HERE IS THE NEXT DEVOTIONAL IN OUR SERIES ON STRENGTH.
TUESDAY DIGGING DEEPER: STRENGTH CONTINUED
Monthly Archives: January 2024
MONDAY DIGGING DEEPER: STRENGTH OVER THE NATIONS
HERE IS OUR NEXT DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT ON THE STRENGTH OF JESUS.
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Stream Of Consciousness At the Vicarage
One of the things I have missed about the blogging community is the group challenges. I used to participate in a lot of weekly challenges. I discovered that it helped me grow as a writer and as a person. So, as I come back to the blogosphere by bits and pieces I am going to try to join at least one challenge a week. This week’s challenge is called, STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS SATURDAY HOSTED BY LINDA G HILL. When you have finished here click the link and check out Linda’s other subscribers.
Linda has given us this to work with this week. Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 27th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “make the call.” Use it as an idiom or use it literally. Have fun!
I get a lot of calls every week: family, parishioners, robocalls calls, ministry connections. I get even more e-mails (ugg my inbox ). But I think the most important call I get or make daily is the call to prayer.
We used to sing a song in church way back in the 1980’s entitled, JESUS ON THE MAINLINE. Here are the lyrics.
Jesus on the mainline, tell Him what you want.
Jesus on the mainline, tell Him what you want.
Jesus on the mainline, tell Him what you want,
Just call Him up and tell Him what you want.
2 If you want your body healed, tell Him what you want.
If you want your body healed, tell Him what you want.
If you want your body healed, tell Him what you want,
Just call Him up and tell Him what you want.
3 If you want your soul revived, tell Him what you want.
If you want your soul revived, tell Him what you want.
If you want your soul revived, tell Him what you want,
Just call Him up and tell Him what you want.
4 Call Him up, call Him up, tell Him what you want.
Call Him up, call Him up, tell Him what you want.
Call Him up, call Him up, tell Him what you want,
Just call Him up and tell Him what you want.
But the call of prayer is more than just telling Jesus what I want. The older I get the more I understand that the call of prayer is a call to LISTEN.
These days I have to admit I mostly don’t know what to pray for. It seems, everything has gotten so complicated. Half the time feel like the things I am asking for are far less than what God wants; so these days I find myself sitting in the prayer space and listening for the voice of God until I get some inspiration about how and what to pray.
IF YOU PRAY WHAT DOES PRAYER LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY # 21
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 21- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).
WELL THIS IS IT! 21 days have come and gone and we are at the end of our devotionals on preparing. But we are at the very beginning of the actual acts of preparation God will require of us. I hope you gleaned something from these brief comments over the last 21 days.
As we launch out into what comes next here are some thoughts from our study in the Book of Revelation.
8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name Rev. 3:8
Remember we don’t need to create doors. We don’t need to kick down locked doors, either. God is going to open the doors for us. We just need to prepare our hearts to walk through them when He does.
LORD PREPARE US FOR WHAT LIES AHEAD!
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY #20
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 20- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open.
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48
We are being called to prepare to love those who disagree with us. I will be the first to point out that just because a person disagrees with us on something, that does not necessarily make them our enemy. But in our hyper-tribalized society, we are quickly becoming a people who view it that way. In fact we are raising up a generation that thinks that in order to love someone you must agree with and accept everything they think. That, of course is not the truth. Love is something that flows through agreement or disagreement equally well, because it is not based in our comfort, logic, emotion, or will. It moves through those things but it is based in and flows from the Spirit.
WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO LOVE THROUGH A DISAGREEMENT WITH RIGHT NOW? PRAY FOR THEM? WHAT GROUP DO YOU HAVE THE GREATEST DISAGREEMENT WITH RIGHT NOW? PRAY FOR THEM.
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY# 19
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 19- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open.
I have used this Scripture before, but it bears repeating, “
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [b]puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, [c]thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. 1 Cor. 13:4-8
HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH LOVING THE PEOPLE IN YOUR DLT GROUP? HOW ARE YOU DOING LOVING PEOPLE IN YOUR TOWN WHO ARE NOT PART OF THE CHURCH?
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY #18
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 18- Prepare your hope and faith( think hope, speak hope, act in hope).
We have established that thinking in hope and speaking hope in the days ahead is going to be absolutely necessary. But there is something more… James writes, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
If we want to change ourself we must change how we view ourselves, how we think about ourselves. But if we want to change the world (which is part of our mission statement by the way) then we have to change the way we speak and change the way we behave.
WHAT ARE SOME ACTS OF HOPE YOU ARE BEING LED TO DO?
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY# 17
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 17- Prepare your hope and faith( think hope, speak hope, act in hope).
Jesus said, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” Luke 6:45
The reason it is necessary to change our minds towards hope may be self evident. A life filled with thoughts of hope is preferable to a life filled with hopelessness, but changing the way we think is only a part of the battle. What we think only changes us not the world around us. If we would change the world around us we must speak the change and act the change. What we say is vitally important to changing the world.
The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. Prov. 18:21
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rev. 12: 10,11
WHAT WORDS DO YOU NEED TO START SPEAKING INTO YOUR WORLD TO CHANGE IT TOWARDS HOPE?
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY #16
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 16- Prepare your hope and faith( think hope, speak hope, act in hope).
Hope is not a wish. It is a confident assurance in a certain future. It is big picture thinking. Our hope is not in this present age. Our hope is not in this present kingdom. Our hope is not in this present culture. Our hope is in the sure and certain future Jesus has promised us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. JOHN 3:16,17
the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2 PETER 3: 10-18
To think hope means to contemplate the coming of this future kingdom. It means to put away thoughts that get us stuck in this present time of trouble and turmoil.
WHAT DOES THINKING IN HOPE LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
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2024 A 21 DAY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY DAY# 15
This year as our church approaches its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
seven prepare statements will be broken down into three days each of brief devotionals we will pray into over the next 21days.
DAY 15: Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example).
We are being called to build relationships within our wider community. The easiest way to build those relationships and share our example is according to our gifts. “Gifts” is what the Bible calls them. In today’s terms we would probably use the words “personality traits” instead of the word “gifts”. We are not talking about talents or abilities like guitar playing or being good at football. We certainly aren’t talking about Christmas presents or birthday presents. We are talking about our character traits.
We will build relationships easily when we build them while going with the grain of our character. Let’s talk about the 7 most prominent “gifts” or “personality/ character traits.”
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12: 6-8
Yesterday we talked about prophesying, serving and teaching. Let’s talk about the last four “gifts” today.
The Encourager’s personality- is focused on helping people reach their potential or achieve their personal goals. The encourager approaches life with a “can do” mentality. The encourager is an idea person who sees the steps between point A and point Z in a person’s life and he helps people to see what they can do to take those steps.
The Giver’s Personality– is focused on resourcing. The question the giver asks is “What do you need?” Not only does she try to find out what is needed, the giver is talented in finding the resources necessary and connecting those resources to the person who has the need
The Leader’s personality– is focused on building a team that will be able to accomplish the work ahead. They are good at laying plans and executing those plans, but he is not the ones who carry out the plans. Often the leader is not even the one who gets the credit. This type of leader prefers to work behind the senes as long as the ones he works with see him for who he really is. The first question he often asks is, “Who do we need to help us.” The leader is the organizational people mover of a community.
The Mercy Giver’s Personality- The mercy giver is the healer of a community. Her first question is generally “How can I make this better or more comfortable for the people involved?” These are the folks who, when you are in trouble, will bring you a casserole and watch your kids while you take a much needed nap. Often the mercy giver looks just like a servant on the outside, but she differs in that the servant is only concerned with “Did I do something help?” The Mercy giver is concerned with “Did what I do make the person feel better?”
DO YOU RECOGNIZE YOURSELF IN ANY OF THESE “GIFTS”?
Lillie-Put 