Soak it in

Some days can leave you drained. it can feel like you have nothing left. I find a good "Soak" helps.

Tell me what you think

Power in Prayer

How would your life change if you really believed in the power of prayer?

I'm not suggesting you don't pray or that you don't superficially believe there is power in prayer. I am sure there are many people like me.

I have even said there is power in prayer, and that when we get to heaven one of our greatest regrets will be not having prayed more. Then why do I struggle to dedicate time to prayer? I will often pray throughout the day, but carving out time to dedicate strictly to prayer can be a challenge for me.

There is always an excuse. Life is hard. It's busy. I'm a single parent with 2 kids, I work full time, there is always a to do list that requires more hours in the day than I have and way more energy than I can possibly expend. There are days I try to have that time at the end of the day to dedicate to prayer and meditation and fall asleep. I feel like the apostles in the garden of gethsemane, there's the Lord asking me to stay with him and pray just one hour, and there I am, failing miserably.

The good news, God is great in His unending mercy! My Lord God almighty continues to speak to me and work in me, and I pray, through me.

God spoke to me saying:

 "You have not prayed in power out of fear. I will greatly expand your faith."
"I give you the power to move mountains, you only need believe and it would be so."

It is both a rebuke (which I deserve) and also a beautiful promise which demonstrates God's great mercy. (How has he not given up on me?) Amazing how He meets us right where we are.

What is there to be afraid of? How amazing to see miracles first hand to be a powerful intercessor that changes the face of this earth, to help restore people to God.

But then.... I look weird. I don't fit in. I look like an extremist.

But then.... I need to fully surrender to God. I need to be willing to give up my worldly desires for comfort.

But then... I need to fully submit, I need to rely on God's strength and not my own.

But then... I need to step out in faith. I need to fully trust God, I need to be OK that He knows where I am going and give up my own plans.

It's easy to say I need to have control because I need to make sure my children have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. I need to make sure the bills are paid and the laundry is done. Excuses are a dime a dozen. Bottom line they are excuses.

There are a few questions I have needed to ask myself.

Do I want to stand with the world or do I want to stand with God?

Do I want to surrender to God or do I want to be comfortable?

Do I want to rely on God's strength or my own?

Do I really trust God? Do I really believe He is going to meet my needs (and my families), and that His plans for me are good?

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you." declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Matthew 6:25-3425 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So really isn't the question Do I really believe the bible is the inerrant word of God? Because really if I do doesn't that mean I am going to live my life differently? As one set apart? 

Isn't the priority in my life to be set upon things of God and not things of man?

If my priority is set on God, won't I make sure I have time every day to seek God the way He has called me to?

Mark 9:24Immediately the boys father exclaimed, "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief."