Month: October 2019

Dear God,

Praise Your Glorious and Most Holy name, for You came and reassured and directed me in the night and now through the Holy Scriptures.  Once again I have contemplated Your words to Joshua, as he was poised to take 1000’s of people over the Jordan River into a land populated with hostile people.  Then I realized You had directed me to these passages, because you will do for me, as you did for the children of Israel.

Many times there is promised deliverance by relying on You the source of strength and power.  Joshua 1:6 “Be strong and of good courage….”  Verse 7 “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.”  We/I cannot ignore Your words of promise, that can be received with belief and expectation for anyone who is confronted with a genuine worrying situation or confronting their own self-generated fears.  Verse 9 “Have I not commanded You?  Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Thank You dear father, for these recorded words in scripture of those who believed You and tested Your promise, and came through with thanks and recommendation, of Your rescue.  Psalm 27: 1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid.”  Hebrews 13: 6 ”So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’”

In the Garden of Eden all was joy, light and love when it came from the Creators hand.  It was Satan that fallen angel that bought fear and darkness to earth, with the entrance of sin to earth, through Adam and Eve.  God is stronger that any fallen angel, tempting us with the sin of doubting His word.  Ephesians 6: 10, 11 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Today I accept You as my Saviour and choose to walk truly in Your strength and power, and with belief receive all Your promises.

Amen

Dear God,

Today I give praise, for there is all the love of heaven for me to accept.  Jesus Himself said, “…even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”  John 3: 17 He could say this, because He had come from His Father in heaven, in the form of man, for man.  And why did God give His very precious Son and why did Jesus come at such danger and sacrifice?

John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  So it was not about outright judgement and immediate implemented punishment, but for the world through Jesus to be saved; that Jesus came to earth.

We are saved by His love; and as He does; we are to give His love and care to others, for they are all His chosen.  1 John 3: 16” By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  Not often would there be a situation that required giving up our life so another could have life, as Jesus did, But to be so filled with the love of Jesus, that the need of the other is apparently more important than our own life; is possible by His power within.

Jesus however emphasized caring for the poor and giving of our means.  Matthew 5: 43 “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”  Challenging for us in this world of fraud and deceit, however we are invited to ask (James 1:5), when we need to know what to do, and He will tell us what to do, and guide us to know the genuine and true need.

I would never want to deprive help for true need, at the peril of not giving of the provision of God, when I have the means to do so.  1 John 3: 17 “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

There are many legitimate organizations, which help the poor and needy.  Give us the Your heart O, God, so that we will show Your love to the poor, as directed and empowered by Your Holy Spirit.

1 John 3: 18 “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

Amen

Dear God,

I give praise to You my God, for all Your workings in my heart and for the unexpected and unplanned for purchase of some beautiful garments for my trip, and for the 100’s dollars saved.  I find each day that you care for my entire being, now and for eternity, just like You promise.

You love us to talk to You in prayer of all types; for we are friends.  Jesus taught much about prayer.  Please give me new insights into some of these words, as I have previously prayed for cleansing of my soul and to be given humility.  Mark 11: 25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”  I think this requirement for answered prayer, is often gone over without thinking or properly understanding why some prayers are not answered and our attitude gets hardened.  Verses 26 “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” 

I ask that if we are holding grudges in our heart, please convict of this, and place in us a desire to seek You, and ask for a change in attitude, and an prompting to truly forgive the other by Your power; for we need Your help.  Thank You for hearing and answering this prayer.

Matthew 7: 7, 8 “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”  I come in prayer at Your invitation, and because I believe by Your own word, that it is Your delight to answer and give us what we need.  Jesus said that no parent would deny a child a need for bread, or other requirement and we are evil, therefore, “much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  Verse 11b

Dear Father in heaven, “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” Matthew 6: 13b

 

 

Dear God,

I am impressed with Your servant Daniel.  He loved You truly and faithfully and unwavering in all circumstances.  He never compromised his integrity or principle.  He was faced with death by the king.  So asking for time, went into his house and prayed that you would reveal to him the secret message the king had received in a dream from You.  You revealed the hidden meaning to Daniel in a night vision.

Daniel in Daniel 2: 20 – 23, prayed a prayer of praise and gratitude to You the Mighty God of Heaven.  As I child of Yours that has been in receipt of my own blessings and many answers to prayer, I pray through these scriptures and make them as my own today —

Psalm 113: 2 “Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore!”

Romans 11: 33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!

James 1: 5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him.”

Daniel 2: 47 “The king answered Daniel and said, ‘Truly God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.’”

1 John 1:5 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

In Your love there is no ulterior selfish motive, or sinful intent, for as God, You can only be all LIGHT, which does not allow any DARK to reside.

Humbly I bow before You, and ask that my praise and worship be accepted, and enhanced by You.  There is none like You, and I have the privilege of being able to give all my worship and thanks and requests to GOD, ALL POWERFUL AND ALL MIGHTY who knows all my secrets and answers to all my problems and solutions needed.

Please, this day give me the faith to see your answers and accept them into my heart; and to follow Your will and directions.

Thank You for hearing my prayers and being my God and for teaching me Your way of love,

Amen

What a wealth of meaning and deliverance in those words!

Dear God,

Thank You for sending Your Son to earth so we have the record of Divine love lived and enacted.  His profound love and compassion touches us deeply now, and we are moved by the Holy Spirit, to give our sins and heart to Him in love and devotion.   We also just need to believe and accept Jesus has all power to deliver us, as He did for the spiritually lost, wandering and suffering people in Judea and surrounding districts back then.

The home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, had provided a quiet retreat for Jesus, as He came apart from His constant works of compassion and teaching.  They loved Him, and He them and had accepted Him and teachings, and so they had become friends.  Jesus was ever in the service of His Father, on the mission to save as many as possible from sin and death, therefore He did not indulge human inclinations, to rush to the side of Lazarus, at the time of His sickness; Lazarus could not have died if He did.

There was and is a lesion in belief to be taught to all His disciples and followers.  John 11: 4 “…’this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’”  After 2 days, Jesus proposed to go to Judea, to visit Lazarus, even though the Jews in the area sought to kill him.  The disciples did not understand any of His actions over the past few days!

In sorrow Martha met Him, as he approached their place, and demonstrated belief; without total understanding.  Jesus blesses all belief and carries it further.  Martha believed that her brother would not have died if Jesus had been there and even now said “whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” John 11: 22   Martha thought Jesus was just referring to the resurrection day, when “He said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’” And “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”  John 11; 23, 25 

Lazarus had been dead four days, and Martha was worried about the stench, Jesus had the stone removed, and after a little more teaching, said, “Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’” Immediately Lazarus came out, still bound in grave clothes and face cloth. “Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go.”  John 11:43, 44.

Dear Jesus, please take away any self-focus and unbelief, so that we can truly believe You, and understand, that You alone are the way leading to ‘resurrection and the life”.

Amen

 

Dear God,

To believe in Jesus and His words and promises, are so much more in meaning than I have as yet taken into my every day practice in life.  I anticipate the day when the words of Jesus are part of me and practiced in more fullness and beauty.

Please God every day, be with me and fill me with the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that I can rightly understand the words of Your Son Jesus Christ and their import and promise over my life.  Thank You for hearing my prayer as promised in Your Holy Word.

Jairus one of the rulers of the synagogue came and presented a plea for Jesus to come and heal his little daughter who was at the point of death in bed at home.  Indeed Jesus went with him, but could not proceed through the heavy throng of people presenting their needs also.  I can imagine the unsettled stretched mind of the father as the delay went on, until people came and said, “……’Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the Teacher any further.”  Mark 5: 35

Of course it was not a trouble to Jesus to be about His Fathers business of relieving the bondage of sin, sickness and death; in fact it was His mission and joy.  This had been an active time, of casting out demons and healing the sick and relieving sin sick minds; now was the opportunity to stretch their faith, by raising this little girl from death to life.  Having heard the remark to Jairus that his daughter was dead, Jesus said, “’Do not be afraid, only believe.’” Mark 5: 36

Jesus with Jairus went to his house in which the little girl lay dead.  As was the usual custom there was a great commotion, because the official mourners were making a great show of mourning sorrow.  Jesus never comes to the great commotion of unbelief.  Belief in Jesus comes through the Spirit of God, and unbelief to the words of God happens when we get taken in by Satan’s whispers in our ears.  Further unbelief was evidenced, by their raucous ridicule of Jesus, when He said “…’the child is not dead, but sleeping.’” Mark 5: 30 

There is nothing so spiritually dead, as unbelief.  The belief of Jairus was rewarded, when little Talitha, responded to the words of Jesus, “….’little girl, I say to you, arise.’” Mark 5: 41

Please Jesus heal and raise us from any unbelief or fear, that causes us to forfeit You healing and restoration of mind and life.

Thank you Lord Jesus

Dear God,

On this earth from the beginning there was only Your divine love, expressed to Adam and Eve and they to You in the garden of Eden.  After they had to leave the perfect, love filled garden because of their sin, the darkness of sin was in them and around them.  1 John 3: 11, 12 “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

Because of the written Holy Word and the influence of the Holy Spirit, I/we have learned to love You Father God and Your blessed Son, Jesus.  I have accepted Jesus as my heaven sent Saviour and soon to be Redeemer.  1 John 1: 6, 7 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  Thank You God, for Your Holy Word and for the life of Jesus who never sinned, so therefore had none of the works of Satan in Him, and was full of the light of perfect love.

In the scriptures we have many passages that challenge each reader to really examine their works, for some works may not reflect the light of Jesus.  Ephesians 4: 31 “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”  1 John 2: 9 “He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.”  This comes close to me Lord, for sometimes there are some of these unlovely behaviours in my repertoire of sinful deeds.  I understand in scripture when it says ‘brother’ does not mean just blood brother, but anybody in our sphere of friends.  Some of the Scriptures that outline for me, the way I will walk in the light of Jesus, with Him in my heart.  Ephesians 4:32 “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave You.”  Also I read with conviction, that we are not blessed by You, if we hold hardness and hatred in our heart.  1 John 2: 11 “But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Let none of us delay our repentance/ forgiveness any longer, for it is not worth indulging in inward focused, self-motivated, perpetuated thoughts and attitudes; no matter what the other has done!  We dare not allow such to take us away from Jesus.

Thank You Jesus for hearing our prayer.

Dear God,

I could not have joy and happiness at any time, unless you strengthened me.  Throughout the day during conflict with evil, when I cry out, I am delivered by You.  Sadly in my human, sinfulness, I get caught way too often, but even then, you give me repentance, hear my prayer, and forgive me and wipe my record clean by the blood of Jesus.

I was impressed when I read and comprehended, that the battle against the devil is not mine, but Yours.  It is profitable to use Psalm 116:16 “O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.”  As well as saying, ‘I do not want to be the devils servant’ let us follow that up with ‘I will not be the devils servant’, because I give myself to Jesus Christ.  To add even more weight to my declaration and prayer to Jesus, I will repeat these words along with Psalm 116:16, over and over.  In the time of trial and the testing of our faith, this is how we receive the victory that has already been achieved by Jesus Christ.

Lord I anticipate after much experience of Your power and deliverance from the devil and sin through Jesus Christ, I/we do also say, Romans 8: 37 – 39 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Again this is not about me, apart from believing Jesus and accepting and centering my faith upon Him in all areas of my life.  Then I will receive His victory already gained over the devil and his demons.

All the events individually and for earth’s future events, are in the hand of God, Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” 

Jesus, by Your promise and strength, I will trust Your word and delivering hand, and not the words and actions of man.

Amen

Dear God,

A new day dawns and I am again reminded of Your everlasting love for me and all Your creation.  I am grateful for another day of life in which to enjoy Your blessings and to be used as Your blessing to others.

I find the teachings of Paul, Your grand old warrior in Christian living and ministry to those who had accepted Jesus, a very important treasure trove for my own Christian experience.  Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.”  That text is easy to roll off the tongue and around in the mind, when anxiety settles like a mantle upon our spirit; for whatever reason. The text is saying, we do not need to be overwhelmed by anxiety, because we are invited to take everything to God in prayer and supplication, not once but many times, at the same time giving thanks, because we can believe that God, will always fulfil His Word.

Can’t stop being anxious, I am learning to ask Jesus to help, and ask Him to take my anxiety.  Can’t take my mind off it, think on Jesus and sing His praises.  Don’t have the faith or belief that works, in accepting that God has answered this prayer, because I still feel ‘all screwed’ up.  Ask God to fill me with His Holy Spirit, and the faith and belief that I am lacking.  I may feel no different, but ask God to fill me with faith any way.  I am sorry God, that I so often forget to take all my needs to You in prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving as I claim Your answer, and as You extend my learning and faith, please strengthen me during the wait.  I now have learned to believe You cannot lie, and so Your promise will be answered in You time and manner.  Mark 11: 24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

I have found the problem of an unanswered scriptural promise, is never with God.  Thank You God, that I am gradually being taught by You, in prayer and faith in You, to become settled in my faith.  Please bring me to a place, in which I can say as did Paul, Romans 8:38 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

 I pray that we all will cling to You our God and Saviour.

Amen

 

 

Dear God,

Creator and Overseer of all in righteousness, I joyfully and thankfully acknowledge Your action and influence in my life.  You have blessed me with Your direction and merciful care; and I do not complain.  Proverbs 3:6 “In all Your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.” 

Whether we are young in age, young in the ways of the Lord, or after long years of church going, have only just been ignited to seek God more fully, or have a long established relationship with You our God,; all of us need to each day commit our lives and doings to You, and refresh ourselves in You, by prayer and reading of Your Holy words of life.  You God tell us we need Your wisdom, and to learn of Jesus Your Son.

You give us council and direction, and we need it all for an illuminated pathway.  Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…..”  Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” 

O God please give us more appreciation and awe for the privilege that may be ours, to receive, and follow the directions of Your unerring wisdom.  For we do not contend just with our own human weaknesses and ineptitude, but with Satan and his army of demons; we can as Your humble, devoted follower of Jesus Christ we are assured that we will be delivered from them and our besetting sins.  Revelation 12:12 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” 

By my own too frequent experience I know I cannot trust myself to walk as an overcomer, and will only do so by acknowledging my weakness,  and remembering Jesus said, John 15:5, 7 “…for without Me you can do nothing.”   Followed up with His promise “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for You.”

To form the closest possible union with Jesus should be our earthly occupation and this can be so, when we obey You, and are granted the high privilege of becoming the sons and daughters of the King of the whole universe.  It is through Jesus who was crucified and arose, that we all will be filled with the fruits of righteousness and be prepared to walk in the courts of the King of kings, on and on through unending ages.

Thank You my God and deliverer, I give You my praise.