Marriages Week 3

Resilience (resilience)
n.	(r?-z?l"?-ens)
Re*sil"i*ence

The act of resiling, springing back, or rebounding; as, the resilience of a ball or of sound.

The mechanical work required to strain an elastic body, as a deflected beam, stretched spring, etc., to the elastic limit] also, the work performed by the body in recovering from such strain.

This is the word the Lord gave me while I prayed yesterday for what he wanted for Married Couples in Midland's Body of Christ...Resilience. This definition comes from the 1828 Websters Dictionary and I was amazed at the descriptiveness of this word meaning.
The Lord also spoke to me about forgiveness and how these two go hand in hand...
Proverbs 17:9 says: He who forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends.
My prayer is that we would be quick to forgive our spouse's offenses and that they would be quick to forgive our offenses...God's word makes it clear that we WILL offend those we love there is no way around that, but "bouncing back" from that is my prayer for Christ centered marriages, to "work...in recovery from such strain" as the dictionary states above...
This is how resilient Christ will make our marriages if we just PUSH through.

A GENERATION OF SUPERHEROES Pt. 2

FREEDOM

John 8:31-32
³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Revelation 1:4-6
⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

To be SUPERHEROES this generation must receive, walk in, fight for, and declare to others FREEDOM! Too many are walking wounded, deceived, and bound by opened shackles. Freedom is ours for the taking, but we must take it. The enemy comes to steal, kill & destroy (John 10:10a) & he wants nothing more than to keep this generation in bondage & from finding their true identity. The enemy knows that if this generation figures out who they are, whose they are & the power/authority that comes with that knowledge, they would be unstoppable. The footholds the enemy has are only the ones we allow him to have.

This generation needs to stop allowing the enemy to push them around, let go of the shackles and walk in the freedom Jesus Christ bought and paid for on the cross. There are many imitations for freedom: drugs, alcohol, pride, idolatry, lust/sexual immorality, false gods (anyone or anything that takes the place of or priority over God), cutting, suicide, etc....but all will lead to dissatisfaction or death. The only true freedom is found in Jesus Christ & making Him our Lord. He is the source of all freedom.

The time is NOW for this generation to awaken, step up to the call, & grab hold of freedom. Jesus came to give us life and life abundantly (John 10:10b)! In that life is true FREEDOM!

To have FREEDOM this generation needs:

Faith in Jesus Christ
Repentance from all unrighteousness
Ecclesia - being in The Church aka The Body of Christ
Endurance - "Run the race as to finish & win;" never give up
Death of flesh, self & old ways
Obedience to our Lord & His Word (The Bible)
Mission - sharing the Gospel & Love (This is the action to our faith)

for the singles of The Body
of Christ in Midland, Lord...
i lift them up to you, hands held high,
seeing their strain and struggle to juggle the stuff of life.
help, Lord.
which  "balls" to drop, which to keep throwing.

God, help us not get so tired we start settling.

God, please help us not to get hardened by the layers  of protection
we sheathe ourselves with,
but instead, look up to You to do the shielding.

Lord, i lift up those whose only companion is rejection.
help, God!

and for those milling around in the wrong places,
making wrong connections,
open eyes, God.

help those who ache tonight because of their children.

may these find belonging inside You.
may they learn Papa.

deliver from the distractions, Lord, of the irrelevant....

thank You for hearing these hearts.
may they not beat alone....

Kingdom Men, Week 3

The time today began with praise and thanksgiving, focusing on the Father. God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear the heartbeat of our Father. May we be in tune with your intercession, Jesus. God, You are more. You are more loving than our hearts can contain or our minds can comprehend. More mighty. More gracious. More excessive!

Thank You for our sons. Protect them. Raise them up as true men of God. Teach us to be like You, true disciplers of our sons and daughters.

I proclaim freedom over God's men. Freedom without independence. True and utter freedom - totally dependent on You and totally free.

Freedom from religion
Freedom from self
Freedom from shame
Freedom from the lusts of the flesh
Freedom from fear
Freedom from guilt
Freedom from wrath & malice
Freedom from bitterness
Freedom from vengeance
Freedom from insecurity

Put Your yoke upon us, Your ring in our nose, that we would no longer be a rebellious house. We can't do it - that's why You came and suffered all You did, because You knew we couldn't do it. Cleanse us with Your Blood. Put a new heart within us! We are lost without You. Can You change a city's-worth of hearts? All is lost, all is hopeless but for You. You are everything and all is for You. All for You, God.

The prayer of Jonah (Jonah 2:2-9)

Eccl. 5:1-2. May we draw near to listen. Even in times of great turmoil and distress, may we draw near to give thanks and to listen.

REST! May we learn to rest. We have a great need, Father, for the men of God to grow comfortable with silence and stillness, and to learn to rest. Quiet our hearts, quiet our minds, quiet our ears, quiet our eyes.

Change my heart, oh God. Change our hearts.

Focus on Identity

The prayer focus for Saturday in regard to the children of His Body was on their Identity in Christ. The evil one loves nothing better than to whisper lies about the identity of Believers so that we do not walk in the power of the Spirit. He tells our children they aren't worthy, they aren't valuable, they can never be good enough. We must pray against this scheme because, if listened to, our children will not learn to walk in the fullness of His Purpose and Plan for their lives. He created them to be a reflection of Jesus in Power and Holiness, to be a testimony to the world. When they listen to the lies of our adversary, they can be deceived into thinking they are just like all those around them, instead of those who are called by the Name.


So we ask the Lord to open the eyes of His Children to see the Truth, to unstop the ears that are filled with lies and to lose His Spirit to minister to the spirits of the Children of His Body. May they walk in the fullness of their position as Sons and Daughters of the King of Glory. May they understand the rights and responsibilities that go with their position. May their parents speak Truth over them to combat the lies about who they are in Him. May they all have Wisdom and Discernment to recognize the source of those lies and to be able to effectively identify the schemes launched against them. May the Children of the Body walk in Holiness and bring Him great Glory. May they daily reflect Him more clearly to a world desperately in need of Hope.