FOCUSED Prayers Devotional Vol. 1. FOCUSED Ministries, Inc. was birthed during a time of prayer. The name came as a result of two college students praying for direction and asking God how He could use them to change the lives of young people. FOCUSED is an acronym that stands for "Focusing On Christ Until Spiritual Excellence is Demonstrated" based on the Word of God found in Proverbs 4:25-27 and Hebrews 12:1-2. From its launch, Dr. Baker, the members of the executive team, and dedicated prayer partners set aside every Wednesday to pray and fast for FOCUSED Ministries, Inc. As the prayers continued, people were saying how blessed and encouraged they were by the prayers of such a diverse group of Christians whose singleness of mind and heart was to see God's will done in the lives of our youth. Dr. Baker wanted to preserve the weekly prayers as evidence of FOCUSED Ministries' dedication and love for the youth and families they would serve even though they hadn't yet met. FOCUSED Prayer Devotional is a compilation of more than 365 days of prayers on behalf of our youth, families, and the organization as they continue the work to share the love of Jesus Christ. FOCUSED Ministries, Inc. wants you to read and meditate on these prayers and encourage you to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ through your own prayer life. We are commanded to continue in prayer (Col. 4:2), trusting and believing God that what we ask for in faith and according to His will, it shall be done. FOCUSED on Him! God bless you!

Prayer is the key to a closer relationship with God. You can learn how to pray to experience direct, meaningful communication with your Heavenly Father.

This book will motivate you to pray despite your circumstances and help you grow your prayer life through a one-hundred-day journey.

My Meditation, My Heart This book is based on the idea of personal worship—that is prayer, devotion, and meditation. As believer in Christ Jesus, we are all called to present ourselves a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to God as a rational service of worship. This book is designed to provoke growth through probing questions regarding prayer to God in accordance with His Word, devotion to God by living according to His Word, and meditation on God’s Word to know the will of God that which is good and acceptable and perfect. This pillar is speaking to the person who has already received the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus and have become part of His church. To this, individual rests the responsibility to be conformed to the image of Christ—that is, to grow regarding their salvation as they become disciples of Christ. Believing in Jesus does not make one a disciple, but as Jesus said, the one who would choose to become His disciple must first deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. As a disciple, this is seen through one’s devotion to God and His Word through daily communion in prayer and meditating on God’s Word.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Butts, but you have lymphoma and you are already in stage four.” Those words would rattle anyone. Those are the words Dave and Kim Butts heard just 10 days into Dave’s beginning to write this book on prayer and peace. God literally put Dave into a situation where Dave would have to live out what he was planning to teach others in his book. As believers, we know that we are supposed to walk in Christ’s peace day by day. But when the trials, struggles, and stresses of life come upon us, many of us do not appropriate or experience that peace. Instead, we look at our circumstances and worry. In the pages of this 30-day devotional, you will find the shalom—the peace—of Jesus! Each day you will be encouraged by a verse on peace, gently be taught how to live that verse out, and then be guided in praying that peace into your life. This book is for every believer who wants to experience and walk in the peace of Christ, no matter what life throws at him or her.

"Religions in Focus" engages with the religious lives of members of some of the most significant religions today. It presents religions as contemporary ways of life that motivate and inspire people. Because religious people refer to sacred texts, honour the founders of their religions, learn from elders, or mould their lives according to authoritative teachings, "Religions in Focus" explains the relationship between tradition and contemporary practice. It offers an introduction to religions that is rooted in the best scholarship of the Study of Religions and provides a secure foundation for further study.A team of Religious Studies scholars from many countries, all skilled communicators about the contemporary religions with which they are thoroughly familiar, introduce what it means to live as a religious person today. They insist that however old or young these religions may be, what is most interesting is the ways in which people express them today. This is not a history of religions but an insightful introduction to living religions. A guide to further study and a companion website will point to ways of building on knowledge gained in studying this book, and applying skills developed in studying people's religious lives.

Devotions to prepare you for marriage to your future husband No one is more invested in the success of your future marriage than God. This uplifting, thought-provoking devotional is full of wisdom and prayers to help you lay the foundation of a strong union with your husband. Ninety days of devotions and practical insights guide you as you begin your journey to marriage. Plan in any phase—Find wisdom whether you are with someone and looking to keep God at the center of your relationship or single and seeking guidance in His plan. Prepare your heart—Pray and reflect on Biblical lessons to ready your own heart and soul for a God-centered union. Look to the future—Understand the man who will become your future husband and set expectations for your modern marriage. Build a strong marriage—Gain insight into everyday ways you can strengthen your relationship to stand the test of time. Center Jesus in your future marriage with the support of this women's devotional.

Blending illustrative narratives from veterans with cutting-edge research, this book provides a model for a needed shift from treatment post-trauma to psychological training pre-trauma to prevent deep depression and resulting suicides. As suicides among members of the U.S. military and veterans continue at a rate higher than in the general population—nearly 20 each day—and their calls for help become louder, with three veterans waiting for treatment outside Veterans Administration hospitals in 2019 committing suicide, authors and former U.S. Marines Kate Hendricks Thomas and Sarah Plummer Taylor present a call for a new approach to help halt the needless deaths. Thomas, now a researcher and assistant professor of public health, and Plummer Taylor, now a social worker and adjunct professor, detail a plan to establish preventative training for mental fitness that will help psychologically "vaccinate" service members against depression and PTSD, the most common precursors to suicidal thoughts. Thomas and Plummer Taylor detail their mental fitness training program to shift from post-trauma treatment to pre-trauma prevention. Each topic addressed is illustrated with stories from veterans. Part of the solution, Thomas and Plummer Taylor explain, is to present prevention as something for all service members and as a positive, strength-building, challenging activity for champions, as opposed to a post-trauma treatment only for "weak and broken" warriors.

“Prayer is real religion,” said Auguste Sabatier. If so, the academic study of prayer allows scholars to examine the very heart of religious practices, beliefs, and convictions. Since prayers exist in a wide variety of content, contexts, forms, and practices, a comprehensive approach to the study of prayer is required. Therefore, this volume includes scholars from a wide range of disciplines, in order to discover the breadth of “real religion” from the first to the fifteenth centuries. This volume especially focuses upon the history of Christianity and monasticism, where prayer was the school of hope, faith, and critical thought, awakening the faithful to every aspect of religious and daily life. Contributors are L. Edward Phillips, Karlfried Froehlich, Michael Joseph Brown, David W. Fagerberg, Columba Stewart, Benedicta Ward, Susan Boynton, Corey Barnes, Johannes Heil, Rik Van Nieuwenhove, Roger S. Wieck, Paul W. Robinson and Roy Hammerling.