God Ideas

Devotion:  Revelation 19:6

Mark Batterson says God ideas are only revealed in the presence of God.  He tells us to pray-storm versus brainstorm.  Prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do.

When we practice getting into the presence of God, we open ourselves up to His Spirit’s leading.  The Bible says, “If we seek Him, He will let us find Him when we search for Him with our whole heart.”  Henry Blackaby calls them God-sized tasks, things that only He can accomplish.  God ideas are similar, the plans He has for you are many times greater than those you have for yourself.

My friend Dr. Alison Litauer Brown speaks and writes about having a high view of God versus a low view of God.  Mark says we should ask ourselves;  “Are my problems bigger than God or is God bigger than my problems?”  Our biggest problem is our small view of God.  If we would change our view of God, the solution would come sooner than we think.

In yesterday’s devotion in motion; we talked about God’s grace that is more than sufficient.  How big is your God?  Have you defined God according to your problems or circumstances?  Mr. Batterson also made the statement,  “If God is bigger than all those things, then pray like it.”

God forgive me for looking at You in such a small way.  I honestly didn’t know that I was but now I see more clearly that I have grieved Your heart by not seeing You as the truly big God You are.  I know growing in Christ is a process and we never fully arrive until we get home.   From this day forward, may we believe Him for those great and mighty things we know not of, those God ideas.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, thank You for all the God ideas that You will bring.  Speak Lord for Your servant is listening.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Getting Off the Mat

Devotion:  John 5:1-9

“I am alive in grace.”  Pastor Andy had The Factory Church to say this in unison.  Jesus came to give us life eternal and abundant life on this earth.  Andy made the statement that we must understand our power source and operate in His strength versus our own.  Realize you have been made new.  2 Corinthians 5:17-19 tells us, “Old things have passed away and all things have become new.”

Our flesh is strong but God’s Holy Spirit is stronger because He is alive inside of us.    In our weakness, He is strong.  We lean on Him.  Andy quoted Proverbs 3:5-8.  We must absolutely trust in the Lord with all of our heart and refuse to lean upon our own understanding.  Acknowledge Him in every area of your life, your home, your work, your church, and your neighborhood.

Just like the man who had been lying on this mat for over thirty-six years waiting to get to the waters stirred by the angel, we must watch for Jesus.  He will ask, “Do you want to be made well?”  Do you want to stand strong and whole, body, mind, and spirit?

For what are you believing God?  Is it a family member’s salvation?  Is it a job change? Is it a hard relationship?  God longs to see you let go and let Him move and act on your faith.  Honestly, we can look toward heaven and know that He can do anything.  We must ask ourselves are we acting on that vibrant, life-giving faith He’s placed inside of us? Oh, dear friend, I pray you know for certain God longs to do great and mighty things in your life.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord God, I want to pray in faith believing You for those great and mighty things I know nothing about.  I’m choosing to get off the mat and follow You.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Remember the Sabbath Day

Devotion:  Exodus 20:8

I remember a cousin of mine saying, “I don’t have to go to church every Sunday, do I?  Oh, my dear cousin, it’s not having to go to church, it’s longing to be there.  It’s an I can’t wait to be there with God’s people to hear God’s message.  Whatever the pastor has been given is for you on a week by week basis. Whatever the songs to be sung, they are meant for you.

When our Creator asks us to remember something; it is not a suggestion.  He wants us to set this day aside for Him, to rest, to talk to Him, to reflect on Him and His Word, to gather with other believers and hear the Word of God preached and taught.  Why would we refuse to remember to keep His day Holy and set apart unto Him?

I know many Christians who seemed to have strayed from the church because of hurt or disappointment in people or even a pastor.  That is just an excuse to disobey the very thing God our Maker asks of His created beings.  The church is made up of sinners like you and me.  Many long for forgiveness from God and people for themselves without giving it back in return.

When we refuse to gather with God’s people, we are the ones who lose.  We lose God’s message, lose the fellowship as well as accountability from fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  God help us remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, may I remember Your day to keep it holy.  I want to hear the pastor You have so lovingly given me. I want to be involved in Your worship, talk to You Lord, be convicted as well as encouraged by the preaching and teaching of Your Word.  May I rest and keep Your day holy my Lord and my God.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

Out Loud Prayers

Devotion:  Matthew 7:7

Out loud prayers are risky business especially when you pray for a miracle.  Mark Batterson says; “If we aren’t willing to risk our reputation, we’ll never establish God’s reputation.”  God is not offended by our asking for the impossible.  He is offended when we ask for things we can do ourselves.

Many times we pray such “safe” prayers, we act like we are praying to those around us versus the Mighty, Sovereign God of the Universe.  It’s almost like we forget with Whom we are speaking.

God says we have not because we ask not or we ask with wrong motives.  How long has it been since you prayed to believe God for those great and mighty things that only He can accomplish?  We are to pray fervent, effectual prayers that avail much.  God is listening for the voices of those whose hearts long to be completely His.

Don’t you love to be around people who pray boldly?  It increases our faith to hear them ask, seek and knock on heaven’s door.  They pray as if they believe the One they are praying to is hearing and will answer.  That’s the kind of person we want praying for us when we have a need.

Ask, seek and knock are present imperative verbs.  They mean to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking.  God does not grow weary in our asking, seeking and knocking.  He admonishes us in His word to “Come boldly to the throne room of grace that we may find help in time of need.”

Prayer in Motion:

God, I believe that You hear every prayer I offer up to You.  You are working to accomplish what concerns me and those that I lift before You in prayer.  Thank You, Jesus, for being a God who sees, hears and answers my prayers.  I love You so Lord!  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

Hungry and Thirsty?

Devotion:  Matthew 5:6

On a Friday, my dear friend Michele Dodds and I went to a place called E-Noodles to celebrate her birthday.   We had Pad Thai and veggies.  It was so yummy!  We both love sticky rice and mango and have been trying to find a place that serves it since our former Thai restaurant closed down a couple of years ago.  Michele called several different places and was told it was a seasonal dish and they were not serving it as yet.

Michele finally reached a restaurant downtown Concord that said they served this yummy dish.  We finished our shopping and raced over there in the rain, to find out they were closed until 4:30.  It’s such a yummy birthday treat.  Oh well, another day.

We were both sorely disappointed because we had our palates set for sticky rice with mango.  Have you ever had your mouth set on having a certain dish to find out later it was not to be had?  Although certainly not the end of the world, it’s a bit disheartening.

Jesus tells us we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness but do we?  Being right with God is way more important than any food for which our palates long.  Our hearts should long to be completely His.  How I want to hunger for God more than my earthly palate longs for food.  His Word feeds my spirit because He is the Word.  There is no greater satisfaction than “the soul food” of His righteousness.

Prayer in Motion:

God, may I hunger and thirst for Your righteousness more than any food my body longs for.  I want to bring You honor and glory and blessing as I hunger and thirst for You Lord.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

Prevailing Prayer

Devotion:  2 Chronicles 7:14-15

“Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get us out of circumstances, but more often than not, the purpose of prayer is to get us through them.”  As I read this statement by Mark Batterson, I said a quiet amen.  God longs for us to prevail in prayer with complete trust in the One to whom we are praying.

Mark says; “We need to ask God to give us the grace to sustain, the strength to stand firm, and the willpower to keep on keeping on.”  I sat in a Bible study on Thursday night taught by LeeAnn Hopkins.   She made a statement straight from God’s Word. When God said, resist the devil, he meant for us to keep on keeping on resisting him.

Our foe will never stop attacking us as long as we have life and breath.  The only comfort we have is the knowledge that our Father fights for us.  We belong to Him.  We trust Him to accomplish what concerns us.  He longs for us to pray prevailing prayers even more than we need to pray them.  He is interceding for us at the right hand of our Father.

Praying prevailing prayer draws us closer to our Father.  The intimacy He longs to have with us, His created beings can only come about through prevailing prayer.  He admonishes us to pray without ceasing.  He wants us to pour out our hearts like water before His face.  In everything by prayer and supplication, let us make our petitions known to the Father.

I wonder how many petitions I have prayed minus the prevailing part. God help us to pray prevailing prayers to the One who longs for us to be changed through the prevailing.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, may I pray prevailing prayers to You on a daily basis.  You are an amazing God and I long to be changed by You more than to be delivered from my circumstances.  In Jesus Name I pray.  Amen.

 

Consecrated Lord to Thee

Devotion:  Joshua 3:5

“Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee.”  Do we even know what that means?  To be consecrated to the Lord fully and completely?  When we submit our will to God’s; we are serious about being consecrated to Him.

So what does a consecrated Christian look like?  It is one who obeys the promptings of God’s Holy Spirit.  Mark Batterson calls it giving God veto power.  It is a continual process, year after year, month after month, day after day and minute after minute.  It’s surrender that never ends.

Is there anything that comes before Christ in your life?  A person, a job, a habit, a sickness, trouble; something that consumes your every waking moment?  When our eyes are focused on the things of this world, we can easily become consumed with those things.  “…and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

“All to Jesus I surrender.  All to Him I freely give.  I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.”  Oh God, may it be so.  Teach me what it means to be fully consecrated Lord to Thee.

Just a side note.  That is what my name means.  Elizabeth means consecrated one.  Sixty-six years ago, my parents bestowed this name upon their first baby girl because they were consecrating me to God.  To be honest, I haven’t taken that name very seriously.  God forgive me.   I want to finish out my days fully consecrated to the One who formed me in my mother’s womb.

God longs for us to be “set apart” unto Him so the world will see and know we belong to Him.  We are to be holy as He is holy.  Today may we consecrate ourselves to Him, be fully devoted to the One who has called us to Himself.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, today I consecrate myself to You Lord, totally, completely.  You are with me.  Forgive me for all the days I have not consecrated myself.  Today is the day You have made.  I am believing You Lord to accomplish great and mighty things. In Jesus sweet Name I pray.  Amen.

 

 

I Still Believe

Devotion:  Galatians 3:5

As badly as I long to see certain miracles, I can never bring one about. I cannot orchestrate one.  I cannot strong-arm God into performing one.   I can certainly pray for one, believe God for one and watch to see if He will bring one about.

When I pray for a miracle, I choose to trust God to do what He does best.  Most people do not believe in miracles.  Let’s face it, most Christians do not believe in miracles.  The following is Webster’s definition of a miracle.

“a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.”

Hummm, a divine agency.  We know Who that is.  He is the One and only God of Creation.  I’ve seen God turn impossible situations around.  I’ve seen Him prolong life when doctors declared a friend had six months to live.  He prolonged her life for fifteen years because that’s what I asked of Him.  That was an absolute miracle.

My now 38-year-old son was healed of febrile seizures when he was two.  Some elders from my church came over, laid hands on him and prayed over Justin after doctors declared he would have them until he was five. He never had another one.

I’ve prayed specific prayers for people and lived to see them come to pass.  I’ve prayed specific prayers for given situations and seen them come to pass.  I serve a specific God, a God that’s in the details.  I’ve also begged God for other miracles that I have not as yet seen come to pass.

Miracles are God’s business.  He has been performing them from the beginning. “In the beginning, God created the world and all that was in it.”  That my friend was the work of a divine agency.   He spoke everything into existence except for man, whom He made with His own hands from the dust of the ground. He can create something from nothing.  He is the God of the impossible.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord of heaven and earth, I praise You for every miracle, those You have done and those that I have yet to see come to pass.

 

ASAP or ALAT’s Prayers

Devotion:  Matthew 21:22

Mark Batterson in his “Draw the Circle” book on prayer says; “Too often we say ASAP prayers – as soon as possible.  We need to start saying ALAT prayers – as long as it takes.”   He also stated: “Prayer is not a means of outlining our agenda to God but it is a means to get into His presence so He can outline His agenda for us.”

Mark declares in Draw the Circle that: “When you pray to God regularly, irregular things happen on a regular basis.” We pray expecting and believing for great and mighty things.  We are to stay humble, stay patient and stay focused while we wait upon the Lord in prayer.

For some, the ALAT prayers seem to prevail in our lives.  There are those things for which we have been praying for such a long time.  The benefits of praying ALAT prayers includes learning to trust God while we wait upon Him.  We draw closer to Him.  We cast our cares upon Him.  He trains us in righteousness and He begins to develop His own character traits inside of us.

God longs to commune with us as one Friend to another.  That’s the kind of God we serve.  He longs to walk with us and talk with us and tell us we are His own.  The joy we share as we tarry with Him, none other has ever known.  Dear one, it’s the only way we develop a deeper relationship with our Savior, as we talk with Him, “As Long As it Takes.”

May we draw nearer to our blessed Lord as we pray those ALAT prayers.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, I love being with You, talking to You and listening for Your voice.  You are my Lord and my God.  May I listen with the ear of a disciple on a daily, moment by moment basis.  May I stay humble and focused in prayer as long as it takes.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Conversations with God

Devotion:  1 Timothy 2:1-4

The Lord knows I do not pray enough.  I want to pray more about everything big and little.  I want to have all day conversations with God.  When the conversation is interrupted, may I begin again talking and listening.  It takes both.  That’s what He desires as well.

God invites us into His presence when we praise Him.  “He inhabits the praises of His people.”  Who is a God like our God?  There is none like the Lord our God.  There is no other in heaven or on earth.  He has done great things for us.  He keeps His covenant of love with us who continue wholeheartedly in His ways.  He keeps His promises

Converse with God expecting Him to hear and answer.  He is a God who sees and a God who hears.  Confess your sin the moment you commit it.  “If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear our prayer.”   “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Praise His Holy Name.  Sin weighs you down.  Why wait?  You have a faithful Intercessor who continually goes before the Father on your behalf.  He forgives you immediately and removes that sin from you as far as the east is from the west.  Hallelujah!

Be thankful for all the great and mighty things God has done for you.  Begin to thank Him out loud if possible.  Although praise and thanksgiving go together they are different.  We praise God for who He is, His attributes, His character and we thank Him for what He has done.  He has saved you precious one.  He protects you over and over in ways you don’t even know.   He is with you always.

After praise, confession and thanksgiving then you are ready to intercede and make your petitions known to Him.  You can ask Him anything.  You can tell Him anything.  You can pour out your heart like water before His face.  I promise He will hear it!  You are His child.  You were created for conversation with your Creator, Redeemer, and Friend.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord God in heaven, thank You for loving me enough to listen and talk to me.  You are my God, my King and my Savior.  You are my Faithful High Priest.  I love You with all of my heart and want to please you and keep conversing with You until You bring me home.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.