SUMMER OF PRAYER

JOURNAL | WEEK FIVE

STRETCHING

07.6.2022

When was the last time you stretched?

Now I know what you are thinking, what does stretching have to do with Jesus? Everything!!!

Stretching is a way to describe growth in your heart, your mind, your body, your spirit, and your soul. But how do we stretch and grow before Christ? That is easy....we get uncomfortable!

That sounds terrible, right? No one wants to be uncomfortable. But being uncomfortable in the Kingdom is good, so very good. We are not called to come to church one time a week and just live the same old life. We are called to assist Jesus with His rescue missions. We are an Elite Navy Seals team. And the training is uncomfortable! But it is irreplaceable and so very important.

We must stretch the boundaries of our minds. Who is Jesus? What is the Kingdom of God like? What am I commanded to do now that I am enlisted as a soldier for this Kingdom lead by Jesus? Oh wait....didn't you know....you are truly a soldier! We even get a uniform....it is described in Ephesians 6:14-17. The Lord will train your mind, your body, your heart, basically all of you!

But back to the mind stretching, we have to read our Bibles; and we have to think on these things. We meditate on the Scriptures, and we pray for Heavenly understanding and wisdom. Then we share that knowledge. Not all revelation or communication from the Lord is meant to be shared, but you will know the difference. Small groups are great at training up the mind. Depending on the group, you could have some in-depth, intense studies of the Bible. They definitely stretch the mind.

Having friends in Christ is an excellent way to stretch for the Lord. Talk about what you are reading in the Bible with each other.

What do the worship songs y'all are jamming out to talk about? Can you locate the Scriptures they are based on? Because worship music should be based on scripture. Worship music should be in line with the Truth! What about what y'all are watching? Are you watching things for the Kingdom? Podcasts, Sermons, etc.

We should talk about these things, and we should grow in our understanding. My husband actually stretches my mind more than anyone else. He will bring me questions that make me think and make me go searching for answers. I am lucky in the fact that his brain works very differently from mine. He is inquisitive and not afraid to hear all sides of the argument. I am more closed-minded....I will say, "I already learned this, and you are blowing it up. Now I have to go research things."

I admit-not proudly- that I have even gotten upset at him for some of the questions he has posed to me, but he was stretching my understanding and my perspective. My brain just wants to fight against that. I put up a fight in the immediate and surrender once I have a better understanding of both sides of the argument. Do you know that the Lord wants us to seek out his wisdom and truth?

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." James 1:5 NLT

Prayer also stretches us. How long can you or do you pray for? Do you pray a quick five minute prayer listing all your needs before the Father? Do you intercede? Do you pray for blessing and favor over others? Do you pray for your church and its leaders who are weekly sharing Kingdom knowledge with you? Do you pray for Heavenly understanding and wisdom before reading the Word?

Prayer can be intimidating....I confess that I have many times been intimidated by prayer. Even today...even so deep in intimacy with my Lord and Savior...I still get intimidated often. But prayer is simply defined as communication with God, so what is so intimidating? Well, what if I pray wrong? The answer is that you cannot really pray wrong. Just talk to God. Call out to Jesus. Praying where others can hear can be intimidating. We don't want to be judged. What if they think my prayers are bad and not beautiful?

I am here to say: SO WHAT! Learning to pray....yes, learning to pray... is an intimate journey. You have to start somewhere. Stretch to where you are uncomfortable. About a year ago, I had a prayer and worship session at my business. This particular man from church came. He said that he was asking the Lord to teach him to pray in front of people and to pray better over people. There were about 4-5 of us that day, but this man had no idea what he was walking into. There could have been 50 people there. He now prays over our entire Church on the fly. He stretched. He grew. He learned. He trusted his Father for direction and wisdom. And please know that I am as much speaking to myself as I am speaking to you. I have stretched in the area of prayer, but I have much more stretching left to do.

Lord,
Thank You for crash courses and in-depth studies of Your Word and Your Kingdom. Thank You for stretching us past our comfort points. Thank You for being patient with us and teaching us how to pray in alignment with Your Will. Thank You for putting a desire inside of us to learn more about You and Your Kingdom. Thank You for not rebuking those that ask for wisdom from You. You call for us to seek out Your hidden wisdom. Your Word is Living and Truth! In a society with drastically changing moral systems, we thank You for an unwavering Truth to stand upon yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You do not change. You are everlasting. Your Word was, and is, and is to come. It does not contradict itself nor has any of it been found false. I thank You that the natural world endorses and supports Your Word. I thank You for archeological discovers that support the Words of Your Bible. I thank You that man has been able to use the Bible- and only the Bible- to find hidden treasures inside of the earth which helps to confirm its accuracy in the natural. Help us to write the hidden treasures of Your Word on our hearts so we carry it everywhere we go and to all we encounter. Give us a strong desire to read Your Word and to pray. We thank You for the people in our path that help us to stretch for You in learning, prayer, desire, and intimacy.

We love You, Jesus.
Amen.

Sara B

BLESS THE LORD!

07.07.2022

There are certain words or phrases that when spoken outloud just light my soul on fire:
"Bless the Lord, O' My Soul" is one of those phrases for me!

When speaking to the Samartian woman at the well, Jesus says the following:

"But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way." 

John 4:23 NLT

Maybe the phrase "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" hits so hard because the Lord has literally placed this desire inside of me. He is searching for those that worship Him in spirit and in truth despite location, despite the weather, despite the troubles of life, despite our emotions. "Here I am Lord; I will worship and bless You!!!"

How luckily are we that the Lord made a way for the Gentiles? He could have denied us. He didn't have to send the apostles to the Gentiles. I recently wrote about stretching. Imagine God telling Jewish you that Gentiles are now accepted into His Kingdom. Imagine being the chosen people of God and God saying, because you won't accept my Son, I will allow access to my Kingdom to the entire world! That requires some serious stretching to accept this new idea. Paul was specifically tasked with delivering the Good News of Jesus to the Gentiles.  Imagine God coming to you and flipping everything you knew onto its side. Oh wait! I think He did do that to each of us.  How marvelous and beautiful that the Lord shakes us and breaks us down and rebuilds everything we thought we knew!

Many don't know this about me, but I have a degree in Psychology. I find people incredibly interesting. I love to understand what makes people tick and tock the way they do. So being in the Kingdom, in this surrendered capacity, has been an outstanding adventure for me both as a lover of Jesus but also as an observer of people. Also seeing the hatred against the Kingdom of God has been so telling about the nature of people. Most people just want to be loved and included. I find a lot of very difficult people have been through the most painful experiences especially as children. I have been in and learned about secular counseling for decades. And it wasn't until I ran face first into Jesus as an adult that I learned what people truly need.

Spoiler: it isn't a secular counseling session. It is complete and unconditional love.

When you pair that love with counseling and healing, well now you can get somewhere on the road to recovery from well- basically everything. Man, this world has broken people time and time again. It is heartbreaking, but the solution is here...on earth. The solution literally walked this earth 2000 years ago.

So when I say or sing, "Bless the Lord, O My Soul," I am not just reciting a cute phrase. I am worshiping the King of Kings. I am praising the Wonderful Counselor. I am commanding my soul to wake up and be in reverence to the Mighty One, to the Holy One of Israel. I am celebrating the Fixer! The man who takes the broken pieces and calls them back, repairs them, and superglues those pieces back into place. And He is the One who holds all those pieces in place. He doesn't let even one piece slip. He doesn't miss even one broken fragment. He takes us under his wing broken and He protects us while we heal. And when-through His terms and conditions- we have been restored, He sends us out with the protection of angels and all of Heaven standing behind us. We come under His wings unsure and in need, but we leave Him as warriors.

Lord,
Thank You for Restoring and Redeeming Your children. Thank You for loving us so much that You couldn't just leave us where we were. You chose to rebuild us. You chose to heal us. You heal us from drug addiction, mental health issues, past traumas, physical pain, and anything else we battle with. You help us to surrender our burdens to You. Lord, You are patient and kind with us when we battle with surrendering. And all You ask in return is for us to love You unapologetically and to share what we have freely received. But then you fill us so completely and wonderfully that we couldn't hide it if we wanted to. Lord, we command our souls to Bless You! We command our hearts, minds, souls, spirits, and bodies to Bless You! We give You back Your breathe in worship. We give You back Your breathe in praise. We give You back Your breathe through sharing of Your Word with Your children. We return to You what You have freely given. And we bless You over and over again just as You have blessed us over and over again. We don't know what else we could give to You. You possess all things in heaven and on earth. The only thing we have is freewill so we freely will our souls to You! They are Yours! We love You, Jesus! We thank You! We bless You!
O MY SOUL, I BLESS YOU, LORD!
In Your Mighty and Majestic name, we raise our prayer and blessing to You.
Amen. 

Sara B.