Neta Jackson - The Yada Yada Prayer Journal

the
yadayada
Prayer Journal

the
yadayada
Prayer Journal

Neta & Dave
Jackson

2005 by Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson

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HELPING PEOPLE WORLDWIDE EXPERIENCE the MANIFEST PRESENCE of god.

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Other Scripture quotations are taken from the following: The Holy Bible, New Living Translation (nlt), 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved. The King James Version of the Bible (kjv). The Message (msg), 1993. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. The New King James Version (nkjv), 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Cover Design: Brand Navigation, LLC | Deanna Pierce, Mark Mickel, Terra Petersen | www.brandnavigation.com Cover Photo: Steve Gardner | Pixelworks Studio Interior Design: Inside Out Design & Typesetting

ISBN 1-59145-285-6

Printed in the United States of America

05 06 07 08 09 RRD 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Dear Sister,

A prayer journal to go with a series of fiction novels? Whoever heard of such a thing! And yet, as my husband and I began to dig through the three Yada Yada Prayer Group novels for excerpts, I began to get excited! Whoa! Again and again passages leapt out at me that challenged me to think about the themes raised by these novels: grace... forgiveness... redemption. Yes! I said. Reading these novels was just the first course. We need to chew on some of these things to really extract the spiritual nourishment God has planted in them.

So are you ready to join me for a devotional journey, along with the fictional sisters in the Yada Yada Prayer Group?

Heres how it works. There are sixty devotionals. If you use this journal at least twenty days a month, that means well be reflecting and praying together for about three months, give or take a hurricane, the birth of triplets, or remodeling your kitchenany of which might slow you downor Jesus returning again, in which case it wont matter.

Each day begins with an excerpt from one of the Yada Yada novels, followed by a Reflection, from my heart to yours. The blank lines that follow are for your own reflections. A scripture From theWord and a Prayer suggestion (with blank lines for your own personal prayers) wrap up our time together.

Dear sister, thank you for joining me on this devotional journey. Make it your own, just between you and Jesus. Share it if you want to, hug it to your heart if youd rather. If we dont meet here on earth, well meet in heaven and then well really yada yada (know and be known) and yadah yadah (sing and give praise to God). Yea, God!

Your Sister in Christ,
Neta Jackson

Section 1
Grace

In Des Moines, Iowa, where my family lives, I grew up on missionary stories from around the worldthe drumbeats of Africa... the rickshaws of China... the forests of Ecuador. Somehow it was so easy to imagine myself one day sitting on a stool in the African veld, surrounded by eager black faces, telling Bible stories with flannel-graph figures. Once, when I told Denny about my fantasy, he snorted and said wed better learn how to relate across cultures in our own city before winging across the ocean to save the natives.

The Yada Yada Prayer Group, p. 5

Reflection

Okay, I admit it. Its easier to imagine doing great things for God in some other place or culturewhile failing to realize that those same opportunities (and cultural challenges) are often only a few blocks away or just across town. Im challenged by what Jesus said in Luke 16:10: Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.

I want to be trusted with much, but Im no superhero; I cant get from here to there in a single bound! God wants me to be faithful in the smaller things and willing to take small steps to share Gods love outside my usual circle of friends and neighbors.

How about you? How would you like to be used by God? What are the small things you can do right now, right where you are, to begin walking toward that vision? What is holding you back?

From the Word

Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?

The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:3740)

Prayer

Pray that God would show you one small step you can take to reach out to someone different from yourself. Who might that be? Include his or her name in your prayer.

I scrunched down in my seat, hiding behind the women in front of me. Destiny? Who had time to think about destiny! Trying to keep up with a classroom of thirty third-graders, half of whom could barely speak English, much less read it, two teens with raging hormones, a happy-go-lucky husband who was more generous than thrifty, and a full schedule of church meetings at Uptown Community, I felt lucky to wake up each morning knowing what day it was.