Bowing Before Our God and Maker

Satan and his demons are in mortal combat with God. They fight in opposition to everything God is and that for which He stands.

The devil enlists our help to discourage people from leaving his kingdom of darkness and devastation in order to enter God's Kingdom of eternal light. We unwittingly become his tools to discourage people from changing their lifestyle and coming to Christ.

This is due to our carnality, and lack of interest in spiritual things and the welfare of others, as well as our occasional rude behavior toward others.

God's forgiveness eliminates all of our confessed sin – past, present and future. The more we experience Christ as our life, the further away we run from the world, straight into our Savior’s waiting arms (Colossians 3:4).

Resting in Christ is not another religious activity to perform. It simply involves complete surrender of our human life to the kingship of Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-29). We bow before our God and Maker (Psalm 95:6).

As God replaces our carnal nature in our soul - our thoughts, choices and feelings - with the nature of Christ, we manifest God in ever-increasing levels of maturity and glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Gradually, God replaces our human boundaries with His eternal power and divinity. We do not allow our conscience to guide us, because it is faulty and human at best.

Our conscience can be riddled with shame perpetuated by Satan's lies, as well as guilt heaped on us by other people (Revelation 12:10). Therefore, we listen instead to God's still, small voice within us and follow His peace in our spirit.

When we walk in the Spirit, we escape the confines of condemnation, we are freed from demonic strongholds such as perfectionism, and the need to prove our self, and also the drive to be better than anyone else (Romans 8:1).

Prayer:

Father God, we do not need the affirmation of our superiors or any other person for a job well done. When we follow Your Spirit's direction, we may even reap disappointment from other people; but we smile through this persecution, knowing that we are walking in the very center of Your will (Galatians 1:10).

We are no longer a slave to Satan and his demons, because the resurrection of Your Son set us free from the law of sin and death. We now walk in the freedom of the law of life through Your Spirit (Romans 8:1-2). Thank You for keeping us in the center of Your will and leading and guiding us through all the days of our life.

Thought for the Day:

Together with Christ, our spirit is made alive by God, forgiven of all of our transgressions of the law of God, and raised up with Jesus to sit with Him in heavenly places. 

- Ephesians 2:4-6

Effectual Prayers of Intercession

No matter what physical state we find our self in as we age, the ministry of an intercessor is always readily accessible to us. Prayer is the most important ministry in which anyone can serve.

Prayer is even more important than any other duty we performed in our past busy schedule of service to our community and to God's family.

Intercession is a vital ministry for the Saints of God in this evil and perverse and unstable world. It is also important to help the church to reach the lost for Christ.

Prayer is our time alone with God. We separate our self from a busy life, take a deep breath and enjoy God presence. He provides us with His grace, mercy, renewal and unity all the days of our life.

We experience real empathy with those we pray for and may even identify with their plight in life, because we suffered similar issues to theirs.

Jesus suffered everything we suffered, especially when He bore our sins on the cross (1 Peter 4:1). Jesus intercedes for us and is our advocate with our Father God (1 John 2:1).

The Holy Spirit will actually pray through us, if we step aside long enough to allow Him to do so. We may find our self groaning in the intensity of His prayers through us or even crying for no reason of which we are aware.

God's Spirit knows the reason for our tears, and He is the One praying through us. He shares with us the heart of God and we experience the burdens that He carries.

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and His presence within us gives us the link we need for God to hear our prayers. As we experience the battle going on in heavenly places, we intercede with perseverance as the Holy Spirit and God's angel army does battle in the spiritual realm (Daniel 10).

Prayer:

Father God, we count it a privilege that You include us in the ministry of intercession for Your Saints and for the lost in our world. We stand in awe of You and Your mighty works as You defeat the devil and his demons in each case. We give You all of the praise and glory for Your care for each one of us.

Your power amazes us and we thrill at the oneness we feel with Your Trinity as we intercede with spiritual authority given to us by You as we pray. Deliverance comes as we rest in You by faith in Your faithfulness. Thank You for teaching us to pray effectual prayers without flowery, empty words (James 5:16).

Thought for the Day:

God's Spirit takes us into God's presence as we pray, where our natural talents and abilities are not needed, because only Christ in us can accomplish the will of God for each moment. - Colossians 1:27

Doorway to Freedom in Christ

As humans we do not like to admit defeat, and we see brokenness as loss; but it is not. Brokenness is the doorway to freedom in Christ.

We all have weak or empty places in the hedges of protection we build around our life; but God fills in our hedges of protection with His Word, His angels and His Son (Job 1:10; Psalm 91:11).

God is everything to and for us that we are not for our self. We do not need people, places and things to fulfill us, because the Trinity abides within us.

When we are our weakest, He is our true strength (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). God delights in our brokenness, because He can hold us together with His peace, joy and love - nestled under His wings and hidden in His tower of strength - regardless of our circumstances.

His mercy and grace fill our soul and heal us from the inside out. We walk with faith in His faithfulness, power, wisdom, courage and provision for us for each moment of our day.

We are citizens of Heaven, Saints of God, and children of the King of all kings (Luke 10:20). He gives us His victory in good times and bad and never ever leaves us or forsakes us.

We may not always understand God's reasons for events in our life; we may disagree with the methods He uses to mold us into His grace; and we may feel the losses of our life with a heavy burden that threatens to squeeze every precious drop of air from our body.

Yet, God's ways are perfect and He is always just and true and righteous in all He does as He provides for us. As we sit broken before Him, He fills in our weaknesses with His strength and uses us for His Kingdom's glory.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us not to look within our self for our answers and supply, nor to look around to others, but to trust only in You to supply all of our mental, emotional, physical and financial needs through Your abundance. This world is not our home; but even now, our citizenship is in heaven (Isaiah 63:15). We are simply passing through this world on a mission for Your glory (Galatians 2:20).

Although we are in uncharted waters, You are our navigator. You made Your plans for our life before we were conceived in our mother's womb, and You will bring them to completion. As we rest in brokenness before You, You give us the victory over every negative experience in life (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13; Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

The city of New Jerusalem is cubical with the dimensions of 1500 miles in every direction; story after story of large rooms in our Father's house; once we come to Christ through the doorway of brokenness, He prepares us to dwell with Him here throughout eternity. - John 14:2; Revelation 21:23