PRAYER IN TROUBLED TIMES

Oh Great Father in Heaven, You are alone are worthy to be praised. When Your great prophet Elijah stood on Mt. Carmel in front of the pagan priests of Baal and all their fancy accoutrements, You stood alone with the prophet and in all Godly simplicity and reality, Elijah cried out to You in Heaven, as recorded in 1 Kings 18:36  " “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel". Lord, You are not only God in Israel but in ALL the Earth.

We face a pagan system, like the Baals,  of rank unbelief today which is markedly absolutely no different that what Elijah faced with those doomed for perdition on Mt. Carmel. Today in the face of secular humanism, there are people who think they can alter the Climate which You created and which therefore, only You can change. 

We face a system of callous disregard for innocent unborn life and those at the end of life, at our senior homes and elsewhere. 

We face a corrupt system that seeks to ruin our children with their education systems from Kindergarten and up through College ages with no regard for the effects of their indoctrination and perversion on young peoples' souls, hearts, minds and emotional make up. 

We face systems in the culture with feeds the beast and leads many astray, ignoring your warning that about the fate of those who harm Your young ones.

All of that at more, we see, as many are devastated, dear Holy Father. But You, oh God, are not asleep. You judge the hearts of all men -   saved and unsaved. 

You see the end from the beginning and not just the end of all evil but the possibilities of those who can be restored.

You see the deeds of the ungodly, but the fullness of time has not yet been reached.

You see the hopelessness and hunger for something real out there.

You see the many who are unable to even make it through another day, sleep at night or just function as we all should.

You, of God, are the God of all Hope. 

You desire that none should perish but that all come to repentance and eternal life.

You desire that all will come to reason together with You as there is no doubt of fear which You cannot put to rest.

You desire that all Your children live together in peace, love and harmony.

All this and more, can happen, but for the prideful and stubborn hearts of even some in Your church.

Lord, bring a fresh wind of revival of spirit, hope and understanding. 

Let Your Holy Spirit inspire Your Redeemed to excellence that we may serve as a beacons of light to draw men, women and children closer to you.

Let us be lighthouses to serve as red flags and warning signals of the days of Judgment to come, so we can lead many to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, Who for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross.

Let all of this happen, oh great Father in Heaven, and let it begin in our homes, with each one of us with our nose to the heavenly grindstone. We know this cannot be done in a day, Father, but inch by inch, it's a cinch. Yard by yard, it's hard. 

There is nothing too hard for You though, so we surrender all of this and our mission here on earth, at the Foot of the Cross, from whence cometh our Deliverance. Give us the courage and wisdom to discern the times and who the modern day acolytes of the current crop of Baals are, so we can stand like Elijah, strong in our faith and trust in You, the Lord God Almighty, the King of Heaven and the Lord of all the Armies of Heaven, which cannot and will not be defeated....give us the strength to proclaim like the Prophet to all the earth "the Lord, He alone is God"....We believe it, receive it and no one will deceive us, as it is in the Mighty, Powerful and Strong Name of Jesus I pray, amen and amen.

PRAYER FOR PROTECTION, MISSION AND PURPOSE

Most merciful Father, Creator of Heaven and earth, at the start of this new week, we approach the Throne of Grace on bended knee, seeking Your guidance, direction and Grace in the form of Your mercies, new as they are every morning. Thank You for Your kindness, not just to all generations past, but to us on this day, as we see new horizons, new possibilities, new challenges and new potential pitfalls ahead if we are not careful to stay in the lane, which You have set out for us.

Help us to not just seek favor for ourselves, but to love the unloveable.

Move us to not just do the easy things, but to trust You with the impossible.

Inspire us to not just be like any other, but to believe the Holy Spirit for the incredible.

Stay with us not just through the difficult, but exhort us as we rejoice in  everything winnable.

 

Let us, who are faithful pray to You, immediately when we call short of the mark.

Let us, who are forgiven, forgive others who have trespassed against us.

Let us never walk in rebellion when You call us to repentance thinking You are okay with sin when Holiness is Your standard, without which, no one will see God.

When the floodwaters of trial and tribulation come, may we find our hiding place in You.

When the high and low tides in the ocean of life wash over us, may we be continually covered by the Precious Blood of the Lamb.

When the modern day Babylonians throw Your people into the fires of persecution, let them see that You are the Fourth Man in the Fire.

 

You will never and have never abandoned us.

You protect in times of battle and hail.

You surround us with shouts of deliverance

You instruct us in the Way we should go.

You bring hope when the road ahead seems hopeless

You let us know the days of the wicked are limited and their day of reckoning draws nigh.

 

So teach us to number our days and nights that we may have hearts of obedience, devotion to You and the passion to serve You. For You have surrounded us with Your chariots of fire, which the world has not seen nor will they ever know.

 

Give us this week, a heart to reach the lost or to at least pray for their dark souls, for even the vilest enemy can be made clean by the Word of the Lamb and the power of His testimony.

 

Give us this day, our daily bread – supernatural food, which only Your Spirit can provide that we may found acceptable in Your sight, should anyone of us be called up before You, until we meet again.  May Your gracious kindness and love, in hearing this prayer, move our hearts so that we may be constantly be found praying always in the Spirit, in all prayer and supplication, as Thy Word says in Philippians.

 

Father, most Mighty God in Heaven, we come before You now,  and ask all of these in the most Holy, Precious and the Strong Name of Jesus Who is Christ, amen and amen.

CONSIDER THIS: PARADIGM

 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life….Galatians 6:7-8

CONSIDER THIS: A paradigm is a set of values/beliefs etc from which a reality is viewed, as either a practical or intellectual discipline.  But in this verse, we have God’s paradigm which He made very simple for us to comprehend! God’s values are also God’s reality…and therefore, His paradigm.

ACTION: So now, search your heart. Then pray the Spirit sears your conscience. Follow this with a virtual crying out for forgiveness in Repentance about any sin. Finally, reexamine priorities this week, with an eye to seeing if the seeds you are sowing, are the very seeds of which Heaven will approve! Through the eyes of Scripture, discern if those seeds are the ones which will bear Fruit for the Kingdom! Amen.

Oh Holy Father, I pray You search the corners of my heart and reveal to me the things I need to correct, shift away from and repent of, for even considering doing, far less actually doing it. Lord, help me to be disciplined enough to line up my life with Scripture in the right literal interpretation so that the seeds I am sowing, are not from the world….masquerading as You, but FROM You, the One True God in Heaven. Thank You for working this through me. Be with me as I work through these new things in the coming weeks, months and years, so that my priorities and values will always be the same as prescribed in Your Word, in Jesus’ Strong Name, amen.

PLUMBLINE DEVOTIONAL: COLOSSIANS 1:9-12

TEXT:

COLOSSIANS 1:9-12
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

DEEP SEA PRAYING

TEXT:

Jonah 2 

 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
    from your sight;
yet I shall again look
    upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
    the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6     at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
    O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

EIGHT KEYS TO REVIVAL

TEXT:  2 Chronicles 34-35 (KJV) - PUBLIC DOMAIN

34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.

2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.

5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.

10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house:

11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.

13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.

15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it.

17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.

18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,

21 Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.

22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect.

23 And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,

24 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:

25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.

26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;

27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.

28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

30 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.

31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

NEHEMIAH'S PRAYER - STILL RELEVANT TODAY.

TEXT: NEHEMIAH 1:4-11 (KJV) - PUBLIC DOMAIN

4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

5 And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

BLESSEDNESS: BEATITUDE 2 - COMFORTED BY GOD

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

(Matthew 5:4)

Jesus taught these Beatitudes across the region of Judea as countless numbers heard something new, fresh and divine, which if they had taken it to heart, could have immediate yet eternal impact on their lives.

I have heard it said that Jesus' Beatitudes are meant to reorient our thinking into "having the attitude of.....(fill in the blank)...or "be of this attitude".... That is certainly a great interpretation, or way of looking at the Lord's teachings, as we will discover while digging into the riches of His Word.

In the second Beatitude, we see the Savior proclaim the following "Blessed are those who mourn. for they shall be comforted".

What positive, warm and healing truth from the Creator of the World! BUT, hold on, there is more...as there always is, with King Jesus! If we examine the original language closer, we find another gold mine (with more to follow in the other Beatitudes).

Here we have mourning and comforting. We are all acquainted with the mourning, grieving and sadness that comes with losing a loved one. The older we get, we face the stark and sad fact that our grandparents, parents and other loved ones pass on from this earth, into eternity. Even if our loved ones are solid, born-again Christians, we still grieve and mourn their passing. The loss is actually our loss, as our believing loved ones have just happened to have gone ahead to their eternal reward with Christ. This is the "mourning" with which we are most familiar.

However, the word "mourn" in the Bible, (pentheó in the original Greek) means more than just grieve at the death of a loved one! It means to lament and feel a measure of guilt, over a sin, shortcoming or transgression against the Lord that is so strong, sadness and guilt takes possession of our spirit.

How a person processes this guilt over loss of a relationship, person, or something important to them, is indicative of the maturity or strength of their walk with Christ. In 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 we read the following:

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication!"

This is it right there! When we are pressed down, overwhelmed and feel defeated by life, or by something someone has done to us...or most likely, by the thing we have done to ourselves, being sorrowful about it is perfectly legitimate!

In this case, this sorrow should lead us to confess and repent of our sins to God. Then, we apologize and attempt to make it right (if possible, if not -move on, God sees the heart). What an example of "Godly mourning" over shortcomings! 

The Lord does not leave us there, though, after we have exhibited the sort of sorrow of which He speaks in this second Beatitude! Look at the next step towards the healing process which began with  Godly Sorrow". The Good News Translation (GNT) paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 7:11 explains it in a terrific way here "See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter".

What a mighty, loving compassionate God! He accepts us the way we are, when we do the simplest things, in all sincerity, to show we mourn, in sadness and grief over wrongs. THEN, because we have shown all these things described in 2 Corinthians 7:11, He comforts us.

This is an even greater mystery which shows itself where the word "comforted" in Matthew 5:4 originates! The root word is literally derived from the word "Paraklete" - the Holy Spirit! What the Lord offers "those who mourn" in Beatitude 2, is not just a little soothing "ointment" but He summons us up to the Throne Room, where we find hope, encouragement, exhortation all underline with the power and might of God. It is the kind of comfort which is direct from the Courts of the King and can stand the test of time.

The blessings of being comforted by the Holy Spirit, Who communicates directly to the Father, should be enough for us to live a simple, repentant and honest lifestyle. This is the teaching of the 2nd Beatitude. Take it to heart, because those whom the Spirit of the Lord blesses and comforts, stay constantly before Him, if we remain daily in His Will. Amen.

THE JOYFUL LIFE - THE BLESSINGS OF FORGIVENESS, PART 2

Personal baggage is a terrible thing to carry around. The sad thing is too many carry theirs around for a lifetime, never seeking remedy, relief or restoration. Guilt - real or imagined or created out of thin air - is a heavy burden. It not only destroys your joy, but is the devil's ploy to keep God's Children down.

We, who are followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus, are on a journey and like any good traveler, we must check our baggage in before we get on that flight. No good airline will allow a passenger to bring a huge fifty pound suitcase unto an aircraft...of any size. There is simply, first, no place to store that big bag and secondly it would not fair to the other passengers.

So what are we do do, when the believer actually has a past which has never been confessed or dealt with, and the guilt of the sinful act(s) are just eating away inside. Well, the next portion of Psalm 32, clearly shows us what happened when the man of God - David - covered up his sin for two years....that is, until God sent His prophet Nathan, to bust him.

We read, from Psalm 32:
3  When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.
4  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Verses 3 and 4 tells us exactly what happens when a person lives with sin and shame, covered over with a blanket, on the inside. 
 -  It affects the person physically. Things may appear nice and healthy on the outside, but like the whitewashed tombs which Jesus spoke about, on the inside, things ain't right.

 -  The psalmist David said there was "groaning all day long". So even if all is well in every day life, and the job is getting down. The person seems to be accomplishing things at her job or in his particular role, but there is not peace inside. Apart from the physical internal decline, now the emotions are in play.

 -  When verse 4 proclaims that the "Hand of the Lord was heavy", this denotes the conscience.  The Lord has written His Law on EVERY single spiritual heart of every single human who was ever been or will be born. This is our conscience. We instinctively know when we have done wrong - either to God or to another person. If a person is saved, the Holy Spirit immediately convicts us of our sin, which as we saw earlier, is missing the mark.

Everyone can confirm these three symptoms of guilt and baggage in each of our lives in the past, until we made it right. Guilt and baggage affects the person physically, emotionally and spiritually. We learn of this from Psalm 32:3-4 and from personal experience.

The remedy is verse 5! Here is how the sinner got his joy back and how anyone who has fallen short before God, or before a loved one, or even more intense - offended a person whom you do not even like,  can be made completely whole. This is the ONLY way to live the Joyful Christian Life. Look at verse 5: 

  -  He not only acknowledge the general umbrella of sin, which his actions fell under, but he acknowledged getting busted, did not say "the devil made me do it" or some such "playing the victim". He own his actions. But he went even further and laid his soul and entire person before the Lord.

  -  He got detailed about his sin. Getting specific about what the actions committed against God and another person are, are KEY to full restoration. Iniquity is worse than just saying a bad word, shouting at someone, or posting something mean on social media. Iniquity violates God's High Moral Standards. We Christians know better than to do that, and if we ever "go there", it would serve us well to uncover it before God and if it is against another person - then, seek immediate forgiveness.

-  Certain sins break ALL God's Commandments. As the Book of James tells us, when we break one commandment, we break them all, since the Law of God is like a chain. Outright rebellion against God is knowing that having that affair is dead wrong, but doing it anyway, because it's more about you than God. It is knowing that getting into that automobile drunk is stupid or cheating on your taxes etc. Even disobeying a command of God.  Rebellion against God is NOT wise and can cause a temporary break between a person and her/his family and definitely, against God.

The good news is the Love, Grace, Mercy and Compassion of our Great God in Heaven can, has and will forgive all of this and lead us to full restoration.