Author Janet Thompson on Pleading with God (Plus Book Give-away!)

Here is an interview I did with fellow author Jocelyn Green on her Faith Deployed blog. Leave a comment on her blog (link above) for an opportunity to win a free copy of Face-to-Face with Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah: Pleading with God!

Have you ever found yourself pleading with God? Most of us would probably answer yes to that question, which is why I’m so glad my friend Janet Thompson’s new release is on this very subject. Face-to-Face with Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah: Pleading with God is the latest in her series of books designed for women to study together in mentor-mentee relationships (she calls them M&Ms). The book is also great for small group study, or for individual use. You can find out more about the book here. Janet is graciously offering us a copy for a drawing, so stay tuned until the end of the post to find out how to enter!

First, let’s talk to Janet more about pleading with God.

What’s the difference between asking God for something, and pleading with Him?

Janet: Prayers can metamorphosis into begging God to perform in a way we think is best. Even a woman of strong faith can experience a crisis of faith when life doesn’t turn out as she expects and she knows God could intervene on her behalf. When we plead, we’re usually desperately invested in the outcome.

Is it wrong to plead with God?

God definitely wants us to pray with sincerity and passion. Many life issues, especially crises, naturally lead to pleading with God. How we react when He doesn’t immediately respond, or we don’t like His answer can lead to bargaining and negotiating with Him, or like Sarah and Rachel in the Bible, taking matters into our own hands. Learning to rest in God’s sovereignty and wait on His timing—as Hannah did—is our goal.

What is the best way to cope when God’s answer is “wait” or “no”?

Knowing God and believing that He is good and gracious and wants the best for us is the key to patient perseverance. He’s waiting to reap the maximum harvest from our situation: maybe it’s to show His glory in a miracle or discount Satan. Perhaps someone will accept Christ through the outcome, what a blessing. Or maybe He’s working on our character and spiritual maturity or growing the faith of people viewing our circumstances.

If we feel He’s gone silent, we could be expecting Him to respond in a particular or familiar way. He is talking—we just need to listen and remember that His perfect timing might not be our preferred timing. During times of pleading, experience peace with God by discovering a purpose in your pain.

Can you share with us a personal story about when you pleaded with God for something? What happened?

Praying God’s Word back to Him and personalizing Scriptures helps in hearing God because He speaks to us through His Word and it also helps focus on God’s will and not our own will. In another of my books, Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, I share the story of praying God’s Word back to Him for my prodigal daughter, Kim, every day.

After three years, it seemed like God wasn’t listening. He had gone silent. Then one day I heard from Him, I want her back more than you do. That was all I needed to continue earnestly and persistently praying for her even though I didn’t see any changes. I knew God was working behind the scenes and He was expecting me to keep praying because I trusted Him, not because I saw or heard Him.

It took almost three more years before she made the turn back to God and to me and today she’s a godly woman, wife, and mother. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on God or Kim.

What did you learn while preparing this Bible study that surprised you?

Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah, each pleaded with God for a baby, but I wanted to include other life circumstances where women might plead with God, so I sent out a request for stories. I was amazed at the response and the variety of stories I received. Women were graciously willing to share their vulnerable experiences to let other women know they were not alone. That’s the heart of mentoring: sharing those been-there-done-that experiences and with God’s help I made it through and you will too.

Could military wives benefit from doing this study with a mentor/mentee or a group of friends long-distance? Do you have any tips for making the online study successful?

Definitely! The Face-to-Face Bible study series has M&M questions for two women to do together and there’s also a leader’s guide in the back of each book for studying as a group.

To study online, I would suggest each woman have a copy of the book and agree how much of the study they want to cover when they virtually meet. There are 5 sessions and each session consists of 5 days.

They would each do the study on their own and then arrange a time to either chat online via email, yahoo chat, Facebook message, Skype, conference phone—whatever means they all have to communicate back and forth. They can discuss their answers to the questions or utilize the Leader’s Guide for areas of focus.

My daughter-in-law is a military wife, and I have seen how valuable it is for her to spiritually mentor other military wives, and also be mentored by wives who have been in the military longer than her. Sometimes it’s awkward to know where to start and doing a Bible study together provides that needed conversation opener.

To enter the drawing for Face-to-Face with Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah: Pleading with God, please leave a comment sharing why you’d like to read it. A winner will be drawn at random on Friday. Feb. 24.

About Janet:
Janet Thompson is a speaker and author of two new releases: Face-to-Face with Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah: Pleading with God and Face-to-Face with Lois and Eunice: Nurturing Faith in Your Family. There are 5 additional Face-to-Face Bible studies in the series.

Other books by Janet: Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer: A Companion Guide for Women on the Breast Cancer Journey; Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby? A Companion Guide for Couples on the Infertility Journey; Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents; The Team That Jesus Built: How To Develop, Equip, and Commission a Women’s Ministry Team and Woman to Woman Mentoring Resources.

Janet is also soliciting stories for her March 2013 book Dear God, He’s Home! A Woman’s Guide to Her Stay-At-Home Man. To contribute a story, email [email protected]. She is especially interested in stories from military wives of reintegration. Visit Janet at www.womantowomanmentoring.com

It’s essential that Christian’s know what their money is supporting and financing. Because there are so many middle men involved in investments, some investors might not think it’s important or possible to know individual companies comprising their portfolio. But it is important and you can know.

My husband and I told our financial adviser that we did not want ANY of our money being invested in a company that we did not approve. We discovered that some of our money was in a mixed portfolio where one company was a builder of slot machines and even a tobacco company was involved. Your adviser, or yourself, can pull up on the computer every company involved in your portfolio; it isn’t complicated or difficult.

When we told our adviser we wanted a listing of every investment and told him our parameters his first response was that we would be limiting our financial return. We assured him that we did not want to make money off of a company we would not knowingly fund or support. God would honor our decision and that was enough of a reward for us.

He shook his head, but agreed and after several meetings when he began to see that we only chose investments that did not go against our morals and values, he soon screened everything before showing us. You can do the same thing.

Here are other areas to consider:
1. Interview a new OB/GYN as to whether or not he/she believes in abortion and or performs them. If a doctor tells me yes, I choose another doctor. I always know the faith standing of all my doctors. I just ask.
2. If you learn that a business supports something you do not believe in, stop supporting them financially. Support them with prayer.
3. Pray before making any financial decision.
4. What other ideas do you have? I’d love to hear them and so would others reading this post. Let’s get the discussion going.

The Pink Ribbon and the Dollar Sign | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

 Well it’s the last day of January and I just discovered that the president declared this month National Mentoring Month! But it is timely that two new Face-to-Face Bible studies release on January 31, just in time to still be part of the national recognition month.

Face-to-Face with Lois and Eunice:Nurturing Faith in Your Family

Face-to-Face with Sarah, Rachel and Hannah: Pleading with God

 Both studies have questions for doing on you own, two women or M&M’s to do together, and  leader’s guide for group study. They are 5 sessions and each session is 5 days.

These are # 6 & 7 in the Face to Face Series. To order go to http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=janet+thompson&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCQ&nav_search=1&cms=1

Here’s a great review and summary

Review:

In Janet Thompson’s The Team that Jesus Built, readers are introduced to business management, street smarts, and biblical wisdom. When it comes to women’s ministry and female leadership advice, the market is bursting with brightly lit advertisements guaranteeing answers for any and all problems. Yet, in a world overloaded with frivolous information, there are still people who dare to give advice in a godly, honest way.

Janet Thompson, founder of Saddleback Church’s Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry, has established herself as a qualified author, with a MA in Christian Leadership and an MBA. After authoring numerous books, she now takes a serious look at female leadership and team building. Written for female leaders, Thompson’s The Team that Jesus Built delves into team development, while exposing problems and proposing solutions.

Reminding her readers that any team is always God’s possession and never theirs, Thompson reveals a formula for team development that centers on Jesus’ attitude and strategy in choosing his disciples. By studying Jesus’ interaction with his followers, Thompson teaches that a well-built team never comes from a leader caught up in self glory. Instead, a leader garners team success in displaying strong spirituality and godly motives.

Thompson reaches out to women leaders through personal experience. She shares her struggles and victories as she shows readers how to be successful, godly leaders. Although The Team that Jesus Built seems, at times, categorized and organized to the point of confusion, it’s an essential tool for any woman hoping to lead her team, whether big or small, as Jesus led his. – Angelina Burkholder, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

Book Jacket:

Jesus built strong teams. You can too.

Get His methods, answers, and more for team-building challenges most leaders encounter:

• How do you motivate people to serve selflessly?
• How do you equip people to be new leaders?
• How do you “let go” as a leader?

Through personal observations, step-by-step instructions, and simple how-to applications of Jesus’ leadership principles, The Team That Jesus Built equips laywomen—regardless of church location, denomination, size—to cultivate leadership skills and create teams for the glory of God.

Based on the author’s experience building a women’s ministry at Saddleback Church, under the leadership of pastor Rick Warren (The Purpose-Driven Life), Thompson provides ministry leaders with tools, direction, guidance, and encouragement to build teams that equip leaders to build teams.

Christian Book Previews – The Team that Jesus Built by Janet Thompson