The Inspirational Life

Welcome to the Inspirational-Prayers Newsletter

Also called

The Inspirational Life.

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This is our December newsletter.

This edition contains:

WHAT'S NEW on the Website

BETH'S NEWSLETTER BLOG

PRAYER: Full Armor of God Prayer

BIBLE DEVOTIONAL: Celebrating the Prince of Peace

MARRIAGE INSIGHTS: Secrets for Spouses

CREATING ROMANCE AT CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS MARRIAGE PRAYER

DISCovering Success: DISC Personality Insights for Christmas

UNDERSTANDING DISC

PRAYER FOR YOU: Ephesians Bible Prayer - A model prayer

What's New

We at Inspirational Prayers are honored that you have visited our site.

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We want this website to be a place that you visit multiple times a week.

We have over 500 pages of prayers, Bible devotions, and Christian articles and videos. We cover many unique topics.

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If you are blessed by our site and our newsletter, please consider giving a small donation to our ministry. The donation button is at the bottom of the home page.

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What's New on the website since the last newsletter?

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NEW PAGES

* * * New Year Prayer for 2016

* * * Blood Pressure Healing Prayer

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Take note that all new pages are featured on our "Info on What's New" page. There is a link to "What's New" on the top right side of every page.

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Below is a link to our website, in case you haven't visited lately. https://www.inspirational-prayers.com

Beth's Blog

We here at Inspirational-Prayers are celebrating the Christmas season.

This newsletter has lots of ideas for Christmas.

(Some of those ideas may end up on a page on our website.)

Currently on the website -

We have lots of

Christmas pages.

We have a page to inspire your children and teens to do creative Christmas skits, music, and art for their family.

We have prayers for Christmas Dinner.

We have prayers for Christmas Office Parties.

We have awesome pages of inspirational Christmas videos.

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Sad at Christmas

And we even have pages for those who are sad at Christmas.

We have a page called "Sad at Christmas."

AND

We have a page called "Christmas Prayer for Soldiers."

That page is for soldiers serving far from home on Christmas.

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We also have many inspirational new year pages.

All of our holiday pages are found by clicking the link below.

Inspirational Holiday Pages

Full Armor of God Prayer

I have found that putting on the Full Armor of God - daily - brings "Daily Strength" into our life.

If you are a Christian, I hope you will consider putting on your Armor – afresh and anew this day.

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Today I will put on the Full Armor of God!

Dear Lord,

You are the God of All Truth.

You have given me powerful armor.

I will put my armor on today.

I will yield to you and allow all my armor to operate POWERFULLY in me today.

I put on my Helmet of Salvation.

My Helmet encourages me to think godly thoughts and say godly words.

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I put on my Belt of Truth.

My Belt speaks truth to me that will guide me to blessings and steer me away from evil.

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I put on my Breastplate of Righteousness.

My Breastplate stirs me to protect my heart from impurity and negative attitudes.

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I put on my Shoes of Peace.

My shoes softly whisper wisdom as I approach a decision or find myself in a jam.

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I pick up my Shield of Faith.

My Shield of Faith rises up to destroy all doubt in God and in His Word.

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I pick up the Sword of the Spirit.

My Sword defeats every enemy attack and renders them failed foes.

I speak out God’s Words with ZEAL, and God’s Word changes things in my life!

I will love God’s Word, and I will use God’s Word to become a MIGHTY OVERCOMER.

I will stand strong. I will walk strong. I will speak strong. I will live strong!

Amen

Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

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Consider sharing the above Full Armor of God Prayer with your Sunday school class.

Consider having copies available for them to take home with them.

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Celebrating the Prince of Peace

Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And

Jesus is the King and Lord of My Heart.

In this 2015 Christmas season

Let's Remember that JESUS is the reason for the season!

The Wise men brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Let's consider bringing gifts - of special time "with God" and a peaceful lifestyle - to our Savior this season.

Christmas Reflection Thoughts

Have you put peace in your Christmas schedule?

If you don’t make calmness and peace important goals at Christmas, you probably won’t experience any.

Have you ever noticed that Jesus didn’t rush around?

Jesus was calm and relaxed EVEN when he was under all the pressure the scribes and Pharisees could muster.

Careful reading of the Scriptures defeats any notion that Jesus zoomed around from one location to another and one situation to another. The Bible depicts the countenance and actions of Jesus as steady and calm in all situations. He could move quickly if that is what was needed but he did not live in an atmosphere of tension and a frenzied flurry of actions. Therefore his unvoiced advice to us appears to be, "Slow down in life. Slower, in many cases, is better."

People were always pursuing Jesus to hear him speak and to receive miracles from him. And even though people had real needs, Jesus still withdrew and had quiet times with Father God.

If Jesus needed peace and time with Father God, how much more do we need it?

For example, during the Christmas season, do you say something similar to -

“I have to send out 200 Christmas cards. Everybody expects a Christmas card, and they expect my annual note about what is going on with our family.”

“I have to go to all five of these Christmas parties.”

“I have to make homemade Christmas cookies. My friends love them and look forward to them every year.”

“I have to hand wrap every present. Those gift bags just aren’t special enough.”

“I have to put up all the outdoor Christmas decorations every year. My neighbors love them.”

How do you fill in this blank?

“It is just not Christmas without___________."

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Instead of filling the blank, in the sentence above, with things such as "baking Christmas cookies" or "going to every party you are invited to" why not consider the following -

“It is just not Christmas without some times of calmness, peace, and warm family times.”

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If we aren't careful, we ignore spending time with the Lord during the Christmas season.

If we aren't careful, we find ourselves being less Christlike at Christmas than any other time of the year.

And consider your family....

If we aren’t careful - our spouse, our children, and our parents end up with our emotional leftovers. They end up with us being exhausted, stressed, irritable, and No FUN.

Trying to satisfy the expectations of friends, co-workers, church members, and neighbors can leave us too tired to be a blessing to our family.

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Satisfying the Expectations of Others

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If we are not intentionally choosing wisdom in our "goal making" this Christmas, we can fall into pleasing neighbors, friends, co-workers, and church members, while wounding our family members.

If we don't use wisdom and stir up self-control, we may find ourselves too tired to be a blessing to our family.

Below are links to pages on our website about Enjoying Peace.

Enjoying Peace at Christmas ~

And the next link:

Receiving God's Peace ~

And the last link is:

Prayer for Peace ~

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Note: Part of the statements about Jesus and his peaceful lifestyle were taken from my book PRAYING for Your CHILD.

Copyright © 2004 page 239 of PRAYING FOR YOUR CHILD

Jesus is the LION of Judah.

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Jesus is the Lamb of God.

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Jesus is love.

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Christmas is when LOVE came to earth and was placed in a manger.

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Jesus is the beginning and the end of our search for meaning and significance in life.

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And Jesus is the DOOR to heaven.

Secrets for Spouses

Today I am giving husbands and wives a few thoughts to reflect on and consider.

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Unfulfilled Expectations lead to Anger and Conflict

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Soooooo

Realizing and Reducing our personal expectations for Christmas will protect us from Christmas conflict.

Over the years, I have realized that I often dream up expectations at Christmas and then neglect to protect myself from emotional upheavels if they do not come true.

I've found that if I intentionally try not to have high expectations of what will happen at Christmas, then I end up being happier and more joyful.

For example -

If you strongly want to go to a Christmas Eve church service and your spouse wouldn't mind going....

Tell your Spouse....

"I want to go to church on Christmas Eve. It is important to me. So would you please call your mom and dad in the next day or two and let them know that we will need to leave their house by 7:30 in order to get to the church service?"

Then ask your spouse if it is o.k. to text him/her in a loving and flirty way in three days to make sure that he/she hasn't forgotten. (When you text your spouse, nicely ask if your spouse has made the call.)

Then pray. Ask God to help you yield to Him in the event that something goes wrong and you do not make it to church. Ask God to help you react to that situation with maturity and in supernatural, Christ-like ways.

Final step, make a decision to have a great Christmas even if you don't get to go to the service.

GIFTS - GIFTS

If you REALLY want a certain piece of jewelry or a certain piece of sports equipment, etc. then consider being open about it instead of hoping that your spouse will read your mind.

Both men and women create conflict by creating expectations that their spouse will read their mind.

Women particularly suffer from depression or anger when their husband doesn't "Read their Mind."

Women, please face this fact ......

Men can't Read Minds.

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I encourage women to stop expecting a man to read your mind.

I encourage women to.....

Take a Big-Girl pill because - He just can't read your mind!

And if you expect him to, you will face disappointment. AND disappointment leads to conflict.

Many times a woman picks a fight with her husband, because she is mad about an unfulfilled expectation.

Angry women often pick a fight about an unrelated topic, instead of calming down and wisely discussing the situation with their husband.

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Soooooo,

Wives and Husbands:

Consider planning ahead and making a decision

to choose wisdom and love over upset and conflict.

There are so many single people who would just love to celebrate a Christmas with a husband or wife.

Take advantage of the opportunity to joyfully celebrate Christmas with your mate.

Find joy in the special events AND in the everyday activities.

Even when things go wrong

and your spouse and family act

"Un-Christmas-like"

pray and ask God to help you

remain steady and supernaturally joyful.

Flirting with your Spouse

Help to create a "No Scrooge Zone" by flirting with your Spouse.

Add some flirting with your spouse to lighten up the holiday mood.

Flirt a little, and consider being a little silly.

Consider doing something you did when you were dating.

Play "Your Song" and remember good times together.

(Find more ideas in the next section.)

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Make Christmas a joyful time by putting love on the throne of your heart instead of expectations.

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Romance at Christmas

Why not do something romantic during the Christmas Season?

For example -

Text your spouse and say -

"You are the best Christmas present I have ever gotten!"

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Consider Creating Christmas Fireworks!

Try adding some Romance!

Make Merry Christmas Memories while doing things such as Christmas shopping for other family members.

FUN AND Thrifty Romantic Ideas

1. While at a store, the two of you go to the greeting card aisle together. Then each of you find two or three romantic cards and "give" them to each other. Note: I don't mean buy them. I mean show them to each other as you stand in the greeting card aisle. AND HAVE FUN!

2. Challenge yourselves to walk - as a couple - from the parking lot into a store in such a way that onlookers will envy how "in love" you look together.

3. Go to the perfume/cologne area of a store and the husband pick out a fragrance for the wife to sample and the wife pick out a fragrance for the husband to sample. Enjoy the aroma of each other as you shop together.

4. After shopping, stop by a park and walk arm in arm looking up at the stars.

5. When you get home, act like you are two actors in a Hollywood movie and both of you have JUST realized that you love each other. Both of you look deeply into your spouse's eyes. Then take turns saying very dramatically, "I LOVE YOU." Then kiss passionately. Hey, make it dramatic! Give an "award-winning" performance!

Click here for More Romantic Ideas

If you get home first one night, greet your spouse with a warm mug of hot chocolate and festive Christmas songs in the background.

And if he or she is a Gruppy Gus - just say in a flirty way, "Wow, you missed a great opportunity for an awesome kiss."

Then smile and happily go do something.

Be mysterious. Be fun. Be an amazing spouse.

If that is you, consider visiting some of our pages on helping marriages. There are links farther down the page.

Remember:

The one who loves the most, tries the hardest.

The one who tries the hardest is the strength of the marriage.

Hopefully the one who loves the most, will passionately seek wisdom.

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I extend encouragement to all spouses who are going through marital problems. I applaud all your efforts. Don't forget that God sees all the efforts you are making to bless your marriage.

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Seek to be an amazing spouse

even before you have an amazing spouse.

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Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

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Our website has many pages on marriage.

I invite you to visit three of our Power Pages on Marriage.

The first is "Healing Marriages."

The second is "Prayer for Troubled Marriages."

The third is "The Secret of Tenderheartedness."

The links are below.

Healing Marriages And the next link is: Prayer for Troubled Marriages And the next link is: The Secret of Tenderness

Marriage Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sending Jesus.

Thank you for this Christmas season.

Lord, help me to find joy in each day of this festive season.

Show me ways to slow down and savor the blessings of Christmas.

Help me to be an amazing spouse this Christmas.

Keep me from creating high expectations that will ultimately lead to disappointment.

Remind me to intentionally ignore things that would lead to unnecessary conflict.

Whisper to me little things that I can do that will give my spouse an uplift to his/her day.

Help me to grow in love and maturity this holiday season.

In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen

Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

Personality Insights for Christmas

To begin, let's get some basic personality knowledge.

There are 4 basic DISC personality styles.

They are:

The "D" which is outgoing and task-oriented.

The "I" which is outgoing and people-oriented.

The "S" which is reserved and people-oriented.

The "C" which is reserved and task-oriented.

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Note that each of us is a blend of traits from each of the four personality styles. Yet, the style that contains most of our traits tends to powerfully pull our thoughts in certain directions.

We are all unique. Yet, realizing our main personality style helps give us clues as to our strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of others.

Even after we discover our main personality style, we need to remember that we will not have every trait in our main style.

It is important to realize that each style has a tendency to see life in a different way. So each style approaches life with a different mindset, different thoughts, and different goals.

DISC Personality Christmas Insights

Below I am listing some of the strengths of the "Ds" at Christmas time. Take note that each "D" is unique. But this list will give you an understanding of the strengths that the "D" personality group generally have.

At their best, "Ds" are great at delegating Christmas jobs and making sure things are getting done quickly. They are not afraid of handling any conflicts family members have with stores both on the internet and at a physical location. "Ds" enjoy leading. They are good at pioneering new Christmas projects. They are visionaries and can see the project and all the parts to it. "Ds" get a lot of work done in a short amount of time.

A special note about "Ds" -

The "D" style is found in about 10% of the population - and the rest of us think very differently from them. "Ds" need to understand that they will stir up strife and ruin relationships if they do not gain some insights into how blunt, self-centered, and hardhearted they can - naturally - be. But when they begin to gain understanding and when they submit to the Holy Spirit, they use their determination to make amazing strides in compassion and humility. "Ds" have great power to turn situations and relationships around.

All styles need to be aware of their weaknesses so that they do not stir up unnecessary strife in their home.

Pray for the "Ds" in your family to realize the value of gentleness, kindness, encouragement, warmth, and compassion.

If every family member had a good working knowledge of DISC, the home would be much more harmonious and any conflicts that did erupt would be more quickly solved.

In addition, understanding DISC helps prevent unnecessary wounding of one member to another, and it reduces strife while making your home more harmonious and happy.

Below I am listing some of the strengths of the "Is" at Christmas time. Take note that each "I" is unique. But this list will give you an understanding of the strengths that the "I" personality group generally have.

At their best, "Is" - know how to add fun and excitement to all the Christmas activities. They can even bring laughter and lightheartedness to Christmas chores such as putting up decorations and house cleaning. They are great at brainstorming ideas for new Christmas adventures. They make every day more fun.

Pray for the "Is" in your family to realize the importance of fulfilling commitments. Pray that they would be careful to make less promises - while fulfilling all the promises they do make. Pray that they will have supernatural help with their time management during the holidays. Pray that they will have increased self-control to stay on their Christmas budget.

Help "Is" by e-mailing or texting them about deadlines AND help them by enthusiastically encouraging them as they move through their chores. Also don't forget to celebrate WITH the "Is" as they make things fun. (Chores don't have to be done while solemn and serious.)

Below I am listing some of the strengths of the "Ss" at Christmas. Take note that each "S" is unique. But this list will give you an understanding of the strengths that the "S" personality group generally have.

At their best, "Ss" - know how to make friends and family members feel cared about. They are warm, kindhearted, and easygoing. "Ss" enjoy all the family's traditions. "Ss" keep a great attitude as they help with mundane chores that are needed around the holidays. They enjoy helping needy families at Christmas. They enjoy the idea - and the activity - of being a servant like Christ. They are dependable and steady members of the family.

And family members can greatly be blessed if they will follow the lead of the "Ss" and slow down a little during the holidays and find joy in the quiet, simple things.

Pray for your "S" family members so that they do not feel pushed and pulled during the holidays. Pray for them that they will have a Christmas filled with peace and calmness. Pray that they will have wisdom and strength to say "No" to unwise suggestions.

Below I am listing some of the strengths of the "Cs" in a Christmas setting. Take note that each "C" is unique. But this list will give you an understanding of the strengths that the "C" personality group generally have.

At their best, "Cs" - know how to do things with excellence. They enjoy organizing and getting things done right. They can make a home look beautiful and festive. They get a lot of work done. They enjoy reflecting on a Christmas event that went well. "Cs" notice problems and can easily think of solutions. They often see problems coming a mile away and try to take care of them before they reach the front door.

Pray for your "C" family members so that they do not let Christmas stress make them critical and crabby. Pray that your "C" family members will yield to God's efforts at calming them down and attempting to sprinkle fun into their days. Pray for your "Cs" so that they can easily handle unexpected situations and problems during the holidays.

Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational - Prayers.com

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God tells us to Love One Another. Learning about DISC helps us to love others the way they want to be loved.

So consider getting my book about DISC - and learning how to bless others more effectively.

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Understanding DISC

It is called "Praying for your Child" but it is not just for parents.

It explains ADULTS also.

It will explain in easy terms the 4 styles and give you lots of information about children AND adults.

It also has great prayers to pray.

People rave at how it helped them understand their spouse, their family, their boss, their co-workers, and their friends.

And for those who serve in leadership roles - at work or at church - DISC will enable you to greatly enhance your leadership strengths.

The book is available to be shipped to those who live in the United States.

There is a link for information about my book located directly after the prayer.

God's Prayer for us

Ephesians chapter one verses 17-19 is a model prayer to pray for yourself or for others.

Today I am lifting up this prayer for all those who love Jesus and read our newsletter.

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Almighty God,

I pray this prayer over each one. As I pray, I speak directly over each one...

My prayer is that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

I pray that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened and that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

And I pray that you will know the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe.

This prayer I pray in Jesus' name,

Amen

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Prayer based on Ephesians 1:17-19 NKJV