Praying for 30 days- day 28

I can't believe I am almost done with this book, Today I pray by Stonecroft ministries. It has been such a growing experience and I can wait to see how God continues to work through this even after it's over.

Throughout the pages of this book and the verses it has given, a lot of them have directed us back to the power of God's word. The power that it has to change lives. I know that it has changed my life. It is real to me. It challenges me even when I am stubborn and rather do it my way. But as day 28's verses states, it sets us free.

"  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. ³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
³³ They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. ³⁶ Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Our world has grown to hate truth. Truth makes people feel uncomfortable. It challenges them. Sometimes it hurts their egos. Most court cases are about people who are offended by truth. Just listen to the news. But their "truth" only makes them enslaved to themselves and people's opinions. God's truth sets us free from all that. All we have to do is abide in it. That's it! At my job at the group home for court appointed teens, my boss challenged one of the young girls I worked with to read the book of Mark. This particular book of the Bible changed his life and because of it, he became a Christian. Her response was that she didn't want to read it because she was afraid that she would have to change her life. People know that there is something about God and His word but don't want to be set free. There is power when you read God's word. 

The greatest freedom when one reads God's word is that they can become a son or daughter of God. They will be apart of the family of God. They can live life free from this world and live life more abundantly. It is only by God's word and recognizing it as the only truth.

Lord, I ask that You will set _______ free and that _______ will know freedom indeed.   

Praying for 30 days- day 27

Today's verse from my book Today I Pray by Stonecroft ministries is Proverbs 30:5.

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Lord God, let ____________ know that every word of Yours is flawless and that You are a shield to those who put their trust in You.

God's word is pure. You cannot find anything wrong with it. What He says, it will happen.

It also what brings people to Christ. It changes lives. God's word is a double edged sword pierces the heart.

Besides Proverbs 30:5 here are some promises of how God's word are pure:

Psalm 12:6
The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times
 

Psalm 19:8
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes
 

Psalm 119:140
Your word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it
 

2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Justice for Our Souls

As I have scrolled through my Facebook newsfeed, I see hurt, anger, sickness, and pain. I am watching the likes build up on my current status of asking for prayers for my husband and his family because of his grandfather passing away. A friend of mine has a two year old with chicken pox while taking care of her two month old. She is exhausted. There is also a missionary friend who is suffering stage four pancreatic cancer and going through her second round of chemo. She barely can keep the proper nutrients in her body. All the news reports are talking about President Obama's oval office speech about Isis and the San Bernardino shooting. A Lt Colonel got extremely upset where the news reporter had to interrupt him and told him that he couldn't use language like that. So I had to listen to our president's speech which was of course displayed his agenda for the American people. It brings such a burden on my heart to see what living in a sinful and sad world means, but it also reminds me of the reason Jesus came.

In reflecting of the season, I have focused on how Jesus came as our King who brought justice and righteousness to our souls. He did not come to destroy what was temporary but what was eternal. Jesus came to bring something new from something bigger than anyone realized. As it states in Isaiah 4:2,

"In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing
For those of Israel who have escaped."

Jesus came to bring back Eden to our lives! He came so that life would be excellent and appealing. Our souls would escape death and to live life more abundantly. He came to bring about a bigger plan of God's glory.

"His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked...
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”  Isaiah 11:1-4,10

Jesus' delight was the will of God. He came to judge the poor righteously and to slay the wicked. Sin was not meant to rule but God and His righteousness. 

 "In those days and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David
A Branch of righteousness;
He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." Jeremiah 33:15

So even with everything that is going on with the uncertainties of life or the direction of our nation, we have to hold on to the fact that God has a bigger and better plan. That He has and always will have a plan and we are apart of it as Christians. As a Anita @anitamckaney on Periscope said advent is about not just Jesus coming here on earth but that He was to come, has come and will come again. This should be our focus among the hurt, pain, sickness, and anger that is lingering this Christmas season.

Praying for 30 days- day 26

Psalm 23:4
"Yea, though, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

God, I pray that ________ would know You and receive the comfort of Your Presence while facing any dark valley. Help _________ to trust You and not be afraid. (Today I pray by Stonecroft ministries)

As I have stated earlier in this prayer journey, my husband's 92 year old grandfather is not doing well. We found out later on that he has terminal cancer and he is dying. My husband is taking this really hard because he is super close to his grandfather. I prayed this prayer for him today because I cant imagine going through a time of knowing your life is about to end and you have no hope. He is in a constant state of helpless and depression. He does not have the peace that one can have holding onto today's scripture.

I have done a study on this chapter some while back where I looked up what was the purposes of the rod and staff for a shepherd. The rod is a symbol of strength. It shows power and authority. The rod also is used to discipline and correct the sheep. But it was also tool to for counting and examining the sheep. The rod showed who was in control which gave the sheep peace and comfort that they were taken care of.

The staff is the opposite of the rod. It is a symbol of concern and compassion. It demonstrates longsuffering and kindness where the shepherd could draw his sheep together in an intimate way. The shepherd also used it as he guided his sheep along various paths.

As God is our shepherd, we can find hope and peace in these roles that He has in our lives. It should also make us want to share these concepts with other people who are going through a hard time in life and don't know who God is. How do we not know that God could be using you as a tool during this hard time in their lives? I continue to pray for my husband's grandfather and the role God wants me to do even if right now it is just praying.
   

Praying for 30 days- day 25

So after I wrote my blog yesterday, it was as if God showered me with some extra grace. I read some blogs that really encouraged me. I made the last switch on my blog as you can see to Progressing through Grace. Then my husband came home and I was still awake. We got to spend some time with each other without the t.v before we went to bed. Super awesome! Then I read today's verse from my Today I pray book by Stonecroft Ministries and it defined the desires of my heart when I choose to live by grace.
Luke 14:25-27
" Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

Father, I pray that ________ will make a genuine commitment to Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of his/her life.

I think this verse and prayer did not agree with each other in my mind today. This book that I have done the past month is for people to pray using scripture for those who are not saved. The prayer was clearly for both saved and unsaved but those who are saved could use this scripture only. I could personally relate to this scripture.
We need to want to completely give everything over to God and take up our crosses by always saying yes to God. That means as a Christian, we have to give everybody that we care for so much over to God. If we don't, we can not serve God completely. We are holding back. That includes that long waited for baby or husband. That includes life circumstances that don't seem fair. God had gone before us. He knows what we need and in that we need to trust in Him.

 

Praying for 30 days- day 24

 

Today was a rough day emotionally for me. I constantly had to bring myself back to grace by drawing near to God thorough His Word. Today's scripture brought me back to perspective on who I am in Christ.

Ephesians 4:22-24 and including Roman 7:6, 24-8:1
" that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

" But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter...O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Lord, I pray that ________ will put off his/her former way of life, to be made new in the attitude of his/her mind; and to put on the new self, created to be like You, God in true righteousness and holiness.

Through believing what Christ did when He died on the cross, we become new people. We have a new attitude and renewed mind. Through His grace and strength, we put away the old ways of bad attitudes or strangling sins and put on Christ by living in the Spirit. We no longer have to try to do things on our own. We have the Spirit that works in us. Even when we mess up, we know that there is no condemnation but grace. We know reminding of ourselves of the new man every day helps us to live the life that God has called us to live. We need to hold on to the promises that we have been given through His word, to be holy and set apart. It is clearly only through Him.
 

Praying for 30 days- day 23

Ephesians 4:27 but also including verse 26
"Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ nor give place to the devil"

Father, I pray that ________ will cease giving a foothold to Satan. (Today I Pray Stonecroft Ministries)

Anger can sometimes be such a complex emotion. For starters it is only a result of another feeling. When I feel powerless, I get angry. When I disappoint someone I care about, I get angry. When I get defensive, I get angry. There are even times when I can start out feeling one emotion and only after I get angry, I start feeling other emotions. Anger not pleasing to God can be a gateway for many bad feelings especially not dealing with it. This is when Satan can take advantage of it and make it a foothold in your life.
I also feel like in situations of anger with nonbelievers, it makes it sometimes longer and harder to come to Christ. That is why it is so important as believers to be patient and show love to those who have held onto anger for so long. I believe it is solely in God's hands when someone has been so angry for so long to change their hearts. We just need to draw near to God through prayer and His word to strengthen us to deal with these people. It is possible through God.