Ephesians 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
For way too long, we believers have been praying wimpy, whiny prayers. I myself have been guilty of this. I have to really stop and think about my prayers before I pray them, or better yet I write them down. Sometimes I think my written words are better and more powerful than the words that come from my mouth. Prayer has always been important to me but when I saw the movie "War Room" it really affected me. I became driven and determined to change my prayers. I have watched that movie 10 times and I have read the book almost 3 times. I have read the book "Fervent" and taken notes and listened to talks on prayer over and over and over again. The funny thing is that when I was in the middle of all this prayer study, my life was in the middle of change, which ended up distracting me from my prayer journey.
We bought a house, sold a house and moved. Also I have a new granddaughter (which is a very pleasant distraction). My mind has wandered about as I try to figure out how to rearrange my new flower beds, I have planned for our children's visits, I have cleaned and rearranged furniture and pictures and wall hangings and all the other stuff that goes along with a new home. The problem is I have been so distracted that I forgot to keep studying and living in prayer.
Distractions are good sometimes but not so good when they keep me away from my prayer journey. Slowly but surely I am getting back into a routine, but I have noticed the enemy is distracting me with good things so I will think God is doing this. But I know now that it's the enemy. He doesn't want me in my war room. He wants me distracted and busy. Why? Because he knows how powerful prayer is. He knows that when I pray, God moves mountains. He knows when I pray in the Spirit, God will make the mountains in my life disappear, and that frightens my enemy.
I know people think I'm weird or strange, that's okay. I'd rather watch "The Walton's" type shows instead of "The Office". I'd rather watch "War Room" for the 11th time instead of watching a suspense filled drama or mystery. You know it used to bother me when people thought I was strange, I sometimes think my husband my children even think I'm weird, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I know who I am and who I belong to. If God wants me to pray in the Spirit, I will.
Too often some of the religious denominations dismiss the power of the Holy Spirit, seriously! If I would tell you I pray in tongues, would you believe me? If I told you that I have experienced the POWER of the Holy Spirit pouring down on me, would you dismiss me? If I told you I have a gift of discernment, would you cross me off your christmas card list? Sadly if I talked about the power of praying in the Spirit in some religions, I would laughed right out the door. The idea of a war room or a prayer closet sounds absurd to many of you.
For way too long we have over looked the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in each one of us believers. We have down played His strength and we have dismissed His whispers as nonsense. Listen Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit for a reason and it wasn't for us to have wimpy, pitiful, scared lives. The Holy Spirit gives us the power of God. We have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, living inside of us. Read your Bible!!!
Our prayers can sound pathetic and scared. Instead we need to scary prayers. "God break us of our pride and selfishness." "God remove every word and thought in my body that does not bring you glory." "God break my heart for what breaks yours." "God change me to be more like Jesus." Do these sound like scared prayers or scary prayers? You know the enemy does not want me to publish this today. My computer has randomly shut down about 15 times, I am not joking or exaggerating. I have gotten texts and phone calls. My washer and dryer keep beeping me. My husband came in to fill his cup with ice. It's actually funny how much he has tried to distract me all the time I have been writing this.
You see Satan knows how powerful the Holy Spirit is and can be if we ever get to the point that we fully tap into that power. The enemy knows more about the Holy Spirit than we do. Think about that one for a moment. Satan is afraid of what will happen if we every fully learn how to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray scary prayers, not scared prayers.
We bought a house, sold a house and moved. Also I have a new granddaughter (which is a very pleasant distraction). My mind has wandered about as I try to figure out how to rearrange my new flower beds, I have planned for our children's visits, I have cleaned and rearranged furniture and pictures and wall hangings and all the other stuff that goes along with a new home. The problem is I have been so distracted that I forgot to keep studying and living in prayer.
Distractions are good sometimes but not so good when they keep me away from my prayer journey. Slowly but surely I am getting back into a routine, but I have noticed the enemy is distracting me with good things so I will think God is doing this. But I know now that it's the enemy. He doesn't want me in my war room. He wants me distracted and busy. Why? Because he knows how powerful prayer is. He knows that when I pray, God moves mountains. He knows when I pray in the Spirit, God will make the mountains in my life disappear, and that frightens my enemy.
I know people think I'm weird or strange, that's okay. I'd rather watch "The Walton's" type shows instead of "The Office". I'd rather watch "War Room" for the 11th time instead of watching a suspense filled drama or mystery. You know it used to bother me when people thought I was strange, I sometimes think my husband my children even think I'm weird, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I know who I am and who I belong to. If God wants me to pray in the Spirit, I will.
Too often some of the religious denominations dismiss the power of the Holy Spirit, seriously! If I would tell you I pray in tongues, would you believe me? If I told you that I have experienced the POWER of the Holy Spirit pouring down on me, would you dismiss me? If I told you I have a gift of discernment, would you cross me off your christmas card list? Sadly if I talked about the power of praying in the Spirit in some religions, I would laughed right out the door. The idea of a war room or a prayer closet sounds absurd to many of you.
For way too long we have over looked the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in each one of us believers. We have down played His strength and we have dismissed His whispers as nonsense. Listen Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit for a reason and it wasn't for us to have wimpy, pitiful, scared lives. The Holy Spirit gives us the power of God. We have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, living inside of us. Read your Bible!!!
Our prayers can sound pathetic and scared. Instead we need to scary prayers. "God break us of our pride and selfishness." "God remove every word and thought in my body that does not bring you glory." "God break my heart for what breaks yours." "God change me to be more like Jesus." Do these sound like scared prayers or scary prayers? You know the enemy does not want me to publish this today. My computer has randomly shut down about 15 times, I am not joking or exaggerating. I have gotten texts and phone calls. My washer and dryer keep beeping me. My husband came in to fill his cup with ice. It's actually funny how much he has tried to distract me all the time I have been writing this.
You see Satan knows how powerful the Holy Spirit is and can be if we ever get to the point that we fully tap into that power. The enemy knows more about the Holy Spirit than we do. Think about that one for a moment. Satan is afraid of what will happen if we every fully learn how to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray scary prayers, not scared prayers.
Spot on! I've been traveling a lot for work lately. It's a new job and all of the chaos has really been a distraction. I used to get up at 3:30 in the morning to get a solid 90 minute Jesus time before going to work. Lately its hard to roll out by 5:30! Last week it occurred to me that the enemy didn't need to put me jail or threaten me with beheading to get me to fall away. All it takes is distractions and plenty of unsupervised suppers.
ReplyDeleteI'll pray for you Debra. Please pray for me.
Dave