When we pray, our prayers rise through the heavens to reach God’s ears. When He hears our prayers, He sends down blessings. Praying is warfare and in the case of Daniel, prayers can be held up in the second heaven.
Psalm 5:3: “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”
The second heaven can be considered Satan’s headquarters. From this position he and his fallen angels do everything they can to bring destruction on the earth and resist the purposes of God’s grace, blessings, and mercy.
As an aside, there are three heavens. The first is the visible heaven, seeing the stars at night, it is our atmosphere; the second heaven is the evil ones’ headquarters, and the third heaven is where God lives. (Derek Prince, pp 128)
The sole purpose of the evil one is to kill, steal and destroy. If prayers are breaking through the heavens and people are being blessed, the evil one is alerted. We become the enemy. Satan doesn’t focus on his followers, those who live a worldly life, he focuses on God’s people, those working to advance the kingdom of God.
Satan is 100% pure evil, and he has a plan to destroy our lives. Satan is our enemy, like it or not. The battle is between good and evil, and we are the prize. Satan desires to keep us from all that God wants for us. He is the enemy of all people, followers of Christ or not.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” John 10:10 NKJV
As our prayers are being answered, he goes on the offensive and stirs up the atmosphere around us. He manipulates circumstances and situations against us. He may cause friction, chaos, loss, and illness, anything that can deter us from our mission. This is deception, he causes us to use our energy to address the things he created around us to dilute and weaken our impact as Prayer Warriors and persistent prayer time.
It is our responsibility to learn to discern the battleground and figure out our strategy to succeed. Do we give up our time in prayer with the Lord to address the chaos the evil one created around us, or do we get up earlier, use our lunch time and go to bed a little later to enter into prayer? “Discernment for the believer is seeing and understanding as God sees and understands. It is the ability to make godly judgments and right appraisals.” (Charles Stanley, pp 53)
When the world turns upside down, take time to discern what is happening and how you will approach it. Do not allow the evil one to dissuade you from your prayer time. We cannot afford to be deceived and sidelined. Our prayers matter and people lives are affected by our praying. Each of our prayers is requesting answers/blessings and resolve in life’s situations and circumstances. The failure to pray for yourself and others leaves everyone prey to the evil ones’ plan for our lives to remain slaves to him and the world.
Do not be deceived, always look through your spiritual lens and cast the evil ones’ efforts as far as the east is from the west. Stay focused on your prayers until you see the blessings manifest. They may manifest in a recognizable way, obvious responses to prayer, or may take another form as God sees fit to advance you into the kingdom. Our prayers may be answered right away, sometime in the future, or not at all, but every prayer has impact and outcomes. We may see some answers to prayers and may not see others. It is all dependent upon how God sees fit to include us in the blessings.
The most important thing is to never stop praying until God leads you to do so. Just make certain you can discern who you are listening to. See my earlier Post on The Voice of God.
Today is the last day of 2025. Where do we go from here? Typically, we rehash the year, with little thought to what aspects of ourselves we should leave behind and what we should carry forward. We get caught up in New Year resolutions, which do not focus on how we intend to become a more mature Christian, one who surrenders and intentionally becomes more obedient, leaving the old person behind and redefining who we are in Christ. The main focus is not just to review the past year, but to intentionally decide which aspects of ourselves to leave behind and which to strengthen, especially in our spiritual walk as Christians. The emphasis is on becoming more mature in faith, surrendering old habits, and redefining ourselves in Christ.
Relinquishing Self: The Word or the World
The world feels like the Stranger Things series – we are lodged in the upside-down place, which is in opposition to the Word of God. Our upside-down world is a world that opposes the Word of God. Chaos reigns, and our leaders are deciphering the Word to support their world of greed and influence. It feels as if we cannot stop the onslaught of destruction; that is exactly what Satan wants us to believe. He not only wants to dim the light, but He wants us to think that darkness is our preferred choice. This is one of the most deceptive lies that darkness cannot be extinguished. We are to live according to biblical principles rather than worldly values. John 1:5 NLT unveils the truth: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
As active Christians, we can stop the dimming. We can stand up to the evil around us. It requires that we commit ourselves to the Word differently than we have in the past. Our New Year’s resolution is not about losing weight, exercising more regularly, or sleeping undisturbed for eight hours. It is about reading the Bible, staying in the Word, and checking daily to ensure we are following the Word, not the world. It means we must put on all the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) every day. We must be aligned with the sword of the Spirit and be ready to wield it as needed. Francis Frangipane (The Power of Covenant Prayer) reminds us that “His Word is the eternal sword we raise against wickedness.” We must become a house of prayer and act according to the Word. It means we must pray throughout the day and night. It does not require lengthy prayer but simple, continuous communication with our Lord. We must also seek to help others in greater ways than donating money. It means we must care for the elderly, poor, sick, widows, and children.
Becoming Warriors through Renewed Strength
Life as a Christian is a responsibility. We are responsible for what goes on in the world. God has given us the titles of ambassadors, disciples, and teachers. These are active roles; no one possessing these titles sits and pontificates about the challenges that lie ahead. The positions require action.
What should we do as Christians? There are so many things going on in the world, do we succumb to the chaos of the day and by doing so contribute to the darkness it is producing, or do we spread the light through the world through the Word of God, expressed through our actions, intentions, and deeds?
Looking forward to the intentions of an actively committed Christian requires some thought. I’m certain there are parts of you that you would like to leave behind and parts that you would like to continue to develop.
An easy way to keep track of your transition is to make a chart and list the parts of your character that you wish to eliminate, leave behind, and those elements you wish to strengthen to deepen your faith. This will become a daily reference point to ensure that you are leaving the old you behind and actively developing the new.
Chart This
Things I want to leave behind …
Things I want to strengthen…
…a haughty heart.
Learn to maintain a humble heart before the Lord.
…focusing on self and the things of this world.
Focus on the Word and how it applies to daily living.
Action Items for Closing Out 2025
1. Reflect and Chart Your Growth
Make a chart with two columns: “Things I want to leave behind” and “Things I want to strengthen.” Use this as a daily reference to track your spiritual growth and personal development.
2. Prioritize Spiritual Commitment
Focus your New Year’s resolutions on deepening your faith, not just on typical goals like fitness or sleep. Commit to becoming a more mature Christian by intentionally leaving behind old habits and embracing new ones.
3. Stay Rooted in the Word
Read the Bible regularly and ensure your actions align with its teachings. Make daily checks to confirm you are following the Word, not the world.
4. Equip Yourself Spiritually
Put on the “armor of God” every day. Be ready to use the “sword of the Spirit”—the Word of God—to stand against negativity and evil.
5. Maintain Continuous Prayer
Pray throughout the day and night. Focus on simple, ongoing communication with God rather than lengthy prayers.
6. Serve Others Actively
Go beyond financial donations. Actively care for the elderly, poor, sick, widows, and children in your community.
7. Accept Responsibility
Recognize your role as an ambassador, disciple, and teacher. Take active steps to address challenges and spread light through your actions, intentions, and deeds.
8. Relinquish Self
Identify parts of yourself to leave behind and areas to develop further. Use your chart as a daily tool for self-assessment and growth.
Shema: Hear and Obey Devotional, Day Four Devotional, YouVersion App
I awoke this morning, and when I opened my YouVersion App, this is what appeared. Shema: Hear and Obey, day four devotional.
Luke 12:32 may be one of the most breathtaking verses in all of scripture. Jesus looks at His followers—fragile, fearful, unsure—and says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”God doesn’t just allow us into His Kingdom—He delights to entrust it to us. The phrase “good pleasure” carries the weight of resolve. This isn’t a reluctant gesture. It’s a determined one.
So why do so few of us live like heirs? We’ve confused our kingdoms with His. We chase influence, clarity, and comfort—mistaking them for Kingdom. But Romans 14:17 tells us the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These aren’t casual, manufactured virtues—they are costly, Spirit-wrought realities shaped in surrendered lives.
Trust roots us in Kingdom life, though it rarely grows in certainty. Many know the promises but miss the Person behind them. We crave plans and answers, but obedience rarely provides that kind of certainty. It often feels like walking blindfolded. That tension isn’t a flaw—it’s part of the formation process. God isn’t making us comfortable. He’s making us new. Ephesians 4 says the life He leads us into means a new mind and new self.
This is the battleground of real faith. John Kavanaugh, a Catholic priest and ethicist, once traveled to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa, hoping to gain perspective on where his life with God was headed. When he asked her to pray for him, she replied, “What do you want me to pray for?” “Clarity,” he said. “No,” she answered. “Clarity is the last thing you’re clinging to—and you must let go of it.” When he asked why, she smiled and said, “I’ve never had clarity. What I’ve always had is trust. So, I will pray that you trust God.”
Mother Theresa’s message is that trust is more important than certainty, and that God is forming us through faith, not comfort. Christians are encouraged to let go of the need for charity and instead trust God’s guidance.
Scripture tells us, “The eyes of the Lord run throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is fully His”(2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s not scanning for perfection. He is looking for a Shema *heart. One that is soft enough to listen, brave enough to obey. When He finds it, something happens…
He moves. And the Kingdom moves with Him.
In closing, I wish you well, knowing that the Kingdom belongs to all of us. Strengthening our Christian resolve to become more like Christ, to hold back the darkness and spread God’s love, is not just our resolution for 2026, but our resolution that grows stronger until we reach life eternal.
Romans 14:17 NLT ensures us that living a life of goodness and peace and joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit: For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Shema is a Hebrew word meaning here and listen, and it refers to Judaism’s most central prayer, ‘O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One’ (Deuteronomy 6: 2). More than just hearing, the Shema implies deep understanding, heeding, and active obedience to God. Hearing and listening in the literal sense are deeper than just hearing and listening. It means hearkening and internalizing. Fundamentally, it is truly hearing God’s voice in His commands, encompassing love, teaching, and remembrance. The Shema is a powerful call to holistic devotion. Uniting, hearing, understanding, and acting in loving and serving our God. (AI Overview)
This is the season to internalize the church that is in you because the Holy Spirit resides in you. Daily prayer and communication with God, the direction of the Holy Spirit, whose voice becomes more recognizable as you study, pray, and listen will lead to the gift of the Kingdom in you will be a prevailer of light that cannot be quenched by darkness, rather you serve to break up the darkness and usher in the light of God that replaces wickedness.
In closing, consider leaving behind your haughty heart, focusing on self and worldly things. And, strengthening and maintaining a humble heart before the Lord, focusing on the Word and its daily application.
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” ~2 Peter 3:18, ESV
This verse is a foundational reminder to stay in constant communication through prayer with God. Prayer is not a once and done. Think of God as your best friend who you share everything with, your thoughts, concerns, misgivings, fear, and anxieties, the good, the bad, and the ugly. He wants to hear from you.
He also wants you to pray for the conditions around you that do not fall in line with His Word, things such as government officials, corporate donors, people who choose self over humanity, people and groups that turn a blind eye. The truth is that we are in a principality war. Active Christians are warriors in the Lords army. God has commissioned us, given us armor and the weapons of prayer to overcome evil.
AI Highlights:
Key Themes in Commentary
• Daily Rhythm of Gratitude: The verse establishes a pattern for worship: proclaim God’s lovingkindness (mercy, grace) in the morning and His faithfulness (truth, promises) at night.
• Morning Praise: Acknowledging the new day as a gift, expressing thanks for God’s fresh mercies and grace.
• Evening Praise: Recognizing God’s protection and faithfulness through the day’s trials, giving thanks for His enduring truth.
• Connection to Sacrifices: Often linked to the daily Old Testament sacrifices (Exodus 29:38-39), symbolizing continuous worship.
• Consistency & Joy: Praise isn’t just for good times but a continuous attitude, bringing joy and solidifying one’s relationship with God.
• Enduring Attributes: It emphasizes God’s covenant love (hesed) and reliability (emunah), which are central to faith.
During my nightly meditation, I reflected on peace—what it is and how to experience it—and God clarified this for me.
Whenever you do any of the following and trust in God’s Word—not simply say them but believe them—you will be at peace.
When you forgive, you are at peace.
When you give from your heart, you are at peace.
When you look at you day with no regrets of what could have been or what you lost, you are at peace.
When your prognosis is not what you wanted and you give the condition to God, no holding back, you are at peace.
When you wake up in the morning and praise God for another day, you are at peace.
When you listen to the news and rebuke the chaos, relying on God instead of succumbing to evil, you are at peace.
Prayers about peace.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Job 22:21 Agree with God and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Jude 1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Connectusfund.org. 50 Inspiring Bible Scriptures on Peace
Our morning devotional is written to lighten your concerns, anxiety, and fears.
The Amplified Version of Aaron’s Benediction reads:
“¶The Lord bless you, and keep you [protect you, sustain you, and guard you]; ¶The Lord make His face shine upon you [with favor], And be gracious to you [surrounding you with lovingkindness]; ¶The Lord lift up His countenance (face) upon you [with divine approval], And give you peace [a tranquil heart and life].’”
Numbers 6:24-26 AMP
As long as we belong to God, our Father, we can survive any challenges that lie before us. We reside in His refuge, and He gives us peace in whatever storm tries to overwhelm us.
He protects us, sustains us, and gives us new mercies every morning. He gives us divine approval and peace greater than any peace we can expect or imagine.
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice in our hearts and not be dismayed by the trappings of this world. Though chaos surrounds us, it cannot influence who we are in Christ.
In Hebrew the phrase Shalom-Shalom, means perfect peace. It is yours if you keep your mind on the Lord.~ Lisa Blair
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV (bible.com)
Note: I extracted the following commentary from EnduringTruth.com commentary on verses 3-4.
My prayer is that each of us will experience Shalom Shalom, the perfect peace of God.
I also encourage you to pray before reading Isaiah 26:3-4, followed by reading the extract (and the full commentary). Taking the time to pray and prepare your heart can deepen your understanding and connection to the scriptures. Inviting God into your reading makes you more likely to gain insights and peace.
A good method to gain understanding is to:
Always pray and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the passages
Read the Passage(s) in the Bible
Read the commentary(s) with more understanding
Let God speak to your mind. Don’t just skim over the text to read a devotion.
Shalom Shalom is yours when you put God first.
Partial Commentary explaining verses three and four.
(3-4) The LORD is our source of strength. You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.
a. You will keep him in perfect peace: This is a wonderful promise: perfect peace. God promises that we can have perfect peace, and even be kept in a place of perfect peace.
i. In Hebrew, the term perfect peace is actually shalom shalom. This shows how repetition communicates intensity in Hebrew. It is not just shalom; it is shalom shalom, perfect peace.
ii. “Understand, dear soul, that it is thy privilege to live inside the double doors of God’s loving care. He says to thee, ‘Peace, peace.’ If one assurance is not enough, He will follow it with a second and a third.” (Meyer)
iii. Some can have this perfect peace, but it is fleeting, and they are never kept there. Others can be kept in peace, but it is not a perfect peace, it is the peace of the wicked, the peace of spiritual sleep and ultimate destruction. But there is a perfect peace that the LORD will keep us in.
b. Whose mind is stayed on You: This is the place of perfect peace and the source of it. When we keep our minds stayed – settled upon, established upon – the LORD Himself, then we can be kept in this perfect peace.
i. To be kept in this perfect peace is a matter of our mind. This isn’t so much a matter of our spirit or of our soul or of our heart. It is a matter of our mind. We are to love the LORD our God with all of our mind(Matthew 22:37). We are transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). We can have the mind of Christ(1 Corinthians 2:16, Philippians 2:5). We are not to set our mind on earthly things(Philippians 3:19), but to set our mind on things above (Colossians 3:2). The Christian life is not an unthinking life of just doing, or experiencing, but it is also about thinking, and where we set our mind is essential in our walk before the LORD.
ii. To be kept in this perfect peace, our mind must be stayed. According to Strong’s Dictionary, the Hebrew word sawmak comes from the root “to prop,” and has the idea “to lean upon or take hold of…bear up, establish, uphold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay (self), sustain.” In other places the same word is translated sustained(Genesis 27:37, Psalm 3:5), or when the priest would put their hands on the head of a sacrificial animal (Exodus 29:10, 15, 19), or of the laying on of hands in other circumstances (Numbers 27:18), of being upheld (Psalm 71:6), to stand fast upon (Psalm 111:8), of being established(Psalm 112:8), of leaning upon (Isaiah 36:6, 48:2). It is fair to ask the disciples of Jesus Christ: What sustains your mind? What do you lay your mind upon? What upholdsyour mind? What does your mind stand fast upon? What is your mind establishedupon? What does your mind lean upon? To have this perfect peace, your mind cannot occasionally come to and lean upon the LORD; it has to be stayed on Him.
iii. To be kept in this perfect peace, our mind must be stayed on the LORD. If our mind is stayed on ourselves, or our problems, or the problem people in our lives, or on anything else, we can’t have this perfect peace. This is the heart that says with the Apostle Paul, that I may know Him (Philippians 3:10). In his spiritual attacks against us, Satan loves to get our minds set on anything except the LORD.
c. Because he trusts in You: This is another way of expressing the idea of keeping our minds stayed on Him. Almost always, you keep your mind stayed on whatever you are trusting. When we trust the LORD, we keep our mind stayed on Him.
i. Proverbs 3:5 expresses this same idea: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. The word for lean in Proverbs 3:5 comes from the same root as the word stayed in Isaiah 26:3. When we trust in the LORD, we do not lean on our own understanding. To lean on the LORD is to trust Him. To be sustained by the LORD is to trust Him. To be established by the LORD is to trust Him. To be upheld by the LORD is to trust Him.
ii. The battle for trust in our lives begins in our minds. If we trust the LORD, it will show in our actions, but it will begin in our mind.
d. Trust in the LORD forever: Because of the promise of Isaiah 26:3, we are encouraged to trust in the LORD forever – and therefore to receive the blessing of the promise, perfect peace.
e. For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength: If the LORD calls us to rely on Him completely with our mind, He appeals to our mind with a rational reason why we should trust the LORD – because He is everlasting strength. It isn’t that the LORD has everlasting strength, He is everlasting strength.
i. Clarke’s comment on Isaiah 12:2 applies here also: “The word Yah read here is probably a mistake; and arose originally from the custom of the Jewish scribes, who, when they found a line too short for the word, wrote as many letters as filled it, and then began the next line with the whole word.”
Lisa’s Daily Inspirations 