Prayer of Dependence on God-7

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Christian prayer aiming for true Christian growth

Gracious Heavenly Father, even though we sometimes have a lack of passion Lord, and struggle with apathy, you do not change. Your purposes remain constant and fixed as surely as you are All-Wise and All-Powerful Oh Lord! We know this is an important thing to pray about, but lack the know-how for exactly what to pray! We all sense mistakes have been made by our economic leadership, perhaps some bad choices may have been directed by your hand for a greater good still to come. Many in the US sense a cognitive decline in our President Oh Lord, and see him as the fragile leader of the free world. Lord, some of us are embarrassed by our stagnation in our corporate conscience towards the self-protection of our republic. We avoid confronting the obvious issues of decline we see in our president seemingly just waiting to see if someone will “do something” to snatch the US from the flames of an implosion coming from the effects of this “Emperor with no clothes”. We quietly worry that our lack of political sensibilities in the US could result in bringing us down several notches in protection on the world scene and reduce our self-sufficiency and defense capabilities to basically a laughing matter in the eyes of our enemies—if those things have not happened yet! Lord, I pray the US is not in such a state as was the nation of Israel in Habakkuk’s time who cried in 3:16 “I heard, and my inner parts trembled; At the sound, my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble; Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will attack us.” But whether there may be coming a time like this or not, may we still be as strong as Habakkuk in 3:17-19 as likened to one who instead of crying over the fig tree that has failed to blossom, is still praising God anyway. It reads, “17 Even if the fig tree does not blossom, And there is no fruit on the vines, If the yield of the olive fails, And the fields produce no food, Even if the flock disappears from the fold, And there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will triumph in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like deer’s feet, And has me walk on my high places.”

Lord, although the slump in the economy many say comes from our hefty sanctions on Russia, and our lack of fuel solutions from the fact that the Saudis who are our “ally” would not answer the telephone when the White House called to make deals about oil, the truth is some of our difficulties could be you lifting your hand of protection due to our sin in the United States. Please guide us in a country regarding our much needed repentance, and it’s many areas of needed repentance. Like Habakkuk may we still praise you and worship you. May we become worshippers who defy the enemy because we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author of our hope, The Lord our God, our Maker. Amen

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

How The Christian Faith Should Inform Our Response to School Shootings

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

If we have looked on the news over the last year, we have seen more reports of yet all too numerous barbaric school shootings. To learn from the past, the intercessors, or stable men of prayer seen in the Old Testament such as Daniel, Moses, David or Jeremiah would most likely be in a process of grieving, mourning, or wailing to God, and possibly fasting, throwing dust on their heads and sitting in the oldest sackcloth, in similar kinds of bloody times of war in the Old Testament. Both in Biblical times as well as today, we who know who God is, know Him to be gracious, kind, loving hearted, patient, and redemptive. However, while we live on the earth, to keep our faith alive, we must place before our attention the many good things God has done for us which can be counted as things that range from numerous profound miracles, to everyday type provisions in times of God’s blessing on our nation to keep our perspective accurate. For an accurate perspective, we must count our blessings, and become familiar with the one who blesses nations and makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth, as the scripture says who also delivers people from death. Psalm 46:8-10 reads, “Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation upon the earth. 9 He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire. 10 “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.” When we make the choice to lift our eyes up to heaven despite times of bloodshed or unexpected loss, recounting His power to make bloodshed and war to cease, we can benefit greatly as we truly look to the realities of God’s personality alone. This reality can inspire worship, and the worship can take on a purity when we go to God as people who worship Him in faith. What I mean is that when we who trust in Christ take God at his word and familiarize to ourselves the identity of God as is shown to us through the Bible, we hold true the belief that his personality is eternal and does not change. The reality of the stability of God and his power to cause evil to cease should give stability to our faith as long as we are in this dark world.

We can have the hope of safety with God alone, and in Him through faith in Him we have a solid place to stand. When we remember the dark world we live in is not the anchor for our hope, but believe that Christ overcame the world of sin and all temptation, we are inspired to bow before him as king, and we can believe it is He who is our anchor in the midst of tragedies that happen. This can result in a pure kind of worship. This dark world was never a satisfactory place for our hope to be settled in. We must know Christ came to rescue us out of the world laden by sin. he came to settle us in a place where sin and decay does not corrupt. Heaven is the one place God has set apart for himself and to bring to himself those who believe in him who also want to be done with doing acts of sin in their life.

The bloody school shootings we see are just one of a million different things that tell us this world of darkness cannot be, and will not be sustainable as a permanent home for anyone. The world is getting more and more full of sin, and the earth is grieving under the weight of the heaviness of it. As we painfully and clumsily “wake up” to the numbing injuries of these assaults on children and adults but mainly children, we have few words that seem fitting to bring before our God of salvation, except something perhaps like “Lord! Save the people in need! Rescue the dying, both spiritually and physically!”

As we go grieving for the reality that America the country that some of us have grown up in is sadly churning out murderous beasts like these unredeemed killers, it seems so surreal, yet we must process this along with the many other tragedies America has faced, if we aim to comfort the hurting or confused. Why God allows evil has never been fully answered by God or by man at any time but we must still hold the beautiful parallel reality that He allows good to happen to evil people. The Bible speaks of overcoming evil with good and encourages us to not be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. One way this can happen is for us to get into the habit of crying out “Lord Jesus, bring people out of their sins! May your salvation change the lives of people in the United States!” “Lord, reveal your stable love to the lost, and woo the dark world to yourself even if it means through these times of bloodshed and broken exasperation.” “Come to us as we come to You in prayer! And grant that would-be murderers would instead be set upon a different road with changed lives, dispositions and plans. May people not lose their faith in times like this!” “Yet, for others that are shell shocked, and worn out with the gun violence in the US, save the broken people of our country out of the pressure they feel in the darkness and may it be redeemed as one of the many ways people can seek you and be led to your light!”

Prayer: Lord, save the lost! Save those trapped in the darkness! Lord, save those who have not yet heard of the God who sits in the heavens and laughs at the plans of the rulers of darkness. You are the God who wishes none to perish but all to come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are the God who does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, and you are the God who rejoices not with evil, but you rejoice in the truth. We pray that truth would be upheld, as many children and adults are swooned with darkness and heaviness, and as many barely have the strength to look up. We ask for many to be given the grace to look up and to believe in the God who cares and has deep compassion. We ask for grace to be given to countless children and adults to believe in You Lord as the God who holds the way of salvation, who himself is The Way out of darkness. Lord Jesus as You have called yourself The Way, The Truth, and The Life, You are The Way out of sinfulness, and the way out of evil. You rescue many in this life, and promise a home in heaven with You, in a place separated from all evil.  We ask for the hope of salvation to be shed abroad in people’s hearts because one day Jesus, you will make all things new, and all knees shall bow to You. We ask Jesus for you to visit this hurting grieving world, and for you to bind up the brokenhearted and heal all the wounds, of these our neighbors, these in our community, these in America, in these dark days of evil. We lean on You Alone for salvation to reach countless people dear Lord of Mercy! Amen! 

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Borders Around the Biblical Jerusalem and How Christians in the United States Can Submit our Prayers for Borders to the Lord

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Students of history will tell you history repeats itself when the lessons The Lord puts before a people fail to be learned by that people. Yet, even more deeply it should be considered that when the Lord would have a people learn a lesson, it should not just be learned, but retained. A lesson retained in the heart should be able to be brought forth from a fountain of wisdom so to speak to be accessible for meditation and reference in future times of need.

During the time Nehemiah came to organize the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, Israel had been in captivity for about 70 years. The Babylonians were their captors. Some of the Jews had already been released to populate Jerusalem again, and the temple had been rebuilt. It is widely known that Nehemiah led the people of God to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in a record of 52 days.

Before we get too excited about making 52 days a “magic number” that we tack on any massive project in our minds about saving America today we may imagine ourselves aspiring to, we must first imagine what the heart condition and meditations and posture was like for any average Jew in that day just having come from out of the land of their captivity. They had come from a place where there were no freedoms. They had come from a place where there was no professional advancement or free enterprise among the Jews. They had come from a place where there was much forced physical labor, and forced servitude. They owned no property themselves. They were beggars, and depended on whatever their captors might have thought they could count “as trash or leftovers” that ended up becoming the “savings and capital” of the Jews. In those kinds of times, we can imagine they did not get to eat what they liked, or travel at will, or even see next of kin for any type of holiday or family reunion-like event. They were estranged from the joys of what God had done for them in previous times of victory and their worship of God was most likely gagged by the enemy’s mockery and by their own shame and isolation from corporate times of celebration.

These events and circumstances no doubt created a refining fire I would dare say and a “holy breeding ground” for their hearts to become “ripe with humility and contriteness” and very likely a hunger and perhaps even a deep desire to pursue God for scraps of mercy. Truths from the word of God may have spoken loud and clear to them about how God is a God of mercy and a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not despise. They might have recalled the great mercy and compassion of the Lord from other times of victory in the Old Testament documents they may have had that would have pointed to times where they “would just need to show up for the battle and stand still and see the deliverance of their God”. But whatever the case was in their day, it is logical to believe they knew their God was a God of mercy who responds to a broken and contrite heart. They knew who God was, and they knew who they were—a desperate, helpless group of beggars. This was not false humility—this was their reality. For 70 years.

Our problem today in America is much of America does not know how desperate we are, how Revelation 3:17 is so much more true of us than anything else as a nation. It reads, “Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have no need of anything,” and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”…!

Unfortunately, it is not just the worldly pagans and the lost in America that are like this, but the Lord directs his statement in Revelation to “his bride” which he rebukes and says to the church—“…you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”. We can venture to say in our times of coldness to prayer and fasting, we have no doubt some level of lukewarmness to God, and it can be said in those times his church doesn’t even know “…that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”. However, the solution God gives is found in verses 18-19: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.  19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.”

Because of the evidence of the sins in America, and the weakness of our borders and broken southern wall, we have much to cry out to God for. Our God is a God of mercy, compassion, and grace, slow to anger, and rich in love. Let his truth be the fuel for us to seek God in spite of our sins. Let not our sins as a nation or our broken walls and breaches become a “sore spot” for the devil to poke at us to mock or harass and exploit our weaknesses, become a reason to get us to give up praying for protection against invaders and terrorists. Let our prayers and heart condition become like how the Israelites presented themselves before God, as a people aware of their utter weakness, aware of their inability to save themselves or make themselves into anything great, and as a people who looked to their faithful God who had a purpose in establishing a people for Himself, in spite of the problems his own people created for themselves. 

Prayer:

Lord, we recognize our deep sins and apostacy in the United States of America. We ask for you to heal the breaches of the church buried within the USA, and keep us for yourself. Please let us keep our eyes on you as we pray and fight in the Spirit for the welfare of your people in this USA. Please heal the breaches of our walls in keeping our Christian rights alive and well. Please heal our breaches in our voice declaring the truth about homosexual marriage and transgender laws when we need to speak. We pray the right people would hear and listen to the truth. We pray you would soften the hearts of those who love abortion rights and those who get involved in racial battles, whether it be a battle within themselves or a battle within their communities. Remind us in our time in the word how to raise our children and how to live for you in the midst of a dark and perverse generation. Please help us stay the course and pray through these times when it seems like many people are doing what is right in their own eyes. May we pray with passion and contriteness and humility and steadfastness. Lord, we ask for a safe leader in the Whitehouse. We ask for one who will uphold your laws, your desires, your ways, your plans, and your righteousness and goodness. We ask you would remove or crush the enemy and keep us from getting taken over by any invading country. Help us to pray for problems in our political procedures that keep our southern border so dangerous and pitiful and weak and turn it around for our good! Make us not the laughingstock of the nations. Heal our breaches oh Lord, Heal our land! We humble ourselves and pray, and by your grace may we fast and seek your face and turn from our wicked ways, so you might hear from heaven, and heal our land! May we buy from You gold refined by fire so that we may become rich, white garments so that we may be clothed and our shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint our eyes so that we may see. Help us pray these things Oh Dear God until we see them fulfilled, Oh Dear Lord our Rock and our Redeemer! Lord have mercy! Amen and Amen!

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Unpacking Philippians 3:1-12

Author: Lisa Groen Category: Unpacking the scripture To start this study, let’s begin with Philippians 3:12, and see how the previous verses 1-11 get us to this point. We will begin by looking at Philippians 3:12 in 3 different translations in order to unpack it. NASB Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus. CEB It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. ESV Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. I like to ask questions of the text as I am studying. What is Paul pursuing/pressing on for? What did Paul mean by pressing on? Or in the CEB version, what did Paul mean to pursue? and how does he press on in the ESV for something that seems as intangible as being made perfect? Being made perfect if we take a closer look in verse 12 is not exactly the phrase that tells us what Paul is pursuing, although people might believe that at first blush. We have to back up to previous verses to get a clear picture of what Paul is pursuing that he has not already obtained yet. Verse 11 tells us “that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”. And what does verse 11 tell us if we want to get the whole story? “That” is the word in the very beginning of this verse—really, it is the shortened version of “so that”. So what came before the “so that”? We must now find out what it is from previous verses 1-11 to get a clear picture of what verse 12 is talking about. In this passage, Paul is speaking of some of the big-ticket items of what it takes to live the type of life in Christ that Christ will cause to attain the resurrection from the dead. When I say big-ticket items, I am speaking of being of the true circumcision group—or in other words, the being born again group. Paul lists some things that are either prerequisites, or for him disqualifiers. That is the simple way of understanding this. Everything Paul does or becomes prior to his telling us of his hope to attain the resurrection of the dead he lists in verses 2, 3, 7 and 8. I do not believe this is an exhaustive list, but that many items in it will automatically imply other elements or duties or states of being for the resurrection-bound Christian. In verses 5-6 Paul tells us of fleshly dispositions which he does not put confidence in. In verses 7-8 he tells us why he gave up his fleshly actions in order for Spirit led better things. Let’s break this passage down into Spirit-led actions and confidence, and into the opposite fleshly dispositions which are reasons for fleshly confidence Paul says he counts as dung. The right understanding and placement of these things in life sets Paul up so to speak for being a recipient of the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:1-11 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who (do the following 3 Spirit-generated actions) (1) worship by the Spirit of God (Spirit led action of Paul) and (2) glory in Christ Jesus (Spirit led action of Paul) and (3) put no confidence in the flesh (Spirit led action of Paul) — 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. (Paul will go on to nullify some fleshly confidences that could cause flesh-led actions he wants to avoid as we continue). If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:5 circumcised on the eighth day, (Paul nullifies this because it is not a Spirit-led action) of the people of Israel, (Paul nullifies this because it is not a Spirit-led action) of the tribe of Benjamin, (Paul nullifies this)  a Hebrew of Hebrews; (Paul nullifies this) as to the law, a Pharisee; (Paul nullifies this) , 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; (nullified) as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (nullified) 7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Paul has just now nullified everything in verses 5-6 in order to establish the following Spirit led actions in verse 8 for the sake of Christ) 8Indeed, I count everything as loss (action of Paul to nullify the flesh) because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things (action of Paul to nullify the flesh) and count them as rubbish, (action of Paul to nullify the flesh) in order (in order that 5 Spirit led things may happen. Paul now has 5 Spirit led actions coming up in verses 8-11 where he now says “that I may” which fall into place because he has just counted the fleshly gains as rubbish in verses 5-6. These things are indicators that he is now in position of one who is able to receive or attain to things that happen concurrently with the resurrection from the dead)(1) that I may gain Christ 9and (2) that I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith 10(3) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and (4) that I may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11(5) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead Now having put those clarifications in place for the groupings of Spirit led actions and the groupings to see what Paul tells us is of the flesh, my goal is to put us in position to be much better off to know the difference between fleshly and Spirit-led positions and actions to hopefully see the conditions of life they are joined with. As we can expect, the fleshly actions or states of being are joined with Paul’s life prior to his conversion, and the Spirit led actions and states of being are joined with Paul’s life after conversion. When we keep in mind the differences, we can steer clear of the traps of legalism that we all can face which tempt and threaten a believer’s trust in Christ alone through grace alone, and we can pursue the Spirit led actions and states of being Paul clarifies for us that go with our life in Christ and with the resurrection from the dead. When we have these things clear in our mind, we can see then how we should press on to attain to making the resurrection our own, without it becoming a legalistic pressing or fleshly striving, by clothing ourselves with Spirit led actions and states of being. The pressing on Paul speaks of in verse 12 is for pressing on to not trust in the flesh, our seeming advantages, and not trust in “our own abilities or fleshly position” and press against these temptations. Like Paul we should also count them dung, by pressing on to do Spirit led actions, and to remember the spiritual position of grace Christ has placed us in by faith to know Him more, through pressing away from the flesh, and pressing towards the living knowledge of Christ. Let’s end with Philippians 3:12 again with these things in mind: NASB “Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus.” And to end our study with grace—isn’t it good to know we were taken hold of by Christ Jesus, which is the grace to see glimpses of WHY Christ desires us for himself; it is to His glory, and not our own, that He draws us to Himself, as we press on to take hold of that!! Prayer: Lord, may you teach us how to walk in the Spirit and steer clear of legalism and trusting in the flesh. May areas where we have been tempted into legalism and the complacency caused by the flesh be exposed in our lives so we can turn away from these faulty trusts, repent of them, and press against them through the Spirit. May we make room for your Spirit to live and move and breathe in us, and make us flexible, pliable clay, Oh Lord, in your all-Wise hands who has given us circumcised hearts before You Oh Lord! Continue to work in us, and may we see you ever more clearly, Amen!  Keep growing in the Word!  LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-6

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Christian prayer aiming for true Christian growth

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today seeking your face, seeking to lift up your name and to ask your will to be done. We surrender our hearts. You have taken us your people through some painful times. At times we have faced insurmountable odds, extreme situations that seemed to press on our hearts as much as an olive press would press the olives in Bible times, and found your grace pulling us through tricky situations that show us that your ways are not our ways but are keeping us ever so dependent upon you. We praise you that we have seen your hand of love move on our behalf. We give you praise for your unmerited favor. We praise you for bringing us through fire, deep waters, things like hailstorms, windstorms and spiritual earthquakes. We give you praise for taking our brokenness, our inabilities, our failure, our weakness, our griefs and doing something with them we could never do that point to your shaping ability, shaping our lives to praise you through our pains and suffering. We praise you Lord for how excellent you are at getting your will done, and we get to go along for the ride, and you are placing your fingerprints more deeply into our lives. We praise you for showing your goodwill toward men, and for somehow making something of us that we never could have become without you, till something else in our lives points to your glory and goodness. We praise you for the fact that it is you alone who sustains us, provides for us, grants hope to us, for putting into us personality characteristics, gifts, talents, potential and limitations that you are somehow sovereignly shaping by your goodness to shape us into the image of your Son, and for giving us the Holy Spirit Comforter to bear with us in our weaknesses and to somehow bring something through our lives that will reflect your light, bear witness of you, and spark hope, endurance, perseverance, virtue and the stamina of your Spirit by your heavenly power. We praise you for the Comforter, who cries with groaning that words cannot express to bring or birth something into our lives, or out of us for a witness to the world that will in hope make us vessels fit for your use, and endue us with your heavenly garments, as we are sown a mortal body, and one day we believe we will be raised a spiritual body. We are sown in dishonor, but one day we will be raised in honor, we are sown in weakness, one day we will be raised in power, we are sown in corruption, and one day we will be raised in incorruption… I believe the following passage will greatly encourage those of us who are going through the pains of the death of the flesh, so let us consider carefully the words that Paul has written, and stay encouraged, friends.

1 Corinthians 15:37-58 reads, “And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones. 41 There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; in fact, one star differs from another star in splendor. 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; 43 sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; 44 sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Amen!

Keep on growing in the Word! LG

Is It Our Weakness, Or God’s Opportunity?

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Jeremiah 9:23-25 “‘This is what the Lord says: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom; the strong should not boast in his strength; the wealthy should not boast in his wealth. 24 But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me—that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. This is the Lord’s declaration. 25 “‘Look, the days are coming—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:

So having a circumcised heart goes right along with knowing the Lord who delights in faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth. The Lord shows that he overrides a person’s strength, money, and wisdom to put them level on the same playing field as the man or woman without these things that still knows the Lord. It is a true blessing to be able to come to God without wisdom necessarily, without strength per se, without wealth as a prerequisite, and to receive the benefit this scripture speaks of which is the privilege still of being able to understand and know God, and to be among those who have a circumcised heart.

Isaiah 40:28-29 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out. 29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. 

So, the Lord overrides the weak man’s weakness and faintness, and he blesses them with strength. It is a true blessing to be able to come to God being on the verge of fainting, and to receive the benefits this scripture speaks of which is the privilege still of having your power and strength to be increased.

Romans 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

What else could it be but the mercy of God to override our lack of will and lack of taking action and grant us something good we don’t deserve? It is a true blessing to be able to come to God being on the verge of not having your own will set for action, and without your body set for performance and this scripture speaks of the privilege still of being a candidate for God’s mercy.

2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

So, Jehoshaphat had faith that God could override the power of his enemies and level the playing field and take the powerlessness of his own army, and “work something out on their behalf”

I am not one to promote lack of wisdom, poverty, lack of taking action, weakness, or a lack of battle strategy or to say we don’t need to apply ourselves in our faith-walks. But it is encouraging to know that in all these situations it was clear the messages God is showing us are  that when we feel like we have absolutely nothing to give out or draw from out of our personal reserves, we can lean upon our God, and his strength will be made perfect in our weaknesses.

2 Chronicles 20:3-4 Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.

In Jeremiah 9:23-25, Isaiah 40: 28-29, and the Romans 9:16 scriptures, what we see highlighted are the wonderful transcendent virtue attributes of God, based on God’s initiative and willing action on his people’s behalf. But when a little bit of fasting gets involved, then this happens: In 2 Chronicles 20:3-4, Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord. Then later in vs. 21-23 When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” 22 When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. 23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 25When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much. 30 So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides.

When we aim to add fasting, praise and worship, to our seeking God out of our weaknesses, we can expect him to magnify his gracious attributes before us despite our weaknesses, however ugly they may seem to cling to us or cover us, and His glory is shown in spite of what we are not.

Let’s be encouraged in who our Gracious Heavenly Father Is— “the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things”, He says.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, as we meditate upon your Godly attributes which you possess in your reliable self-autonomous self-existence, you shed your grace upon us. How wonderful it is that you are so unchangeable, and your steadfast love and your loving-kind ways are often magnified before our very eyes. Your desire is towards your people Oh God, and you draw us with chords of compassion. May we meditate this week on the countless ways in which your strength is made perfect in our weaknesses, and may those who are led to do so fast, pray, and worship you Lord! For you are worthy above all else and above everyone else, Oh God our Gracious Rock and Redeemer! Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Yokes Broken By Our Carpenter Jesus

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Maybe you have seen those special glasses that people are giving to their color-blind friends and family of late that help the red-green color-blind folks to see reds and greens in bright vivid color. This is a perfect illustration of what it is like to become a Christian. It is right to say God gives us something comparable to real, tangible “glasses” to use for viewing the world around us. Let’s take stock of that! What was it like when you first became a Christian? Did the world become more clear to you? Did colors become more vivid to you? If we think about it—I would venture to say that seeing in color for the saved person in a real and tangible way is only a little slice of the pie of change that happens for the saved person with how we encounter the world around us once we start comparing before salvation to after salvation changes in perception. Joe is a minister friend who told me of a dream he had one time in which he was sitting at the foot of a tree trunk smashing eggs with a hammer. The next thing he knew is he was inside the tree, that was tipped over and the top was leaning towards the ground, and he was coming out of it, like he was being squeezed out of it down to the earth. When he came out, he saw everything in color. Everything was pale and black and white before he came out of the tree trunk, but everything he began to see once out of the tree was in vivid beautiful colors.

When talking with him about this dream, it seemed to be that he became born again when he was as it were “birthed out of the tree trunk” and began to see everything in color. When I thought about the eggs he was smashing, the idea of “breaking every yoke” came to mind—and that is a play on words, which I have found the Lord to use sometimes in visions and dreams he has given which I have heard related to me from other Christians. Did we or could we take stock of everything this entails for us?  What are the implications truly for each of us becoming born again, and shall we not relish the changes God has wrought inside of us? Are these types of changes in perception not the very reason we sing praises to our Great God and Eternal Father of Lights?

Is not the roaming grazing and pastureland abiding with the Lord as we walk through his word, and not a walk to the inside of a rainbow of marvelous lights when we stroll through, gazingly at the word to soak in every morsel and every droplet and eat the delicacy of the finest of wheat which is saturated with the water of life itself? Take some time to relish the droplets of the water of life and soak them in deeply. Soak them in as you read the word until your constitution is changed and you begin to bubble up with praise songs for God allowing you to take in the hearty morsels of the richest of fare. They are not only hearty, but delightful, and beautifully orchestrated words of life that sing with a melody all their own! God tunes our ears as well! We can somehow see the vibrating words of the Love of Jesus melting over the very people around us and giving us a different disposition of love towards them and awakening something in our hearts that might somehow have lain dead within us prior to our being born again, and now alive toward people who may have somehow seemed unloving if we were in our pre-Christ state. Now our love can melt over them and the scent of Christ is left in our relationships when before we may have left blandness and staleness, now the aliveness of Christ is tasted, as we overcome our blandness, our previous lukewarmness, even overcoming our prior coldness as Christ leads us in our redeemed walk with him full of those discerning real life as we have been born again and made alive with Christ!

Here we get just a smidgen of the pie of the perception of being born again and see it written about in 1 Cor 2:9 which says, “but just as it is written: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the human heart, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” NASB

Let’s take the time to unpack this and relish in every drop of the goodness of God through his word we can discern! The downward tipping of the tree trunk shows the Lord “stooping down to make us great” or perhaps Jesus kneeling down to wash our feet. Maybe that is just what we need the Lord to do for us today—to wash our feet. And along with that, most of us could tolerate to have a few yokes broken, because as we are all aware we are at the moment on this side of heaven where the Lord is in the business of smashing yokes in whatever places we find them showing up. Just remember to take your hammer, hammer in the morning, hammer in the evening, all over this land. It’s a hammer of justice, it’s a bell of freedom, it’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters…(circa Peter, Paul, and Mary). But seriously, Joe is a building trades worker who does remodeling, and assignments like this for a living. His business is to “swing a hammer”. My take on the dream is God wants us to “Make it OUR business to hammer away at our yokes” until we see clearly, until we see vividly, until we see colors not yet discerned by us, and until we see through the eyes of the Spirit. Make it OUR business until we are so done with sin in our lives that we want to see it crushed through the Spirit. Jesus too was a Carpenter, so through HIS WORK as he lived in the form of a man, and as He lives through us, WE, as men and women should SWING that hammer upon our sin in the natural as Jesus works in us swinging his hammer in the Spirit, making it his business to kill our sin, and us swinging our hammers along with him until the sin yokes we had in our lives are broken and gone! If our eyes have gotten blurry, we can ask the Lord to renew our vision as well! Crush our yokes, and open our eyes, Oh Lord again, I pray!!

Singer/Songwriter Steph Macleod had a similar experience as my friend Joe in that when he got saved, he went outside and saw colors he never saw before, everything went from drab grey to bright and lively, and he said he actually noticed people smiling at him for the first time that he could remember. He wrote a song about it called “Light Beams” and I share the link to it below. Hi full testimony on the writing of this song can be seen in his full-length online concert YouTube videos, (which I highly recommend, but I didn’t have time to find the specific videos– there are at least 2 or more recorded testimonies that yes make me cry). I am also sharing a link to Peter Paul, and Mary’s “If I Had A Hammer”, from the 60’s if you are part of the young crowd and have no idea what real good American folk music is like!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, there is a lot to take stock of in the act of your making us born again! You grant us power to love! Power to us to pray for the Lost for them to see! Power for the discernment of looking with the eyes of the Spirit! You are a great and mighty God Lord, Yet You have bowed down to make us great, giving us the great and invaluable gift of being born again, to be saturated with the good news and the water of life! Saturated with the joy unspeakable and full of glory! To be lifted out of the dungheap, given robes of righteousness, and our feet washed, and we have been saturated with the scent of Christ and seated along with You Oh Lord in the Heavenly Realms! What a Savior! What a salvation! OH Halleluiah! These are the riches of the finest of fares! Praise your name Dear Lord, for all you have done and shown us! Praise You for all you want to show us! Praise you for what you continue to do in us! Praise Your Name Forever, Lord, Amen!

Steph Macleod’s “Light Beams”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IT2A4KT8IM

Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “If I had A Hammer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E

Keep growing in the Word! LG

God is Creating Weakness in Your Life

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and thoughts to ponder

One of the most encountered questions people face when doing evangelism is “Why does suffering and evil exist in a world that a good God created?” In fact, this question and others like it are questions Pastors also face much of the time when ministering one on one to congregants, and may be one of the questions that plague the minds of countless people contemplating the decision of whether or not they can trust in a God who created and manages our unique universe. Some go so far as to say –like screen writer and film director Jamie Uys,– “The Gods must be crazy” that the universe looks like it is being managed with a loose and crazy hand!

Due to the broad scope that the question brings, “Why does suffering and evil exist if God is good?” and all its inherent implications, it is in fact the root prompting for other questions that must be answered first, or alongside it, if this question is to be attempted to be answered by any person accurately. Some of those questions are, “If God knows everything, and is Omniscient, how is it that he knows about the pain and suffering I am going through, but allowed it to happen without seemingly doing anything about it?” Or “If God is all-powerful as in omnipotent, why is he able to do something to have prevented the evil in my life and can do anything needed to change it, but doesn’t seem interested in helping?”. “If God IS love, why is he acting in a way that seems contrary to the way an all-loving God should act if he were to care about my suffering?”. “If God is sovereign, and manages everything like a tight ship, why does he seem to be allowing a lot of sloppy problems to be unfolding in my life right now?”, and “if God wants me to have a soft heart, why is he allowing people to be rude, brash, and callous towards me?” Or “If God is righteous, why does he seem to be allowing me to suffer a lot of injustices and unrighteousness at the hands of people that don’t seem to care one whit about God?” We could extend the questions with scores of other questions like these! We think we are describing something that should be appropriate only for one kind of anomaly after another, but these are all sadly too plentiful—at least for our taste!

The utter irony of these questions, seem to have a common theme: “Why isn’t God living up to his full potential for me in my life?”, when we should be asking ourselves the question: “Why am I not living up to my full potential for God?”, and further the irony, when all that is done, Jesus speaks fittingly in Luke 17:7-10 “Which one of you having a servant tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’?  Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded? (it is understood that the answer is “No!”) In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we’ve only done our duty.’”

For some in the body of Christ there is much confusion in what to believe about good and evil, in the way of what health and wealth teachers like Andrew Womack teach—“if it’s good, it’s from God, and if it’s bad it’s from the devil”. He has a whole series on YouTube entitled “How to Receive God’s Best”. Because of the plethora of ideas like this in the world today, ultimately, we must define what we call good, and see if it matches what God may be determining good by looking at God’s actions and preferences in scripture, and what he promotes. His will is “good, pleasing and perfect” as seen in Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Paul Washer has an eye-opening video to enlighten us on this theme entitled “God Is Creating Weakness In Your Life, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbOzYh9n4OA) and in his video he states:

“Always remember this one thing—there’s only one hero in this story, and that hero is Jesus Christ. There are no great men of God, there are no great men of prayer. There are only tiny, weak, faithless men of a great and merciful God who has granted them grace.”…You’re problem is not—it’s never—that you’re too weak. As a matter of fact God—what he does in our life, from the moment that we’re born again to the moment we die is he’s constantly working to create weakness in us. The problem is not that you’re weak, the problem is that we don’t know how weak we are, because that weakness would drive us to prayer, as being truly incarnate drove our Savior to prayer…..God spends decades seeking to do one thing to a man and a woman—cultivate weakness! Create weakness! Everything that’s put before us—that we can’t—Lord this time you gave me a mountain—I can’t, I -–everyone of those is to convince you of something, that you should’ve been convinced about with regard to the smallest mole hill you’ve ever had to deal with: You can’t, but He can! He can! Remember this, God always uses the runt of the litter…”

If you are facing hardship, weakness, difficulties, trials, inconveniences, pains, suffering, or a dilemma or two today, let us take in the scripture to put it all in perspective for us, that God may have ordained, or even planned your weaknesses and difficulties to shape you into the image of Christ. Do not look at it as punishment, because if you’re not in open rebellion to God you may just be undergoing the pinching, pulling, squishing, rolling, poking, cutting, shaping, molding and remaking of a clay pot shaped by the Master potter who is creating for Himself a vessel “fit for the Master’s use.” (2 Tim 2:21) Let’s end with this scripture James 1:2-12 “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.  9 Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation, 10 but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11 For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities. 12 Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that Godhas promised to those who love him.” Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-5

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Christian prayer aiming for true Christian growth

Lord, we come to you to seek nearness to you. We seek your presence in a deep and profound way. We pray for a visitation from you Lord.  (Psalms 80:14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;) We want to leave behind our fleshly tendencies and actually draw closer to you. (James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded) We are tired of a powerless existence in which there seem to be just a few we are ministering to, and some people seem uninterested. (I Cor 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.) It is not that it’s about us, and it’s not that we are ungrateful, but we seek you because we believe that you really can move among us through your word, through our seeking you, through our worship, and other ways and we believe that your ministry among us can be greater and more noticeable and we would like to see that shown in fruitfulness in more lasting, deeper and life impacting ways on a broader scale. (Acts 4:13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.) My prayer for us is that when people see us they would not see just us,— but you Lord– looming bigger than we ourselves in the light of all that’s happening. I am impressed with the reality of the scripture “He must increase, and I must decrease”. (John 3:30) I pray you would lead us all in seeking that. I ask for you to be magnified, and for us to step back out of the way to get a better glimpse of you. (Luke 19:1-10) We devote our hearts and minds to you Lord afresh today. We devote our attention and thinking processes to you Lord. (Provers 4:20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.) I repent on behalf of myself and others for how the daily responsibilities press on us and we are in a battle with both the enemy and with you and the battle is the pull on our attention. Oh Lord, it is right to place our eyes and attention on you when we have things happening that are little things in comparison to who you are, pressing on us. (Hebrews 12:2-3 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.) I want to lead us all in a surrender of our daily pressures. Lord, we believe you care —the Bible tells us to not worry and to be of good cheer—you care about the whereabouts of our phones, you care about if something was stolen from us today—you care about how much money we will need to cover our next 6 months of bills, you even care about every need for the rest of our lives. You care about our protection—whether we are remembering to put on our armor, or not. (1 Peter 5:7  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”) Lord you remind us to put on our armor so we can stand in the evil day and to continue to stand. You care about our transportation, our homes, and everything around us. You care about the people in our lives, you care about what is going through their minds and you care about us and what is going through our minds. You desire truth in the inner man, what a man desires is kindness, (Proverbs 19:22) you care about that we are walking in your Spirit, and you care that we are able and willing to lean upon you Oh Lord! You would have us to recognize that you are fit to run every section of our lives, the parts that we do understand, as well as the parts we don’t understand. (Genesis 1:1, Psalm 146:6) You would have us to grow in our understanding, and grow in our awareness of what you do and who you are. You would have us to be teachable, to receive the impressions of your word being written upon our hearts. (Proverbs 8:32 “Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.) You would have us to ask you: “What is it you want to do with me and in me? With as many weaknesses as I have, and as many insufficiencies as I have—am I seeing it right –what you want to do with me, Lord?”—yes the Lord looks at us differently than we look at ourselves. Can we still depend on God in the same way after we receive a gift as we did before we receive the gifts he will give us? We can pray a very strategic prayer—“Lord how would you have me to minister to you and to other people right now?” and “what would you have me to learn or practice?”. Lord help us to not be so taken with your Sovereignty that we adopt a “whatever will be will be attitude” and not be against your sovereignty that we forget that you fully know everything that we are going through and forget your interest in our lives. May we also not forget the war we are in and the draw from You Lord to fight the good fight of faith in every area. Help us to be pliable clay in your hands, (Jeremiah 18) that we would think on how to please you, but surrender our questions. Help us to not come out of our Christian personality in the midst of the challenges we face. We ask for your nearness and fully bring ourselves to you, our weaknesses, our ugly parts, and our clean and tidy parts. Lord, blow upon us, wash and cleanse us, send your river of life through us and fill us with yourself afresh. May your virtue and strength be infused within us and turn us back to you! May our hearts not waver in our pursuit of you and if it does, strengthen us again until we are more molded into your image. Lord, we lay aside impatience, bitterness, jealousy, exhaustion, and exasperation, and greed, selfishness, overeating, pride, doing things our own way, and looking down on those that we think are not as spiritual as we are. We repent of any of these things that may have jumped off the page and waved hello at us. Please forgive us, wash us, cleanse us, as we lay our filthy rags at the foot of the cross. (Isaiah 64:6) We ask you for the white linens of your righteousness that Jesus paid for with his blood for us to put on and keep upon us day and night, and every day of the week! Please renew us Oh God! Please grant us to draw near to you today and may we really start going deeper into partaking of your spiritual victories, and letting the victory you won Lord on our behalf to change us from the inside out! Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Man in the Cold

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

Today after I went to Walmart, I took the freeway home and came up to a stop light as I was exiting from the freeway. This corner was less than one block from a friend’s home. He was married to a former roommate of mine from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. That’s when I recognized him standing on the corner under the traffic light holding a sign that said: “Anything Helps, God Bless!”. When he saw me looking at him he pulled his mask over his mouth and pulled his hood tighter over his head. I had just hired him about 2 months ago for about an hour to move some large boxes of books, a shelf and end table out of my apartment which were a bit awkward for me to manage. He has been a most reliable friend for many years, and he actually loves to pray for people. I have no doubt that his faith is measured in the scales of heaven with favor and the Lord looks down upon him and smiles. This friend of mine serves in church and has basically taken on the role of butler to the pastor of his church. His faith is sincere and sweet, but he honestly has some misunderstandings of what it means to be his pastor’s “Armor Bearer”. He believes that his struggles on the job and loss of employment mean that there is more time to serve his pastor and believes that if he puts his pastor first and does everything the pastor wants him to within reason, then the Lord will count his faith as worthy of rewarding and will promote him with a better paid job because of sacrificing this way in how he “gives to the Lord”.

His own testimonies over the years have testified of his misunderstandings of the Holy Spirit. There have been at least 2 jobs that he has lost in the last 20 years from him falling down, rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically, because he said he got hit by the Holy Spirit with “Holy Laughter” and the people he worked for were not “sensitive to the Holy Spirit”. In addition to this there are at least 2 other jobs in which he got fired from his bosses not understanding why he laughs a bit too long, too hard, and too freely over jokes that are not really that funny. In fact, many of them are not funny at all. He truly acts like he thinks he is experiencing the Holy Spirit every time he laughs. This is why he gets fired, and this is why he struggles financially. My friend is living in the church building as the caretaker of the church he attends, and I am guessing he would be homeless if it were not for his subservience to his pastor. He may have had a short time being addicted to drugs, but that part of his past is more than 18 years old.

I really don’t want to open up a doctrinal can of worms or gravitate to mentioning the false teachings of Rodney Howard Browne, the original “Holy Ghost Bartender”. However, I do think that it is worth mentioning that the belief in many false teachings have cost numerous people a lot of jobs, relationships, and just the plain opportunities for having a “normal life”. In fact, the belief in false teachings have GIVEN numerous people a lot of jobs, relationships, and the unusual opportunities for having a “wealthy life”, up to the “King of The Hill”—even millionaire status. God forbid that and may our doctrine always be checked carefully!

While it is true that God has made us His peculiar people, he does not make us peculiar alone, as if “peculiar” was its own reference point to describe us without God choosing to leave his fingerprints on us. However, aside from being a peculiar people, what we all have in common with my friend, is that he and we are all “beggars– before the Living God.” I would remind us that everything we have received from God has always been a gift. We are the beneficiaries of God’s extensive benevolence. It will never be accredited to us as one who has “worked our way to heaven” or “earned a gift from God”. I came to a crisis point several years ago and I became keenly aware that every breath I took was because of the gracious mercy of God. Every beat of our hearts is a gift, every blink of our eyes is a gift, because we can move only by the mercy of God, every thought we can think is a gift, every drink of water, and on up from there. Each day we all literally experience thousands upon thousands of gifts from the benevolent mercy, kindness, and watchful eye of our Gracious Heavenly Father.

Let’s take some time to go through our homes and hearts, look around, and be thankful for what we have received, and been endowed with, with our abundance, and thank God as well for any lack we have, and also pray for those neighbors of ours who are less fortunate than we are. Paul said, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.” It is for certain, that at some time in our lives we will have experienced both.

The links I have attached are of Steph Macleod, a professional singer/songwriter/worshipper from The United Kingdom. He has a testimony of living on the street due to alcoholism and got saved when he went to a shelter/mission for those living on the street. His song “Man In The Cold” is autobiographical for him and you will sense the heartbreak and loneliness in hearing his song. His song “When I found Jesus” is also autobiographical and is a real winner of a song capping off how his life was changed. I added it to complete the picture in his testimony and give poetic justice to say the least. It tells of the way Jesus found him in his utter brokenness and lifted him up from there. My friend who was holding the sign up today is another Jesus has lifted up quite a ways since I met him in 1989, but still needs prayer of course—then again, we ALL need prayer!

Prayer:

Our Gracious Heavenly Father, how easy it is for myself to quickly pray for many things in any one day and keep asking for more, and miss enjoying what you have already done. It is even a gift to be thankful, because we get to magnify your goodness in thinking through things one at a time and mention your name as the one who thought to bring that thing into our lives. How quickly and swiftly you move, like you were dancing through our prayer requests, and showing your glory, and goodness and your kindness. I thank you for what I have seen of You Oh God! How wonderful Lord it is to meditate upon the fact that you think my prayers are worthy of your consideration! And how even greater it is to think that when my prayers are not worthy of your consideration, you move to change my heart to provide for me opportunities to have my prayers become worthy of your consideration! Oh Lord, we bless your name for bearing with us in our brokenness, in our imperfections, in showing you are alive and living through us and blowing your wind through our lives. As cold as it’s been outside, You’re the One to warm the coldest heart! You’re the One to change the most stubborn of us all! How gracious you have been in letting us work, in giving us skills and talents, and gifts to share with the world, for granting us transportation and granting us food, clothing and shelter. Thank you that you grant us friends and family members to love us and talk to and share with, and people to “practice” our loving skills upon. Thank you that you have given us things to be involved with to do with others, to work towards, and people to serve, and songs to sing to you, truths to celebrate, meals to share with one another during holidays, and special times, and some get this opportunity every single day. We are blessed by your hand Oh God! And enriched in countless ways!

We pray for those who are less fortunate! We ask that you would be with them and help them. We ask that you would guide many out of false doctrines, and grant them stability, hope, an anchor for the soul, and grace to grow and learn, and move things out of their lives that they may have been tripping over. We ask you for your heart to warm those neighbors of ours who are out in the cold, just hoping that someone will give them an extra buck or two to make ends meet. We ask for their dignity to not be diminished, we pray that you would speak to them and to sharpen their sense of hearing. We pray you would help meet every need in their lives. We ask that they would lose all their taste for drugs, if that is the problem, and lose their taste for false doctrine if that has been something stealing from them. We ask that they would lose their taste for anything they have been tripping over, anything that gets them fired, anything that keeps them from being a good roommate, anything that keeps people from wanting to work along-side of them. Give them I pray, and us as well, a deep hunger and thirst for you Oh Lord! May you warm us to your love and mercy! May we exude our love and mercy for you in our praise and worship. May we lose our judgementalism for those out in the cold who are begging, maybe life has just gotten so confusing for them they don’t know what else to do. Give them the vision of themselves that you want them to see,–may they truly see themselves in their true spiritual condition—Lord in the light of you. Some are in you, and some are not, and we pray that those that are not would see your love, and mercy and goodness and that it would draw people to you for your kingdom. For those that belong to you, may they see their true spiritual condition in the light of you—we pray for eye salve! We ask for the light of your countenance to shine upon them and enlighten them! Help them all, the unsaved and the saved to overcome the battles they are now in—help them to see the hope they have in you! Renew their faith so they don’t give up and throw in the towel, or commit suicide. Give them hope so they don’t believe the lies they have stumbled over. Help them to overcome! Lord, please grant us as your people, and all our neighbors and spheres of influence to be moving toward you! May you help everyone to throw out whatever belongs to the sinful nature, and really do spiritual house cleaning, so that those who need to get saved will become saved, and so we will put on Christ and together be able to truly present ourselves and those we minister to for eternity in whatever way you have led us, to become “perfect, sanctified, stable, and whole” before you on the day that you return to take us home to be with you, Oh Lord, our God, King, and Gracious Heavenly Father! Amen! And Amen!

Man In The Cold (Live) | Steph Macleod  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Uu7omVMes

When I Found Jesus (Live) | Steph Macleod https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTUV5G9gLsY

Keep growing in the Word! LG