21 Days of Prayer - Day 19 -Thursday - January 26-- Prayer Focus - OUR LIVES - Freedom

Day 19 -Thursday - January 26-- Prayer Focus - OUR LIVES - Freedom

Focus today is Freedom in Jesus!

Everyone needs freedom.

Freedom is for everyone!

If we’re going to be effective for Jesus, we need to find freedom.

Where is it found?  It’s found in our mind.  Freedom begins and ends in the mind.

Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

We need to win this battlefield - what we think about has power over each of us.

When we think a thought, it creates a neuro pathway. Every time you think a thought, it’s easier to think that again… and it’s harder to think what is opposite of it.

We have likely created some bad stuff into our minds (stinkin’ thinkin’)

It’s been said that 78% of our thoughts are negative.

But this year, a new year, let’s create new neuro pathways.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Strongholds: prisoners locked by deception, living life by something not true.

We are going to demolish strongholds. There are so many hang ups that are strongholds in our life (list some)

If we embrace 3 steps we can find freedom.

1. See the lie.

Lord reveal to me what is false.

2. Speak the truth.

Verse 5 - we are demolishing every argument by speaking the truth of God’s word.

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

God’s word helps us separate feelings from truth.

It helps us get rid of old neuro pathways and establish new ones based upon His word.

3. Seal the promise.

When you think multiple positive thoughts you build stronger neuro pathways.

So let’s think and speak multiple truths about God’s Word.  This some might call bundling the truth to seal the promise.

So let’s this year - in 2023, surrender our thoughts to the Lord and enjoy the freedom that the Lord has won for us.  

21 Days of Prayer - Day 18 -Wednesday - January 25-- Prayer Focus - OUR LIVES - Our Ministry & Influence

Day 18 -Wednesday - January 25-- Prayer Focus - OUR LIVES - Our Ministry & Influence

Today and throughout this week all of us are going to step fully into the call of God in our life.  We are truly praying to make a difference.

There are times in our lives we need to settle.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NIV)

4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

We need to settle this. We are all ministers! 

This is not just a description for the pastor. This who all of us in Christ we are.  We are all ministers.  It’s Jesus who calls us and qualifies us to serve as ministers.

When God called us to be a minister, He didn’t ask for our opinion. He says he has made us competent ministers.

John 5:16, 19 (NIV)

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ……  19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

We were appointed by God to be a minister of the new covenant.

We are ministers.

We have a Sphere of Influence.

We have been placed around people that we can influence.  This is not by accident. Where we are right now, that’s our sphere of influence to minister to others. We are right where God wants us to be. 

Being on the Dream Team is not just a Sunday thing. It is serving God every day where He has placed us.

Here are 7 spheres of influence that God has placed us in to make a difference, every single day of our lives.

Education,Religion, Family, Business, Government/Military, Arts/Entertainment, Media

The time is now!

Isaiah 6:8-9 (NIV)

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”  And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;   be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

Isaiah’s immediate response is that he is not qualified. He’s unclean.  Yet, he wrestled with it but then when he heard God’s voice he said “Here I am, send me.”

Isaiah made the decision to “get into the game.”

There’s a line between us and the field. There’s a time when we simply must get in the game as God calls us.

Let our cry be at BLC, “Here we are God, Send us!”

21 Days of Prayer - Day 17 -Tuesday - January 24-- Prayer Focus - OUR LIVES - Living the Vision

Day 17 -Tuesday - January 24-- Prayer Focus - OUR LIVES - Living the Vision

What is God’s vision for our life right now - in 2023?

Through prayer, God begins to download it into our minds.

Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB)

11 For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God has a vision for your life - it’s one of future  and hope.

Psalm 92:13-14 (NKJV)

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,

We want to be strong, alive, bearing fruit over and over. Fresh and flourishing in every season of my life.

Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

This is a vision and a dream for our life!

We read these. Do we believe it?  AM I realizing the dream that God has for me?

Lord, what is your fresh, current vision for my life (my spiritual life, my career, my health, my marriage, my children)?

Ultimately because of defeat and discouragement, we lack and stop believing.

I believe our lives are to serve a greater service.  As we continue to be available, clean and empty - the Lord will give us the plans and vision for our lives.

Let’s pray today for a fresh vision.  Dare to dream the dream that God has for your life. This is the best place to start - in prayer and then in the Word.

Our marriage has a future and a hope. Our marriage will flourish. (our finances, our time together, our communication with each other).

Our kids have a future and a hope. Our kids will flourish - (they will do well in their academics, athletics, they’ll know what college to go to, they will inspire friends and not be run by peer pressure)

Our career and our jobs have a future and a hope.  Our careers and jobs will flourish. We will have favor with employers, we will advance and lead others, we will be highly productive. We might even venture off to start our own business.

Let’s just pray the Word of God. 

Make declarations!  I want to spend more time with my kids. I want to be debt free. I’m going to go to college. I want to lose weight. I’m going to be physically fit this year. I’m going to lead 5 people to Christ. I’m going to church every Sunday without a miss and I’m going to serve.  These declarations are definitions of the dream.

Let’s dare to dare the dream of what God has placed in our hearts. Let’s pray bold prayers. Let’s dream the dream. Let’s believe it!