I lay down and slept,
yet I woke up in safety,
for the Lord was watching over me.
6 I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies
who surround me on every side. Psalm 3:5,6
Tag Archives: prayer
Mid Afternoon Meditation 5-25-16
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me;
you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
4 I cried out to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy mountain. Psalm 3:3,4
What does crying or calling out to the Lord look like? Is it different from regular devotional prayer?
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Know Himself and Thyself
Yesterday in her morning musings my sister, Brenda Lillie wrote… “Paul prayed that the Ephesians eyes would be open so they could KNOW GOD. So often we find our self lost in a sea of doubt, pain, or fear. We wonder where is God ,when will He make His entrance? In these moments it’s not that God is not there..but perhaps we don’t Know our good and faithful God well enough. Our faith is shaken not from circumstances…but lack of knowing who our God truly is and what He is capable of doing in spite of the circumstances.”
Then last night in her sermon at New Hope Assembly of God in Saugus MA my daughter, Melanie Franklin said, “We can only love one another once we love ourselves…we can only love ourselves when we know who we are…to know who we are we must look in the Word of God.”
It strikes me that most of life’s problems cease to be problems once we know who God is and who we are. In knowing those two things we gain confidence and ultimately love of God, self and others which is a power that does not fail in the midst of any circumstance (I Cor. 13:8).
In your prayer time today let me encourage you to ask God to help you and the people you are praying for to know Him better and yourself/ themselves better so that the issue being dealt with will get lost in the vast scope of God’s love.
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Daily Quote 3-30-16
“Engaging in prayer turns Kingdom priorities into present realities.” -Anon
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Afternoon Meditation on Scripture
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Ma. 26:41
Are you praying enough to keep yourself from falling into temptation? If not how much more watching and praying do you think is needed?
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The Road Through Romans: Constantly
We have been working our way through the first Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. If you have missed any of our discussions thus far you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
The verses we will be dealing with today are Romans 1:9,10
God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
I want to spend a bit of time talking about Paul’s prayer life today.
Paul tells the Romans that he constantly remembers them in prayer. The word constantly is the word adialeiptōs which means Paul is praying for the Roman church incessantly.
The idea of incessant prayer is a familiar one in Paul’s life. Paul was a mighty apostle of the church. He was a prolific writer, an effective communicator, an able administrator and a wonderful pastor; But above all Paul was an outstanding PRAY-ER.
Listen to these words from some of his other letters:
“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Thess. 1:2,3
Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe 1:Thess. 2:13
We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 1:3
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Eph. 1:15-17
Paul’s desire, though, was not just to be a powerful prayer warrior in his own right. He expected that every Christian would be like him. His command to the churches was that, like him they should, 17 Pray without ceasing. 1 Thess. 5:17
If Paul in his day needed to be a man who prayed without ceasing, how much more do we the Christians upon whom the end of the age has come need to be men and women of unceasing prayer?
What must you eliminate from your life so that you can spend more time in prayer?
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Cee’s Oddball Photo Challenge: Week # 45
Hey check out Cee’s Odd Photos this week by clicking on the link.
I have a really odd one to offer
This statue can be found at the Fruitlands Museum in Acton MA. It is called “Prayer of Rana”, which means “prayer of the king”. I don’t know what this says about prayer or about kings but it is definitely odd.
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The Forbiddings Pt. 6
Today we continue our discussion on the believer’s authority. Specifically we are discussing what the believer needs to do to walk in and hold on to that authority. Did you know that many believers have let go of their authority in Christ?
If you need to catch up on our previous discussions they can be found below:
Yesterday I asked you what spiritual weapons were in your arsenal that could help you walk in authority. Today we are going to identify and discuss those weapons.
THE FIRST WEAPON IS PRAYER!
It’s time for the church to start praying.I don’t mean wishing for things to be different and I don’t mean listing off our struggles in a passing prayer request in our morning devotions. I mean it is time to pray regularly, intentionally and in the Spirit until something happens. It is time to begin spending lunch hours doing nothing other than speaking in tongues. Can I encourage you here? If you are not Baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, God will never force you, but trying to wage spiritual war without the gift of tongues is like taking a knife to a nuclear war and thinking your going to come out on top.
Let me explain something about tongues. Paul said tongues was the least of all the gifts (I Cor, 14) and that is true but as often happens with God, He has chosen to use the weakest of things to bless the strong. I have learned that tongues is the gateway, the door that opens to us the availability of all the other gifts. It is when I am praying in tongues that the supernatural gift of faith is most frequently activated in my life. It is in that space that the gifts of healing flow; Prophecy comes; Miracles take place. In fact, I would say that probably 85% of all the supernatural events that have taken place in my life have occurred in and around times of praying in tongues. Praying in tongues is a big part of spiritual victory.
IT IS TIME TO PRAY IN THE SPIRIT.
ANOTHER WEAPON IS THE WORD OF GOD!
It is time to start spending copious amounts of time listening to or reading and studying the Word of God. Nothing should be getting in the way of Bible study. If you are saying I don’t have time to join a Bible study what you are saying is “I don’t have time to work on getting the victory in that tough area.”
FASTING!!!!!
It is time to start adding regular fasting to our prayer. Prayer and fasting in the days ahead is going to become a normal part of the powerful Christian’s life. Christians who won’t fast won’t have power. Listen, this is a huge challenge to me personally but one I am looking at taking up.
The Lord’s desire is to take down the strongholds of the Devil in our personal lives, our family lives and also in our communities but He did not say the gates of Hell will not prevail against God. He said the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church. The gates aren’t coming down because He says so. They are coming down because the church says so. He has given that authority to us to see what we are going to do with it.
Jesus told this parable.,
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Ma. 25:14-30
You see we have been given the authority, the spiritual capital, to deal with the gates of Hell, the forbiddings, which the enemy has raised against us. But we have to begin to use that capital. Folks in the days ahead your protection your power is not going to come because you have physically prepared for the apocalypse. That might be an important directive but your power will come from prayer, from you study of the Word of God, from fasting and from the Spirit of God who enters through those disciplines and nowhere else. Your level of authority and victory is going to be directly linked to how much time you spend in the Word of God, and in prayer and in church.
WALK IN YOUR AUTHORITY!
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The Forbiddings Pt. 5
I had to take a brief break from our spiritual discussion on the believer’s authority in Christ due to my writing and pastoring schedule this week, but tonight before I launch into another marathon book edit session I am going to publish the next portion of our discussion.
Here are the last installments to refresh your memory:
I meditated on the first part of this message (part 4) for about a week and then in another time of prayer God began to speak to me again about “forbiddings.”
HE said to me, “ My people were not meant to be on the defensive against the enemy all their lives. My people were meant to walk in authority according to Matthew 28:18-20 and Matthew 16 and Luke 10. “But the enemy has raised up “forbiddings” against them. These are called the gates of Hell. They are those areas in people’s lives and relationships where the enemy has built walls and strongholds that the people cannot seem to break through.”
“Just like the enemy has been shut out of certain victories by the prayers of my people so the people have been shut out of certain victories because of the spiritual power the enemy has exerted in areas of their lives. But I have said that ‘the gates of Hell would not prevail against my church’, and I have said ‘the weapons of my people are spiritual and mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.’ The problem is my people are trying to use carnal weapons to tear down spiritual power and that will never work to do anything other than exhaust them. The forbiddings the enemy has built against my people are going to come down but only when my people begin dealing with them using their spiritual weapons.”
Is there any area of your life that you are struggling with? Does it seem like you cannot get victory in that area no matter what you try? Have you been to the doctor and the psychiatrist? Have you been to therapy and have you tried meds? Have you sought out human counsellors and found they don’t work? Have you tried confrontation or have you attempted to run away only to find none of those things work? Then its time to try the spiritual weapons.
In your estimation what spiritual weapons do you possess?
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The Forbiddings Pt. 4
We have been discussing over the last several days the nature of the Christian’s authority. Today we continue that discussion in “The Forbiddings Pt. 4” but if you have missed any of the previous parts of our discussion they can be found in the underlined links below:
Now here we are at today’s discussion on authority:
So far we have established that, it is vitally important in the days ahead to come to know and understand what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the churches.
A few weeks ago the Lord began to speak to me in my prayer time and he said, “My people have raised up forbiddings against the enemy in this land. Some have taken up their authority in prayer and they have begun to raise up walls of power in the spirit realm that are shutting the devil out of territory he has controlled for many generations in this land. The enemy has been free to exercise authority in this region for many years because my people did not know they through prayer had the authority to change anything. They did not understand that prayer was more than a wish list but that it was a powerful tool that through persistent use by praying over things again and again they could begin to deal with issues in the spirit realm. Now because of the prayers of some of my people I have raised up forbiddings against the enemy and he is forbidden or shut out of those areas. He is angry. He has not been forbidden anything for many years in this land and he will not take this lying down. He cannot undo the forbiddings. He cannot unlock the doors my people have locked against him through prayer. But he my people can unlock them. Knowing that he will attack the people in hopes of getting them to unlock the doors and let him back in through frustration or weariness. If my people will not hide behind me during this time they will be greatly tempted to just give in and give up and then they will lose all the ground they have begun to gain.”
Can I ask you this morning. Have you begun pursing God in new ways recently? Have you begun to try to follow God more obediently and are things in life making that journey very difficult? Are you being tempted sometimes to just give up and go back to the way things were. Are you finding yourself saying. “Life was easier when I wasn’t so crazy for God?”
Then you are one of the people being tempted by the Devil. The question is What are you going to do about it?
Lillie-Put 