21 Days of Prayer - January 20, 2021 Day #18

Day 18, January 20, 2021

Today’s Focus:  Fighting For Our Families

Keep praying this year! Keep praying for our families! This is the year that our kids “come home,”  That our spouse remains close to us.

Prayer can change things. Our families are worth fighting for.

Nehemiah is rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. We need to have walls to protect our families

Nehemiah 4:14 (NLT)

Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”

Nehemiah is saying what we are doing is great. We are not going to lose one family member.

Nehemiah 4:23 (NLT)

 During this time, none of us—not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who were with me—ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water

Nehemiah is training the people to be ready. He gives us this strategy.

1. Bring the Lord back in.

Let’s not let fear slip in. Hold on to our values. Jesus needs to be at  the center of our lives. 

The world is working overtime to divide our families.  We need to keep Jesus at the center of our lives and our families.

Praying at all times in our family life.

2. Put the guards back up.

God has a part but I have a part too.  I need to be ready. I am ready to fight and guard with weapons that defend and protect.  We are going to fight together.  

We need to put guards over hearts, before our eyes. We need to protect and be careful of what we let into our lives.

3. Get your weapons back out.

We need to take our stand. We need to bring our weapons with us. We are not going to get caught off guard.

The weapons are prayer and actively taking in God’s word so the Word of God is in our life.  Our weapons are worshipping together.

We are to teach our families how to embrace the weapons God provides to protect our families.

We are not to give up!

Let’s continue to pray and make Jesus first our lives and our families.

21 Days of Prayer - January 19, 2021 Day #17

Week 3: Return to Our Vision

Today’s Focus:  Building of Our Church

Matthew 16:18 (NIV)

And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[b] will not overcome it.

Jesus built the church to do His bidding on earth.  It’s the church that Jesus wants to display His manifold wisdom.

Ephesians 3:10 (NIV)

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

Every time the church was persecuted, it was multiplied and went all over the world.

God is setting us up today for something great. 

Acts 8:1-3 (NIV)

And Saul approved of their killing him.  On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Saul thought the early church was a cult or sect and that he might be doing God a favor.

Acts 9:1-5 (NIV)

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

Jesus revealed Himself to Saul, “why do you persecute me (not the church).”

Jesus was saying that I am so closely associated with the church, that I am  the church. You are really persecuting me.

We are becoming more like Jesus, not just His appearance but also His personality.  We are to look more like Jesus every day.

What does Jesus look like?  

Authentic - He was real. He was out among the people.

Relevant - He talked about things people cared about.

Incredibly enjoyable. He was not sad nor mad. He was a delightful person.

Accepting. The people who were the down and out ones, rushed to Him.

Powerful - They could touch His cloths and get healed.

Let’s build the church today!

21 Days of Prayer - January 18, 2021 Day #16

Week 3: Return to Our Vision

Today’s Focus:  Revival in Our Nation

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Celebrating the life of MLK today.

Quote “Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.”

When God’s people pray, He works and causes greater things.

When I pray, I realize I’m part of something greater than myself.

God says “He will hear from heaven,  and heal the land.”

So there are three things here that we can apply:

1. Humbly look in then out.

Once we look in then we can look out. It’s easy to look at the failures or problems out there, revival always begins in the hearts of God’s people, God’s house and what He is doing in us.

OH Lord I SEEK your face so I can look in and then look out.

2. Kneel down before standing up.

We need to stop making stands, and first kneel down. When you kneel down, everyone sees things differently.

Every documented revival started with a few people praying. It never starts with the masses, but just a few people who decide to move forward.

3. Seek God before all other solutions.

I need  you God in my life. I want to be a part of something greater. 

The revival that God will work in our lives, our families, our city, states, nation and world.

Psalm 85:6 (NIV)

Will you not revive us again,  that your people may rejoice in you?