Last night in our small group Bible study, we were studying James 1:27 where James is telling the Jewish Christians to: “look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I thought to myself to keep oneself from being polluted by the world is something I should pray for my grandchildren and of course, myself. 

James is telling the believers to be generous and help the needy. When we reach out and help the needy, it is an act of love because the needy cannot repay us. We can become so busy and self-absorbed with our needs and wants we don’t even notice the needs of others around us. Let’s pray that we along with our grandchildren will recognize the needy and help them in their distress.  

However, he also tells them to keep themselves from being polluted by the world. In this media-driven culture with the television, Internet, video games, Face book, Twitter, blogs, etc. it is hard not to be polluted by the ungodly worldly influence. Our media-driven culture is desensitizing our grandchildren, trying to distract and steal them from living for our Lord Jesus Christ.   

Pray for your grandchildren to:

• Recognize the deception and pollution of the godless world.
• Guard themselves from the corruption of our godless world.
• Keep themselves unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.
• Refuse to let the world corrupt them.

Check out Grandparents Day of Prayer at www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com

© 2010 Lillian Penenr

How do you pray when you don't see your prayers being answered? Of course it is important to examine your prayers and yours motives. There may be reasons your prayers are not being answered. If that is the case, you can be sure your loving heavenly Father will show you what is wrong. But there are also times when God wants us to persevere in prayer. In Matthew 7:7,8 and Luke 11:9-13 Jesus told us to ask, seek and knock. And the tense of those verbs requires us to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking and to knock and keep on knocking. Are you persevering?

I am praying for a spiritual awakening in America that will be part of an end time movement that will shake the earth. I believe God wants me to keep praying for that even though I don't see signs of it coming about. I have written recently about that asking those of you who read my blog to pray with me for God to bring this about. You can scroll back to the blogs on extraordinary prayer if you missed them. I have several other similar ideas that I believe have come from God that I need to keep praying for even though I don't yet see what God is doing.

More personally I am praying for people that I love dearly who have not come to Christ. My wife prayed faithfully for her grandfather for 30 years before seeing him come to faith in the last year of his life. I am praying for others who are facing great need, are trapped in some sin or are enduring painful trials. I need to admit that I do see God at work in some of these situations. But I don't see His hand in others. And I need to keep praying until God clearly tells me to stop, or shows me a different way to pray for those involved.

Are you persevering in prayer. Keep on praying. You can be sure it pleases God.

My book I AM (poetic reflections through the Gospel of John) has been released. You can see a video trailer on my website,  http://daveswatch.com/books/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

I have written quite a bit here on praise in the past few years. But in fact I am convinced that I have not written nearly enough about it. Jesus began His model prayer for us with a crescendo of praise. "Hallowed be thy name." I think it is important to note that Jesus is not simply giving us a mechanical order for the words of our prayers like the helpful A.C.T.S. of Prayer, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. He is saying praising God is to be preeminent in our character and the prayers that rise from it.

I recently heard a marvelous sermon on this by Tim Keller. He noted that neither confession nor petition can be right when praise is not preeminent in our thoughts. I highly recommend that you take the time to listen to this sermon.* I think you will find it to be uplifting and life changing even if you already understand this principle.

But this leaves me at a difficult place. How do I develop a heart that desires God's praise and glory above everything else? I have several suggestions of things we can do to affect our character in this way.

• First, ask God. I begin my morning prayer time each day by asking God to help me long for His glory above all things. I draw this from the implication that God's Spirit must produce every good thing in my life. However, I have not found a direct command or even an example of this in scripture.     From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
• Think about all the reasons we have to praise God. Meditate on His majesty and power. Consider His wondrous grace and infinite love for you. The Bible is full of commands, examples and helps for this. Still, this is not my most important or biblical suggestion.
• The most important thing you can do to inculcate praise into your heart and life is to exercise praise. The scriptures are replete with examples and admonitions to praise and worship God. Jesus told us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart. We are to lift up His name in praise. And you can be sure that when you worship the Holy Spirit is near. You would not be worshipping if He were not prompting. And you can sense His work in you as you praise God. As I begin my prayers with praise I note that my whole perspective changes. Sometimes I am even able to praise God for what I have been worrying about. This is God transforming my heart in the act of praise.
• Let me add one more word which is actually part of the exercise of prayer. Regularly engage in corporate worship. I find corporate worship reinforces my private praise. It is no small thing to begin my personal devotions armed with a hymn or scripture song that I learned at church. And my attitudes are often lifted as I remember worshipping together with others who lifted their voices with me in the family of God.

*   http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/adoration-hallowed-be-thy-name

I would like to attach this prayer trailer for the movie War Room to some of my blog posts. It is certainly worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgC_HLLcCQ

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com

Grandparent’s Day of Prayer- September 13, 2015  

  I want to share a special event with you that will be taking place on Sunday, September 13, 2015. Christian Grandparenting Network is asking grandparents all over the world to unite in prayer for their grandchildren on Sunday, September 13, 2015. This date is the official United States National Grandparents Day designated by a Senate proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.

Our grandchildren are living in a desperate moral and spiritual climate navigating in a world hostile to truth. Satan has launched an aggressive attack on all fronts using media, technology, education, social influences and political pressures to desensitize and cloud the boundaries of truth and righteousness that hold nations and families together. Perhaps at no other time in our history is a call to prayer more urgently required than it is today for our grandchildren.

The mission of Christian Grandparenting Network is to promote effective grandparenting, which is intentional about helping our children and
grandchildren know and follow Christ wholeheartedly.

NOW it is calling all grandparents to join in prayer in their churches, community and around the world for an intentional day of prayer on behalf of the next generation.

To indicate participation in the movement or organize a time of prayer for grandparents go to http://www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com. You may find additional information and order promotional resources on the website.

Please email me at lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net for additional information or questions or go to  www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com

Please share this blog with your friends.

May God show favor on your grandparenting,

Lillian Penner,
National Prayer Coordinator
Christian Grandparenting Network

In Matthew 6:36, Jesus talks about how God cares for us. Pray this verse for those who love Christ but are struggling with feeding their families. They cannot find jobs in an economy that is failing. Their needs are great. Ask God to provide in miraculous ways for the poor who love Him.

Pray for those who are suffering from fear in cities which are being bombed or where fighting has broken out. Others are feeling hopeless and depressed, wondering about their future. Pray that Christ will appear to them in visions and dreams, giving them hope. Pray that many will come to know Him during this time of turmoil in their nation.

Please pray for the on-going gathering of several university students as they meet with a believing mentor. Pray they will have minds that understand and acknowledge the truth as well as hearts that receive with great joy what they are hearing. May the Lord do a great work in this small beginning so that many will come into His Kingdom.

A Believer in Christ is worried about his mother. She has many health problems and needs to get medical help outside of the country. Due to unrest in her country, it is impossible for her to leave at this time. Pray that God will heal her. Pray that she will accept His love for her.

Hello all I am new on here and hope to meet some friends on here I am married to my wonderful husband and we have one cat.  Family and friends and going to Church are very inportant to us. We used to be Youth Leaders at our old church we went to years ago when we were younger and my husband was on the church board and I did the Church Bulletin and did the overhead during church services I love to do the Lords work. My husband played his accordian in church too.  We know go to The New Hope Church and really enjoy it.

Adopting the simple and powerful lifestyle of praying, caring and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with those around us reminds us that if we follow Jesus, we would never have to worry about getting it wrong or drifting astray.  We could forget about “who gets the credit” and just walk with Jesus.

 If we needed to pray, he would kneel and invite us to kneel with him.  If we needed to care, he would show us where and how.   If we needed to share, he would be sure someone crossed our path. 

This is the light and life that comes as we follow Jesus.  An aggressive lifestyle of love would emerge from our harried lives.  The person of Jesus would emerge from all our plans and programs about him and we would share His love to every man, woman, young person and child in this city.

If you would like to change the Spiritual face of Jacksonville by 2020, go to www.lovejax2020.org and adopt your street! Share this call to love with as many followers of Jesus as possible. And please share the stories of your prayer-care-share efforts with us online.

As we go about our work day, we might learn from an uneducated worker named Brother Lawrence. When Brother Lawrence joined a monastery in Paris in the 1600’s, he wasn’t educated enough to become an official clergyman, so he went about serving in the monastery. For the rest of his life, he worked in the kitchen and repaired sandals. But it washow he went about his work that was remarkable.

Brother Lawrence had an extraordinary peace about him, which blanketed him with otherworldly wisdom, and as a result, people came to the monastery to meet with him, the lowly kitchen help. “How to have such lasting peace?” they would ask.

Eventually the letters he wrote to seekers and the conversations he had with them, made their way into a book, which was compiled by the vicar general to the Archbishop of Paris. Later, influential leaders like John Wesley and A.W. Tozer recommended it, and “The Practice Presence of the Presence of God” became a classic in Christian literature.

So what set Brother Lawrence apart from his fellow clergymen and planted within him such riches that even poor and uneducated as he was, he soared to heights seen by but a few men, and became a sage to generations?

Brother Lawrence learned how to practice the presence of God.

He writes,

It was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times.

In other words, there are no strict times of prayer and strict times of work. We do not exit one activity and resume another. Prayer and work should happen concurrently, are inseparable, one the dance step and the other the music. Prayer and work belong together. Brother Lawrence prayed as he worked, or was it that he worked as he prayed? It doesn’t matter…he didn’t separate his life into categories that we so often and easily do.

I wonder if the separations we make, actually separate us from God, when all along God wants to tear down those walls, the walls we build between prayer and work, God and work, God’s work in us and our work for God. How can we be friends of God if we’ve erected such barricades?

There was a moment in Jesus’ ministry when he told his disciples,

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

The disciples weren’t servants anymore; they had become friends. How? By spending enough time with Jesus that he taught them everything he had learned from his Father. How did they spend enough time with him? By going with Jesus from town to town.

The disciples were around for the big ministry moments—the preaching to the crowds, the healing of infirmities, the raising of the dead. But spending time with Jesus was not all crusades and miracles. It included some very common moments—walking from town to town, eating quiet and lowly meals, the minutes before falling asleep with no place to lay your head. Working together.

So what if you connected with God at work? What if you practiced the presence of God at your workplace, and instead of starting prayer and stopping prayer and starting work and stopping work, your works and your prayers were all twisted up in a big ball of twine so that neither could be separated from the other? Would you be a friend of God then?

Just like a lowly kitchen worker from Paris was.

P.S. I write about this type of prayer in Made To Pray.

We pray that by the year-end of 2020, every person in Jacksonville would be authentically loved by at least one follower of Jesus.

We believe that the greatest gift we can give a person is an opportunity to know that God loves them and cares deeply about them. Such love is not an emotion, but a choice.

Followers of Jesus do not love on the basis of how we feel because real love is not a transaction based upon performance, but upon a relationship.  This understanding of love lead us to view loving God and others more as the purpose of life itself rather than a rule to be obeyed.

We believe the commandment to love comes to us from God, who is Holy Love.  This means our ego is not the gatekeeper of love, but that our lives are the channels through whom God’s love reaches the world.

Jesus’ words, “Love one another as I have loved” (John 15:12) make the command one of opportunity, not obligation–one of privilege, not pressure.  Our will to live is itself fueled by love–we love because he first loved us (1John 4:19). 

Give love a try! When we are transformed by God’s love, this experience saturates us, we cannot imagine not loving, and we lose interest in trying to decide when, where, how, to what extent, and whom to love.  In fact, we realize that the most soul-wearying thing we can ever do is to be the self-appointed managers of God’s love. 

The impact of love in the New Testament is altogether consuming. After all:

• It never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8);
• It covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8);
• It casts out fear (1 John 4:18);
• It speaks truth (Ephesians 4:15);
• It lays down its life (John 15:13);
• Nothing can separate us from it (Romans 5:35);
• It is unconditional (Romans 5:8);
• It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:7);
• Faith works through it (Galatians 5:6);
• It operates in the invisible world (1 Peter 1:8);
• It is the first fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22);
• We are to pursue it until it overtakes us (1 Timothy 6:11);
• It is sincere (Romans 12:9); and finally
• It gives the best (John 3:16).

If we get into the habit of asking God to make His love real to us and to those we encounter, love will become the most powerful weapon in our arsenal. If it is not relevant to our city, then it is not relevant to any city. Without the power of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, we may have a good history, but we will not have good news.

Our prayer for the church at this hour is for love to simply be demonstrable, tangible, if you will. That’s why Transform Jacksonville & NE Florida has joined with the Mission America Coalition in sounding a trumpet call to bring God’s people to a simple and powerful lifestyle of praying, caring and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with those around us. Every Christian can be part of this loving lifestyle –loving regardless, loving anyway, and loving nevertheless.  This is not a knee-jerk, unconsidered love, but rather it is a Spirit-anointed love made possible by grace.  It is a love marked by passion for God and compassion for people.

http://www.lovejax2020.org

How are you loving your enemies? It should not surprise us that Jesus Himself applied this impossible command with a prescription for prayer.

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.[i]

I recently read something on the web from a man who works as a Christian apologist that severely attacked Bill Nye (the science guy). I wrote a comment about loving and praying for Bill Nye. The man wrote back somewhat offended thinking I was saying he should abandon his ministry. I admit that that I may not have been as kind or loving as I should have been to the apologist with my public comment. But it is crucial for believers to base our polemics in the love of Christ.

This requires prayer because it is impossible in human strength. I need to regularly pray for God's power to love my enemies. I need to ask God to help me love members of ISIS and radical Islam.  And this needs to be specific. I need God to help me pray by name for my Muslim Medical Doctor and the News anchor who will twist the News to get people to support same sex marriage. And yes, the television personality who would lead my grandchildren into sin and unbelief.

And I don't know about you, but I have trouble figuring out how to do and even think about this. I need God to show me how to love, my family and friends. How much more do need Him to show me how to love my enemies?

I just saw a great interview on this on http://www.radical.net/blog/ . I want to recommend this blog to all serious Christians. And certainly more pressing to the point of this subject I want to recommend this particular video whose link I found on it. http://www.rosariabutterfield.com/ This video and others on this site are particularly on loving my homosexual neighbors, but they establish the principle of prayerfully loving real people.

I discipline myself to pray for many people that stretch my prayer life. I have wondered if I should make a special prayer list for my enemies and for enemies of Christianity in general. At this point I have decided not to pray for them in a specific list. First, I have enough trouble praying for them when they are mixed with people who are not as difficult to pray for. And I need to see prayer needs as a mixture of growth and joy. And the greatest of these elements often flow out of the love for the same people. Father put Your love in me for enemies all around us.

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/

http://www.radical.net/blog/

http://www.rosariabutterfield.com/

“Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name” (Psalm 86:11).

As you look at your present life, what do you personally fear? You may be presently struggling with a fear that has gripped your heart deeply. Satan has released a spirit of fear all over the world, but the fear of the Lord counterattacks enemy fear. In light of this fact, we must learn not only about the fear of the Lord but how to walk in the fear of the Lord. Is it your deep desire to learn about the fear of the Lord?
 
Maybe you wonder, “What does it really mean to fear the Lord?
 
Some people think that fearing the Lord is like driving down the street while watching a policeman in your rearview mirror. But this is not a true picture of what the fear of the Lord is. It’s more like a teenage driver who suddenly sees her father in the rearview mirror. She quickly puts on her best behavior in driving—eyes on the road, no texting, and stopping at a yellow light. But this tells her that her father really cares enough to follow her. She’s safe. She knows that he is trying to help her develop good driving habits by obeying the laws and staying safe until she gets home. She’s driving but not completely on her own.
 
For us as God’s people, the fear of the Lord is like living with our heavenly father in the rearview mirror. When we look up we see His wonderful holiness, care, and love. Our fear of Him is mixed with reverence, trust, and love.
 
To fear the Lord is an extremely positive subject (Isaiah 11:3, Psalm 19:9, 12-14). Jesus delighted Himself in the fear of the Lord. Our hearts are designed in the same way. In the Bible there are at least 300 references to the fear of God. To truly fear the Lord is a joy and a supreme delight when we see it the way God desires. It is not to be afraid of the Lord but to be in awe of Him. But it also can be terrifying as we look at our personal sin in light of God’s consuming fire. Romans 3 is a main chapter on sin that tells us that our chief sin is to have no fear of God (v. 18).
 
The godly men of the Bible feared God. Joseph was a god-fearing man (Genesis 42:18). Moses feared God and chose god-fearing leaders (Exodus 18:21). David, Daniel, Abraham, and other Bible characters walked in the fear of the Lord. Jesus Himself said not to fear those who can kill the body, but to only fear God (Matthew 10:28).
 
To live a vibrant and holy life like the godly men of the Bible, we must walk in the fear of the Lord.
 
We all want a vibrant life. We want a life full of energy, enthusiasm, vim and vigor. We want one that is vivacious, dynamic, passionate, and exciting. This is the dictionary definition of vibrant. Unfortunately we do not often see this. When I look around the world, I see people filled with fear, unhappiness, apathy, and pain. But as Christians we want our lives to be filled with the awe and wonder of God. We want to look forward to the future, instead of living in fear and uncertainly. If we want to find true success, we must live according to God’s design. When we value what He values, our lives will be blessed.
 
There is no better time to learn about the fear of the Lord as now when human fears are at an all time high. This is the day where we must put the fear of the Lord at the front of all other ambitions. The times we are encountering require it.
 
Let’s realize that there are so many rewards of fearing the Lord. Here are just a few of the 300+ Bible verses about the fear of the Lord. Quiet your heart and take time to meditate on what the fear of the Lord gives you and what this means in your own personal life: knowledge (Proverbs 1:7), a fountain of life (Proverbs 14:27) healing and refreshment (Proverbs 3:7-8), strength to turn from evil (Proverbs 16:9), wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), provision (Psalm 34:9), confidence and refuge (Proverbs 14:26), God’s goodness (Proverbs 31:19), deliverance (Psalm 34:7), mercy (Psalm 103:11), care (Psalm 33:18-19), contentment (Proverbs 15:16), prolonged life (Proverbs 10:27), a satisfying life (Proverbs 19:23), God’s watchful care (Psalm 33:18-19), holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1), and so much more!
 
In light of these rewards, it is so important that we make it our goal to fear the Lord. If we want to grow in holiness, our long-term success is in the context of the fear of the Lord. We must determine within ourselves to be well-pleasing to God. As Christians, our lives are being set apart unto God and set apart from sin. We live in the presence of a holy, just, and almighty God.
 
God Sees, Cares, and Rewards
 
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
 
We must be aware of God’s presence. He holds us accountable for our words, thoughts, motives, and actions. We must consciously realize that He is watching, that He cares, and that He remembers what we do and rewards us.

• God sees - We are often so concerned about what others think about us and how they judge what we do. How much more should we be concerned about God’s evaluation of our words, thoughts, actions, attitudes, and motives! He sees us in the hidden place of our heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Every hour of our life is meaningful because God sees us completely. As we grow in this minute-by-minute awareness, we will grow in the fear of the Lord. See Hebrews 4:12-13. 
  
  
• God cares and remembers - He is involved in our lives and passionate about what He sees. He finds great value in our daily choices to love Him. Even when we give a glass of water in His name, He takes notice. He cherishes every movement of our heart towards Him. If we repent of the bad things we do, God will forget our sin. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13). See Malachi 3:16-17, Proverbs 16:2, and Psalms 56:8.
  
  
• God rewards - When we stand before Him, He will openly reward us (Matthew 6:6, Psalm 45:7, 86:11, 98:10, Proverbs 1:29,31, Romans 12:9). 
  
  “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous… By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:9-11). 

The fear of the Lord is a holy fear where we learn to stand in awe and respect the good, greatness, and glorious nature of God. It should be our desire to be near the Lord and to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Through fearing the Lord we can become all that He desires and accomplish that which is beyond our own ability in the natural. God wants our fear of Him to be above every other fear in life.
 
You may feel that your actions are often mundane, insignificant, and makes very little difference in life. But take notice of this: God sees and cherishes every single thing you do for His glory. Your daily choices to love Him bring great joy to His heart. Realize that God holds the world in His hands and that nothing formed against you shall stand. He is your Strength and Shield. He goes before you and reigns forever. Your God is faithful and always by your side. He is the one you must fear and no other. In my next article we will learn about how to walk in the fear of the Lord.
 
Let’s ask God to give us a minute-by-minute awareness of His presence and consciously choose today to walk in the fear of the Lord.
 
“Lord, teach me the fear of the Lord. I ask for an awareness of Your presence. I thank You for being my strength and shield and for being always by my side. You are my light and my salvation and the stronghold of my life. I worship and stand in awe of You today. You are the one I shall fear. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
 
Listen to this song and worship God for His personal care over your life - Whom Shall I Fear 
 
“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

• Four facebook pages for my books on prayer: Breakthrough Prayer, Ascending the Height in Prayer, Deeper Still, and 24/7 Prayer Arise. 
• Join and like the Intercessors Arise facebook page for daily encouragement in your prayer life. 
• Have your friends sign up for Intercessors Arise here.
• See The Fire of Prayer and  International School of Prayer blog sites.

 
Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
www.intercessorsarise.org

Do you get disappointed with God’s timetable sometime?

We read in John 11 how Mary and Martha were disappointed and thought all hope was gone when Jesus didn't come when they called for him to come heal their beloved brother, Lazarus. Jesus had healed others but Jesus wasn’t coming to heal their brother. Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus, however, he had a different agenda for something even greater in that Lazarus would be raised from the dead and so that God's Son would be glorified through it. 

Two days later Jesus told his disciples that it was time to go to Judea to see Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. They learned when they arrived Lazarus had been dead four days. Martha told Jesus that if he had come sooner her brother would not have died. Nevertheless, Jesus went to the grave deeply moved, asking to have the stone removed from the tomb. Martha said, “But Lord, he’s been dead four days and stinketh”. Jesus told her “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God”. Then Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out” and Lazarus came out of the tomb.   

  We can learn several lessons from this story. When we pray asking God for something, we often get discouraged as Mary and Martha did because he does not answer immediately or on our timetable or in the way we expected. Jesus had the opportunity to heal and teach during those two days. Jesus was God’s Son, knowing the Father’s plan was to glorify his Son by not healing Lazarus but raising Lazarus from the dead. Isn't it great that when we think God is four days late by our timetable, He is still on time?        

Many parents and grandparents are in God’s waiting room with you, you are not alone. However, we have to continue trusting God will answer our prayers in His way and in His timing, He doesn’t need our help, He only needs us to trust Him.  Our prayers may not even be answered in our lifetime but we have to wait for God's perfect timing. 

Our finite minds simply cannot grasp God’s infinite ways for answering our prayers. God often needs to work in our hearts, our character or the person for whom we are praying before he can answer our prayers. God’s way and timing is always perfect, he knows best, even when we think he is late, He is still on time.  

• Is God's timetable too slow for you at times?
• Are you getting tired of waiting on God to answer your prayers?
• Are you disappointed and frustrated because God is not answering on your timetable?
• Does God want to develop spiritual growth in your life or in the lives of your loved ones before He is ready to answer?
• How do you respond when you are in the waiting room waiting for your prayer to be answered?

Prayer: Dear Father, I want to thank you for the privilege to bring my concerns to you. Give me patience as I wait for you to work out your plan and your timing to answer my prayers. Help me to trust you and your Word as I wait for your answers to my prayers. In Jesus Name, Amen 

By Lillian Penner

©2015 Penner

_________________________________________________________

My youngest son was invited to a "sleepover party" this week. One of his closest friends was turning 10 and wanted my little guy to celebrate with him. You might not think a sleepover is such a big deal at your age, but for a nine-year-old who has often been left behind while two older brothers go on sleepovers, this was like being given the world! Oh, the fun they would have! They would stay up until TEN O'CLOCK, he boasted to me! They would eat popcorn! Watch movies! Candy for dinner! And on and on he went.

The invitation arrived a week or so ahead of time. It was beautiful: a full-color, printed invitation complete with pictures, time and date. It promptly earned a coveted place on our fridge, where my son could visually savor its promised delights until the momentous day should arrive. We discussed it daily: what to bring, what to wear, how exciting that HE had been invited, along with one or two of his best friends! This was just THE BEST!  

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 David knew how to climb up the Worship Mountain wherever he was.

Persecuted, betrayed, but he learnt how to keep safe his secret hidden place with the Lord.

No matter what happens around, He is our Rock. In the secret of His Presence, we will hear the  heart beats for the lost ones! We go back to our daily routine, but He has anointed us with His love for the unreached! My best verse today, which I share with you:

But God became my hideout,
    God was my high mountain retreat

Psalm 94, The Message

Have you spent time under the fig tree? Do you remember the account in the first chapter of the Gospel of John about Nathanael's first encounter with Jesus? The Lord made a declaration about Nathanael's character that someone who had not met him couldn't know. Nathanael was shocked. Of course we understand how the Son of God would know us intimately, but Nathanael had to ask Jesus how He knew. Jesus' answer stirs my heart. He simply said, "I saw you under the fig tree." That convinced Nathanael that Jesus was God. Can you imagine what had happened to Nathanael under the fig tree? Are you spending time under your fig tree?

I have just been polishing a poem on Nathanael's encounter for a book of poems I have written through The Gospel of John. I have been wanting to introduce this book to you who read my blog before it is released, mostly so you would begin praying for it. So I am presenting this poem to you in advance.

Before and after each poem I have a place for readers to make notes. Here I have lines printed before the poem. But after it I have given some of my own insights.

UNDER THE FIG TREE

John 1:48

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

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What did Nathanael hear underneath the fig tree

As the heavens drew near in his secret place?

Did he think of Hagar and the God who could see?

Did he shrink like Moses from seeing God's face?

Did he shake in the trembling silence of his awe?

His heart quake at God whispering His call?

Jesus sought another who would another bring.

So He brought up Phillip with his gentile name.

Phillip hailed Nathaniel, "We've found the coming King."

 Nathanael assailed Nazareth before he came.

“Can any good come from such a backwater place?"

Phil could only offer, "Come see Him face to face."

Jesus told Nathaniel as he came into sight,

"Behold an Israelite without any deceit"

"How could you know me?" was his startled reply

"I saw you bow ‘neath the bush when you took retreat.”

Nathanael was amazed. His heart could only sing

With His soul ablaze, “You are the King of Kings!”

“Because I said I saw you, have you now believed?

Greater pause you'll take as the Son of Man's revealed.

Only a glimpse of heaven have you now received.

You’ll wince at my glory as before me you kneel.

You will yet rejoice to see angels descending,

With a voice like thunder the heavens rending?”

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God does know you no matter what. But Jesus pointed specifically to a time Nathanael spent alone with Him.

I suspect Jesus' declaration about Nathanael confirmed what God was doing in his life. What declaration will Jesus make from your time alone with Him?

What will He yet reveal of Himself to you? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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One of the reasons why I began writing His Inscriptions was to strengthen believers - especially Christian leaders - who are weary and exhausted for various reasons. You may be feeling that way today. It is not uncommon, in an increasingly hostile world, to feel tired or discouraged. Once we are weary, it becomes harder than ever to maintain the good habits we have of connecting with God. Self-discipline eludes us and our communication with God ebbs at the time we need it most.

The Bible addresses weariness, and in its simplest form, we know that a weary body needs rest and nourishment, just as a weary spirit does. (Read more here)

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15

Islam teaches that God the Father cannot have a Son. God cannot become a man. God cannot die on a cross. For them the God of all creation cannot dwell in their hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit. Their worldview does not allow some of the most basic truths that come from God's Word.

Pray for the truth about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to grow right across the Arabian Gulf.

Pray that many Arab Muslims would cry out "Abba, Father." May they know Him as their Father.

Pray that they would know the Father, who sent the Son, and of His great love.

Pray that the Holy Spirit would release the Arabian peoples from being slaves and living in fear to being adopted as sons.