Friday

Restoration

Do you know the song, "Enemy's Camp"?
We sing it at our church and it brings victory to our spirits every time. A few of the lines are:

"Well I went to the enemy's camp,
and I took back what he stole from me.
He's under my feet, Satan is under my feet."

I searched the net looking for the lyrics of this song and found a YouTube of people singing it during the Brownsville Revival. They sang it with total victory! It blessed me so much that I want to share it with you. You can click on it or you may need to copy and paste, placing it on one line.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jgye4hAhfM&feature=related

In recent months, I have become more and more angry at the devil when I am reminded of how he has lured our children away from the Christian faith as they became older.

Yes I know, they have made their own choice, a decision to not follow Christ. So one might argue, why do I lay the blame at the devil's feet? Because the devil's purpose is to steal, destroy and to kill.

I Peter 5:8 tells us "...your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour."

I Timothy 3:7 and 6:9 warns us about the snare of the devil.

However, we are not to despair and give up hope for our kids' salvation. If Christ is in us, we have greater power than the devil.
Jesus tells us in Luke 10:19,
"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 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."
Moms, if you are a child of God, the devil is under your feet!

The Word teaches restoration and recovery or escape.
We read in 2 Timothy 2:26, "...That they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."

The story of the prodigal son who returns home, in Luke 15, is a great story to inspire our faith telling us of the father who is faithful and forgiving. But notice for a moment in verses 17-18, "But when he came to himself (in other words, came to his senses)
he said, "...I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.'"

I want to encourage you as you pray for your kids. There is no sin so great that He cannot forgive. There is no pain so great that He cannot take away. There is no hurt so deep that He cannot heal. There is no bondage so strong that He cannot break.

I like to pray scriptures over my loved ones reminding God of His promises. Psalm 51:10-12 is one of the scriptures that I pray using my loved one's name for the word 'me'. Try it with your loved one's name.

"Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit."

Blessings to you and your family,
Carolyn

Pray With Thanksgiving

"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 our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

Most of us like verse 7 that talks about the peace which God gives to us that surpasses all of our understanding. A peace that is greater than anyone can explain with words, but feels so wonderful.

Verse 6 is a command which we must do before we can have His peace.
"Be anxious for nothing." Do not stress out and have an anxiety attack. Do not fear. Fear is not of God. In fact, fear is unbelief and a lack of trust in God's Word. "In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Did you notice He said to pray with thanksgiving?

How can you pray with thanksgiving when your heart is broken and you are so worried?

Read Jonah 2:1-10: The result of Jonah's praise and thanksgiving was his safety and deliverance from the belly of the whale.

Read Acts 16:16-40: While Paul and Silas were in prison praying and singing hymns, an earthquake happened and their chains were loosed and the prison doors were opened.

When you are down or discouraged, the best remedy is always to offer praise to God. When our praise goes up, God's power comes down.

We were created to praise God. Luke 19:40 says that if we keep silent in our praise to Him, the rocks will cry out in praise. The Holy Spirit distills His presence where there is praise. It's like moisture in the atmosphere. It is in His sweet presence that our faith comes alive and we can believe Him to answer our prayers.

I believe as we are praying for our loved ones to be saved, we need to thank God for every good and positive thing we can think of about that person. It may be really hard if all you can see is the sin in his or her life. Our Heavenly Father sees that person with love and the purpose He has for his or her life. We need to ask the Lord to allow us to see them as He sees them and to let us feel His heart for them as we pray with thanksgiving.

I believe that Jesus will give you His peace and faith to believe that He is answering your prayers.

Blessings to you and your family,
Carolyn

Wednesday

What If God Had Voice Mail?

We have all learned to live with voice mail as a necessary part of modern life. Gone are the days when a real person greets you on the other end of a phone call. It seems as though whenever we try to "reach out and touch someone", we are greeted with a computerized voice.

But have you ever wondered, "What if God decided to install voice mail?" Imagine praying and hearing this, "Thank you for calling my Father's House. Please select one of the following options:
Press 1 for requests.
Press 2 for thanksgiving.
Press 3 for complaints.
Press 4 for all other inquiries."

What if God used the familiar excuse, "All the angels are helping other customers right now. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order it was received."

Can you imagine getting these kinds of responses as you call on God in prayer?
"If you would like to speak to Gabriel,
press 1.
For Michael, press 2.
For a directory of other angels, press 3.
If you'd like to hear King David sing a Psalm while you're on hold, press 4.
For more grace, press 5.
To find out if a loved one has been assigned to Heaven, enter his or her social security number.
For reservations at My Father's House, press J-O-H-N and 3-1-6.
For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth and where Noah's Ark is, please wait until you arrive here."
"Our computers show that you have already called once today. Please hang up and try again tomorrow."
"The office is closed for the weekend. Please call again on Monday after 9:00 AM."

I'm glad this isn't true of our Heavenly Father. He is always there. "Call to Me, and I will answer you." Jeremiah 33:3

Thank God, you can't call Him too often! "Then you will call and the Lord will answer, you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am'." Isaiah 58:9

Don't ever give up praying, because Jesus will answer our prayers. "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." John 5:14-15. What a wonderful promise!

Is it His will to save our families? Of course, it is!
"The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:9



Blessings to you and your families.

Friday

Purpose

Hello,

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look at my new blog. I am a complete novice, so have patience with me as I learn how to communicate my thoughts using this great technology.

The Holy Spirit has been nudging me for several weeks to start this blog. Not knowing how to do it, I began searching the net to find others who have a heart for prayer. I am excited to see many other blogs and websites about prayer and praying for children. I have found only a few who specify the need to pray for our adult children’s salvation.

The burden that God has placed in my heart is to not only pray for my own unsaved family, but to pray for your families too. I know that it is a tremendous burden, but if God is the one who gave it to me, then He will give me other moms to help me to intercede in prayer and He is a great big God who will answer our prayers!

Have you ever noticed that new converts to the Christian faith will often say, “I know that my mama was praying or I know my grandma was praying”?
Thank God for those prayers! I know that God hears and answers daddy’s prayers as well, and the prayers of brothers and sisters and anyone else who is praying in faith. We need to all be praying for Jesus to save our loved ones.

I Samuel 2:25 asks this question. “If a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” You may say that you don’t know how to intercede. Romans 8:26, 27 tells us, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

As I become more familiar with writing in this blog, I hope to give you an e-mail address for you to send me your prayer requests and praise reports of answered prayers.

Until next time,
Blessings to you and your families