Thanking! Not Asking!

From May 30, 2012

I'm transferring this post from a different Blog site so I can have them all consolidated.

I received a lesson from the Lord about praying that I would like to share with you all. For some of you, this will be “old news” but for some of you, this will be a new concept.

The Lord showed me a person standing facing Him, holding an empty glass and asking that He would fill it. The person kept praying and saying “Lord, please fill my glass. Father, please give me a drink. God, my glass is empty, please fill it!”. The person just kept facing God and begging for the glass to be filled.

Then I was shown that behind the person was a great waterfall of pure, delightful water and that the person only had to turn around and hold their glass under the falls and it would be full in the blink of an eye. This showed me that God’s blessings are pouring out continually! After the person had filled their glass they needed only to thank our Heavenly Father with a thankful heart!

At the time I was shown this I started thanking God for so many things! I thanked Him for the Godly man He was creating in my husband. I thanked Him for the Godly men He was bringing my sons to be! the Godly woman He will bring into fullness in my granddaughter! I thanked Him for the health and strength that He was pouring into my body! Thanked Him for the provisions He was bringing into our lives!

I went on and on as I realized that I needed to claim the blessings He was pouring out by naming them and thanking Him for them! I was so excited by this new understanding that I wanted to wake Lane up and share it with him immediately, but I did have the grace to wait until his alarm went off and then started excitedly sharing with him the things I had been shown in the night.

This is not to tell you to not pray about a need, but once you've prayed it, start thanking and praising! If you start telling God thank you for the things He is doing in your life then you are walking in faith!

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

An example would be if you pray for finances, then start focusing on thanking Him for the provision that He is giving you. Start thanking Him for resolving your financial situation, start thanking Him for His care of you, start praising and thanking Him for providing for your needs.

Psalm 100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

This takes a bit to grasp and walk in, but pray and try it, God will bless you and your life will be changed!

Morning Love Letter

I used to go to a thrift store in Kansas City that was connected to a retirement home, so many of the things they sold were from people that no longer needed them. I adopted many bibles and some were gifted to others that didn't have a Bible, but some of them were special to me and I have kept over the years. The one that I'm telling you about this morning is a New International Version. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but this Bible has seen a lot of loving use, the hand marks are on the sides of it where it was held tenderly and regularly. It is a joy to pick up and hold where it has been held before.

     I have several Bibles in different versions, but I have my main one I go to regularly, a New American Standard. I prefer the NASB because it is most precise in wording to the original writings and as my husband says, I am a "word person" so I do prefer "precise" words. I could write about the different versions here but it's not my purpose, I'll try to get back to it in the future!
     This morning I was drawn to the well used NIV Bible. The Lord has created a habit in myself of reading in Psalms and I try to maintain it regularly, so picking up this Bible I flipped over to Psalms and noticed a circled scripture that was out of the order of what I was going to read but I was still curious why I had been drawn to this Bible and this scripture.

     Reading this scripture I found it to be about "healing". I have been dealing with healing in my own body recently and could see the encouragement in the scripture so I followed the noted scripture that was written in by the circled one and found it to be about healing also! This was not an accident or coincidence! The Lord brought me here to read His promises.
     Thinking that the healing path of scriptures would end at the end of Psalms I read through them and found that the path goes on into Proverbs, I'm saving Proverbs for tomorrow and to go back before Psalms to try to see if there are more scriptures noted for healing before Psalms. This is such a treasure the Lord brought me to and I am thankful and rejoicing for His morning "love letter" to me! Thank You, Father, You are such a good, good Father!

Ever Be

This song has been my waking thoughts for several mornings now. The Lord has been doing a lot of ministering to me through praise songs lately, it is re-establishing our closeness and encouraging me. When I'm awake I have praise praying most of the time, but He picks out a lot of songs from ones that I haven't heard for a long time or ones that haven't really stood out. He also chooses certain lines from the songs to repeat over and over. I believe this song was teaching me to praise Him continually!

Your love is devoted like a ring of solid gold
Like a vow that is tested like a covenant of old
Your love is enduring through the winter rain
And beyond the horizon with mercy for today

Faithful You have been and faithful You will be
You pledge Yourself to me and it's why I sing

Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips

You Father the orphan
Your kindness makes us whole
And You shoulder our weakness
And Your strength becomes our own
Now You're making me like You
Clothing me in white
Bringing beauty from ashes
For You will have Your bride

Free of all her guilt and rid of all her shame
And known by her true name and it's why I sing

Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips

You will be praised You will be praised
With angels and saints we sing worthy are You Lord
You will be praised You will be praised
With angels and saints we sing worthy are You Lord
And it's why I sing

You Choose

     You choose~
     There is an enemy that knows us better than we know ourselves, but once we know he exists we are armed to not allow him to hinder our choice!
     In the world, we will have trials and tribulations(John 16:33), but Jesus has overcome the world, never lose sight of that! Never let yourself believe that you are walking through the world alone. If we choose the path the Lord has shown us in His love and His life then we are walking the same path as He! We are not alone!
     Walking through trials and tribulations is not always an easy thing, but when He walks it with us it is easier than any other option that we may face.
     Do not allow the enemy to deceive you into believing that you are not able to do this, you are! Because you are not alone! Do not allow the enemy to cause you to wear "grave" clothes through your days and life when you are battling for the Lord's glory. The Lord's promises and glory are reflected through your attitudes, words, and outlook. Do yours show your faith in what is happening in your life? Are you wearing a "self-pity" attitude or a "praise" attitude? I list "self-pity" here because it is the one the Lord has shown me is my battle, if it fits you then welcome to my world! If I allow that sneaky spirit to come into my thinking then it can turn anything around to be something to feel sorry for myself about. The tough thing is when you learn to let go of the smaller things and move past those, it starts throwing bigger things at you. In the bigger things you still have to learn to apply the same winning attitude, the Lord is with you, you can trust Him and walk victoriously through the big challenges in life also!
     Pretty much the choice comes down to an easy one,
1. We have a trial or testing and we are being stretched, it may be beyond what we think we can endure.,
2. We choose to either trust and grow through the trial or feel sorry for ourselves and mope through our days. Through scripture, there are examples of God's people being stretched, corrected and then helped to go through the trials they faced. The Lord sent a ram for Abraham to sacrifice after Abraham had proven his faith in His willingness to obey a command that had to try and stretch his very core.
3. We may have to ask for help to actually change our attitude, but we have to make the "choice" to change it. The Lord has sent His Holy Spirit to us to help in areas we are not able to change by ourselves, but we have to remember there is an enemy that is whispering in our ear, trying to deceive us trying to cause us to choose wrong! He will hit us in our weak spots, our children, our bodies, our self-image, our spouses, our friendships, our employment, our finances, wherever you invest your ego is most likely a big target for him.

     Praise is a weapon that we are given to battle the enemy, not just for singing at church on Sunday mornings, but in the still quiet of the nights also. If you aren't able to sing your own praise songs to the Lord find a good Christian CD and play it. I advise against the radio for times you are doing battle because there are a lot of "poor me" type of songs mixed in with the praise and they can really distract you from a praise attitude. Praise is not about thinking about yourself and your situation, it's about the Lord and how big and powerful, loving and merciful He is. Praise is all about God, not man. The "self-pity" spirit likes to distract you with whatever means is available if he can get you to think you are praising while you're really wallowing in self-pity then so much the better! Choose good, strong lyrics about what a mighty God you serve! Not about how wimpy you are and how He will chase all over the countryside to try to save you!
     Once you know you are battling an enemy that has most likely been with you since very young childhood when you learned the words, "nobody loves me", think, who taught you those words? The enemy whispered those poisonous words in your ear! Eliminate them from your very spirit! The Lord loves you! If He stands with you and for you, who can stand against Him? You are a special person! You are a child of the One True King! What better standing can you have than that?
     Now you know your enemy, and he will use any lie available for his disposal. and he has many lies available, he is the father of lies. His first victim was not actually Eve, it was the angels he convinced to follow him in an uprising against our Lord! For their loyalty to him, they have been cast out of heaven and are now part of his forces tormenting us. Our Lord was a victim, but He dealt with him quickly and showed us how, cast him out of our domain! Our lives are our domain, do not allow his presence in your life! Cast him out! Resist the devil and he will flee from you!
     When he comes with tales of self-pity and woe, battle with praise! Have a go-to song that has lyrics that speak to your spirit, that praise our Lord!

"I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm 
Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!"

or ~

"Waymaker, miracle workerPromise keeper, light in the darkness
My God, that is who You are
Waymaker, miracle worker
Promise keeper, light in the darkness
My God, that is who You are!"

     There are many songs that sing true words of the God we serve, just make sure the lyrics are about God and not about you. As you do choose to resist the enemy, he will flee from you, the Lord's word has told us this and we can count on it.

      But we have to take the first step and choose to change our "grave clothes" for "praise clothes"! Let your praise be seen in your countenance, in your actions, in your attitudes. Let your life be a reflection of praise to your Father if it doesn't come easily at first, ask the Holy Spirit to help make the changes that reflect your "choice". He is here to teach, comfort and correct. He will step in where we ask for help.
   
     

Overcoming

     The Lord has been working with me dealing with an attitude I've carried since childhood. I am a happy, optimistic person but I can easily slip into "self-pity" when things aren't going right. I have been fighting this spirit for a while but its stronghold was built many years ago when I was a small child wanting to run away from home.
     Now I am working to break away all of those self-pity patterns of thought. Patterns of thought can be difficult to change, but it can be done! He has shown me the way to change my thoughts is to replace self-pity with an attitude of thankfulness. You can't carry both attitudes, self-pity is the opposite of thankfulness, so you can see it's impossible to have both at the same time. In the same situation where you can find things to feel sorry for yourself over, there are always things you can find to be thankful for.
     Example:

• You have a flat tire, do you have a spare? Thank You, Lord, for this spare tire!
• Are you sick? Thank You, Lord, that we live in a country with drugstores, medicine, and doctors!
• Are you too busy? Thank You, Lord, that You have given me things to accomplish!
• Too many bills? Thank You, Lord, You have given me wisdom to separate wants from needs and You provide for all of my needs!

     These are just examples, I'm sure there are more that we could come up with, but you can read these and get the idea.
     Remember that the Lord does not appreciate grumbling and self-pity does lead to grumbling! If you have this stronghold in your life, please join me in purposing to be rid of it, it does not look good on us and it certainly doesn't please the Lord or bring glory to Him.

 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:9-13

Encouraged or Intimidated?

     In my path I've seen a lot of people receive prophetic words, some are encouraging or comforting.....but some of my favorites to hear are words of what the Lord wants to do in their lives! He shares His view of the people, how He sees them, what He is calling them to do, somewhat like how Gideon was addressed in Judges 6:12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.”
     Much to my surprise, some people reject the Lord's view and opinion of themselves! They do not receive the greeting or title the Lord has given them! Why? Today I was considering this and was taught by the Holy Spirit that not all people are going to respond the same to the calling of the Lord.
     Some people are not prepared to receive what the Lord is wanting them to do, think here of some of the people we've read about in scripture....Jonah, Adam, Judas, Esau. For various reasons of their own, they did not rise to the calling that was on them. They all had opportunities to be more than they were but did not fulfill that calling.
     We could go through people in scripture that did respond to their callings and accomplished great things, Moses, Aaron, David, Joseph, Daniel, Elijah, those are our heroes! But we need to also remember that they were able to accomplish the great things because they moved in God's power and His timing, not their own.
     If the Lord gives you a word that seems too big for you to accomplish, do not be intimidated, do not shrink back! Remember it's not about you accomplishing it, it's about you saying "yes" and being willing to step out and follow the Lord's leading.  It's about setting yourself aside and trusting the Lord to finish the good work He has started. He will not force you to receive His view of yourself. If you say "no" to His calling then He will leave you in your decision and a sadder choice cannot be imagined.
   

Moving Closer to the Lord

     

     At church during the praise time while we were singing the Lord showed me a staircase. He told me that as we press into our praise, in spirit and in truth that we advanced up the staircase and grew closer to Him. He told me that some people are satisfied to stand at the bottom of the stairs and sing praises the same way each week but never move higher. He said it takes passion to advance, passion and hunger for His nearness. It is not something that He will force us to do, but it is something that He will reward in His nearness to us.

 From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24