IDOK DEVOTION FOR TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.

My prescribed reading for this fine (Monday) morning was Romans 13:8-14 which means I did not plan it; yet the topic from yesterday’ s Sunday School lesson is continuing.  And as is my custom, I read all the chapter.  It is good to keep things in context.  Click here to read Romans 13.

Romans 13:8 . . . for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Really? How so? Loving my neighbor amounts to  me fulfilling the law?  Again, how so?

⁹For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

For this? Yes, for this — for the love of my neighbor, I WILL NOT commit adultery with my neighbor.  For the love of my neighbor, I WILL NOT murder my neighbor. For the love of  my neighbor, I WILL NOT steal from my neighbor.  For the love of my neighbor, I WILL NOT covet what belongs to my neighbor.

So if I commit adultery,  I do not love my neighbor –  not the  one with whom I am committing this sin, nor the one to whom my neighbor is married; who, by the way,  is also my  neighbor.

LOVE comes from God and God NEVER violates His Word.  LUST comes from Satan and he ALWAYS violates God’s Word.

Adultery is ALWAYS LUST.

That does not mean God does not forgive us when real repentance is made, BUT the price to our soul’s and to the souls’ of our families is higher than anyone should EVER set themselves up to pay or force others to pay.

Said another way: Adultery is the epitome of selfishness!

And said another way in the words of JESUS Himself:

Matthew 5: (The Message) ^27-28“You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

So just on the unlikely chance that a soul reading this post is in the throes of adultery.

STOP IT –  RIGHT NOW!

No matter how many times you tell yourself that God brought this person to you; you are lying to yourself!

GOD NEVER VIOLATES HIS WORD!

As to murder, stealing and coveting . . .  well,  for the love of our neighbor . . . we just don’t do it!   (And like it or not the word murder here is NOT akin to acts of war or self and family defense – that’s a whole other word.)

And all this said, I’m gonna let this rest awhile and get ready to visit with my Grands.  We’ll meet back here a little later for prayer.

The message is settled, ABBA, and I am here to pray. This seems an unlikely message for this ministry and yet I do not know the extent of this ministry.  I do not know all the places these IDOK Devotions go.  I am not privy to all the screens this message will show up on, but You are and I am trusting Your direction and Your providence to get it where You intend.  To whom it will minister and help with more than the throes of adultery but other shackling sins too.  Adultery, murder, stealing, or coveting seem to be not real prevalent sins among this group of sisters and brothers, I think.  But only YOU, LORD, know our hearts.  And we know from Your Word that the heart becomes guilty before the body ever commits the act so I pray for all of us to have pure hearts toward our neighbors.  Amen and amen.

And we join together now to pray for our IDOK Troops; for their safety and protection; for pure hearts for them too, especially in hostile lands and the throes of war.  We pray they will hid Your Word in their hearts so their hearts will be protected from harm.   And we join together to pray for all on our List for Prayer too.  Some names we know and we have faces for those names, some we don’t, but that matters not with us; we are just grateful for the privilege to pray for them.  To enter into the fields of harvest on their behalf, asking You to move among them, healing and encouraging, instructing and convicting and converting all in the Name and the Merits of JESUS our Savior.

ABBA, thank You for this ministry.  I pray I will be faithful to You in it and for it.  Keep them all safe and protected and even providentially from grievous sins. Me too, LORD, me too. Amen and amen.

IDOK DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, JULY 19, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.

Sunday evening again; both services at Satsuma First were a blessing and now I’m here saying hello and wondering what AM I gonna put on this page!!

I Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If my language, my words, and my most eloquent speaking  is done without love, I am no longer a VOICE FOR GOD, I’m just noise. Loud, obnoxious noise.

But that’s been preached and preached and taught a lot hasn’t it? So lets talk about angels instead.

Angels speak.  They have a language.  A Heavenly language, I believe.  And some have heard it.

2 Corinthians 12: ⁴was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.

Wonder what Paul heard?  Perhaps he heard the Angels and perhaps he was gifted with their language.  Perhaps when he prayed in the spirit, he was speaking the language of Angels.  One day we will know for sure.

Lets move on. Matthew 4: ¹¹Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

This is JESUS. The 40 days without food and water were complete.  This wilderness encounter with Satan was over and angels came and ministered to Him.  I hope there is Heavenly video of this.  I would so love to see it and hear it! I would love to hear what the angels said to Him.  I would love to watch them prepare food for Him.  And to see Him rejoice and be comforted by them. To hear them tell Him that His ABBA is proud of Him.  That He did GOOD!

Okay.  So may be it didn’t happen like that but something like it might have —  one day we will know for sure.

Luke 22: ⁴³Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.

This time it says an angel.  This is in Gethsemane.  The prayer has been prayed — Not My Will but Your Will be done, ABBA.

Who was it?  Was it Michael? Was it Gabriel? Whomever it was the angel came to give strength to our Savior.  Did the angel come to say, It’s nearly over.  Soon You’ll be home.  We’ve missed You.  We will be so glad when You are Home again. Heaven just has not been the same without You.

We can only speculate.  Today, we  don’t know what the angel said to Him that night — but one day we will know for sure.

And one day we will hear the language of the angels.  Perhaps one day we will speak that language ourselves… yes, one day we will know for sure!

I Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part , but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

Thank You, ABBA.  Some things we know for sure in the here and now.  For sure we know You love us.  For sure we know, LORD JESUS, that You have paid for our sins and Heaven is our Home too.  For sure we know that when this life here is ended, as surely as You are there, we will be there with You.   There are many things we do not know, many things we do not understand but that’s okay with us because  we are sure You  know and that’s enough for us for now.  We love You and adore You and You are worthy of all our praise now and forever.   Thank You LORD. Thank You.

And now I ask You to continue to protect our IDOK Troops.  To keep them safe in spirit, in soul and in body and we pray You will bring each one of them home safe and sound to family and friends.  And we pray now for each one on our List for Prayer; each need, each hurt, each fear, each sickness, illness and disease; each broken heart and ask that You in Your time and in Your way heal each one.

And I pray now for every IDOK and every Reader,  for peace, for comfort, for joy unspeakable.  I want them to be head over heels in love with You LORD.  I want them to be so in love with You that words fail them, as they are failing me, to describe You.  To describe how AWESOME; how glorious You are. For each of us to adore You and be so full of You that we could not hold back praising You and talking to others about You any more than we could hold the sun back from coming up in the morning.  LORD, ABBA, I just want us to collectively and individually worship and adore You today and forevermore.   Amen and amen.

IDOK DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.

1 Timothy 2 (New American Standard Bible) ¹First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,  ²for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  ³This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,  ⁴who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I have said and I have believed – and I still do –  that we the people of America (The Electoral) in our last National Election wanted a ‘king Saul’.  And we got one.  But a Light came  on for me today when I read words in my Journey ( A LifeWay Publication).

“God puts our elected officials in place. No matter if we voted for them or not, agree with their politics or not, or even like them or not, He commands us as JESUS-followers to pray for them. It’s another way to demonstrate our belief that God is sovereign over everything that happens here. Election results, whether they gladden us or make us despair, do not catch God by surprise. (Emphasis mine) And we must always remember that our God  can change the hardest of hearts and make them His own, for the good of all His people. He is always working to bring more people into His heavenly kingdom regardless of any election results.”

‘He is always working to bring more people into His heavenly kingdom regardless of any election results.’  That’s what did it for me!

Elections however they go are designed by God to condition people to LOOK UP.  Not to the capitol; be it Washington DC or Montgomery, Alabama.  Election results are just another means through which God is speaking to people, seeking to save and rescue people.  The bottom line is that DADDY God is all about saving people.  ALL that He does; ALL that He allows is about rescuing people from their sin-filled lives.

I feel better now. I haven’t changed my mind about ‘king Saul’ but I still feel better.  And somehow praying for him is easier now. Hallelujah! Thank You, JESUS!

ABBA, I am grateful for this message.  I am grateful that You turned this Light on for me.  Thank You.  And I pray to be faithful to the Light You have shown.  Thank You for the unsurpassable love  You have for men, women, boys and girls and that You are continually pursuing us, to save us for a relationship with You.  And You know there are folks I am praying to come to know You.  It comforts me to know that You will not fail to send messages to them.  My prayer is they will listen and be saved.

You know the events of this day; You know our whereabouts, You know when we rise, You know when we sleep; You know when we have difficulty doing either and You are our Helper.  I pray we not forget.   And I pray for our IDOK Troops for their safety and protection; for their safe homecomings.  And for our List For Prayer – each one, not our will but Your will be done.  And for America I pray again that You have mercy and send Holy Spirit revival to the saints and Holy Spirit conviction to the unrepentant sinners and for space and grace to repent.  I continue to pray for Israel, for peace and protection. And for President Obama, his family and all persons he has surrounded himself with — You know the need, You know the plan and I pray for Your Will to be done in JESUS Name. Amen and amen.