The scripture for today, October 2, is Daniel 10:2ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks…On the twenty-fourth day of the first month…I 
looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude….
“Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.’ “
The description of the speaker indicates he is an angel, possibly Gabriel. Michael is another known angel. In Daniel 12:1 he is called “Michael, the great prince who protects your people.” Jude 9 refers to Michael as an archangel who disputed with Satan over the body of Moses.
Revelation 12:7-9 says, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down ~ that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.”
Now, let us look back at Daniel 10. Daniel prayed for 21 days. The un-named angel (Gabriel?) appeared to him on the 24th day and said Daniel’s prayers had been heard the first day, but God’s angel could not break away to help because of fighting Satan’s angels.
Now look at Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Does our persistence in prayer give strength to the angels? Something to think about….
#angels, #prayer
“O Lord, we and our kings, our princes, and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.”
Have you prayed for your government lately? I Timothy 2:1 & 2 says “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone ~ for kings and all those in authority.” At the time of this writing, Nero Caesar, who led the persecution of tens of thousands of Christians, torturing many to death, was the king of the Roman Empire which covered much of the then-known world.
Why don’t you stop and pray for your government right now?
#government, #prayer, #nations
The scripture for today, September 1, is Psalm 9:1 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.”
I knew a lady many years ago who talked to God all day as though he were sitting or standing beside her, whether she was cleaning floors, washing dishes, going shopping, or just received a telephone call. She talked to God about everything she was doing. God was her constant companion.
What opportunities we miss to talk to God during the day. Every time we do, we are praising Him. How? By acknowledging His concern with everything we do, and in the process acknowledging His omnipresence. And what a wonder His omnipresence is!
Does this include times when everything in our life is going wrong? You bet! On some days, the wonders of God are about the only positive things we can find in our life.
Praising God for his wonders amidst your frustrations, tears, fears and helplessness can lift you out of the mire. It can remind you that you are not alone; for God sees what is happening to you, and in his own way he will perform a wonder for you too.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: WHEN EVERYTHING IN SOMEONE’S LIFE IS GOING WRONG AND WITH NO HOPE OF RELIEF, WHAT KIND OF THINGS CAN THEY THANK GOD FOR?
#prayer #praise
The scripture for today, August 26, is Romans 8:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
The Holy Spirit in the New Testament is always linked with communication between God and Man. Even the miracles, made possible by the Holy Spirit, were a guarantee that the words and teachings accompanying the miracles were from God. This was needed before the New Testament was written. But the Holy Spirit does more than this.
God speaks to us in his Word, the Bible. Then we speak to him in return in prayer. But sometimes all we can do is bow our head in silence and know that God understands ~ His Spirit communes with our spirit. How blessed we are.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: WHEN YOU ARE UNSURE WHAT TO SAY IN PRAYER, COULD WRITING YOUR PRAYER HELP?
#prayer, #HolySpirit
The scripture for today, August 21, is Ezra 8:21a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God.”
In our modern society, does anyone fast anymore? Not drinking our food (juice) for a day and calling that a fast, but a true fast where we drink only water to stay hydrated, but that’s all. And we turn off all computers, phones, radios and televisions for the day.
Jesus said in his sermon on the mount, “When you fast….” (Matthew 6:16). He didn’t say, “If you fast….” No, he assumed his followers would fast. Do we?
If we do, do we do it as a group? Does anyone else know about it? They shouldn’t know unless they are the reason for our fast. Fasting is an act of self-restraint. It belongs to the sphere of humble self-discipline. It is strictly a personal and private matter.
All moral and bodily restraint, all humbleness of body and spirit are represented by fasting, and it is a complete failure of self-restraint to want to show the world our self-restraint. An unknown author wrote this:
Let us keep our fast within,
Till heaven and we are quite alone;
Then let the grief, the shame, the sin,
Before the mercy-seat be thrown.
Fasting is a way of starving ourselves temporarily, a way of saying, “God, I would do this and more for you; I would die for you.” Or, “God, I would trade lives with this person I am fasting for to give them rest if it were possible. I would even die for this person.” It is a deep expression to God that goes beyond words.
Also, when we fast, our minds are freed from trying to digest food, so we can think clearer and deeper. And we can face ourselves more honestly. Just what are we deep down? Do we truly love God as much as we claim? Do we truly love our families as much as we claim? Our neighbors? Our fellow Christians? Our enemies?
It is a time of self-reflection and self-honesty. And thereby we can grow closer to God.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: LOOK AT YOUR CALENDAR AND MARK IT FOR THE DAY YOU WILL FAST.
#fasting, #prayer
The scripture for today, July 28, is 2nd Samuel 7:28 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“O Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.”
What a beautiful praise. Praising God is different from thanking him. It is acknowledging him for His traits ~ not for what He does, but what He is.
He is trustworthy!
He is able to hear all our prayers at once!
He is everywhere and all knowing!
He is perfect love!
He is anxious to forgive!
He considers us his children!
Today, let us praise Him.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: THANKING GOD CENTERS ON WHAT HE HAS DONE. PRAISING GOD CENTERS ON WHAT HE IS. NAME AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD NOT LISTED ABOVE.
The scripture for today, July 7, is Matthew 7:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
How beautiful. The Creator of the universe pays attention to each and every one of us. How does he do it? How does he even sort us all out when thousands of us are praying to him at the same time?
Sometimes we may not think he is listening to our prayers. But it takes time to answer some of them. If I am praying to meet my future husband or wife, God may have to move him or her from the other side of the country, get a new job for him or her, and arrange for us to “accidentally” bump into each other. This is just one example.
Also, when Jesus said whatever we seek will be given to us, he had already explained that we must “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). So only within that context, God will give us our heart’s desire.
Maybe today you can do a little bit of extra seeking and extra knocking.
The scripture for today. June 25, is Matthew 6:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”
Do you sometimes wonder how God can allow people to starve with such a promise as this? Try to remember the Big Picture.
Remember the Jews being in slavery in Egypt for 400 years? They must have prayed thousands of times to be freed, but most died still in slavery, believing their prayers never had been answered. God had a greater plan for them ~ a plan to give them time to multiply from the original 70 people who went to Egypt to the over 3 million who left Egypt.
So, too, God has a Master Plan for each person and each nation. It is our assignment to hang on and keep believing in Him and that which we do not understand. We may not understand, but God always does.
The scripture for today, June 18, is 2nd Chronicles 6:18a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you.”
Did you ever want to see God, to talk to him face to face? Perhaps something bad had just happened in your life and you had this urge to bawl him out, then let him explain why. Or did you ever want to touch God? Perhaps you were so very lonely that you desperately needed his arms around you, and feel his touch as he brushed away your tears.
But, if we could see him and touch him, it would mean that he could not be with others in the world at that time, and could not hear anyone else’s prayers at that time except yours.
Let us be grateful that we cannot see and touch him for now. He is always available to all of us, regardless of where we are in this vast world and regardless of how many others are praying to him at that moment.
How he can sort out all our prayers at once is mind-boggling. How he can be everywhere at once is amazing.
