Prayer for our Country

Fellow Believers,

We, as the body of Christ in the USA, during this time of history are in a unique position.

Our country is in the middle of a financial struggle, where questions remain unanswered, and decisions are made without thought to what these decisions will mean for future generations. Does this connect to something in your spirit?
This is YOUR call to prayer for our country’s economy and business practices.

The lives of many infants are taken daily, leaving untold scars on the lives of women and girls who believed they had no other choice. People every day are given diagnoses that will forever change their lives by doctors and nurses trying to help them. Do you hear their pain?

This is YOUR call to prayer for our country’s healthcare system.

Public schools are becoming more and more hostile toward the mention of God in their hallways. Teenagers are being attacked on all sides from their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends at school, and the TV, internet, movies, and video games at home, as their parents try to understand what they are going through. Does this ignite something in you?

This is YOUR call to prayer for our country’s education system.
This is YOUR call to prayer for our country’s families.
This is YOUR call to prayer for our country’s media and art influences.

The leadership of our country, is making decisions daily (about the economy, healthcare, the military, and much more) that will influence the lives of generations to come, bills and laws being decided upon daily in our state’s and nation’s capitols by those we have elected to represent us. Do they not need wisdom and guidance from the only true source of wisdom and guidance?

This is YOUR call to prayer for our country’s government.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of people involved in a church in our country has decreased from a majority of our population, to an incredibly small amount of our population, while the numbers of new age, paganist, Islamic, and naturalist groups have grown. Does this surprise you?

This is YOUR call to prayer for the body of Christ in our country.

Love

Lately, it seems that God has been leading me into a deeper love relationship with him.

Last week I was at a low point, I was doubting that I was worthy of following Him, for there are times when I don't like spending time in prayer, and I've been busy lately, so I haven't been able to start my day off with Him, or been able to spend much time with Him at night, as had been my routine. I was functioning, not following, and was condemning myself for it.

Then I went over to the house of a friend of mine who is prophetic, and spends most of her day with God(in his word and in prayer) and her family; not a good idea if you want to hide something from someone who knows you well, and is intimate with God. Through that, and also later through a phone call to my parents, I realized some things, and thought I would share them, for I think they apply to everyone.

A passage in the Bible that I read this past Tuesday is from Song of Solomon (SOS) 1, verses 2-4

"Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is more delightful than wine.
The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;
Your name is perfume poured out.
No wonder young women adore you.
Take me with you-let us hurry.
Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers."

That is a very descriptive passage. Please bear with me as I explain what came to mind when I read it.

The hebrew word translated to kiss in this passage was "nashaq" which literally means to catch fire, to fasten up, to touch or equip. God wants us to Catch fire for him, so He can connect with us, and put His touch on our lives to equip us to do His will.

Then, I believe, His love will be more delightful than wine. For example: there are times in most everyone's life, where we feel discouraged, alone, depressed, and sad about something. When we allow God's touch on our lives, instead of turning to alcohol, or wine, we will fill ourselves with His love, and He will be there for us.

Also, one time I remember that stands out the most to me that Jesus had perfume on was when the woman came, and poured it on his feet, then wiped them with her hair because of her overwhelming thanks to him. So one perfume He has is a perfume of repentance, joy, mercy, and forgiveness. WOW, that is a great perfume.

And we all know that if you have perfume in a bottle, with a cap on, you can't smell it, the only way it's useful is if you open it, and put the perfume on. Jesus name is perfume poured out, because that is the only way that perfume is useful, what good is it if we have Jesus in our lives, and we don't take Him out of the "bottle" so others can share in the repentance, joy, mercy and forgiveness that is His perfume.

One more, then I'm done.

SOS chapter 1, verse 4 says, "take me with you-let us hurry. Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers."

Where would a husband and wife share their innermost thoughts, fears, and ideas? I'm not married, but I'm guessing it would most likely be in their bedroom. I believe God wants to bring us into His chambers, into His inner court. His yearning for intimacy with us is so great that He wants to be with us in the most intimate part of our lives, the part where noone but Him sees. WOW! God wants to be MY Husband?

I believe the answer is yes. Why else would the Bible refer so often to His church being His bride, the one who shares intimacy with him in thoughts, actions, words, and heart. God loves us so much it sometimes feels overwhelming, but it is healing to accept that He created us, and loves us that much. If we accept that love, and know that we are worthy of it because HE is worthy, our lives will never be the same.

Prayer

I recently was reading a response from a leader of an organization that works with youth. This man was responding to a comment form another organization that said he was misleading youth into believing certain types of prayer were "Christian", when in actuality they were pagan practices that should never be accepted by Christians. That he was decieving these young followers into believing they were being influenced by the Holy Spirit, but in actuality were opening themselves up to demons, and to being influenced by the enemy(Satan). After his response there were a large amount of posts from various people in support of and against what this organization and this man were doing.

I'm not making a judgement as to whether or not this man and this organization are decieving or misleading youth, but simply sharing some thoughts of mine that came out of reading that.

In January, I posted a blog entitled "Labyrinth" (you won't see it now, because after I read some of the comments after the above response from the man and oragnization I mentioned before, I changed the name of it to Life's Maze). I began to spend time in prayer for this organization and for those this organization influences, and asking God, whether or not this organization was deceiving people. And really struggling with what I had read from some of those who were against this organization.

One such thing spoken about were labyrinths, and this person gave a link to an article that spelled out how Christians should stay as far away from labyrinths, and the idea behind them because they are pagan in origin, therefore, God wouldn't want His followers taking part in anything like a prayer labyrinth(hence, why I felt I should change the title of my blog, fearful of leading some to believe I was decieving people. I haven't changed it, probably because I want to point it out to those reading this blog). Other things mentioned were yoga, stretching, deep breathing prayers, and meditative prayers(i.e. repeating a bible verse or a prayer many times).

I was struggling with what to make of this, when I remembered something a recent favorite author of mine said in a book I read of his (Dutch Sheets). Forgive me if I get this wrong, but this is how I took what I read in part of his book Watchman Prayer. Sheets had been talking about how we can work together with God in prayer, and how prayer comes out of a relationship with Him, it is a conversation with him. A time in which we sometimes speak, and sometimes listen to what He has to say. He wrote about how God loves us so much that he desires to be near us all the time, and waits eagerly for us to come before him in prayer and intercession.

If this is the case, then why do we need to put a name to how we spend our time with God. If we are praying in the spirit, and he leads us to pray repeatedly for a certain thing, does that mean we are now accomplishing a meditative prayer, as some identify it? If we are walking down a path, and sensing God walking alongside us, and leading us down different paths on a journey closer to him, does that mean we are walking along a prayer labyrinth? If we are sitting on the ground stretching after a run, and praying for the spirit to fill us and surround us, are we actually practicing a christian version of Yoga?

I have no idea what the answers to these questions are, but I think that by asking them, and trying to figure out if we are actually "doing it right" while we pray and spend time with God puts Him in a box of our making. Isn't saying that "these are different types of prayer, and they are done this way" limiting what God can do in our lives?

What if you are praying one night, and the Spirit directs your prayer into something you have never experienced before, are you going to say "Wait, I've not heard a name for what this is, so therefore, it cannot be from God." or are you going to say "Wow, You continually amaze me, God, and a life of prayer to you is never going to be boring!"

May God begin to work in your life in new, exciting, marvelous, wonderful, fulfilling ways as He seeks out intimacy with you.

Yes, God wants to share intimacy with you. He wants to be your king, your father, your friend, and most importantly, the LOVER of your soul!

1 Corinthians 13 gives a glimpse of how God loves YOU. Take Care.

Finding Joy

This is an excerpt from my first book that I'm in the process of writing right now called Finding Joy. Enjoy it!


She lay on her bed weeping for who she is and who she’ll never be.

When she was a child his charms drew her to him and she felt loved, cherished, and wanted. She should have known that he was too good to be true when he introduced her to a friend of his and left them alone in her room.When he returned she had felt ravaged and dirty, but then he used the childlike faith and love she had for him to convince her that what had happened was for her own good and if she kept on she would become a rich woman. She had nowhere else to turn; her family seemed so far out of her reach, and she couldn’t go back to them and admit that she had made a mistake when she ran off with Mark.

When she heard the two knocks on her door, she got up and pulled herself together. She was a little irritated that she was going to have to work tonight. Mark had told her she wouldn’t have anyone coming to see her. She walked over to the vanity against the wall opposite the foot of her bed and sat down on the bench. As she looked in the mirror she stared into the face of a woman she didn’t recognize anymore. The proud face and rosy cheeks of her youth had been replaced by the slender face and full mouth of a woman sometime during the past seven years of her life.Her auburn hair curled naturally around the sides of her face and fell cascading down her smooth back almost to her hips.The once innocent sparkling in her unusual shade of sea green eyes had changed into the cool, assessing gaze of a woman who had learned to trust no one.Perfectly manicured hands used a mascara wand deftly as she applied mascara evenly onto her long eyelashes, creating the final touch to her ensemble.

A knock sounded on her door and her gaze narrowed. She figured she may as well make the best of this, so Amy turned to the door and said quietly, but loudly enough to be heard on the other side.

“Come In.”

Life's Maze

How do we get lost in our own lives? Why do we try to get lost in our own lives? To dig ourselves so deep into a deadend path of our own design that we can’t see the sky, the sun. We cover ourselves in the foliage of the trees we can’t reach with our shears. The trees that were planted when we began serving God, as a reminder of our growth in him.

God planted the trees as He shared with us that the trees were representative of our walk with him, of our growth, and ministry in His name. He planted them in the shape of a maze, then we began walking through it.

For a while, the trees were small enough that we could easily prune them, and keep them trimmed so that the sky, and the sun were visible and we could easily make out the next path to take, feel the sun on our face, and the wind in our hair. As we grew, and the trees matured, they became taller, tall enough to get in the way of where the next turn was going to take us, but we could still see the sun, and feel the wind, guide ourselves by them; it was just as well as being able to see where to go next over the trees, so it was okay to leave them like that. Then the trees continued to grow, uninhibited, because we could no longer reach even the shortest branches to trim and let in the sun and the breeze. This began to be a little too much, now, on top of not being able to see ahead to the next turn, we could no longer even see the sun or feel the breeze on our faces. Confused, we looked around us and thought, “How did this happen, I thought that God promised me that when I gave my life to him, he would lead me and guide me, and he would love me and stay by me as I continued to grow. But these trees He planted, these trees of my service and dedication and relationship to him, have grown over the path, and I have no idea where to go now, I might as well get rid of these shears I’ve been trying to use to trim the pathway, they do me no good.” We drop the shears on the path, and decide to continue moving forward, hoping we are going in the right direction.

For a while we walk, aimlessly, crying out to God and saying, “God, What is wrong, I love you, I’ve been following you, and I’ve been growing in you. Why are you no longer showing me the way to go?”

There is silence, and we despair of ever being able to see or hear from God again, almost to the point of giving up, we continue trudging and suddenly, a small shaft of light is visible coming through the tops of the trees ahead of us. We run to where it falls upon the path and bask in the warmth, and comfort of the sun shining through the branches. Looking up, we hear a still, small voice.

“My child.”

That is all.

Then we notice up ahead, there is another clearing in the trees, we run toward that one, and again stand basking in the rays of the warmth of the sun. Farther up another, then another, so we continue running forward turning corners towards places where more and more areas are opening up for the sun to shine through. We continue moving farther, and farther down the path, turning corners, and passing turnoffs, paying attention to where the sun is shining on the path ahead of us. Then, we notice that the path ahead is almost entirely void of branches now, as if they were being pruned from on top of the trees, and glance at other paths, noticing they still have no sun shining in them. It seems obvious to us to continue down the only path that the sun is shining on, so we continue that way for an unknown period of time, not really knowing where we are going or when we will get there, and not really caring, because the sun is shining on us and the wind is refreshing us. Eventually, a voice interrupts the silence previously only filled by the rapturous sounds coming from us in thanks, and hope brought on by the feel of the sun on our bodies and the newly felt breaze on our faces.

“I love you, I have never forsaken you.”

And suddenly we know.

The trees were too high for us to reach.

Our walk with God had gotten to the point where we put down strong roots in Him, and the trees of our relationship and ministry flourished. As the time moved on, when the trees became too high for us to reach, we had someone who could trim the trees all along.God had been waiting the entire time we walked around aimlessly for us to let go of the shears that we were trying to use to maintain our relationship with God. It was when we let them go, that God was able to grasp them in His powerful hands and use them to carve out an opening for us to see and feel the sun and wind.

This thought was too much for us. That we had been walking for that long, trying to trim the trees ourselves, feeling overwhelmed with the weight of trying to keep up, and not knowing what to do when the branches got too high.

“God, Forgive me for not paying better attention. I’m sorry I wasted so much time trying to figure it out myself.”“My child, don’t you realize? The entire time you were walking around the maze, I never lost you.

You were lost in me.I

was in the trees surrounding you, I was in the branches covering you. I was always there. You were with me the entire time, as I was with you. You were just unable to feel my warmth and the refreshment I was waiting to carve out for you because you held on to the shears. I have cherished every moment with you, even in the dark times, when you felt as if you were wandering aimlessly, for even then, I knew where you were heading. I was simply waiting for you to realize you could not do it on your own, for you to give up the control of the trimming, so I could show you how I could work in your life and on the path of our relationship.”

We realize, now, that those times of walking down darkened paths, and those times of stagnant air were necessary in our walk with God. The sun and wind we had taken for granted when we first began our walk. It was the times of dark and stagnancy that allowed us to see the true glory in the presence of the sun and wind in our lives.

We vowed then, never again to take for granted the sun and wind in our lives. And we vowed to never again try to take the shears in our own hands. Then God spoke once again to us.

“My beloved, I love you more than you can fathom. I will walk with you always, but I know you. There will be times when we are growing closer, when our ministry and work will flourish. Then you will decide you can try to prune the trees again, and I will let you. You will once again go through a time when you are unable to reach the branches, and the path will close above you, and you will not feel the sun or wind. Then you will drop the shears once more and allow me to prune the trees, and you will once again feel hope, and my sun and wind. Know that this will happen and keep your watch for those times, then the times of dark and stagnancy will become shorter and shorter, as you draw nearer and nearer to me. Never lose hope, and never give up.

Shall we continue on this journey together?”