Treasured Ministries

Offering women a biblical solution for inner healing

Praying God's Word

She Finds Divine Success Through Love

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Father, when I feel inadequate with what I have achieved in life or what I have or what I know, may I remember what you consider success.

Let me relax under the blessing of what you deem is most important to give: love.  

Love is greater than Bible knowledge or having all the answers.

It is greater than my achievements, titles, or accolades.

It is grander than the size of my home.

It is more impressive than my life being all perfect and tidy.

Let me never forget that nothing is greater than love.  

Today may I be faithful to cultivate love with those you put in my path. May each person leave my presence feeling loved. 

May I remember to love others as you have loved me—and this includes not enabling abuse. 

I close this prayer today by speaking truth from your Word. May this truth settle in my soul—to love is to succeed!   

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. . . . Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

(Pray God’s Word: 1 Corinthians 13)

Want more? Click here to read the scripture.  

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © Copyright Treasured Ministries 2019

The Power of Prayer

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“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Ephesians 3:20–21 NIV, my emphasis)

Immeasurably more. Her eyes ran over those words and then lingered for a while. Immeasurably more. God can do immeasurably more than she could ever ask or imagine, according to HIS POWER.

She pondered on her faded prayers that had once been filled with so much passion.

A season of storms sabotaged her prayer life, making it small. Like the force of hurricane winds loosening the roots of a tall tree, the storms of life shook her faith to the core. The enemy lied to her heart about the storms and told her that God was not powerful . . . and her prayers faded. 

She felt afraid. She thought about her past year and the loss she had experienced. The loss in her life combined with her fragile faith made her feel powerless. Her insecurity swallowed her confidence. In response, her soul grasped for security by clinging too tightly to the people in her life, and she began to walk under the false illusion of control.

This led to more insecurity and fear because when she tried to control her circumstances, her circumstances began to control her. Worry, fear, and anger surfaced as she tried to control what ultimately she could not.

And she was weary.

The Lord looked at his brave heart with love. No storm could ever separate them. He nourished her heart with truth and reminded her of the power of prayer. With tears in her eyes, she sank to the floor and let her prayers flow. People were there for her to love, but they could never give the security and life she was looking for.

This world is a battlefield. It took time but she won the war on her knees. So will you. That is godly girl power.

Godly girl power flows from great expectations laid at the feet of our mighty God, who can do “immeasurably more” than we could ever ask in prayer.

EXPAND your prayer life this week to reflect the greatness of our Almighty God.

Self-Sabotaging Your Prayer Life

Sometimes we can “self-sabotage” our prayer life because we pray based on what we think we deserve instead of WHO GOD IS. The enemy can use a storm, our past, or even our religious traditions to keep our prayers small.

Don’t let the enemy fool you, wise woman.

Pray prayers based on WHO GOD IS and remain faithful regardless of the outcome. Don’t filter your prayers through what you think you deserve—let your prayers flow like a mighty river and let God filter the results through his pure and perfect will to bring glory to his name.

Hey, brave heart, take this challenge with me: Revitalize your prayer life this week by recapturing the awe of your God.

God Is the Source of Your Strength

The God you serve is an “immeasurably more” God. Yahweh is the source of your strength. The Lord is his name. King of kings. Lord of lords. He is a strong tower. A fortress. He is mighty to save. The winds and waves obey his commands. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). He is Lord over all. “For from him and through him and for him are all things.” (Romans 11:36)

Humility is not hiding safely behind small prayers and safe expectations.

True humility is depending on God and not your own strength. It’s releasing the results of your prayer by resting in his love. It’s praying “that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through HIS Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:16, emphasis mine). Humility opens a highway to release heaven’s resources to you.

So, wise woman, this week pray powerfully and push past the perimeters of your thinking. You are here to bring God glory. Open your eyes wide and look out through the lens of faith. Stretch your thinking beyond the barriers of labels and limitations that have stopped you before.

Great expectations in our mighty God through prayer give us the freedom to let go of trying to extract from people what only God can give us.

When our expectations rest in the Lord, we can let go of others to truly love them.

Much as a watering can must be filled before it can pour water out and bring nourishment to plants, we must first be filled with his love to give love out. And as the watering can pours out to others, a greater capacity is created to receive even more. When we are trying to extract from people what only God can give us—it is as if we are watering cans going to other watering cans trying to find water.

You can see this same flow in the letter of Ephesians and our Nourish Scripture this week (Ephesians 3:16–4:6). Paul begins by encouraging the Ephesians to love God and receive his love for themselves. Then he encourages them to live a life worthy of their calling by giving others the same love their heavenly father gives them.

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:30–31)

Agape love is not something we manufacture—
it is something we receive from our Maker and release to others.
Strength, power, security, and fullness of life result from a heart rooted in real love.

Nourish Your Heart with Bold Prayer

Think of bold prayer as positioning yourself to fill your watering can to nourish your heart so you can nurture others. To have some understanding of God’s love, we must experience it. To experience it, we must receive it.

Each time we experience his power in answered prayer pushes the roots of our soul deeper into his love and makes us strong as we trust in Him. Only when Christ becomes seated at the center of our heart through the humility of prayer and our roots are deep in his love can we truly love others with his love. And that is godly girl power (Ephesians 3:14–21).

Prayer will grow your roots deep in God’s love because you are placing your trust in him. When your roots are deep in God’s love, you will bear the fruit of his love to others.

Do you hear it, brave heart? Your Heavenly Father is calling. A suitable and settled life won’t do inside this world that needs to be saturated with love—his love. Remember, we are in a battle. The most powerful force on this earth is love. This is godly girl power. This is the life you were called to live.

You have only one life. Pray with great expectation. Live a life worthy of your calling by receiving his love and giving it to others. Fall on your knees in prayer and trust the one who can bless you beyond measure so you can be a blessing to others.

That war you are fighting will be won with you on your knees.

Nourish Scripture: Ephesians 3:14–4:6

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

Mountains Can Move

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That overwhelming mountain before you…the one that is unsettling your soul. You don’t have to handle it on your own.

“Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘ May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.” Mark 11:22-25

The Problem with Complaining

Sometimes I get distracted and drag doubt like a dark cloud over my eyes of faith by complaining about the mountain instead of speaking to it.

Instead of addressing the mountain through prayer, I choose to just walk around it, grumbling all the way.

I may even throw a pity party and invite a friend or two along. But this never solves my problems. Instead, it adds fuel to them because it turns my focus and faith on the problem instead of Jesus.

Beware, brave heart, as you behold the mountain before you. Complaining brings doubt into the equation and never equals a good result.

Mountains Move at Prayer Parties

Reaching out for godly counsel is wise, but be careful that you don’t end up just sharing your complaints with a friend, and end up going around and around the mountain repeatedly. “But she understands me!” you may want to say. This may be true, but she can’t meet your needs. Only Jesus can do that.

Mountains move at prayer parties not pity parties. When girlfriends gather to pray, great things happen for God’s glory.

Gather your friends, pray together and watch mountains move! Who will you reach out to today?

Nourish Scripture: Mark 11:12-25

Download Nourishing Your Heart to learn how to connect with God’s Word in a way that transforms your life!

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

Prayer is Conversation with Jesus

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Last week we talked about how prayer is a filter that helps us determine God’s priorities so that we live with focus each day. While prayer is that and so much more, I admit I don’t take advantage of this privilege as much as I could because “religion” gets in the way. Sometimes “religion” can make prayer so confusing that we don’t enjoy one of the greatest gifts of being a child of God…coming to him in prayer.

But this is not the way God intended prayer to be.

A while ago, I ran into this blog written by Martha Fry on prayer and I knew I immediately wanted to share it with you.

Prioritizing Prayer

This year, C3 is starting off its year with a focus on prayer. I love that – don’t you. As you set into this first month of the year, make prayer a priority and find focus and direction to become the woman God created you to be.

Enjoy Martha’s blog, and don’t miss my podcast with her this week on prayer.

Some people get so confused when it comes to prayer. Who do I call on when I pray: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Lord, Christ…………

Do I pray one way or are there different ways. How do I pray for people? How do I pray for myself?

I am that “some people”. And I have gotten so caught up in believing that I have to do it right and I wasn’t sure what right was that at times I didn’t even pray until a crisis came.

But praying is like having a conversation with God. And if I think about my conversations with Matt I have to realize no two conversations are the same. Some of my conversations with Matt are planned, like a date night. Sometimes they are very intentional because I have something I need to talk to him about. Sometimes they are off the cuff. Sometimes they are sad and full of emotion. Sometimes they are a little heated. Sometimes they are funny and we just joke around and laugh, but one thing is for sure we talk a lot.

I cannot say it is everyday because when we travel there are days we don’t talk, but even when we don’t talk I have talked to Matt so much I have thoughts like, if Matt were here this is what he would say.

This is how our time with God should be. Our conversations shouldn’t always be the same. We need planned, intentional, off the cuff, emotional, heated, funny, confessing times with God, just to name a few ways we should talk to Him.

Want more? You can read more about prayer in Martha’s blog.

Nourish Scripture: Mark 9:14-29

Download Nourishing Your Heart to discover the key to connecting with God’s Word in a way that transforms your life. 

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

Living with Balance

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Prioritize and plan your day focusing on God’s unique direction for your life through the filter of prayer. You were not created to do it all, and Jesus does not expect you to do it all. Live with intention by living led by the Holy Spirit day by day.

Pause brave heart and pray to find direction and live with intention as you become the woman God created you to be.

Being Pulled in Many Directions

Jesus knows what it feels like to be pulled in many different directions. While he was here on earth there were so many were under his care, so many wanting him and needing him. People pressed in to meet Jesus. Sick people, broken people, and needy people wanting to find relief. With so many needing him, Jesus still paused to pull away in prayer with the Father.

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”  But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons (Mark 1:35-39).

Jesus received clarity for where to travel after his time in prayer. He depended on God for direction to accomplish sharing the gospel. Likewise, spending time in prayer gives clarity of direction and next steps for our journey to become the woman God created us to be.

God-ordained direction diffuses distractions to make us more productive by living with intention.

Find confidence to say “no” to distractions that can leave you overwhelmed and drawn away from your true course in life.

  • Pray to find your unique direction for your life and for each day.
  • Uncover the difference between a “good work” and “God’s work” by seeking God.
  • Live with intention knowing God has your best intentions for you and those you love.
  • Guard your time to give yourself fully to God’s Work for your life.

Your life’s vision or calling may remain the same, but often the Lord wants to change your direction. Daily time with him is vital to keeping in step with the Spirit. When we find the time to fix our eyes on Jesus, he will keep us on his perfect course for our lives.

The Key to Living with Balance

prayer-is-a-filter-that-helps-us-determine-gods-priorities-so-the-we-live-with-focus-each-dayThe Bible tells us it is only after we renew our minds that we can “test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).” Keeping in step with the Spirit can save us from striving and taking extra steps that are not part of God’s plan for our lives.

When the Lord brings clear focus into our day, our priorities come into place with his perfect will, and we can let go of any responsibilities he is not asking us to bear (Matthew 11:28-29).

The temptation to get involved in many “good things” can distract us from our calling. As we become sensitive to his leading, simplicity and focus come into our day. Our priorities fall into place, and we learn we can stop and take time for the meaningful relationships in our lives. Seek the Lord for simplicity and focus. Ask him to show you his will for your life. Know that adding anything else, however good it may be, to our plate can rob our joy and rob others of opportunities meant for them.

Jesus knows how much we can handle. Wise women live with intention by living led by the Holy Spirit. Prayer is a filter that helps us determine God’s priorities so that we live with focus each day.

In our podcast this week, gain practical principles to live directed by God instead of driven by distractions. Do less. Be more productive and find time for the ones you love.

Nourish Scripture: Luke 10:1-20

Download Nourishing Your Heart to discover the key to connecting with God’s Word that transforms the way you live. 

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.