Good Morning,
Let's spend a little time talking about interceding for those who are going through trying times. It is so easy for our prayers to be for 'me, mines and ours', because everyone is standing and believing God for something, right? Turning our prayers inward will not give us the desired results that we are seeking. I know that when we are overwhelmed by your own circumstances, it can be easy to be selfish, without really trying. Let's read James 5:17; "Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]". We as the Body of Christ must be more sensitive to the other members in the Body. Restore is to reconstruct and set to rights; to put back; to reorganize, to build up; reconstitute. Our intercession for others will cause them to be built up and things to be reorganized and set right in their lives. Hm-mm, sounds like a great seed for us to sow as we are expecting harvest from all that we do. Healed means to cure and to make whole. That's just what every member in the Body of Christ needs, to be made whole. Our prayers are powerful, if we continue to intercede and do it energetically, fervently, and like all get out. Do it like you expect them to actually receive from the Father, what you are praying for. So we all need to maintain, sustain, and persevere in our prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Come let's "pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people)". (Ephes.6:18) We must pray in the Spirit because, "He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will". (Rom. 8:27) As we pray in the Spirit we will be praying in harmony with God's will for that person. After all, we know very little about what a person really needs in their lives to make them an overcomer. We have eyes that see the surface, while God is all the while dealing with the root, in order to bring forth healthier fruit. Just think, as we pray in the Spirit we are praying the intent of God. Intent implies a sustained unbroken commitment or purpose. We join as God's co-laborers for whoever we pray for in the Spirit (especially the household of faith). We are assisting someone else in order for them to fulfill God's purpose in their lives. Come on now, let's get our minds off of ourselves, for you know someone needs our prayers. "For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint". (Gal. 6:7-9) We sow to the Spirit by praying in the Spirit, we must not sow to our flesh, by being selfish with our prayers. There is a whole world in need of God's Spirit- intercessors', let's be one. I am not telling you to forget about yourself or your family members, not at all, but broaden your prayers to include the Body of Christ and others. 1 Peter 4:7; says, "But the end and culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded and self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer". We are the people that pray at all times in every season, remember, that's what we do. Keep alert, stay wide awake, active, observant, ready and switched on. We need each other in more ways than one, especially as the end has been drawing near. Continue to intercede!
Love,
Pastor D.
Daughters of Z 