Decree God's Promises

Yield now and be at peace with Him;
Thereby good will come to you.
Please receive instruction from His mouth
And establish His words in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent,
And place your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the 
stones of the brooks,
Then the Almighty will be your gold
And choice silver to you.
For then you will delight in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.
You will pray to Him, and He will hear you;
And you will pay your vows.
You will also decree a thing, 
and it will be established for you;
And light will shine on your ways.
When you are cast down, 
you will speak with confidence,
And the humble person He will save.
He will deliver one who is not innocent,
And he will be delivered 
through the cleanness of your hands.”
Job 22:21-30 NASB

In his book Intercessory Prayer, Dutch Sheets talks about verse 28: DECREE A THING. He says that the word "thing" could be better translated promise. This made me think of the time when Jesus told His disciples Ask the Father in MY NAME. When I pray, I can ask for whatever is in line with the Name of Jesus, which represents all that God is....His Word, His covenants, His commands. 

So I started asking the Lord to show me passages of His Word to pray. I write these out, and 'decree' them out loud. Just like when I plant a seed in the ground and do not see results immediately, I know that God is working in the lives of those for whom I pray because the good seed is the Word of God. He honors His Word, guards it, waters it, and shines His light on it.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Someone said, "In a crisis, remember 911....and that stands for Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Yet there is something better than knowing to call out to God in times of trouble. It is enjoying His presence moment by moment.

One way I can relate to this to think of a nursing infant. He is not worried about where the next meal is coming from. The one who loves him unconditionally IS his provision.

This is from Baptism of Love written by Francis Frangipane. www.frangipane.org

"There is a place greater than knowledge; it is a simple, yet eternally profound place where we actually abide in Christ's love. This is, indeed, the shelter of the Most High."

This is the Amplified Bible's rendering Ephesians 3:17-19: "May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, that you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [that you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!" .

You Are Father's Much Loved Child

You're going to learn to live in the outrageous goodness of the majesty of the love of God. I'll tell you, no one is going to be safe from a blessing where you're concerned, because you're going to be a giver. You're going to take that out into the streets, the highways and the byways, and the love that you carry is going to change things in people and situations all around you.

You're going to be a magnificent agent for change because that which flows through you gives you such confidence in who God is that you can bring God into any situation that you encounter, knowing that He will show up because you are His much loved child. And there is a power that is going to work in you. It's called confidence.

He is going to get an immeasurable amount of glory through your life, your heart, your childlike simplicity. You're going to carry a weight of glory towards heaven. People are going to see Him in you. People are going to be touched by Him in you.
-Graham Cooke

Father God, 

May we have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Your love really is.

Back to First Grade

When  I was teaching a second grade reading group, I noticed that one little girl had tuned me out. Then when I called on her to answer a question, she had no idea what the lesson was about.

I told her that she and I needed to talk about it at recess. I explained to her that she needed to sit up tall and pay attention because she was going to learn so much this year at reading time.

"Oh," she told me in an unconcerned voice. "I learned to read in First Grade."

Later as I chuckled at her over-confidence, I had to admit that sometimes in living  life, I feel like I have to go back to first grade and learn the same lessons over and over. I just hope that I come out of my "lessons" more willing to listen to the Teacher.

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:35-38

Your Lovely Face

Then Jesus told him, 
“Because you have seen me, 
you have believed; 
blessed are those who have not seen 
and yet have believed.”
John 20:29

To keep Your lovely face

Ever before my eyes

This is my prayer

Make it my strong desire

That in my secret heart

No other love competes

No rival throne survives

And I serve only You

Graham Kendrick