Julie Chapus's Blog - Posts Tagged "prayer"
Fourth of July
My Father God, we remember you on the 4th of July and we honor you alone. Before we were born a nation, you were first and foremost in our forefathers prayers. All of our policies, government, and money rotates around you.
Since the birth of our nation you have blessed the United States with freedom. Because of you, our nation has prospered. Even with our world the way it is today, you still bless us.
We pray for all our soldiers residing with you who fought for our freedom. Bless them in your holy land. We pray for all of our soldiers fighting today, that you will protect and guide them.
Even in our Pledge Of Allegiance, we remember you, "one nation under God". We are nothing without you.
Please remember your servants in this day and age and bless us on this freedom day.
Amen
Since the birth of our nation you have blessed the United States with freedom. Because of you, our nation has prospered. Even with our world the way it is today, you still bless us.
We pray for all our soldiers residing with you who fought for our freedom. Bless them in your holy land. We pray for all of our soldiers fighting today, that you will protect and guide them.
Even in our Pledge Of Allegiance, we remember you, "one nation under God". We are nothing without you.
Please remember your servants in this day and age and bless us on this freedom day.
Amen
Influencers
We have all had people in our lives we look up to. People we think really have it all together. They know what they are doing, they know why they are doing it, and they really know how to get the job done. These people can be powerful tools and resources in our lives, but is this really good for us? It can be. It's always beneficial for us to learn wisdom from those who have walked the path before us, but there is a danger with influential people in our lives as well.
How can powerful influencers be a danger? The danger is not in the influencers themselves. The danger lies in us. There is a fine line between influence and idols.
When we look up to someone, we may like what we see, like it a lot, and want to do things exactly like these people. We may take on traits and behaviors we would not have come up with on our own. And therein lies the problem. How is that a problem? From experience, I can tell you when I was trying to do things just like someone else, it never really seemed to work for me the way it did for them. I would go nuts trying to figure out why. I would talk to them and see what I needed to tweak. I would try, and seem to fail again and again. I would take more advice and do more tweaking and pretty soon started thinking, maybe I'm just not good enough. Comparing myself with the people I wanted to be like made me miserable.
I would look up to them and fall short every time. I didn't realize all the while I was taking on a condemning spirit of myself. And pretty soon it was affecting everything in my life. When things were not working for me the way I thought they should, I would beat myself up thinking there must be something wrong with me.
I spent years trying to fix myself so I could be just like my idols. When it seemed to work I would feel great about myself, and when it didn't work I would feel down. It's an awful roller coaster ride that never seems to end. It never really occurred to me perhaps this was not the plan for my life.
I never even considered God may have something totally different in mind for me. I was just so focused on my influencers/idols, I was missing out on all the things God wanted for me.
Well thank God He brought this to my attention. I am on a totally different path now and loving it. God is showing me things I never knew I could have. I didn't even know this path existed for me. I am so happy I have learned the difference between influencers and idols.
People, no matter how powerful, are not what we should look up to. We should look to our Creator, the one who made us and the one who knows the plans He has for us. We all matter, we all have a job to do, and God knows exactly what that is. We can all be happy and feel fulfilled when we do what we were created to do. If you feel stuck in this condemning pattern, this simple prayer may help:
Dear Lord, please show me what you want me to do. I receive the plan you have for my life. Guide me in the way I should go. Amen.
How can powerful influencers be a danger? The danger is not in the influencers themselves. The danger lies in us. There is a fine line between influence and idols.
When we look up to someone, we may like what we see, like it a lot, and want to do things exactly like these people. We may take on traits and behaviors we would not have come up with on our own. And therein lies the problem. How is that a problem? From experience, I can tell you when I was trying to do things just like someone else, it never really seemed to work for me the way it did for them. I would go nuts trying to figure out why. I would talk to them and see what I needed to tweak. I would try, and seem to fail again and again. I would take more advice and do more tweaking and pretty soon started thinking, maybe I'm just not good enough. Comparing myself with the people I wanted to be like made me miserable.
I would look up to them and fall short every time. I didn't realize all the while I was taking on a condemning spirit of myself. And pretty soon it was affecting everything in my life. When things were not working for me the way I thought they should, I would beat myself up thinking there must be something wrong with me.
I spent years trying to fix myself so I could be just like my idols. When it seemed to work I would feel great about myself, and when it didn't work I would feel down. It's an awful roller coaster ride that never seems to end. It never really occurred to me perhaps this was not the plan for my life.
I never even considered God may have something totally different in mind for me. I was just so focused on my influencers/idols, I was missing out on all the things God wanted for me.
Well thank God He brought this to my attention. I am on a totally different path now and loving it. God is showing me things I never knew I could have. I didn't even know this path existed for me. I am so happy I have learned the difference between influencers and idols.
People, no matter how powerful, are not what we should look up to. We should look to our Creator, the one who made us and the one who knows the plans He has for us. We all matter, we all have a job to do, and God knows exactly what that is. We can all be happy and feel fulfilled when we do what we were created to do. If you feel stuck in this condemning pattern, this simple prayer may help:
Dear Lord, please show me what you want me to do. I receive the plan you have for my life. Guide me in the way I should go. Amen.
Why I Do What I do
As many of you may have noticed, I only post on my blog when I am inspired to do so. However today's post comes from a broken heart and the need to do something about it.
In early December 2012 the Lord called me to write a book for Him. It was He who dictated what I was to write. I just obeyed. This happened only two weeks before the Sandy Hook school shooting. When that shooting happened, the Lord said to me, "This is why you are writing, Julie. You are going to reach my children before they go down the wrong path."
Now, I know you may be thinking, "Who are you, Julie, that you should write for God?"
That's exactly what I thought too. I have made so many mistakes and committed so many outright sins in my life. I thought, I can't possibly write books for God. But He laid it on my heart to do this and I was not in peace at all until I decided to obey Him.
These books were birthed out of obedience and a willingness to do God's will. What I never anticipated was that through all the fasting and prayer throughout the writing process, God would instill a love in me I had never known before.
A love for His children so great that I cannot even hear of them being harmed without being brought to tears. This is honestly not me. I do not know what God has done inside of me but I do know I have a heart for His children I have never had before.
So today I write because I heard of yet another school shooting. I have a need to take action but not in vengeance. This action makes me want to pick up all these kids involved in these incidents and tell them how much they are loved, how much they are valued and how unnecessary all of this killing is.
This post is a plea. Please help me get these books to our children. God wants them to know how much He loves them, and my heart breaks every time I hear of His children destroying each other because they just don't know how much they are truly loved. Will you please help me serve God and join me in my effort to reach our children before one more life is taken?
With a very heavy heart,
Julie
In early December 2012 the Lord called me to write a book for Him. It was He who dictated what I was to write. I just obeyed. This happened only two weeks before the Sandy Hook school shooting. When that shooting happened, the Lord said to me, "This is why you are writing, Julie. You are going to reach my children before they go down the wrong path."
Now, I know you may be thinking, "Who are you, Julie, that you should write for God?"
That's exactly what I thought too. I have made so many mistakes and committed so many outright sins in my life. I thought, I can't possibly write books for God. But He laid it on my heart to do this and I was not in peace at all until I decided to obey Him.
These books were birthed out of obedience and a willingness to do God's will. What I never anticipated was that through all the fasting and prayer throughout the writing process, God would instill a love in me I had never known before.
A love for His children so great that I cannot even hear of them being harmed without being brought to tears. This is honestly not me. I do not know what God has done inside of me but I do know I have a heart for His children I have never had before.
So today I write because I heard of yet another school shooting. I have a need to take action but not in vengeance. This action makes me want to pick up all these kids involved in these incidents and tell them how much they are loved, how much they are valued and how unnecessary all of this killing is.
This post is a plea. Please help me get these books to our children. God wants them to know how much He loves them, and my heart breaks every time I hear of His children destroying each other because they just don't know how much they are truly loved. Will you please help me serve God and join me in my effort to reach our children before one more life is taken?
With a very heavy heart,
Julie
