Under Control - Where My Family Is

I haven't written for several days, not because I don't have anything to write, but because writing about heartbreak is difficult.  I hate satan and I hate his attacks.  He wants my family and yours and he will do everything he can to get them.  He will use family, friends, school and every tool he has available.


Yet today again, I will declare that he cannot have my family.  I pray right now that each of you will say the same thing!  Cover your family in prayer!  Our children and grandchildren are so precious. 


There is nothing my God can't do!  It may be hard for parents to agree on some things but one thing that should never be in doubt, that children should be the priority.  Now that doesn't mean giving them everything they want.  But it means what is best for them is at the center of every decision you make. But God is able, He can show you the right decisions but you have to be willing to make them.


I stepped away from this for a few minutes because as much as my heart believes this, sometimes the devil plays tricks with my mind.  Giving us doubts and confusion is one of his favorite tricks.  As I came back to write, a song was playing on my computer.  "Under Control" by Gold City was singing 'God's almighty hand is still in control, so rejoice in your soul, for it's under control'.


Satan may cause doubts and fears but my God has it under control!  He is the peace speaker!  He is the one who brings comfort to our hearts.  And He is the answer, no matter what the question is.


I will trust that even when I can't see how it is true.  I will cling to His promises when all else fails and I will place my family in HIS hands to keep and protect.


I've said this about my family before but today I think it is important to say it again loud and clear.  I pray God's protection over my family - physically, mentally, emotionally, financially - that He will keep them in His all powerful hands.


My faith is sometimes weak but my God is strong and He said that His grace is sufficient.  As I think back to the more words in the song I just listened to 'You may be like David of old and a mighty giant you may face, just when you think you are standing alone, you'll find Jesus standing there in your place.  With a stone of faith your giant will fall and you all the victory will win.  So today as back then, in this world so full of sin, remember, God has it Under Control'.


God is faithful.  As I sat and in my heart cried out the weakness and lack of faith that I felt, He gave me assurance through one of my favorite songs.  And I will shout with a voice of praise, My God has it under control!

What Will I Fear?

What is your biggest fear? Now I have a number of things, snakes, spiders, rats, failure, failure, failure and of course there is failure.  Does your list look anything like this?  I learned a long time ago to mask my fears, many folks think I'm confident that failure isn't an option with me.  Well, the truth is the reason it isn't an option is I often don't do things that I don't think will be a success.  I've heard that you can't learn if you don't fail, as much as I know that is true, in my heart I still think 'if I fail, I'm a failure' period.  Not it is a step in learning, not if you fall get back up.  I failed.


The devil looks that about me, he knows if he can put fear in my heart about something there is a good chance he can paralyze me with the fear.  He can keep my feet right where they are, instead of following God's direction.  There is not a day that passes that I don't battle fear.


But slowly, I'm learning, FEAR is not an option.  I may fail but allowing the devil to stop me by fear is no longer an option that I'm willing to consider.  In Hebrews 13:5  "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have : for he hath said , I will never leave thee, nor  forsake thee.   6  So that we may boldly say , The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. " we are given what we need to show us that we have no reason to fear.


I've said this before but I love that last part of Hebrews 13:15 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee'.  Read it backwards 'thee forsake nor thee leave never will I'.  It says the same thing.  He is NOT going to leave us!  The almighty God of heaven is with us always!  He is our help, He is our strength, He is our comfort and He is our protector.


God tells us we can BOLDLY say that 'The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me'.  In today's world of violence and crime that is a pretty bold statement.  In today's world where a Christian has a bigger chance of taunting than praise that is a bold statement.  But do we believe God or not?  Now a temptation to fear is not the same as giving in to fear. The devil is going to tempt us to fear on a daily, actually a minute by minute basis and there are so many things to fear if we are listening to satan.


I want to have a boldness to trust and take Him at His word!  I know and He knows I'm going to fail at it, maybe many times but He is my helper and He will continue to help me up to try again. 


I look back at my life and I've failed much.  This blog is not someone that has it all together telling you how to do it all right.  It is someone who has failed, who given up and had to be pulled from the depths.  It is someone who has seen God be faithful through all my failures.  It is someone that has seen God answer the prayers of my heart ,that I could not even find the words to say.


It is about His love and compassion to see my fears and to come along side of me and hold my hand and be my comfort.  God tells me over and over in His word not to fear.  He did that because He knows I'm a slow learner and I would need to hear it time and time again!

How Do We Pray?

What a mighty God we serve.  I started reading a book weeks ago but life happened and I put it down. Now I know the devil wanted me to put it down, so he was behind a lot of the 'life' happening. The book is focused on prayer as well as the way the devil can attack us to take away our focus from praying because prayer is where our power is.


We know it, yet we still allow it to happen because he is crafty and subtle. One of the keys in this book is our 'order' of prayer.  Sometimes all we do is ask God for things, we forget that prayer is a conversation and conversation requires real communication.  When you walk up to a friend, what is the first thing you usually do/say? I usually ask how they are or tell them they look good or I like what they are wearing or how their hair is fixed.  God likes to hear us praise him and opening up our prayers praising Him for who He is and what He has done is important.


We also need to repent of any sin in our lives, we need to make sure the channel for communication is open.  Then if we have requests we can ask for those to be met.  Then acknowledge that you know not only that God is able, claim the promises from the Bible that say He will.


Praise - Thank Him for what He has done and will continue to do.  Praise Him for who He is
Repent - Confess any sin in your life
Ask - Bring your petitions to Him
Yes - Claim His promises, know that His answer may not be the one you are looking for but He will do what is best.


Taking this approach with our prayers and in many cases following all the steps for a specific request because that request brings with it specific needs, baggage and fears.


Prayer for my family is written on my prayer card (they have cards in the back of the book I'm reading, to write down your specific prayer requests) goes something like this


Praise - Thank You Lord for my family, thank You for Your provisions You have given us.  Thank You for keeping us safe and showing us Your love.  Thank You for answered prayers and for those that You will answer in the future.  I praise You for your almighty power and Your amazing grace.


Repent - Lord, You know every time I have failed as a mom, grandmom, daughter, niece, cousin.  You know that I am not as faithful as I should be and I have trouble controlling anger at times.  Forgive these things as You help me to grow and put them in my past.


Ask - Please protect my family mentally, emotionally, spiritually, emotionally and financially.  Please put a hedge of protection around each of us and not allow the devil to get past that hedge.  Provide for us daily what we need and help us to grow in Your power and grace.  Give us faith to trust You, increase our faith daily. 


Yes - Lord, You said if we ask in prayer believing you will do it.  You said when 2 or 3 agree toughing any one thing You will do it and I claim that as my friends and family pray for us as we pray for them.  You said Your grace is sufficient and that You will supply all our needs.  You promised that we can do all things through You.  I not only know these verses, I accept what they mean and claim them in Jesus name.  Amen


Now granted I normally get more specific in my ask part as I pray for specific needs of my family but this is the outline the book as taught me.  The confidence that praying God's promises in claiming His word I believe is the key.   You are not only saying you believe He can do it, you are pointing Him to where He said He would do it and He never lies. 


I'm only half way though the book and it teaches a lot of specifics that it is important to pray over as women that want to claim God's promises.  Some of the topics are Family, Focus, Faith, The Past (one I really need to read several times).  The enemy has a plan of attack, if we want to defeat him so must we!

Confess Your Faults

James 5:16 - Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.   


Yes, it's the same verse as yesterday but today we talk about the first part of the verse. 


Confess - to own or acknowledge, to admit.  We can't fix what we don't admit or acknowledge


Faults - failures, things that are wrong.  We are all human and make mistakes.


Pray - call out to God


Healed - to make whole or entire


I know some folks have trouble with the first part of this verse and I understand the reason. Trusting someone else with knowledge of our failures can be a scary thing.  But I don't think that is truly what this verse is talking about.  I think this part of the verse is preparing us for the last part of the verse and you have to understand that part (hence why I did the last part first) to truly understand the first part.


I'm not a Bible scholar but after reading the verse in its entirety, I think the confessing of your faults spoke of here refers to making things right with others, not going around telling everyone your failures.  The Bible tells us in  Matt 5: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say , Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.   23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;   24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.


Before you pray, if there is anything between you and another, you need to make it right (confess your fault).  And the way I read the verse in James, you not only confess your fault, you pray for each other.  And if you confess your fault and pray for each other, there will be healing.  Now this to me begs the question - is the healing in this verse talking about physical healing or it is spiritual and emotional healing?  It could be all of the above and honestly it probably is.


However, to me as I read this I see a picture of the true preparation for sincere prayer.  When one is repentant and gets right with God and his fellowman, relationships are healed and they are in a place where God can hear their prayer.  To be that righteous man praying the effectual, fervent prayer, you must have a right relationship with God.  That often means taking the steps to heal relationships with others.


So today, look into your heart and if there is a 'fault' that is keeping you from an effective prayer life, go to that brother or sister, do your part to make it right.  Now you may say but I know they won't forgive or they won't listen.  You are not responsible for their actions just your own.  Do your part, then give it to God.  It is amazing the freedom and peace you will find in that. 

Are Your Prayers Being Answered?

James 5:16 - Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.                  


I love this verse.  Today I want to talk about the last part of the verse, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."


Effectual - to call out for help, the action brings results - to hear from God we must call out to Him.  He wants us to acknowledge that He is our help and to ask for it. 


Fervent - ardent, earnest, full of zeal - the prayer based on the knowledge that God can and does answer.  It is a consistent and impassioned.  It is sincere and urgent.  It is not a 'bless us every one prayer' it is specific and a prayer full of hope and trust.


Righteous - one that follows God's direction and serves God with their whole heart. One who is virtuous, upright and honorable.  Our only real righteousness is in Jesus Christ and His forgiveness of our sins.


Availeth - gives an advantage to, provides help or benefit


First, today's blog is aimed straight at me!  God just wants me to share what He is telling me with you.  Have you ever heard someone say 'I prayed but God didn't answer'?  I have a number of times.  Sometimes they say that because God doesn't do things the way they think it should be done.  Sometimes it is because God doesn't do things in the time frame that they want it done.


But many times it is because we don't meet our end of the responsibility.  God isn't a genie in a bottle that pops us to give us what we want, when we want it.  He isn't superman flying in at the last minute to save the day (although He often does). 


God wants to answer our prayers but we have to be in a condition to pray them.  We also need to be serious about praying them.  How often is prayer something we whisper quickly as we start to fall asleep?  How often do we go to sleep without even that?  How often do we say 'when my show goes off, I'll read my Bible and pray' rather than 'once I finish my Bible study and prayer I'll watch tv if there is time'?


Our priorities are all out of order and yet we wonder why God doesn't move.  God talks to us a lot about prayer and about Him giving us our answers in the Bible.  He says we must repent of our sins, if we want our prayers heard.  He says if we have something against someone OR if they have something against us, we must make it right.  He says we must forgive- in today's world that one is hard for too many people.  In our 'it is all about me society', we believe it is our right to hold a grudge or not forgive.  It's not, God's word tells us that over and over.


He also tell us in Psalms 37:4 - Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.   Do you delight in the Lord? 


Delight - to take great pleasure in pleasing.  Do you want to please the Lord?  If so, are you doing what it takes to do so or are you just wishing it would happen without any work on your part?  Pleasing God takes effort.  It means doing His will instead of your own.  It means that we turn from those things that bring dishonor to Him and those things that hurt or offend Him. 


If you are a parent, what pleases you about your children?  Are you pleased when they are disobedient?  Are you pleased when they are disrespectful or dishonor you?  Are you pleased when they don't do their work (school or chores)?  Are you pleased when they hang with a bad crowd?  I don't think any parent would say yes to any of these.  In fact, doing these things cause a strain in our relationships.  We often have to punish our children.  We often have to take things away from them and our conversations are not cordial.


The same applies to God and His children.  He can't ignore our actions.  Now just as parents, sometimes He may give a 2nd or 3rd try before He punishes but if we refuse do what is right, He must punish us.  What kind of parent would He be if He didn't?  And that punishment can either drive us to our knees or make us bow up and become more rebellious. 


But until we repent and seek fellowship with Him, our actions are going to impact the answers to our prayers.  Just as we don't reward our children for being disobedient, God doesn't reward our being disobedient. 


I want my prayers answered, I want to delight in God.  Now I just have to act on those desires, the devil will fight it and in fact, the more I seek God's presence the more the devil will fight.  But the joy of God's blessing far exceeds the devil's roadblock.


Today may we fervently pray in faith and see God move in our lives!
                                                                 

Parents, Are You Up To It?

If I asked 10 different people what the hardest job in the world was, I'd probably get several different answers.  If I asked the same people what the most rewarding job in the world was, I'm pretty sure that some of them would have the same answer as the hardest job - being a parent.  Being a parent is tough and few people come by the skills to be a good parent without a lot of slips and slides on the way.


Many folks have trouble trusting our Heavenly Father because their own fathers were not good role models.  Many mothers pick other things in importance over their children, fathers do that too.  Notice I called them mothers and fathers, because dad, daddy, mom, mommy are earned, they are not titles they are terms of endearment.  You may require a child to call you that but the love and respect that does with the name cannot be required or commanded.


Today's writing is hard for me because as a parent I failed in so many ways.  I look back and I wonder how could I have been so blind and at times stupid.  I'm not writing today because I did it right or I got it all figured out, I'm writing today because I hope at least one person will read something that helps them.


I can tell you some things that I learned in making my mistakes.  I learned that a child will learn your bad habits and traits a lot easier and a lot more consistently than they will your good ones.  I learned that a child will do whatever it takes to get your attention.  They want good attention and love but they will take any attention they can get.  If they do not get it from you they will seek it elsewhere and in ways that can only hurt them as they grow older.


I can also tell you some other things I've learned.  Children believe it is their fault when you do not show them love, even though they have done nothing wrong.  Children blame themselves for the smallest things, believing they are much bigger or much worse than they are.  Children become defiant and pushy as a defensive mode.  Children need love and while you may view providing for them as love, they aren't old enough to understand that, they need tangible substance to their love.  It means hugs and kisses.  It means asking about their day and listening to what they have to say.  It means listening to them and letting them know that what they have to say is important.


Now all of that seems like a never ending list of things to do and it is but what a rewarding job.  Just as children need to be loved, they need to love!  They need to be able to share their feelings and know that nothing they say or do will keep you from loving them.  And their love is so pure and selfless at least until they watch some adults for a while and learn that you can 'use' love rather than give it.


They watch what we do parents, grandparents, teachers, church leaders, they watch us all and they see what we do as well as what we tell them.   When we lie to them, they learn to lie.  And they will use it against you as they get older.  It will make you angry and you may say things like 'do as I say, not as I do'.  Ever heard that one?  How much respect do you have for the person who said it?  Probably not near as much as you had before they said it.


Children are a gift, they are the most precious gift we can receive.  They need us to lead them in God's way, not our own. 


Do you know a child today that needs direction?  It may be your own or it could be someoneelse's child or maybe it is a foster child that has no stable person in their life.  It may be a bus kid at church or a kid you see at school activities with no parent there.  Every time you see one of these, you have the opportunity of a mission field.  What you do with that mission field is up to you, but ask yourself, if it were you, what would you want someone to do?