MOVING BEYOND "THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS".....

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18)

We have all heard it and some of us have even said it "so and so are in our thoughts and prayers". Even people whom we know could not say a prayer to save their lives, or say they are atheists or not Christians will repeat this cliche.

But even worse than this, Christians are using the same phrase when wrapped up in the moment. Beyond all of the bluster about "being in our thoughts and prayers", do any of these folks actually pray for those to whom they say these things. From personal experience, before I realized I used to do the same thing, I can tell you that it is very easy to tell someone you will pray for them, then walk away and completely fail to do. Such a move is not right, even if we remember to pray three of four days later. After realizing my shortcoming, in this area of Faith, corrective action needed to be taken so this aspect of ministry could function with an unction.

Basically, when a person says to another that "you are in my thoughts and prayers" and then does not do so, it is deception. There are ways to avoid that and do the right thing...and that is, to really pray for there person right then and there. Sometimes, circumstances and potential discomfort of the recipient of those prayers, WILL prevent us from praying then and there with the person. In this case it is really beneficial to such a person, and then pertinent to our spiritual growth, if we take a note of the situation and immediately begin to pray in silence. Then, after getting to a place we can pray intensely, for real, we must bear down and contend for the recipient of our intercession.

There is a really memorable passage in Scripture of a woman who was the beneficiary of more than just "thoughts and prayers". 1 Kings 17:21-22 tells us of the great prophet Elijah, who had been staying with a widow woman and her son. He had already blessed the widow and proven himself as a man of God by miraculously causing her food not to run out, so that the widow, her son, and Elijah could all eat during a time of famine and drought. But during his stay, the widow’s son became ill and died. When Elijah prayed for the child’s life to return to him, God answered right away. This is a dramatic, immediate instance of God answering prayer....and instant prayer!

The Bible said of Elijah in these two verses: "Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived". We may not be able to pray someone back from the dead, but we sure can lift high such a one to the One Who heals, reveals and blesses all things and all people - Yahweh Rophe - the God Who heals! He is Yahweh Shammah - the God Who is there for us if we cry out earnestly and pray for those ....truly pray for them, with all the Faith we can muster in our spirit, so that the Lord will hear from Heaven and answer our prayers. Why did God listen to Elijah? He listened because of the close relationship He had with this imperfect man who was serving a perfect God. God listen to Elijah's thoughts, prayers and then ACTIONS to put His prayer and Faith into action mightily!

Then God responded by restoring the child to his mother....all because Faith in the Lord changes everything and FAITH IN ACTION, brings results. Amen.

(Image Credit Here)

THE MEANING OF LIFE: PART 12 OF 12

A CHAPTER BY CHAPTER STUDY OF THE BOOK OF                                                        ECCLESIASTES......CHAPTER 12

"OBEY THE LORD, KEEP HIS COMMANDS"

The world, including most western Christians, live as though they have a special dispensation from God to act, say, believe and live as they want. They believe there will be no repercussions to anything that they do! They believe that as long as they "are not hurting anyone" they can do just whatever they deem fit. They remove the Ten Commandments from not just the public square, but their own hearts. But when they do that, is the Law of God really gone?

This self deception has extended itself to "McFaith" -they also think they can believe whatever they wish, as long as "they are sincere" about it! What they will discover on Judgment Day, before the Great White Throne of God, they were sincerely wrong! God has written, in indelible ink, His Law in the hearts of ALL mankind from Adam in the Garden until the End of Time. That includes the native in a Jungle who has never seen or heard of Jesus! The gist of this message, in this final of the twelve Plumbline series on Ecclesiastes, is found in the passage from Verses 9-14. God will bring every single thought and word and deed into Judgment. The only person who will escape are those who have not just said they were Christians but actually BORN AGAIN. The rest will have their mouths shut with no response, before Eternal Separation. How do people avoid this? Well, fear the Lord, keep His Commands and then accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

Ecclesiastes 12

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Remember God in Your Youth

12 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; 2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; 3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through [a]windows grow dim; 4 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will [b]sing softly. 5 Furthermore, [c]men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. 6 Remember Him before the silver cord is [d]broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the [e]spirit will return to God who gave it. 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Purpose of the Preacher

9 In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.
11 The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like [f]well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the [g]writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotionto books is wearying to the body.
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

A FORTNIGHT OF PRAYER

DAY 7

DON'T BELIEVE THE FATHER OF LIES 

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (Genesis 3:4 ESV)

Before the woman bought the first-ever deception from the serpent of old - Lucifer - in the Garden of Eden, she had to buy the first-ever lie ever told. Thus began the greatest war of all times - the War between Good and Evil.  That lie has had the biggest impact on the history of mankind and reverberated through History. It is a war which will culminate in the Reappearance of the Creator - Jesus Christ - as He lands on Mount Zion, one day soon, to reclaim that which is lost.


In the mean time "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)  By the way, if you go back to late August-early September 2011 (HERE), you will find a complete explanation of this hierarchy of hell as laid out in the Bible in Ephesians 6:12. This is important as we wind up Week 1 of A Fortnight of Prayer - 14 Days or Prayer and Fasting by both Catholic and Evangelical churches in, and for America, as well as prayer by saints worldwide from Canada to South Africa - for the entire Body of Christ. We have shown, in this site, that our Prayers are for everyone and everything the Spirit leads us to - from Marriages to Salvation of the Lost.


Let us recap briefly what we have done in the past week:
1. Recognize the Calling and Commission to Pray and Fast, from Jesus Christ Himself.
2. Realized our helplessness before the Lord, unless we live a FULLY repentant lifestyle.
3. Revived our walk with our Best Friend - Jesus - as He has rejuvenated and restored us.
As a result of all of this, we are ready now for the hard work of pressing in for Freedom, through Intercession - praying for others; for Christian Liberty, for Religious Freedom and for the Return of the King!


It used to be there were only two things certain in life, according to Mark Twain - death and taxes. Add higher fuel and food prices to that! Add higher costs of education and the American Dream to that! Add anything you can think of, which make our daily lives easier than it had to be for our ancestors, even less than 100 years ago. Now, look at the lie we have bought about this so-called Dream rather than BELIEVE the Word of God "and all these things will be added unto you"!


We are now seeing the House of Cards starting to collapse with no foundation under it. The quiet desperation of many is so obvious it is mind boggling. The hopelessness because of the lies of man and his politicians, who sold multiple generations a bag of fake pearls is palpable. The lie that there is a free lunch, served up on expensive china, while living life in a hammock (under a coconut tree) has not only been sold to Americans, but in Europe, as well, which is collapsing under heavy debt, unemployment and taxes. The lie was that we can have all of this and somebody else would pay for it. The only gift that we really never had to work for and which Someone else paid for, is the Free Gift of Eternal life through Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross!


Yes, my friends, we bought the Big Lie because, as Jesus told His Disciples, we neglected His Words here: "do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? (Mark 8:17-18 ESV) So, therefore, please pray with me right now:


Father, in Jesus' Holy Name, we are so sorry we have deceived ourselves into something which we may have known deep inside to be questionable. Father, week after week, we sat in Your churches around the country and globe and thought if we followed the formula, we too could have the successful and prosperous life which we see others having or which our forefathers may have had. Lord, with each successive generation, the expectations of more and more people are for big salaries, faster cars, sleeker condos, more high-tech electronic toys and the paid vacation-time off to enjoy all of this in the resort town of our own choosing. Lord, yes, we bought the lie of the inappropriate commercials on TV and the brainwashing of the culture.


As is now obvious, oh God, finally more and more are coming to the realization it was all a pipe dream. As more and more of our young people and children move back home with broken dreams and broken bank accounts due to high college debts, put upon them by a parasitic college system, help us to learn from this deception....and to see through many of the fake solutions now being proposed by those who got us into this horrible estate in the first place! To make it worse, my God and my King, when we need You and Your Word more and more in the marketplace, in our schools, in our combat zones in Afghanistan and in the lonely aircraft carries and army bases, we are being told that YOU - the Creator of the Universe and the Father of ALL things....the Owner of  all the Cattle on 10,000 Hills, the One Who hung the moon and the stars....Lord, we are being told and expected to bow down to, the increasingly harsh philosophy that we not only DO NOT NEED You, oh God my Savior, but that we had better not talk about You or Pray in the Name of Jesus if we are military chaplains or opening a session of the local Town Council! And Lord, to make it worse, many in Your so-called church, are compromising with this Deception to show that they too are tolerant, and "in tune with the times"!!!


Father, I reject that in Jesus' Name. Lord, help us to reject the lies of the enemy that we should keep our "Faith" behind the four walls of our church and not walk it out the other six days of the week. This is the same deception from Genesis 3 because it leads to spiritual death and separation from You. Lord, give us the boldness, courage, fortitude and ability to live through these evil times, when we are constantly told to hide our Bible; not pray in public and to not mention the Name of Jesus...so we can be seen to be "tolerant", when this is PRECISELY what this dying world needs now to get through these trying times, before the man of sin is revealed and events lead to Jesus returning to reclaim His Creation. Father God, I bow down and surrender all my mind, body and soul to Your control that this may be accomplished and that I will see, along with Your saints worldwide, that ALL GOOD THINGS COME FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS - YOU, and that nothing eternal or precious comes from following the powers and principalities of darkness, in the Strong and Mighty Name of Jesus the Lord, amen and amen!

(image by google)