Seeking His Guidance

We will NEVER cease to need our Father - His wisdom, direction, help and support. We will NEVER outgrow Him. We will always need His grace. (Kay Arthur)

How many times do I pray for something, I get the answer that I want and then... I tend to forget about that prayer time that I was having so regularly, I forget about that devotion that during my valley was so important to me. Why do I have such a hard time remembering that He is there ALL of the time. That's why God has to bring me to my knees... quite frequently, and say Gena, I am here ALWAYS! I want you here with Me, ALWAYS! I want you seeking Me, ALWAYS!

Dear Lord, Please help me remember that I should ALWAYS call on Your Name!!! Not just in the valleys, but on the mountain tops, also! Help me to ALWAYS remember that You know what is best and You know when is best. Help me to be patient and wait upon Your direction for my life... but even more than that, help me to remember that when those prayers are answered, I AM STILL TO SEEK YOU!!! Amen

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. (Psalm 18:30)

When We Have to Wait

I went to one of my favorite stores today... Lifeway.  I could spend a fortune in that store!!! But, today I only bought a Christmas present and a gift for myself.  Stormie Omartian's book "The Power of Praying Through the Bible".  If it is anything like the other one that I read, it is going to be great.  The difference in this one, is that it is more like a devotional.  It starts in Genesis and goes through Revelation... I thought that was pretty neat!

The second devotion in the book hit me hard... It's on Abram and Sarai (before they became Abraham and Sarah)... I think most of us know the story.  God had promised Abram that He would make him a great nation, but Abram was beginning to wonder when it was going to happen.

"After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:  'Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.'  But Abram said, 'O sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damasus?'" (Genesis 15: 1-2)

Can you hear the exasperation in his voice?  It's like Abram knows that God made the promise of him becoming a "great nation" but  it's more like, okay... when is this going to happen???   God made this promise when he was 75 years old. He was 100 years old when Isaac was finally born.  That means they waited 25 years for God to fulfill His promise.

How long do we wait patiently for answers our prayers?  Does a week seem too long? A month?  To see that Abram waited for a quarter of a century for an answer should give us hope to wait for our own prayers to be answered.  Abram could have given up.  He could have decided that he didn't want to wait on God anymore.  (He did eventually make a mess of things when he tried to fulfill God's promise on his own by having a child with Hagar.)  How many times do we try to take into our own hands???  At this point, though, he chose to believe.  If only he had continued to hang on to that belief.

What answer from God are you waiting for?  Is it the answer to a prayer for the return of a rebellious child?  Is it the answer to a prayer for the salvation of a family member? For provision?  Whatever it is, keep on praying and waiting.  Release it into God's hands and let Him do it in His way and His time.  His answer will always be worth the wait.

Dear God, help me to have faith enough to believe You will answer my prayers.  Give me the patience to wait for the answers to appear.  keep me from giving up and taking matters into my own hands.  Instead, enable me to trust that You have heard my prayers and will answer in Your perfect way and time.  Help me to rest in peace during times of waiting.

Courage

What is courage? It is the ability to be strong in trust, in conviction, in obedience.

To be courageous is to step out in faith - to trust and obey, no matter what. (Kay Arthur)



Be on guard. Stand true to what you believe. Be courageous. Be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13)

Anything Is Possible II

This is a follow-up to my post the other day. I know I have shared with several of you that I have been journaling my prayers for almost a year now. Some days I am very good and will post in my journal up to 3 entries... other days are not so good and I won't post anything. But, that doesn't mean that I am not praying, it just means that I didn't have a chance to put anything down that day. I must say that when I journal, I seem to pray for more and seem to have a more intimate talk with God.
The best thing about journaling; all those thoughts are recorded and I can go back and see how God worked and answered my prayers. I love reading back through the things that I have written down... I love it more when I come across an entry that I TOTALLY forgot about, and realize that God answered it! It is what I like to call "one of those WOW moments" where the breath is kinda sucked out of me and there are really no words to describe what happened... it was just a God thing!!!

Now, one of the most important things that you need to remember if you do start journaling... ALWAYS PUT THE DATE AND TIME ON IT! Because that is what will truly amaze you, when you read something and realize that God did answer it right on time! AMAZING!!! Now, if that doesn't get you motivated to pray even more, I don't know what will!!!

I hope that you will be inspired and start your own journal... you can go buy a real pretty one at the Christian book store (I have one of those with the scripture for each day that kind of helps to get you started.) You can even use an old pad or composition book that's laying around the house. But, personally I like to type it out on my computer. I have a file on each computer and when I feel the need to pray... I type it out. However you decide to do it, you will be rewarded beyond belief!!!

"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." (Jeremiah 29:11-12)

Anything is Possible!!!

I have been reading Jim Cymbala's book "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire".  I started the book before we left for our trip to the BTC... I don't have a lot of spare time to read so it has taken me a while, and I am still not finished.  Which, there are several parts that I have gone back and re-read, several times. If you want a book about prayer, this is the one! 

I think I may have shared this in one of my previous posts, or maybe not, I can't remember... but that is probably the most amazing thing to me about the Brooklyn Tabernacle, their praying! There is no set time for prayer listed in their bulletin.  They may sing a song and then pray for 10 minutes, and it isn't a prayer of thee's and thou's and words that you don't use in everyday talking. It is HEARTFELT, DEEP DOWN, I MEAN WHAT I SAY, CRYING OUT TO GOD TO HELP ME, PRAYER!  This even goes on during their choir rehearsal!!! True prayer and worship!  It's the most amazing thing I have ever been a part of in my life.

Honestly though, I didn't realize just how powerful their praying was until I really got into the heart of this book.  Some of the testimonies and stories are just amazing.  Jim and Carol Cymbala's story about their oldest daughter running away and turning her back on God is incredible.  The fact that they are ministers in one of the most praying churches and for over a year they never had that church pray for them and her... but man, when they did... like the song says, "something happened, supernatural"!  It is an amazing story of how God heard a powerful prayer and pulled their daughter back to Him and to them!

I want to have a prayer life like that!  I have been working on it since about July of last year.  Now, I have always prayed, but it has been those, bless me, bless you, thank you... you know, not the heartfelt prayers and discussions that He desires from us.  But since about July of this year, God has really laid this on my heart.  This past summer I read Stormie Omartian's book, "The Power of a Praying Woman".  If you've never read it, buy it, read it!!!  God desires a relationship with us... that means talking to Him, discussing things with Him, asking Him for our deepest desires of our lives!!! and then... waiting patiently for Him to answer (the hardest part of all!).  But He will answer, in His time and in His way.  He has a plan and purpose for everything.  And while we are waiting for Him to answer, we are supposed to be praising and thanking Him for EVERYTHING in our lives!!!  Even the parts we don't like, ESPECIALLY those parts!!!

This is an excerpt out of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire", which was the main thing I was going to write on this blog today (sorry, I got carried away!):

Anything and everything is possible with God if we approach Him with a broken spirit.  We must humble ourselves, get rid of the debris in our lives, and keep leaning on Him instead of our own understanding.  Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord.  The blessings we receive and then pass along to others all hang on this truth:

"He rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6)