21 Days of Prayer - January 6, 2021 Day #4 - Surrender

Day 4, January 6, 2021

Theme for this season: Return to Me

Today’s theme: Surrender to HIM.

Surrender is a process.  I was saved as a teen; but the unfolding of my growth and salvation was a process of surrender.

Romans 12:1 (NIV)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

“Urge”  come with me, walk with me, I want to show you something.

Give yourself completely to Him.  This verse gives us the picture of what we truly need.

It’s the picture and truth of complete and total surrender.

I am going to surrender my whole life to you (all that I am).

In light of all you are God, I give myself to you (for what you’ve done).

I don’t need anything else, God you are enough for me.  I don’t need anything alongside God. God you are all I need.

There are many benefits when we give our life to the Lord, but the greatest thing in this is that we receive HIM!

Mark 10:28-29

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

It’s the story of the rich young ruler.  He thought he needed Jesus and some other things.

Jesus says essentially why don’t you lay your life down and just trust me.

The disciples are watching this transpire. Peter said that Rich ruler walked away, wow. What are we going to get.

Jesus says what you’re going to get is to get me and the gospel.

What if 2021 is the year that I gain Jesus?  If I get Jesus, He’s got me, my kids, my family, my finances .. He’s got it all.

So God, I want Jesus so much. There’s nothing I want to stand in the way. I want Jesus. I am not asking for anything else, I just want Jesus!

I surrender all to You!

21 Days of Prayer - January 5, 2021 - Day #3 Dependence Upon God

Our focus for the week is Jesus!

Today’s focus is Dependence on Him

Living for and serving the Lord, I will not do unless He goes before me and with me.

I am dependent upon Him!

Zechariah 4:1-6 (NIV)

 Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

What you don’t realize, all of that has happened is because God who breath in your lungs. God has performed this work in your life. 

John 15:5 (NIV)

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from Jesus we can do nothing.

 (Ill: I’ve noticed this about grandparents --- It’s like little children when they need something, they find their grandparent and they say “papa” or “nana” I need this, as they reach upward toward their papa or nana). And - as grandparents we give them what they ask for (most times).:)

This is the picture of our dependence upon God.   This is another reason why I lift my hands in worship, I am showing dependence upon God.

So today, look up to the Lord with your arms outstretched and let your Heavenly Father know how dependent you are on Him.

21 Days of Prayer - January 4, 2021 Day #2 Return to The Lord

Day 2

Thought:  God does not answer prayer based on who you are, He answers prayer based upon who He is.  That’s why it’s always great to start with praise worship.

Today’s theme: Return To Me.

Joel 2:12 (NIV)

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,

    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Where is your faith with Jesus today?

Let’s return to Him with all of our heart 

Joel 2:25 (NIV)

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm[b]—my great army that I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

John 4:23 (NLT)

23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.

I love this because it says the “Father is looking.”  God is looking for those who would be worshippers of Him.

He’s also looking for worship in a certain way. (it may not be the way we like to worship. He has a certain way). 

Mark 12:28-30 (NIV)

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b]

He wants our heart and soul. Our physical expressions and  affections to God.

1. I worship by expressing my affection to God.

He wants our mind as well. That is my attention on God. 

2. I worship by focusing my attention on God.

What is on my mind that doesn’t need to be on my mind. 

Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You. 

Protecting my mind and having it on Him for His perfect peace.

With all our strength.  

3. I worship by using my abilities for God.

Lord, what would you have me do to show my love for you.

God may be asking you to get out of the stands and get into the game.

Hebrews 13:16 (NIV)

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Your work for God is pleasing to Him.