Saturday, September 4, 2021

Pray With a Psalm in Your Heart. Private Prayers. Avoiding Vain Repetitions in Prayer. New Study Links Keto Diet to Severe Long-Term Health Risks.


Point of Wisdom, Pray With a Psalm in Your Heart 

"It can sometimes be hard to know what to talk about with God in prayer. Some Scripture-based counsel to a struggling individual can help you too.

He described himself to the pastor and me as a former hippie who had been off the drugs for several years. But he and his wife explained that the hallucinogens' effects were still badly slowing his mental processes. We could see that from our conversation. My part was as a ministerial trainee participating in this pastoral visit with a young couple who had lived hard and wild during the hippie movement years of the 1960s.

The man now loaded freight on ships in the Thames River near London. He had muscles for the work but wished that he still had the muscle in his mind. She had many questions about the Bible and God's way, but one main question plagued his thoughts: "How do I pray? I can't think of much to say." There were tears in his eyes. He really, truly wanted to know how to talk to God.

As the novice on the job, I mentally scrambled for the scriptures that might provide him understanding. The so-called "Lord's Prayer" (in Matthew 6:9-13) came to mind. Jesus' outline for prayer.  It came to the pastor's mind too. He explained that it was actually a prayer outline—not a script for brief recitation. It included an introduction and conclusion of praise for God, requests for God's intervention in world affairs, requests for our daily needs, asking God in repentance for forgiveness of sins as we forgive others, help against temptation and evil—and at least two requests for God's Kingdom to come (which it will at Christ's return).

The pastor continued that when you break Jesus' prayer outline down like that and go into detail concerning each part, you could easily be on your knees for 30 minutes or more. "Half an hour? I can't think of anything to pray about for more than five minutes!" Overwhelmed, the fellow leaned forward shaking his head in his hands. It was a genuine heartstrings-pulling moment—and I was thankful that I wasn't leading the counseling. Amazingly, the pastor proceeded to unfold a point of wisdom involving two steps that has stuck with me ever since.

Go with a list and a psalm

Step 1: Make a list of things you know you want to pray about—however long or short. Take that list and your Bible to where you pray. Talk to God about every item on the list. When you're all prayed out, then go to step 2.

Step 2: Open your Bible to the book of Psalms, a very large part of which was written by King David of ancient Israel. Under God's inspiration David wrote his psalms first as prayers, then as songs. Pick a psalm and tell God in your prayer that you've personally run out of things to say to Him, but that now you want to read to Him this psalm that David wrote as your prayer too—thinking about how it applies to your own life. You can be sure that God will accept your borrowed prayer, because David was a man after God's own heart (see Acts 13:22).

The pastor provided a list of some of David's psalms that applied to circumstances any of us might face.

Need encouragement? Read Psalm 37.

Need comfort? Read Psalm 23.

Need to repent? Read Psalm 51.

In trouble and desperately need God's help? Read Psalms 3 to 7 (plus many more).

Want to thank God for His blessings? Read Psalm 30.

Feel lost, lonely and forgotten? Read Psalm 13.

Need spiritual strength? Read Psalm 11.

The tears in the young man's eyes disappeared. He had hope—he could learn to pray by praying David's prayers. He could draw close to God. So can you."  From: https://www.ucg.org/vertical-thought/point-of-wisdom-pray-with-a-psalm-in-your-heart

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Private Prayers

Matthew 6:5-6

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

"In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ laid out the foundations of Christianity; and in this section He addresses the wrong and right ways to pray. Prayer is not for show or to impress other people. It is designed to help us build a personal relationship with our Creator. The core of our prayer life is one-on-one, alone with God. When we pray in private, we can express our deepest emotions and be open with God in a way we could not be in public.

The example of the New Testament Church shows that this does not mean that there is no place for public prayer, as there are many examples of the Church of God praying together (Acts 1:14; 4:24-31; etc.). But we must always be on guard against the attitude of hypocrisy that Jesus warned about.

For more about what the Bible teaches about prayer, see our article “How to Talk to God.”"

From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/private-prayers/?

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Avoiding Vain Repetitions in Prayer

Matthew 6:7

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

"God does not give us prayers to memorize and repeat mindlessly as a ritual. He is not interested in babble and hearing certain syllables intoned repetitiously, as it seems the pagans believed their “gods” did. He wants His followers to “avoid meaningless, repetitive prayers offered under the misconception that mere length will make prayers efficacious” (Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary on Matthew 6:7-8).

God is interested in us having an actual conversation with Him, listening to what He says in the Bible and sharing our thoughts, requests, cares and praise with Him in a focused and meaningful way. Repeating someone else’s words over and over again can’t help but become rote and ritual rather than building the relationship God desires.

See more about the communication God desires in our article “How to Pray.”

From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/avoiding-vain-repetitions-in-prayer/?

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New Study Links Keto Diet to Severe Long-Term Health Risks

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  • “The negative long-term consequences of ketogenic diets may far outweigh any potential short-term benefits, according to a comprehensive new review published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

Keto diets have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade due to their ability to promote quick weight loss. Typically very low in carbohydrates, modest in protein, and high in fats, the aim of keto diets is to push the body into ketosis—the state in which the body uses fat for fuel. Foods like red meat, fish, nuts, cream, eggs, cheese, oil, and non-starchy vegetables are given the green light while starchy vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, and lentils are avoided as much as possible. 

For this latest meta-analysis, a group of physicians, researchers, and registered dietitians analyzed more than 100 peer-reviewed studies on keto diets to identify long-term effects. They found that people who follow such diets have a significantly increased risk of developing heart disease, LDL cholesterol buildup, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and cancer. They also discovered that keto diets are particularly dangerous for people who are currently pregnant or may become pregnant. Low-carbohydrate diets are linked to birth defects, particularly neural tube defects, and gestational diabetes even if the pregnant person is taking folic acid supplements. Additionally, for those living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), the high amounts of protein consumed on the keto diet can place excess stress on the kidneys and worsen the long-term internal damage of CKD. 

So why does this diet have such negative side effects? The study’s authors suggest that it has to do with the nutrient quality of the food being eaten.

“The foods that are emphasized on a keto diet are the very products that cause colon cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease,” says study co-author Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and an adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine. “New research also shows that these same foods raise the risk for severe COVID-19.”

This sentiment is echoed by lead review author Lee Crosby, RD. “The typical keto diet is a disease-promoting disaster,” says Crosby. “Loading up on red meat, processed meat, and saturated fat and restricting carbohydrate-rich vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains is a recipe for bad health.”

Originally developed in the 1920s as a treatment for patients with severe drug-resistant epilepsy, the keto diet has been shown to be effective for reducing seizures in extreme cases. Scientists believe the diet decreases seizures by making less glucose available to fuel neurons. And although the study authors concluded that eating keto could be beneficial for seizure management, they say the risks far outweigh the rewards for most  people.

Instead of going keto, Barnard suggests a whole food, plant-based diet: “On a low-calorie diet, people might lose weight, but they have to go hungry to do it. On a keto diet, they might lose weight but they feel guilty if they have an apple, banana, slice of bread, or a cookie. On a plant-based diet, you get the best of all worlds: weight loss, delicious food, better overall health, and you’re never hungry.”

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path." 

From: https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellness/new-study-links-keto-diet-to-severe-long-term-health-risks/

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