepented sin

I read about unrepented sin somewhere and realized that maybe there was something in my past that I hadn't repented of or confessed to the Lord, and maybe I was feeling guilt from that and thinking it was for something else. So, I prayed for God to show me my unrepented sin and a few things surfaced.
     This is the point where I would normally share the things that God revealed to me, but I've decided not to. After talking to a friend, she reiterated to me that the past is in the past and it's time to move forward. Not that I won't continue to share my past here, it's just some things are best left alone, or kept between me and Him.
     I've blocked certain things from my memory in order to guard my heart, and maybe that's an act of letting go, in some respect, but some events are just pushed down deep inside of us, unresolved. Those are the things that are maybe preying on our self consciences, that are resurfacing as an underlying feeling of guilt and shame. Ask God to show you those things, or better yet, ask Him to just take those from you. God loves you more than you will ever be able to comprehend. He doesn't want us living a life of guilt and shame. Pray for help. Praise Him for His love and grace.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones grew old

Through my groaning all the day long.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to You,

And my iniquity I have not hidden.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You

In a time when You may be found;

Surely in a flood of great waters

They shall not come near him.

Psalm 32:1-6 NKJV

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are carrying around guilt and shame, especially for those who are troubled with the past and can't let go, even though our Father has forgiven them. Pray that they recognize that Jesus died for all of their sins, that those sins are now wiped away and they are now a new being in His eyes.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #guilt #shame #accusation #Satan #depression #anxiety #empathy #blessing

The blessing

 

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:1

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are carrying around guilt and shame, especially for those who are troubled with the past and can't let go, even though our Father has forgiven them. Pray that they recognize that Jesus died for all of their sins, that those sins are now wiped away and they are now a new being in His eyes.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #guilt #shame #accusation #Satan #depression #anxiety #empathy #blessing

Learned guilt

 

You may have "learned" guilt as a child. I'm not talking about normal guilt, what you feel when you do something wrong, but rather a pang of guilt brought about by taking on the burdens of the world. 

     Case in point, my mom. Her latest guilt is for getting the covid vaccine. The first day that you could sign up began at 8:30. At 8:29 she sat poised at her phone with her list of medical facilities to call and within a few minutes had her first appointment. Ever since then, she's been anxiously waiting for everyone she knows to get their shot. She makes sure when the next group is eligible that everyone who she knows who's in that group knows to sign up. I love her for that, but I also worry that she stresses about it.

     I've learned this type of guilt. Maybe it's helped to humble me but maybe it's burdened me with anxiety and depression. I try to give all of my concerns to God and so I also have to trust Him with caring for everyone else. Why am I blessed with this or that and my friend isn't? I don't know, and I don't need to know. It's all up to Him and it's not for me to question.

     I guess maybe there could be a fine line between guilt in that respect and empathy? My counselor has told me time and time again that I'm so empathetic that it is a major contributor to my anxiety and depression; which is another reason I practice giving it all up to God. He is sovereign over all things. If guilt over things that I cannot control or even have a hand in are a burden, then that guilt is from the Accuser and is not of God.

     Let love consume you, not guilt.

 

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are carrying around guilt and shame, especially for those who are troubled with the past and can't let go, even though our Father has forgiven them. Pray that they recognize that Jesus died for all of their sins, that those sins are now wiped away and they are now a new being in His eyes.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #guilt #shame #accusation #Satan #depression #anxiety #empathy

Into the sea

 

I need to learn how to do this ... "cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." What good does it serve to hold onto guilt? Who benefits from it? Does the Lord love us more if we wallow in shame for something He Himself forgave us for? Cast it into the depths of the sea. Let it go. Move onto something that will bring glory to God. Praise Him for His mercy and grace.

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

Micah 7:19 NKJV

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Please join me this week in praying for those who are carrying around guilt and shame, especially for those who are troubled with the past and can't let go, even though our Father has forgiven them. Pray that they recognize that Jesus died for all of their sins, that those sins are now wiped away and they are now a new being in His eyes.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #guilt #shame #accusation #depression #forgiveness