Gratitude

February 9, 2010

GRATITUDE

I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. ~Psalm 116:17

Many times in the course of our lives, we take for granted the very things that we have surrounded ourselves with.  We take for granted that we are going to wake up the next day, that our cars will start, that we’ll sleep through the nights in a safe home, that our children are safe, that we will always have hot water, soap, fresh food, health, whatever – we tend to take it for granted that we have it and we forget that it’s all temporary until it’s gone.  We forget that every good and perfect gift is from God and when we forget that, we tend to become ungrateful when we lose what we have taken for granted.   It is by our ungrateful attitudes that we find it hard to give God thanks and praise when our lives become difficult and we lose what we held so dearly.

God is so very gracious and merciful and it’s so very easy to cultivate hearts filled with gratitude.  Look around you, begin to give Him thanks for what you do have!  If you are working, thank Him for your job.  If you are reading this, thank Him for the computer.  If your entire family woke up this morning, thank Him for life!  Thank Him for your trying times as well, if you are sick, thank Him that you have life this moment; if you have lost your job, thank Him for His provision; if you have prodigal family members or loved ones, thank Him for leaving the 99 to look for the 1 no matter how long it takes.  Thank Him for every little thing in Your life, no matter how small or mundane or ordinary you think it is, it is extraordinary and special to God which is why He has gifted it to you.  He has a purpose and a plan for each of us and His purposes and plans come with tests, trials and difficulties – if they didn’t we wouldn’t grow.  Thank Him for His plan for you.

Let’s Pray;  Dear Heavenly Father, You are so incredible, so perfect and so beautiful!  You are so loving and caring and faithful!  You have blessed us with immeasurable gifts and blessings, today we want to give You thanks for all things and in all thing!  We want to thank You for this day, for this breath, for the water we drink, for the food we eat.  We thank You for the giving us the sun and the moon so that we may see, we thank You for Your word and Your wisdom, Your guidance along the path You’ve carved out for us.  Father, may we continue to cultivate hearts of gratitude, never forgetting the blessings You have given us.  May our grateful hearts be light among the lost, opening doors for us to share Your love and faithfulness with those who don’t know You.  We love You Father, and we give You all glory and honor and praise.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Take some time today with God and just thank Him.  Thank Him for all that you have, for all that He’s going to do, for answered prayer, for anything that the Holy Spirit brings to mind.  Confess any ungrateful attitudes that you may have.

Additional Scriptures: Psalm 50:14; Psalm 69:30; Psalm 100:4; Hebrews 13:15; James 1:17; Philippians 4:6

“All our discontents about what we want appear to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.” Daniel Dafoe

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Father, You’re Beautiful!

February 8, 2010

FATHER, YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL!

One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple .~Psalm 27:4

Mmmm…yes, one thing I have desired of the Lord and that I seek is to dwell in His house all my days to behold His beauty.  There is none more beautiful than our Lord, and in His house is security, protection, peace, hope, love and comfort among many others.  No matter what it is that we face each day when we truly seek the Lord; when we offer our sacrifices of praise; when we gaze upon His beautiful face, we open doors for Him to move in our lives.  He draws us closer to Him, to rest in His lap, to cradle us in His arms, to shower us with His love and affection, to protect and shield us.

God is beautiful, His beauty is immeasurable but is revealed to us through His creation.  Seek His face, ask Him to reveal a part of Himself to you today.  Open your eyes, open your ears…it may be something small you’ve never noticed before but suddenly jumps out at you; it could be in a smile from someone; it could be a song that touches your heart.  God is beautiful, won’t you seek to dwell in His house and behold His beauty?

Let’s Pray:  Oh, Heavenly Father, Your beauty cannot be contained, Your face is glorious!  We want more and more and more of You, we desire to dwell in Your house.  You are mighty, caring, loving, yet You are sovereign, majestic and so, so Holy.  We offer You our praise, our worship, our selves.  Lord, we give You the glory due to Your name, and we worship You in the beauty of holiness.  We will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted us up!  We cried out to You and You healed us, You brought our souls up from the grave, You have kept us alive that we should not go down to the pit!  We sing praise to You, and we give thanks to You!  We bless Your name, we shout of Your loving-kindness from the rooftops!  Thank You Father!  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.

Attitude of Worship: When we seek the Lord, give Him thanks and praise, even when we don’t feel like it, we are putting Him in the seat of priority in our lives and not giving in to our own desires.  This opens us up to what the Lord wants to do in our lives and allows us to grow spiritually.

Additional Scriptures: Psalm 27

“When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favorites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.”  ~CS Lewis

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Oh Yeah! Let’s Praise The Lord!

February 5, 2010

OH YEAH!  LET’S PRAISE THE LORD!

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all.  Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. “Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. ~1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Sometimes during our days here on earth, we get so busy, so overloaded, so distracted and sidetracked that we need to stop to take a moment and recognize the creator of the earth we are standing on; to praise the One who formed us fearfully and wonderfully; to shout exaltations to our Heavenly Father.  We need to give praise and thanks to our Lord, for He is great, and all power and glory is His!  It is by His hand, His breath, His will that we are awakened each day filled with mercy and grace from our Father.

Have you praised the Lord today?

Let’s Pray:  Yes, Lord, Yours is the greatness, the power and the glory; the victory and majesty.  All that is in heaven and earth is Yours and Yours is the kingdom!  Lord, You are exalted as head over all, and You give gifts of riches and honor, Your reign is over all!  In Your hand is power and might, and by Your hand you can make us great and give us strength!  You are our Father, our Shepherd, our Hope, our Peace, our Comfort, our Shelter, our Rock and our Praise.  You are our all in all, the Alpha and the Omega!!  There is no one like You and You are who was and is and is to come!  Words cannot adequately express the amount of love and adoration we have for You, but we know that You search our hearts and see our actions.  We desire to bathe in Your glory and sit at Your feet.  Your name is great and greatly to be praised!  We worship You, O Lord, and we offer ourselves to You this day.  We bow before You giving You all honor, all glory.  In Jesus precious name, we pray.  Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Get up and get your praise on!

In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever.  Selah ~Psalm 44:8

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

No Trespassing!

February 4, 2010

NO TRESPASSING!

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. ~Romans 14:3-4

Sadly, there are spirits of judgment, condemnation and fleshly pride moving among the Body of Christ. As with most attacks and enemy infiltration, it begins small and unnoticeable, and is mixed with truth. People who are living in this condition cannot find peace in any Christian situation because they truly feel that they are the super Christian; that they believe and live out the truth and no one else does; therefore they cut themselves off from others. They have issues with authority, especially pastoral and church leadership and they have become un-teachable. It is difficult to fellowship with people who are oppressed with these spirits because they can cause frustration and bring division. It is the devil’s desire to break up the Body of Christ any way he can, but it is up to the Body of Christ to remain prayerful and watchful in order to withstand these attacks and break the shackles of our enemy.

God has given us wonderful tools in His word and by Christ’s example to withstand and cast down these sneaky spirits. We have offensive armor (Ephesians 6), we have power in the name of Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15-18), and we have the examples of Christ for prayer, love, fellowship and healing whether physical or spiritual. As the Body of Christ, we need to be united in prayer, watchful and discerning. God has placed watchman on the walls and gatekeepers at the doorposts who are looking out, interceding, listening – remaining close to Him and bringing His warnings forward. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

The 14^th chapter of Romans speaks of eating food and not judging others for the food that they eat. After reading this a few times over the past 4 years, God spoke to me this morning. The food that is spoken of here is the Word of God. If we were to re-write the above scripture it would look like this: “Let not him who reads the Word despise him who does not read, and let not him who does not read judge him who reads; for God has received him.” If we back up to verses 1 & 2 we can see that the chapter is talking about receiving those who are weak in the faith. Going forward in the chapter, in verses 10-13 we read: “But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.”

Ask yourself these questions today – Am I finding fault with others because they don’t live the same way I do? Am I withdrawn and judgmental during fellowship times because I think others should want to talk about what I want to talk about all the time? Do I put myself above others in conversations? Am I comparing myself to others and finding myself better than others? Am I shunning someone because they don’t believe the same things I do about Jesus?

Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord Jesus, it is by Your sacrifice that we are able to stand before You today and speak with You. We thank You for granting us this day, we rejoice that we have been given another opportunity to shine Your light and share Your love. We give You all glory today, and we lift our hands in worship and adoration to You! We pray today for those members of Your Body who are oppressed with unclean spirits. In Your name, we stand firm against the enemy, declaring healing in their lives. We cast out the spirits of judgment, condemnation and pride, we shout Hallelujah! No trespassers allowed! We pray, in Your name, that the shackles and bondages are broken and the enemy’s hold is torn apart. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will go and fill the empty places of their hearts and minds. We ask that their eyes and ears be opened to receive Your truth, and that they develop teachable spirits. We pray that You touch them wherever they are and fill their hearts with Your love. We give You all honor and we bless Your Holy name. Jesus, we stand before You, united and grateful for all You have done and all You are going to do. In Your name, we pray. Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: When in situations in which others do not act or speak like you, pray for wisdom and discernment and the words to speak so that you may bring Truth and Light into these situations; pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Additional Scriptures: Romans 14

The golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters is not intellect, but obedience. ~Oswald Chambers

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Resist The Devil

February 3, 2010

RESIST THE DEVIL

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ~James 4:7-8

When we are not grounded in God’s word and have a consistent prayer life, it can become difficult to submit to God and resist the devil.  The enemy knows how to entice us, to tempt us, to sneak his way into our lives; he takes his time, it starts out small and before we know it, sin has gotten the best of us.  But when we draw near to God in prayer and study His word, God’s will becomes more prevalent in our lives and we are stronger and able to discern the work of the enemy.  We’ll be able to humbly admit our wrongs, repent and move on.

As Christians, we need to take a stand every moment of every day for God.  There are, sadly, some who call themselves Christians, but they sit on a fence.  They go to church, they praise the Lord, they read their Bible when in the presence of their Christian friends, but elsewhere no one knows they are Christians.  They have become double-minded and live a double life.  Jesus is coming soon, and to those that are double-minded, lukewarm – he will vomit you out of His mouth because you are neither hot nor cold, you are neither for nor against Him.  It is the devil’s aim to cause the Church of Christ to become double-minded, lukewarm and divided, he seeks to kill, steal and destroy and he prowls around like a roaring lion.  Get off the top of the fence and pick a side.

Let’s Pray:  Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for blessing us with this day.  We stand before You this morning, humble and repentant.  We desire to turn from our indecision and commit ourselves and our hearts to You.  We seek Your forgiveness.  We thank You for Your grace and mercy, and seek to follow You with our whole heart.  Grant us strength and endurance to resist the devil, help us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts.  Keep us from becoming complacent and double minded.  May we establish discipline in becoming more focused on You, on speaking with You, on studying Your Word.  May we be able to resist distractions as they seek to hinder us from drawing near to You.  We give You all glory and honor, we thank You for Your truth and Your mercy and love.  In Your name, Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: God is calling for a cleansing of hands, a purification of hearts.  He is calling all to draw near to Him, to humble yourselves and pray, to seek His face before anything else.  He is calling you to relationship with Him.   Don’t allow yourselves to become so busy that you put off time in prayer and God’s word until another time.  Bow your head and your heart before God and repent, draw near to Him and you will have strength to pick a side and resist the devil.

Additional Scriptures:  Revelation 3: 14-22; James 4:1-10; 1 Peter 5:8; John 10:10; Luke 11:23

You must pray with all your might. That does not mean saying your prayers, or sitting gazing about in church or chapel with eyes wide open while someone else says them for you. It means fervent, effectual, untiring wrestling with God…This kind of prayer be sure the devil and the world and your own indolent, unbelieving nature will oppose. They will pour water on this flame. ~William Booth

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Consuming Fire

February 2, 2010

CONSUMING FIRE

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ~Romans 12:1

When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. ~2 Chronicles 7:1

When we wake up each day and give God face time, we should be giving Him total control.  This means surrendering to His will for the day.  In essence, sacrificing that which we want to do so that He can work through us.  In return, God will fill us fresh with His fire.  Oooh, what a wonderful thought!  When He accepted sacrifices in the Old Testament, He consumed them with fire.  Wow!  So when we present ourselves each day to the Lord as a living sacrifice, He will consume us with His fire!  Oh, and even better, we will be filled with His glory!  Why, because not only are we living sacrifices offered to God and consumed and filled with His fire, but we are also a temple of the Holy Spirit!  Oh, how awesome it is!!  Each day we can walk in the glory of the Lord powered by the fire of His Holy Spirit!

Let’s Pray:  Dear Heavenly Father, O, Lord of our hearts!  You are Holy Fire, Holy Consuming Fire!  Lord, today we stand before Your presence dry, broken, weary and battered, we stand before You in complete and total submission and we give ourselves to you as a sacrifice.  Father, accept our sacrifice and consume us fresh with Your fire; fill us with Your fire.  May Your fire clean and sterilize us, Lord, and may we be filled with Your glorious light so that it shines forth into this dark, dark world penetrating into the areas the enemy would like to keep hidden.  Set Your Church on fire, Lord, set us on fire!  Ignite the fire within our hearts Lord, set us ablaze with passion to carry on Your Word and share You with the lost.  We desire to give You all glory and honor.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: If you have been experiencing some very bland times lately, get before the Lord and offer yourself up and ask to be filled and consumed by His fire.  It’s liberating and empowering and every Christian has access!  Fire up your prayer today!

Additional Scriptures: Luke 3:16; Leviticus 9:24; Judges 6:21

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” ~Samuel Chadwick

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Ponderings…

A thought has been traipsing around my mind lately, one that I’ve been chewing on a lot regarding evangelism and the lost.  Jesus tells us to love one another and He commands us to share His gospel, making disciples.

We need to love the lost, but we can’t love them so much that we love them into hell because we never took the time to actually share the Gospel for fear of offending them.

There, now that I got the thought out of my head…who knows where it will go now?

On a completely different note, I am plugging my other blog (heehee), The Bountiful Table, here you will find ramblings from my mind, my hobby projects, some of my favorite recipes and some that I’ve just created! Check it out!!  ♥

He Cares For You

February 1, 2010

Sleep by Plumb

God Will Take Care of You by Plumb

HE CARES FOR YOU

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. ~1 Peter 5:6-7

Since January 1, I’ve been on a 40 day fast, seeking answers from the Lord in prayer.  Yesterday I was struggling with some things, personal things that just seemed to overwhelm me and when I went to bed last night, I was still thinking about them.  I woke up this morning with a song from Plumb (I’ve attached the song) running through my head.  The lyrics that repeated themselves over and over were “cast all your cares on the only thing that you really need.”  Cast all your cares, hmmm, this is also a directive from Scripture.

God cares for us so much that He desires for us to unburden ourselves at His feet.  He doesn’t want us to pick our junk back up again, not only is it disobedient, but it’s prideful for us to think we can carry it.  Jesus told us not to worry; God knows what we need before we ask it.  Paul teaches us to be content; Psalms exhort us to praise God in all things whether good or bad and Proverbs gives us wise morsels to chew on to remind us of how God desires us to interact with each other.

The other day we had some nasty weather and my drive home was significantly longer than normal, so I took advantage of the opportunity to pray.  I shared some frustrations, needs and anxieties with Jesus as well as praise for His answered prayer.  This unburdening was not meant to be a one-time thing.  My reminder this morning is that we constantly need to be unburdening ourselves of these cares, God wants to relieve us of them so that He can be free to reveal Himself to us.

Let’s Pray:  Dear Most Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessing of this truth as You have revealed it.  Thank You for revealing Yourself through Your word, we praise You for being our loving and nurturing Father, and we ask for Your forgiveness in trying to carry our burdens ourselves.  Father, it can be so hard to relinquish them to You, but we thank You for being patient with us and for guiding us into the truth of Your character.  We thank You for helping us and encouraging us to cast our cares upon You, and we surrender ourselves to You.  We humble ourselves under Your hand, God, so that You will exalt us in due time.  We ask that You continue to reveal Yourself to us, continue to reveal to us the areas that hinder our growth, our sins, and that which we still hold on to.  Show us how to loosen our grasp on these things so that we can tighten it around Your hand.  We love You, Father, and we give You all glory and honor.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: If there is an area in your life that you struggle in giving to God, ask Him to help you.  He wants you to be unburdened so that He can show You how much He cares.

Additional Scriptures:  Matthew 6:25-33; Matthew 11:25-30; Psalm 23; Psalm 3

“What can be lighter than a burden which takes our burdens away, and a yoke which bears up the bearer himself?” ~St. Bernard

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Check Your Response

January 29, 2010

CHECK YOUR RESPONSE

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. ~Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus desires that we bestow love on all, no matter who they are.  Sadly, there are many people, believer and non-believer, who are consumed with retaliation, revenge, lawsuits, and selfishness. We are not to strike another because they struck us; we are not qualified to judge what their punishment should be, and therefore in anger we could bring more harm to the offender than warranted.  Jesus wants us to be givers – givers of love, givers of peace, and givers of ourselves.

Jesus is not commanding us to be doormats; He is commanding us to shower love and His light into dark situations.  He is commanding us to examine our response to situations. Proverbs 15:1 says “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  As followers of Christ, we are to be representatives of Jesus.  We need to check ourselves before responding in any situation.  Ask yourself the following questions today.  When someone snaps at you, how do you react?  When someone threatens you, what is your response?  If your boss requires you to do something not in your job description, what do you do?  Do you cringe when someone asks to borrow something?

Let’s Pray:  Dear Jesus, thank You for blessing us today with wakefulness.  It is such an honor to stand in Your Holy presence this morning; it is such a privilege to be able to speak with You.  We are grateful for Your love and Your guidance.  We thank You for the grace that You have shown us and we ask that we are able to speak in love and full of grace into any situation.   We thank You for Your mercy that is renewed each morning, and we thank You for Your faithfulness.  We know that we can do nothing apart from You and that You lead us into all truth.  We ask for humility in every interaction, every conversation, every letter we write, in every situation.  We desire to respond to things the way You have commanded us and we ask for Your wisdom, discernment and Your grace.  We thank You for granting us these thing according to Your will, and we give You all honor and glory.   In Your name, we pray.  Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Jesus is calling His church to rise up, to wake up, to respond as He would respond.  Pride is what gets in the way of the Lord’s working; we can be prideful when looking for revenge, we can be prideful in lawsuits, we can be prideful when required to do something we don’t want to, and we can be prideful when someone wants to borrow something.  Proverbs 13:10 says “By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.”  Be wise today, swallow your pride and shine light and love into difficult situations by checking your responses.

Additional Scriptures:   Hebrews 10:30-31; Proverbs 16:32; Proverbs 19:11

There is a famine in America. Not a famine of food, but of love, of truth, of life. ~Mother Theresa

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence

Hiding The Word

January 28, 2010

HIDING THE WORD

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. ~Psalm 119:11

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. ~Psalm 119:18

Consistent and studious reading of the Bible hides God’s word in our hearts.  This is what helps to keep us on His path; this is how we can recognize His voice.  Having God’s word in our hearts and prayer on our lips will allow Him to open our eyes to His wondrous things and we will recognize that which He wants for us much easier than if we didn’t.  This draws us closer to Him and creates pathways through our hearts for Him to work in us.

As we take the time to study the Bible and to pray, a desire to know God more begins to grow.  We recognize His works, His hand, His very existence in everything around us and it becomes less difficult to share Him with those that don’t know Him.  As we memorize His word and learn to apply it to our lives, it makes it easier to stand and withstand temptations. His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. (see Psalm 119:105)

How hidden in your heart is His word?

Let’s Pray:  Dear Lord, Thank You so much for Your living and life-giving Word.  Thank You for the direction and illumination it brings to our lives, without it we would be lost in a dark and unforgiving world.  It is our prayer that as we begin to meditate on Your word and hide it deep within our hearts that we become beacons of hope and light for those that are still wandering lost and unprotected.  We desire to know more of You and to show You to others.  Grant in us clean pure hearts, O Lord, and have Your way in our lives.  Direct our steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over us (Psalm 119:133).  In Your sweet and glorious name, Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Fight the temptation to put off your Bible study for “tomorrow”, it’s a tactic of the enemy to keep you from drawing close to God.  Spend five minutes or so reading and chewing on Scripture and I promise you, you will be more able to fight that temptation the next time it comes around.

Additional Scriptures: Psalm 119

“There is mention of a sword turning every way: parallel whereto is the Word of God in a wounded conscience. Man’s heart is full of windings, turnings, and doublings, to shift and shun the stroke thereof, if possible: but this sword meets them wheresoever they move; it fetches and finds them out; it haunts and hunts them, forbidding them, during their agony, any entrance into the paradise of one comfortable thought.” ~Thomas Fuller

In Christ’s Service,

Prudence