our (3)

DAY NINETEEN:
VERSES:
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you....1 Peter 5:6-7

PRAYER: (Against Anxiety, Day 1)

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Oh Heavenly Father, the Ancient of Days and Lord of the Universe, thank You that You are our Defender, our Shield and Buckler, our Help in Ages past and Hope for those stormy days, yet to come. It is more than humbling that You, Commander of all the legions of armies of angels in Heaven, the God of Eternity, would know not just our individual names, but when the smallest bird falls out of the sky. You name the stars and they bow to You. You command the snow and stop the rain. You cut a highway through the flat bottom of the Red Sea and millions cross on dry land and You roll back the flooding Jordan so the same thing can happen forty years later.
 
What manner of God is this, that He should do mighty things and powerful things and defeat ungodly giants with a smooth stone yet send the Good Shepherd to pick up a lost lamb and carry it to safety. The knowledge of the Holy is truly humbling and amazing. We tremble at the Power of Your Name, oh Holy One of Israel. Sovereign God we bow this very moment before Your Throne of Power, Love and Gentle Grace which sometimes seems like a frowning Face, but behind it remains a smiling countenance.
 
So Father, starting now, we refused to participate in the manic mulling of the circumstances of this world with its fears, cares and tears and ditch our anxiety in favor of Your mercy and grace. We know You cared so much for us that You sent the Creator to become like one of His Created so He can minister back to the Throne on our behalf.  Because of that Truth, He knows our loneliness in times where evil seems victorious. He knows our fears for an uncertain future for our families and especially our own grandchildren, made that way by people who misled to get into office so they could then fulfill the plans of the evil one, instead of the people who trusted them to lead.  
 
He knows our horror at the Word of God trampled by unbelievers, the Will of God thwarted by the prideful and the sinful and the Wonder of God spat upon by the current temporary keepers of culture and society. He knows our deepest longings to belong, not to each other, but to the Source Who created us yet sometimes doubt and even lose hope that You are even listening. He knows that we lack the courage sometimes to take the strong leap of Faith and let God be God and every man a liar. We lack the courage to let You have all that trouble, depress, weigh and oppress and bring us down. We lack, let's face it, oh God, the faith to let You do what You said You would do - Be a Mighty Fortress for us, a Bulwark never failing. Lord, we know, from past victories and triumphs over adversity, evil and improbability that Your Promises are true, but our memories are short and our nature is weak. Lord we believe, help our unbelief. 
 
Starting right now, most Gracious Heavenly Father, we therefore surrender our weakness to You. This Scripture, Holy-Spirit inspired, clearly states in its original translation that You have more than an interest in us, but at the proper time of Your Choosing, which we know as God's Timing, You will take the course which is most beneficial for us, and raise us out of the pit of despair and fear! That is truly mind-boggling to let sink into our very consciousness and what a Savior! What an incredible  and loving God You are that this is so! So we rest our anxiety of this day on this Truth and this Promise and rest, abide and dwell today in the God given peace, that passes ALL comprehension that as we cast our nets out into Your sea of mercy and loving kindness, we are not simply fishing in unknown waters, but in the vast ocean of certainty of Your Love, through Jesus Christ our King, amen.
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Draw Near To God, and He Will Draw Near To You

Let’s start thinking about this simple, but profound promise (Draw Near To God, and He Will Draw Near To You) by going back to square one, and moving forward with ideas on actual ways to do this.

In either your experience or your understanding, who approached whom first, you or God? You may have searched or studied about God, feeling that you were the driving force. However, most of us who now know God by faith and experience have come to understand from His Word that He is the One who took the initiative in our relationship, and even our own efforts were guided by Him. This does not in any way devalue the FREE WILL He provided us, based on His love for us. God will never force Himself on us, and the love He shows us in giving us free will has a lot to do with Him wanting us to CHOOSE to know Him and love Him back. He could have made us ROBOTS, but that would have killed the essence of us choosing to respond to His love and thereby experience a growing, vital, dynamic love relationship with Him.

So, what is the bedrock way to see and experience His love initiative toward us? Jesus’ whole brief life on earth focused on His mission as Emmanuel (God with us) to show us God in flesh-action on His way to offer us salvation via the cross and the empty tomb. All forces of human and evil spiritual authorities tried to kill or sidetrack Jesus from His mission to become our savior by paying full price for all our sins. Perhaps the strongest potential deterrent from His mission was the foreknowledge of the pending physical, spiritual, and emotional pain He faced in his mock trials and crucifixion. For example He sweat drops of blood as he wrestled to seek any alternative to making full payment by taking ALL our sins upon Himself on the cross. Since none was to be found if we were to be given the invitation of heaven in God’s holy presence, dressed in Christ’s robe of righteousness, the third time Jesus agonized alone in prayer, he yielded, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” Psalm 22 predicted His cries from the cross, as well as the answer to His grueling WHY question. “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?...3 Yet you are holy”

So God the Father, Son, and Spirit planned before our known world began, to provide man a way that would satisfy God’s holiness, to live in their holy presence forever. They took love initiative way beyond our comprehension to invite us to love and worship them back. Only those who are impacted by the magnitude of such love, and respond with a decisive RSVP act of their will and commitment, will experience that extended transforming love, and be allowed into the holy presence of God forever.

So for those only, who have RSVP’d for heaven, God now offers us the opportunity to respond to His love initiative, in kind, with our initiative to draw near to Him. It is no surprise that some of these “methods” include: prayer, worship, adoration, sharing His worthiness and glory with others, and cooperating daily with the Holy Spirit to allow Him to produce and refine His fruit in us (which includes love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and Spirit-control). As we see God at work in this world and join Him as partners (ambassadors), we experience His enablement, filling, equipping, and transforming power at work in, through, and around us. As we mostly listen and worship in prayer we see Him High and lifted up. In King David’s impactful Psalm 51 prayer of brokenness and repentance, he prays, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. There are many such ways to respond to God’s love and experience Him drawing near to us, but the first step is to accept His love initiative to us on the cross where the dearest and best died for us.

For more, please see: How to Draw Nearer to God; John Hoelzel Sr; 2011; Amazon.com

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My Peace I Give You Part 1

(This blog is copied from my personal blog at http://www.onlybyprayer.com.)

This month we are looking at God as our Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our Peace. Peace is a promise that Jesus gives to his followers.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

When we need an example of someone who demonstrated peace in the midst of chaotic circumstances, we need only look to Jesus.

In Mark 4, He and the disciples were in a boat when a storm blew up and waves engulfed the boat. Jesus was asleep in the boat and the disciples frantically woke him up. Jesus’ words to the wind and the seas were “Peace be still” (Mark 4:39).

In the middle of a hungry crowd of 5,000 people the disciples wanted to send everyone away because they had no idea how they were going to feed all those people. Jesus, however, instructed them to feed the people. I can imagine the disciples’ incredulous looks, because I am sure I would have been doing the same thing myself. I know how I worry over whether I have enough food to feed my guests at Thanksgiving, let alone 5,000 uninvited guests! Jesus told them to take stock on what they did have, then blessed it and kept passing it around.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was deeply distressed. Yet, he had the presence of mind to maintain His composure when the guards came to arrest Him and even healed the high priest’s servant after Peter cut his ear off (Luke 22:51).

We need to ask the question, What was the source of Jesus’ peace?

I think that many of us naturally would say that of course Jesus would have this peace because He was God. But, we also need to remember that He was fully man, too, and had to experience life as a man.

I believe Jesus’ peace was because of one main thing: prayer.

All throughout the scriptures, Jesus took time to get away from the crowds of people to go to pray. Mark 6:46 is one example. “And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.” This was just after the feeding of the five thousand. Praying to His Father kept Jesus calm and in unity with God’s plans. It also gave Him security. Jesus knew where He came from and where He was going.

This begs the question, Do you know where you came from and where you are going?

Is your identity tied up in Christ? Do you have the assurance that He has got your past sins and mistakes covered and that You belong to Him? When we have that settled in our lives, when we have asked Christ to forgive us of our sins and to take control of our lives, it gives us the assurance we need to face the future with confidence that God has our backs. No matter what we face, He is there with us.

Tomorrow we are going to further explore how prayer and peace are tied up together in our lives. Until then, pray on!


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