IDOK DEVOTION FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:

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

I set out to read this morning (Tuesday) and my prescribed read was Acts 9:19-31 but somehow I was certain it was Acts 19:19-31 and that is what I read.  And it was so good!

Acts 19:20 reads: So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Oh my goodness I love it!  And oh my goodness I want it to be so now, today, amongst us!

And verse 21 reads: Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

Purposed in the spirit.  Oh my goodness I rejoiced over that too!  I wrote in the margin: I like that! Oh to purpose in the Spirit and to go and see.   There’s a need for this in us.  For sure in me and I suspect in you too.  But you know for this to be so of us The Word of the Lord will have to be growing mightily and prevailing in us.

Oh my goodness, make it so LORD.  Make it so!

And then I realized I was suppose to be reading Acts 9… how could I have missed that?  How could I have seen that 19 as a 9?  Oh well.  On to 9 — or is that back to 9?

And then I read: And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And then I made another note in the margin and it reads: I so like this. I want people to invite me to tell them about Jesus. Holy Spirit, make this happen.  I don’t know what You need to change in me for it to happen but I pray soon it will be so.  And, of course, I dated it so I would know in days, times to come when it happens just when I prayed it.

But something still just did not seem right.  The Text just didn’t seem to match what I was reading in my study guide book.   Oh my goodness!  I did it again!  I was reading Acts 8, not Acts 9!

And then it dawned on me!  I read what was ordained for me to read.  Had I not prayed as I picked up my Bible for ABBA to show me today what I needed for today for me and what I needed to write for our IDOKs?  Yes in deed I had prayed that.

And what I need to say to us today is this:

When we are deterred from what we believe to be the prescribed path, DADDY GOD has purpose in it.  And since He has reminded me I have to tell you that I believe there is Scriptural bases for believing that there are times He even obscures what we see so we will get to the right place at the right time.

The Text I am reminded of is Luke 24: ¹⁶But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.

And why were they prevented from seeing that it was JESUS walking on the road to Emmaus with them?  I surely believe it was to keep them from missing more of what He had to show them.  It’s a sweet, sweet happening and I offer you a link here to read it.  It’s worth the time!

Verse 31: Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him;

He never keeps us in the ‘dark’ so we cannot see BUT SO WE CAN!

Oh my goodness!  Is that an eye opener or what?  Is that comfort and strength or what?  I say yes, yes, it is!

So!  Oh my goodness, let us not despair with detours, delays and ‘dummy moments’, JESUS has a plan! Let us be glad and SEE it!

You are so making me smile today!  Thank You, ABBA! And all I can say is obscure and reveal as You SEE FIT for each of us!! We want what You want for us.  Amen and amen.

And I’d right now close out and schedule this to post at five  after midnight but there are IDOK Troops who need us to pray for them and there are people on our Praying For These list who are counting on us to pray and we dare not fail to pray.  I remember that Text, don’t remember were it is found but I do know You were faithful and my brother is now serving You.  Thank You, ABBA.  And so we pray now for our IDOK Troops.  We want them to be safe from harm; we want them to live and thrive and come home safe and sound.  But not just in body, we want them safe in spirit and soul too.  We want them to be holy in their conduct; we want them to make right and holy decisions.  We want them to be honorable in their language, in their actions and so, Holy Spirit, we are asking You to keep a short leash on them and snap and snatch them back from evil.

And our Praying For These, again we have read their names and so we pray for them now asking for Your help and intervention for them just as they each need.  Thank You for entrusting them to us for prayer and now we entrust them to You, praying for Your will to be accomplished in them and for them.

And again we pray for the peace of Israel.  We see, we hear the news and Israel’s enemies are many but You are faithful to them and that blesses me, ABBA.  Thank You for the love You have given we the Church for Israel.  We watch them and see Your Hand.  Help us, Holy Spirit, to be faithful and do what You will in this time.  And for America I continue to pray for grace and space, for repentance and salvation.  And for Your persecuted Church I pray for strength and Your Presence to comfort and guide them and for the rest of us, I pray for revival in JESUS NAME and for His sake. Amen and amen.

IDOK DEVOTION FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:

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

On page 142, of John 90 Days with the Beloved Disciple, Beth (Moore) wrote:

“Lord God, in those times when I fight to reconcile the facts of life with the words of faith, I depend on the fact that You give strength to the weary and strengthen the powerless. Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those of us who trust in You will renew our strength. We will walk and not faint (Isa. 40:29-31)–not just when things are going well but when everything inside me feels like giving up and shutting down.

Can we amen that? And yet would you agree there are a lot of weary people among us?  Would you agree there are a lot of  earth bound ‘eagles’ walking among us rather than soaring the heights? And wouldn’t you agree there’s a bunch of folks just down right tired?  Do we not hear it over and over professed from our mouths … how tired we are?

Why?

Isaiah 40: (New American Standard Bible)  ²⁹He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.  ³⁰Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, ³¹Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Is this Passage of Scripture true or not? Of course it is!  So what’s the problem?  What’s up with all these fatigued Christians?

³¹Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

And there is our answer.  Those who wait for the LORD gain new strength. And that word wait is a mighty word in Hebrew.  It’s a waiting that means looking for with an expectant hope.  That’s some powerful waiting and  the Holy Spirit of God within us can wait that way … right?

So!

Tired?  Weary? Ready to give up?

And now for the question: Am I waiting for the LORD? Or am I just waiting?

I’m saying it again, ABBA, I am grateful for Beth and the ministry and the Word You have given her.  I am grateful that she has disciplined herself and sat before You to receive it and then disciplined herself to pass it on to us. And as she said no prayer said for her is wasted; so thank You and be HUGE on her behalf today.

And, ABBA, be HUGE for all our IDOKs; inspire us to wait for You that we be not weary and tired and struggling, seeing no way but to give up.  Let us not give up anything but sin. Let us refuse to keep on struggling in our own flesh.  And we pray now for our Praying For These names; we’ve remembered them by name to You and we are trusting You to do Your Best for them and we pray that Your Best will be welcomed by them.  We pray for our IDOK Troops too and we ask for safety and protection for them again today and for safe returns home.  Again we pray for the peace and safety of Israel and the repentance and salvation of America.  Amen and amen in JESUS NAME.

IDOK DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:

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

If you follow the recipe below, the results is a delicious cake.

Honey Bun Cake

cake
Pillsbury yellow cake mix (1 box)
1 Egg
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Glaze
1 cup confectioner sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

combine 1st five ingredients in mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  Set aside. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Pour 1/2 batter into greased 13 by 9 pan
Sprinkle 1/2 sugar mixture over batter.
Repeat process and gently swirl with knife

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until done.

Make glaze by blending sugar, milk and vanilla with mixer.
Drizzle glaze over hot cake.

ENJOY!

Similarly for a ‘delicious’ life there is a recipe.  Follow this ‘Baker’s Dozen’ closely and you and all those who partake life with you will be nourished and blessed.  Measure, stir, pour, and serve as instructed by the Holy Spirit and your family, friends and associates will not tire of this recipe nor will they complain especially if you serve it daily.

1.         Appreciate/esteem your elders – spiritual leaders, expressing same to them in word and deed – often.

2.         Live in peace with one another

3.         Admonish the unruly – in love and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit; otherwise hold your peace.

4.         Encourage the fainthearted

5.         Help the weak

6.         Be patient with everyone

7.         See to it that you do not  render evil for evil but rather good

8.         Rejoice always in all things, not for all things but that in ALL things GOD is with you and is working for His glory and your good

9.         Pray without ceasing – keep the communication lines open between you and ABBA; let no sin short circuit your fellowship

10.        In everything, give thanks – again not for all things but that in All things GOD is with you and is working for His glory and your good

11.        Do not quench the Holy Spirit – When He speaks, listen.  Do not turn a deaf ear to Him, refusing to obey Him.

12.        Do not despise prophetic utterances (do not hastily reject what you have no knowledge of) … BUT examine everything carefully and out of that which you have examined …  Hold fast to what which is good

13.        Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5: (New American Standard Bible) ¹²But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,  ¹³and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.  ¹⁴We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  ¹⁵See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.  ¹⁶Rejoice always;  ¹⁷pray without ceasing;  ¹⁸in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit;  ²⁰do not despise prophetic utterances.  ²¹But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;  ²²abstain from every form of evil.

Thank You, ABBA, for recipes; for food to nourish and balance us. I pray You will minister this devotion in proportion to each of us as needed.

Thank You for the privilege of prayer and we pray now for each name on our List for Prayer asking for that precious and specific recipe You have for each life to be measured and presented to and through each of them.  We pray too for our IDOK Troops for a portion of safety and protection for each of them that will bring them all home safe and sound.   We pray for Israel for peace and safety and for America we continue to pray for repentance salvation, all in the Name and Merits of our Savior JESUS THE RIGHTEOUS ONE.  Amen and amen.

IDOK DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2010

FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:

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

Feelings.  Nothing more than feelings says the song.  But is there more to our feelings than just feelings?

Matthew 14:14 When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

JESUS.  JESUS has feelings!

How many times have we given feelings a bad rap?  As if feelings were somehow imperfect.  Somehow something we were not supposed to have.  Something that we were suppose to suppress and pretend we did not have.  Especially certain ones.

Here’s one we know JESUS had/has — compassion. We also know He felt (feels) anger too. See John 2:13-17 for the account of JESUS driving out the money changers.  It says He was consumed with zeal.  I believe that means He was really into it … His feelings were strong and active.

And then when Stephen was stoned to death, JESUS stood up.  I see Him so moved with feelings about what was happening to Stephen that He stood up.  Stood up in empathy.  Stood up in honor even.  Stood up to welcome Stephen home.  For whatever the reason or reasons,  JESUS had feelings in the matter and He did something!  See Acts 7:55.

Feelings.  We all have them.  Question is what do we do with them.   Do they move us?  That IS the reason we have them, you know.  To move us.  In our opening Text the compassion that JESUS felt moved Him to heal.  In John 2 the anger JESUS felt moved Him to clean ABBA’s house.  Hmmm.  Perhaps some of us need to be moved with anger or some kind of feeling to clean our houses. I’m talking to the ‘preacher’ now.

It’s just a feeling — it will pass, we say.   Yes it will.  But should it?  Should it pass, leaving us unmoved, unchanged? Will it pass and leave us unchanged?  I think not. Perhaps each feeling we experience when it passes, leaves something behind.  Perhaps it moves us to do good and when the good is done we are more like JESUS, more loving, more tender, kinder.  Perhaps we are moved to do evil and when the evil is done we are more like the Evil One, more bitter, colder, harder, more in a ‘protective’ shell than before.  Perhaps the feeling passes and we did nothing with it.  We ignored it.  We denied it. We took no action.  Or was it no action?  Deciding to do nothing, is still a decision and it still has consequences.  What will those consequences of no action be when a feeling demands an action?  A more calloused heart, maybe?

Hmmm. Feelings. Nothing more than feelings.  We know better, don’t we?

ABBA, I’m having some feelings here.  Been having them all morning.  I pray I have and am taking the right actions with them.  I pray the actions I have taken will bless others and not cause them grief or worry.  I pray that more and more I will practice actions that bless others rather than harm them.  I thank You for this lesson.  I thank You for the privilege of sharing it with others.  I thank You for each one who will read it.  I pray it will encourage them to consider their feelings, all of them and take all of them to You before acting upon any of them.  Me too, ABBA. Me too.

And I pray now for our List for Prayer.  I pray each of them will acknowledge their feelings and will seek Your help in sorting them out and determining what course of action to take.

Thank You for Bridgette’s recent report that bone scans and blood tests are fine.  To us that means the cancer is contained. I am delighted with that and I still ask You to remove it and heal Bridgette and in the meantime I pray for peace and strength for her and her family.

And there are others, ABBA, in need; serious need and not all of it is physical health related but rather emotional and spiritual health related; perhaps that is the most serious kind of help needed.  Spiritual health I know for sure is the most important.  Should be our most watched after health and I pray it will become that for every IDOK; for ourselves and our families, friends and others.

And now as I ready myself to schedule this for posting, I dare not forget to pray for our IDOK Troops; for their safety in spirit, soul and body; and for Israel, for peace and protection; and for America, repentance and salvation; and all of it I ask in JESUS NAME. Amen and amen.