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How is Your week?

August 10th, 2010

How is your week going, if you are on vacation it should be a great week. If you are at work it could be tougher. If everything is going wrong it is a tough week. If you have to go back to school or even if you are just preparing to go back to school, it could be a tough week No matter what kind of week you are having, it is a good week to give thanks.

Thanksgiving is a key to success in a Christian life. If we understand where we have come from (sin and destruction) and what Jesus Christ has done for us (redeemed us from death and the doom of eventual Hell), thanksgiving will pour from us and well it should. The salvation Christ purchased for us on the cross; is free to all who will receive it. It is a full and complete salvation; it is the Kingdom of Heaven with us. Jesus tells us of a man who sold all that he had for this treasure. He also tells of the merchant who found a pearl of great price and sold all so he could buy it. It is a great treasure and we should be thankful for this gift.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:44-46 (NKJV) 
 

The world spins through each day, people face problems and concerns. These are real problems and the concerns cannot be minimized. However, we do not have to worry about today or even tomorrow. The peace of God that comes through Christ Jesus is more than enough to meet every need and brings answers for every question, to those who receive His grace.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philip. 4:6-7 (NKJV) 
 

As we pray, let us enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.

 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 100:4-5 (NKJV)

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Craftsman of Prayer ( part four)

July 15th, 2010

Who is the best? We love to think about men and women and compare them. Part of the comparison process is to argue about who is the best. Who is the fastest man? Who is the most popular? Who is the best singer? We should not compare ourselves with a motivation of envy or to judge others, but this kind of argument can help teach us to pray better.

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

1 Corinthians 3:10 (NKJV)

One of the key ingredients in the argument as to who is the best; is the way the candidates for the best, work at what they do. Most are craftsman; they work hard to be the best they can be. They are not satisfied with being like everyone else, they strive for perfection.

My dad was a craftsman. He could build cabinets and furniture that were family heirlooms from the day he delivered the piece. When I worked with him I learned to build things, but dad did not build, he crafted. He worked to make every aspect of the piece perfect. He would joke, “We strive for absolute, but perfect is good enough!”

Today there are few craftsmen around in any field. People want things quick and cheap. Even in much of Europe the old tradition of great craftsmanship is yielding to the new wave of quick and cheap. People just will not pay the price for craftsmanship.

Prayer has succumbed to this same malady. People want prayer to be quick and cheap. If prayer is going to cost, then people are not interested. They want prayer, but once people see that effective prayer isn’t quick and cheap, they look for something else and leave this key part of the Christian life on the shelf. Only when faced with dire emergency will they even consider prayer. In far too many places, the church is in a sad state and one key cause of this condition is a lack of prayer. Very simply put, we have drawn away from prayer, effective prayer, and the church has suffered for it.

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A Company of Prayer

June 21st, 2010

Hello,

 

This is also a good time to mention that I am always looking to expand the company of subscribers to Voice of Thanksgiving. The call for men and women of prayer is first for more and more people praying; so I am always seeking people who will respond to the need of the day and pray. The second part of the call is encouraging more prayer; not just more people praying, but for all of us to pray more. The third part is to working for more effective prayer; issue by issue I seek to challenge a higher level of faith for prayer and teach powerful ways to success in prayer.

I hope Voice of Thanksgiving has been a called to you; to pray, pray more, and pray effective prayers. I also ask that you encourage friends, family, and folks to subscribe and be a part of what God is doing with this company.

http://voiceofthanksgiving.com/Subscribe.htm

Thank you for your faithful prayers and intercession. You are changing the course of individuals, churches, and nations. As we prepare for the soon return of Christ, there is a growing need and importance for prayer. You are a special part of fulfilling the great need of the day; prayer.

Let us pray!

 

Visit Voice of Thanksgiving for more information on effective prayer and victorious Christian living. Also available is a searchable archive of articles, a prayer blog, and book order form. We are gathering men and women from around the world who will pray effective, fervent prayers that avail much. Together we are reaching nations for Jesus.

Voice of Thanksgiving is the weekly version in English.

Stimme der Dankbarkeit is the monthly version in German

Głos Dziękczynienia is the monthly version in Polish

From Voice of Thanksgiving, a series of powerful books on prayer!

            Prayer: A Force that Causes Change – volume one – A Life of Prayer

Prayer: A Force that Causes Change – volume two – A Call to Prayer

Prayer: A Force that Causes Change – volume three – Faithful in Prayer

Prayer: A Force that Causes Change – volume four – Effective in Prayer

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The Simple Key to Success

May 24th, 2010

The most important secret to success in prayer is very simple, everyone can do it. The secret is praying. Too often this is the forgotten secret, but it is the key to effective, fervent prayer that avails much. Paul told the Philippians in everything pray.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)   

The key is praying, is a simple and obvious statement, but it identifies a problem that keeps many from effective prayer. People do not pray or only pray on special occasions. They are waiting for something. It is as though they are at the race, but have not responded to the starter’s gun going off. So they wait. They have a variety of reasons for waiting; they think they need more time, more training, more faith, or more ability, more of something. The result is day-by-day they do not pray. 

For many people, there is a expectation that a prayer life will come some day. It will come when the moment is right. Unfortunately this seldom works, things do not get right. People need prayer to make things right. When we pray, really pray, we are in a machine of change. This powerful machine, the prayer closet, and it could be called the chamber of change. It is here that God changes a person who prays and changes the world around them.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV) 

Time with God brings change in a person and this is especially true of time with God in prayer. We can not be in His presence without being changed. That is one of the great values of prayer, worship and Bible study. If done correctly, they bring you into contact with God. If you want to change things in your life, make things right, then pray so you will be spending special time with God.

Time in prayer with God also brings change to the world around us. It is nearly impossible to spend time with God in prayer and not begin to have the feel of His heartbeat. It beats with love for the world. He is love and His love is manifest in reaching out to a lost world. Time with Him will put the world on your heart. This will direct your prayers and life activities, just as it has directed His activities.

The world has always been on His heart, so God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for the world. His heart cry is a desire that no one should perish, but each person should come to saving grace. If you spend time in prayer, your heart will come into alignment with His and your life activities will align with His as well. You will reach out to a lost world and sacrifice for them. If you spend prayer time, you will be more and more like God and act more and more like Him.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NKJV)

So how will you respond? Is this just another “nice” article, or will you respond with prayer? The key is your decision, you must respond to God’s call. He longs to spend time with you in prayer, but must He continue to wait until you have time or things are just right? Or will you respond today and pray?

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Fear Not

May 11th, 2010

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Philip. 4:6 (NKJV)

This is a powerful statement of faith, “Be anxious for nothing”, there seems to be plenty to be worried about. Even Jesus tells about things that could cause worry.

 

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
Matthew 24:6-7 (NKJV)

Yet Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing.” How is it possible for us to be anxious for nothing? Is Paul talking of some sort of denial of what we see? How can he tell us this? The answer is, Paul knows His God. He knows who Jesus is and what He has done. With this knowledge he is able to confidently tell us to “Be anxious for nothing”. He knows things like this:

 

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 (NKJV)

The question we are faced with is, has He or hasn’t He overcome the world? This question is really the crux of the matter. If Jesus has overcome the world then Paul is correct. Christians need not be anxious for anything. However, for some people this verse and others like it mean nothing. They do not believe Jesus’ claims to have overcome the world. These people view the world through their eyes and experience. They see the tribulation, not Jesus’ overcoming. They have decided to believe what they see.

 

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
1 Tim. 4:1 (NKJV)

Jesus’ claim to have overcome must be received by faith. It is a matter of who you believe. I worked in an American High School and I had two girls who are in my office often. They always had a story of what happened, unfortunately their story most of the time did not have anything more than a remote resemblance to the truth. I just did not believe their claims, as most of the time their story is wrong. The question then comes back to you, who do you believe? What evidence are you going to believe? In this matter your choices are what you see or the testimony of the Bible. You can believe your experience or the testimony of many saints.

The Bible tells of many example of the overcoming power of Jesus. The books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are filed with examples for us. The rest of the Bible is also filled with examples and statements by men and women of the faithful testimony of the Bible to the overcoming power. There are also many examples from the testimony of saints as well. George Müller, Andrew Murray, Rees Howells, John G. Lake, Oral Robert and the list goes on and on. These lived by and demonstrated the overcoming power of Jesus. And like John’s their testimony is true.

 

This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
John 21:24 (NKJV)

Paul tells us “Be anxious in nothing” and then he gives us instruction on the way to do this. He explains we are to let our requests be made know to God. The first point of this process in to make our request know by prayer and supplication. The word translated prayer in this verse means a prayer of worship. We are to come to God honoring His name, His deeds, and abilities. We must honor Him as God. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with the prayer with prayer of worship.

 

So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Luke 11:2 (NKJV)

To hallow the name of the Father is to honor His name and Him. The word translated supplication means a petition; that is a request. This fits in with what Paul has been telling us, we are to let our requests be made know to God. That is, we need to come to God in prayer and tell Him of our needs and wants.

 

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
Jeremiah 29:12 (NKJV)

 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 (NKJV)

All of this is to be done with thanksgiving. We honor God when we recognize our need to ask of Him, we also honor Him when we thank Him for what He has done for us. Too often we forget to recognize His hand in our life, His provision for our day, and His protection of our family.

 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Psalm 100:4 (NKJV)

 

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Col. 3:17 (NKJV)

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Finish Your Prayers

April 14th, 2010

We live in a strange time. There are great and wonderful opportunities. In many place around the world a person has a chance to improve their lot in life. At the same time there are terrible disasters and horrible events that shake the life of thousands. Each generation faces new opportunities and difficulties. In the mist of the constant rush of change, there are a few consistencies. These consistencies help us deal with the ups and downs of life. They help us to understand what is happening in us, around us, and around the world. This is why a Christian life has been so important and so helpful to people of every generation for 2000 years.

Christianity brings a solid foundation for life and living. It is of supreme value to have a God who cares for us, provides for us, and who never changes. His love for each of us is beyond all compare and it never weavers. One of the many ways He cares for us is through prayer. Daily communication with Him guides, aide, comforts, builds up, corrects, supports, and encourages. Central to this communication is prayer.

In difficult times it is easy to slip into bad habits and practices. The pressure of the day, sin, life, and the world, all tug at our heart and work to pull us away from prayer. This struggle has three main avenues, first is luring away from prayer. This is hindrances to prayer, working to keep us from this all important part of the day or at least keeping us from prayer as much as possible. The second avenue is to keep us from praying in faith. Without faith in God our prayers are limited and ineffective. The third is working to keep us from completing our prayers.

We need to begin to pray, pray in faith, and then continue in faith, never wavering, until we complete the prayer. The prayer is not complete until we see the answer or the Lord says the prayer is complete. When doubt tries to stop our prayer, when fear would grab our heart with its icy grip, we must keep our faith. We must pray and stand in faith, never wavering, until the answer comes. Paul tells us he will do anything to finish his race, we should have the same attitude.

And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:22-24 (NKJV)

Paul declared that nothing could move him from the finish of his race. We should be like him; if we win this race we have kept the faith. God is calling us to prayer. Will we respond and pray? And once we begin will we fini…

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV)

Do not stop until your prayers are complete!

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First (and best) Things First

March 17th, 2010

Prayer succeeds when everything else fails. Often, far too often, people try everything first before prayer. People try help from other people. They try help from the government. They try help from many other sources. They are willing to look for help anywhere, even if there is no assurance of success. However, there is a source that is available to people. It is source of great help, but too often it goes untapped.

The best source of help is prayer. This is where we should be looking for help. God answers prayer. He is and can be our source. He delights to bless His children. He is willing and able to help us in our times of trouble and need.

 

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
Psalm 50:15 (NKJV)

 

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
Psalm 91:15 (NKJV)

Prayer succeeds when everything else fails. Prayer is the source of great victories and triumphs. In the Bible even in times when it looked as though there was no hope. When things looked the bleakest, people have seen pray turn around the situation.

 

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)

 

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Luke 18:1 (NKJV)

 

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV)

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The Hedge and Care

March 10th, 2010

The hedge and wall is a good picture of the care that is needed for the protection of the heart. Just like a field that is not protected, so the unprotected heart will have problems. The heart is very important. The Bible, as in the book of Proverbs, has dozens of verses about the heart and its great value. Just like other things of great value, the heart must be protected. One of the keys to success in the Christian life and in prayer is the careful care and feeding of the heart.

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV)

The word translated, keep, in this verse means to guard. The command is to guard our heart; guard is to protect, maintain, and obey.  We are to guard our heart; we are to protect our heart from evil. In addition, guarding is to maintain our relationship with God and to obey God. The reason for the command is also included here, from the heart comes those things we need for life. Guarding our heart is important; the danger comes when the hedge or wall is damaged or inadequate. The Devil is looking for ways to attack Christians and destroy their work and testimony. He is searching for gaps in their hedge.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

Many Christians struggle in dealing with attacks of the Devil. They work at walking through life, but too often there are attacks. When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, Jesus over came the Devil by the Word. Matthew’s Gospel mentions that after he had tempted Jesus, the Devil left Him until an opportune time. Christians, with gaps in their hedges, with parts of their walls down, present opportune times to the Devil. He is always finding openings through which to attack them. We need to fill the gaps and build up our walls so this does not happen to us. We must not be like the nation of Israel and fail to deal with our hedge and walls.

You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.

Ezekiel 13:5 (NKJV)

Success in the Christian life requires our dealing with the hedge and wall around our heart. A productive prayer life also requires protecting our heart. A strong and effect hedge around our heart, protects our heart and gives us opportunities to pray effectively.

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (NKJV)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV)

Part of a prayer ministry is to stand in the gap for the land. This is a ministry that is so important and necessary today. Unfortunately few are able to stand in the gap. Like the man without a belt, who can do nothing else, having to hold up his pants, it is hard to stand in the gap for the land, if we are constantly attacked through the gaps in our personal life. Until we deal with the gaps in our hedges and walls, we limit our effectiveness in prayer.

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV)

God continues to seek men and women who will make a wall and stand in the gap on the behalf of the land; that is for nations and peoples. However, to be effective workmen standing in the gap for nations, we must be careful to maintain the hedge around our personal heart. Then we can effectively stand in prayer for others. God is seeking, will He find someone? Will He find you? Today is the day to check your hedge. Is it solid? Are there gaps that need repair? Let the Holy Spirit show you areas where you need to do repair work. Let Him show you areas where you need to build up the hedge. Let Him show you areas that need improvement. Let Him show you what to do to make the repairs. Do what you must do to make them and make your hedge secure and strong.

How is your Hedge?

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Breaking Blockages

February 9th, 2010

Prayer would be easy if every time we prayed we got an immediate answer. With quick answers you would know how you did and the results. At times the answers seem to be slow in coming. And if the answer takes a while to come, prayer can be more difficult. In times like this we must deal all of the hindrances to answers. Sometimes there are blockages to getting an answer to our prayer.

In prayer, the need first and foremost is coming to understand what God will do. We have unlimited power in prayer when we pray God’s will. So we must come to understand what God wants to do. At times we have plans and goals and we think we know what we should do. If we want to be successful in prayer, we must live fully surrendered to Christ. We must live as though we were dead to our wants and desires, seeking His will. It is not my will that counts, it is His. I am not the god telling my puppet what to do, I must long for, with all of my heart and being, God’s will and way.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV) 

In addition to understanding God’s will for our prayer; the second key to breaking up blockages is to be humble before God. We humble ourselves; it is a choice. To be humble is to bow before God and His will. To be humble is to esteem others over ourselves. To be humble is to be a servant. The power of prayer comes in seeking God and walking humbly with Him.

There is much more to learning about breaking up blockages to prayer and with His training and faithfully working though our lessons, we can learn to deal with blockages to prayer and become effective in prayer.

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Jesus Our Confidence

October 15th, 2009

The Devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy; he would make life painful, sad, empty or worse.
 

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 (NKJV)
 

However, Jesus has come to destroy the work of Devil.
 

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8 (NKJV
 

Do you believe Jesus has done that for which He was manifest? Do you believe He destroyed the works of the devil? Do you; are you confident that He has done His work? A confidence, defined in the dictionary as, faith or trust. We can have confidence in Jesus’ work; which opened the door for salvation, deliverance, healing, and fullness of life. Jesus destroyed everything that would separate us from the love of God and the life He has for us. This confidence also opens the doors for prayer.
 

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 John 5:14 (NKJV)
 

 Prayer demands a confidence. In prayer we speak to God in faith and trust; faith in Him and the work of Jesus and trust that what He has said He will do.
 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
 

Where will you place your confidence? In whom will you place your faith? In whom will you trust?
 

but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Hebrews 3:6 (NKJV)

We know He is willing and able to meet our confidence with answers to prayer. There is no question concerning His great reward.
 

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
Hebrews 10:35 (NKJV)
 

By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas;
Psalm 65:5 (NKJV)
 

With confidence in God, we can pray. With confidence in Him, we have faith and trust to come boldly before His throne and seek His help.
 

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 John 5:14 (NKJV)

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