Growing Strong

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

Last night the boys and I were coming back from our walk and as I walked down the driveway, I noticed once more, how large our palms had become. I asked Chase if he knew the story behind the palms, he didn’t, so I shared it with him.

Fourteen years ago, I bought 40 Royal Palm plants. Now, looking at them, you wouldn’t know they were Royal Palms, they looked like a 10 inch blade of grass. But the man promised me they’d grow into trees, so I brought them home.

Bobby and I nurtured those plants, they were our babies as Carson and Chase hadn’t come along yet. We watered, and fertilized them, repotting them each time they grew too large for the pot they were in. A frost came one night, when we weren’t prepared, and wiped out over half of them. We ended up with 16 strong trees to plant along our driveway.

Two hundred feet of hose allowed us to continue to bring the water to them and Carson and I spent hours out there watering those trees during the dry season.

A couple of years ago, I went to get the mail and noticed one of our trees had died. It made me sad … it had looked fine on the outside, but a decay had formed inside and choked the life out of it.

The growth of the palm trees is such a special example to me, of our walk with Jesus. Those trees started out as fragile sprigs, but after years of nurturing, they are now strong vital trees, able to survive the storms. We start out with fragile sprigs of faith, maybe just a glimmer of hope in us. But with constant nurturing, from God and from others who have walked the path before us, we can grow into strong trees of faith. The storms will still come, but we will be able to withstand them.

Father, thank you for letting me see your hand in everything around me. Thank you for protecting me from the freezes and the decay that has tried to steal me from you. And Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me, first!

I love you Jesus!
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!
Joyce

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrows!
http://www.alifedecision.org

The Jesus Way

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying.
Matthew 5:1

I have been going through the book of Matthew with my Sunday night ladies. Jesus had been sharing His message for about a year when He took his followers up onto the side of a mountain to give them some words of advice.

They had been living the way of the world … now it was time for a change. Time to do things The Jesus Way.

Jesus said:

– the meek would inherit the earth, and the pure in heart would see God. his followers were to be a beacon of light to a dark and dying world.

– getting angry at a brother was not acceptable … forgiveness was not optional. adultery, divorce and oaths were not cool and we need to learn how to turn the other cheek and love not only our friends, but also the ones who treat us wrong.

– give to the needy, but don’t make a show of it … pray to God simply … give him the honor and praise that only He deserves.

– fast for God … not man.

- don’t put your store in things … things will come and things will go. put your energy into heaven, your rewards will be eternal.

– you can love God or money … but not both. money isn’t the root of all evil, but the love of money is where the trouble starts.

– don’t spend today worrying … let today be today.

– don’t judge others … period.

– ask … seek … knock. these are action verbs. do something.

– there is a narrow gate into heaven … and a broad gate to destruction. choose the narrow gate for life eternal with Him.

– a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

– if you do these things you are wise and your foundation strong.

This is The Jesus Way!

Father, thank you for giving us these life lessons. Jesus teach me to live … YOUR WAY!

I love you Jesus!
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!
Joyce

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrow!
http://www.alifedecision.org

Ten I’s of Prayer #10

Intimacy

Well, we come to the end of our I’s, and I saved the best one for last, at least, I think it’s the best one. Intimacy.

What is intimacy? We think we know. Let’s check and see.

The main definitions of ‘intimacy’ mean a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group, an act or expression serving as a token of familiarity, affection, or the like, the quality of being comfortable, warm, or familiar, and privacy especially as suitable to the telling of a secret.

Ooo…don’t you love that?

According to all our words on prayer…

*intercede
*invade
*inspire
*influence
*instruction
*invest
*increase
*impact
*imbue

…none of them will be effective if we do not have an intimate relationship with the Lord.

Though we have virtually perfected our horizontal conversations, we have seriously failed in our Vertical one. Prayer is the development of our personal relationship with the Lord, as our intimate friend.

This spirit-converse can be found only when one retreats to that quiet place, to listen for the intimate whisperings of our precious Lord.

The intimacy of prayer is like a child or grandchild crawling up in your lap just to snuggle with you because he or she loves you. Do you ever crawl up in the Father’s lap just to love on Him? He delights in that, just as you do.

Do you make time to experience this cherished alone-time with the Lord? Or do you merely rush in, lay out your plans and wishes, and rush out again?

No great soul ever grew in intimacy with the Lord on the streets of a busy life, only in the solitude of prayer. When busyness keeps us from hearing the whispers of our Beloved and keeps us too distracted to feel the comfort of His arms and the peace of His words, we will never discover what Mary did as she sat as His feet.

We need to be alone with God, where no outcries of earth intrude, where no ghosts of years past interrupt, where no outside opinions interfere, where no urgency of decisions impede.

Is intimacy with the Lord missing in your life? If you want to know the Lord and grow the fruit of spiritual graces, spend time in His presence, for only then will deep affection blossom, resulting in a richer relationship with Him.

Speaking of prayer, Martin Luther said “to be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

If I could inject anything into your heart about prayer, it would be this: be still in His presence and listen, guard your heart against intruders, have the right attitude by not being in fear or doubt, or being timid, whiney, or hypocritical, do not take it for granted or leave it out of your daily schedule, claim your inherited rights and privileges in Christ and the promises of the Word, pray for all men, pray for Israel, rely on the Holy Spirit, fast when necessary, pray according to God’s Word and His will, pray in faith, trust, confidence, patience, boldness, and expectation, all in the Name of Jesus, and until you have peace, praising and giving thanks to God at all times.

~~Blessings of intimacy, Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #9

Imbue

Since I’ve started these prayer posts with a definition, this one is no different. In part, the word ‘imbue’ means to fill with moisture, permeate or saturate, to fill the mind (etc.), to impregnate or inspire with feelings, opinions (etc.), to influence thoroughly, pervade, to cause to become impressed or penetrated, to cause to absorb, and so on.

How do these definitions fit in with prayer? We’ll find out in a second.

First, in our prayer times, don’t we usually run to the Lord to pray…

…when a child is in a car wreck,
…when peace disintegrates into chaos,
…when a best friend stabs us in the back,
…when the repo man stands knocking at the door,
…when the cupboard holds little more than the cup,
…when pain strikes the chest and there is no insurance,
…when a husband loses his job and finances are cut off,
…when buying Christmas presents is a vague recollection,
…when the roof overhead is in jeopardy of being taken away?

When these things occur, do we then allow raging emotions to fill us? In our immaturity, do we stomp our feet and whine at life’s circumstances, “Why me?”

And with what do we usually try to satiate our emptiness and pain? Do our circumstances call us to raid the refrigerator, drive us to the local bar, lure us to try drugs, tempt our eyes and lusts with porn or an affair?

Or do we seek the Lord, allowing Him to fill us with all that we need? According to our word’s definitions, the Lord will…

…imbue us with His power, His plan, His holiness, and His will,
…saturate our negative minds with the positive mind of Christ,
…inspire our misplaced feelings and opinions to be transformed,
…fill us with His Spirit and quench our thirst in those dry, wilderness days,
…pervade and influence our new-creation lives by impressing us with the image of His Son.

The lyrics of Fill Me Up, Lord by Richard Blanchard seem appropriate:

Like the woman at the well I was seeking
For things that could not satisfy;
And then I heard my Savior speaking:
“Draw from My well that never shall run dry.”

Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more–
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

Which do we seek from the Lord to fill us up and make us whole: His hand to give us something or His face and His presence? When we seek Him, do we praise Him? Scripture says, “They who seek the LORD will praise him.” (Ps. 22:26 NIV)

When you lift your hands to the Father, with what are they filled? God says as He did to Moses, “What is that in your hand?” (Ex. 4:2 NKJV) What does He see? Does He see fingers tightly clutching anger? A palm filled with the works of self-righteousness? A glove stuffed with hidden schemes?

If you are filled with hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness, or anything else from your trials and heartaches, how can you have room to be filled with the Lord and His praise?

Paul instructs us, “Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:18 Amp) Are you obeying God’s will to praise and thank Him?

One definition I left for the end. Absorb. The Lord has been so gracious and loving to me that, when I sit adoringly at His feet, I do not ever want to miss out on being filled with His presence and absorbing all He has for me.

Are you imbued with all of the Lord?

~~May you be filled to overflowing, Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #8

Impact

According to the English dictionaries, some of the meanings of the word ‘impact’ say the effect of one thing on another, the power of making a strong, immediate impression, bear on, touch on, influence, effect, the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology, to fill up, or alter.

Can all this be applied to our prayer times? Do our prayers have…

1) an impact on us?
2) an impact on our family, others, or the world?

1) …on us? If our intimate conversations with the Lord do not impact us in some way…touching, influencing, effecting us…are we making the most of our prayer times?

* Do we allow God’s Word to alter us?
* Do we allow the Lord to fill us with His purpose, His vision, His heart?
* Do we sit still long enough to allow His presence to make an impression on us, influencing the way we think and ultimately changing the way we speak and act?

The Bible tells us to “be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12:2 Amp)

‘Renew’ defined, by Vine’s Expository Dictionary, says it is “the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life.” There’s that impact.

Are our morals and spiritual thinking impacted and renewed as we sit at the foot of the throne?

As new creations, “what counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people.” (Gal. 6:15 TLB)

2) …on our family, others, or the world? If our intimate conversations with the Lord do not impact us, how then do we think outside of ourselves and plea for others, thus impacting their lives?

Sometimes God calls on us to pray for a certain person or situation even when we have no knowledge of the whys or what-fors. It may be to save someone from a disastrous circumstance, to give them needed comfort, or to right some wrong. The Spirit leads us in those times to be an intercessor.

Do we obey the Spirit’s call? Do we also make it a regular habit to pray for those other than our family members? Do we have a worldview, praying around the world to save the oppressed, the hungry, the poor, the naked, the hurting, the lost?

Jesus said, “Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35b NIV) Therefore, we pray that the Lord will send someone to cross the path of the lost, for scripture says we are to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:38 NKJV)

God “doesn’t want anyone lost.” (2 Peter 3:9b Msg) He desires all mankind to recognize Him as the Good Shepherd of the sheep. Of those who do not yet acknowledge Him as the Shepherd, He agonizes that they are lost without Him. His family flock is incomplete without them.

Just while you are reading this, hoards of lost sheep have wandered off the path and have fallen off the precipice of life. Is there a lost sheep you can rescue from falling into the great abyss of eternal death?

Is your life impacted by those intimate words shared with the Lord in your prayer times? Are you influenced, transformed, and renewed enough to impact the lives of others with your prayers?

May your prayer times transform you and, in turn, impact the lives of others for the Kingdom of God!

~~Blessings, Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #7

Increase

The English dictionaries define ‘increase’ as to make greater as in number, size, strength, extent, capacity, scope, or quality, augment, add to, multiply, to reproduce, intensify, or enlarge.

Since this is on prayer, two things come to mind when I think of increase. Well, more than two, but we’ll just look at two.

Our prayers…

* increase our faith

First of all, faith and prayer must go hand in hand. If we believe and have confidence in God, then we pray to Him.

Prayer without faith degenerates into ineffective utterances. What’s the point of praying if we have no faith? A prayer breathed in faith unfurls its fragrance at the Father’s feet. Spurgeon said, “Prayer cannot draw down answers from God’s throne except it be the earnest prayer of the man who believes.”

Through our intimate conversations with the Father, He reveals Himself and His truths to us, communicating His heart to us as we listen to Him, which then increases our faith.

However, if we do not mix faith with God’s Word, His promises, and the things He whispers to our hearts, then, we resemble the Israelites, for “the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” (Heb. 4:2b NKJV)

Sometimes a promise of God stalls in its appearance. What happens when inactivity occurs, when a promise seems to drift farther and farther away, when circumstances linger incessantly and patience wears thin? Are we more concerned about the problem or God’s promise? What happens to our faith? Does it increase or decrease?

God’s purpose in inspiring the writing of His Word was to “give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for His promises,” (Rom. 15:4b NLT) to increase our faith that we “do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Heb. 6:12 NKJV)

James said, “If you don’t ask with faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.” (James 1:7 TLB)

Our waiting may seem unproductive, yet, “we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.” (Rom. 8:25 TLB)

If our prayers increase our faith, then they also…

* magnify the Lord

To increase or enlarge also means to magnify, as to increase in actual size, exaggerate, amplify, and intensify. ‘Magnify’ is also defined as to extol, praise, glorify, to make seem more important, and so on.

The disciple John said it most succinctly, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30 NKJV)

How do we do that? As we release ourselves to the Lord for His total control, He increases and we decrease.

As the definition also says, it means to magnify. So we increase or magnify the Lord in our prayers. How do we do that? I don’t think we fully understand what magnifying the Lord means.

To extol or praise highly and exalt God enlarges His image, His power, His love, all His characteristics, intensifying them more than our circumstances or our list of wants.

If we constantly boo-hoo our circumstances or our unfulfilled desires more than praising God, we magnify our circumstances and lack above God’s character and power. David said, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” (Ps. 69:30 NKJV)

Prayer is not complete without praise and thanksgiving. Paul said, “Always maintain the habit of prayer; be both alert and thankful as you pray.” (Col. 4:2 Phillips)

Therefore, do we still raise our hands in praise and worship when in painful despair? Do we still fall on our knees in His presence and exalt His name when in a heart-wrenching trial?

God is always faithful to the promises in His Word, for the One Who breathes His promises into our hearts will not fail to manifest them, when our faith is increased to obey His Word and we magnify His presence and His name above all else.

~~Magnifying the Lord with you, Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #6

Invest

Invest. A word with a multitude of definitions, including to use, give, or devote (time, talent, etc.) as for a purpose or to achieve something, to clothe, attire, or dress, to cover, adorn, or envelop, to furnish with power, authority, or rank, or to endow or infuse with a quality or characteristic.

I find this very interesting. This is so saturated with applications. Let’s go over it again and make a list…

1) use, give, or devote time, talent, etc. as for a purpose or to achieve something
2) clothe, attire, dress
3) cover, adorn, envelop
4) furnish with power, authority, rank
5) endow or infuse with a quality or characteristic

Wow! Do you see the spiritual wealth in this?

Since this series is on prayer, what happens when we apply these to prayer?

First, do we invest part of our time in prayer to take advantage of all this, of all that God has in store for us? Investing time in prayer has a myriad of purposes. Foremost, prayer is a private, exclusive audience with the Creator of heaven, in which we spend time in His presence to worship Him and to love Him.

If we do not take time for prayer, our lives will be powerless and prosperless in all areas.

When we devote time in prayer, don’t we want to achieve the other things listed?

Such as having God…

* clothe us with salvation
* array us with righteousness and cover us with protection
* supply us with power and authority through the name of Jesus
* infuse us with the qualities and characteristics of Jesus, transforming us into His image and endowing us with the Holy Spirit

What do you think is God’s highest quality or characteristic that He desires to instill in us? Love? Peace? Justice? Joy? This is just my opinion but I think God’s highest characteristic is holiness with all else flowing from it.

Did you know the Word says we have been “called with a holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9b)? By definition, we are called, bid by name, with a holy invitation, and we are “to walk worthy of the calling with which [we] were called.” (Eph. 4:1 NKJV)

As the disciple Peter said, “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16 NKJV)

Do we allow the Lord to transform us into His holy image? If we don’t invest time in prayer and in the Word, to become like Jesus, we cannot become holy, because we’ll never know what holiness looks like.

The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Pursue…holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” (Heb. 12:14 NKJV)

If we desire to “see” the Lord, to meet with Him in prayer, we must come before the Throne of the Father cleansed of all unholiness, asking forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus.

What do you pursue in prayer? Just to hand God your list of wants? God knows your prayer list. You can make your requests of Him but He desires more than anything else your attention, your worship, and your companionship.

He longs to share with you His heart’s desires for you, your family, your friends, your world. He longs to accomplish that above list, and more, in you and for you.

If your heart’s desire is to know the Lord and to be clothed, arrayed, covered, supplied with all God offers, and to be infused with holiness, spend time in His presence, for only then will deep affection blossom, resulting in a richer relationship with Him.

May all your prayer pursuits be holy ones.

~~Blessings, Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #5

Instruction

Do we seek the Lord’s presents or His presence? Do we follow after Jesus merely seeking something from Him as the multitudes did? Or do we lean upon His breast as John the beloved did, just to be near Him, to hear His precious heart beat? Or do we sit at His feet as Mary did, just to serve Him in worship by pouring out our thanks and our tears as fragrant oil upon His body?

Much of the time when we pray, we rush into the Throne Room handing God a list of the things we want or think we need. We don’t stay long enough or sit still long enough to listen to what He has to say. God does not have carryout service like a drive-through Taco Bell, and we don’t get to return what we receive if it isn’t prepared and served to us the way we want it or as fast as we like it.

To ready ourselves for the day, we eat, shower, get dressed, brush our teeth, even read the newspaper or watch the news on TV, but then we leave out the most important part of the day: our fellowship with the Lord.

Do you spend time with the Love of your life in the morning? God will not jerk you out of bed in the morning to get you to pray. It’s up to you. Don’t steal the day out of His hands. Give Him time to speak to you. He is the only One Who can make the day go as it should. He waits for you to join Him in that inner holy of holies.

Solomon said, “Through lowering of hands, the house leaks.” (Eccl. 10:18b Masoretic Text) Though he was referring to being physically lazy, this same slackness applies to our spiritual house as well, for if through negligence or idleness we lower our hands from lack of prayer and praise, then, according to definition, the house begins to weep.

If you’ve been reading along in this series, you saw before that God inspired men to write His Word. I used the familiar scripture, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16 NKJV)

According to some of the definitions of the key words in this verse, God’s inspired Word is profitable or useful for learning, conviction of sin, correction of error, restoration or bringing to an upright state again, and improvement.

‘Instruction’ means to give or impart knowledge, for training, disciplinary correction, chastening, nurturing, and instruction which aims at the increase of virtue.

If laziness strikes, causing our hands to lower to do all the things listed on our schedules rather than gently nestling the Word in our hands for prayer, what have we gained?
If God’s Word is to bring about the learning of His heart’s desire for us, conviction, correction, restoration, and improvement in our lives, and if we do not read and study it, how will God’s ultimate purpose for our lives be fulfilled?

As I said in my last post, the Word is the divine influence exerted upon the spirit and heart of man for the enhancement of righteousness, as verse 17 adds, “…that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

How can the seed of the Word accomplish a transformation in our lives if there is no planting? How will it furnish us completely, equipping us for every good work, bringing a harvest?

Do you allow time for God to speak to you, to give you instruction for righteousness, to comfort you, to fill you with His presence?

When the swelling of our calendars and our self-sufficiency keep us from spending enough time in the inner recesses of our prayer closet, nothing we claim in God’s Word will be accomplished.

The Still Small Voice has no destination if there is no listening ear. If we do not listen, scripture says, “God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to Him.” (Prov. 28:9 Msg) Do you blame Him? He says, “Oh, that My people would listen to Me.” (Ps. 81:13a NKJV)

It only costs us our time to listen but it costs us our quality of life not to listen!

Companionship with the Lord with its soul-rest, with its comfort, with its instruction, is too often sacrificed for petition.

May you sit adoringly at His feet to be instructed in His Word.

~~Blessings, Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #4

Influence

They never locked their back door, or front door for that matter. Whenever you wanted, you could enter Roy and Leah’s house and you would be welcomed with open arms.

Even if you were a stranger, their greeting would be, “Come on in and sit a spell. Glad to see ya. Who sent ya? Anyone we know?”

“Sure. Your son Lee sent me. I’m down on my luck and he said you might be able to help me,” would be a typical response.

Had a need? They would do their best to meet it, giving you of what they had in order to ease your suffering. It was theirs to share, not to hoard it for themselves. It didn’t matter what status you held in life; you would be well received. Your influence on them was merely that God loved you, no matter who you were, so they loved you also and welcomed you into their home. They accepted you in the name of their son, Lee.

Our heavenly Father’s attitude toward us is the same. Paul told the Ephesians that, in Jesus, “we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” (Eph. 3:12 NKJV) ‘Access’ in the Greek means admission, approach, or a leading or bringing into the presence of.

You are no stranger to the Father. He loves you and always readily welcomes you into His House…in the Name of His Son, Jesus. Your influence on heaven’s gate is the Name that turns those hinges, swinging wide that door to the Throne Room and bringing you into the presence of the Father.

We come before the Father to make our petitions of Him in the Name of Jesus. Our requests can even be encapsulated into a one-word prayer, which is prayed so often with varying intensity: Jesus!

Because of that Name, you have heavenly influence.

~~Use your influence…Lynn~~

Ten I’s of Prayer #3

Inspire

What does ‘inspire’ have to do with prayer? Let’s see…

The dictionaries describe ‘inspire’ as to fill with an exalting or quickening influence, to impel, arouse, or produce a thought or feeling, to communicate, suggest, guide, or control by a divine or supernatural influence, to stimulate or impel as to some creative or effective effort, and so on. The archaic definition means to infuse life by breathing, to breathe into or upon, or to inhale.

In the Old Testament, several scriptures contain the word ‘inspiration’ as the form of ‘inspire.’ The Hebrew word is ‘neshamah’ and means the breath of God or man, the spirit of man, divine inspiration, intellect, and so on.

This word is used in Genesis 2:7 (NKJV) this way, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” And Job 32:8 says, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” (KJV)

In the New Testament, the Greek word for ‘inspiration’ is theopneustos, which means God breathed or divinely breathed in.

This word is used only once in the NT in 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV), “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” So, it is divine influence exerted upon the spirit and heart of man for the enhancement of righteousness.

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NIV) Just as God’s Word gave life to the universe and mankind in the beginning, His voice still resonates with His creation and His Word still gives life. Jesus is the Word of God; He is “the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1) The disciple John recorded Jesus’ words in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit that makes alive…The words which I speak to you are spirit and are life.” (Received Greek Text)

The writer of Hebrews tells us that this inspired “word of God is living, and powerfully working, and sharper than every two-edged sword.” (Heb. 4:12 RGT) The Bible in Basic English interprets this verse this way, “The word of God is living and full of living power.” The Amplified says, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective].”

God’s Word is alive and powerful. Not ordinary words, His words are unseen, living entities, actually working energy and living matter of the eternal kind. Right before his death, Moses said of God’s commands, “These instructions are not empty words – they are your life!” (Deut. 32:47a NLT)

So what does this have to do with prayer? If God breathed His inspiration into His Word, infusing it with life and power, then we need to allow Him, in our quiet times, to breathe it into our souls, our minds, our hearts, to penetrate the very depths of our spirits that we might receive all its benefits for our spiritual growth and learning to pray in accordance with it.

The Word is the essence and inspiration of your life. Do you read your Bible in your prayer times? If not, oh, my friend, you are missing so much of what God desires to instill in you. He inspired His Word just for you. Let it be the divine guide in your prayers.

~~Be blessed and be inspired, Lynn~~