“Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.
Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant.
Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.”
Romans 12:11-12 The Message
For many, September feels like a fresh start. Kids are going back to school. Summer is giving way to fall. There’s a burst of energy and urgency to make the last third of the year really count.
But with the hope of cooler temps, all things pumpkin, and finally making progress on January’s goals, you may also feel weary.
Jesus understands this. It’s why He invites all who are weary and burdened to come to Him! (Matthew 11:28-30).
But Paul also encourages us not to give in to spiritual burnout. We must actively and intentionally keep our passion for Jesus and commitment to following God strong.
How do we do this?
Be alert! Pay attention to what God is doing in and around you.
Be cheerfully expectant! Trust that God is working on your behalf, and let His promises fuel your hope.
Pray! Don’t give up when life gets hard. Take heart knowing Jesus is with you. He will never forsake you. And He is listening to your prayers and interceding for you.
We love dedicating the first Sunday of every month to pray for one another. Share your prayer request and pray for another (in)courage sister. We are stronger together!
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My dear friend has been privately dealing with cancer. She is currently under hospice care and surrounded by her loved ones.
I ask for your prayers to lift her up and I pray for healing hands to be upon her. She has cared for so many and now needs the miracle she so deserves.
Thank you all. ❤️
Will hold your friend up in prayer.
Dear Father I come pray for Sandy’s friend, I trust with her for Your healing and Your comfort for her in this time. May she experience You so closely and beautifully in that which is difficult. Please comfort and encourage her friends and loved ones as they care and pray for her. In Jesus Name, Amen.
A new procedure (not surgery!) being made available to me mid September for my continual back discomfort. Would appreciate prayers that this will help as I so much want to continue to be able to garden, sharing the garden’s vegetable & flower bounty with others around us.
Sharon, I’m praying for this new back procedure be the answer for your discomfort and the beginning to renewed health. May our dear Lord shower you with His good graces.
Sharon, I will pray for you. I also have constant back pain and having a procedure done this month. Praying that it helps me be able to continue to do the things I love. God loves us.
Dear Father, please come be with Sharon in the pain and discomfort, I pray that the procedure will go well and that it will allow her the freedom to continue to garden and do what she loves. I come ask for complete healing. In Jesus name, Amen.
I pray for miracles for everyone’s health. May their health be restored. May their bodies return to their perfect state of health, the way God created them. Please also pray for my health for miracles that only God can make ! Jesus is always listening.
He loves us so much!
Please heal Sandy’s friend dear God and make her comfortable and pain free as much as possible. God only you know how many days our lives are numbered here on Earth, whatever your plan for Sandy’s friend, blanket her, her family and friends in your love and care. In Jesus name Amen
I am in a season of struggling with friendships, a lot of my good friends have moved away or are in a different season than before, meaning we see each other less and it is quite difficult, I realize that it is part of life but it is difficult on some days and I feel quite lonely.
Lord Jesus, I pray that you would be with Barbara in this time of loneliness. I pray that she will discover deeper fellowship with you during this time and that you will bring new friends into her life. Amen.
Lord, please comfort Barbara with your peaceful presence. Help her to know she is not alone and You are always right beside her.
Dear Lord, I come to You this morning, asking that You would hear and answer each of these requests. Heal bodies, hearts and emotions. As we begin a new month (and season), fill us afresh with Your Spirit and give us a willingness to love and serve You. Thank you for those that encourage us and help us to be an encouragement to others! We love you, Lord!
I’m 9 months pregnant currently and have had health issues and mental health issues since day 1. Now I have severe anemia, constant hipotension, and have been sick with a respiratory virus for the last week. I don’t have energy to do a thing. And my body hurts continually. Please pray with me for hope mostly, because I am in despair and so depressed. Also for healing for myself and good health for my baby girl that is arriving any day now. I’ll be praying today for all the requests above, somehow its easier to have faith for others in my case. Sending love.
Dear God, I pray for Florencia. I also know what it is like to struggle with mental health issues related to pregnancy, and I pray that you would bring peace and healing to her mind and body. Be with her in the delivery room and watch over her little girl. Amen.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3
Please pray for me. I have been having IBS issues & need healing . The enemy is putting negative thoughts in my mind & trying to frighten me in thinking something worse. I need your prayers
Amen!
I shared this post as I’m looking forward to Fall!
This devotion today on Sunday, I always read right before I go to church. This one is perfect for the first Sunday in September. This month has always been special to me as it is the month that I was born in 1947. I love the fall and winter. Many people are spring and summer fans, but I never quite joined that group, but I do love this month. Three of my best friends were all born in September. Could there be a connection there? I do though have so many complicated situations that I am dealing with for the last six years and I will be honest and tell you that at times I do get spiritual weary. I have no family so to speak, my husband has dementia (the violent) kind and I can’t for my safety live with him. Over a year ago he was very close to killing me, my one son (54 years old now) called me and told me not to consider me his Mother anymore and I would never ever be able to see or speak to my 12 year old grandson. That was so overwhelming and after 2 years, I still can’t bear to think about it, but my mind always takes me back there. I pray frequently during the day and try to be patient waiting to see if the Lord can help me here. I want to thank you and all the women of the (in)courage community for helping us every day with your devotions. I don’t know what I would do without you. I see all of you as angels that God sent to get me through each day. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend with your family and friends and if you could think of me, would you say a little prayer for me? Love and prayers to all of you. Time for me to go to church………..Betsy Basile
Prayers for my husband who has unresolved anger, bitterness and resentment towards some people and doesn’t see it as a problem.
Please pray for the brokenness to heal in our family. It seems so impossible, but I’m trusting God can heal the impossible ,thank you sisters.
Lord, please heal the hurt in J’s family. Help them get through this rough patch together. Nothing is impossible with You.
I pray to be a better witness and to share the great news of Jesus Christ with those who cross my path as I walk through the remainder of this year.
I pray for Jesus to lead me in whatever I do.
Thank you Jesus
Amen
Louise, I lift up your prayer for strength and guidance. I hope you know that there are others who are looking for similar things.(Even if they look like they have everything all together). May God bless you and your desire to be closer to Him.
Please lift up my niece and her two autistic late teen children. Let them find peace and strength and future work/Activities for the children.
I have prayed for all of you that the Lord Jesus to meet your every need, to encourage your hearts and be the Lifter of your head. I have need of healing in my back which is debilitating. I am 77 and have always been so strong and healthy all my life. I have suffered a lot of loss over the past year and a half. I also suffer from seasons of depression and anxiety. I am very lonely and spend my days lying on my back in the bedroom. But I look to the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth for He is faithful always!
Thank you for your wonderful messages/devotions. It is always very encouraging and inspirational.
May I ask prayer for God’s intervention in our marriage.
Also for His hand over our children and grandchildren, that Jesus will make Himself known in ways they cannot deny Him but rather accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.
Thank you. May God continue to bless and use all of you.
I am praying for you,Anna-Maria!! I’m asking for the same in my life too!! May God hear and answer!
Praying ❤️ Please pray for me to do the will of God and trust Him at all times. Thank you for your prayers
Please pray for God to move in the lives of my husband, daughter and best friend that they would turn to Jesus for salvation. I’ve been praying for many years and continue to hope! Thank you!!
Thank you for todays reading. It really spoke to me. For me not to take burn out. I suffer from seizures. I do my elderly Dad’s Home Help Monday to Friday. Cleaning his house and putting on a wash etc. My Dad days his memory better than others. Every day is different with my Dad you could go one day the house could be ok not to bad. Then another day more mess. My Dad doesn’t know he makes a much mess as he does. My Dad will sometimes test your patience with all the questions he can ask you. You will not know some of the answers to them and not. He can get annoyed with when you don’t as he thinks you should. Then you look at his house you then think to yourself I just cleaned it yesterday. How did he get into such a mess again. You have to bit your lip say nothing. Just go on cleaning it and remember you are doing it on to the Love of the Lord and the Love of your Dad. He needs me to go Monday to Friday to clean it for him. So you go every week. As he needs the help and he your Dad. You keep on going Monday to Friday to help your Dad out because you love him don’t like to see him home messy. You don’t then take time for yourself. I have done that I went on going to my Dad’s Monday to Friday doing his house because I love him. Then exhaustion has set in. Because I am to busy thinking of my elderly Dad and doing his house that I don’t take more time for myself and rest. With that then the exhaustion set in my body brake down and I take more seizures. Friends plus my Husband as well as God have told me. I must take more rest now and then. Like the way people take Holidays every so often out of their work to rest and charge their Batteries. Or my body will break down and I will take seizures with not enough rest and the exhaustion. I have to do as Matthew 11:28-30 says. Take the Lord’s yoke upon me and learn from the Lord for he is gentle. Find rest for my soul. Not worry about not getting enough rest because I feel I have to keep on doing my Dad’s Home Monday to Friday. Because I feel he needs me and I can’t take time of now and then like people who work in job do to charge their batteries. Stay at home resting or go on Holiday for few days. I have been like them. Then go back to my Dad’s fully rested to do his House for him again Monday to Friday for him. Do as God my Friends and my Husband tell me. Don’t let the worry of thinking my Dad needsthen guilt set in. I shouldn’t let guilt set in or worry. Go to the Lord do as Matthew 11:30 says remember Jesus yoke is easy and his burden is light. He will give me the rest as I give him that burden. Also do as verse 28 say of Matthew 11 say to if I come to Jesus when heavy with the burden of my Dad and leaving him not doing his house for a few days. To charge my batteries so I don’t take burn out. Jesus will give me the rest I need when of for the few days. As if I don’t my health will suffer. I don’t want that as I have to rest also. Do as my Husband says my Friend and God takes the rest I need every so often to charge my batteries as I have said. So today’s reading really really spoke to me. Thank you for writing it. In my prayers all incourage. Love Dawn Ferguson-Little Enniskillen Co.Fermanagh N.Ireland xx
Dear Heavenly Father please be with Dawn and her father and her husband. Please help them support one another and thank you for the wonderful supportive daughter she is. Bless them all and help them feel your peace and love. Thank you for this supportive prayer community in Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen
For my family for all of their complete healings- My mom from stage 4 breast cancer, my sister from spiritual oppression, and my dad from back problems. My healing as well from mental health struggles.
I’ve had some ongoing health issues for the past couples years. A lot of them are symptoms that just don’t seem to add up to the other. I’m going for an MRI in the next few weeks to hopefully help with one of the issues. So, I ask that you pray that I lean into the peace and calmness that the Lord brings as I prepare for the MRI and on the day of the scan. Also, I ask for healing.
I also want to pray for all pray requests mentioned in each of the comments before and after me. I pray that those prayers are answered and that God meets you where you are.
Amen
I’m a first time mom and need mental strength and wisdom in everything I am going through in each season of raising a child.
We just lost our 45 year old daughter. She leaves a son who is 21. We are all struggling with her loss. Please pray for us, my husband is really hurting from our loss as we are all. Thank you for your prayers.
Please pray for ongoing health issues, particularly with my lungs which are getting recurrent infections…
Amen, amen. Thank you for the podcast encoragement series. It helps with what i am going through.
My husband was laid off work last September – he got another job in May but it’s 1/2 the pay- I’m Trusting Jesus for
All financial needs -,I work PT with seniors as a caregiver
Praying for all my family come back to the Lord
It’s a long wilderness season
Carol
I’m really struggling with stress from my job and not feeling fulfilled. It’s starting to impact my health, but I really do need the income. Would you please pray that God would open another door for me and show me where I can be to fulfill my purpose?