"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." (Isaiah 6:1-8)
It would do wonders for our world if every Christian had an Isaiah Experience each day. Far too many have lost the sense of the Holiness of God! You must never forget Who it is that you are relating to and serving. You serve a Holy God! His presence is Holy! Yes, He wants you in a deep, personal, intimate relationship with Him, but none of that changes Who He is. You must always approach Him in the understanding that He is the Almighty God! But, He desires you absolutely approach Him!
Beloved, somehow God gave this vision, or experience, to Isaiah. Isaiah “saw” these things! And because of what he saw, some things in him were changed forever! Allow me to point out a few things.
First in verse 1, God’s presence filled the Temple – His glory is everywhere!
This was a Holy place! The result is powerful worship! This worship was not based on the angels, nor on the gifts of singers, nor even the charisma of a preacher! This worship experience (as all should be) was based only on the Holiness of the full Presence of God!
My friend, for you to be effective for the Kingdom of God, you must place a high priority on worship of the King, both personally and corporately. And beloved, if you ever leave a worship experience feeling less than satisfied, because of the music, or the people, or the prayers, or the preaching, you were not worshiping the Holy Presence of God, you were worshiping yourself!
Now notice verse 5 “Woe is me!”
Believer, you can never be in the Holy Presence of God and not see and feel a contrast between His Holiness and your anything less! Worship in the Presence of the Holy God should cause you to examine yourself in the glow of His Light. Then be honest enough before God to repent, confess, and become cleansed. If you cannot experience God somehow in the course of your worship (in the Word spoken or sung), that may be the first thing you repent of!
Lastly in verse 8, Isaiah heard the Voice of God!
Here is what I believe is happening in these verses of Isaiah. Isaiah finds himself caught up in this tremendous worship experience where the Presence of the LORD is powerfully overwhelming. Beloved, you are the only reason you might not experience this each week!
Isaiah sees the Holiness of God, and by contrast, he sees his own sinfulness, and also the sins of his own nation. He confesses, repents, and God forgives and cleanses. Now, Isaiah is in right standing before God, and he is therefore privileged to hear God speak.
It is as if Isaiah is listening to a conversation in the Throne Room. God is either speaking to angelic beings, or possibly a dialog within the Godhead (Trinity) Itself. And instead of God directly speaking to Isaiah, He asks the question: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
God allowed Isaiah to see the need, and then volunteer to meet the need! Isaiah then said, in response to what he heard: “Here am I; send me!”
Worshipper, sometimes God will direct you to go meet the need; sometimes He just reveals to you the need. In either case, He expects you will have made yourself available, both to Him and what He is doing! This should be you living a yielded, surrendered, life to your Holy God, daily!
I challenge you to make this your priority for the rest of your life; whether that is one more day, or 40 more years. God is not bound by time, but with God, timing is everything, and He has an expectation that you will show up on time! ---In other words, when He is ready to move or act, He expects you will have made yourself available, both to Him and what He is doing. Pray On!
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#ReimaginePRAYER ~ Pondering Repentance ... and Revival and Renewal
Revival has ben hijacked by a specifc stlye of church protocol.
It refers to a annual series of meetings designed to produce an emotional response from the gathered faithful prompted by loud, fear-based ("hellfire and brimstone") preaching.
While the contrition and confession may have been sincere, the modes and methods utilized failed to produce a Spirit-led, Scripture-fed congregation of mature disciples.
- Repentance is more concerned with what changes inside than outside:
- Begins with a response to the Holy Spirit (often sensed by feeling sorrow or grief over our sin)
- But must be ore than that emotional response; our sadness must produce a cleansed, pure "heart"
- ...and that must produce a change of mind (think differently; Romans 12:2)
- "The Lord isn't slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to (repent); ie, turn from sin and no one to be lost." (see 2 Peter 3:9)
- If we confess our sins is more than saying "sorry"
- We must concur that what we have done, how we have thought or where we have failed to be act obediently, is sin
- Confess = "agree with God that what the Spirit have convicted us of is truly sin
- Conviction without contrition is weak; that sin will easily repeat
- Three Transforming Questions
- What? ... is the sin God wants me to repent (turn) from?
- So What? ...why has the Lord pointed this particular issue to me (why is this sin hurtful to the Lord? to the Body of Christ? to our Christian witness?
- Now What? ... does the Spirit want to do in me, to make me more like Christ? (ask someone to forgive me? change an attitude? resume a spiritual discipline? research the issue biblically?)
- What is the difference between reviving renewing and repenting?
- Repenting is a change of mind/direction; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- Reviving is to re-vive; regain life
- Renewing is to restore something old to a fresh (but not necessairly new) state
Several years ago, when the LORD was encouraging and training myself and my church in prayer, He spoke to me in my prayer time before Services on Sunday morning. In that prayer time He directed me to ask our membership, during the invitation, to list the names of the friends and family members whom they knew to be lost on a tablet of paper I had placed on the LORD’s Table.
My instructions to the church were to print first and last names legibly. It wasn’t long before the people had flooded the Table area waiting their turn to add names to the list. The purpose for the list was to pray for the salvation of all who were listed. I gave some basic suggestions as to how to pray, and I shared that I would copy the list so each person praying could have one to take home with them. I also shared that I was to then cut all the names from the list into small slips of paper, each containing one name only. These slips would be placed in a decorative container that I dubbed “The Prayer Pot”. This pot would remain in the sanctuary on the LORD’s Table at all times. I encouraged the people to feel free, as the LORD might lead them, to come to the table, take a few names from the pot, slip to the altar and pray for their salvation. They were free to do this at any point in our worship service, even if I were preaching.
After that service, I checked the list and discovered, to my surprise and pleasure, over 350 names listed. I made my copies then placed the individual slips with names into the “Prayer Pot”. On Monday morning I went into the sanctuary alone to pray through the names. My intention was to name each person before the LORD, pleading for their souls. Each name was important to me even though I did not know most of them. I did not rush through the names, and the first time I prayed through the slips I spent nearly five hours.
At some point, I came upon one slip of paper that simply said: “The Smith family”. I found myself becoming agitated because I had clearly instructed our congregation to print first and last names. I said to the LORD, “Do You know how many Smiths there are?” To that brilliant question I heard my LORD say, “Yes, Jerry. I know each one of them. I died for all of the Smiths! You just pray for all the Smiths to be saved!”
This was a very humbling moment in time for me. I began to pray for Smiths as though I knew them all intimately.
Unusual things began to happen in our church. First of all, for the next several weeks, during each invitation I gave at the end of our Sunday Morning Services, people were coming to Jesus for salvation. Not only that, but there were always two to three people named Smith. To make it even better, these Smiths were not related to one another.
Secondly, I began to receive reports of people from this list being saved from all over. Many of whom lived far away. One deacon shared with me about how his niece, who lived in New Mexico, woke up one Sunday morning under the conviction she needed to go to church. She did not know where to go as she had never in her life been in a church for any reason. She walked down the street and found herself in a small Baptist church. After hearing the message and the invitation of the pastor, she gave her heart to Jesus. Her name had been on our list.
I began to have strangers drop in to my office unannounced with some kind of personal crisis to share, and each one found salvation and peace from our LORD before they had left. Each one had been on our prayer list. Before the LORD had called me away from that church, I was aware of 57 persons from that list who had been saved.
On day in Sacramento, California, while conducting a seminar on prayer, I had shared this story of the “Prayer Pot” as a way to encourage praying people into the Kingdom. After the seminar, a young woman approached me with a question. “During what time period were you praying for Smiths”, she asked? I gave this some thought and gave her my best answer as to when it began, and asked her, why?
She explained that she had been saved during that time, and that she had been living in Chicago. She concluded by saying her maiden name was Smith.
I continue to pray for the salvations of persons named Smith, and God continues to bring Smiths into my life and knowledge. I have many friends named Smith, and some of my church members in my present church are named Smith. My precious daughter-in-law was a Smith, and that is another awesome testimony of the LORD's working in our lives.
The purpose of my sharing this was to encourage you, and your churches, to begin praying earnestly for known lost persons by name. Ok, you do not need a "Prayer Pot", but you do need a list of persons needing salvation!
Many of our grandchildren are attending college and universities, some are Christian, and some are secular colleges. The grandchildren attending secular universities are taught a secular worldview and probably navigating ungodly influences. We need to pray for our grandchildren’s deep spiritual needs, the needs of their souls.
Barna Research President, David Kinnaman’s new book writes in his new book
Faith for Exiles. The percentage of young-adult dropouts has increased from 59 to 64 percent. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. 18–29-year-olds who grew up in church tell Barna they have withdrawn from church involvement as an adult after having been active as a child or teen.
I would like to encourage you to pray for the campus where your grandchild is attending. Pray he/she will get involved in a Christian college ministry on their campus for Christian fellowship and community.
Let’s pray the next generation will have the passion and energy to be godly leaders to change the world. The following are suggestions to you can pray.
WHAT TO PRAY FOR:
- ASK GOD WHAT HE’S ALREADY DOING THERE—
- Do some listening prayer, asking God questions such as,
- “Lord, what are YOU praying for this campus?”
- “Who are you moving in here right now?”
- “What are the barriers to your work here?”
Spend time listening and write down anything you hear or feel.
* PRAY AND LISTEN
Ask God to show you what revival would look like on this campus.
Write down anything you see or feel.
* PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS
Pray that Christians already on this campus would be bold, have faith, and be courageous. If there are any Christian groups or churches already on campus, pray this for them as well.
* PRAY FOR PEOPLE IN POWER
Pray for professors, administrators, student government, and other leaders on campus.
I hope you will find these Scriptures helpful to pray for your college student.
Scriptures to Pray for Grandchildren in College
Dear Father, I pray that: (Insert your child’s name)
- 1. Peace
________ will not worry about anything, but pray about everything. Philippians 4:6
- Protection from the Enemy
________ will be alert and watch out for the temptations from the enemy, standing firm in his/her faith. I Peter 5:8, 9
- Responsibility
________ will learn to be responsible for his/her own actions and behavior. Galatians 6:5
- Salvation
________ will believe that Jesus loves him/her and died for his/her sins so he/she can have a personal relationship with you and enjoy eternal life. John 3:16
- Security
_________ will always remember that you will never leave nor forsake him/her. Joshua 1:56
- Self-control
________will live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct and devotion to God. Titus 2:12
- Servant’s Heart
________will develop a servant’s heart, serving wholeheartedly, as to the Lord and not men. Eph. 6:7
- Anxiety
__________will cast all his/her anxieties and disappointments on you. I Peter 5:7
- Spiritual Growth
_______will be rooted and built up in his/her faith, growing strong in the truth as he/she is taught. Colossians 2:7
- Guard
________ will guard his/her heart, for it is the wellspring of his/her life. Proverbs 4:23
- Thankfulness
_______ will learn to give thanks in everything, no matter what happens. I Thessalonians 5:18
- Timidity/Fear
_______ will not have a spirit of fear and timidity, but the spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. II Tim. 1:7
- Trust the Lord
________ will trust You with all his/her heart and not depend on his/her on understanding Proverbs 3:5
- Wisdom
When ________ needs wisdom, he/she will ask you for it, You are waiting for him/her to ask. James 1:5
- Hunger for God's Word
___________will hunger and thirst for your Word. Matthew 5:6
Listen to this awesome inspiring short video called the Haystack prayer meeting.
Haystack Prayer Meetings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtA2QizrMgQ
If you would like more information about praying for our college campuses go to everycampus.com.
Written by Lillian Penner, Co-Prayer Director for Christian Grandparenting Network. lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net
O CANADA - The Briefing By Cheryl Amabile
“God keep our land glorious and free; O Canada we stand on guard for thee!”
- Canada’s National Anthem
The nation of Canada has come to a moment of decision that will affect the globe. On October 21, 2019, in their upcoming federal elections, Canadians will cast their votes for the office of prime minister and other key governmental positions. Advance polls are already in progress. However, election day is not necessarily when and where the future will be determined. It is when it will be manifest.
For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west nor from the south.
But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.
Psalm 75:6,7
God alone is the judge; but we also know from His word that He judges, in a sense, with His jury. This weekend, the ekklesia of Canada is gathered together in the center of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. The Cry led by Faytene Grasseschi, is hosting a prayer meeting in this federal building, literally surrounded by an impressive array of cannons, tanks and fighter jets that were once used in battle. Intercessors have come from around the nation to take their place, not just in the museum hall, but in the halls of heaven where the outcome of next week’s elections will ultimately be determined. These are the big guns of today. What is accomplished in the place of prayer will go down in history.
Most of you reading this Briefing are not Canadians and are not able to be with us in this weekend's meetings. Yet, you too hold a seat with Christ in the heavenly realms. Your voice matters. So much so, that we feel it’s critical for you to be informed and involved in this pre-election prayer. We urge you to take your stand amidst the corporate Body in this hour and raise a cry for Canada.
Years ago I had a dream that may bring insight to this moment. In the dream, the continental plates of North America were teetering in the balance. It was terrifying. The entire land mass of Canada, the United States and Mexico seemed to be divided in two with each half shifting dangerously in relation to the other. As I watched the surface of the earth rise and fall, I heard a haunting chorus of heavenly voices singing from Isaiah 6, “The train of his robe fills the temple!” In the dream, I knew by revelation that a fresh move of the glory of the Lord was about to enter these regions. It was not a possibility, it was a surety. I was shown that God's glory would be manifest - whether by wrath or by mercy. The question, therefore, was not if, but rather how the awesome glory of God was about to be realized in these nations. Then in the dream I was given a responsibility that I believe is meant to be shared by all of His saints. I was being called into a “Continental Congress” of sorts. It was a governing body, a chorus of earthly voices, and the sobering thing was that WE were the deciding factor between wrath and mercy!
[Note: In American history, the Continental Congress was a body of representatives from the original thirteen colonies that governed these territories throughout the throws of the Revolutionary War and the formation of the new republic. The implications of the dream seemed to emphasize both a national duty, but also a greater one - extending beyond our national boundaries to address the entire continent. This seems fitting for God’s ekklesia, citizens of His kingdom, who have a shared interest and responsibility in His affairs as they pertain to all peoples and regions around the globe.]
A few years later, I had another dream that tied into this one. (Also referenced in #054 -TheCRY for Canada) In the dream I was with Dutch Sheets on what we knew to be Canada’s election day. We spoke of having “tapped into a root of mercy!” The power in this root was like the very power that raised Jesus from the dead. I knew it could overturn seats of authority and shift the course of history. Just as the words "ROOT of mercy” were spoken in the dream, I simultaneously heard the words “CRY of mercy.” “I’ve tapped into a CRY of Mercy!” It was a “taproot” that released a “cry” of its own.
In processing this dream, I believe the root is referencing the very cross of Christ and his shed blood that entered the ground and “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:24). In Genesis 4:10 the Lord refers to the voice of Abel's blood that “cries out from the ground.” Lifeblood that has been taken by force cries out for justice. But Jesus’ blood that was poured out at His own free will cries “MERCY!"
In 2016, I believe we experienced the ekklesia of God tapping into His blood and its “cry of mercy" on behalf of America. Many believe, as I do, that God’s mercy was manifest in our presidential elections.
Chris Berglund had a profound dream at the time that helped us steward the moment leading up to the elections. In Chris’ dream, he saw a depiction of the very mercy seat that is described in Exodus 25. Chris saw Jesus seated on this “seat” and, remarkably, he saw that we were seated in Him. Chris said that visually the dream actually went back and forth between Jesus being seated in us and us in Him. It was clear that there, above the mercy seat, we had not only met with God and received mercy, but we had become one with Him. Also in this experience, Chris understood that just as Christ had become intercession for us, we were to be so for others. There, with/in Him, we were to release and decree His mercy to those in need of mercy. Thus we prayed for our nation, for our people, and for the Cyrus that God showed us He desired to put in office.
Let us do so now for Canada. This week, as we approach Canada’s election day, let us tap into the very blood that was shed for the world and administrate its cry of mercy for Canada, for North America, and ultimately for the nations of the earth.
The earth will be filled with the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14
Regardless of how we look on the outside, the size and scope of our ministry or the crowds of people surrounding us, each of us may struggle at some point in life with damaged love receptors. Our archenemy Satan is keenly aware that if he can distance us from the love of God, we will be unsuccessful at loving ourselves or others, causing us to lose heart. No doubt, that's why Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers:
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God (Eph. 3:14–19, NLT).
We have the potential to be dynamic and effective servants in the kingdom of God. He longs to move us from a place of isolation and loneliness to experience the fullness of life and power found only through being deeply rooted in His forever love.
God's love for us is not some fleeting infatuation that's here today and gone tomorrow. He allowed His Son to be mocked, ridiculed, slapped in the face, spit upon, cruelly beaten, stripped bare and crucified on a cross to purchase His treasured children. As Christ was preparing to wash the disciples' feet just before He went to the cross for them, the beloved disciple John recorded for us, "Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love" (John 13:1, NIV). God Incarnate, Immanuel—God with us—not only stooped to wash our feet but died to atone for our sins.
It all sounds too arrogant and amazing to believe that Abba Father would surrender heaven's best for earth's worst, but what is the alternative. We certainly couldn't imagine that it was our goodness rather than His grace or our merit rather than His mercy! Believing in His great love for us is not nearly as arrogant as believing anything else.
In The Message, Eugene Petersen paraphrases the last half of 2 Timothy 1:9 in this way: "We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it."
What transformational power we will experience if we not only embrace but daily become more deeply rooted in and captivated by this multi-dimensional love!
The secret to fulfilling our destiny and growing to spiritual maturity is to be more deeply rooted in the soil of the unknowable, unsearchable love of God. Comprehending Christ's love does not come naturally but supernaturally. It is an unending process because it is unknowable. As our capacity to receive and share His love grows, He keeps filling us again and again.
One of our greatest hindrances is defective receiving mechanisms that have become damaged or totally dysfunctional.
- You may have grown up in a home where love was nonexistent or rarely if ever expressed.
- You may have known only anger and abuse before coming to Christ.
- Your love receptors may have been damaged by bias and prejudice, or cruelty and isolation.
- Perhaps you struggle with the pain of loss, bitter disappointment and broken relationships, resulting in battered hearts.
- Many may bear biological father/mother wounds or suffer from spiritual lesions of the heart that were caused by religious/church leaders.
- Or you may have simply found yourself in a dry, barren place for so long; you wouldn't recognize a God embrace if it knocked you off your feet.
The extravagant, demonstrative love of God defies description and has the power to expand wide enough to draw you into His embrace. It is long enough to reach you no matter how far you may run and try to hide. Christ came down from the highest heavens to reach into the depths of your soul and repair every damaged receptor cell of your heart.
God's love is not linear or limited but voluminous and overflowing. Holy Spirit does not want you to experience a temporary emotional touch, but He desires for you to develop a deep root system that goes down into the soil of God's Word and allows you to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!
How full is that? It's incomprehensible! His love is not a stagnant pond or even a flowing river. Christ's love is a limitless spring of living water that flows from the throne of God. Throughout eternity, we'll never fully know, nor will we ever exhaust the immensity of His love.
The prophet Isaiah, prophesying of Christ, said He would heal, liberate, comfort, beautify, bring joy and clothe us in praise, so we "might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified" (see Isa. 61:1–4 and Luke 4:18–19).
The world's tallest tree is the California redwood, which can easily grow to a height of 300 feet. Redwood tree roots are very shallow, often only five or six feet deep. Yet they compensate for it in width, sometimes extending up to 100 feet from the trunk. They thrive in thick groves, where the roots can intertwine and even fuse together. That is part of our strength in the kingdom of God as we love and support one another, but we can't survive on this love alone. In fact, our greatest strength is born in God's deeper love for us and our reciprocal love for Him.
There is another tree that grows in South Africa's dry, desert environment which stands 20 to 30 feet tall, but its root system is at least six times that long. The roots can reach as far down as 223 feet, making them the deepest known roots in the world. They are powerhouses at sucking up water and nutrients. It is also nicknamed the "tree of life" because nearly every part of it is useful to humans and animals. The name of this impressive tree is the shepherd's tree!
Allow the Holy Spirit to deeply root you in the Shepherd's love so that you might extend His love and support to others all around you—inside and outside the church walls!
WATCH WITH HIM
In that most intense time, as Jesus and His disciples gathered in the garden where He was arrested, He told us to watch and pray. What does He mean by telling us to watch, to watch and pray? Look with me at these verses from Matthew 26.
“Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here, while I go over there and pray.' And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.' And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, 'So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'”
In this passage our Lord calls us to Watch with Him. When Jesus first told His disciples to watch while He prayed, they might have assumed He was telling them to watch with their physical eyes for their enemies to come. And that may have been a small part of what He meant. But He did not simply tell them to watch so He could devote all His attention to prayer. He called them to watch with Him. He was inviting them to enter into His spiritual insight. Jesus is telling us to be alert for spiritual insights in and around us.
Our Lord is calling you to spiritual insight in your situation. When we prayer-walk, we pray with our eyes open. When you come to a house with children's toys in the yard, you automatically pray for their children to be protected and drawn to God. I remember seeing a trash can overflowing with liquor bottles and other signs of dissipation. I prayed for God to deliver the people living there from bondage, and all the heartache related to it. But beyond what we easily see, we seek God to show us what to pray for at every house, or school, business we pass. Any time we pray we open our hearts for God to show us things we need to see in our situations, and to see them from His perspective.
Jesus calls us to spiritual insight into our own hearts. When we watch and pray God will show us where we are vulnerable to the enemy. This does not sound fun to us in our worldly nature. But it is absolutely crucial in the midst of spiritual warfare. Jesus told Peter to watch and pray lest he fall into temptation. But he was too busy declaring anding his stalwart faith to seek God's power in his life.
As we pray we enter the fellowship of insight. We don't just watch. We watch with Him. We connect to our Lord's spiritual insight. We see with His eyes. We understand with His mind. When we pray with others, we come near Him with them and we begin to share one another's insights.
I am just beginning to scratch the surface of what Jesus is calling us to do and see as we watch in prayer. What is God showing you about watching?
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Ask that the Father would stir up repentant hearts among those in the Arabian Peninsula. Pray that He would give them eyes to see their sin, a true sorrow about it, and hearts that are humble before Him. Pray that they would turn to Him in repentance.
Pray that those in the Arabian Peninsula would know that despite their shortfalls, repentant hearts can lead to eternal security. Pray that they would come to know the Gospel and claim Jesus as their Savior, their acceptance, and their freedom.
Pray for opportunities for believers to have conversation with nationals in the Arabian Gulf about the difference between worldly sorrow and Godly sorrow. Ask for opportunities to discuss what repentance means, what it produces, why it is important, what it doesn't mean, and how Jesus plays a role in it.
Pray on behalf of the nations of the Arabian Peninsula. As a believer, stand in the gap for this nation who does not know the one true God and repent of its twisted ways. Repent for the sins of this nation and intercede on their behalf asking God to do a mighty work in this land and in this people. Pray for His Kingdom to come in the Arabian Peninsula,
I wonder what would happen if someone in every church across our country invited the Holy Spirit to come, not just to observe, but to interpret the word of God as it's being preached, instruct listeners in discerning the word of God, and to interrupt plans that will only lead to status quo, lifeless traditions or even worse, pharisaical attitudes.
#ReimagineCHURCH
What an encouraging prayer call today! (Saturday, September 28)
- I was a guest on the Prayer Surge NOW!every Saturday national prayer call
- Dai Sup Han (click & scroll), the facilitator, before our prayer-conversation, told those on the line how God used me to help launch him into a prayer-focused ministry over a dozen years ago (I was honored and blessed by his kind words)
- I was given the opportunity to explain the unfolding vision God has given me for the #ReimagineFORUM on Pray.Network and Discipleship.Network
- The prayers and comments in response to this vision were very affirming; leaders seem hungry for a challenge to revision the methods and mechanics, the traditions and trends, of their ministry.
- Reimagine is not a tinkering with our biblical foundation but it is more than a refreshed commitment (Romans 12:2: "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind")
- To reimagine is an invitation for the Holy Spirit to reveal blind spots or styles of ministry that confine us to the past and make us less effective in a rapidly and radically changing culture (Ephesians 2:6 reveals we are seated with Christ now! in the heavenly prayer gathering; we should listen before we start talking...)
- #ReimaginePRAYER & #ReimagineDISCIPLESHIP & #ReimagineEVANGELISM ~ these "hashtags" allow leaders to search on Twitter for my posts/links to content prompting a Spirit-led, Scripture-fed, Worship-bred, Corporate-said approach to reimagining process
- I shared how this template helps me avoid listing before listening when I pray
- Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7)
- A - Ask this question before asking for help-healing-hope: "Holy Spirit, how do you want me to focus on my prayer?"
- S - Seek guidance by being silent, searching scripture, singing a hymn or spiritual song, scribing your prayer
- K - Know then Knock. When you have discernment and direction, pray with determination ("Come boldly; the door shall be opened")
- Participants prayed for me, for our networks, and for God to use us to "build ... raise up ... repair ... with results that would reach beyond my lifetime with effectiveness beyond which we can ask or imagine."
And for how he is using you to make it possible,
Phil Miglioratti
#The ReimagineFORUM @ Pray.Network & Discipleship.Network
Have you considered that God may speak to you in visions or dreams? Throughout the Bible God appears or speaks to people in visions and dreams. On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:17 Peter quoted from the end-time prophecy of Joel.
“And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
This is beyond my comfort zone even though I admit that God has spoken to me in dreams. But I have never heard a voice like the boy, Samuel. I have never had a vision like Zecharia or Mary in Luke 1. Actually, I am not sure these should not be called appearances rather than visions. For the most part, the Bible does not make a distinction between a waking vision and a dream in the night. In Genesis 46:2, we read,
“And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, ‘Here I am.’”
In Numbers 12:6 the Lord says,
“Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.”
There seem to be two types of dream by which God speaks to people. The Lord, or the Angel of the Lord, may appear to someone in a dream. As Paul was led into the city after being confronted by Jesus on the road, the Lord spoke to a man named Ananias in a vision, saying he was to pray for Paul’s eyes to be opened. In the shipwreck in Acts 27, Paul told the others on the ship, “This very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship. He said, ‘Do not be afraid.’” We cannot know whom God will speak to like this. And although the Bible clearly teaches that God speaks to His children in many ways, He is sovereign over how and when He speaks.
God can also speak in riddle-like dreams as He did to Pharaoh in Genesis 41 or to Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel. In Numbers 12 God told Miriam that He spoke to prophets in dreams that were like riddles. But He spoke to Moses face to face. A complicated dream is not necessarily a bad thing. When God speaks in this kind of dream you have to struggle in prayer to understand what God is saying. In Genesis 41, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hear that you can interpret dreams. Joseph answered, “It is not in me, but God will give Pharaoh the meaning.” God gives the meaning of dreams. Daniel said the same thing to Nebuchadnezzar. “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show the king the mystery, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” God uses our struggle to understand to develop faith in us.
I would not put dreams on the same plain as Scripture. Nor would I put God speaking to me in a book or a sermon, or in my prayer time, on the level of Scripture. But the Bible teaches us about these things. God is in charge of how He speaks.
I am not sure God speaks to us in every dream. But I believe He will let you know when He is speaking to you. As you sense His presence and hear His voice, He will grow your faith. There is no limit to what God is able to do through you as you listen and learn to trust Him.
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This is the third in a series of blogs on developing faith by listening to God, adapted from my upcoming book, Faith, The Infinite, Ultimate Love of God.
We sometimes think of prayer as a monologue where we tell God what is on our hearts. But prayer is far more than that. Prayer is crucial among the ways that we hear the voice of God.
We listen to God by PRAYING THE WORD.
Listening to God in Scripture cannot be severed from listening in prayer. If you wish to hear God's voice in Scripture, you need to read prayerfully. We need to understand that God is present with us. He personally speaks to us through His word and prayer.
We listen to God by PRAYING TOGETHER.
Much prayer in the New Testament is corporate. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to join one of those power-filled prayer meetings in the Book of Acts? I sometimes call praying together, "Fellowship on Fire," or simply the fellowship of the Spirit. Everything we do as the church gathers should be the fellowship of the Spirit. Our services should be bathed in continual prayer. You will discover that God speaks to and through His children when we pray together. I often have the sense of God speaking to me as others around me pray. That is especially true in small group prayer meetings.
We listen to God by spending TIME IN PRAYER.
The lack of time can be a major barrier to prayer. In the garden before the cross Jesus asked His disciples if they couldn't even pray for an hour. Some of the power and blessing of prayer needs time. We are only given so much time. And other things swallow up time we could spend in the presence of God. How much time do you spend watching television, checking your email, playing video games, or in some other recreational activity? If you are serious about developing faith that will move mountains, you will have to replace the time invested in other things by spending more time with God.
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
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It had been awhile since I had counted, but the recent purchase of more books from a used book dealer, sent me back to the shelves to count how many books I possess on the subject of prayer. The new count is 481. A bit excessive for the normal minister/seminary professor, but not for one who for many years occupied one of only two fully endowed chairs of prayer in theological education in the world. Do I agree with everything in these books? Absolutely, not. Am I a better professor/person because of their contents? Absolutely, yes. They remind me of my opening words in the introduction of the book that I compiled for America's National Prayer Committee, entitled "Giving Ourselves to Prayer: An Acts 6:4 Primer for Ministry" (“we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”) which included the works of eighty authors from across the theological spectrum. I began with the words, "If I agreed with every paragraph in this book, I could have written it myself." Not meaning to sound arrogant, I was simply paying tribute to the diversity found in the subject of prayer – that same diversity found on my bookshelves in the section devoted to prayer. The fact that I own so many books on prayer reminds of a long-ago published book, entitled “Bull at a New Gate (1965). The chapter on prayer consists of 14 words. It reads, “Go pray! It will do you more good than reading another chapter on prayer.” So, pray or collect books on prayer – either way, you will be blessed.
Listening to God begins with the Bible. God will speak personally to you through His word. James 1:21 calls us to receive with meekness the word of God grafted into us. God will graft His word into your heart.
Let me suggest 4 disciplines that are essential to developing faith from God's word in your life. First, READ it. Read it prayerfully. Read it hungrily. Read it consistently.
Next, MEMORIZE Scripture. You may begin by memorizing verses that stir your heart. You could start trying to memorize chapters systematically going through whole books, first of the New Testament and then of the Old. If you could memorize a chapter a week, you could memorize the entire New Testament in less than four years.
All of my adult life I have encouraged and helped adults memorize Scripture. I have helped quite a number who were convinced they could not memorize. Let me give you several steps to memorizing a verse or a passage.
- Commit to memorizing. If you are determined, you will succeed.
- Ask God to help you memorize.
- Read it aloud. It is much more difficult to memorize something silently.
- Repeat it over and over until you can say it without looking.
- Continue to review what you have memorized. I mark the day when I memorize a verse, and review it every day for a month.
The third discipline in listening to God in the Bible is to THINK about it. After you have memorized a verse you will be amazed at new things you come to understand from it. I recently memorized a passage whose meaning puzzles me. I meditate on it some everyday. I still do not understand much about this passage, but God ministers to me through it.
The final discipline for opening the word of God so that God can speak to you through it is, OBEY it. A major key to understanding the word of God is a willingness to obey. As we learn to obey small things in Scripture, He will reveal greater things to us.
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http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
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http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
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In the next few weeks I would like to share with you something that I wrote in my soon to be released book, FAITH, Risking and Resting on The Word of God.
LISTENING FAITH
Jesus made it clear that there is absolutely nothing that God cannot do through you when you trust Him. He repeatedly told us we could do things like casting mountains into the sea.
Of course one important question is, “How do you develop miracle-working faith?” We Cannot begin by using our imagination. Don't try to imagine what great and wonderful things you could do for God. Instead, learn to listen to what God is telling you. Isaiah 55:3 calls to us.
“Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live.”
The main reason we do not hear the voice of God is that we are not listening. This week our pastor ask me to lead the Call to Worship in our Sunday morning service. I began by asking people to pray something I think we should pray every time we enter a worship service. “Father, let me hear your voice this morning.” I went on to say I don't think it offends God for you to pray something like, “God, if you are real, let me hear your voice.” Are you listening for the voice of God?
We must lean in to hear His voice. That is what God meant in Isaiah by “Incline your ear to me.” You already incline your ear to the world. You watch TV, listen to the radio, and surf the internet. You may even read books from time to time. Do you ever listen for the voice of God? In the next few sequential blog posts I will deal with how God speaks to us. And I encourage you to begin to listen as He speaks to you through His Son who walked upon the Earth and changed all of history. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing the word of Christ.
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
FaceBook, The Published Works of David B. Young
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My prayer template for a ministry colleague:
• Stay holy - set apart to God
• Live pure - undivided motivation
• Be kind - to all you meet and lead
To reimagine is not to change what we believe but how we think.
If we are unable to differentiate between our beliefs (theology, doctrines) and thoughts (ideas, applications, systems, best practices), then we will ultimately be unable to defend our values and discern the foundations of social change and political preferences.
To reimagine, is to rethink, review and revise, prompted by a Holy Spirit revealed fresh-for-our-times application of the unchanging truth of Scripture. We are blessed by and greatly benefit from but are not bound by tradition.
To reimagine is not to rely on human imaginations; just the opposite, it is a yielding to the revelation of the Holy Spirit that infuses human thinking with the mind of Christ which allows us to know the will of our Holy God. A unique application to our times and our trials.
To reimagine, individuals – cohort groups - congregations – collaborations, must employ the gifts of the Holy Spirit (especially prayer) and the resource of scripture.
To refuse to reimagine, is actually an act of disobedience, because we are commanded to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we ( individually and corporately) demonstrate God's will is good for all. So that means our leadership and ministries, not just our personal moral life must be transformed: our disciple making, prayer, evangelism, church itself…
We should expect the renewing of our mind, a reimagination led by the Spirit, to result in great works for a great God.
Take faith! #Reimagine
My passion is to intentionally pray my grandchildren will love Jesus and follow Him wholeheartedly. What is your passion for your grandchildren? Does this picture reflect your passion for your grandchildren?
Christian Grandparenting Network has a passion for encouraging and equipping grandparents to pray for their grandchildren. Our mission is to challenge grandparents around the world to intentionally and regularly come together to pray, interceding for their grandchildren, children, and communities. In the Pray! Magazine, Arlyn Lawrence writes, “Intercession is one of the ways God designed for us to partner with Him in bringing His loving presence into our aching world.”1
In Isaiah 58:6, we read that we can “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke” in our world. One of the ways we can break these chains is by “standing in the gap” with a prayer for our dear grandchildren.
Just as Esther stood in the gap for her people, the Jews when physically threatened. Grandparents can stand in the gap today with a prayer for their grandchildren as the enemy threatens their spiritual lives and tries to distract them from God’s Truth.
Christian Grandparents Network has introduced Grandparents intercessory prayer groups as a way to call grandparents together to pray for each other’s grandchildren and their families. Groups meet in retirement centers, schools, churches, and homes weekly, bi-weekly or monthly as often as the group desires. The grandparents meet together in small or large groups regularly to unite in prayer at a designated location for 1 hour or so of guided prayer and fellowship.
Participating grandparents comment that they appreciate having a safe place to share their concerns and know other grandparents are praying with them for their grandchildren. Our grandchildren are growing up in a troubled fragmented world needs a lot of prayers.
Christian Grandparents Network has guidelines and more information available to help you get started. Today is a good time to start asking some friends who are grandparents to meet with you to pray for the grandchildren on September 8, Grandparents Day of Prayer.
To learn more about the prayer groups go to https://christiangrandparenting.net/grandparents-at-prayer/
By Lillian Penner, Co-prayer director for Christian Grandparenting Network, lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net
