The Days of My Life... (Let Me Pray)

Let me/us pray:

Dearest Almighty Personal Father God:

As the days of my life stack up behind me, I am keenly aware, day-by-day, that I need You more desperately today than yesterday.

I cry out with the Psalmist, "Lord, don't take Your Holy Spirit from me." I cannot imagine an existence on planet earth apart from Your Spirit of Truth to comfort and to counsel me.

For each encounter of my day today, I humbly ask that Your Holy Spirit would sustain me and speak to me the Words of Jesus and breathe through me the Life of Jesus. Apart from Your abiding Holy Presence, I dare not delve into spiritual things.

I thank You, my God, for Your Great Love. You are Love. Your ways are almost always immediately mysterious to me, but always ultimately marvelous, as well.

Please save me moment-by-moment from the lies of the enemy and unshackle the chain of false guilt he seems to continuously attempt to fasten around my neck. Remind me often that in Your lifetime on planet earth You undeniably overcame the evil one and make me to believe that You will also see to it that I am an overcomer, too.

Finally, Lord, I pray for my family. Let the circle be unbroken by-and-by, Lord, by-and-by. Heighten our desire for Your Holiness, as the allure of sin disappears altogether. Empower me to be Your witness in this world by possessing me wholly with Your Holy Spirit. 

I pray that there will be a bumper crop of souls harvested in Your Name and for Your Fame. During the days of my life, find Your delight in me and I pray You will surely find faith on the earth when You return.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

Grateful

On The Wings of Hummingbirds

One of my two daily devotional thought books for this year is a classic by Andrew Murray titled, "Teach Me to Pray". While it may sound crazy, sometimes the longer I walk with the Lord the less I seem to understand prayer. Could it be that the closer we get to Him the more mighty, marvelous, and mysterious He becomes? At the same time, the longer I walk with the Lord, the more desperate I realize I am for His Presence.

Yesterday was Friday, my regularly scheduled day off each week. It was a lovely day, so I placed a comfortable chair in our backyard underneath our Bradford Pear tree and just sat seeking the Lord's Presence. I whispered, "Lord, I am desperate for You." Within seconds of my near-silent plea, the first hummingbird of the season hovered right past my head to a feeder just feet from where I was sitting. Say I am crazy, but I knew it was the Lord.

A few minutes later I sent a message to my mentor, James Spruill, about my feeble prayer and God's hummingbird. Here was his immediate reply: I often see God in the small things. I wonder if you can't see Him in the small things if you can see Him in the big things?

Lord, thank you for Your patience as You moment-by-moment "Teach Me To Pray". Let me realize Your Presence as often as You desire and in any way You choose to manifest Yourself, even on, especially on, the wings of hummingbirds. I love You so much because You first loved me TOO MUCH. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

What God demands of us, He will work within us.
-- Andrew Murray

Come Holy Spirit, I Need Thee.
Come Sweet Spirit, I Pray.
Come in Thy Strength and Thy Power.
Come in Thine Own Gentle Way!

Grateful

"GOD, I NEED YOU!"

I was in a prayer session with about 70 leaders from our local church this past Monday night. It was the most honest season of corporate honesty before God I remember being immersed in ever. One precious young lady, with deep cries from the depths of her desperate soul, prayed this four-word, heart-wrenching prayer to the top of her voice: "GOD, I NEED YOU! GOD, I NEED YOU!"

Her honest crying immediately gave way to our humble crying. It was indeed 2 Chronicles 7:14 illustrated. I have been echoing that prayer ever since and will surely echo it for many days to come:

"GOD, I NEED YOU! GOD, I NEED YOU!
In the Name of Jesus. Amen and Amen."

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a (one) righteous person has great power and wonderful results. -- James 5:16 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Grateful

Magazine Article: In Celebration of God's Yet

The link pasted below will lead you to an article I was requested to write for "Holiness Today". I pray it's helpful in making your faith more devoted and desperate.

http://www.holinesstoday.org/nphweb/html/ht/article.jsp?sid=10005084&id=10009401

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Right Relationship With God

Jesus spoke these riveting words in Matthew 5:6: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Lord, please intensify my hunger for You and Your Holiness and make my thirst more desperate for You and Your Maximum Righteousness in my life. If I know my heart, I am hungry and thirsty for a right relationship with You, my Holy God. In my life, Lord, be glorified, be magnified, be satisfied today and day-by-day. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Breathe Holiness

My conscious, desperate prayer to the Lord for a few days now and my unconscious, desperate prayer for all of my days is seven words from King David's prayer in Psalm 51:11 from The Message Paraphrase of the Holy Bible:

Don't... fail to breathe holiness in me!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful