Let God Surprise You

It is normal to have a few prayer requests up before God. Those desires and wants and needs play in a loop in our minds on a daily basis. Our faith in God is exercised at every turn. With each move of progress that we see, either right in front of us, or on the periphery of life, we are searching and looking for God. God, is that you? God is “this” it? 

I truly believe that my hope and desire is in view. God revealed it to me almost two years ago. Then, He did something that I was not expecting. Y’all, God showed it to me. Then He said…..wait!

Wait? Yes, wait!

I promise you, it was not a definite no, it was a NOT YET. I have struggled since then trying to figure out the “why” behind it. But I was reminded of what God’s Word says in Isaiah.

Isaiah 55:8 New Living Translation (NLT) says,
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

Be “THE” Miracle

In the situations that we and those around us face on a daily basis, God is working out all the details. He is working them out toward His intended goal, which is His glory. When things happen in the lives of our loved ones that are beyond our control or are overwhelming to us, we often go to God in prayer, asking Him to work a miracle.

I, too, have prayed this prayer on numerous occasions. I was looking for some huge miracle that God was going to make happen, that would be undeniable to every one that it was God. However, I have learned through my own life’s journey that God often uses us to be the miracle, for “such a time as this”.

Esther 4:14 New Living Translation (NLT) says, 
14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

Most of the time, we do not realize that God is using us for this same purpose as He used Esther, “for just such a time as this”. Our strength and resources are often being exhausted to help another person out of the situations that they have placed themselves in. We must recognize that God is using us to first show His unfailing love towards them. “Yes, you messed up! Yes, you did not make the right choices! But, because I (GOD) love you so much, I am sending you a way out.” That way out is, often, you and I, and in our lives, God may use someone else to be the miracle for us.

God, I Trust You

(Intentional Prayer)

Pray the Scriptures – My Prayer:

Lord, I am choosing this day to trust you. The promises in Your Word are true. God Your Word says in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

God, this year, you have sent forth your prophetic Word into and about my life. A year of OVERWHELMING VICTORY is mine, if I am willing to position myself for transition, grow in You, and have a “right now” faith, in a “right now” God, for a “right now” miracle. God, I believe it and I receive it.

Suddenly

Hebrews 11:1 New Living Translation (NLT) says,
11 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

In my post titled “As Promised…The Importance of the Spirit Filled Life”, I spoke about a prayer that I have been praying, now for 48 days.

“Lord, as I move forward in life, knowing that in your sovereignty, you have a plan for my life, help me to cooperate with that plan and see the providence, which are the things you set up and connect or intersect together to make things happen, let me see that every step of the way. Transform me to receive what you have for me and to be ready for the miracles you are about to perform. Overwhelming Victory!”

I believe that I have been growing in the area of cooperating with God, but do you see the phrases “see the providence” and “to be ready for the miracles you are about to perform”? “Seeing” here is not actually always seeing with my eyes (the finished work, what God has already done), but seeing through eyes of faith, while I am waiting on what God is going to do (His perfect will manifested in my life).

Even when I cannot see it, where does my hope lie? Can I see it in the Spirit? Will I choose to have faith in the God in which I pray and see His hand in even the smallest of things?

And by the way, any movement of God is nothing small. It is mighty, especially since, if we could do it ourselves, we wouldn’t need him. But we do need Him in every area of our lives. We simply cannot make it without Him. It is His power and His unfailing love for us that makes the things that we pray for happen in our lives. Even when we don’t know what to pray, God’s Word says,

Romans 8:26 New Living Translation (NLT)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

The Holy Spirit living inside of us prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. How amazing is this! When our prayers are off base, the Holy Spirit helps to align them to the will of God for our lives. This goes back to the importance of praying. We do not have to have some magical words or the right grammar. Sometimes, all we may know to say is, “Jesus, help me”. The Spirit will translate that for us to our Heavenly Father and Jesus our intercessor will mediate between God, the Father, and us. This is so awesome! Wow, just powerful!

Filter Life through God’s Promises

(Intentional Prayer)

Pray the Scriptures – My Prayer:

Lord, help me to filter life through the promises of God. For every problem in my life, you have given me a promise. Sometimes life feels out of control, but Your Word says in Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good.” So, I know that everything that is happening right now in my life, you are going to bring it all together for good because I love you Lord, and I am called according to your purpose.

There are times when I become fearful, but Your Word says in Judges 6:12, “The Lord is with you…” Lord, I know that you will never leave me nor forsake me. You are always right here with me, giving me strength to press forward and hope for a brighter future. I know that according to John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So, God, I know that I am safe with You and I can put my total trust in You because You are in control.

Intentional Prayer

Prayer is a part of my daily life. I talk to God all through out my day about all types of things. However, for probably the past month, God has placed it on my heart to begin to develop a more intentional prayer life. God wants me to speak His Word back to Him.

Since God placed that in my Spirit, I have let a little bit of time slip away because of the busyness of my day; but, let’s face it, we are all busy, and it takes some sacrifice, some giving up on our part, in order to give God that extra time that He deserves.

It is my endeavor to begin to post “God Your Word Says…Intentional Prayer” posts throughout the coming weeks and months. I would like to share those prayers with you, not to boast in myself (“Hey look at me! I pray!), but as an endeavor to encourage you to take the Scriptures and pray a more personal, intentional prayer to God. It is my prayer that through this, you will further develop your personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and better connect with Him. That is my own personal goal!

We need God in our lives as never before and I have found out, that He is there to meet all of our needs, if only we would pray!

We do not have to be bible scholar’s to pray God’s Word. My ultimate goal is to continue to grow in the Lord, moving from “Here” to “Overwhelming Victory”, obtaining ALL that God has for me.

I am not sure how this will all come together; but if God is in it, it will happen and it will happen according to His will. I do not consider myself to be this awesome powerful prayer warrior, but when God’s Word is involved, there’s all the power that I need.

God Your Word Says…Intentional Prayer

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Thank You For Reading My Blog!

“I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness.”
Psalm 89:1 NLT

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No More

Romans 8:23‭-‬25 NLT says,
And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Ummmm! Patience. Huh? Could you repeat that please?

P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E

Am I really waiting patiently if I cannot stop complaining?

Am I hoping for what I do not see while giving God thanks for all that He has already done, knowing that He is faithful and He will come through for me again and again and again?

Am I remembering that Christ suffered and as such, so will I?

This morning, I was reading through my prayer devotional. I cannot recall exactly what I read in that moment where I just began thanking God for what He has already done. All I  can remember is this spirit of thankfulness coming over me. Instead of focusing on my suffering, which is nothing in comparison to all that Christ endured for me, I began to focus on the faithfulness of God. I remembered that “No More” should I be complaining, because I have so much to be thankful for.

You’re Covered

Today at work, I found myself dealing with a situation that required some action on my part.

Earlier in the week, I had been asked by a different area within my company to provide some support that was really outside of my job description. You see, there are some “political” things going on within the various divisions that is causing this area not to receive the support that they need. I was trying to provide what I really did not have within me at the moment to provide, because it was outside of the scope of my responsibilities.

For a couple of days, I struggled with this and was trying to do something that was taking over my day and keeping me from accomplishing the things that I really needed to accomplish; the actual tasks and assignments that I had been given to make happen. I finally had enough. I sought out the wisdom and advice of my supervisor regarding the situation. Her response to me was, “Don’t you worry about what you’re worrying about. That is my responsibility to deal with any backlash or issues that may arise from you needing to step back from something that you never should have taken on in the first place.” I started to feel some relief. See, I had been internalizing and carrying something that wasn’t even mine to carry. I needed to transfer that responsibility back to the area who is truly responsible for handling those situations so that I could refocus and get back to what I am designed to do, based on the job that I was hired for.

How often do we pick up and take on things that we are not responsible for. Oh, the weight of it all. It becomes too much. There has to be a place of relief and realignment so we can get back to doing what we are purposed to do.

What Now?

Life!

Who knew that things would be this way! We plan or sometimes we don’t. Either way, life still happens, most times without much say from us. We are not in control. God is! Yes, we are fully aware of this.

Now, if you are not aware of this fact, keep living, and as you go through different tests and trials meant to draw you closer to God, you will begin to see who is really in control. We often struggle with this. We orchestrate and manipulate things to align them to our will and desires. But guess what? God’s will, will prevail, whether we cooperate or not.

The answer, the key, the “what now” that we are seeking, is to do just that, COOPERATE WITH GOD!

What does that mean?

That is definitely easier said than done. Because of sin and our fallen nature, we are in a constant battle with the enemy, satan, but also with ourselves. We trust God. We know that He is faithful and that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Yet, we still struggle. We are anxious and we often worry our way through the day. Life can bring about some challenging situations and we simply want it all resolved immediately. I am a true believer of God’s miraculous power and His ability to do things suddenly, in an instant, if He so desires and works to make things happen that way in our lives. However, often, he chooses to make us wait so that His greater purpose will be manifested in our lives. This waiting period produces the struggle between our will and God’s; between our timing and God’s. It can even produce a wavering in our overall trust in God.

Like at this very moment, and basically through out this entire day, this feeling that I have carried around with me in the pit of my stomach has been overwhelming and almost unbearable. The moving, out of control, pieces of my life have exhausted me. I know God is in control. I know He is there carrying me through. I know my wilderness experience is coming to an end and that my promised land is right over the horizon. I know he has good intentions for my life and that if I continue to wait and continue to focus on Him, He is going to further reveal to me that plan and I will start to see all of the pieces fit together.

Nevertheless, I find myself seemingly not cooperating with God, and I cannot seem to truly shake this feeling that I carry with me when something is troubling me; when my trust is wavering. It’s a constant reminder that true peace, the peace that God offers to me, is eluding me. That is not how God intended for things to be.

As Promised…The Importance of the Spirit Filled Life

So, here it is…my panel presentation, as promised. If you are not sure what I am referring to, please read my post entitled Wilderness Experience.

Theme: “The Importance of the Spirit Filled Life”

Topic: “Undertaking the Spirit Filled Life”

There must be a willingness to:

1. Separate from all sin – 2 Corinthians 6:14-17
2. Surrender to his service – Romans 12:1-2
3. Saturate with the Scriptures – Psalm 1:1-2
4. Stand upon his saying – John 7:37-39

There are those special preachers, teachers, missionaries and evangelists of the Gospel who are called to lead a larger group of individuals; then there is this group called “us’s” who God uses in our smaller circles of influence and that is the direction or focus that my topic has taken for this evening. So, I hope that it is beneficial to someone in the room.

My Topic is: Undertaking the Spirit Filled Life.

In order to undertake the Spirit filled life, there must be a willingness to SEPARATE FROM ALL SIN.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (NLT) says:

The Temple of the Living God
¹⁴Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? ¹⁵What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? ¹⁶And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
¹⁷Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.

When we confess our sins to God and accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are free and separated from a sinful life. We are not someone who cannot sin, but someone who is no longer a slave to sin. We belong to God. We have chosen to turn from sin and to accept the gift of Salvation that is offered to everyone. True repentance of sin means to turn 180 degrees and not look back. It is a change of heart and we need the Spirit of God to cause that change to occur.

Wilderness Experience

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been almost 6 years since I have posted to this blog. When I started the blog, this was something that I really enjoyed. It was an outlet and a way to express “my faith expressions”. But then…”IT” happened. I found myself smack dab in the middle of a wilderness experience. At times, I would even call it a “NIGHTMARE”!

But God!

He was there all of the time. I truly believe that I am on my way out of this thing and into my promised land. However, I am still finding myself back tracking a bit, as did the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. It is not me worshipping other gods or me giving up on God. My faith stands strong; but, my circumstances, most of which have been out of my control, have kept me in this place for far too long. I want out!

How do I get out?