21 Days of Prayer - Day #11, Wednesday, August 16, 2023, Prayer Focus - REVIVAL

Day 11 -Wednesday- August 16, 2023-- Prayer Focus - REVIVAL 

 Psalm 85:1-7 (NIV)

You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.[b]3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. 4 Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations? 6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Revival - This is a request from the people of God for Revival.

 This is a song sung by the sons of Korah after their Babylonian Captivity.

 They get back to Jerusalem, into a city, once glorious now in ruins.

 In response to the state of their land - they ask for revival.

 1. The request was in response to ruins.

 What was once glorious is now ruins - ruins led them to prayer. God can you do this again?

 Whatever ruins we are looking at is a platform for God to step in.

Problems don’t push me away from God, they pull me closer.

 2. The request included remembrance.

Showed, restored, forgave, covered, set aside and turned. All of these are past tense. Because God did it before, will you do it again?

 2 Cor. 1:10 (NIV)10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

 He remembers what God has done. His remembrance is in his request.

 He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

 He’s done it before, He can do it again.

 When you remember what He’s done, it gives you hindsight and can also give you foresight.  Don’t just revive us, but revive us again?

3. The request was to be a vessel.

Revive us.  It was not to revive the enemy or the land, but revive us - the people of God.  It was personal. God do it to me. Do it within us!

 That’s what 21 Days is all about. Revive us? Do your work within me.  God if you need a starting place, start it within me.

 Secret to Revival - an evangelist and revivalist named Gypsy Smith shared the “secret” of revival.  He said, “You go home, you find a room, you close the door behind you. You kneel on the ground. Grab a piece of chalk and draw a circle around your life. You earnestly and fervently ask God to bring revival to the limits of that circle.” 

 Revival first and foremost starts in me. 

 Revive my heart, my life, my spirit, my family. You need not look any further. Revive us again.

21 Days of Prayer - Day 10 -Tuesday- August 15, 2023-- Prayer Focus - TRUST IN THE LORD

Day 10 -Tuesday- August 15, 2023-- Prayer Focus -  TRUST IN THE LORD

 Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall [a]direct your paths.

Trusting my navigation system even though I know the way to go.

Do we trust God as much as we do google maps? With marriages, call of God, careers, money, children - are we allowing God to guide every area of our life

 Trust God

 Seeking His guidance in the small and major life decisions.

 Trust in the Lord as if your life depends on it. Because it does.

 In all your ways acknowledge Him.. invite him in every area of your life. He’ll give you guidance (pastors, friends, teachers, leaders)

SEEK THE LORD and be Specific with God

 In Genesis 12  God spoke to and led Abraham to a new direction in his life.

 For every blessing there’s a but.. God wants to lead the blessing and to trust Him.

 When we trust God - He will open doors that no one can close. He wants to bless you.

 As you pray today, be specific with Him.  Then, wait patiently. While you wait, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and then watch as God does what only He can do in your life.

 Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord  and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,  with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat  or worried by long months of drought.Their leaves stay green,   and they never stop producing fruit.

When we trust in the Lord, we will never stop bearing fruit.

21 Days of Prayer - Day 9 -Monday- August 14, 2023-- Prayer Focus - Message of Reconciliation

Day 9 -Monday- August 14, 2023-- Prayer Focus - Message of Reconciliation 

We are in such a season of ramp up

Scriptures that impacted me

Luke 15 - The parables of lost things.

Romans 8:35-39  Eternally secure, nothing can separate us from Christ’s love

Get in the Word of God. Let it mark you. Stamp your heart and change you forever.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NIV)

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

My prayer is that you will go back and frequently read this passage. 

Here’s some thoughts I’d like to share with you. This is week 2 of 21 Days of Prayer. Not to relax but to push the gas.

3 Foundational Truths

1. We are compelled by Christ’s love.

It means to hold on. To hold together. To fasten to Jesus. A tight grip.

The Love of Christ is so expansive it leaves us no choice to live completely sold out to Him.

1 John 3:16 (NIV)

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

No matter what. What Jesus did was final. It impacts me. It compels me. It moves me to action. We no longer live for ourselves. We no longer view people from a worldly point of view.

Heaven and hell are real. People are going to one of those two places. It’s compassion.

We don’t have time to be bitter, judgmental or offended. We need to rise above this. 

2. We are Firm in our identity.

The old has gone and the new has come.

2 Cor. 5:17 (NIV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

The enemy tries to chip away at this truth. A war brews against us.

We need to be a little annoyed but we march on and don’t give him much air time.

We are God’s masterpiece (Eph. 2:10) 

God labels us as forgiven, redeemed, nothing can separate us from Him.

Through praying God’s word, I change.  

I receive the ability to receive His love.  I understand my firm identity.

3. We are committed to our assignment.

There are people we can impact. They may not go to hell, they’ll go to heaven because we are on assignment.  

It’s the ministry of reconciliation.  We are ambassadors for Jesus. We speak well and on behalf of Jesus.  

We step into those moments and assignments.

Once I grasp the magnitude  of the cross, I say here I am, send me.

Great seasons of prayer should produce action.

We are not just hearers of God’s word - we are doers.

We live for Jesus! 

“Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter..” - Charles Spurgeon.