Pray Like A Warrior

courtesy morguefile.com

"I have bestowed strength on a warrior..." Psalm 89:19

God tells me I am a warrior like David. Prayer is a sword that cuts through strongholds that we cannot see. Since we often cannot see the outcome of prayer (or we don't share testimonies), we assume prayer doesn't do much...and that is just what the enemy wants us to think. Don't fall for it! God has given us strength through Jesus, who has already overcome evil! We are warriors! 

Now, let's pray like it!

A Love Letter From God

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com

If God wrote us a love letter, I believe it would read like this:

 

My Dear One,

I am love. Do you know me? I comfort. I heal. I hold. I weep when you weep. There is not a moment that you’re not on my mind. Do you understand who I am?

What I give cannot be bought. It has no strings attached. You can’t work for it, not even a lifetime of good deeds can buy it. My love…I give it freely to anyone who will accept it. Do you know how much I rejoice when one of my children accepts me?

Many stop there. They accept my free give of salvation, My Son, Jesus, as their Savior, but they think that’s it. They don’t know that they can get close to me. They don’t believe they can walk with me like I did with Adam and Eve in the garden. They don’t think they can talk to me face-to-face like Abraham or Moses. I am not a story, stuck in a Holy Book. I am The Living God. I am the same long ago as I am today.

I am a hand reaching out to you today, right now. My love is still the same. It is desperate to draw near to you. Will you come near to Me? Will you dwell in Me?

I long to answer your prayers, to heal your hurts, to deliver you from oppression and addictions, to teach you how to walk in My ways, and to take you deeper. I made you for Me. I give you gifts and so many blessings because I am Your Father. I hunger for you to press in. I made you for so much more than what the world wants you to settle for.

I am all you need. Come to me and let me show you My love. Ask Me, Seek Me, Search Me…I am here, waiting for you, My Child.

Yours Always,

The Father

Lift Up Your Heads

Lift up your heads, O gates, 
Lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is this King of glory?
         He is the Lord God Almighty. 
- Psalm 24:9-10

This Scripture has been coming to me over and over again. I feel led to pray it over friends and family, church and work, and over my town. Today, I realized that we are the gates, the doors. We are so heavy and burdened that we forget to look up. Our hinges are corroded and rusted in place. We are stubborn and stiff-necked. Lord, we feel stuck! We need You to free us, so that we can move in your love and grace and peace. If only we would make the first step; to lift up our heads, then we would catch a glimpse of the King. 

Lord, help us say yes to You. Help us let You in. You will lift and open our heavy doors in your strong hands. You are able to handle the burdens that have kept us down for so long. You are healer and deliverer. Redeem your church, your land, and your people, I pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Open the Heavens

“Open the heavens. Come Living Water. All my fountains are in You.” 

– lyrics from "All My Fountains" by Chris Tomlin

I was singing this as the buckets caught the drips in our bedroom from the 2-4 inches of rainfall last Sunday evening. My Spirit wasn’t worried over the leaky roof, as it would have been in the past. No, instead, the rain made me sing “All My Fountains”. Even the song from church that morning was “Open Up the Heavens” by Meredith Andrews about floodgates and mighty rivers. I went to sleep to the sweet sound of drip, drip, drip – a message from My Heavenly Father. I will praise You in this storm.

Soak me, Father in Your Living Water. Flood me with You and let You flow out and over and down in a Holy Flood of Your Glory!

Do you have something in your life that should worry you, but instead you are praising God?

My Summer Reading Goal

Since participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April, I need a break from blogging every day, so instead of blogging this summer with my Small Seed Devotions, I'll be reading and posting book reviews.  I have a 13 book goal for the summer, so that's almost 1 book a week! Whew! Not sure I can do it, but I'm going to try!  

Here's my list:
(Note: I also have the book covers shown on the right of my blog in the Library Thing Widget (if you want, go to LibraryThing to add books and create your own widget)

"Displaced Person", Memoir by Ella E. Schneider Hilton
"Flash" by Rachel Anne Ridge
"Kaffir Boy", autobiography by Mark Mathabake
"Same Kind of Different As Me" by Ron Hall and Denvver Moore
"Under God" by Toby Mac and Michael Tait
"Living Under God" by Toby Mac and Michael Tait
"The Invisible War" by Chip Ingram
"The Prayer That Changes Everything" by Stormie Omartian
"Why A Suffering World Makes Sense" by Chris Tiegreen
"King Peggy" by Peggielene Bartles and Eleanor Herman
"A Writer's Diary" by Virginia Woolf
"Founding Brothers" by Joseph J. Ellis
"The Grave Robber" by Mark Batterson

What are you reading this summer? Do you have a summer reading goal?

A to Z Devotion: A is for Article

"God said to Moses: I am the eternal God." Exodus 3:14 (TLB)
 
"...so he explained it to them. “I am the Gate for the sheep,” he said." John 10:7 (TLB)
 
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world." John 8:12 (TLB)

“I am the Good Shepherd." John 10:11 (TLB) 

"Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life." John 11:25 (NIV)

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life." John 14:6 (NIV)

Eslus.com -- "An article is a kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about a noun. There are only two articles a and the, but they are used very often and are important for using English accurately."

At our recent youth retreat, our pastor talked about several of the names for Jesus, but what struck me the most was the article "the". The Bible doesn't call Jesus "a" light or "a" life. It calls Him "the". That one, tiny, insignificant article tells who Jesus is. It shows his holiness, his power, his characteristics, his love, and his saving grace. Who knew the word "the" could be so powerful and telling? 

Which "the" description of Jesus speaks to you today?
 

Small Seed Devotion: Journal

Journal Your Words.

 

"Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!” Job 19:23

Do you journal?

I remember, as a girl, the diary I had. It had a tiny lock and key (as if that kept would keep the contents completely confidential). I didn't want anyone to see my doodles, or how I wrote in cursive what my married name would be (according to which boy I was “in love” with that month), or the names I picked out for my future children (like Elizabeth or Rebecca), or the fantasy stories I wrote. My diary was filled with the things of dreams and days to come.

Today, though, I live and write in the present and I “journal” (that’s more sophisticated, right?). My journal is filled with God Sightings, Scripture that jumped out at me, quotes from Christian books, prayers, thoughts, etc....all things I want to think about or be able to go back too; things that keep me focused on God.

So, like Job, my words are written in a book. I can look back in my journal to specific times and see struggles and how God got me through. It strengthens me and hopefully you too. I use my journal entries to write these devos. My life is an open book, I guess. If something helped me, I want to pass it on. Maybe it will help someone else too.

Do you journal? What do you put in it?

Small Seed Devotion: Knocking

Jesus is Knocking.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)

A few weeks ago, here in my town, a man heard knocking at his front door one night. He opened the door and three men attacked him. One of them shot him in the arm before the three fled.

The world is full of evil, but there is one who knocks on the door of our heart and soul who brings healing, goodness, and life. Evil things will still happen in this fallen world, but when you let Jesus in, you let THE light in.

Jesus is knocking. Have you let him in to dine with you or is the door only cracked a bit?