IDOK Devotion for Friday, November 19, 2010

Today I heard Chris Shook say:

” A Loving relationship is as much about what you let go of as much as what you hold on to.”

How would that revolutionize our relationships with spouses, children, family, friends?

Letting go of our ‘right to hold it against them’ does not let them off the hook . . . it lets US off the hook!

Forgiveness.  One of the greatest gifts ever given to mankind. The only one that tops it is LOVE.  And yet these gifts come wrapped together, for only love enables one to forgive. And forgiveness enables us to love.

So what do you need to let go of so a loving relationship can continue? And will you do it?

Philippians 3: (New American Standard Bible) ¹³Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Obedience to these verses matures us as Christians  and yet as we embrace them for JESUS sake, to know Him and become more like Him, we will find ourselves letting go horizontally, giving way for other relationships to keep on going and going.

Sweet Blessings Be upon each of you this weekend!

Praying for These

Holy hugs, kt

IDOK Devotion for Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Praise Reports, Prayer Requests and Updates:

Please add me to your prayer list.  I will be having a knee replacement in about a month.  I have heart problems and my surgery will be high-risk.  Love and thanks, LaJuanna.

After a while away from my Breaking Free workbook, I worked in it a little today.  And at day four in week four a sentence reminded me of Saturday’s Simulcast.   And the sentence reads: Remember, God’s primary purpose in healing us from our hurts is to introduce us to new depths of relationship with Himself.

The Holy Spirit ministering through Beth hit us hard with  forgiveness/unforgiveness.  That is He said we must forgive those who have sinned against us.  I am persuaded that includes persons who have grievously, maliciously, and without remorse sinned against us.  And I agree they do not deserve our forgiveness.   And I agree even the thought of forgiving them generates feelings such as, that means I get wronged TWICE; and I have a right to not forgive them; and to forgive them would mean they get off  scot free! And, no I cannot  forgive and God should not even ask me to forgive them!  I cannot do it! I won’t do it! Really, I understand this line of thinking – it’s human!  Been there. Done that.  But guess what?  Unforgiveness becomes the ‘gift’ that keeps on giving.  Moreover it gives that one who hurt us the  ‘right’ , the ‘privilege’ of continuing to hurt us.  But we say, wait a minute.  My purpose in withholding my forgiveness is to protect me, to keep them from getting close enough to me to hurt me again. I understand that.  But it’s a lie from hell.   In refusing to forgive them we  have spiritually stepped into a prison cell, pulled the door closed and handed them the key —  we are constantly soul tied to them even if we are physically miles from them.

And if that is not bad enough, while we are in that prison cell of unforgiveness, DADDY GOD has no choice but to temper that prison cell with discipline of His own.   Can we even begin to imagine the pain this causes Him when what He so much wants is for us to stop hurting?   But He knows that we are not going to stop hurting  until we forgive them and let Him heal us.  Further, He knows He cannot let us get by with un-forgiveness because like it or not our un-forgiveness is sin!

So what we have here is they sinned, we won’t forgive which means we have become a wrong doer too and are now in line for discipline ourselves. (See Hebrews 12:7-9) Discipline which takes the form of ‘heat to the seat’ or ‘time out’ or a blending of both.   What do I mean by ‘heat to the seat’ or ‘time out’?  Please, please hear me!  I am NOT saying personal and family stress, and problems on top of problems with no quick solutions, and just day after day feeling hopeless and miserable is always because of the sin of unforgiveness.  But we’d be wise to ask Him about it — don’t you think?  And I am of this persuasion too … unless we have stuffed that unforgiveness into the deep hole of denial, we know that weed of un-forgiveness is growing in the garden of our heart — don’t we?  Either way, talking it over with DADDY GOD at gut level honesty is our first step toward healing, relief and abundant blessings from Heaven.

One little encouraging ‘disclaimer’: forgiveness does not  mean ‘reconciliation’ is possible every time or even meant to be, especially when the offender has neither repented or even gives evidence that they know they have sinned.  (See 2 Corinthians 6:14) It’s a case by case judgment call and only ONE knows how to call it — And that ONE is our DADDY.  And yes we can trust Him!

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

ABBA, this has been a hard one to write.  I’m tired.  It feels like I have been wrestling — I’m worn out and my brain is tired but I am trusting You for strength and for power to overcome.  Thank You.  You know my concerns for our IDOKs and our Readers.  You know my desire for this ministry; I want it to be just what You desire and I don’t want to hinder You working in them or me – so I pray You will set me straight and keep me that way.

I pray for LaJuanna that this surgery when she has it will correct and give her much needed and desired pain relief.  And I pray the procedure will be text book perfect and she will awaken from the surgery alert and knowing You are right there with her.

I pray for our IDOK Troops,  keep them safe, LORD, from hostile fire, both spiritually and physically; keep them safe even from ‘friendly’ fire and bring ‘brothers’ along side ‘brothers’ to give encouragement and to speak the Life of Your Gospel to those who are still lost and in jeopardy of losing their own souls.  We pray for the families left behind that they will conduct themselves with dignity and honor and thereby give comfort to their soldiers.

We pray too for others on our list, Joshua for one praying this heart surgery will be successful and this little boy will be made whole.  We pray for other recent concerns added and for sure the long standing ones … everyone of them need You, LORD.  And we know You are faithful to us.

There are some decisions and potential goings on in some local churches, You know it even better than I and I am asking You to help.  Help Your people refuse to do the wrong thing and help us know for certainty what is right and do it!

Rest us, LORD, empower us and train us in this spiritual war that is raging around us.  Give us eyes to see and courage and boldness to fight the good fight of faith, never lowering our determination to love even as You have commanded us in Christ Jesus. Amen and amen.

IDOK Devotion for Friday, April 9, 2010

Praise Reports and Prayer Requests

Updates and Requests:  Amy and Kevin. Recently Kevin had heart surgery and got a stern warning by his physician to make some radical health changes – eat right, exercise – you know the drill, and you know it is hard on the WHOLE family.  They need our prayers.

Should’a, Could’a, But Didn’t.

When the fog of ‘can’t (no, make that) won’t let it go’ clears and you lift your head and see all that other really important stuff you left undone fretting with what you should and could have temporarily laid aside, Scripture is the only cure for the ache in your heart.  Got a spirit of heaviness because you didn’t do all things well today or yesterday? Then we need this:

. . . Hope returns when I remember this one thing: The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. Lamentations 3:21-23, GNB.

And allow me to share a prayer with you written by Marion Stroud, published in her book, Dr. God, It’s Me and It’s Urgent.  Discovery House Publishers. http://www.rbc.org/index.aspx

Dear Lord, will you renew my vision? Not of the work that you are calling me to do for you, but a vision of yourself—the one who does the calling.

Sometimes, Lord, I feel afraid of what might happen if I were to see you in the revelation fullness of your all-consuming power and glory.  For surely I could not look at you like that and live. But I dare to ask, Lord, to see you more clearly as loving, tireless Father, patient, seeking shepherd, wise and ever-available counselor, radical leader, inspiring teacher, committed friend, and utterly forgiving Savior.

Help me to seek you for yourself, not for any benefits that I might gain from finding you. And as I see you with ever greater clarity, may I love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, so that any work that I may do for you will simply be an overflow of gratitude and praise.

All I can add to that is amen and amen!

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.   ABBA, LORD, we can only say thank You, thank You for Your mercy, for being our utterly forgiving Savior; for being our committed friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Thank You.  And thank You for loving on our IDOKs and Readers today because I know You are.  And we come now with Amy and Kevin; asking that he heal up nicely from the surgery and that he receive from You the courage to make those radical changes the doctor said he should and we pray for Amy that she will have a spirit of calm assurance in this.  And Grand comes to mind, asking that You continue to bless and give strength and healing to both of them and that Grand’s rehab and this new kind of normal settle in and that he become an even greater asset to Your Kingdom than before.  Thank You for taking care of all our IDOK Troops like You have; and with boldness we ask You to continue to protect them from all harm – spirit, soul and body.  And we collectively bring our list of names for Your individual attention; asking You to meet every need.  We continue to pray too for Israel, for peace and protection and fulfilling of prophecy.  We continue to pray for grace and space for America to repent.  We pray You will be gracious and give us back our Country from the hands of evil men.  We continue to pray that You raise up churches to be Houses of Prayer.  I ask You to meet with us at the Ewomen Conference. Holy Spirit, get serious with us and us with You I pray.  Don’t let us come away from that conference unchanged.  Amen and amen in Jesus Name.