Prayer is Powerful – Part 4 of 5

Prayer walking is another great way to pray. Just take a walk around the neighborhood, and pray for your neighbors. They don’t have to know you’re praying, but God knows. He will honor your prayers.

God wants us to commit everything to Him in prayer, but do we? Often we assume that God is right there tagging alongside us, so we don’t see the need to pray. Sure, God is there, and He’s promised never to leave us or forsake us. However, God gave us the earth to have authority over it, and through Adam we gave it to the devil. Now, we must take our authority back in Jesus’ name. As we pray, we bind the work of the enemy and release God to do His work.

Does that mean that God can’t work if we don’t pray? No, God often works despite us, but He has chosen to partner with His children. If He wanted to do everything on His own, then there would be no reason for us to pray. Instead, He commands us to pray.

As we pray, we also need to consider where we focus our prayers. When I was frustrated with fruitless prayers, the Lord showed me that I was focusing on non-believers more than on believers. At the time, I thought that this was what was expected of me.

Actually, the truth is that we should pray for both. We need to cultivate a heart for the lost and pray for them, but not to the detriment of fellow Christians. How much of our prayers are actually spent on praying for those who, because they chose to follow Christ, would doubtless be under attack? The devil tries hard to stand in the way of believers who are trying to make a difference in their world.

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Thankful in Times of Sacrifice – Part 1 of 5

It’s easy for us to recognize God’s faithfulness and protection towards the Israelites because we know the outcome of their story. They, on the other hand, had a much harder time believing that this crazy adventure would have a happy ending.

We know from the Bible that God took care of them. He provided them with food and drinking water. The first miracle food that He gave them they called “manna”, which, translated, means “what is it?” It was a kind of bread that tasted like wafers, honey, and fresh olive oil. None of them had ever eaten heavenly food before and now they were expected to eat “what is it?” for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and for how long? This one-item menu became monotonous, and they wound up complaining again.

Remember that until then, God hadn’t required anything of them other than to leave Egypt and to follow Him. At the time of their leaving, not one Israelite had to die fighting the Egyptians and whatever they needed of their oppressors they could take before they left. However, God was now requiring something more from them. He wanted them to sacrifice fleshly desires; to give up what they loved (familiar food) for something better (heavenly food). Despite everything that God had already done for them, they still weren’t willing to make any personal sacrifices.

Perhaps you might be tempted to judge them as thick-headed. Maybe they were, but we’re not much different from them. Have you ever eaten food from a foreign country and wondered, just like the Israelites, “What is it?” Having traveled to many countries around the world, I’ve had the privilege and opportunity of trying different traditional foods. Some have been tasty, others terribly spicy, and some pretty unusual.

After eating unfamiliar food, most of us can’t wait to get back to real “home cooking.” That’s because it’s hard to adapt to new things. Our familiar things, like family traditions, home cooking, or anything else, bring back memories that feel right and comfortable. The Israelites, like many of us, wanted to have those foods that they were used to and so they grumbled over God’s choice of provisions.

In some ways, God had put them on a forced diet – not because He wanted to lord it over them, but because He knew what was ultimately best for them. The mere fact that it came from heaven meant that it had to be good for them.

The same is true for us today: if we eat right, we will live well. This was a diet like none other. It was supernatural! Besides being a heavenly diet, it was also a kind of fast, not a fast from food, but a fast from earthly food.

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Poem - Be Faithful in the Little Things

Be faithful in the little things
And God will give you more.
Be faithful in the little things
And He’ll open the door.

Did He give you a job?
Then do it well.
Were you honest?
Only time can tell.

As God has blessed you,
Have you blessed others?
Have you loved your neighbor
And Christian sisters and brothers?

There is no such thing
As a spiritual lottery
And there are no short-cuts
To godly maturity.

So be faithful in the little things
And God will give you more.
Be faithful in the little things
And He’ll open the door.

by Christina Morley

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Discovering Your Potential - Part 5 of 5

Most people will not champion you beyond their idea of what is possible. Therefore, you have to be willing to go where others refuse to follow. Many people are trapped in boxes of their own making. They feel either threatened by or jealous of anyone who ventures beyond their limited understanding. They take comfort in surrounding themselves with others who are doing the same.

Christians are not exempt from this kind of thinking. We are all tempted to hold on to what is familiar and to build our walls around that. When we ask the Holy Spirit into our lives, we aren’t immediately set free from the temptation to think like this. We still need to renew our minds by studying the Word of God, and we must develop our spiritual eyes, which are eyes of faith.

Sadly, sometimes it’s the Christians that will fight the hardest to prevent us from being who God intended us to be. However, our fight is not with people, but with evil forces (Eph. 6:12). We must look past our hurts and forgive those who try to stand in the way.

The right path to take is sometimes less visible and less traveled, but the trials we face along the way can only make us stronger. At the right time, God will open doors for each of us as we remain on course and in step with Him.

That doesn’t mean that life is always going to be exciting. The task, whether great or small, should be done with excellence. When we have the right attitude even toward the mundane we’ll experience more release in our lives. If we are faithful in the smallest things, God will bless us with bigger things (Luke 19:17).

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