IDOK DEVOTION FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:

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

I think I have some shareable things from my study so far this morning.

DADDY GOD, thank You for lessons You are teaching.  And in the merits of JESUS I ask that You, Holy Spirit, enable me to share here on this page a portion of what You are speaking.  Amen and amen.

Matthew 11: 9 (NASB) “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

Here are some thoughts that I trust will gel into a concept that will help us.

Ask to me says I have a need and I am invited, even more than invited, I am commanded for my own good to ASK God; to name my need and ask Him to manifest the provision that will meet that need. Asking is acknowledging I have nothing to work with here.  I need You, LORD, to step in here. I suppose I could say it’s just pretty well cut and dry: I need help and He is the GIVER of that help. And He has promised He will do it.

Seek to me says that there is something I don’t know, some area that I am in the dark about, I don’t know what to do, don’t know how to handle the situation, don’t know how to work it,  don’t see how it could work out; and in this I am again invited, even commanded, to SEEK God.  Seek Him for information, for light on the subject, for a plan, for wisdom to see the situation in the LIGHT of His way and will.  To me seeking is more than asking.   Seeking to me indicates I have to get more involved than just asking one time and then waiting for God to supply it.  I have to prayerfully with Him compare options, compare information as it comes.  It’s a process and in the process of seeking I will come to know Him better, not just His ways but His very character.  And He has promised if I seek He will answer; that I will FIND the answer.  Not that it will just be handed to me without me exercising some effort but that I will find it.  And again, I don’t have to wonder if He will answer me. I can choose to just KNOW it, if I want to; if I want to put forth the effort of seeking.

Knock to me says that I have asked and I’ve been seeking but that’s not enough; I have to be willing to KNOCK on those doors that I am asking Him to open.  I have to be willing to trust Him and actually walk in the path that He outlines. I have to be willing to actually look out that window I say I want Him to open; I have to be willing to actually step through the door He will open.  Am I? If I am He will surely do it.  I don’t have to wonder about that.  He Will!

And one more thought here.  Lets say I have asked but so far  — nothing.  Could it be that what is needed is not asking but seeking? And lets say I have been seeking and I’m still in the dark, perhaps I should be knocking.  Perhaps I need to be WILLING to put hands  (oh that’s cute … hands – knock) and feet to my asking and seeking.

Perhaps we need to step up in the process. And suppose we have; suppose we are knocking, so much so our knuckles and our knees are raw and bleeding?  I have one more thought: perhaps the bleeding is necessary for a much needed deeper healing and when that deep healing has taken place the actual answer is in the deep healing.

I’m just thinking . . . ask, seek, knock.

All I have to do now is be willing to let You apply this to myself right, ABBA?  I can’t do it without You, I pray to be willing to KNOCK till it is done. And, DADDY, for every IDOK who is willing I pray this for them too.  In fact as I pray and they pray we come in one accord for the deep healings we each need.  Make it so, LORD, make it so.

And we collectively come in JESUS Name on behalf of our IDOK Troops.  We want them to be safe and sound; we want them to be whole particularly in spirit and one in particular I am reminded of.  You know the need and I pray he will come to the end of this and there Your Cross will be and he will bow before You and stand again to serve not just this Country but You.   We pray for the families of these.  I pray their practical and spiritual needs will be met.

And we pray for our Praying For These people. You know the list well; better than we.  We are asking You to supply their needs and we pray to be willing to seek ways to minister to them and we are praying to be made ready to knock and be moved on their behalf(s) as You lead.

And we forget not the other daily needs for Israel, for America, for the Church. Holy Spirit, help us faithfully pray. Amen and amen.

To visit KAT’s Meows.  I’m grieving and I needed a place to vent.  If you are not in a frame of mind to hear me expressing my heart about adultery, there’s no need to visit right now.   But you might hold it in mind for a time when you might need to pass it along to someone else.

Love and holy hugs, Kat. . .

IDOK DEVOTION FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:

Baby Ryder only needs oxygen now when he is sleeping and he weights 8 pounds and 6 ounces.  ‘Ain’t’ GOD good?!!

Her name is Destinee, not yet even a toddler and life is unspeakable for her.  Please pray for wisdom and courage for those who can to be not afraid and do what must be done and pray for protection and rescue for Destinee.

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

ABBA, You know how this day started, You know how it is ending. You know the phone calls and the emails that have come in.  You know the hurting families.  You know the rebellious hard-hearted folks that are causing indescribable grief and pain to others and something in us wants them stopped.  We want little ones and young ones to be rescued. We want older folks who know better but who are so selfish and self-centered that they just keep on inflicting wounds that they will never be able to heal.  Wounds that only You will be able to heal.  And I am asking You now to heal these little ones and  I am asking You to arrest the perpetrators, that You apprehend them and stop the abuse.  And LORD even as You prayed I pray for mercy; not because I think they deserve it, because I know they don’t but LORD I have never deserved Your mercy and yet You have given it.  So I pray for transformations for these offending souls.  I pray Holy Spirit, that You will bring on the ‘fiery serpents’ but only if that is all that will bring them to repentance.  I pray their hearts will be made tender and they will accept You and Your mercy.  Thank You for this excellent report on Baby Ryder.  We are delighted and grateful.  Thank You.  And there are others on my mind too.  You know my heart.  You know my desire is for relief, pain relief and a remedy for whatever is causing the pain and for full restoration to come quickly.  And there’s a whole list of Praying for These, all of them need something and I pray that very something they need that You will supply it and that they will give You glory for doing it.  And there’s our IDOK Troops, still praying for them to be safe and well. For each of them to come home safe and sound at the appointed time.  And I pray for Israel, for peace and protection and safety.  And for Your Church, I pray for revival and for America I pray for repentance and salvation. And for our IDOKs I pray for rest and peace and for ‘fire in our bones’ to worship and minister the Gospel in JESUS Name.  Amen and amen.

Most often the word amenable is applied to wives; that we are to be amenable to our husbands.  That is to be willing to comply. To be open to acting a certain way. And I agree.  But I am suggesting here that ABBA is looking for all His children – men, women, boys and girls to be amenable to Him.  To be willing to comply with whatever He speaks to us.  To be open to acting in whatever means and manners that will exalt the LORD JESUS.

It is not only the woman who would do well to have a quiet spirit, but men too.  For all of us to BE STILL before our God and KNOW that it is HE who is God and not us.

Psalm 46: (NASB) ¹⁰“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Matthew 11: Amplified Bible ²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.