Tag Archives: Prayer

Prayers Break Through the Second Heaven

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

Reblog, March 2018

Your world was calm and settled, you’re an effectual, fervent prayer warrior, all is good and then chaos breaks out in your life. This is an indication that your prayers are getting through! Praying is not for the faint of heart. It is a battlefield.

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, blessings were held up in the second heaven while Michael the Archangel fought the demons that were holding back blessings headed to earth.

“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3 NKJV

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.

Yes, heavens plural, there are three heavens. The first is the visible heaven, it is our Blessingsatmosphere, 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 in an uproar. We (prayer warriors) 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 by disrupting our 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 maintain our prayer time? We have to learn to distinguish with our spiritual ears and eyes what is moving around us. “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 blessings and resolve to life’s situations and circumstances. The failure to pray for others and you 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, Psalm 103:12. Stay focused on your prayers until you see the blessings manifest. They may manifest in a recognizable way, 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, The Voice of God.

Resources

Books
Prince, Derek. Secrets of a Prayer Warrior
Stanley, Charles. When the Enemy Strikes

Website-Blog

Change Your Filter, Hear His Voice

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.

Looking Back – Satan’s Web of Deception, Self Abuse

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

8ED65563-3714-4A2F-89FD-73D424354B3D

I am currently studying a five-day Devotional entitled, Don’t Look Back, day four to be exact. Last week I shared an earlier devotional on the same subject. You’ll recognize the red title if you look it up.

Today, the lesson is focusing on how looking back feeds the flesh. Looking back is a form of self-abuse in itself, but it also causes you to return to your past. The reason we look back is because we find comfort in our experiences. God instructed Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Once out, they no longer had the comfort of food or shelter. These creature comforts were important to them and somewhat balanced the harsh abuse they experienced as slaves.

When you look back do you look for the comforts often derived from a negative experience? Did your spouse, partner or parent mistreat you and then lavish you with gifts? Did people befriend you to gain what you have? Where you punished and then fed well to offset the punishment? Did your boss promise you the raise and then give it to someone else, and placate you? These are all past experiences that people choose to recall because, despite, the abuse – they were familiar, and oddly enough safe memories of experiences past.

The Israelites blamed Moses for the discomfort they were experiencing in the wilderness. In Exodus 17:3 NLT, they cried, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst.”

They had little food during the wilderness period and complained about the good things they had in Egypt, such as good and shelter. They cried, “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” (Numbers 11:5-6 NLT.)

The crux of this story is that their comfort was attached to the abuse they received as slaves. Your story may not be fraught with physical or emotional abuse, but looking back instead of forward is abuse in itself. As I shared in the earlier Post, you cannot look in the rearview mirror and focus on what is behind you, and expect to move forward and avoid potholes at the same time. There are many scriptures in The Bible where God instructs us to have faith and look ahead. One of the most notable is Lots’ wife’s experience. The angels instructed them to leave Sodom, and leave their belongings behind, and God would spare their lives. They were also instructed not to look back at the destruction cast down on the city. Lots’ wife defied God’s command, looked back anyway and was transformed into a pillar of salt.

When we experience life’s challenges we can do one of two things, operate in the natural or choose to follow the Lords instructions. It is safe to say that most of us have not learned from the experiences God has shared about looking back. We still seek the (dis)comfort of our past because we find relief in those experiences. God continues to impress that while the transition may be difficult, the unknown is not to be feared because He is with you. He provided the Israelites with daily manna and he will do the same for you. Consider the transition lessons in faith, dependence, and obedience. God cannot guide you if you will not look forward and follow His instructions. Times may be tough, but provisions are provided, just as the manna was provided daily. Faith in God is the key to transition. We often find ourselves in the midst of the storm because we do not focus on God and His ability to change the circumstances. Our career advancement stalls because we look at our past and what we have accomplished, or not, and not what God will provide. Our relationships fail because we look at past experiences that shackled us, for whatever reason, and not at the strength of our current relationship. We look at our neighborhood and want more, but feel we cannot attain it because nothing in our past demonstrates the ability to have more. We look back most often when we are not satisfied with our life.

Most importantly, we look back to when we were not saved, before we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, a time when we relied on ourselves, when we managed on our own, made mistakes, failed and wallowed in misery, rather than looking to God for direction, depending upon Him, and being obedient to the Word.

Satan uses the deception of looking back as a control mechanism. He encourages us to back at the past, relive the experiences that are wrapped in abuse and find comfort in slavery. He wants us to remain enslaved where we will never experience the blessings God wants to bestow upon us. He wants us paralyzed, cemented in salt, forever frozen in time.

God has given us free-will, liberty to choose. We choose to look back or focus on the present and what lies ahead. We choose the known and the uncertain. It is safe to say, life is not static, we all experience change and challenges, the key is that the challenges are often the very lessons we need to prepare us for the next step in our walk with Christ. Looking back retards our growth as Christians. Rather than looking back, take Jesus’ hand and walk with Him. The unknown is less frightening when we grasp the hand of a loving parent.

Don’t look back for a sense of comfort. Look to the future, live in the present, and God will lead you into your blessings. God will never leave you or forsake you. The chorus to a Sunday hymn, In The Garden, sums up our relationship with our Lord, Saviour and Father:

And he walks with me
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

Serenity Prayer7

Images – Google Images; Biblestudytools.com;Bibleverseimages.com

Scriptures – Biblegateway.com

Resource/References – YouVersion.bible.com;Lyrics, In the Garden,Google.com

Visit my Young Christian Warriors site. The earliest Posts were written to help parents guide and train their children to access the Word of God to direct their steps. Later Posts were written for everyone, though I believe the Posts to parents can serve as reminders for all ages.

Thank you for spending time on my sites, if you like what you are reading, follow me, dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com and receive the daily inspirations in your inbox, or visit my other site, youngchristianwarriors.com and subscribe.

Why We Should Anoint Ourselves, Family, Homes, and Workplace

Quote

Posted on by
2

There are many doctrines that interpret the Bible to authenticate their belief structures. Therefore, there are different beliefs about spiritual welfare and anointing yourself, your family and your home. I believe God gave us the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions. Luke wrote in 10:19,

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

We have the authority to overcome our enemies.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12,

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Paul clearly stated that there are rulers of darkness that fight to keep us in darkness, harms way, and confusion.

David wrote in Psalm 34:7,

“The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them.”

David said that the Lord encamps around us. His angels surround us and protect us. We are delivered from the forces of evil.

In Ephesians 6:10-18, we are told to put on all the Armor of God to protect our spirit from attacks of the evil one and his demons. We have the power to cover ourselves, our children, our family and our homes through the Word of God.

If we submit ourselves to God’s Word, we can resist the devil. We can command him to flee or depart from us, our family members, and our home. James wrote in 4:7,

“Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

According to Strong’s Complete Expository Bible, to anoint in this instance means, to symbolically use the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word and the use of oil. I have witnessed and anointed my home and place of work, and family by touching them and the premises with oil and praying out loud. The Word of God is no match for evil spirits. They flee when they know you are a believer and will use the Word to ward them off. The Word gives us power. Declaring the Word of God, in prayer, is our weapon.

There was a time in my life when I did not believe in anointing as a method of protection against the evil one. I was skeptical of the power (Word) of God changing the atmosphere. But, as I studied, I began to understand what the term atmosphere means in the Bible. There are spiritual battles that take place in two atmospheres. One is physical, we can see, smell, hear, touch and taste. The other is spiritual. We cannot see it in the natural, we can not experience it with our natural senses. Ephesians  6:12 says, we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.

The atmosphere of holiness, purity, praise, worship, prayer, love, and unity attract the Holy Spirit – just as an atmosphere of lust, drunkenness, anger, and hatred attracts demonic spirits. (Monticello.com)

When I began to anoint my place of work, I could immediately see the atmosphere from one of tension to one of kindness. The same is true at home. If differing opinions created heated tempers, anointing the home would change the atmosphere. When attacks on a loved one occurred, anointing them provided a protective shield and the attacks no longer had power. This is especially important for children who are bullied and treated poorly by schoolmates.

It is important to choose when to anoint to cover long periods of time and when to pray out loud to immediately extinguish the evil surrounding you, your family, place of work or home. Praying out loud does not mean that you must yell, others do not need to know what you are doing. The same is true of anointing. You can pray in a quiet, whisper. You can anoint yourself and then place your hands on your cubical, office and halls while praying in a very non-obvious manner.

The important thing is to remember that you have power. The Word is your power and using it to ward off evil spirits is God’s promise to give us the authority to overcome evil. It is equally important to understand that when we pray the Word we to overcome the spiritual resistance that is desired to derail the plan that God has for our lives.

The battlefield exists in both atmospheres, we must always be aware and diligent to protect ourselves and others using prayer. “The danger on the battlefield is that we do not take the enemy seriously and therefore fail to put on all the Armor of God before we take another step. We should put on the armor before we anoint anyone or thing because at this point we have entered spiritual warfare. By faith, we put on the armor through prayer, which must be done at the beginning of each day. We can never underestimate the strategy and strength of the devil. ( Wiersbe, pp. 776.)

We must believe that evil exists, the devil (evil) lives in darkness, wherever there is spiritual darkness, there is evil operating through people. Satan’s sole purpose is to destroy our relationship with the Lord and doom us to hell. Through faith we are overcomers. Through faith, our prayers and symbolic oil, have the power to anoint our family, self, home, and place of work to change the atmosphere and ward off the evil of the day that affects us in the most uncanny ways.

How to Anoint Self:

Pray over your olive oil. Touch your fingertips to your head, mouth, eyes, nose, ears, hands and feet. Pray that you will be cleansed, and renew your commitment to God. If you are anointing yourself for a special occasion, reflect on the occasion and pray.

Prayer:

I anoint myself in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As I anoint myself with this oil, so too anoint my body, soul, spirit, and mind
with your grace, mercy, forgiveness, power, strength, wisdom, patience, authority, and light. Thank you, Father, for covering me in the Blood. Thank you for protecting me against the evil one as I pray and anoint say the person’s name, or place e.g., living room, kitchen, home, or office. In Jesus’ Name, I praise your Holy Name. Amen

How to Anoint Home:

How To Do A Prayer Walk Through Your Home. Faithfullycommitted.com, 04/12/2017 How to Anoint Your Home With Oil. kcm.org

aerial photography of buildings

Photo by Essow Kedelina on Pexels.com

Images – Google Images

Scriptures – Biblegateway.com, all scriptures in the Post are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV)

Resource/References – Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary; Prayers that Rout Demons, by John Eckhardt; Nelson’s Quick Reference by Warren Wiersbe; Monticelloyouth.com

Visit my Young Christian Warriors site. The earliest Posts were written to help parents guide and train their children to access the Word of God to direct their steps. Later Posts were written for everyone, though I believe the Posts to parents can serve as reminders for all ages.

Thank you for spending time on my sites, if you like what you are reading, follow me, dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com and receive the daily inspirations in your inbox, or visit my other site, youngchristianwarriors.com and subscribe.

Sometimes We Pray Silently – Sometimes We Speak To The Mountain

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[a] it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:23,24 NIV

Mark 11:23 states that Jesus commands us to speak to our mountains. ‘Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea’, clearly commands us to speak out loud. Jesus continually tells us we have power when we speak. We can use it to destroy or we can use it to remove mountains. The power of the tongue can be used for good and evil. When we pray, there are times we should pray out loud to God. Personally, I have found speaking to Him out loud is more effective. It cuts through the airwaves, like the sword of the Spirit. It empowers my faith like the shield of Faith, the two are activated.

There is a caveat to praying with the expectation that God will grant what you prayed, the caveat is, answers to prayer are not unconditional. God reserves the right to answer prayers when they promote advancement into the Kingdom. Sometimes God will immediately answer prayers, sometimes he will wait until other areas of growth have occurred, and then there are times when He deems our prayer requests unnecessary for growth.

Speaking out loud is a sign of spiritual authority, our prayers are often quietly timid when praying in silence. Speaking out loud breaks through the spiritual atmosphere like a hot butter knife. God does not require that all prayers are to be spoken out loud, but He does recommend that we speak to our mountains. Mountains are anything that stands in the way of our moving forward and becoming mature Christian warriors.

Images – Free Google Images

Scriptures – BibleStudy.com

Thank you for spending time on my sites, if you like what you are reading, follow me, lisasdailyinspirations.wordpress.com and receive the daily inspirations in your inbox, or visit my other site, youngchristianwarriors.com and subscribe.

Leviticus 19:4, Idol Worship

Quote

Posted on by
1

Idols1

Idols are anything you put before God. Do not raise up a temple of false stuff. There is only one God.

“Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:4

Idols, according to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary are ideas or fancies, images that represent a false god. Paul referred to them as ‘vain things’.

Christians like most people get caught up in “things”. Our goal is to strive for things such as careers, lavish homes, furniture, and clothes. We want to be seen wearing the most fashionable clothes, attending the popular gatherings, and hanging around the ‘right’ people. These things only become the vain things when they are put before God. Vain things become more important than God and thus rival for His attention. When we begin to cling to those things that become our primary focus, we no longer focus on God’s love for us. Jonah 2:8 says,

“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.” Worthless idols also include acts of the flesh,

 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21

social media1

Social media is a vain thing. We have become obsessed with social media, we spend hours on social media. It supplants otherworldly things. It’s been reported that it can consume most of our waking hours and interferes with our other vain idols. Society has reached a point where it is easy to become addicted to social media and the fleshly things it advertises.

Advertising is pervasive and is in our face, so to speak. We cannot avoid seeing or hearing about the things of the flesh on television, the Internet, and all forms of the airways. Our desire to acquire them take on their own form. We will do anything to acquire them. We will sell our souls for the things of the flesh, the things that make us stand out above all others. We become driven and before we know it we displace our reverence and respect for God for these fleshly things.

“They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!” 
Revelations 9:20

We have no time to pray, no desire to go to church, no interest in learning the Word of God or establishing a relationship with Him, there is simply no time. God becomes our fire insurance, the only time we spend with Him is when a crisis occurs, most often a crisis created by striving for vain things.

If and when we reach this point, we need to pray to God for repentance, ask Him to give us strength in placing Him first in our lives and relegate the things of this world to their place. It is not wrong to want things or to strive for success. It is a sin when it becomes a hindrance to our prayer lives and becomes more important than our God.

Images – Google Images

Scripture – Biblegateway.com; BibleStudytools.com

Resource – Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, page 316

Visit my Young Christian Warriors site. The earliest Posts were written to help parents guide and train their children to access the Word of God to direct their steps. Later Posts were written for everyone, though I believe the Posts to parents can serve as reminders for all ages.

Thank you for spending time on my sites, if you like what you are reading, follow me, dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com and receive the daily inspirations in your inbox, or visit my other site, youngchristianwarriors.com and subscribe.

Ephesians 6, Put On Your Armor

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

Let peace be our aim as the wiles of the devil attempts to destroy us. The devil is here to kill, steal, and destroy. We must be prepared for his attacks, especially when we feel vulnerable. Steady yourself each morning by putting on the Armor of God. Pray on your knees speaking the prayer, not in your head. Cover yourself from the attacks of Satan.

I like William Barclay’s explanation of Paul’s command to us. It’s a great visualization and explanation.

——

The Armor of God

6:10-20 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his strength. Put on the armour of God. so that you may be able to stand against the devices of the devil. It is not with blood and flesh you have to wrestle, but against powers and against authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against malicious spiritual forces in the heavenly places. Because of this you must take the armour of God that you may be able to stand against them in the evil day, and that you may be able to stand fast, after you have done all things which are your duty. Stand with truth as a belt about your waist. Put on righteousness as a breastplate. Have your feet shod with readiness to preach the gospel of peace. In all things take faith as a shield for with it you will be able to quench the flaming darts of the evil one. Put on the helmet of salvation. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Keep praying in the Spirit at every crisis with every kind of prayer and entreaty to God. To that end be sleepless in your persevering prayer for all God’s consecrated people. Pray for me that I may be allowed to speak with open mouth, and boldly to make known the secret of the gospel, for which I am an envoy in a chain. Pray that I may have freedom to declare it, as I ought to speak.

As Paul takes leave of his people he thinks of the greatness of the struggle which lies before them. Undoubtedly life was much more terrifying for the ancient people than it is for us today. They believed implicitly in evil spirits, who filled the air and were determined to work men harm. The words which Paul uses, powers, authorities, world-rulers, are all names for different classes of these evil spirits. To him the whole universe was a battleground. The Christian had not only to contend with the attacks of men; he had to contend with the attacks of spiritual forces which were fighting against God. We may not take Paul’s actual language literally; but our experience will tell us that there is an active power of evil in the world. Robert Louis Stevenson once said: “You know the Caledonian Railway Station in Edinburgh? One cold, east windy morning, I met Satan there.” We do not know what actually befell Stevenson but we recognize the experience; we have all felt the force of that evil influence which seeks to make us sin.

Paul suddenly sees a picture ready-made. All this time he was chained by the wrist to a Roman soldier. Night and day a soldier was there to ensure that he would not escape. Paul was literally an envoy in a chain. Now he was the kind of man who could get alongside anyone; and beyond doubt he had talked often to the soldiers who were compelled to be so near him. As he writes, the soldier’s armour suggests a picture to him. The Christian too has his armour; and part by part Paul takes the armour of the Roman soldier and translates it into Christian terms.

There is the belt of truth. It was the belt which girt in the soldier’s tunic and from which his sword hung and which gave him freedom of movement. Others may guess and grope; the Christian moves freely and quickly because he knows the truth.

There is the breastplate of righteousness. When a man is clothed in righteousness he is impregnable. Words are no defence against accusations but a good life is. Once a man accused Plato of certain crimes. “Well then,” said Plato, “we must live in such a way as to prove that his accusations are a lie.” The only way to meet the accusations against Christianity is to show how good a Christian can be.

There are the sandals. Sandals were the sign of one equipped and ready to move. The sign of the Christian is that he is eager to be on the way to share the gospel with others who have not heard it.

There is the shield. The word Paul uses is not that for the comparatively small round shield; it is that for the great oblong shield which the heavily armed warrior wore. One of the most dangerous weapons in ancient warfare was the fiery dart. It was a dart tipped with tow dipped in pitch. The pitch-soaked tow was set alight and the dart was thrown. The great oblong shield was made of two sections of wood, glued together. When the shield was presented to the dart, the dart sank into the wood and the flame was put out. Faith can deal with the darts of temptation. With Paul, faith is always complete trust in Christ. When we walk close with Christ, we are safe from temptation.

There is salvation for a helmet. Salvation is not something which looks back only. The salvation which is in Christ gives us forgiveness for the sins of the past and strength to conquer sin in the days to come.

There is the sword; and the sword is the word of God. The word of God is at once our weapon of defence against sin and our weapon of attack against the sins of the world. Cromwell’s Ironsides fought with a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other. We can never win God’s battles without God’s book.

Finally, Paul comes to the greatest weapon of all–and that is prayer. We note three things that he says about prayer. (a) It must be constant. Our tendency is so often to pray only in the great crises of life; but it is from daily prayer that the Christian will find daily strength. (b) It must be intense. Limp prayer never got a man anywhere. Prayer demands the concentration of every faculty upon God. (c) It must be unselfish. The Jews had a saying, “Let a man unite himself with the community in his prayers.” I think that often our prayers are too much for ourselves and too little for others. We must learn to pray as much for others and with others as for ourselves.

Finally, Paul asks for the prayers of his friends for himself. And he asks not for comfort or for peace but that he may yet be allowed to proclaim God’s secret, that his love is for all men. We do well to remember that ever Christian leader and every Christian preacher needs his people to uphold his hands in prayer.

William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible Ephesians 6, Studylight.org

After reading this. Visualize the picture with you sitting in God’s peace in quiet meditation and let the Holy Spirit speak to you and calm your nerves before you head out for the day.