Jennifer Kennedy Dean's Posts (15)

Sort by

Explosive Faith

By Jennifer Kennedy Dean

From The One Year Praying the Promises of God

Fear flees when faith is activated. No matter how intimidating your circumstances appear, you don’t have to succumb to fear. You can exercise explosive faith.

 

The LORD said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors.” Joshua 6: 2

 

As God was speaking these words, the Israelites were standing outside the fortified city of Jericho. It was surrounded by two parallel walls about fifteen feet apart. Jericho was no illusion. There it stood— fortressed, barricaded, impenetrable. To the Israelites’ physical sight, taking Jericho was difficult, if not hopeless. Cities such as Jericho had convinced ten of the twelve spies sent to scout out the land forty years earlier that Israel could not conquer it (see Numbers 13: 27-28). Fear activated by the sight of such an intimidating obstacle had already stolen forty years as well as an entire generation of people. Now, everything their eyes could see told them that this was still a lost cause.

 

But when God spoke to Joshua and called him to battle, he said, “I have given you Jericho” (emphasis added). The verb tense indicated that it was already a done deal. Finished work. Just waiting for the people’s obedience to bring that completed promise into their experience.

 

The writer of Hebrews tells the story in a few well-chosen words: “It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down” (Hebrews 11: 30). When the people obeyed the Lord’s command and marched around Jericho for seven days, the walls fell.

 

When the promise of God comes into contact with our faith-fueled obedience, an explosion of power results. Walls fall. Obstacles disappear. Enemies flee.   

 

You may be looking at a Jericho today. Maybe something in your life looks too big for you. Your enemy might be pointing out all the reasons why your obstacle will win the day. If so, remember this: when God calls you to battle, He has already won the victory. The only way your Jericho will stand is if you believe your limited perceptions instead of God’s Word and slink away, missing the opportunity to see God’s power in action.   

 

RESPOND

What obstacles in your life look too big for you right now? What changes in your perception if you redefine your circumstances by what your heart knows instead of what your eyes see?

 

Read more…

The Power of the Cross

From the upcoming book Altar’d by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Release date February 2012.

 

The cross of Christ stands as the point of separation between the old person powered by death-driven corrupted flesh, and the new creation, powered by the very Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.   At the moment you embrace the cross, you receive its power into your life —a power that is eternally and continually working. Paul says that “death is at work in us.” At work in us now. Doing ongoing work. Doing present work. A.B. Simpsons says, “We may not preach a crucified Saviour without being also crucified men and women…The cross that Paul speaks about was burned into his very flesh, was branded into his being, and only the Holy Spirit can burn the true cross into our innermost life.”

 

The death that Jesus died on the cross cannot be—and need not be—repeated. Only He is able to die for our sins, having no sins of His own to die for.  As we surrender our corrupted flesh to His crucifixion, and as His death works in us, we are not repeating the atoning work of the cross. That is done, completed, finished. Instead, we are letting the power of the cross work out the crucifixion of our flesh. It is not a cross of punishment that works in us. The cross did its work of punishment on the body of Jesus. It is the cross that is freeing us from the confines and the distortions and the limitations of our sin nature. It is not restriction, but freedom. It is, in fact, the only hope of being all that we were created to be.

 

God designed the eternal cadence and it is built into creation at its crux. Life emerges out of death.  The seed that falls into the ground to die to produce a harvest. The branch that is pruned so that it can bear more fruit.  The beautiful colors of fall, ushering in the very death that will culminate in the springtime resurrection.

 

Living altar’d means surrendering to the death from which life comes. The cross is the only place where flesh can go to die.

 

Flesh’s Design

 

Flesh is designed to misdirect.  Flesh will work hard to direct your gaze somewhere other than the cross. Failing that, flesh will attempt to distort your view of the cross. Make it seem ugly and harsh instead of life-giving and redemptive and tender.

 

I have something of a hobby, I guess you would call it, of reading books and articles and blogs by people who grew up in strong Christian homes, but as adults rejected their belief in Jesus. Their stories seem to have several common themes, but central to most is the theme of always trying to please a God who could not be pleased. They felt burdened and ashamed—always trying to measure up.  They fell for a misdirection.

 

You know how a magician’s tricks work. He depends on the fact that our minds can only focus on one thing at a time. He uses his skills to draw the focus of his audience where he wants it, so that he can do something else where his audience is not looking. The end result is that a lie appears to be the truth. He appears to have accomplished something by magic that was really done by trickery. It is very convincing.

 

This is what our flesh will try to induce in us. A misdirected focus. If flesh can keep you focused on your sin instead of His grace, then the myth of a rigid, angry god seems absolutely true. If your flesh can misdirect your focus away from the reality of the cross, and keep your attention on your best effort, then the perception of a demanding, harsh god appears grounded in reality.

 

Flesh tries to pull our attention away from the beautiful cross, where our freedom is to be found. tries to keep us focused on our own failings, or our own fleeting successes, redefining the cross as vindictive and vengeful and fearsome.

 

The cross is a living power working in our lives to irradiate the flesh that holds us captive and stunts our growth.  It has nothing to do with our ability to follow rules. 

 

If the cross is working on the inside, then the evidence will show up on the outside. If, however, the flesh is working hard at conforming the outside, it will wear you out and discourage you. Flesh-produced outward changes that started out looking shiny and beautiful will fail the test of perseverance. It won’t be lasting change.  What counts is a new creation, transformed from the inside out. Not a spiffed up old creation. The only way to live is to live altar’d.

 

 

Read more…

Words Work

 “The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (James 3:5-6)

I don’t think I have to convince you about the power words wield. When you think back to eventful moments in your life, there are likely words involved, either encouraging or discouraging. Those words had power. They perhaps changed your course. The tongue is a perfect illustration of the power of small. James makes the point that though the tongue is a small part of the body, it can set the course for a life.

Words are amazing weapons or great healers. Words have to be managed carefully. Once spoken, a word can’t be unspoken. You can’t inhale and pull it back in. Words take on a life of their own. All words are modeled after the Eternal Word: living, active, sharp. If you let words fly in the heat of the moment, someone will have to heal from their impact. You can say, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean that!” but the word is out and it lives in the person to whom you spoke it. No wonder the Word of God is jam-packed with warnings about using words prudently.

Words have the power to tear down, but they also have the power to build up. God can empower our words so that one small word can have so much impact that it redirects the trajectory of your life. God’s work in our lives can be so deep that it changes our words. After all, words come right from the heart. Changed heart, changed words. We can be so much in His presence that we naturally speak His words. Jesus once said of His words: ’These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me”’ (John 14:24).

I’ve always been accused of being exactly like my dad. People say that we are alike in looks, in temperament, in personality, in the way we process information, and in how we communicate. My two sisters, when the three of us are together, will often react to some statement of mine by looking at each other, rolling their eyes, and saying in unison “That’s Daddy talking”.

They mean that I am expressing my own thoughts, but that my own thoughts are exactly like my father’s. If he were present, he’d have said exactly what I said. You might say I’m speaking my father’s words.

As you live moment by moment in His power and presence, he will speak His present-tense word through you. "The lips of the righteous nourish many" (Prov. 10:21). You will speak what you have heard from the Father. When you speak, it can be said of you, “’That’s her Father talking.”’

The Cumulative Power of Words

Words, once spoken live on. Those words you speak to your teen-ager, thinking they are going in one ear and out the other? They are landing and making themselves a home. The words you thought you could throw out in a huff and apologize for later? They’ve carved out a nook and settled in. The words of kindness and encouragement that seemed to be ignored? They are fertilizing dreams. Make it your goal to speak into lives such a preponderance of uplifting, encouraging words that they will eventually tip the balance and move a life from discouragement to hope.

From an upcoming book by Jennifer Kennedy Dean, The Power of Small: Think Small to Live Large. Make sure you are on our quarterly newsletter list so you will know when new products are available.

Read more…

Think Small, Dream Big

 The Power of Small

(From an upcoming book by Jennifer Kennedy Dean, release date August 2011)

 

Like Alice’s adventures in Looking Glass Land, where everything she encountered was mirror-image opposite of what she thought to be true, the Kingdom of Heaven seems upside down and inside out when we first enter. Learning its biosphere and how to navigate its landscape becomes the adventure that defines our lives.

 

The way up is down.

 

The way to life is through death.

 

The way to greatness is through servanthood.

 

Kingdom living turns all of the World’s platitudes and conventional wisdom on its head. The two are diametrically opposed. The first exposure to Kingdom life principles is mind-boggling. It seems that it would require a mind transplant to absorb the absurdity of it.

 

So, mind transplant it is. When you are born into the Kingdom, the Kingdom is born into you.  Your mind is reformed and regenerated. The old operating system is replaced with a new one. The new operating system runs all the programs differently. Old things have passed away and everything has become new. You have the mind of Christ, and He can make direct deposits from His mind into yours. He can think His thoughts through your mind.  The Lord has taken out your hard-as-rock, stubborn mind and transplanted a mind that is open and living and receptive.

 

The mindset of the World tends to value big. The bigger the better. Flashy- sparkly big. So, when you first notice that the Kingdom gives small all the value, it takes a while to absorb it. We are so used to being oriented toward big, that the reorientation toward small feels unnatural. But, small is where all the action is in the Kingdom.

 

Small is the New Big

 

Think of something big. A mountain? A tree? Get a mental picture of something you call big. Now, consider that it is made up of tiny, tiny atoms. Atoms are made up of even tinier neutrons and protons. Neutrons and protons are made up of elements so small that they can’t be seen with the strongest microscope.

 

No such thing as big. Everything we call “big” is just a whole lot of “small.”

 

Small upon small upon small, finally equals big. There is no “big” without lots and lots of small.

 

Nature as God created it, is the image of the invisible Kingdom of Heaven. His creation illustrates the principles of His Kingdom. In Kingdom living, small matters. Small is the key to big. Choice by choice, act by act, decision by decision, obedience by obedience… a large life is made up of a whole lot of small.

 

Nanotechnology is all the rage. The technology of the future, some say. The possibilities are endless and the power comes from the size of the nanoparticle. It is tiny.  The nanoparticle is so small that it can pass through the skin and through the outer layers of organs. Medicine can be delivered by nanoparticle. Skin treatments can be delivered by nanoparticle. Because the delivery system is so small that it can pass through barriers like skin or organs, it can deliver medicines or chemotherapy or vitamins deeper and more efficiently.  The power of small in action.

 

The Word of God, delivered by the Holy Spirit, is—like a nanoparticle—transdermal. It is more than skin deep. The Spirit carries the power of the Living Word deep into the heart and life and transforms from the inside out.  Spiritual nanotechnology means that the healing and renewal that might otherwise sit on the surface can be absorbed in the deep and hidden places.  It takes the power of small to bring big results.

Read more…

A Mind at Peace

From Pursuing the Christ by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

 

"For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace."—Romans 8:6

Incarnate Word, You came to set my captive thoughts free and to captivate my restless mind and anchor it in You.

Without You, my thoughts were entangled by the dictates of my flesh. They poisoned and polluted my life. My thoughts were infused with the stench of death, corrupted, decaying, marching steadily toward the grave. The power of death spread to cover every pursuit, every relationship, every dream.

Then You came. Softly. Barely a ripple in the course of mankind’s doings, yet a rip that reverberated through the heavenly realms and changed the balance of power for all eternity. With a battle cry that sounded to earthly ears like a newborn baby’s whimper, You set in motion my redemption. The sound heard in the heavens that first Christmas moment was a victory shout that rattled the enemy’s forces and insured their defeat.

I was  death’s child, sin’s slave. No future but the grave. A mind managed by my flesh. Until You.
 
Jesus, thank You for recasting my thoughts into the mold of Yours. “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Teach me how to receive that gift in its fullness. Make me so moldable that You can transform my heart completely until its thoughts and intents are reflective of Your life in me, Your peace in me.

Having a mind that is set on the things of the Spirit brings life and peace. A set mind is established, fixed, focused, immoveable, determined.

Your mind is set on me. Your heart has been fixed on me since before the world began. Your thoughts never wander from me. From before time began, You set Your mind toward the Cross and, with never-wavering love, took on earth’s trappings for no purpose but to save me from death and its force in my life.

A Redeemer grew in Mary’s womb; a body was knit together that would house the Prince of Peace. All the power heaven holds was contained in a construct built of earth’s stuff—all for the determined purpose of overcoming the death that held me in its thrall and made me its captive.

Jesus—my life, my peace—teach me to set my mind on You with the same kind of evidence even a hint of the determined and relentless focus with which  Your mind is set on me.

Read more…

Circumcising the Vision

From  Fueled by Faith by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Listen to an interview on Fueled by Faith here.

 

The Finishing Touch
“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”  (Heb. 12:2, KJV).

Faith in its finished form results in the power and provision of God manifested in the circumstances of earth. The perfecting and finishing of our faith is accomplished through difficulties and challenges of life. As we face challenges, it trains us in the ways of faith, it trains us to keep our focus on the reality instead of the shadow, and it circumcises all the flesh out of the vision God has given us. Like muscles in the physical body, faith grows by resistance training—by being forced to do heavy lifting.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

Difficulty becomes blessing. Trials become joy. 

Circumcising the Vision
When God impregnates you with promise and causes vision to grow in you, that vision is designed and tailored to fit you and only you. It fits you exactly. When God describes His will, He uses three words: good, pleasing, and perfect (Rom. 12:2). The word “perfect” means  “a perfect fit.” His will for you is beneficial to you (good); it will bring you pleasure and will please you (pleasing); and it will fit you to down to the last detail (perfect). You love the vision. You’re supposed to.

As the vision develops, the time comes when you are forced to recognize that although the vision is God’s, it has some of your flesh wrapped around it. When I say “flesh,” I am talking about those parts of your life that are still fueled by your human nature. Your flesh wants to own and control and possess and manage and manipulate. God is always working in you to free you of your flesh and move you more and more into the power of the Spirit. To that end, He arranges crisis moments at which you are brought face-to-face with your flesh and the claim it is trying to have on God’s vision. Those times are painful, but they are the most productive times of all. When your flesh is brought to its crucifixion, it is bloody and messy and our tendency is to resist. But crucifixion has but one end: resurrection. This has always been God’s pattern and continues to be so today. Crucifixion. Resurrection.

In Hebrews 11, God spotlights  and highlights lives that have put faith on display. In each, the crucifixion-resurrection principle is evident. Look with me at an example.

Moses’ Parents
The writer of Hebrews spotlighted Moses’ parents as prime examples of how faith works. The vision that God put into Moses began as a vision in the minds of his parents, who saw that he was no ordinary child.  God caused them to see His promise and it jumped up and took such possession of them that a bold and reckless faith was born, freeing them from fear of the pharaoh. They didn’t know all its ramifications, but their vision was that he would live and not die at the pharaoh’s hands. That may be as far as they could see, but it was far enough.

God had to have provided supernatural protection for the baby Moses. He gave wisdom and ideas to Moses’ parents. Why did they even think that a little ark of bulrushes might protect Moses’ life? How did the idea even occur to them?

Three months they loved him and nurtured him and memorized his darling face and recorded in their hearts his dear sighs and gurgles and cries. With each passing day, love grew.

When the day came to let him go, imagine his mother’s walk from her home to the Nile's edge. Three-month-old son entombed in a basket. 
 
Surely only her selfless love for her son could induce her to walk her Via De La Rosa. Had she given one thought to her own desires, she would have turned back. She was going to place him into the Nile in the days when the Nile ran red with the blood of Hebrew sons. She was letting him go into the river that his enemy had declared to be his burial place. Imagine as she stood in the Nile's waters and came to that moment when she had to do the hardest thing she would ever be called upon to do. She had to let him go. She had to die to her mother's instincts to guard and protect. To save his life, she had to let him go.
 
When she did, her son was put upon the course he had been ordained to travel. The very river that might have been his end was instead his beginning. Jochabed received him back again, but everything had changed. When she put him into the Nile he was a slave. When she received him back from the Nile, he was a prince.
 
The secret was in the letting go.


(Learn more about the Crucifixion-Resurrection principle in  Fueled by Faith by Jennifer Kennedy Dean.

 

Hear Jennifer share this live.

Read more…

Peace

From Pursuing the Christ by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

9651002480?profile=original
“I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
—Ezekiel 37:26–27

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us.
—John 1:14


God with us, Immanuel, Your stated purpose for Your Incarnation and all that it entailed—Your birth, Your crucifixion, Your resurrection, Your ascension, the sending of Your Spirit—was to establish peace.

You are the  peace. The peace You offer is not something separate fromYourself. The peace You offer is entirely based on who You are. Who You are is all that matters.

When Your messenger came to Mary, as recorded in Luke 1, Your message was a bit unsettling: “Do not fear. I am about to upend your life and make you centerstage for My divine drama, but do not fear.” Mary had one question: “How can this be?” (v. 34). You had one answer: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (v. 35). Mary wanted to know how, but You only told her who.

“Our faith does not provide us with an answer, but with a Person. When Mary sought an explanation, what she got was a revelation,”  Brantley reminds me Dean.according to my son Brantley.

I imagine how Mary  might have reacted   had You explained to her Mary  the how of Your plan. How would  I respond to the most complex explanation of the most intricate matter regarding a subject of which I am wholly ignorant?   That would sound like baby talk compared to an explanation about how You would come as a little baby fashioned in the womb of a virgin. The how would not have brought peace to Mary’s heart, but the who caused a peace that surpassed understanding to stand guard over her heart (Philippians 4:7).

When anxiety tries to lay claim to my thoughts, when fear seeks a foothold in my mind, when confusion threatens to make a stand in my heart, I look to You, I seek Your face. You are all the antidote I need to anything that might steal my peace.

You will keep in perfect peace
the mind that is dependent on You,
for it is trusting in You.
Trust in the Lord forever,
because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!
—Isaiah 26:3–4

You came to me. You, the Unknowable made Yourself known.The Invisible made Yourself visible. The Invulnerable made Yourself vulnerable. The Unapproachable approached.

No frantic seeking was required. No ceremonies and rituals were necessary. You, for whom our souls long, have eternally been longing for us. With all our anxious looking about, You were always there. Your presence is peace.


I found You in the spaces in between
I found You in the dark and not the light
I looked for You in drama
In the earthquake and the fire
And found You in the quiet,
You were waiting for me there.
I looked for You in miracles
In the loud, in voices raised
I looked for You in gatherings
In signs, in prayer and praise
But I found you in the gentle breeze
The still small voice, the darkened cave.

I found you in the spaces
Between sleeping and awake
I found you in the waiting
The worry, in the fear
I found You in the sleepless night
I found You in despair
I found You in the questions
No loud answers anywhere
I found You in the silence
Silence full not silence void
I found You in the spaces
You were looking for me there.

—poem by Rachel Holley,   © 2007

Read more…

When the King Became a Servant

On that night in a stable in Bethlehem, from earth’s view, a baby was born. From heaven’s view, You, God the Son, voluntarily left Your rightful place on the universe’s throne, left the riches and the unimaginable glory that were Your own possessions, left the sound of praise and worship that surrounded You day and night—left it all to be with us.
What must that moment have been like? When heaven’s great Treasure shed His kingly grandeur and donned mere clay, did the angels for a moment hold their breath and look on in astonishment? When He who was from the beginning took upon Himself the form of a servant, did the eternal realm halt—just for a heartbeat—and stand speechless with wonder? When the King of kings exchanged His majestic robes for swaddling clothes, surely it was the most beautiful, awe-inspiring moment in all eternity.
On earth, it was a little-noticed event. A young peasant couple and a few poor shepherds were the only witnesses to an ordinary birth in an ordinary place at an ordinary time. No pomp or ceremony. No grand announcement to a waiting crowd. No dancing in the streets.
In the heavens, that which looked ordinary from the earth was the spark for unparalleled celebration (Hebrews 1:6). It was something never before seen and never to be seen again—when the King became a servant.

From Pursuing the Christ by Jennifer Kennedy Dean
Read more…

A Fermented Life

Many people feel disappointed in prayer when life brings disappointment and difficulty. I have had this question addressed to me time and time again, in one form or another: “If prayer really works, then why did this happen hard, disappointing experience happen to me?”

Let me remind you of the purpose of prayer: Prayer is the conduit through which thepower and provision of God flow into the circumstances of earth. Prayer is NOT a mantra or a set of magic “abra-cadabra” words that will transform all of life into a fairy tale that you author. Prayer is bigger and better than that. Through prayer, God is working in your life to accomplish all of His purpose
for you and for others in your life and for generations to follow. Some of that purpose is accomplished through difficulty. What you can be sure of is this:God will not allow any circumstance into your life that has purpose other than for your benefit. All of His plans for you are good, and all of His plans for you are designed to give you a future and a hope.

From Vessel to Vessel

“Moab has been at ease since his youth;He has also been undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,And he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,Nor has he gone into exile.Therefore he retains his flavorAnd his aroma has not changed” (Jer. 48:11, New American Standard Bible)

The Scripture is the living Word of God, so even thosepassages addressed to a particular audience in a specific time regarding aunique event have layers of meaning. Even those passages that are spoken withinthe context of time echo into eternity, speaking fresh truth to God’s people inany given moment.

This passage is describing the nation of Moab regardingsituation framed in time. But it speaks to me through the present Voice of theLiving God.

God says that Moab has been left undisturbed. He isdescribing what a person is like who has never been challenged and forced toface disappointment or disruption of his life. He is like wine on its dregs.Wine left to sit on its dregs becomes bitter and harsh. It is unpalatable. Itis useless.

The art of winemaking involves stages. A wine must be movedfrom vessel to vessel along the way. Each stage of winemaking requires a vesselof different size, shape, and construction. Each stage accomplishes somethingdifferent for the final product—the wine that is becoming. At each stage, thedregs have settled to the bottom and must be strained out to prevent the ruinof the wine. The stage at which a wine must be emptied from one vessel toanother is not a static and predictable period. Only the winemaker can tell.

God, the Great Winemaker, is fermenting a rich and perfectwine in you. Do you feel yourself being emptied from vessel to vessel? You getused to the shape and the feel of your life, and then find yourself beingemptied out. During part of the process, you have been poured out, but notpoured in yet. You know that your old vessel has been emptied out, but you donot feel yourself having arrived in a new vessel yet. There is a transitionperiod, a pouring. It is disorienting and uncertain. Then you find yourselfpoured into a life of a completely different shape and size and made up of newmaterials. It is new to you and it doesn’t feel like it fits.

Learn the ways of the Winemaker. Don’t be discouraged orfrightened when the shape of your life and the construction of your days seemto be changing. God will not let you sit on your dregs. Unlike Moab, you willnot stay in the same place. You will not be locked into your immaturity,retaining the same aroma as in your youth. He is ripening you, fermenting you,enriching you.

Rejoice! You are being emptied from vessel to vessel.

Adapted from Fueled by Faith by Jennifer Kennedy Dean.
www.prayinglife.org
Discover the difference between a prayer life and a prayinglife.
Read more…

God Calling

The person who is living a praying life is not circumstance-driven, but Christ-driven; not problem-centered, but Power-centered. Our frame of reference is not what we lack, but what God has. We define our lives within the context of eternity instead of time.

I find it interesting that when Abram, later to be Abraham, is first introduced on the pages of Scripture, he is defined by what he lacked. We first encounter his name in the lengthy lineage recorded in Genesis 11. All the other men were described in terms of whom they begot. Whom they fathered. Abram is described by his failure to father an heir. That's what we learn about him first of all. The narrative tells us that Abram took a wife named Sarai, and that Sarai was barren and had no child (Gen. 11:20). Abram, who was destined to stand front-and-center as the very definition of a living faith, is introduced not as brave Abram, or faithful Abram, or kind Abram… just childless Abram. Defined by lack.

Why? I ask. When there were so many other things to say about Abram, why turn the spotlight on the one thing he lacks? I think the reason is that by shining the light on the lack, the Scripture rivets our attention on the cusp of re-creation. We can't look away. How will a God who so directly calls our attention to Abram's greatest sorrow and humiliation, show Himself the life-creator? Watch Him work!

Have you noticed this about God? He never avoids the issue. He never spins the facts or brushes reality under the rug. Up Front God. Look how Paul summarizes Abraham's situation: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised"
(Romans 4:18-21). God just puts it out there. The bad news is just setting the stage for the good that is about to come.

It's like He's calling our attention to the need so that when the supply is revealed, we won't be focused elsewhere and miss the power display. Abram's paucity has a starring role in the eternal drama. Playing opposite the power and provision of God, Abram's need offsets the wonder of God's plan so that we are nearly blinded by its luster.

As if in Abram's lack, God is saying, "Right here! This is exactly where I am about to apply my power. Take a good look. See the barren sterile, dried up dream? See the death of hope? Right here is where I'm working!"

Resurrection God. From Abraham-- as good as dead-- and Sarah-- whose womb was also dead, came Isaac. Laughter. Joy. Merriment. Celebration. Life that came from death-- Resurrection.

Paul calls Him "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were" (Romans 4:17). Are these two descriptive phrases two ways of stating the same thing? I think so. These words are presented to us within Paul's description of the miraculous birth of Isaac. Life that came out of death. Paul says that He "calls" those things which are not as though they were. Call can mean to call aloud, utter in a loud voice, invite; to call by name. When did Jesus "cry out in a loud voice" and bring life out of death? John 11:43, as He stood at the grave of Lazarus. "Lazarus, come out!" Called out loud.

I think the Scripture is saying that God steps right into the middle of mucky, messy death-- all-hope-lost death; no-way-out death; not-gonna-happen death-- and He calls out, "Life, come out!" And the voice of the in-the-beginning God reproduces the earth's opening act. He calls order out of chaos. He calls something out of nothing. He calls life out of death.

The lack sets the stage for the provision. Death lays the groundwork for resurrection.

In your praying life, is there a big, hot light on your need? Does it seem to define you right now? You don't have to pretend its not there. In fact, show it off. That's where God is about to apply His power.
Read more…

Hand Made

I realized something this morning that I had not seen quite so clearly before. It jumped out and surprised me today. I was considering that the power of God’s Word that created the universe is as powerful now as it was in the beginning. When God says “Let there be…”, molecules accumulate into matter, atoms bond together into mass, cell fuses to cell and things which were not, now exist. When the breath of His mouth rushes out to vocalize His Word, even the tiniest neutrino is ordered into lockstep with His command.

Then I started thinking about His breath . It takes breath to form a word. Have you ever been with someone whose breathing is compromised? They can’t speak easily. Breath is the transporter of words and without breath, words are imprisoned inside the mind and have no outlet.

Then I started thinking about how He breathed the breath of life into the human He created on the sixth day—the pinnacle of His creation. That led me to consider – and here is the picture that took me by surprise—that He created the human differently than the way He created everything else.

Everything else was formed by His Word, but the human was formed by His hands.

As I observed with my imagination how God shaped the human—formed him, molded and sculpted him—I was awed by the intimacy of touch that was being acted out. How God left His fingerprints and His DNA all over the human. How He took the time to tenderly create this Self-expression with His own hands. Down in the dirt, one with the clay from which He sculpted. He made the human from the dust of the earth He had just created. Earthy.

Then—and now the intimacy is stunning—then He breathes. He leans over this earthy man, covers the human’s mouth with His own, and breathes.

The man formed of earth is filled with the life of the heavenlies. Heaven and earth meet, and life as God intended appears. What was not, now had become. When God breathed, He breathed into the human. Not around him, or over him. He breathed the Word into him.

With the fall, the man who started out earthy—all earth—was once again earthy. When Jesus, the last adam, appeared in earth’s environment, once again heaven and earth met. When the day came for the Word to indwell mankind again, He breathed. (John 20:22)

NOTE: Remember to visit www.prayinglife.org and look for free content as well as resources available for purchase.
Read more…

Power Drain

Certain misconceptions about prayer keep us from experiencing the full power available. These misconceptions keep us focused in the wrong direction and contribute to prayer fatigue. Let's examine just a few of these.

Misconception: Prayer is to convince God to implement our ideas. Some pray as if prayer will give God new information or inspire Him to new ideas. Some approach prayer as if it is the responsibility of the petitioner to decide what God needs to do and then talk Him into doing it. This kind of pray-er sees himself as constantly having to overcome God’s objections, or His inertia, or His procrastination. This person feels that God always starts out against him and must be won over. Prayer of this kind pits the pray-er against God. It feels like a battle of wills.
As with every misconception about prayer, this error causes the praying person to expend spiritual energy needlessly. The person who prays in this way tends to look for the right formula, or the right words to say, or the right order in which to say them. This person is always on a quest to find the approach to God that will finally get Him to act.
This person believes the myth that it is hard to get God to answer prayer. The truth is that God longs to do His work on earth in response to prayer. Prayer is His idea. God thought up prayer, not humans.
God answers prayer, but He doesn’t follow instructions. God corrects those who attempt to instruct Him. “Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13–14). However, God loves our prayers. He rejoices in them. They bring Him pleasure. They are a sweet-smelling aroma to Him (Revelation 5:8; Psalm 141:2).
Power praying happens when God, who longs to give, is met by man, who longs to receive. God is the initiator. He made promises and invited petition. The secret to power praying lies not in how to ask, but in how to receive.
Misconception: Prayer is to hold God to His promises. Some pray as if God forgets or tries to renege on His promises and is depending on pray-ers to remind Him of them. God does not need to be reminded of His promises. He made promises and bound Himself to us in a blood-sealed covenant so that we would know exactly what we could expect from Him. God made promises to us in order to stir up hope and expectation so that we would have reason to turn to Him. The purpose of His promises is to give us confidence and peace. Instead, sometimes we pray as if we are responsible for finding the scriptural promise that can be construed as guaranteeing the outcome we have prescribed, then taking that promise to God to hold Him to His Word.
This kind of pray-er treats God’s Word as if it were a catalog. He decides what God should do, looks through the Bible to find a verse that will match that plan, and orders it. In doing so, as in catalog shopping, the pray-er skims over everything that holds no appeal. He picks and chooses.
Remember, Scripture is not God’s words; it is God’s Word. Scripture is a whole and cannot be cut apart and pasted together to match my agenda. His Word is not a catalog. It is His promise in writing.
When we approach prayer this way—as if God might try to get out of meeting our need, but since we have His promise, we can hold Him to it—we become drained of energy and suffer from prayer fatigue. What a burden it is for me to search the Scripture and find exactly the right verse to bring to God’s attention. Instead, as I turn my heart and my mind toward Him, He reminds me of His promises. He reminds me of what I can count on. The promises are not for me to use in getting my way with God, but they are for God to use to inspire faith and confidence within me.

From Live a Praying Life Anniversary Edition by Jennifer Kennedy Dean


Read more…

About Face


A praying life requires a 180-degree about-face from the direction our human nature would lead us. Our flesh is bent on doing a good job, getting it right, proving our ability. A praying life is built on a principle that is the polar opposite of our flesh’s instincts: letting go, yielding, admitting helplessness. It doesn’t come easily to us.

Jesus ratified this principle as of primary importance in His first formal sermon. We refer to His opening remarks as the Beatitudes. The first words out of Jesus’ mouth, once the crowd had gathered, were “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Prayer is reaching into the kingdom and drawing on its resources. What is the prerequisite for having complete access to the kingdom? Being poor in spirit.

The word for “poor” means destitute: a beggar whose only hope is to receive from the hand of another. Until we recognize the blessedness of being wholly dependent on God, who even produces prayer in us, we won’t live in the abundance that could be ours. Our helplessness is our strongest plea. I illustrated this concept in Set Apart as follows:

I recently had the tiniest glimpse of how powerfully helplessness speaks. A few years ago, I lost my husband to brain cancer. During the final months of his illness, he became utterly helpless. The man I had leaned on for 25 years, whose strength I counted on, was now dependent upon me for his every need. During those weeks, my ear was tuned to his every sigh, his every restless movement, every change in his breathing pattern. If I had to be out of his room for even a few minutes, I had a monitor with me so I could hear him if he needed me. When he was strong, I was not so attentive. His needs did not fill my waking moments, when he could meet them himself. His helplessness spoke louder than any word he might have spoken. Because of his helplessness—because I knew he could do nothing on his own—I was on watch day and night.

My experience is but a pale shadow of the reality of the Kingdom, but still it helps me understand how my weakness is the opening for His strength. The fact of my helplessness is the only prayer I need. It speaks louder than eloquence.

Read more…

Jesus' Praying Life


The first breakthrough understanding about prayer is that there is no recipe to follow, no “ten easy steps” to power in prayer. Power praying does not require that you master a skill, but that you pursue a present-tense relationship with the living and indwelling Jesus.

Prayer marked Jesus’ life. Long, extended times of prayer. Spontaneous eruptions of prayer. Prayer in public, and with His disciples. Certainly Jesus, who only did and spoke what the Father showed Him, did not use prayer to argue, or beg, or try to change God’s mind. Then why did Jesus pray? Why was prayer such a hallmark of His life that His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray like He prayed? If He wasn’t giving God instructions, what was He doing when He rose up early to pray or spent all night in prayer?

I think we might get a hint from His time in Gethsemane, where some of His words are recorded and so we get a glimpse into the tenor of His interchange with the Father. We see Him synchronizing His heart with the Father’s heart.

I think it works like this: I have many mobile electronic devices that I use to accomplish my daily tasks, or to entertain myself, or to stay in touch with others. I do most of my work on my main desktop computer, but then I need to transfer the work I’ve done, or the information I’ve added, or the files I’ve edited from my main computer to my mobile devices. How do I accomplish that? How do I get what is on the hard drive of my computer downloaded onto my mobile devices? I link the mobile device to the computer and a program is activated that automatically syncs my mobile device to my computer. What is on my computer is reproduced on my mobile device.

In His all-night prayer in Gethsemane, we see Jesus linking His heart to the Father’s. Let me summarize the content of His recorded prayer in some new words. “Father, download Your will into my heart so that it overwrites any other desire. Download courageous faith that deletes fear. Synchronize My heart’s desire to Yours.”

What came from that heart-to-heart transaction? Observe the Jesus who emerges from His hours of agony. Courageous, forceful, marching out to meet His enemy rather than waiting to be taken. Handing Himself over to the purposes of the Father without reservation.

“The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” (Mark 14:41–42).

From Live a Praying Life, Anniversary Edition.

Read more…

Washed by the Word

Brain Washing

Jesus said that we are made clean by the Word. "You are already clean because ofthe word I have spoken to you" (John 15:3). Speaking of the church, He said that He would "make herholy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word" (Ephesians5:26-27). He prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth"(John 17:

The first way that Jesus begins to clean us out inside is by speaking His Word inHis present-tense, living voice.When you read the Scripture, when you meditate on the Scripture, and memorizethe Scripture, hear His voice speaking to you. It washes your brain clean.

Soaking in the Scripture lets its living power penetrate into the marrow of yourpersonality, changing every part of you. As the Word pours into you, the truthconfronts lies you didn't even know you believed. It takes lies head on andoverpowers them.

Do you remember the very first video games? There was one called PacMan. I can'tremember what the object of the game was, but I remember a big round head witha mouth overtook little dots and swallowed them up. That's all I remember.Chomp, chomp, chomp. Little dots disappearing into the giant head never to beseen again. That 's my picture of how the living Word works on the inside. Itovertakes and chomps down lies.

The same voice that created the universe in the beginning is speaking to you now.The same Spirit who hovered over the chaos in the beginning and called orderinto being is living in you now. "By the word of the Lord were the heavensmade, their starry host by the breath of his mouth" (Psalm 33:6). He stilldoes His work by His word.

Take the Word in and let it do its work. Expose yourself to all the Word of God youcan, and trust that He will make it effective in your life.

From Life Unhindered! by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Read more…