The 30-Second Prayer

Yay!! I said "good-bye" to this blogspot with all it's frustrations and can be found at: https://www.the30secondprayer.com If you are a subscriber, you should still be receiving daily emails. Please let me know that if you are not. God bless you all! Karol

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely  with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NLT)

Today I want to address the topic of “feelings.” We have them but how do we take control of them so they don’t control us? I previously shared with you that my husband “graduated” to Heaven in the fall of 2018. The months that followed were filled with paperwork….and paperwork…..and paperwork. In the midst of the paper, I had to do something with my emotions. My whole life I have learned then when things are out of order, I need to organize them and get them back into place. It was no different with my emotions at this time.  With the Lord’s help, I got to the heart of what I believed. I believed that Dave and I had a great life together, that he was now experiencing true happiness, and knowing that—I could be happy too. This belief became my new mantra and I spoke it out many times as I talked to family and friends. It absolutely was the truth and it became my anchor when my emotions wanted to go to another place. Today I feel strong and I don’t doubt the mantra for a minut...

The first week of the "30 Days" is now behind us..... Let’s review some key components that will move us forward with strength and purpose. We have our foundational promise from God’s Word: Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.                               Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC) We have our prayer: Of course, feel free to use your own words and spend as long as you desire in prayer. God wants a relationship with us and all close relationships require spending time together. In Proverbs 16:3, God is calling us into partnership with Him so He can lead us through the day successfully. If you need help with forming the prayer, you could use these words: “Father, as I commit this day to You, cause me to think Your thoughts.”   We have...

God has written us a personal letter and in it here's what I found: And we know that God causes everything  to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. Romans 8:28 I will meet you back here tomorrow for another week of allowing God to direct our thoughts according to His will--so each and every day we can be established in peace and we can succeed---in order that we might be a testimony of His goodness. God is good and His mercy endures forever!! Psalms 118:1

Our plan is in place. We know what to do. (Refer to yesterday’s post.) We’ll meet with God every morning and commit our day to Him. We’ll ask for His thoughts to guide us through the day so we can make the right choices.  It sounds good but we still have those things called “feelings” to deal with. There are times when we feel afraid, or angry, or frustrated, or just plain overwhelmed with all that we are hearing and all that we have to deal with in the course of a day.  Many people are fearful of not being able to pay the rent even this month, parents are overwhelmed with homeschooling their children—responsibilities have become great and the resources have lessened. What do we do?? I believe that we’ve been given the Proverbs 16:3 promise as a key to anything we are facing. Allow me to share with you how I know this to be true. About a year and a half ago, my husband passed away. That wasn’t supposed to happen! It wasn’t in the plan! Yet, here I am having to car...

Yesterday I talked about finding peace. Today I want to help you to keep your peace. I realize that people from all walks of life may be reading this post, so again, please adapt this information to fit your needs. The 30-Second Prayer (based on Proverbs 16:3 AMPC) was such a game-changer for me--one well worth pursuing. I wasn’t sure about it at first so I decided to put the promise to the test. I gave myself an assignment for 10 days, using the following format. Notice how simple it is! Day ______ of 10 Days      Date: __________________ Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. (Proverbs 16:3 AMPC) “Father, cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will.” TO DO: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________...

Life as we know it has changed—-BIG time!!—at least for now. The way we live, work, socialize, communicate—everything has to be adjusted. So how do we adapt to this temporary way of living?  First of all, we have to find our peace. If we don’t have it, nothing around us will function properly. But how do we get peace and once we have a little, how do we keep it when our world seems to be spinning out of control? The answer is hidden in plain sight. Look no further than Proverbs 16:3 in your Bible. It says— Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.  Proverbs 16:3 (NKJV) The AMPC edition uses this phrase: “He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.” Yes, that’s what we want--established thoughts so we can get through each day successfully. Our “works” are our plans. You might say, “Wait a minute! I do not have a plan!! This came out of nowhere and screwed...

Yesterday I talked abut being intentional so that when life settles down, we will be much better off than we were before all of this began. We will-- 1.  Have a closer relationship with our Father. 2.  Feel better physically. 3.  Experience new ways of doing things. 4.  Have stronger relationships with family and friends. 5.  Have a heart filled with gratitude over the goodness of God. It is not "life as usual" right now. Each day we have to remain flexible and learn how to do things that will cause our lives to function. As we let God lead us, this time can even become an adventure. If we consider the next 30 days in this light, it will energize us to meet with God and let Him lead the way. If this seems a little intimidating, I encourage you to "just begin," It's way easier than you think! This morning, I had a new task to complete on the computer. Immediately, I could feel the dread come up in me. It seemed way to hard, but as soon as I asked God...

When I was preparing myself for these days ahead, I took a pen and paper and began to brainstorm of what I wanted to accomplish during this time. I came up with five areas that I will be focusing on.  I do want to say that we each have to design our strategy to fit our lives. For example, if you are a Health Care Worker who is putting in 10-12 hour days and then come home to meet the needs of your family, you are not going to be able to do what someone else has time to do. So please, design it for what fits for you .  If you only have time for one of these areas, do the first one—because it is THE most important one. It is foundational to make everything else in your day function. The five areas are as follows: 1. Spiritually—Begin the day with God in prayer. 2. Physically—Keep yourself strong by eating the right food and the right                time. Also, get exercise and drink plenty of water.    ...

Last evening we found out that we are about to experience at least thirty more days of social distancing or being self-quarantined. All of a sudden things have become VERY personal because we have to ask ourselves, "How am I going to make it for 30 days??"   Okay, here's the deal! We need a plan! If you are like me, you will be a pile of clothes on the floor by April 30th if you are not focused on accomplishing something each day. Here are some ideas for what I mean about "accomplishing." Communicating with someone you keep thinking about. Teaching yourself to do something new. Reading a book that you you always intended to read. Having designated times during the day for playing. Watching certain things on t.v. and turning it off during other times. Taking a walk or doing some outside exercise. Gut the garage and organize all tools, sporting equipment, etc. Come up with a creative idea for encouraging someone else. As we plan our activities whet...

If you have read my book, The 30-Second Prayer That Changes Everything , you already know that being intentional  is key to achieving successful results. You might begin each day with something like this-- Father, I commit this day to You. Cause me to think the way You think--so that I will be in Your will and make right choices today.                                                                         Yesterday, I had a troubling thought show up on my radar. I recognized it as a reoccurring thought. In fact, it had surfaced several times over the past few months and was on the verge of become a "held-belief."  I even spoke it out loud on a couple of occasions which gave this false imagination additional fuel. This belief definitely did not bring me peace, but instead irritation, impatience...

Life has been very interesting these last two weeks in dealing with Covid-19. We've all had to be flexible and make the necessary changes to navigate this journey. Every few hours we've had to revise our plans so that we are doing the right thing at the right time. Thankfully we can say, "God, cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will so I will know what to do and what not to do." (based on Proverbs 16:3 AMPC) I was in the midst of making plans to take a flight to Florida this week. While making preparations, it occurred to me that it might not be the best time to travel. I submitted my plans to God and told Him that I was willing to cancel the trip. After a day or two, I was sure that this was not the time to travel. After canceling my flight, I felt such peace and was so glad to be staying home.  When we are walking through difficult times, it is so good to know that our Father has our peace and safety on His heart. As we are willing to give Him cont...

Good morning, my friends! I happen to think that Proverbs 16:3 is one of the best kept secrets in the Bible. I am honored to receive revelation of what this promise from God actually means and be able to pass it on to you. I can do it with confidence because I have put this promise to the test over and over in my daily life.  God wants His children to succeed in everything we do. Why?? So we can be a testimony of His goodness. Now I would like to hear from you if you also have applied this promise to your daily life. Remember, nothing is too small or too big for God. He loves to hear it all as we share the joys of being in partnership with Him. Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust then wholly to Him;  He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. Proverbs 16:3 AMPC

It is quite amazing to me that God desires to give us His thoughts. What if we could know everything about everything we needed to know? I think that's exactly what Proverbs 16:3 (Amplified Bible/Classic Edition) means when it says, "....He will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will...." If we ask Him a question about anything , He will give us the answer. After applying this Proverbs 16:3 promise for over seven years, I can tell you that this is true!! I encourage you to try it and see for yourself!! I can promise that you will experience one amazing day after another. Never again do you have to feel confused, overwhelmed or helpless about anything! Too good to be true?? God is too good and it is true!! God bless your day! P.S. You can "subscribe" above if you enjoyed today's encouragement. You can also get the whole story in my book: "The 30-Second Prayer That Changes Everything."  It can be purchased on Amazon. AND....I ...

Allow me to share with you the reason for the title of my book. It only takes a very short time to commit your plans to the Lord and ask for His help. My daily prayer goes something like this: "Father, here are my plans for the day. Cause me to think how You think so that I can do what You want me to do today." God is good and like any well-meaning father, He wants good for His children--one day at a time!! Read Psalms 119:68 I would love to hear from you as you are applying Proverbs 16:3 AMPC to your daily life!!

The 30-Second Prayer That Changes Everything is now out and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback and ebook. I also have copies on hand if you are in my area. The price is $10.95 for paperback and $4.99 for Kindle. I love my Kindle but you may want to consider the paperback because this is the kind of book that you may just want to share with others! My heart's desire is for everyone to know that God is very, very good and very personal. If that were not so, we couldn't have much confidence in this promise: Ephesians 3:20 Amplified Bible (AMP) Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think.....                                                                                         ...