21 Days of Prayer - January 13, 2021 Day #11 Today’s focus: Vision For My Life

Day 11, January 13, 2021

Today’s focus: Vision For My Life

If you open up your heart to God in prayer,  He will give you vision and clarity for your life.

The world does not see God clearly, that is why God wants us to have clarity and vision for what He will do in and through us.

Habakkuk 1:2-4 (NIV)

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

Habakkuk was watching the wrong news. He was watching world events, yet God let’s him know that He had control over this.

Habakkuk questions God.

Theme verse: Habakkuk 2:1 (NLT)

I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post.

There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he[will answer my complaint.

With all that is going on in the world, what are we going to do?  We are doing it today. We are getting up early and praying! 

We need to fast and keep our focus on Him.  We need to cling to Him for His favor.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NIV)

2 Then the Lord replied: Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets

    so that a herald may run with it.3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

    it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it;

    it] will certainly come and will not delay.

We need to relax and know that God has a plan.

Two perspectives of knowing God has a plan - Turn down the competing voices and tune into God’s Word.

climb to the watchtower and wait.    Psalm 46:1. Be still and know that He is God. There are weapons of mass distractions. There are many competing voices for your time.  

The quieter you become the more you will hear.

Habakkuk says “I will look to see.”  How do you do this?  Looking into God’s word.

We need to turn down some things and tune into God’s Word.

Mark 8:22-25 (NIV)

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Jesus led the man away from all of the competing voices.

The man has lost his eyesight, but once more Jesus laid his hands upon Him.

Let that be our prayer.. “Once more Lord Jesus, touch me and give me clarity and vision for my life. Let my eyes be opened. We worship you today!”

21 Days of Prayer - January 12, 2021 Day # 10 - Praying for Healing

Day 10, January 12, 2021

Today’s focus: Healing from Disease

Isaiah 53:5 (NLT)

But he was pierced for our rebellion,

    crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

    He was whipped so we could be healed.

I actively pray for healing and the healing that I have seen God work in various people’s lives.  Not always does healing happen, but I always pray for it.

Matthew 4:23-25 (MSG)

From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with a sickness, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.

Christ followers are under God’s government. God has different rules or ways .. It is a good government and He brings about healing!  

Anything outside of God doesn’t bring good, but in God’s Kingdom, good things happen.  Not just physical healing, but every place where there was disease/sickness (physical, mental, emotional).

Physical healing is easy to see and to pray for (Covid19, diabetes, cancer, etc.). Normally when we talk about healing .. this is probably what we often think of .

Mental illnesses are many though and we need healing from (panic, PTSD, Bipolar, depression, mood swings, eating, personality, etc.)

Many people need healing from  emotional damage(hopeless, discouragement, etc.)  Things that take place that cause us to have a distorted view of God, others and yourself.

I don’t know about you, but I need a little bit of healing today. Maybe not physical healing

Ways God heals… 

One way is instantly. God just heals them instantly. He doesn’t need another year or hour he could do in an instant. Jesus cured the Nobleman’s son (John 4), Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1), Jesus heals a leper (also in Mark 1), Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant (Matthew 8), etc.

He also heals incrementally.  John 9 shares about a man that Jesus spits, applies mud and incrementally brings his vision to full restoration.

In the OT, Naaman the leper who dips in the Jordan 7 times. His healing was incremental.

He also heals differently.  Jesus prays “if it is possible let this cup of suffering  be removed.”  God in a moment could have removed that cup of suffering.  Jesus goes on to say “nonetheless let your will be done.”  

Sometimes when God doesn’t give you the miracle, He makes YOU the miracle for others and that brings healing and encouragement for others.

21 Days of Prayer - January 11, 2021 - Day #9

Day 9, January 11, 2021

This week’s theme: Return To God’s Work In Me

Today’s focus: Freedom from Bondage

I am content but not satisfied, I want more from Jesus

Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Jesus not came to not only Forgive you but also to Free you!

You can get to a place in your Christian walk where you no longer have that yoke of bondage on you again.

What one thing in your life, if it wasn’t in your life, would make your life better?

Getting set free?  Small groups, accountability but also this thought.

Luke 4:14-19 (NIV)

4 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19   to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]

There’s good news, that was proclaimed.

There was freedom, that was proclaimed.

There was healing, that was proclaimed.

They had these things, but they simply needed to proclaim it!

I have something and I haven’t simply said it’s mine. Proclaim it.

I am a child of God. I am set free from the Blood of Christ.

I am a man of God.

These truths exist in Jesus’ name.

Two things:

Identify the lie!  Don’t buy into the lie.  

John 8:44 (NIV)

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

That is not who we are. We have been bought with a price! 

If you want, visit my website, www.clintabbott.com  and look at the resource tab, click on 21 days of prayer.  Download the Pray first prayer guide. On page 45 you will find warfare prayers that are great to pray through to help experience freedom.

Replace the lie with the truth!

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

We expose the lie and speak the truth.