21 Days of Prayer and Fasting - Day #2 - January 9, 2023 Day 2 - Monday January 9 "Complete Surrender"

Day 2 - Monday January 9

Today’s Theme: Complete Surrender

We’ll see the best of God when we give our all to God.

James 4:8 (NLT)

Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 

Your hands are what you do and your hearts are what you feel.

What’s the first thing to do? Repent.

You love God, but your love is divided. We need to really put God first. 

Today we’re going to ask God for revival and live it out through repentance.

In the book of Samuel they were crying out for revival.  A former leader Eli is mentioned.

Eli was called “fat”. Eli’s fatness - not just weight, but he over indulged himself.

We have just come out of a season in many ways in which we have over indulged ourselves (like Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Years eating too much or too much in gifts). A lot of times our lifestyles then reflect that. Sometimes then we allow ourselves to be satisfied with other things.

With all of this indulgence, and the presence of God not there, here’s what Samuel the prophet directed the people as he witnessed all this indulgence and the presence of God gone. 

1 Samuel 7:3-6 NIV

3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader[a] of Israel at Mizpah.

We need to rid ourselves of all foreign, little “g” gods. What have I allowed in my life and list that have gone above God?  I need to get rid of that. 

Here the people of Israel fasted and confessed.  So may we today and in this season, likewise fast and confess.

What marks all the revivals in history?  If you want God to move in an unprecedented way - there was always repentance.

Repentance - When we repent, God responds.It gets his attention. He has to respond.   (a broken and contrite heart He will not despise - Psalm 51).

So today, let’s enter this new season of 21 days of prayer by fasting and repenting. 

Jesus, we praise your mighty name today. We confess our sins and the sins of our culture. We are setting aside anything that we’ve allowed to come into our life ahead of you. We fast and repent and worship your name. 

S.O.A.P. 30 Day Challenge - Day #30 - November 30, 2022 "Confronting Facts by Faith With the Truth."

S. Romans 4:19-21 (NIV) 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

O. Abraham was about 100 years old. He had not yet realized God’s promise of being a father of many nations as he and Sarah were still childless. However, he faced the fact of his age and having no children with unflinching faith (“he did not waver”) that God would still do what He had promised.

A. We (myself included) are at times reminded by the enemy of the “facts” (too old, too short, not enough money, not enough people attending church, not enough education for the job requirements, etc) in our lives and possibly ministries. YET, I will be as Abraham and confront the facts with the TRUTH by faith - that my God will still do what He has promised. I will believe the Truth and not the facts.

P. Thank you Father for this word today and for the truth that you will do as you have promised. I have faith in you and I will not be overcome by “the facts.” In Jesus’ name!

S.O.A.P. 30 Day Challenge - Day #29 - November 29, 2022 "Living In Balance With the Lord"

S. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (NIV) 1 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

O. Paul prayed for those at Thessalonica. His prayer was, with suffering and persecution in mind, that God would deem them worthy of His calling - that as a result of Paul’s prayer, they would actually become as God had called them. He also prayed that they would bear fruit from their desires and deeds that were prompted (or as a result) of their faith.

Paul wanted believers to become more and more like the Lord and that everything they did in faith would bear fruit.

A. What a great prayer - that we all might actually become the people God has called us to be. That our lives would reflect our calling and that everything we plan and do in faith, will bear fruit. That we will truly live in balance with the Lord.

P. Thank your Father for today’s word. Lord Jesus continue to work in my life, that how I live matches your call for me and that in all I plan and do by faith, I will bear fruit. In Jesus’ name I ask and pray. Amen.