Stand Firm and Never Give Up (2.11.15)

1 Peter 5:8 - Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

 My Children,
I speak to the many who are trying to keep their head above water, 
who feel like they are going down for the third time.

I see your struggles and your discouragement. You are being tempted to lose heart. You have almost given up hope. The waves created by the storms of life have overwhelmed you. But, I say to you, do not despair; do not give up hope. I am your very present help in times of trouble, and I will bring you through these times of adversity into triumph. Trust Me, and let Me guide your steps to make your way perfect.

Refuse to allow the enemy to make you feel lost or forgotten, for I am with you. Keep your faith in Me. I’ve told you before; his only weapons are lies and deceit. However, remember that I have told you to keep on the alert. Stand firm and resist the devil, and he will have to flee.  he won’t be able to stay around the presence of the anointing that is on your life.  So stand firm, stay prayerful and never give up.  You know you have the victory.  

So stand firm and never give up.

~  My Prayer Confession  ~
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for reassuring me that You are always with me, 
and will bring me through this current trial that I am facing. 

I thank You for the strength that You provide for me 
when I am going through the storm of life.  

I rest in knowing you're there.

Amen
 

Do Not Turn to the Left, nor the Right, but Stand on God's Word (2.10.15)

Good Morning all,
I pray that this message from the FATHER will bless you as much as it has blessed me.
 
Do not doubt in your heart or in your mind the power of GOD.
Do not waver in your faith nor in the things He has promised you.

The LORD said:
"I have not given Myself to you or for you so you could walk off so easily when things become rough. It is not an option to serve Me but a requirement to walk in all of My ways if you want to draw close to Me and I to you.

      

Do not think you are alone in all of this, but know I have risen up within you and will accomplish through you all that I have said. Nothing is impossible for Me to do. I AM totally Faithful and True to My Word. This is not the  time to walk in the shadows, but in the fullness of My light.

      

Do not turn to the left, or to the right, but stand on My Word and all it has promised. Nothing can stop My hand concerning you, all things will be done according to My will and My purpose. 

Take your eyes off of the situation you are facing and keep them focused on Me.

       

You cannot fail if you trust in Me, but if you continue to walk in your own strength, you will fail. 

Stop, Speak My Word and Stand! 
Bring all things to Me in prayer and release them.

           

Walk according to My Word and watch those walls fall down around you that you have erected.

It is My will, beloved, that you walk with Me.

       

Remember nothing can stop My Hand concerning you. 
The time has come for you to claim the victory over the enemy!!!!!      

           

For My Hand is upon you and with you. "
~~~

Remember this,
There is nothing that you will face today that the Lord can't bring you through.

Thank GOD for what you have, Trust GOD for what you need.
- Marilyn Chaney 

A Perfect Love & Protection Prayer (2.9.15)

Father GOD,

I am feeling fear in my heart today.  

Life seems to be uncertain and out of control.  

 

I recall that the Bible tells me “Perfect love casts out fear.”

You alone are Perfect Love, so would you please cast out the fear
I feel and replace it with confidence; knowing that Your Word says
that You will never leave me nor forsake me.  

 

Psalm 121 tells me that You never slumber nor sleep,
so I will trust You to take care of me - moment by moment, day by day.

 

Lord, I know that all power was given to You when Your Son
died on the cross for my sins and rose on the third day. 

 

Father, forgive me whenever I have doubt in my heart about Your power.  

I know there is no other GOD. 

You are the only true and living GOD and You are GOD all by Yourself. 

I know You are in control of every situation I face. 

 

As I go forth this day into the world, protect me from my enemies Lord, 

make me aware when they try to set traps for me to fall into. 

Your Word says they will become entangled in their own evil plots. 

I pray that You will bless them Lord, because You told us
to pray for our enemies and to love them. 

 

Send the Holy Spirit to live within me this day,
so that I can be a blessing to whomever You place within my path.
I love You, Father God and I thank You for waking me up this morning.

 In Jesus name I pray. 
Amen

 

 

Pray for what is on God's Heart, Praying The Lord's Prayer (2.8.15)

Faith Believers,

The first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer speak more clearly to GOD’s purposes in the world than any other passage of scripture. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10), He was teaching them to pray what was on the Father’s heart. The three things that the Father most wants to see happen on earth are for His name to be glorified, for His kingly rule to be established, and for His will to be done fully and completely. These are the Father’s grand-scale purposes. When we pray for them, we are praying in accord with God’s will. These are things that must happen, and will happen. Jesus asked us to pray for them so that the Father could make them happen in accord with our prayers.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are not telling GOD what we are going to do. 

We are asking Him to do what only He can do. 

We are making bold prayers of intercession to an almighty GOD.  Author Darrell W. Johnson, in 'Fifty-Seven Words that Change the World', notes: “The verbs of the Lord’s Prayer, addressed to the Superior of superiors, are in the imperative. They are commands, not requests. Be hallowed! Be done! All in the command form. To pray the Lord’s Prayer is to command—not to ask—but to command. . . . This may strike you as somewhat audacious. Who are we to speak to GOD in such a manner? What helps, is to know that the verbs in the first three petitions are in the passive voice. . . . The passive voice softens the tone. Instead of ‘do it,’ it is ‘be done.’ But the verbs are passive for a more fundamental reason. Only GOD can do what we are asking to have done.”

Thank God for what you have.  Trust God for what you need,

  - Marilyn Chaney

 ~  Prayer  ~

Awesome Lord,

Only You are able to do what I ask in prayer! 

Forgive me for trying to do so much 

for You in my own strength. 

I bow down before Your throne of power 

and simply ask that Your name will be glorified
in all the earth, that Your kingly rule will be
established forever and ever, and that
Your perfect will may be done fully and completely!

In Your Son Jesus' Name,

Amen

Offering Prayers of Faith & Absolute Confidence to God, Our Father (2.7.15)

Imagine for a moment that you are in the stands cheering on your favorite sports team. In the last minutes of the game, your team has gained a slight advantage and it looks like they are going to win. You are on your feet, cheering and shouting for them to “go.” You are challenging them to hold on, to be strong, and to do what they have to do to win. Your encouraging shouts are not pious wishes or hopeful pleas. They are urgent challenges to try and make it happen! They are, to put it grammatically, passive imperatives. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, our prayers should be something like those urgent challenges. We are saying with a sense of great insistence, “Father, hallow be Your Name; advance Your Kingdom; do Your Will on earth. Make it happen, Lord!” And He will.

The Father loves to hear our prayers for His Glory, His Kingdom, and His Will. And He delights to answer such prayers. Our Father GOD has the ability to do what we ask. There is no way that the almighty sovereign GOD of the universe will ever let history come to an end without glorifying His Name, establishing His glorious Kingdom and accomplishing His Will fully and completely. In fact He is already doing these things, and the day will come when they will all be done on earth, as perfectly as they are done in Heaven. So pray your prayers in faith, and pray them with absolute confidence. You are contributing to the realization of His purposes! That’s an exciting way to pray.

Almighty Sovereign GOD, the hour is urgent, and the need is great! I plead with You to hallow Your Name, advance Your Kingdom and do Your Will on this earth! To establish Your glorious Kingdom as You move in power! Do it, Lord! With a voice of confidence, I ask You to rule and to reign! The enemy’s defeat is sure, because You have already spoken His future!

"Ask and You Shall Receive" (2.5.15)

Jesus' statement "Ask and you shall receive" occurs several times in the Gospel accounts in various forms. It is a saying that has often been misinterpreted by those who do not understand the verse in its context, but rather assume that Jesus' meaning was "ask for anything you want and I'll give it to you," a basic tenet of the prosperity gospel and word of faith teaching.

Sadly, the faith of many has been shipwrecked on the rocks of unanswered prayers that were prayed because of a belief in the faulty assumption that "ask and you shall receive" is a blanket promise with no conditions.

Perhaps the most famous instance of "ask and you shall receive" is found in Matthew 7:7-8 where Jesus tells His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount that, "whoever asks receives, whoever seeks finds, and to whomever knocks, the door will be opened."  We cannot gain a full understanding of Jesus' meaning without reading the entire passage. Jesus goes on to say that GOD will not fail to give His children good things.  Luke 11:9-13 repeats this message, but replaces the words "good things" with "the Holy Spirit." This means that GOD will give good gifts to His children, and the best example of a good gift is the Holy Spirit. When combined with John 14:14, where Jesus tells His disciples that whatever they ask for "in His name" will be done for them, we begin to see the two-fold purpose of prayer - to give us deeper understanding of what GOD calls "good" and to cultivate a desire in us for that which GOD calls good.

Our prayers to GOD are not unlike our requests of men. They are based in a relationship, just as Jesus points out in Matthew 7:8. When we ask our earthly fathers for something they know will hurt us, those things are denied. A child may be frustrated and unhappy when his father denies his request for something bad, but he still trusts his father. And when a request is for something that the father knows is good for his child, he will provide it willingly and eagerly because he loves his child. This relationship is further alluded to when Jesus follows His promise in John 14:14 with verse 15: "If you love me, keep My commandments."

Loving Jesus, obeying Him and praying according to His will are all a part of asking in His name.

Many new believers have experienced a disappointment about this reality, thinking, "But what if, what I want / need, is not in GOD's will?" But when we think about it, this promise can never disappoint us. First, if what we want is not in GOD's will, we really don't want to receive it, because, though it mayseem to be what we want, God knows it isn't good for us; and He is faithful and loving to say "no" to that prayer. Second, inherent in the promise is the guarantee that the things we truly need will always be given to us when we ask for them. GOD will always give us good things. Our job is to understand what is good, so that we know what to ask for.

The natural mind does not understand this, but, according to Romans 12:1-2, renewing our minds, which can only be done through His Word, will help us understand what GOD's will is. Then, asking in faith, we will have all we need for life and godliness and fullness of joy (John 16:24). This is not intuitive for us, but it teaches us humility, and it draws us near to GOD, who is the Source of our joy.

Overcoming Trials & Standing Firm, For We are Kept by God's Hands (2.4.15)

1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but GOD is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 

This Scripture teaches us a powerful principle. If we belong to Him, GOD will not allow any difficulty to come into our lives that we are not capable of bearing.

Meaning that anything that comes our way, anything that tempts us, any tragedy that befalls us; we are more than capable of overcoming those things and achieving spiritual victory. That does not mean life will always be easy. On the contrary, the fact that we may need a "way of escape," indicates that GOD sometimes allows difficult trials to come into our lives. 

We may not believe that we can overcome them, we may doubt our own strength to prevail and we may even fail in the test. That does not mean, though, that we are not capable of overcoming that particular temptation. Whatever the temptation is, GOD promises that we will be able to overcome it.

But what does it mean to "overcome" trials? It means that the trials do not overcome our faith nor our position as children of GOD, and that we will come through the trials intact. 

Our eternal destiny is not in danger, because we are kept by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us as a down payment on our salvation (see Ephesians 1:13-14). No trial can overcome our salvation, because our salvation is of GOD. 

Therefore, the child of GOD will stand firm through the trials, kept by GOD's hand. This is proof that our salvation is real and our reward in heaven awaits us. James 1:12 assures us, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that GOD has promised to those who love him."

A Spiritual Warrior's Praise & Worship Prayer (2.3.15)

Heavenly Father,

I praise and worship You because You are GOD.

I am honored to be Your servant and I take my stand
today against the devil and his schemes
against me, my family and my ministry. 

Father, as I take up each piece of armor,
please secure it in place, on me.
I take up the shield of faith and extend it over myself.  

It extinguishes all the fiery darts of the evil one.

I put on the helmet of salvation,
which protects my mind from the enemy’s attacks. 
I have the mind of Christ.

I put on the breastplate of righteousness,
which covers my body with the righteousness of GOD. 
In Christ, every foothold of evil has been washed away
and I am clothed in righteousness!

I gird my loins with the belt of truth. 
Your Word, O GOD, is true. 

Father, sanctify me according to Your Word
and remind me through the Holy Spirit of truth
that destroys the lies of sin.

I shod my feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. 
I have peace with GOD through the blood of Jesus. 
I have favor with GOD and with man.  

I walk in my inheritance as sons and daughters of GOD;
and have authority over evil in Jesus’ name.
 
I will use the Sword of the Spirit by speaking the Word of GOD
as it applies to whatever situation I may face today. 

Father, please remind me of your Word via the Holy Spirit.
I will continue to pray in the Spirit throughout the day,
and intercede for all Christians as the Holy Spirit prompts me. 
I believe that the Holy Spirit is interceding on my behalf,
according to my prayers.

Thank you, Father, for the whole armor of GOD. 

Please surround me with your hedge of protection
as I move forward on the spiritual battlefield today.  

I praise and worship You, now and forever. 

Amen.

How Will You Respond to God's Calling? (2.2.15)

The people of Berea were more open-minded and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures daily to see if Paul’s teaching was true. - Acts 17:11

 

The best way to recognize a counterfeit is to know the real thing! 

Most of us will not fall for an obvious lie, 

but we can be fooled by a slight twist of the truth.

Know the Enemy’s Strategy

In Genesis 3:1, satan only changed a few words from GOD’s original commandment to confuse Eve. When satan tempted Jesus in Matthew 4, he quoted scripture to lure Jesus into sin. Jesus quickly saw that the verses had been taken out of context, and used for wrong motives. People can be easily led astray by the use of scripture that gives the appearance of following GOD, but actually promotes selfishness and pleasure-seeking. 

Know the Whole Truth

All scripture is GOD-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Bible is a complete message from GOD, and so it all fits together. Be careful of taking verses out of context. Like the Bereans, study the scriptures every day - searching for an overall understanding. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into the truth according to Jesus’ promise in John 14:16-17, 26.

Know the Meaning

Pay attention to the meaning of words, and check everything against the rest of Scripture. If someone talks about “Jesus,” make sure they are talking about the Jesus of the Bible, who is GOD, and rose from the dead. ...just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily listen to whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach.. - 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

Some say that because GOD is “love,” you can do whatever you want. Some say GOD is a “judge,” so you must obey these strict laws. Both of these ignore the total truth of scripture summarized in John 3:16 - GOD does love us! He graciously gave His Son Jesus to save us. Why do we need a Savior? GOD’s holiness required a just punishment (death) for our rebellion (sin) against GOD. Peace with GOD (eternal life) is a free gift for ALL who believe (have faith), just as it was for Abraham in Genesis 15:6.  (See also Romans 4)

The entire Bible is a love letter to us from GOD, our Creator. From the beginning to the end, it shows GOD lovingly pursuing us to bring us back into His plan; which we rebelled against. If you want to respond to GOD’s plan, accept Christ today. 

How will you respond to GOD's calling?

May the Holy Spirit lead you into truth!

Are You Ready to Let God Turn You into a Masterpiece? (2.1.15)

GOD saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from GOD. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are GOD’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. - Ephesians 2:8-10

The Bible says when we accept Jesus, we are forgiven and given new life.
When you start your new life, GOD crafts you into a masterpiece.

Here are 3 things that happen when GOD turns you into a masterpiece:

1. You are Forgiven

Do not let your past mistakes keep you from living the joyful life GOD wants you to have.
Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God’s love and grace is bigger than any sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

2. You Show Other People How Great GOD Is

You are a living, breathing testimony of GOD’s grace and love through Jesus Christ. GOD says, He picked you to be part of a new family, meant to show the difference He can make in a life. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, GOD’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

Your life is like a beautiful painting that gives recognition to its painter. As GOD’s masterpiece, you should “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

3. You Become the Light of the World

Jesus sets you free from the slavery of sin when you accept Christ. Sin won’t control you anymore. GOD gives you the Holy Spirit, who is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. (Romans 8:11) When you have the Holy Spirit, you will reflect GOD’s love, peace and patience. (Galatians 5:22-23)

The Bible says “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from GOD, not from ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 4:7). That is why you will lead people to Jesus, when GOD’s light shines through you.
Are you ready to let GOD turn you into a masterpiece?