Obedience

John 14:31 ESV

,“but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Worship

Prayer

Intercession

Spiritual Warfare

Obedience

I didn’t think I would have a word focus for 2014 as it seems Father is continuing to lead me deeper into spiritual warfare. He is truly expanding this ministry of intercession in marvelous ways and I had no idea the path I would be taking when I began this journey.

I started off in worship which led to prayer and then intercession. Last year He told me spiritual warfare and with that He gave me the honour of running a House of Prayer out of my home church. This fall I have been asked to run my church's prayer chain and with this new task formed the House of Prayer into a ministry all of its own with so many opportunities for worship services and hopefully more prayer services. Father is just blowing the doors open here with an ad in the regional church paper with an open invitation for all of the churches to come together to corporately pray, and in the near future plans a sign out front of the church inviting my home town to come on it and pray.

I asked Father if He had a word focus for me this year and He told me ‘obedience’ and my heart shriveled, because I know what He wants and I am very scared to do it, yet I am trusting in Him to provide the courage I will need when I face this fear.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I am snared by the fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25 ESV

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

You see, with the House of Prayer being a ministry all of its own under the covering of my church, opportunities for expansion are already surfacing. One of these opportunities is for the House of Prayer to take over the prayer time during the church service and that means a big ol microphone and me. Ahhhhh, just typing that out made my tummy turn to jello. :( Folks, I am a behind the scenes type of person, the one who lays on her face in the dark praying for others in the lime light. Yet Father is calling me to do this and I know without a doubt that He will meet me when the occasion arises but it is that first step that is hard. I envision myself running to the edge of the cliff and just jumping off and in most situations I do this flying leap very well but in this one I see myself coming to an abrupt halt bound by fear and feeling myself shrink into the ground.

If you remember please pray I have courage to take a running leap when I am asked to do what I fear. God is faithful and I do trust Him therefore I know I am safe in Him. 

Thanks!

Do you have a word for this new year?  I would love for you to share it in the comments below or write a post on it. 

Blessings,

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Light Dissolves Darkness

Mark 5:1-5 NIV

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They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Our society does not regard Satan as a real being. Even in some churches the members will ignore this. But Scripture tells us otherwise. There is a real evil being and he does a lot of under cover work in the area of mental illness, divorce, physical & sexual abuse, self degrading, insecurities and so on.

When we read Mark 5:1-5 we see that Satan likes to isolate, shame and torture the people he controls. His power is inhumanely strong and he uses this to hold people in fear and bondage. When the evil one achieves a hold in our lives he will lead us into self-destructive behaviour.

Satan is around and he is roaming and wanting to destroy as many lives as he can before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. As his time grows short, he is becoming fiercer and if he notices that he can have a chance with you in pulling you away from Jesus or stop you doing the work God has for you, he will. He will tempt and deceive you. He is a seducer and will stop at no means to take you down.

Focus your thoughts on Jesus Christ and His word. He will fill you up and defeat the tactics of Satan. When Jesus brings to mind a sin you have done, just repent of it and ask for His forgiveness, this closes up the hole that Satan can get a foothold on, Ephesians 4:26-27. Get involved in a church and have people praying for you. Remember Satan wants to isolate you and bring you into darkness. Where there is light the darkness must flee. And when you see someone under distress, pray for them. Have compassion on them and realize that this is a spiritual war and they are under attack and are in need of prayer and maybe need leading into repentance for a sin they have committed, like anger, hatred or just pure frustration.

1 John 1:5-7 NIV
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Praise Jesus, He has overcome the darkness and through Him we can too.








Blessings,
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