Stand Up and Be Counted

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”
1 Timothy 2:1-2 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
We are commanded, not asked, to pray for our country and our leaders. Whether we approve of the leaders or not! But having prayed, God expects us to act, to take a stand. Obviously many Christians did NOT listen to God and and take a stand during the 2008 and 2012 elections here in the U.S.! If they had we wouldn’t be where we are now. And we wouldn’t have a so-called ‘Affordable Care Act’ that is causing people to lose their insurance policies or like in my case for the cost of that insurance to go up almost $200 a month – yes I said a month! We wouldn’t be on the verge of socialism or have had a muslim president who kept doing treasonous acts and getting a way with them either! Thank God we (Christians) wised up and prayed for this 2016 election and God heard our prayers and answered them from heaven. We now have a non muslim, God loving president again. But it will take years to fix the damage done by the past president and his liberal no-goods.
The homosexuals and the lesbians and ALL the other immoral ones have taken a stand and are making people listen to them. It’s time for the Christians of this country to stand up and be counted as Christians – if they really are Christian! There can’t be any such thing as gays for Jesus either, that’s NOT scriptural and there’s nothing gay about homosexuality, it is a evil spirit straight from the pit of Hell. You can’t be both gay and Christian…it’s against God’s Word, I don’t care what you say, Read Romans chapter 1. I didn’t say that, the Word of God did. God loves all people, but He hates sin – homosexuality is sin period! Get involved in what is happening around us and in our leadership. Yes we are to pray, but we need to also be active, proactive and take a stand and be heard! Our country is in the midst of a spiritual battle, and it’s vitally important that the right people be our leaders. There is such a great rise in immorality and un-Godly things among the people and the devil is raising his head big-time. We are about to see another Sodom & Gomorrah right here in America unless we can turn it around soon. God will have to judge us if don’t judge ourselves and this country doesn’t change. We must see to it that the right people become our country’s leaders. How? Take a stand! Pray for your leaders, both present and future. I didn’t say you had to agree with or like them – just that you have to pray for them according to the Word of God. We have a Godly man set to take office soon, now pray for him and his family with all diligence!

Thank the Spirit of God for His wisdom concerning your thinking and your stand. Thank Him for giving you His wisdom about what to say and when to say it to others. Thank Him for giving you wisdom to declare the Name of Jesus and declare that this shall be a God indwelt, God-ordained, God-overseen nation ruled by Godly men and women. Stand up and be counted as part of the power of the living God.

MY PRAYER…
Father I thank You for You leadership and Your guidance. Lord, I thank You for hearing our prayers and for providing the necessary wisdom, knowledge, and strength to our country’s leaders at this time. Father, prepare our leaders for the task now ahead of them. For the rebuilding and the strengthening of this country and its people. Lord, I thank You that You are work in the hearts of men even now, causing them to want to and giving them the strength to do Your will. Father, let Your Kingdom come, Your will be done here on earth Lord, just as it is already done in Heaven. Lead and guide our country’s leaders in all they do and say. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray.
Amen

Have you resisted sin to the point of shedding your blood?

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Hebrews 12:3-4 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Are we such that we should consider ourselves better than Jesus was? Have any of us resisted opposition or withstood persecution to the point of shedding our blood? Not because we were shot, or stabbed, or injured in some other way, but just because we resisted so hard spiritually that blood issued forth from our pores. Jesus did! Then we should not raise a ruckus about running our race with endurance, should we? Or seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. But know this, he (or she) who is a disciple of Jesus shall be a partaker of all that Jesus partook of, both good and evil. Know that He will not cast us off, and if we endure to the end in faith with Him, that we shall be partakers of an inheritance from God and be children of The ‘Most High’ God. What was the condition necessary to be children of God? Enduring to the end in Faith! Whatever is His in the Kingdom of God shall also be ours if we endure in the faith to the end. We will be Kings and Priests forever, Amen!

MY PRAYER…
Father God, help us to understand Your ways. Help us to have the strength to endure. Lord, help us to walk in Your ways and to set ourselves on the things that You have set before us to do. Lord, strengthen us and help us to keep a pure, willing heart through the working of Your Holy Spirit within us. Help us Lord, to finish our race with endurance.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen

So you think you are above temptation, think again!

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
1 Cor 10:12-13 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
So you think you are above temptation, think again. Even Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness! He didn’t succumb to that temptation however. Better yet, you need to take heed, Jesus warned His disciples: “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”(Matt 26:41) What did they do? They went to sleep instead. Temptation is common to man, God knows that, that’s why He says that when temptation comes He will make a way to escape so that you may be able to bear the temptation. Notice God said when, not if temptation comes. That word suffer (KJV, is from the Greek) actually means allow (NKJV), God will not allow you to be tempted more than you can bear. God does NOT say that He brings the temptation, as many have interpreted this verse (The Word says God will not tempt any man!), but that when it comes He makes a way for us to escape it. That way is His Word…get to know His Word. Meditate His Word and put it in your heart, for out of the abundance of the heart flow the issues of life! (Proverbs 4:23)

MY PRAYER…
Father, I desire that I might be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that I might walk worthy of You, being pleasing and fruitful in every good work, and increasing always in Your knowledge. That I might be strengthened with all might, according to Your glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness and being delivered from temptation. I give thanks unto You, Father, who has made me able to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. I thank You Father for delivering me from the power of darkness, and for translating me into the kingdom of Your dear Son. In the Holy name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen

Have you buried the ‘old man’ yet?

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15:33-34 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
The deaths (yes I meant the plural) of Jesus was not a pleasant sight. He died the most horrible, humiliating death of all times. But what He did, He did for us. Few people realize that His deaths that day on the cross were both a death in the physical as a man and a spiritual death or separation from God. You see when He took the sin of mankind on His physical body and in His soul it caused a separation (a spiritual death) from God the Father, from all that He had ever known. For He was with God from the very beginning, He is the beginning and the end. But once sin was upon Him He could no longer be in the presence of God the Father. He died, was buried and taken into the very pit of hell, separated from the very presence of God. God hadn’t really forsaken Him, He just couldn’t remain in God’s presence clothed in sin (our sin) and He felt the presence of God leave Him so He cried out: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He died that spiritual death so that we might live and not be separated from God by sin. If you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you (your old man, the sin nature inherited from Adam) died on the cross with Jesus and was buried with Him that day also. When God raised Him from the very pit of hell by the power of the Holy spirit our sin that Jesus had taken on for us was left behind and He was restored spiritually with the Father once again so that we might also be. Your new man (your Christian spirit) now lives with Him and with the Father. Jesus did this for us that we might come back into the very presence of God that man once knew in the garden of Eden before the ‘Fall’. That we could now come boldly before the Throne of Grace and receive Mercy from God our Father.

MY PRAYER…
Holy Father God, You are without comparison in Your majesty and might. I thank You Lord that You made a way for me to live spiritually where there was no way. You provided payment in full for my sin through Jesus. I thank You Lord that You through Your love and Your grace have given me eternal life through Your Son and my Lord, Jesus. Lord I thank for seeing me through the veil of Jesus’ blood and not as I really was.
In Jesus name.
Amen

Did you know the Bible doesn’t say, “God so loved the Christians”?

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. John 3:16 Amplified Version (I turned the volume up a little so you could hear what God was saying.)

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Did you know the Bible doesn’t just say, “for God so loved just the Christians”? Read it closely, it says “for God so loved the world!” That’s everyone out there in this world, yes even those the Bible refers to as gentiles or heathens. Even those who claim to be atheists and don’t believe there is a God, God loves even them. Those who are not Christian – yet! It also doesn’t just say, “God loves you”? Now don’t let me confuse you, it does say God loves us many times, but each time it does, it shows us that love as well. What a gift from God! How many of you could give (sacrifice) your only son because you loved someone? Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he loved God so much that when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac he was willing. However, Abraham knew by faith that God would have to raise him up, because God had promised him he would be the father of many nations and Isaac was his only true son. God loved us so much that He not only sent His only son to die for us, but He knew before hand the terrible, hideous death He would suffer. Notice that it doesn’t say “God so loved the Christians”, it Says the World, That includes a world full of sinners, adulterers, immoral people, homosexuals, and even satanists and witches, pagans, and the horde of other just plain degenerate people, people that don’t love or even care about Him or maybe don’t know about Him (yet). That doesn’t change God’s Love for them! It doesn’t mean He condones or approves of what they are or are doing – only that He loves them. But, God so greatly loved the world! (Everyone in the world, no matter how bad or evil you currently are). He demonstrated His love through His Son’s sacrifice on the Cross. Have you received that unconditional love yet?

MY PRAYER…
Loving Father and almighty God, thank You for loving me even when I was yet a sinner. Thank You for both saying it and showing it. Thank You for sending Your only begotten Son to die for me, to take my place on the cross. To bear the punishment I was due, in His body for me! Thank You Father, that You made a way for me where there was no way. That You have, through Jesus, raised up many sons and daughters. Please know, Father, that I now love You, too! Accept my words and my actions today as a testimony of my love. Search into my heart and see the love I have for You. Help me Father to be able to share that love with others. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

Search me, O God, lead me in the way everlasting!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and He is all knowing. He knows the condition of our hearts even better than we do. God knows us inside and out. We can’t pretend we are something we are not with Him. We can’t hide behind a facade and pretend to be something else, He knows us! He sees all we do and hears all we say. He even knows our thoughts before we speak them. This should liberate us to be able to have real intimacy with Him, but instead most of us run from such a close relationship with God. If our desire, however, is to become more like Him, the only way to be transformed into His likeness is by inviting Him in and allowing “Him to look at our heart, our motivations, and our desires, all of it, not just some. He desires our close , intimate, fellowship most of all. He wants to renew your heart, mind and soul to a point where you think, feel, and desire the things He does.

MY PRAYER…
Father, I know You are the one who “searches hearts and minds” yet because of the grace You demonstrated in Jesus, I am confident that You love me. My heart is sorry for the sin I have committed, and I truly am ready to change. But I need Your help and Your power working in me to affect that change. I of myself can do nothing. I am really trying to serve You in honor and purity. Please fill me afresh today with Your Holy Spirit to enable me to become more like Christ. Father, search my heart and purge that which is not of You. In the name of Your Holy Son, Jesus I pray.
Amen

God says the just shall live by faith in Him!

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Hebrews 10:38 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God tells us in His Word that the just shall live by faith in Him, but who are the just? Who is God talking about here?
According to the Greek word translated here as ‘just’, dikaios, dik’-ah-yos; from G1349; it means: equitable (in character or act); by implication: innocent, holy –just, meet, right (-eous)], so it appears to me that the just are those whom Jesus has cleansed with His Blood. Those who believe that Jesus died for THEM on the Cross that they might become the righteousness of God in Him. Those who have made Jesus the Lord of their lives! These are the ‘Just’ before God.
That means Jesus leads and guides their everyday lives, not just their Sunday Life!
Do you believe it? If you do, then are you living like you believe it? Remember the opposite of faith is fear.
If we draw back from faith, God has no pleasure in us because (Hebrews 10:39) when we draw back we draw into perdition [ruin or loss (phys., spiritual
or eternal):–damnable (-nation), destruction, we die, perish, pernicious ways,
or waste away.] So how do the ‘just’ live by faith? The ‘just’ (the Righteous) shall live by faith by calling those things that be not as though they were, just as God does. By believing what God says in His Word even when the natural circumstances are saying something else. Romans 4:17 states “…even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” ’FAITH’ If God uses faith and we are to be imitators of Him, then why aren’t we using faith also?

MY PRAYER…
Lord God Almighty, forgive my acts of little faith and foolishness. By Your Holy Spirit, help me to cause my faith to grow. Help me to know in my spirit that I am the just, I am the righteousness of You through Jesus. Help me to have the boldness to step out of the boat with You and put my trust in all Your ways and Your Word. Give me courage to fight the good fight of faith and win the race. Through Your Holy Son, and My Lord, Jesus, I pray.
Amen

Is His Power at work in you?

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen
Ephesians 3:20-21 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Of all the names for God in the Bible, this is my favorite: El Shaddai, Him who is able to do immeasurably more, The God of more than enough! The Great ‘I Am’, I am anything that you need! Our God today is the same God who parted the Red Sea for Moses and then fed 5,000 men (not to mention the women and children who were there with their men) on a green hillside with only a couple of sardine sandwiches and a loaf of bread, then provided 12 baskets of left-overs! I have personally experienced His provision of multiplication of food, it wasn’t the magnitude of the above, but it was still awesome. He longs to do more than we can ask and imagine, but most of us haven’t really given Him much of a challenge or much of a chance. We try to do it all ourselves. Dream big dreams for God. Then step aside and let Him go to work for you and just hang on! Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). What He did before He will do again and again!

MY PRAYER…
Almighty and awesome God, do in our day what You did in days past. You said in your Word that You change not, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You gave us faith to believe and then You are amazed at the smallness of our faith. Give us vision to see Your plan, to have greater Faith, and to do greater things. We ask this, not for ourselves or our experience, but for a sign to Your people so that the harvest will be large and that Your glory will be great and for the salvation of the world. In Jesus’ name.
Amen

Do you know who you are in Christ?

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God said confess Your faults one to another. He said confess your faults to who? Not a man in confessional booth, hiding behind a screen. I can’t find that anywhere in any Bible translation I have read. That’s right, but I can find that we are to confess our faults one to another and to pray for one another that we may be healed. How do we get healed? Praying one for another! Doesn’t say anything about ‘hail Marys’ or counting beads. That’s religious church doctrine strait from the Pharisees and Sadducees! Then He goes on to say that effectual fervent prayer by a man that is in right standing with Him accomplishes much. How is a man in right standing before God? Answer: He is one who has given his life over to Jesus Christ to be his Lord and Savior, one who is cleansed by the Blood of Jesus is in right standing before God.
The word translated from the Greek here as ‘effectual’ means : to be active, efficient, be mighty in, shew forth self, work (effectually in). To be “on fire-white hot!”
We must renew our way of thinking, You say, “Well if I were righteous I would do that!” Do you know who you are in Christ? Are you His child? “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal 3:26 Are you a born again believer who has made Jesus Christ your Lord? Then you are righteous before God! (2 Cor 5:21 KJV) “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
Because of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross, we are righteous. I didn’t say that, the Word of God did!

MY PRAYER…
Father, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You that You have set forth Your will for us in Your Word. Father, I thank You that You have told us we should pray for one another. That You have actually given us authority in Your Word to pray for one another. I thank You Lord that I know my prayers are heard by You and that they accomplish much because I am righteous in Your eyes. Jesus has made me so with His precious Blood. Help me Lord to keep my heart pure and to do Your bidding Lord. In Jesus’ Holy name and by the power of His precious Blood I pray.
Amen

Have you been strengthened by the angels of God?

“For how can this servant of my lord talk with you, my lord? As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor is any breath left in me.” Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.
And he said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!” So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
Daniel 10:17-19 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSES…
Daniel was in such a weakened state that he was not even able to speak when the Angel of the Lord first appeared. But because he was humble and had called on God, He sent His angel to strengthen Daniel and renew him. Do you need God’s angels to strengthen and renew you? All we have to do is call on them, their job is to minister unto us, the heirs to salvation. All we have to do is Believe – no proof needed!

MY PRAYER…
Precious Father, thank You for giving your angels charge over me. Thank you Lord for instructing them to harken unto your spoken Word and to be ministers (servants) un to those of us who are heirs to your Kingdom through our faith and believe in ?Jesus, Your Son. Thanks Abba Daddy for giving me that which I was not worthy to receive. That which I could in no way earn You lovingly gave to me as a free gift, if only I would receive it. Father, I exercise my faith and I accept that which I was not worthy to have, but that which You have freely given. Thank You Lord for sending me Jesus to show me the way, the only way! In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen