Tag: Weakness

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Some Kind of Power!

JUNE 21

MATTHEW 6:13_and the power…

God is the power!

Power is authority!

The weak submit to the strong! 

God has great power in His voice. Genesis chapter 1 states “and God said” ten times. Each time involved creation. With the exception of humans, all creation came forth from the power of God’s voice. 

Psalm 29 (KJV) gives the best description of the power in God’s voice, “3The voice of the LORD is upon the waters…  4The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.  5The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars… 7The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. 8The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness…  9The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests…”

That’s some kind of power!

God spoke His control over creation: giving the sun power to control day, and the moon power to control night and the ebb and flow of the ocean’s tide. If you are not impressed by God’s power in creation, just try to rope a tornado, or hurricane, or tsunami. Try to stop an earthquake.

This is the God of the Bible, of Creation, and of Power!

PRAYER

Powerful God, I praise Your incredible power.  I know You can speak Your power into my life. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ can speak power—I want His power in my life!

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Slippery Slopes

JUNE 18

MATTHEW 6:13_into temptation…

Jesus says pray not to fall into temptation. What is temptation? A place where weaknesses have the upper hand—a slippery slope. A place where you are the controlled—not the controller. 

Everyone is vulnerable. It is easy to think you’re not. Why?  If you are a church-going, Bible-believing, Jesus-following person, you can’t be vulnerable, right?  Wrong! It is true all of those things give you the upper hand. The more your spirit grows, the stronger your resistance to temptation develops. But don’t think you can’t fall like everyone else.

If you get a bit cocky, let go of Jesus’ hand, and think you got this—prepare to go down. Jesus teaches to pray that you are not led into temptation. Praying keeps you focused on: the power in you is from Him!

Jesus knows your weaknesses and the devil’s strength. Be wise and follow His model way to pray: not to be led into temptation. Pray for the discernment to be alert to your weaknesses. Call out to the power of the Father to lead you away from the slippery slopes. Pray for help from temptations which empower your specific weaknesses.      

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, Please help me become aware of my weaknesses and know the temptations which empower them. Direct my steps not to go there. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ knows my weaknesses—He will help me!

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Any and All

JUNE 12

MATTHEW 6:12_And forgive us…

MATTHEW 6:12_And forgive us…

If Jesus taught no more than the first three words of this verse, He would have taught a vital part of prayer.         

The Scribes and Pharisees saw life as a set of laws. They had the laws down pat, snug in their hip pockets (if they had hip pockets). They knew the rules, and kept them. Why would they need forgiveness? That is, if all that mattered was rule keeping.

Jesus taught life as more about loving God and each other. He taught to give more than receive. This kind of life causes me to see my weaknesses and failures which sends me to my knees to ask God’s forgiveness.

Psalm 51 (KJV), “1 Have mercy upon me [King David], O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”

King David asks forgiveness for his sin. He also acknowledges something very important: his sin was primarily against God.

Any and all sins are against God. 

PRAYER

Forgiving God, I know when I have wronged Your people I have wronged You. Forgive me and change me!  In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ desires to forgive—He wants me to ask Him!

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He Should Be Revered!

JUNE 5

MATTHEW 6:9_Hallowed be thy name.

Hallowed can be defined as to hold someone or something in reverence. This is recognition of God as: the holy, revered God of Heaven. This is who you pray to. Don’t take this too lightly. It is important to hallow God in your prayer life. 

Recognizing the holiness of God adds faith to prayer. You are not praying to someone who may or may not listen because He is too busy running the world.

This is the God of Luke 1:37 (KJV), “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

This is the God who created all of heaven and earth—He should be revered!

This is the God who parted the waters of the Red Sea—He should be revered!

This is the God who made the sun stand still—He should be revered!

This is the God who gives the ability to slay giants—giants who taunt you with your weakness.

This is the God who frees you from any shackles of bondage the devil has lured you into.

The more you hallow God, the more you pray with courage.

The Father in Heaven is pleased when you talk to Him about the cruelties of the world.

He has already answered: Hebrews 13:5 (KJV), “… for he [God] hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”    

PRAYER

God of Heaven, I do hallow Your name. You only do I serve and give my heart to. You are God Alone, God of the Impossible, God of Creation. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ wants me to hallow the Father—I do!

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He Knows Storms Are Coming

DECEMBER 16

MATTHEW 7:26_shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.

Psalm 127:1 (KJV) “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” 

Vain is empty and useless—it is foolish. God will never instruct you to build your house on sandy soil. He knows the storms are coming.

Some storms come by God’s design. He designs them to help build your life on the security of the Rock. Everyone has weaknesses. God desires to turn them into strengths. Because He knows individual weaknesses, He knows what is required to strengthen them.

To strengthen the weak requires some type of pressure. Weakness does not have the ability to strengthen itself. An outside force is required. The pressure from a force generally brings pain. If you’ve ever done any kind of strength training you understand—not pleasant at the time, but necessary for a positive result.

You can design your own storms—usually when you try to escape the pain from the God-designed storms. The combination of your storms with God’s storms causes far more pressure than your life needs.

PRAYER

Eternal God, Please strengthen my weaknesses. Help me be grateful for Your designed storms and keep me from designing my own. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ’s storms are good for me—I will learn patience!