Good Morning Praying Friends! I thought initially that God was leading to a thread through my devotionals today, but seems He led to another line of thinking about prayer. We are called to pray and the last few days, prayer has been at the center of what He is revealing for us. Praying is a job for all of us but is the main position for some of you in God's Good News Delivery Co. Seek Him and His Kingdom. Keep knocking in prayer and keep watching for how He wants to use you as an answer to your prayers. Ask Him to inform your prayers. Our prayers are powerful and effective because we have put on Christ's righteousness and He is in heaven interceding for you right now. Start with Harvest Prayer Blog today. I love the quote from Mother Theresa at the end:
Prayer Pointer
“Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive him and keep him as your own.” —Mother Teresa
Yesterday was quite the day of ministry, prayer and serving! I said to Karen how I felt soul tired at the end of my 14 hour day because I just poured myself out as God lived, loved, prayed and served through me. The day began "loading up" with Jesus during my quiet time at 4 AM and flowed through the Donut Day with much encouraging and prayer. There are many of us going through some very hard situations and stretching of the Lord. The needs around us are great and we can only do so much, BUT GOD! He answers prayers according to His perfect will and timing and provides for ours and others needs as we pray, receive and go help. We were doing ministry throughout the day and some needs and prayer concerns arose as we traveled through the day. Sarah and I ministered and prayed with the heart of Jesus for a few members after donut time ended. Sarah exemplified how Jesus' compassion and empathy flows through as we seek Him and to bring His heart alive. She couldn't contain the tears and crying as she prayed. I see that as Jesus' heart and compassion coming alive through us. It's what happens often when I cry when preaching. He knows and cares and loves you and His heart breaks for what breaks yours. That often comes alive as we sow in tears in prayer or sharing with others. We experienced Jesus' humanness and grief last night during the Chosen that still comes alive today as we pray and serve. We got a call yesterday afternoon from a woman I prayed with during donut time that just found out her husband has cancer. She was crying in deep grief and reaching out for someone to walk with her. We had a woman approach us about if we could provide some meals when she gets home from heart surgery after Thanksgiving (we will work on that) Last night was quite the episode of the Chosen and we left so much unprocessed. What's God saying to you today. What questions to do have for Him. Ask and receive and go refreshed and informed and prayed up! How does God want to use you and even as an answer to your own prayers? Seek, Knock! Persevere in prayer and life! Receive and go in His name! He does have some amazing plans for you today.
I'm praying for you! Check out our devos below as you sit at Jesus' feet and receive, process and go to be His vessel of love, hope and help today. God does hear and answer our prayers and he is with us always. He is our Good Shepherd who lays down His life for us and for the Father's mission. May we be more like Him and go live and love like Him today. Amen!
Harvest Prayer
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November 14 - Steps to Take in the Midst of Evil
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"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8-9).
There is great importance in learning to discern evil from good. We live in an era in which much of the moral blacks and whites have faded to gray. As believers, we allow incredible evil into our lives through what we watch on television and video, what we read, and so on. Because of this, we are very desensitized to evil’s threat. Pray for the ability to discern. And when God speaks to you about something you shouldn’t do because of its evil influence, pray for courage to obey.
Author, Tom White, offers five steps to take when we discern evil in our battle:
1. Stand on and speak forth scriptural truth (2 Thess. 3:3, 1 Jn. 3:8, 1 Jn. 4:4).
2. Pray alertly “for the saints” (spouse, children, roommates, etc.) using the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith to ward off enemy assaults (Eph. 6:16-18).
3. Apply the name and blood of Jesus to overcome enemy influence (Rev. 12:10-11).
4. Ask God to provide helping angels (Ps. 91, Heb. 1:4).
5. Discern and deal quickly with ungodly influences that threaten the home.
Lord Jesus, I confess that I have often allowed the enemy to creep into my life in what seem like harmless ways because I haven’t been paying attention to maintaining Your goodness as my standard of life. Remind me that I am not immune to the schemes of the Devil and help me to quickly discern when evil thoughts, activity, words, visuals, etc. creep into my life and my home. Help me to be quickly aware and to obediently seek only what is good, and what comes from You!
--Adapted from The Power of Personal Prayer (Learning to Pray with Faith and Purpose) by Jonathan Graf. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise God that you are his temple (1 Cor. 3:16).
- Thank God for the work he’s given you to build up Christ’s body, the church (Eph. 4:16).
- Confess those times you do not honor God with your body, as he has purchased you with the price of his blood (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
- Commit yourself to Jesus’ cleansing of your total being (Jn. 13:8-10).
- Ask God to reveal to you daily the mystery of his glorious riches (Col. 1:26-27).
- Pray that your family and friends will not dwell on outward beauty but on the unfading beauty of the inner self, a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Pet. 3:3-4).
Prayer Pointer
“Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive him and keep him as your own.” —Mother Teresa
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ODB:
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Mila, a baking assistant, felt too helpless to defend herself when her supervisor accused her of pilfering some raisin bread. The unfounded assertion and corresponding salary deduction were just two of many wrongful actions from her supervisor. “God, please help,” Mila prayed each day. “It’s so hard working under her, but I need this job.”
Jesus tells of a widow who also felt helpless and “sought justice against [her] adversary” (Luke 18:3). She turned to someone with the authority to resolve her case—a judge. Despite knowing that the judge was unjust, she persisted in approaching him.
The judge’s eventual response (vv. 4-5) is infinitely different from that of our heavenly Father, who quickly responds with love and help. If persistence could cause an unjust judge to take up a widow’s case, how much more can and will God, who is the just Judge, do for us (vv. 7-8)? We can trust Him “to bring about justice for his chosen ones” (v. 7) and being persistent in praying is one way of showing our trust. We persist because we have faith that God will respond in perfect wisdom to our situation.
Eventually, Mila’s supervisor resigned after other employees complained about her behavior. As we walk in obedience to God, let’s persist in praying, knowing the power of our prayers lies in the one who hears and helps us.
By Karen Huang
REFLECT & PRAY
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When have you felt like giving up on praying? How can you reflect on God’s character as you pray?
Loving God, please remind me of who You are and help me to keep praying, no matter what.
Learn how coming to God in prayer improves our spiritual life.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The point of Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:1-8 is to emphasize the importance of being persistent in prayer. God isn’t like an unjust judge who gives in to our prayers out of sheer exasperation. In Greek, the phrase translated as “this widow keeps bothering me” (v. 5) is perhaps more literally translated as “she causes me trouble.” The picture painted here is one of persistence that interrupts the life and routines of another. It isn’t simply the idea of going to see this judge once a day; rather, the woman wouldn’t give the judge a moment’s peace. Her persistent request for justice interfered with his life. While our prayers don’t “interrupt” or “bother” God, Christ seems to be suggesting that we’re to steadfastly bring our requests to God. Because of our persistence and His character (vv. 6-8), He’ll take notice and respond.
J.R. Hudberg |
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Sarah Young:
UR: Finishing Well
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. - 1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)
I enjoy participating in road races, triathlons, and other athletic competitions. One of my favorite motivational quotes says, “Finishing ‘dead last’ trumps ‘did not finish,’ which trumps ‘did not start.’” Those words remind me to focus on the journey and not the end result. For some, placing in the top of their age division is important, while others just want to start a healthy lifestyle. No matter the goal, the participant must train for the race, which requires discipline, commitment, and getting to the starting line!
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians compares our spiritual journey to an earthly race. Unlike an earthly race, as Christians we are seeking a reward that will last. Paul tells us that we need strict training in our spiritual lives that takes work, preparation, and discipline. Putting in the work requires having a plan and a starting point. Whether our starting point is reading the Bible every day, spending time in prayer with God, devoting ourselves to loving service to others — beginning a life of active faith gives us the opportunity to finish our spiritual journey well.
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, give us the strength and courage to begin and continue our spiritual work today. Amen.
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