Pray For Lisa

Joshua 1:9 ESV
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Please pray for Lisa from My Heart's Home today, Thursday December 26, as she is having a double mastectomy. Pray for the surgeon and for a complete removal of the cancer with a quick recovery. Pray for her family as they walk through this with her.

Psalm 28:7 ESV 
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Our strength is found in Jesus and He will carry us through times that are rough.  He is our refuge when our world is shaken or when we are given a plate that we are not pleased with.

Praying and praying for you Lisa!
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Update on Phoebe & Jaxson

Revelation 21:4 ESV

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Phoebe, An ATypical Miracle

 
Some days are better than others for Phoebes…she is pretty emotional right now and that can be difficult for everyone. The car seems to soothe her and help her sleep so we have been doing a lot of driving. Nathan drove around town for 5 hours the other day so she could sleep well. She seems to feel more comfortable sleeping at an incline, likely from the pressure in her head. She won’t eat much else besides popsicles and sometimes ice-cream although she’ll ask for 5 different things trying to find something to make her feel better.
Today she grabbed her little noggin and took off at a full run trying to escape the pain. I remember her doing this before she was diagnosed with the first tumor and it is disheartening to see again. I am hopeful that we will see improvement as the radiation does it’s job reducing the tumor size.
For now, she needs relief, the boys need grace for her mood swings and we just need prayer. Thank you for surrounding us with your love and support.
-amey

Jaxson Eugene, Facebook

Well there's good news and bad. The good is his xrays are looking better! Lungs are becoming dry and expanding. Bad news is he can't keep up his o2s for nothing tonight. This mask he's wearing isn't even working well. I am praying so hard that he doesn't have to go on a ventilator because that will be a HUGE setback. Tonight has been plain awful. 

Thank you for your continued prayers for these dear sweet children who are suffering more than any child should. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Praying and praying,
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Where There Is Life there Is Hope

Psalm 77:1-4 NIV
I cried out to God for help;

I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;

at night I stretched out untiring hands,

and I would not be comforted.
I remembered you, God, and I groaned;

I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.

You kept my eyes from closing;

I was too troubled to speak.

My husband's aunt went into the hospital yesterday with a massive heart attack. They placed her on life support without much hope for revival. :'( This morning I received the call that she has been taken off of life support.

My heart is breaking in two because as far as I know, she does not know the Lord. :'( There is nothing worse than this, nothing. My only hope is that she gave her life to Jesus sometime in the recent past or that right now, as her life is ebbing away, Jesus would meet her and ask her the most important question ever; Will you let Me in? And that her answer would be yes, Lord Jesus, please come in!!

Please lift Aunt O up to the Lord and intercede for her salvation. Thank you!!

Matthew 5:3-12 NIV
 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Unless the Lord intervenes in a miraculous way, my family and I will be attending a funeral. My husband's side of the family are unbelievers. Please pray the Holy Spirit will go before us and we will have the opportunity to witness to them in a  powerful way. We have been praying many, many years for their salvation only to be met with cold resistance when we present the Gospel.

Blessings,
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Pray & Never Give Up

Ephesians 6:18 NIV

 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Philippians 4:4-7 NIV

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Praying and praying always!

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How To Battle

Source

First part of this series is Warrior God.

Forces in the spiritual realm are set against us so we must battle or the enemy will invade and prevail over us. We must don our spiritual armour and wear it 24/7 and stand up to our enemy and fight because forces are set against us and if we are idle the enemy will run us over. If we do not fight the enemy will be relentless in attacking us and will take our blessings away. Whether we like it or not, spiritual warfare is going on 24/7, Satan and his army are not going to back off just because we are ignorant of his devices or tired of fighting. Oh no, he will fight even harder until we are so bound up in demonic chains that we are totally harmless to his kingdom.

Unbelief in spiritual warfare does not stop the oppression of the enemy, that only gives the enemy an advantage over us. Remember:

Exodus 15:3 NIV

The Lord is a warrior;

    the Lord is his name.

³ 
A child of God should not behave like a civilian or a citizen of the world but needs to take on their responsibility and be a soldier in the Lord's army.

Ephesians 6:12 NIV 

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The word struggle or in some versions, wrestle, implies fighting or hand to hand combat. Struggle defined by dictionary.com says: to contend with an adversary or opposing force. to contend resolutely with a task, problem, etc.; strive: to struggle for existence. to advance with violent effort: to struggle through the snow. (of athletes and competitors) to be coping with inability to perform well or to win; contend with difficulty: After struggling for the whole month of June, he suddenly caught fire and raised his batting average 30 points. This word gives us the picture of extreme fighting, a battle that one does not give up on until they win the fight.

1 Timothy 6:12 NIV

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Psalm 144:1 NIV

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,

    who trains my hands for war,

    my fingers for battle.

Jesus is our teacher, ask Him to show you how to do battle and He will. Remember He is faithful and Father hears our prayers if we are not living in sin and stay under the covering of the Blood of the Lamb. There are some rules to warfare and if you follow them you will be successful in the battle.

Deuteronomy 20:1-8 NIV

When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.” Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”

From reading this above passage we see that we are to go into prayer knowing God is with us and we have no reason to fear because it is God who will be fighting for us. We also see that if we are distracted when we go into prayer then our prayers are not effective and we are open for a sucker punch to the vitals by the enemy. We must deal with the distraction first in order to win the war.

Psalm 8:1 NIV

Lord, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

    in the heavens.

Always start your prayers off with praise and worship. God is worthy of our praise so when we go to war we need to acknowledge Him for Who He is, praise Him and know that He is going before you into the battle field.

1 John 1:9 NIV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Confess your sins. You cannot enter into the presence of the Lord while you are living in sin or have unrepentant sin in your heart. You need to be right with Him because when you are He will hear your prayer and He does answer right away. It is either yes, no or wait.

Ephesians 6:18 NIV

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 

Now you are ready to pray all kinds of prayers in the Spirit. What does praying in the Spirit mean? Check out GotQuestions.org for a good explanation. Here is a little snippet of their answer...The Greek word translated “pray in” can have several different meanings. It can mean “by means of,” “with the help of,” “in the sphere of,” and “in connection to.” Praying in the Spirit does not refer to the words we are saying. Rather, it refers to how we are praying. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the Spirit’s leading. It is praying for things the Spirit leads us to pray for.

Next post will be on why we must fight.

Blessings,
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Praise to God

A prayer request and some praise reports

Psalm 68:19 NIV

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,

    who daily bears our burdens.

Information from: Chelle's email concerning Wayne, Joy's Facebook page, Joey's CaringBridge page.

PRAY

Wayne:  

He has been having radiation and will actually be done with it on the 8th. But for right now it is making him sick and unable to eat much. They are hitting the cancer hard and some of the lymph nodes are right beside the esophagus. Sometime in mid December they will do a pet scan to see how things are going. Wayne could really use some prayer today as he is having a hard time right now. 

Thank you Chelle for keeping us up to date.

PRAISE

Joy:

Thank you all so much for your love, support, prayers, and encouragement. We are humbled by the way our God is using our little girl. Your stories and words speak to our hearts everyday. We are blessed!

Joy is doing well enough for them to try to wean her off of the bypass (ECMO) machine. They have just started doing this now. Please continue to pray for our Joy, we can SEE GOD in this room!

Joey:

•he has had no more seizures!

• (consequently) sodium holding strong at high 130's with last reading at 140. Really good!

•we just moved back over out of PICU to HemOnc floor. Always the last stop before heading home

We still have concerns and he has benchmarks we need to hit before anybody feels comfortable taking him home, but we are certainly moving in the right direction. 

...Thank you TEAM JOEY for praying for us. 

Psalm 103:1-5 NIV

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins

    and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

    and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thank you for reading and joining in to pray for these sweet, precious people. 

If My People 2012

Click on the link above and join in with Joel Rosenberg for a 5 minute prayer for Israel. God tells us to pray for the peace of Israel and I found this a neat, quick way to join in with millions to pray for God's chosen people. 

Psalm 122:6-9 NIV

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

    “May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls

    and security within your citadels.”

For the sake of my family and friends,

    I will say, “Peace be within you.”

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your prosperity.

Blessings,

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Stop, Pray & Then Obey

Google Image Ancient Damascus

Acts 9:19-25 NIV

...Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

Saul, shortly after his conversion to Christianity, began preaching in the synagogues. He was after all, a zealous Pharisee, a teacher of the law so he was doing what he did best, he taught. Only difference was he was now preaching and teaching about Jesus. The crowd liked him and Saul grew more powerful by proving that Jesus is the Christ, v 22. This angered the Jews and they planned to kill him but Saul found out and escaped. When we look at v 15 we can see that God was moving Saul into the area where He wanted him, with the Gentiles not the Jews.

Acts 9:15 NIV
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel."

Saul was preaching to the Jews but God wanted him to preach to the Gentiles so, in God's amazing ways, which sometimes are scary, He had Saul flee for his life. You can tell by Saul's actions that he loved the Lord dearly and wanted to serve Him immediately in this new calling placed on his heart, the problem is he didn't find out just what it was God wanted of him, he just went out and served. Sometimes we are like this. We love God so much that we start doing for Him what we think He wants us to do but we haven't conversed with Him to find out how, or where He wants us then all of a sudden things fall down around us and all havoc breaks loose.

If you are being obedient to Jesus but it seems everything is a push instead of falling into place, then maybe you should stop and pray and find out just what it is God wants. Sometimes we are working for the Lord but we are not doing the Lord's work. Just look at Saul, not many were coming to the Lord, the Jews were mad and planned to kill him so God moved Saul probably in the only way that this stubborn man would move, by fleeing for his life.

God has a plan for your life and if you don't know what it is just ask Him He will answer. Doors will open and the way will be clear. The path may not be smooth or even easy but it will be fulfilling and things will work out to glorify God. After all this is the purpose of Christian, to glorify God 24/7 and tell others about this amazing free gift we have. Does this clear path guarantee an easy pain free life? No, it does not. Just look at v 16

Acts 9:16 NIV
(The Lord said) "I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Saul did suffer greatly for Jesus but in this suffering he had the joy of the Lord and a very close relationship with Jesus.

Philippians 4:12-13 NIV
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

If you are passionate for Jesus and things are just not going your way and all of a sudden you find yourself being ushered into a new place or job and maybe in a very undignified way, this could just be God's way of moving you into His will. Stop, pray and then obey. God is working things out for His glory and He will take care of you and provide just what you need.

Blessings,
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What is love?

SOTK photo

1 John 4:7-21 NIV

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Hi Dad,

I am feeling a need of love right now; Your love to be spread to the people of this world. My heart is breaking, crumbling in two for the people of Japan, for the people who do not know You. I am bleeding Lord. Is this You? Daddy it hurts...they hurt...they cry...they are over whelmed. There is a need, a complete need for Your love to pour out over and through them, Father have mercy. :( Lord, my God have mercy and take pity on them. Yes they have ignored You and turned their back to You but You are just and loving and kind. Send in messengers to spread Your love and Your word. Open their hearts to You, let them see the foolishness of their ways and draw them into repentance. Jesus You are good, Your Holy Name I hold up and praise. Have mercy. 

I love you Dad, please cover the people on my heart, You know those who lie special in my heart, cover them in Your blood. Forgive me for any sin I have not acknowledged, show me my wrong and cleanse me of it. I want to pray Your heart. I desire You and Your ways.

Precious Jesus, in Your might Name I pray, amen.

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