TEACH ME TO PRAY WEEK #4

During this study, have you found that you are praying for the same things when you pray for yourself and for others?  Look at some of the suggestion below and try to see if you can include them in your prayers this week.

Prayer to do God’s will over your own.

Pray for encouragement and endurance and that your attitude and actions will bring glory to God.

Pray for expansion and growth for the Church in your community and around the world.

Pray for clear direction.

Pray for justice in all areas of life.

Pray for those who are longing for a child.

Pray for people who need deliverance, whether it’s from danger, addiction, or sinful lifestyle

Pray for boldness and for opportunities to bring people to Christ.

Pray for your community.

Pray for those you work with.

Pray for church leadership.

Pray for those who need to know the depth of God’s love.

Pray for the next generation of believers to rise up and lead the church.

Pray that God will bring leaders to lead kids and students to know Christ.

Pray for God to give you a fresh start and a clean heart.

Pray for God’s grace and fresh start for those in struggling marriages.

There are so much more that we could pray about for others and ourselves. When you find yourself in a trial, don’t just pray to get out of it quickly, ask God for wisdom and strength to endure it. That trial maybe for you, or for someone else to see God’s Glory and for God to work in their life.  Just trust in God. He is right there with you. Depend on Him to get you through.

PRAYER MODELS

What do you think is the most well know prayer in the Bible? The Lord’s Prayer.  Several years ago at my church we did a study on prayer and it was  based on the Lord’s Prayer.  The Lord’s Prayer was not intended to be a prayer for use to recite.

After Jesus spoke to what is known as the sermon on the Mount, one of his disciples said” Lord, Teach us to pray..” Luke 11:1 

READ MATTHEW  6: 9-13

This could not really be the “Lord’s” prayer because he had not sinned. This should have been called the Disciple’s prayer. Anyway this prayer is a model for us to use when we pray. There are some similarities to those we have already discussed.  So let’s break in down.

THE RELATIONSHIP- OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN

This is the relationship we have with God if we are believers. He is our FATHER.  He has many other names as well.

ELOHIM- means the “strong one”

EL SHADDAI- means “God Almighty”

EL ELYON- means “Most High God”

EL OLAM – means “ the Everlasting God”

YAHWEH (YHWH) JEHOVAH – comes for a verb which means “to exist, be”

YAHWEH JIREH (YIREH)- means “The Lord will provide”

YAHWEH NISSI- means “ the Lord is my banner” the one who fights for His people

YAHWEH SHALOM- means “the Lord is Peace”

YAHWEH RAPHA – means “the Lord who heals”

YAHWECH SABBAOTH- means “the Lord of Host” portraying the Lord as the commander of the armies in heaven.

YAHWECH M’KADDESH- means :the Lord your Sanctifier”

YAHWEHR’I- meas “The Lord my Shepherd”

YAHWEH TSIDKENU- means the Lord our Righteousness

YAHWEH SHAMMAH- means “ the Lord is there”

ADONAI- like Elohim, master owner. Stresses man’s relationship to God as his authority and provider.

THEOS- primary name for God in the New Testament

KURIOS- greek word for Lord

DESPOSTES- Greek word for “master”

And my favortite

ABBA- means ‘daddy”

One of the most important element of effective prayer is a deepening relationship with the Father. This means worshipping the Father, knowing Him better through the Word, fellowshipping with Him, obeying His will and seeking to please Him. When you pray, would you feel comfortable using the word “ABBA”? That is what God wants.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 “ And said, Verily I say unto you. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”. We have to be like children. Talk to God like he was your earthly father, your daddy. God wants this type of relationship with you.

WORSHIP- HALLOWED BE THY NAME

The word hallowed means reverence. It’s another way of expressing worship and praise to God.  This is the “A” part of the A.C.T.S. prayer model. Adoration. Most people like to jump right into prayer with their needs. Begin with worship and focus on GOD rather than your own needs.

Here we let God be God in our life. All parts of our life, personal, family, business, recreation…and to allow God to set us apart. This is not only for when we pray for ourselves but also when we pray for others. We should not primarily that others will be delivered for sin BUT that they will come to know GOD.  That is the ultimate goal. For people to understand who HE really is. The God for holiness, grace and righteousness. Let GOD be GOD in your life.

SURRENDER-THY KINDGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

Moving from worship, leaves us realizing how great God is. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD! Sing with me HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD! At this point of the prayer model, we bow before Him, acknowledge HIS purpose and plan. We humble pray for HIS will to be done and we lay our plans, goals and will down before Him.

I find this is so HARD to do as times. He has a plan for my life and MANY times our plans don’t match. It is hard to give up on something that you want so badly, when it is NOT part of God’s will for your life. But we may not be able to know or see God’s will or plans for us, that is why it is essential to trust him.  And HIS ways are much better than our ways.

ASK- GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

Now is the time it is ok to ask in prayer for our needs. This don’t mean a trip to the grocery store. It is ok to pray for our daily needs. What are your daily needs? A job to get the money to get the food. Clothes that we need to work in. Transportation to get us to work. It’s ok to ask for these. God knows our needs and He is concerned about them.

Pray for the necessities for life, not luxuries. Ask for bread not the cake!

FORGIVENESS- Forgive US OUR TRESPASSES AND WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TREPASSES AGAINST US

Ask God to search your heart and to reveal any sins that your need to confess to HIM. Ask Him also to reveal anyone that you need to forgive or anyone that your need to ask forgiveness from… We have to forgive others, before our heavenly FATHER forgives us. MATTHEW 6:14  Luke 6:37  Matthew 18:21-22

If you harbor an unforgiving spirit. You are actually asking God NOT to forgive you. To sin is human, to forgive divine. We are never closer to God’s grace than when we admit our sin and cry out for pardon. We are never more LIKE God than when we extend forgiveness FULLY and FREELY to those who have sinned against us.

PROTECT – AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Ask God to protect us and deliver us from our flesh and worldly desires.

NOTE God does NOT LEAD us into temptation. This really means “Keep me away from temptation”. If the opportunity to sin presents itself, grant that I will not have the desire.” “ If the desire springs up within me, grant that I will not have the opportunity”,

When we pray about our sins, it’s not the temptation that bothers us; it’s the consequence of our disobedience that we want removed.

And we know the evil one (Satan) has power. We affirm our weakness and plead for the greater power of God.

WORSHIP- FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY, FORVER AMEN

Just as we begin with worship so we should end with worship. Giving praise and glory for hearing our prayer, acting on our prayer. This show our faith that he can and will do what we ask.

WHY DO WE PRAY?

God wants us for Himself. He desires communion with us. His purpose is prayer is not to make us “Sit up and beg” . He wants us to know Him. Prayer is His method to accomplish that.

When we pray, we often concentrate on the gifts in God’s hand and ignore the hand of God Himself. We pray fervently for the new job, or for the return of health. When we gain the prize, we are delighted. And then we have little more to do with God. If we are only after the “coins”, God’s hand serves only as a way to pay the “rent”, heal the sickness or get through the crisis. After the need has been met, the hand itself means little to us.

While God in His grace does give good gifts to His children, He offers us more than that. He offers us Himself. Those who are merely satisfied with the trinkets in the Father’s hand miss the best reward of prayer. The reward of communicating and communing with the God of the universe.

TEACH ME TO PRAY WEEK # 3

I hope everyone found it easier to prayer using the A.C.T.S. Model this past week. This next model is popular when you want to teach children to pray. But, It is also useful to us adults.

MODEL PRAY   5 – FINGER PRAYER

You can use your hand to help you and this model is excellent in teaching children how to pray. But to God, we are all children to him.

1.    The Thumb. Starting with the thumb. I is the closest “digit” to you our body. The represents all the people that are closed to you. This will be the easiest to remember. Mother, Father, children, brothers/sisters, spouse, close friends and close enemies. YES I said enemies. You know some may call the friendemies….

While praying for our loved ones is easy, the Bible also tells us to pray for our enemies, who in a negative way, are also near us. READ 1 PETER 3:9

2.    The Pointer. The pointer/index finger reminds us of those who instruct. Did you have a school teacher that would point that finger at you while teaching or correcting you? I did, her name was Mrs. Davis, BUT she never pointed it at me J. This includes teachers, doctors, ministers, nurses. They need support and wisdom in “pointing” others in the right directions. Keep them in your prayers. These people have a GREAT influence on society and we should pray that they display and teach godly principles in all they do.

3.    The TALLEST. (Don’t call it anything else >:)  This finger is for those IN CHARGE. Yes that would include your bosses. Pray for the president and other leaders in business and industry. The military, police, people of government. These people shape our nation and our businesses. THEY NEED GOD’s GUIDANCE.

4.    THE RING FINGER. This finger in generally the weakest . Don’t believe me?  Touch a table with just your fingertips. Now lift each on separately starting with the thumb… SEE, I told you it was weak.  This should remind us of those that are weak: The sick, even those that are sin-sick,  those in trouble, in pain, the poor, those that are treated badly. Pray that God will give them, healing and strength.

They need prayers night and day. You cannot pray too much for them. READ 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12 and JAMES 5:16

Praying for others is a way of serving those around us and serving is what gives us purpose to life. Jesus said “If you love Me, feed My sheep.” Praying for those in need is one way to feed Christ’s sheep.

5.    THE LITTLE FINGER. The smallest finger of all. Which is where we should place ourselves in relations to God and others. And the Bible says “ The lease shall be the greatest among you”. SO your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself.

By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and your will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

When praying for yourself we should first confess our sins ( IF you failed to do this under CONFESSION,  Why do we have to confess before we prayer for ourselves? When we sin, we cause a “break” in our fellowship with God. We don’t want to be out of fellowship with Him. No matter how badly we’ve sin, take heart and know that He is faithful and will forgive us. READ 1 JOHN 1:9

If you use this as your only model, offer up thanks for all the blessing he has given. READ PSALM 50:14

And finally we lay out what is on our heart, the GOOD and the BAD, and we pray the GOD’S WILL BE DONE in our life. Trust Him and He will lead you . READ ROMANS 8:28

There are some other variations of this prayer. Look at the pictures below.

Should you find it hard to sleep at night: Just remember the homeless who have no bed to lie in, and PRAY FOR THEM

Should you have a bad day at work: Think of the person who has been out of work for the last three months and PRAY FOR THEM

Should you find yourself stick in traffic; don’t despair. There are people in this world that to whom driving is an unheard of privilege and PRAY FOR THEM

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never know what it’s like to love and be loved in return and PRAY FOR THEM

Should your grieve the passing of another weekend: Think of the woman in dire straits, working 12 hours a day, seven days a week at less that minimum wages plus tips to feed her family and PRAY FOR THEM

Should your care break down, leaving you miles away from help, Think of the paraplegic or amputees that would love the opportunity to take a walk and PRAY FOR THEM.

Should you notice another new grey hair in the mirror, thing of the cancer patient in chemotherapy who wishes she had hair to examine and PRAY FOR THEM.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, what is my purpose; Be thankful, for there are those who didn’t live long enough to get the opportunity and GIVE THANKS.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people’s bitterness, ignorance, smallness and insecurities; remember, things could  be worse. You could be them. GIVE THANKS

            Next week we will look that the prayer model that Jesus taught us.

TEACH ME TO PRAY WEEK #2

I hope everyone found it easy to do their assignment this past week.

Before I get into THANKSGIVING and SUPPLICATION I am going to give you more insight on prayer. I have been reading several books in preparing for this study and I have found wonderful information in them all.

Even though we are talking about Model Prayers Methods, these “tidbits” are extra information that may help you feel more comfortable about praying.

I have a few favorite preachers/writers that I love to hear and read what they have to say: Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, John McArthur, Max Lucado, Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer. There are others you may have heard of and some that I have never heard of.  The following is from Billy Graham.

“Prayers is a two way conversation with God. It’s is us talking to Him and Him talking to us. It is essentially talking with God as you would talk with your parents, who loves you and wants the BEST for you. “

“Every man or woman whose life has counted for the church and the kingdom of God, has been a person of prayer. We cannot afford to be too busy to pray. A PRAYERLESS Christian is a POWERLESS Christian.” WOW!

Do you want to be powerless? I don’t.

Another said “Pray is not an option, it’s an obligation and an opportunity for us to glorify God’s name and receive His blessing”. Don’t you want some blessings for God?

It is also an opportunity to participate in a miracle! Now THAT is exciting!. For those of us in the medical field don’t you have the “warm-fuzzy” when a patient of yours looks like they are dying and there is no hope and miraculously survives that illness. It makes you feel good inside if you had a part of that patient’s care.

Yet another one said “Prayer isn’t a luxury; it is a necessity. We all need it”. I don’t know about you but I will take all the prayers anyone wants to say in my name. I need them EVERYDAY! Foolish is the one who thinks they don’t need prayers.

If prayerlessness is one of our sins, this is a good time to confess it.

We need to be like David in Psalms 63:1. “You are my God! Earnestly I seek you. I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a fry and parched land where there is no water” Has your life ever been like this? Feeling dry, stale in need of refreshment? We all get this way. And there is nothing like the refreshing you get from “the living water”.

OK, time to get back to our A.C.T.S Model of Prayer

THANKSGIVING

God is blessing us constantly. Take a moment to write down some wonderful things God has done for you and the gifts he has given you.

READ Ephesians 5:30 and Psalms 69:30

You have plenty of reasons to be thankful. Thank God for His love, His unconditional love, His faithfulness, His patience, etc. Express gratitude for what He is doing in your life NOW. Thank Him for dying on the cross, thank the Holy Spirit for indwelling in you and never leaving you. Thank Him for being your conscience, your counselor and that “still small voice”.

Thank God for keeping His promises in your life and those of your family and friends and the circumstances in your life.

READ Psalms 118: 29-29

DO NOT ASK the Lord for anything yet--- just THANK HIM . Thank Him for what He is going to do in your life. Remember the work of the Lord in EVERY area of your life. (Home, work, business. Finances, family, church, health)

Thank Him for the SIMPLE things that we take for granted. The fact that you woke up today, slept well last night and was safe from harm, for save travel to work and back, a good day’s work and yes even a bad day’s work. BAD DAY, WHY? First of all, because you HAVE a job and secondly you would not appreciate the good days without any bad days.

Take another moment to add any more wonderful things God has done for you.

We shouldn’t wait to the holiday of Thanksgiving to give thanks to God. However on facebook some people will do 30-day of Thanks for the Month of November. I have even participated. But what about the days of December, January and so forth. Certainly there are more than 30 things people are thankful for.

Why not do your own “Days of Thanks” throughout the year WITHOUT repeating ANYTHING? Give it a try today.

SUPPLICATION

What is supplication? Supplication is the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.  It is also known as petitioning. It’s a form of prayer. It is either asking for yourself or from someone else. If you ask for someone else, this is known as intercession, the action of intervening on behalf of another.

This is the time we ask for “stuff”. We ask God of our needs and the needs of others. Tell God what you want no matter how small it seems.

As believer we are called to prayer for others.

READ Luke 18:1, Col 4:2, 1 Tim.2:1-4 Phil 4:6

This we come before God on behalf of others.

READ Heb. 10:19-25, Rev 1:4-6

Spend time praying for your pastor, your church, “the Church”.

Spend time praying for specific people, events, states, countries and Missionaries. Act 12:5, Rom 10:1

Spend time praying for your personal needs. Matt. 6:11-13

As you enter this part of your prayer, ask God to give you the desires of His heart.

Make a prayer list of your supplication. Be sure to include a date and a place to write when it was answered. Then this will become a praise & thanksgiving. Here are the two things I used.

The first is my prayer box. I have written prayer request on slips of paper with a date. When they are answered I removed them.  Some I have been praying for since 2011, some longer.

When I pray for these request I will just tell God the request in my prayer box. The other is my phone app that I use to put down pray request. Those mentioned at church or those I may see on facebook or another source. It has some other functions too.

For homework this week, continue with Adoration and Confession in your prayer, but now add Thanksgiving and Supplication.

A.C.T.S Sample Prayer

Father you are completely Holy and omnipotent. I fall at your feet in adoration. Lord, you aks us to love our neighbours as ourselves. The truth is I have failed to love others and I've lost sight of how much you value me. Please forgive me. I ask for you strength to fill my being so that I will always live in your grace and love. For the power, the glory and the honor is yours. Amen

Next week we will talk about a new Model Prayer, but it can be considered part of Supplication.

TEACH ME TO PRAY WEEK # 1

Why should we pray?

1)  Pray because God tells you to. Look at these verses:

        Luke 18:1

        Philippians 4:6

        Ephesians 6:18

        1 Thessalonians 5:17

It’s a command that we are given over and over again.

2)  We pray because God has promised to answer. James 4:2

 If you want to see things accomplished, ask God. You can talk about it all you want, but it won’t happen unless you ask. Without prayer, nothing of lasting value is going to happen. God delights in answering the prayer of the faithful. Hebrew 11:6; Matthew 7:7; John 15:7

3)  Pray because major events must transpire in our life. Miracles. Sometimes the answer may take longer than we want, but keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. God truly answers prayers.

4)  Pray so that your joy may be full. John 16:24. Do you want to be full of joy?

5)  Pray because it is the best solution for worry and concern. When we pray, we leave the matter in God’s hands and are free from worry and concerns. God has given us an invite to cast all our cares upon Him. 1 Peter 5:7….. We should not worry Philippians 4:6-7…..Whatever is bothering you, pray and give it to God.

6)  Pray because it makes God happy. It brings joy to the heart of God when we turn to Him in prayer. It makes Him happy when we depend on Him to move in the circumstances of our lives.

HOW SHOULD BE PRAY

Here are Four Keys on How To Pray

1. Simply, believe when you pray. Matt.6:7
We all need to develop confidence; ABSOLUTE confidence that God hears us even when we pray a simple prayer like: “God help me.” He hears us and He will answer. We always can depend on God to be faithful to do what we have asked Him to do, as long as what we are asking is in accordance with His will. He is our Helper. Hebr.13:6.

Simple believing prayer comes straight from the heart of the one praying and goes straight to the heart of God and that is what we want isn’t it?

2. There is a time for secret prayer. Matthew 6:5-6
Although some prayers are public prayers or group prayers, most of our prayer life is done in secret and should be that way. We don’t have to let everybody know how much we pray and everything that we pray about. We can our friends know that we are praying about a certain country or so of course, but we never should make a display of our prayers to impress people.

3. Be humble when you pray. Luke 18:10-14
Prayer needs to come from a humble heart. Jesus taught us that by telling us about the Pharisees; He didn’t like that at all is it? They made a show about their prayer life and there was nothing secret about it at all. God hasn’t given us a bunch of complicated, hard-to-follow guidelines. Prayer can be simple, unless complicated people make it complicated.

4. Prayer needs to be fervent. James 5:16
If you desire for your prayers to be effective and they should be; they need to be fervent. When most of us hear the word fervent; we think we need to work our prayers up and need to show some strong emotion before we pray; otherwise our prayers will not be effective. The Message. Bible says it like this: …The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

This shows that our prayers must come from a sincere heart and not just our head. Sometimes we try to sound so devout and well-designed that we get lost. We don’t even know what we are trying to pray about. If we could ever get delivered from trying to impress God or people, we would be so much better off.

One thing is for sure that sometimes we have to change things in our lives to make room for prayer; we simply have to come to that understanding. We have to eliminate things that are less important and know that when we want to discover the life we were born to live and want to get passionate about it, we need to pray.

PRAYER MODELS

Many people follow prayer models when they pray, others just “goes with the flow” or “Shoot from the hip”. Prayer models are excellent to use when you are praying in public. Prayer Models will help you keep your mind focused while praying so it doesn’t wander.  Hopeful these models will not only give you a better idea on HOW to pray, but it will make is much easier for you to pray and therefor you will do it more often.

The first one we are going to look at is the ACTS Prayer Model

A-Adoration

C-Confession

T-Thanksgiving

S-Supplication

Adoration is praising God for who he is. Confession is owning out sins. Thanksgiving is giving thanks to God for all he has done and is going to do. Supplication are prayer request of others and ourselves. Let’s talk about Adoration.

ADORATION

We put aside all out thoughts and troubles and come into the presence of God. It is time for “turning out heart home”, a pause in our activities to focus on God and God alone.

Adoration means worship. It is adoring and praising God for who he is. Tell God what he means to you and how you love him. Praise him for His nature and attributes. He is Holy. He is unchanging. He is Omniscient.

READ Psalm 18.

David began the Psalm by saying  “I love you O Lord my strength”. When was the last time you ever said to God “I love you”?

Then David acknowledged who God is…..”My rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, my salvation, my stronghold..” . In another Psalm, “my light”. As David continues, he gives God praise for what he does, “he rescued me because he delighted in me”.

Who is God to you? King of Kings, eternal, compassionate, loving, forgiving, merciful, omnipotent, patient,.

Write down at least ten things that describe who God is to you? Then look up 10 more things that describe who God is, in the Bible. Write these down. You will be using them for your homework. J

CONFESSION

This is the time for truth telling. Even as we know God is aware of all our faults and failures, it is important to let God know that WE are aware of them as well.  Too often we can hid and deny the places that hold the most pain. Too often the world rushed on and we allow situations to fester.

Truth telling involves honest appraisal both of the good and the bad in our life. It is a time to speak to God with the deepest trust that these circumstances need attention, healing and resolution. Often this honesty needs to be spoken aloud, shared with a trusted friend or spiritual leader for in the speaking, insight often comes.

Being honest before God may lead us into some painful realizations as to our needs for seeking help, reconciliation or guidance. Such honesty is the most direct and powerful way to resolve the situations of our life.

So this week, as you pray each day, Start with Adoration followed by Confession of sin (those that you are aware of and those that you are not). This will get you on the way of a habit.

Next week we will talk about Thanksgiving and Supplication.

BEST PRACTICE # 4 USE A PRAYER MODEL

The number one complain people have about prayer is “ I can’t stay focused”. Someone called it “monkey-mind” swinging non-stop from one distraction to another. Has this happened to you? It has to me too, quite often.

Best Practice #2 talked about routine. A routine condition your minds ability.

So how do we stay focused? Engagement. Engage out minds by using Prayer Models. This is what our Bible Study will be focusing on starting May 13, 2015.

There are different “prayer models” out there. That basically help you. One is CHAT. Mnemonic C- Cheers for who God is. H- Humble yourself ask for forgiveness. A- appreciate God for what he has done, give thanks and T-tell Him your needs.

It is like an outline or a recipe or a nursing skill.

So get ready. We will be practicing a few of these models during our study and then you can pick which one fits you. Hope you all have your “prayer space” ready!

BEST PRACTICE # 3 INCLUDE SCRIPTURES

Reading the Word (aka Bible) and prayer do hand in hand. When you incorporate and read scripture during devotional times.

God will answer prayers through scripture.

Scripture will train your to recognize the truth.

Scripture is loaded with examples of how to pray.

GREAT PRAYERS TO READ:

Psalm 51; 1 Samuel 2:1-10; Habbakuk 3:2-19; Ezra 9:9-15; Luke 1:44-55; Lord’s Prayer; Matthew 6:9-13; John 17:1-26; Ephesians 3:14-21; Jude 1:24-25

Scripture will feed your prayers.

Devotional reading is more about pondering a text and listening for how it might apply to YOUR life. Or you can use a systematic Bible reading plan, free apps like “YouVersion”

****WHATEVER the reading method you use, the KEY ELEMENT IS TAKING TIME TO PONDER WHAT YOU’VE READ!

National Nurse's Week Bible Study

I AM PROUD OF MY PROFESSION. IT IS A REWARDING PROFESSION AND I DON’T MEAN MONETARY BUT SPIRITUAL. THESE TWO BIBLE STUDIES CAME FROM THE INTERVASITY NURSES CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. CHECK THEIR WEB SITE AT WWW.NCF.JCN.ORG

The two studies are” Nurses Leading the Way” and “Ethical Practice, Quality Care”. You are probably like me and wonder how this can related to the Bible.  Good reason to do the studies.

NURSES LEADING THE WAY

What does leadership look like in nursing? What are the characteristics of good leaders? No matter what your role in nursing, YOU ARE A LEADER. In this New Testament letter, Peter urges church leaders to remember a few basic principles and encourages them to be guides by Jesus’ example.  I will post some discussion questions under the EVENT notice. (Don’t want to confuse others with our upcoming Prayer Study.

READ 1 PETER 5:1-11

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.     What qualities does Peter encourage leaders to cultivate?

2.     What leadership responsibilities do you have? Who are you in a position to influence in your personal and professional life?

3.     If you applied these leadership qualities in your workplace, what effect might this have?

4.     How does the image of Christ as a shepherd impact you as a leader? Looking at verses 6-7, what do we learn about how God relates to us? How does his care for us to live differently?

5.     If God has a vision for our potential, how can we also unlock the potential in those around us? What steps can you take to strengthen the leadership characteristics found in this passage as you lead the way for others?

ETHICAL PRACTICE, QUALITY CARE

Throughout 2015, ANA is encouraging nurses to celebrate their role in delivering the highest level of quality care to their patients. We recognize that highly ethical nursing practice directly impacts patient care quality and safety for the better.

How would you define “ethical practice” in nursing? What are the foundational principles and standards for ethical practice? This year’s theme for National Nurse’s Week can generate some thoughtful discussions with your nurse friends and coworkers.

The ANA Code of Ethic and nurse practice acts provide guidelines and rules for nursing practice, but they don’t absolve us from making appropriate individual decisions. Ethics in nursing involves individual interpretation. It is based on individual morals and values and our own principles of right and wrong. We have to decide what is right and wrong for ourselves.

The Bible has a lot to say about right and wrong attitudes and behaviors and caring for others, yet most of our efforts at righteous living are limited and fall short of God’s standards. Because of God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit working within us, we are constantly given new opportunities to reflect God’s standards for Christ-like attitudes and behaviors that we can incorporate into our nursing practice.

READ Philippians 4:8-9. Read it aloud.

TRUE. What effect can rumors, gossip and lies have on one’s life? What is true about God? About people and the world? How do these truths influence your attitudes and behaviors, your nursing practice? How can you promote truth in your workplace?

NOBLE/RIGHT: How do you determine what is right and wrong? What injustices do you see in your workplace? What are some ways you can make things right or just in your circumstances?

PURE/LOVELY/ADMIRABLE: What is the difference between these characteristics? What images come to mind as you reflect on them?

EXCELLENT/PRAISEWORTHY: What are ways you can intentionally promote excellence in your work environment? What do you see that is worthy of praise? How does thinking about positive things have an effect on your attitude?

REFLECTION

How does our thought life influence our actions?

What is your vision for ethical practice?

What attitudes and behaviors do you aim for? Why?

PUT IT INTO PRACTICE

As nurses, we see very ill people who are in pain and often at their worst. We clean up messes, work short-staffed and encounter unexpected and critical situations. Through our work circumstances, how can we continue to think of good things? What outcomes do we want to see for our patients, our workplace and ourselves?

What is one step you can take to put these attitudes and behaviors into daily practice?

Scripture says that if we think on these things and put them into practice, the God of peace will be with us. How does this promise give you hope?