The Priviledge of your quiet time-

I wish I had written this.  But, I didn’t , Rick Warren did.   I love it, and thought I would share it with you all.

You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11 NLT)

It’s quite a privilege to have a quiet time. We get to have an audience with the king of the universe, the creator of everything.

What makes our quiet times such a privilege that we wouldn’t want to consider missing it? Here are four miraculous things that happen when we spend time with God.

1. You get to give God your devotion. “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you” (Revelation 3:20, MSG). He’s your creator, redeemer, provider, sustainer, counselor, and comforter. God deserves our worship. We’d have nothing without God. Better yet, God wants your devotion, too! He wants to spend time with you.

2. God gives you direction. “Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Psalm 25:4-5 NIV). You and I need direction on a daily basis. God wants to give that direction to you, but to get the direction you must spend time with him. Your quiet time gives you an opportunity to get a daily mid-course correction in your life.

3. You gain delight in God. “You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11 NLT). Spending time with God will actually make you happier. Your quiet time is when you enjoy God. Knowing God is the secret to joy.

4. You grow to be more like God. The more time you spend with God, the godlier you become. Spend time watching television, and your character will be shaped by the people you’re watching. Spend time studying God’s Word and with him in prayer, and your character will be shaped by the character of Christ.

Are you spending time with God every day? Do it, and it will be the best decision you’ve ever made.

In what area will you ask God for direction today?

Have you noticed that your day goes differently if you start it in the Word and in a quiet time with God?

 

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Aww man, is this the end?

Hi everyone!  Welcome to day 20 !

The other night at worship rehearsal, someone prayed “Lord, please don’t let us lose the excitement and zeal for you that we have enjoyed during our fasting time..”  (or something to that effect.)  Every year for the past few years, as we end our fast, someone at the last worship rehearsal before the end of it, prays that for our church.   I think it’s a great prayer.  As I drove home that night, it ran through my mind again.  My conversation with God went from “Please don’t let it end” to “What can we do to keep it going??”

I got my answer almost immediately.

“Abide in ME!”  ( John 15:7)

Lifecoast, it never fails.  Every year during the fast, we get all geared up, start pressing in, get serious about persistant prayer and time with the Lord, and He moves in the most amazing ways. This year, we have seen people healed from cancer during this time.  We have seen marriages healed and put back together better than they were to begin with.  We have seen people get jobs who have been out of work for months!  This is NOT coincidence.   When God’s people seriously seek His face, and put Him first, get hungry for His Word, and cry out to Him, HE MOVES.

As we come to the end of our corporate fasting and prayer time, I challenge us all to make this our year of prayer.  (Mark Batterson at National Community Church, and others, have already declared this the YOP!)

Let’s purpose to keep the ball in play.  Don’t slack up on prayer just because the fast is over.  Press in harder!  Don’t give in to the temptation to go back to the old habits.  Stay faithful.   If so much good came of a three week time of prayer and fasting- what would God do if we all purposed to make this the year of “pressing in?”  I can’t even begin to imagine!

Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.  Keep drawing near, Lifecoast!

Love you all, I will keep praying for you!

Cheryl

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Effective Prayer Study- lesson 2

What defines a “weak” prayer life?

What could cause a “weak” prayer life?

Can “regular, ordinary” Christians have the same kind of prayer life as Elijah and Moses had?

There is no One better to teach us how to pray than Jesus Himself.  The son of God needed constant communication with His Father in order to be strong enough to do the work here that God called Him to.   If God Himself , in the physical form of a man ( Christ) needed to pray constantly –  why do we think we can do this without the same thing?

Scripture 1: Luke 11:1

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

What do you think triggered them to ask Jesus this?   (They heard Him and noticed immediately that He was CONNECTED to the Father! And they WANTED that too!)

If we DESIRE a deeper prayer relationship with God, and we ASK Him for it.. guess what will happen?

**The important thing is not the WORDS we use when we pray.  The important thing is the position of our hearts!  Are we thankful?  Do we WANT Him?   Are we coming humbly but with confidence?  Are we at least trying?   Do we believe He is listening?

Scripture 2: Matthew 6:5-8

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The Sermon on the Mount is one of my favorite passages of scripture because it teaches us the step by step process of prayer.   Each step leads into the next.  And notice…  the second word in the verse is “when”- not “if”.   This means we are not given an option.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to a life of prayer- because it is what pleases God, and it is what God deems best for His children.

 **We do not pray to please other people.  We pray in order to be closer to God.  Period.

*When He says ‘ Go to your private place and pray’ –  this is one of the most intimate requests God makes of us.   What He is saying here is “ I really want to be with you, just us, alone.   ( Uhhh… OK!!)  This, ladies, is the Bridegroom wooing the bride.  I cannot say no to that!!    There is indeed a reward for those who press in , in this way.  The reward here on earth is time in His presence,which makes everything here seem less annoying/difficult/depressing.   The reward there… we won’t know until we get there but I am willing to bet it is more awesome than anything we have here!

Seeing prayer as our relationship with Jesus as opposed to our duty or obligation or just a task is the way to keep it from being meaningless or repetitive.   My conversations with God are conversations.  They build my relationship with Him.   This is the perspective that will make you hunger and thirst for more of Him.

Scripture 3:Matthew 6: 9-13

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.

( For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever, Amen.)

This is a short passage with a whole lot of Godstuff happening.

1-     Worship and adoration

2-     Where our loyalties and focus lie

3-     Surrender!

4-     Petition and requests

5-     Confession and repentance

6-     Request for deliverance, and a plea for protection.

* We need to follow this pattern whenever we pray.    This is not a religious rule thing, it is a “walking like Jesus walked” thing. God honors it!

*Note also the way the prayer begins and ends.  : It’s all Yours, God. It’s all for Your glory. I acknowledge that this is not about me- it’s You.

Scripture 4: 2 Chron 20:1-4

After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites^[a] came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.

² Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom,^[b] from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). ³ Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. ⁴ The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek Him.

Jehosophat was afraid.  He needed help.   People were coming to KILL him (there is so much of that going on in the Bible!  ) Jehoshaphat gathered his buddies to pray with him.  In this way, he overcame his fear.   God still does this!

2 Chronicles 20: 5-12

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard ⁶ and said:

“LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. ⁷ Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? ⁸ They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ⁹ ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’

¹⁰ “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. ¹¹ See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. ¹² Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Jehoshaphat spent the whole first paragraph here telling God that He is AWESOME.   He reminds God ( not that God forgets, but He likes to know that WE haven’t forgotten)  about the great things God has already done for him.

Then, J goes ahead and explains his situation to Dad.  “ You remember those guys from last time??  Well… they are coming to get us!!  You protected us before..  Please please can you help us out here cause YOU are big and strong and have all the answers- we are little and powerless.. but YOU.. YOU can take them!!”   

This reminds of me my kids- coming to me or Sid in distress.  I can’t help but want to step in and rescue my baby, and God feels that way too.  When we have spent TIME with God getting to know Him- when we have put Him first in our lives..   you betcha He wants to come in and show Himself off to us during a time of crisis!!!!!  ( Sidenote , if you read the rest of the story here, God did some SERIOUS showing off.  Not only did Jehosophat’s men win the battle, God then had the attackers turn on THEMSELVES. That’s MY GOD!

So..  WHO is My God?

Scripture 5: Gen 14: 18-20

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
²⁰ And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

God Most High- El Elyon = Sovereign God.

God is Sovereign.  Period.  Everything begins and ends in Him.

Psalm 91:1-9

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.^[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you. 

⁸ You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,

No harm will overcome you, no disaster will befall your tent.

*God is our protector, our comfort, our shield, our peace, our rescuer-  Knowing these things about His character makes it easy to come to Him not just when we need help, but wouldn’t you want to develop a real relationship with this God?

Prayer:

Lord, I need to know you as my _______________________.  Please speak to my heart and reveal that part of your nature to me!

Scripture 7: Psalm 23 ( Read on your own,)

He is our shepherd.  He lovingly leads us in the ways that are best, and protects us and our interests.  We can trust that if we seek Him, and develop our relationship with Him, He will lead us and care for us well.

Scripture 8: Exodus 15:26

He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”

God heals our sicknesses.  He is the Great Physician, the Healer.  I am convinced by what I read in scripture and what I have seen in my own life experiences, that people with healthy relationships w/God tend to be healthier in general.  The Lord leads us in ways that benefit us.  Not all illness can be traced to sin, but all sin will create some kind of sickness in us.  God’s will is healing.  Let us purpose in our hearts to come clean before the Lord and receive whatever healing He has for us.

Jehovah Rapha= God who Heals

Scripture 9: Psalm 107: 17-21

Some became fools through their rebellious ways
and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed all food
and drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind

*God loves us so much that even when we get ourselves into a hot mess, He is willing to rescue and deliver us if we turn to Him sincerely.  He is just that loving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 17- To know Him is to love Him ….

So we begin day 17…last leg of the Awakening fast!  I am praying that each of you has been ministered to, and challenged during this time.   If you feel like you haven’t “heard” from God yet, keep seeking Him!!  It’s the “us seeking Him” part that He loves!

One of the things that has been on my heart a lot this year as I have talked to and prayed for many of you, is that you need God to show you what your “purpose” is.  I love to pray with others who are asking God for that! It shows a willingness to be used by Him- and this is a joy!

Knowing the “whys” about our journey here is helpful.  For most of us, if we can get some understanding of our situation, we can often see a solution, or a plan of action.   Funny thing about God, though- we don’t always get the why.  This can be a very frustrating part of our walk with Jesus if we really don’t trust Him like we need to.

In my own walk, it was difficult for me to develop the “trust” part of my relationship with God.  I had some flawed ways of thinking of Him, I had some woundedness and baggage in my past that had not been dealt with, and I lived with the expectation of disappointment – I just figured God would probably do it too.  So many others had- I expected that God was like that, too.

I was really wrong.  (Thank You, Jesus.)

Several years ago God used Hebrews 11: 6 in my life in a really huge way.    “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”   I knew in my heart I wanted to please God!  But, I also knew that I really didn’t have that much faith in Him, I really did not trust Him much with my “stuff”- so at that point I wasn’t being pleasing to my Father.  This broke my heart.  But something great came of my prayer during that time.   He began to speak to my heart about the real “why” that was at the root of all my other “whys.”

“The reason you don’t trust Me, is because you don’t really know Me.”

Have you ever been amazed at how dense you can be?  I was really floored at my own thick headedness.   I know this encouragement came from God… because I have never been the same, since!

My prayer focus changed.   Instead of “God, I need….”, it became” Lord, change me!”  and instead of “God, help me out here!”, it became “  Lord, I want to know You.”

He became very real to me, as a result of this prayer. His word began to jump off the pages of my Bible and land in my heart.   He began to reveal just how trustworthy, just how faithful, just how protective, just how loving and merciful , and just how mighty and awesome He is!

Are you wondering what your purpose is?  Are you questioning where God has you or why your circumstances are the way they are?  Get to know the God who has great and precious plans for you.  You may not get all the “whys” you are after, but you will learn about the heart of the One who loves you most!

Meditation verse:

 ‘Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 27:4

Love you all… praying for you today!

Cheryl

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So glad Jesus “gets” me ( us!)

Do you always know exactly what to say, when you pray?  Sometimes, I don’t. In fact, I find myself in this place, this morning.   There are times when someone shares something with me that has happened to them, or something they are going through, or even in my own life, there have been times when a hurt has gone so deeply, or the crisis is so scary, or  I am  so confused by my own thoughts, that I just can not come up with words to tell Jesus about it.

In times such as this, I am encouraged by a couple of things I know about God.  One is, that He loves for us to “be still” and just be with Him.  He is able to minister greatly to us when we run to Him seeking refuge.  The other encouraging thing is in this verse:

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. ( Romans 8:26-28 –Message)

If we don’t know what to pray, it doesn’t matter.

God is not at all concerned with our eloquence.  He is not critical of our speech, our choice of phrases or perfect word usage.  He isn’t even concerned with our grammar or our punctuation.  He just loves when we come to Him!  He loves when we seek Him with all our hearts.  He loves when we spend time with Him, even if all we can manage are tears and heavy sighs.  He knows what things weigh us down and concern our hearts, and He wants so much to lift the load that He will take whatever we give Him and make a prayer out of it, if that is what we long for in our hearts.  If it is, He knows.

Prayer starter:

Lord, teach us to pray.  But in times when we are so overcome with heaviness that we cannot find the words to pray, take our hearts and our thoughts, and please intercede for us.  Touch our hearts and keep us focused on Your love.  Thank You for taking care of Your children in this way.

Love you all-

Cheryl

 

 

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Essentials of Effective Prayer, lesson 1 pt 2

Hi ladies!

This is the recap for lesson 1 part 2, including the scripture references.  I pray you find it helpful in your study and prayer/worship times with the Lord.

We reminded ourselves of these truths about the God we are pursuing-

God is GOOD

God LOVES us

God is ALWAYS with us

God HEARS us

God wants to SPEAK into our LIVES!

AND we added this truth to our reminder:

GOD wants us to DRAW near to HIM!

Scripture 1- Ps 4:1-5

Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

² How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods^[b]?^[c]
3 Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.

⁴ Tremble and^[d] do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
⁵ Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the LORD

In distress, David cries out to GOD for help and rescue

David expects God to answer His prayers!  He bases his expectation on God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS.

God created us to be emotional.   LOVE is an emotion….   We don’t have to deny our emotions , and we also don’t have to allow our perspective of GOD be affected by our emotions.       How can we utilize our EMOTIONS in prayer?   POUR it out to GOD!  HE can handle whatever we give Him in prayer!

Scripture 2: Psalm 5: 1-3

¹ Listen to my words, LORD,
consider my lament. <—- means “complaint”
² Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray

 ³ In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

Lament= groaning, cry, complaint

What do you think the first thing David thought about each day was?   GOD.

What was David praying for?   Why?

He needed HELP.   King David always had people after him.    He had many enemies.   He also fought the same enemy we all fight.  The evil one.  David sought the Lord for help, rescue and comfort, and peace, and when God blessed him with it, he received it.  He took it and thanked God for it.  He did not give in to his circumstances. He came to KNOW GOD would do this for him and he prayed ready to accept this spiritual blessing.

Do WE pray like that?  If not, WHY?   What is hindering us?

Prayer is more than just crying out to God for His help and rescue.   Prayer can serve a greater purpose.  Let’s look at the next verse:

Isaiah 29:13-14

¹³ The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.^[b]
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

God is talking about the people of Israel.. and identifying their sin.   What is their sin?  ( they were not sincere of heart.)

How were they drawing near?   IN WORSHIP, but not sincerely seeking God.

Were they worshipping sincerely with their hearts all in?   Nope

Define “drawing near”  ( Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.)

How did you think God feels about how they responded to him?  Show in the scripture passage where you are basing your answer.

God won’t answer prayers that do not come from a pure sincere heart that is truly seeking to be with Him.  (I will astound them.  I will confuse them.)

I believe that God will also refuse to answer prayers that come from a manipulative place.  We need to be careful about manipulative thoughts that sneak in.   I believe He will first show us that sin in our nature, and convict us to confession.  THEN…   He will begin to reveal to us how He is answering our prayers.

We can come to God with everything;  even to ask Him for help changing our wrong thinking!   GOD WANTS US TO DRAW NEAR TO HIM!

So…  what kind of God are we trying to draw near to?  One who GETS us, and has MERCY on us-

Heb 4: 14-16-

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,^[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus Himself understands everything we go through here!  He walked this earth and He understands the difficulties , He was tempted Himself.   Yet… He did not SIN.     God knows we NEED HELP.  We can run to Him with ANYTHING we struggle with and He will help.  He asks only that our hearts be sincere.

God is tired of watching His daughters give in to their circumstances.   He is tired  of  watching the enemy have so much victory over us.

1-     He has LOVE that He wants to shower us with.   We have to make the choice to receive it.

2-     He has HOPE for us.   He wants us to seek Him for it.

3-     He has PURPOSE for each of His children.   He created you, He wants to use you. Every single thing you have been thru in this life is for ONE reason.. For HIS good pleasure.

4-     He wants to HEAL the heart wounds you have sustained.  He was there when it happened and He is here now as it is being opened up for cleaning and it’s time for HEALING.

5-     He will NEVER leave you.  He will NEVER forsake you.  It’s time we learn to trust Him at His word, ask Him to reveal Himself to us and allow Him to do His work in us.

Beloved, I have made a way for you to come … to Me. .  In order to take ( fullest)  advantage of this opportunity, you must let go of everything that has become an anchor and a hindrance.  You must release all things that have become a source of agitation, irritation, or conflict in your soul.  Hear My voice as I call to you.  Allow My nature to be developed in you that will bear the fruit of My Spirit.  Let your light shine in the darkness of difficult and disturbing circumstances, for I am with you, says the Lord.

Next week-  we will look at this question:

Can an ORDINARY Christian have the same kind of powerful prayer life that MOSES or ELIJAH had?

PS ( the answer is YES!)  and we will begin to talk about HOW this can be!

Love you all- and yes, I am PRAYING for you!

Cheryl

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Thoughts on passionate prayer-

“O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry

and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your

glory… Your love is better than life…” Psalm 63:1-3

Psalm 63 is a beautiful picture of worshiping and praising God through trials.   King David was in the desert wilderness, in continual danger, literally running for his life- his own son Absolom was trying to kill him.  I can’t even being to imagine the fear he was dealing with in his heart, not to mention the anguish.  I can imagine he was probably just desperate.  He was probably physically exhausted, without food and very hungry, and without water- and probably parched.  He was in a dry land, in every sense of the word.      I try to put myself in his shoes, and it’s more than I can even fathom.  What I love here is David’s response to his circumstances.   He did not give up and lay down to die, or wait to be killed.    He passionately worshiped, and sang, and praised God- in the wilderness.  He kept going!    He did not allow his situation to overcome him, instead, he hungered and thirsted after the Righteous One – the God of his salvation and the God who he just could not live without or be apart from.  David recognized that the love of God is better than life.  It sustained him through many dark times- and David rightly praises Him.  He praises him passionately, from his heart, and with everything inside of him.   David is thoroughly in love with his God.   No matter how hard things got, even facing death, David still put God first in his life and remembered to praise God THROUGH his hardships.  The result of this is that his God did not fail David, he sustained him and took care of David’s needs.  Sometimes being an over-comer means overcoming ourselves and the temptation to give in when we should stand strong in praise, trust God, and keep going.

Are you in the wilderness in some way, today?    Are you lost, or maybe feel like things are hopeless? Maybe you feel weak in the knees with fear or anxiety over something in your life that seems to be consuming you. (I have been in this place, fear has been a huge enemy of peace for me!)    Your situation is not hopeless, I promise.   Whatever it is, God is bigger- and He wants to show you just how big He can be in the middle of your “mess.”   He wants to quench your thirst and be everything you need in the middle of your desert.  He is more than enough to meet any needs we have, all we have to do is ask Him.  All we have to do is seek Him with all our hearts,  because that is what He has his heart set on.   He loves us just that much.

Meditation verse:

Psalm 9:9-10

⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know Your name trust in You,
for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.

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Hang in there, baby!

Hi friends- my family.  Today is day 6…   for me, day 4 and 5 were uncomfortable with the headaches and fatigue.   I am doing a juice fast combined with a single protein drink first thing in the morning,  and several times over the past two days, I wanted to give up.    (Sorry, just being real here) …   and I know Jesus will still love me even if I did.  But- I really don’t want to.  So, here I am, on day 6 and feeling blessed that I have no headache, and feel really good!  I am praying the same for you, this morning.

I wanted to write my devotional last night but it just would not come.  I thought I wanted to write on one thing, then I thought I heard something else in my spirit… but nothing was clear.  This morning, He is leading me to write about perseverance… and He and I worked on this one over the last two days.  Isn’t God good?  I hung in there and prayed… and He is blessing me with scripture.  I love that.  What a gift!

So here is what is on my heart this morning… Luke 18:1.

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

The parable story here is about a widow who was being pursued by an adversary, probably  for money. She went to the judge for help.  The following verses tell us that the judge refused to help her “for a time.”   However, she kept asking, and eventually, he helped her.   He grew weary of her persistent asking, and he was afraid that if he did not help her, would either wear him out, or come against him in some kind of attack.

Now, the judge in this parable was not God.  The judge was also not godly.   However, Jesus uses this example to teach us the importance of persevering in our prayer lives.

God knows our circumstances.  God knows how much time it will take to both answer the prayers we pray, and teach us and grow us.   Every time we come to the Lord in prayer, our relationship with Him develops and grows.    He teaches us patience, as we learn to pray and ask again and again and again, and  wait upon Him.   He teaches us to have faith and trust, as we study His word and begin to pray according to His promises.  He teaches us obedience, as we pray according to His will and not ours.   God’s timetable is just right to meet our needs.  We think we need it   (whatever it is) NOW… and God says “ I will perfect all things which concerneth you.” (Psalm 138:8) Don’t worry.  He loves you and will take care of you and all the things you are concerned about, in the best way, and in the right timing.  His way, and His timing.

Don’t give up.  Don’t give up on your fast, don’t give up on your prayer requests and petitions to the Lord, and don’t lose hope that He WILL move a mountain for you.  Our prayers don’t have expiration dates, and God’s promises don’t either.  Keep seeking and keep asking. He hears you and He knows.    Hang in there!

Love you all- and I am praying for you!

Cheryl

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Lesson One, part 1 – Effective Prayer Study

Recap of Lesson 1 part 1 and questions

Hi everyone!

What a wonderful first gathering this morning!  For those who were there, thank you so much for being there!  And… if you were not able to make it, we missed you and are glad you will be following along via online /Facebook groups!

I wanted to briefly re-cap some of the things we touched upon this morning.  I have decided to break up lesson 1 into two segments since today was our “introduction” day.   If I need to do this with other lessons, I will do that.  I don’t want to rush our experience-  I also don’t want to beat any dead horses so we will just see what God does with timing. I would rather leave you wanting more than leave you … well, NOT wanting more.   🙂

This morning, we talked about a few things that I pray are all able to take away from this time together.  I believe that by getting a handle on these five things… we will see major changes in our prayer lives as well as our walks with Christ.

1-     God is GOOD

2-     God LOVES us

3-     God is ALWAYS with us

4-     God HEARS us

5-     God WANTS to SPEAK into our lives!

I think we all want to believe these things. I know God WANTS us to believe these things.  We have to make the effort to seek Him and get to know Him for that to happen.

We talked a little bit about the kind of study this is.. it is a precepts Bible study which means God has commands that He wants us to learn  and then apply them to our lives.  He wants us to be doers and believers, not just knowers of His word.

It is also an inductive study.  This just means we will be taking apart some scripture, looking at it logically and drawing the meaning out of it.  We will also look for ways to apply what we are learning.

Basically, God wants us to KNOW, so we can GROW.

A good bit of time was spent on this scripture this morning:

The effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.   (James 5:16) This is the kind of prayer life that God wants us to have, and the kind that we need in order to live victorious lives, full of purpose and joy !

Effective- has power!

Prayer- this is the conversation relationship with Jesus and we need it to be active and vibrant

Righteous- in right standing with God… pure of heart , blessed

Accomplishes- gets it DONE!  We ask from the right kind of heart, God moves!

MUCH- when God moves… He MOVES!

We talked a little about Elijah ( James 5:17) and learned from this, that Elijah was no different than you or I.  He was sinful and had his own issues.. but God loved him and spoke TO him and THROUGH him.   And… God answered Elijah’s prayers in huge ways.

We talked about the necessity for being persistent in our prayer… coming again and again to God not because He is mean to us making us work like that… but because He is teaching us in the process.  Stamina… perseverance and growing our faith!

The next verse we talked about was 1 Kings 8:27-30, 38-39.  This is a  prayer of King Solomon  asking God to bless the people of Israel and the temple.  He asked for some specific things for these people, like forgiveness and provision- but He asked with a servant heart, and he asked that God would bring blessing according to His will.  God knows what we need better than we do.  He is interested in the relationship of our heart being connected with His.  This happens during prayer.

We also looked at PS 3:1-5.  This is a Psalm of David that he prayed when he was afraid for his life.  He felt scared, he was anxious and worried and desperate.  He cried out to God.  God honors our cries to Him and the times I have seen the most powerful movements of God have been the times when I have literally been on my face crying out.  He moves powerfully on behalf of prayers like that.

One note… In many of the Psalmists’ prayers, you will see a shift somewhere from desperation, wailing , and  crying out, to adoration and praise.   Once we begin talking to God, spending time in His presence and turning toward Him… something changes. Our hearts change.  We admit our need for Him, He lifts our heads, we see His beautiful loving grace, we turn to praise and worship, and God shores up our faith, and our courage… and moves a mountain for us.

This is where we stopped today.  I asked the ladies who were there, to go ahead and be reading and working  through the second half of lesson one on their own.  ( I know, no homework, right?)  Sorry!

My challenge to you all is that you would pray and ask God to show you what hinders you from this kind of prayer life? For some, it’s lack of trust.  For others, it is past wounds and unforgiveness.  It could be any number of things, but He wants to help you with all of it.   I am praying for you as we take this journey together!

Blessings-

Cheryl

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Day 3 is here!

Welcome to day 3 of your fast!  I pray that this morning you are feeling well, and finding yourself hungering and thirsting for more of His presence today.

As we know, prayer is an integral part of the fasting process.  Without prayer, we are just “doing without.”   This is helpful, especially if we are focusing on getting healthier, but combined with increased prayer and time in God’s word, can be powerful and transforming.  I don’t know about you, but I need God’s power and transformation!

With prayer, I have found it necessary to start at the beginning- which means that prayer begins with God.  Learning more about who God is, and how He loves us, and all the things He can and wants to be for us, is life- changing.    We can’t know Him if we never take the time to get to know Him.  He knows us… but most of us tend to pray in alignment with what we think about God, instead of who He tells us He is, in His word.    Usually, our perspective is a little “off.”  I know mine was, for many years.  My prayer relationship with God changed drastically when I began praying according to God’s faithfulness and love, instead of the mental and emotional picture that my experiences tried to tell me He was.

I love this Psalm… as it is such a great starting point for us to focus on as we seek to know Him more:

As for God, his way is perfect:
The LORD’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him. (Ps 18:30)

He and His ways are perfect.   By following them, we will not be led down a wrong path.

His word is without flaw or error.  By learning it, we will be guided by His wisdom and learn to live in accordance with His heart.  His word is Truth, and we can trust it, and we can trust Him.

He takes care of those who seek Him.   As we seek Him, we have the added blessing of being protectively cared for by the Maker of the universe.

So, there we have a perfect, flawless, wise, faithful, loving, caring, protective and trustworthy God just waiting for us to seek Him.  This is blessing upon blessing for us!

I am praying for each of you as you seek to know Him more intimately.

Scripture meditation verse:

Beloved, we are God’s children now.  What we will be has not yet appeared, but when He appears, we will be like Him, and we will see Him as He is. ( 1 John 3:2)

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