You Go, Girl!

Skip Heitzig said, “Our true priorities—the things that are really the most important to us—will show themselves in our prayer life.”

Today, popular author and speaker Thelma Wells drops in at Words to Go to discuss Praying God’s Will.

PATTY: Thelma, thanks for joining us today at Words to Go. We continue in our discussion about prayer this week. Thelma and I met when I was on book tour with Women of Faith. I loved sitting down with her in the green room and hearing her laugh. And sometimes she brought along her gorgeous daughters who performed dance theater. I was very impressed with how close they were to their mother, but also, how devoted to Christ they all were as a family. Thelma is now out speaking all over the country. She’s also promoting her most recent book release, Don’t Give In – God Wants YOU To Win.

Thelma, praying God’s will rather than our will is sometimes easier to say than do. What sort of rearranging have you done in your life that has helped you learn to pray God’s will over your own?

THELMA: My life has been rearranged for me by the disappointments and changes in my life that have taught me to pray the will of God. When I’ve prayed for something I thought I wanted and God did not give it to me, I often got disappointed and questioned if God would really give me the desires my heart as found in Psalm 37.

PATTY: I’ve misinterpreted that scripture for my own devices too. How are we supposed to interpret it, if not for our purposes?

THELMA: After not getting what I wanted, and after the fact of seeing the results of not getting it, I discovered that what I thought I wanted was not good for me in the long run. God knew what I needed and that outweighed what I wanted.

PATTY: I think that we all wrestle with thinking we know what’s best for our life. We’re driven by nature to satisfy longings, etc. So how do we nix all of that, Thelma?

THELMA: As these experiences of not getting what I prayed for or getting a different version of what I prayed for (and, looking back over the possible results of God’s denial) I found a truth that has helped me depend on God to work His will in my life. The truth is that God had my life planned before the foundation of the world. He knows me better than I know myself and He knows all about my life’s circumstances. The Lord has ordered my steps and, if I let Him, He will guide me into all peace, happiness, security and protection. Therefore analyzing and comparing His perfect decisions for me and my often misdirected will for me, I live now more secure to pray the will of God for my life and other’s.

PATTY: Trusting is probably the biggest Body Builder God gives us, Thelma. If we’d all practice it in a unity of spirit, the Body of Christ would soar beyond our wildest imagination.

THELMA: When I settle down and wait on the Lord to do His perfect will, I’ve become less anxious and concerned about the outcome of my prayers. God’s word is sure, “He will keep you in perfect peace when your mind stays on the Lord.”

PATTY: Romans 15:3; We live in a world that tells us “live for yourself,” “decide your own destiny.” But the scriptures seem to teach an opposite theology. Thelma, how have you disciplined yourself to listen to the “counsel of the Lord” rather than the counsel of the world?

THELMA: Discipline is the optimum word because it does take determination, trust, humility and discipline to listen to the counsel of the Lord. Everyday I must get in His presence (most of the time first thing in the morning), even before I get out of bed
rather than listening to the news of the day. I ask Him what my agenda is for the day. Sometimes I don’t hear a thing but I just go about what I have on my plate realizing that it’s His call to change it if He likes. I listen to praise or gospel music to take me into a Throne Room atmosphere in my mind.

PATTY: Neta Jackson discussed this yesterday too.

THELMA: I either read or recite His Word, the Bible and I dress (spiritually) for the battle that can befall me.

PATTY: By that, you mean by putting on the whole armor of God.

THELMA: Yes. All during the day I’m in communication with God praising Him, praying to Him, listening to Him and spiritually pursuing Him for my every moment. Do I slip sometimes and get upset or irritable? Yes. But I’ve asked the Holy Spirit to prompt me when I begin to “worship” myself rather than worshiping the Lord. I ask the Lord to dispatch His ministering angels to protect my mind and guard my heart in every situation. I remember that He said in Isaiah 26:3, that if I keep my mind on Him, He would keep me in perfect peace and in Philippians 4:8 He told me to concentrate on things that are good and perfect. When I’m in need of human counsel I go to my spiritual accountability partner because I can always trust that she will give me the Word of the Lord and not her opinion.

PATTY: It’s so great to know that success has not changed your spiritual habits, Thelma.
We want to thank you for giving us a Word to Go today. Please feel free to leave feedback for Thelma.

Tomorrow, we’ll welcome author and retreat speaker Jan Winebrenner in a discussion on Prayer and Meditation. This is a week of Ask the Experts on Prayer at Words to Go. I pray you’re enjoying the rich discussions.

ASK THE EXPERTS WEEK Bestselling Author Neta Jackson on Prayer and Praise

Today I feel so privileged to chat with bestselling novelist Neta Jackson. Neta is the author of the Yada Yada Prayer Group series and today she’ll be sharing about Prayer and Praise. Neta’s latest title was Where Do I Go?, the first book in the new series The Yada Yada House of Hope. Neta, welcome to Words to Go!

NETA: Thanks, Patty! I’m glad to be here.

PATTY: Neta, what would say is your fav scripture?

NETA: I call Philippians 4:6-8 my “rule of life”: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing . . . Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” I have needed to do this again and again to “retrain” my mind and my spirit, from a state of anxious worrying to one of peace and trust in God. (Okay, I’m still in training! J)

But my verse for 2009 comes from Psalm 73:25, 26: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” That’s my prayer for 2009, to desire only God.

PATTY: You and I were recently talking about prayer as it becomes praise and worship to God. You said to me that you had come to know “the importance of praise and adoration as a regular part of our prayers—which is actually an important part of spiritual warfare.” In what way do you believe that praise to God should be a “regular” part of our prayers? What would that look like on a daily basis? Do you mean singing along with a CD or songs on the radio?

NETA: I have an African American sister who has taught me so much about praise—that praise and worship should be at the heart of our prayers. If prayer is actually conversation with God, and a primary means of our communion or intimacy with Him . . . well, how would my husband feel if all my conversation with him was, “Please do this, I need this, thanks for that . . .” but I never told him I loved him? Or, if I think about the privilege of coming into the Throne Room, do I jump right into my long list of requests and petitions? Or do I first fall on my face and worship! That’s what the elders and creatures do in heaven—they worship! “You are worthy, O God, of honor and glory and praise . . .!” Even the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray begins, “Our Father in heaven! Holy is Your name!”

I still struggle with this, jumping right into my requests to God, unburdening my cares on Him. But I’m trying to learn to take a few minutes just to focus on God alone, Who He is, what an awesome God we have, who deserves all our praise and adoration. Funny how it helps me to “come apart” to be with my Beloved, and also helps to put my requests in perspective.

PATTY: It’s just taking the time, as you say, to make that a regular part of your quiet time. The second part of that statement is very intriguing to me. Would you like to explain how prayer that is praise is spiritual warfare?

NETA: Well, what is spiritual warfare? Satan using any toe-hold he can get to take us down, to take our eyes off Jesus. And Satan works best in an atmosphere of doubt, discouragement, worry, and fear, or when we’re listening to those lies of self-condemnation. That’s when we’re feeling weak and vulnerable. But praise and worship? Those aren’t Satan’s working conditions!

PATTY: Right. We forget the power in praising sets the enemy to flight.

NETA: I’ve been learning that praise and worship is one of my most powerful weapons to fight the enemy! Psalm 8:2 (TNIV) says, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and avenger.” That knocks my socks off!

PATTY: That’s a potent scripture.

NETA: If even the praise of little ones can establish a “stronghold” against Satan, that means my praise can too. For one thing, our praise invites God’s presence into the situation (Psalm 22:3 says that God “inhabits/lives in” the praise of His people). For another, we remind ourselves, Who really is the victor here? When we fill the atmosphere in our hearts, in our homes, even surrounding our everyday tasks with praise and worship for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords . . . Satan has to flee. (A good example is Paul and Silas in jail, their feet in stocks, their backs sore from a flogging. What did they do? They sang and praised God! And whoa! Did things change!)

PATTY: Right, that’s not just a story for kids. It’s an important element to practice.

NETA: Admittedly, when I’m feeling discouraged, or attacked by Satan—when everything seems to be going wrong—it’s hard to “get my praise on.” I need help. So I put on a CD of praise or worship music, turn it up loud, and just fill the house! I dance and shout hallelujah. Or I “pray Scripture”—the psalms are wonderful for telling Satan off and reminding me that my God is the victor.

PATTY: I did that recently when I was the only one at home. We can’t “see” the war we’re engaging in. We’re literally walking on water, trusting God to lead us into triumph.

NETA: There’s also strength in numbers. I’ve been watching some nature shows recently, and the predators always try to drive their prey away from the herd or flock or whatever, to get it alone. Same with us. I know when I’m down, it’s tempting to stay away from others, not go to Bible study, stay home from church. I’m embarrassed that I’m not Ms. Victorious Christian, or I just don’t feel like praising . . . but that plays right into Satan’s MO.

PATTY: I’m so glad you said that, Neta. I’ve watched as a member of a fellowship group suddenly withdrew into isolation. Her group members were mystified. She later confessed that she was feeling so low that she isolated. Then she started imagining that the very ones who had loved and supported her had turned against her. Alone, you’re a target.

NETA: If I’m having a hard time praying and praising, it’s all the more crucial that I get with others who can fill the atmosphere with their praise and prayers. To hold up my hands like Aaron and Hur did for Moses when he got tired.

Okay, okay, I’m stopping. I just get excited talking about prayer and praise. Even though I grew up in a strong Christian home, I had no idea prayer—coming freely and boldly into the presence of Almighty God—could be such an exciting journey.

PATTY: Oh, we could do this all day. I encourage Words to Go followers to add your feedback, personal stories, etc. I agree with Neta that praise and spiritual warfare are linked. I’d like to know your thoughts.

Tomorrow, we’ll continue our prayer thread with none other than conference teacher and author Thelma Wells!

Bonus Saturday: Wilderness Knees

There are a few gems in the Words to Go archive that were published before a readership started gathering here in cyberspace. Because Monday launches our first "Ask the Expert Week" and the week's theme is prayer, I'm pulling out a past fuel for thought to top off our tanks for the week's challenging discussions. Monday please join bestselling author Neta Jackson (Yada Yada Prayer Group) and I as we discuss the power of prayer and praise.

"Wilderness Knees"

I believed for much of my Christian life that in order to be able to pray effectively, that I had to follow the guiding principles of Mark 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Jesus was giving the believers an assurance, knowing they would eventually gather fearfully at times after He had ascended to heaven. But it was an erroneous assumption on my part that my prayers alone were not potent enough. . . that I had to have a partner or a group of people to reach the ears of God.

That was until the year I discovered the power of wilderness knees. I use this term to describe the times of hard-fought spiritual battles, the ones that are fought invisibly in the heavens on our behalf because we have spent some knee time before God and often in isolation. I think of John the Baptist crying in the desert and his words falling on only the sand and the wind. But it was in the isolated wilderness that God lifted him up and used him like a town crier. . . Make way! Make Way! God is come to earth!

And so it happened that I had read an article one year in a local newspaper about a mother who was asking a librarian to remove a pornographic magazine from the eye level of her young child. She wasn’t trying to be prudish or fracture anyone else’s rights but was asking that the magazine be removed from plain sight of her young child as they entered the library door. Emotional intelligence ought to prevail. But instead the librarian refused to move the magazine out of sight claiming First Amendment rights. The story was buried on the back page of the local newspaper. I bowed my head at my desk at the office where I worked and prayed. I asked God what he thought ought to be done about it. I then quietly picked up the telephone and called the local mayor’s office. I asked him about the article and if he had gotten any complaints from parents.

“No, none at all,” said the mayor. He seemed sympathetic but told me that without a consensus, he had no call to act.

“Would you respond if it seemed that more parents cared?” I asked.

“Of course. But no one cares. You’re the only one who’s called,” he told me.

I got off the phone and studied the matter thoughtfully. I took some time during my lunch hour to pray some more and called church offices around our town. I summarized the article to each secretary and told them what the mayor had said, that no one seemed to care.

After an hour, I went back to work. By the end of the day, I wondered if my quiet prayer and the hour spent in phone calls could have possibly done any good. After all, I was a nameless mom. Out of curiosity, I called the mayor’s office before the close of office hours. I was surprised to find his office in a frenzy. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Little woman, I don’t know who you are but we have been getting phone calls not only from local parents but from all over the country. Even the ACLU is calling and a TV news magazine. What kind of strings did you pull? You must have a lot of clout,” he told me.

“No,” I told him quietly. “I prayed and made a few phone calls. “Are you pulling the porn out the library?” I asked.

“It’s gone,” he told me. He never gave out my name to any of the media. I was glad. I liked the solitude of wilderness knees.

I welcome FaceBook guests to Words to Go. Please post your thoughts with Neta Jackson on praise and its power Monday!

Patty's Pick for Video of the Week

Facebook Patty Hickman

This is special one. Enjoy, Sports Fans.

Ask the Experts Week Countdown

February 2-6 “Ask the Experts” Week
“Women Authors on Prayer”

I was able to snag one more author girlfriend for an "Ask the Experts" week's discussion on prayer. So please make note and take note of this exciting calendar that starts next week, as we roll out the first week of February at Words to Go:

☺ Mon. Feb. 2 “Praying and Praise" We'll kick off the week by chatting with Neta Jackson author of the Yada Yada Prayer Group series. Neta especially wanted to chat about the topic "Prayer and Praise." Neta said, she'd be especially into talking about "the importance of praise and adoration as a regular part of our prayers--which is actually an important part of spiritual warfare." Each day this week, we invite bloggers to post your thoughts and comments about the myriad of values that can be drawn from a life dedicated to prayer.

☺ Tues. Feb. 3 Girl, you will Bee excited to sit in on this day when author and Christian Communicator Thelma Wells and Patty chat about “Praying God’s Will”

☺. Feb.4 Are you hungering to go deep? Then join author and popular conference and retreat leader Jan Winebrenner and Patty as they discuss “Prayer and Meditation.” Jan is a popular speaker for women's retreats and author of The Grace Of Catastrophe: When What
You know About God is All You Have.

☺ Thurs. Feb. 5 Calling All Cracked Pots!!! Yes, it’s a week of extravagant grace as Women of Faith’s Patsy Clairmont and Patty talk about “Praying From a Surrendered Heart”

☺ MYSTERY GUEST FRIDAY!! She’s a best-selling novelist and this mystery will leave you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who she is! Drop in Friday, Feb. 6 to hear Patty and this Mystery Author discuss the most difficult responsibility in a woman’s faith journey, that of praying for our kids. Join Patty and one of today’s most popular and beloved novelists in a candid discussion just for moms.

♥ COMING FEBRUARY 9-14 “ROMANCE WEEK AT WORDS TO GO!!!”

The Pinnacles and Pitfalls of Being in Love
Veteran romance editor and author Karen Ball and I will talk about the realities of romance and marriage in real time and how romance can still sizzle out of imperfect relationships.

♥ Additionally, Marilyn Meberg, Women of Faith anchor speaker, humorist, and author of Love Me, Never Leave Me and I will discuss one of the deepest of emotions, the fear of abandonment. Marilyn says of this subject, "We crave connection with the ones we love most, and when our bond with them is broken, damaged, or threatened, we fear being left. We fear abandonment." Join Patty and Marilyn as Romance Week at Words to Go continues to soar.

♥ Husband and wife writing team Steve and Janet Bly will chat with Patty about how romance can go from crazy-wonderful to chaotic. They'll share about their romantic trip to Paris but how they then had to survive the days that followed when Steve received a shocking diagnosis.

♥ Fri. Feb. 13 MYSTERY GUEST FRIDAYS VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL hosts a veteran bestselling author whose stories of redemption have touched hearts the world over selling in the millions. One of her novels has never left the bestseller list to this day, nearly a decade later. Your heart will palpitate as this author and Patty discuss the Greatest Romance of All Time. Can you guess what that romance might be, Soul Sisters?

John Updike Dies and a Literary Light is Extinguished

John Updike has been my favorite novelist since college when I cracked open a story called A&P. While the assignment was to dissect and analyze, I was lost in the writings of a man whose perception of modern culture was so honest and true, I vowed right then and there to at least strive in my writings to be honest. My favorite Updike novel is In the Beauty of the Lilies. I also remember reading Roger's Version and The Witches of Eastwick. Updike's novels expose the spiritual deficit in middle class culture, underscoring our need to continue reaching for God.

Here is Katelyn Beaty's article from Christianity Today:

January 27, 2009 2:54PM
John Updike, 'Theological Novelist,' Dies at 76
The Pulitzer winner surveyed the spiritual emptiness of post-World War II family life.

by Katelyn Beaty

Prolific American novelist John Updike died Tuesday in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 76. Winning the Pulitzer Prize for two books in his best-known Rabbit quartet, Updike's novels and short stories frequently chronicled the spiritual and moral confusion of the middle-class American family adrift of its Judeo-Christian moorings.
Never afraid to explore sexual exploits frankly, the lifelong churchgoer also deftly wove theological themes into many of his novels, most overtly in Roger’s Version (1986), In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996), and Seek My Face (2002). He was strongly influenced by the works of modern theologians Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth, but in later years credited his hometown church in Massachusetts as his spiritual foundation.

Jesuit magazine America awarded Updike its Campion Award in 1997 as “a distinguished Christian person of letters,” and President George W. Bush gave him the National Medal for the Humanities in 2003.Christianity Today contributing editor Mark Buchanan called Updike “North America’s most theological novelist” in his profile of the author from July 2003. He wrote,
Nearly [Updike’s] entire life’s work is concerned with theological questions, and a good number of his works hinge on these. How many other contemporary authors could—or would—bandy about the theology of Barth, Tillich, or Bultmann in their novels? Or have page after page of dialogue between characters working out intricate doctrinal positions? Updike does this repeatedly and with discernment.
Mark Oppenheimer also profiled Updike in sister magazine Books & Culture in 2004, observing of his angst-ridden protagonists, “Updike’s characters were raised in church, and they want truly to believe in God, but the disciplines God requires inhibit the joy he is supposed to bring.”
Read more obituaries from The New York Times (which also has a slideshow), the Associated Press, Time magazine, and PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.
Kendall Harmon at TitusOneNine posted "Seven Stanzas at Easter," Updike's well-known poem on the Resurrection, last March.
Posted by Katelyn Beaty on January 27, 2009 2:54PM

Update from Girlfriend's Weekend--Jefferson, Texas or Bust!

Here is a great photage from Girlfriend’s Weekend, just in from Queen Kathy Patrick.Girlfriend’s Weekend Photos


I spent the weekend in Jefferson, Texas at a wild booklover’s festival called Girlfriend’s Weekend, sponsored by the Pulpwood Queen, Kathy Patrick. Kathy is the owner of the world’s only beauty salon and bookstore, Beauty and the Book. You would think that in a town as small as Jefferson, Texas that a book festival would be impossible to pull off. But book lovers came from as far away as Kansas, wearing tiaras and bringing a great spirit of merriment and expectation with them—they are passionate about books and eager to hear novelists tell their stories. I met many new friends, like authors Karen Harrington, Leslie Lehr, Kaya McLaren, River Jordan, (yes, that's her real name) and Margaret Cezair-Thompson. And, of course, I’m lining them all up for an author chat. You’re going to just love talking with them. They are all sparkling new talents in the world of fiction. And Kathy Patrick is the genius bringing book lovers and authors together Suthern Style, and stylin' we all were in our costumes and tiaras!