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Archives for July 9, 2014

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Pray for Israel

Pray-for-Israel

Pray for Israel today Wednesday 9th July 2014

Received this news of what happened last night from in Israel

Just a quick update. Hamas fired 40 rockets at once about 1 hr. ago and three or four fell around us, one opposite us in the cemetery area. They have fired on Tel Aviv and also tried Haifa but it fell near Caesarea. We are now in a major confrontation which will take time and we will have to stay close to home.

Pray Zechariah 2:5; Psalm 55:9; Ephesians 6:12; Psalm 122:6-8;

Pray against Terrorist Psalm 56:9; Psalm 91:5; Isaiah 54:14; Psalm 50:23

This has been another hard week for Israel. With barely time to mourn the loss of our 3 murdered teenagers, war drums are pounding again – both within and beyond our tiny borders.

How should we pray for Jerusalem in this terrible hour? One of Judaism’s oldest prayers, recited more than any other blessing, gives us guidance to face the unique challenges of these difficult times.
The Aaronic Blessing is packed with beauty and meaning for such a time as this.

Numbers 6:24-27New King James Version (NKJV)

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’ 27 “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Prayer direction from a Messianic Pastor: How to Pray for Israel in This Dark Hour

The first section – “May the Lord bless you and Keep you” asks God to prosper us with material and physical well-being. Here we are commanded to recall that He is our ultimate protection, and not only our own efforts.

May we turn our faces to the Lord in this difficult hour to the “Keeper of Israel and the Shield of Abraham.”

Let us not allow the stones thrown at us become a stumbling block, but may they become footsteps drawing us closer to Him.

The second section – “The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you” asks the Almighty to grant us wisdom (“Ya’er” is related to the word “Or” – light, a metaphor for wisdom). We cannot live by gut reactions alone. When in trouble, it is time to fall on our faces before God and allow His face to shine on us. It is in the midst of uncertainty and danger that we must pray, “Your will be done, and not mine…”

This is also a plea that we should find favour (gracious in the Hebrew) with God so that others should be built up with our teachings. His wisdom does not make us so arrogant that people resent us. This is especially true when we are angry and hurt and want to lash out at others, and our nation is seething right now. Let us ask the Lord to be gracious to Israel so that we might find favour with Him especially as we face of such turmoil.

The third section – “The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” calls us to look at our Lord right in the eye. When a person does not conduct himself properly and knows that he is wrong, even in the face of danger, he cannot face his Lord, nor can he face others with integrity. But when we do the right thing, we can lift up our heads in the sight of God, and this, in turn, evokes a similar response from the Lord.

When our gaze meets our Maker, we are at Peace, and there is no greater strength than to walk in the light and be in fellowship with the will of God.
These are the blessings we should have in mind as we pray for Israel. Security, wisdom, humility, favor with God and the peace that comes from knowing that we are doing the right thing. When we live like this “in the image of God,” we will bring Shalom not only to ourselves, but to the entire world.

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Exaltation from God

Exaltation-from-God

Today’s Reading: 1 Sam 16:1–23, James 4:1–17, Ps 119:137–15

Today’s Theme: Exaltation from God

God knows the heart

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

Man is limited in his insight and understanding, often we can only go by what we see externally. Appearances can easily lead us astray.

Like Samuel we may even look at something God used before like the shear size of Saul and just assume that will work in the same way again .

God informs Samuel of man’s limitations and prejudice and let’s Samuel know that God is the only one that can look at a person and see them fully, right down to their heart.

God knows our motives and intentions, he is intimately acquainted with our affections and allegiances and so is best placed to make choices for and give guidance to our live.

Jesus knew mens hearts in John 2:24 proving that he is God. We also read in Revelation 2:23 “…I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.”

We must determine to live in honesty and purity before God, hypocrisy and compromise is a fools game because God know every man’s heart.

God’s Enabling Spirit

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. 1 Samuel 16:13 (ESV)

God’s Spirit came or rushed upon David from the day of his anointing. This is where the truth about being anointed by the Holy Spirit comes from.

When God anoints us for service he does not just call or send us, he gives us his Spirit to enable us to accomplish the task he has set before us.

This reminds us that David needed the Holy Spirit, he was not good enough in himself, we of course need to Holy Spirit to live for God too.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 1:21–22 “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

John tells us in 1 John 2:27 “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

Pointless prayers!

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:3 (ESV)

This is why we need God’s Holy Spirit, our hearts without God are selfish. The world around us wants us to covet and be in competition with everyone else.

If we say prayers to God with selfish motives, greedy and covetous hearts then we will not receive anything from God, we can not hold God to ransom, as we read in Samuel, God knows the heart.

God knows our hearts when we pray and will answer accordingly, this is why we need the Holy Spirit to help us pray too.

Praying with an evil heart is pointless, we need to humble ourselves and submit to God’s word and Spirit before we even begin to pray effectively.

Do not love the world

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4 (ESV)

When this verse mentions the world It is not talking about the physical world which is part of God’s good creation or love for humans who are created in God’s image. Instead it is talking about the desires, influences, and structures that draw a person away from God.

We must avoid a way of life in opposition to, or in disregard of God and his kingdom. So the danger for us is neither delight in the physical world nor love for humanity in its fallenness, but an attitude toward either the physical or the social world that puts it in the place of God.

Humility and Submission

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:10 (ESV)

We must humble ourselves before God, submit to God and resist the devil, we need to make an effort to draw near to God and walk in purity. We should live like this and the Lord will exalt us. Exhalation and promotion comes from the Lord

Love God’s Promises

Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. Psalm 119:140 (ESV)

God promises and decrees are not like man’s they are tried and tested, we can depend on God’s word and we should love the promises of God’s word because we love God.