Prayer Focus

The Scriptures often remind us to pray, but many people are uncertain how to apply that to their lives. Questions are heard, such as "Where should I pray? How do I pray?" Jesus teaches us by example that it is important to have regular time alone with our heavenly Father.

"After Jesus had dismissed the crowd, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray." Matthew 14:23. However, if we are to "pray constantly" as Paul encourages us to do, we have to "talk to our Father" as we go about our daily routine.

You can pray to our Lord while you are driving to work, picking upchildren from school, raking leaves or waiting for a doctor's appointment!

Prayer Focus:

• For God's help to open more doors for us to share about the sanctityof life with our families, friends and the local churches.
  
• For God's wisdom and guidance upon our executive board.
  
• For protection over any woman with an unplanned pregnancy, that she would seek Christian counsel and assistance.
  
• For members of Congress as they consider legislation that would provide federal funding for abortion.

The purpose of our prayer focus is to encourage and remind us to seek the Lord, to spend time in prayer, and to lift up our common concerns to our heavenly Father. Thank you for taking the time to lift up these concerns before God regarding the ministry of St. Croix Valley Christians for Life.

"... this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we askanything according to his will he hears us." 1 John 4:14

by Joy Knudson

Too convicted to be a part of the culture of death

Recently, Abby Johnson the former director of Texas Planned Parenthood resigned after watching an ultra-sound video of a child being killed by abortion.

Johnson began to feel uncomfortable with her organization's business philosophy after the organization told her to bring more abortions on the door. "The money wasn't in family planning, the money wasn't in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that," Johnson said. Does that sound familiar? Everything being done because of economic reasons. Do you have a problem with seeing life devalued and measured monetarily at will that you can't stand it any more?

It's not a coincidence that Johnson's heart transformation took place during the 40 Days of Life campaign that took place in 212 cities. It's evident in this case that prayer transformed a heart and accomplished what finite men could never have dreamed or imagined. Further, the truth set her free. Truth may seem to delay, but, it's beckoning and power can never be resisted.

Johnson said, "I don't have this burden on me anymore. And that's how I know that this conversion was a spiritual conversion."

Johnson is now a voice of the unborn with Coalition for Life, a pro-life group with a building down the street from Planned Parenthood where she used to work.

Watch and share her amazing story:http://current.com/http://www.breitbart.tv/planned-parenthood-leader-resigns-after-watching-ultrasound-of-abortion-procedure/

Submitted by Jacob Oreso

Called to Speak

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"Open your mouth for the speechless,

In the cause of all who are appointed to die."

~Proverbs 31:8 NKJV

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As a Christian concerned about sanctity of life issues, this verse resonates over and over in my mind, especially with regard to abortion. What a worthy cause to open my mouth for, yet how short I fall of doing so. Every time the Holy Spirit brings this scripture to mind, visions of babies not yet born - who cannot speak for themselves and are dying from choices made by others - fill my mind. Precious innocent lives that don't have a chance at life, much less a chance to have their voices heard.

As I watch my own two children grow and bring energy, joy, and excitement into our home, I am so humbled by God's goodness. As I watch my growing belly with a baby squirming around preparing to enter into this world, I am in awe of God's design and creation. These precious gifts He has blessed our family with do not belong to us but to Him. Every child conceived does not truly belong to the parents but to the Lord, the Creator of all.

One glance into one of my little one's precious eyes gives me encouragement like nothing else to want to speak up on behalf of the unborn. It is my prayer that I will be always mindful and obedient of my call to duty to speak up against abortion in a manner that is loving and concerned. I ask God for the courage and boldness to speak up in a society that screams of "choice" and "women's rights" and makes light of this life and death matter. Most importantly, I ask Him to help me speak the truth in love. I ask for guidance to have love in my heart towards those considering abortion to gently show them another way ~ to illustrate the love of Christ for them and their baby.

Furthermore, I pray to be abounding with compassion upon those precious defenseless lives who may not have a chance if I will not be their voice.

Submitted by Katie Deatherage

Valuing Life

Living in a society where life itself is terribly devalued, it may become sadly easy to be desensitized to all the anti-life movements around us. We are living in a culture that treats unborn children as if they are not human beings. We are living in a culture that accepts the notion of assisting people to end their own lives, as if we are the owners of our own destiny. We are immersed in a world where governmental laws restrict the amount of children a family can have in one nation and where laws legalize the murder of 'unwanted' unborn children in another nation. Our global society has accepted death as a means to everything from population control to a 'right' to freedom of choice. The sad reality in this culture of death is that the creation has rejected their Creator. So many have either denied the existence of a Creator or have rejected the value He places on each life He's created.

God's Word is crystal clear in presenting how much God loves each and every life He creates. Genesis 1:31 tells us that "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good". Psalm 139 emphasizes that He knows each of us intimately as He creates us before we are born. John 3 shows the infinite personal extent of His love as He sacrificed His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to eternally save anyone from sin and punishment if they will only believe in His Son. Furthermore, God's Word teaches us to love and value life as He does. Matthew 19:19 states, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself".

So, knowing how much God loves us, what can we do in this dark world to value life as He does? We can spread God's love and share how much He values each life He creates. We can begin to sensitize people again to how precious life is. We can humbly thank God for loving each of us sinners, and ask Him to help us show others the love He has graciously shown us. Trusting in His guidance, we can work together to value life again in our nation and world by sharing God's love with one person at a time.

Submitted by Katie Deatherage