Answers to Prayers

1 John 5:14-15: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" (NIV).

Parenting tests this passage like few other experiences. Because we love our children, we assume we know what is best for them. We pray for God to honor our plans and are shocked when God sometimes leads us down a more difficult path, with testing and pain.

For me, the turning point came when I realized I was looking at God as a "cosmic vending machine". When I prayed, I somehow felt He was obligated to comply. Then, a colleague gave me a simple guide that changed my perspective on prayer. He said, "Prayer is asking God to align you with His will, rather than asking Him to be aligned with yours."

God knows what you and your children really need. When we pray, He is at work answering those prayers, but in a way that suits Him and His Kingdom. Faith trusts the wisdom of His answer, even when His answer is different than what we expect.

Pray for God's will to be done and your prayers will be answered.



COURTESY: DAILY PARENTING DEVOTIONAL

Singleness of heart

In 2 Chronicles 30:12, we see a very, very unusual occurence in Israel.
The OT is chockablok of instances where Israelites have lack of purpose and constantly follow their own whims. That resulted in most of them "doin' their own thang!" Lotsa interpersonal conflict and division...in fact all the makings of a Dynasty like soap opera..
That's why it is surprising and unbelivable when we read the people of Judah had a singleness of heart.
The best part is...their secret formula for this "singleness of heart" is given as well-The hand of God." The reason and source of their unity was none other than the Lord himself. The joy of the Lord was their strength.

What was the result of their singleness of heart? Obedience to authority. At the word of the Lord, they obeyed the command of their King and their leaders.

How many of you are going thru' some sort of disagreement at home, church or in office? Father and son not seeing eye to eye? Don't agree with some of Pastor's teachings? Boss not seeing the merits of your proposal? Mother in law being a stick in the mud? Not talking to your dearest friend over a minor skirmish?

Pray that the hand of God is on you and yours to bring in that singleness of heart. Authentic spiritual unity flows from the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit

Mothers And Daughters

In Job 42:15, we see that Job’s daughters were the fairest in the land- not just in beauty and brains but in temperament as well. Now how would we who strive to be good Christian mothers make our daughters beautiful in temperament, attitude and behavior?

I recently found myself being asked this by women I consider my closest sisters in Christ. The first time it happened, I gave in my bit of understanding and left it at that. Then it happened again—not once, not twice, but five different times. Literally, God has been asking me to post on this! How do we live in Christ as mothers to future Women of God? How do we bring our daughters up?

It’s hard for me to accept I’m having difficulty getting thru to my daughter in spite of being a woman myself. But haven’t we all heard of familiarity breeding contempt?

Instead of giving y’all a list of what to do, upcoming is a list of what we must take care not to do: spoken from experience (mine and others).

Favor ain't fair!!

If God were "Fair", I would get what I deserve from Him. But since He is "Merciful", and not "Fair", I am the recipient of his "Grace", which means I get so much more than what I deserve.

I am certainly NOT a Bible Scholar, but I am confident that God always keeps His promises, and His promise is that if we accept that we all have sinned and fallen short of His Glory, and accept that when Jesus died at Calvary we died with Him and had our sins paid for with His blood, and trust Him as our own personal Savior, then we have eternal life.

We can do nothing to save ourselves, hence we can do nothing to "un-save" ourselves.
God Bless!

Is it wrong for a Christian to want to be rich?

A lot of people I know criticize new generation churches for proclaiming the prosperity gospel. But, in actuality, what's the prosperity gospel all about? Jesus has promised each of us peace and prosperity. As the children of the King of Kings, are we not prince and princess who can lay claim to their Heavenly Fathers ' bountiful riches? We are! So can we actively pursue money generating works? But isn't money the root of all evil?

Let's take it from 1 Timothy6:6-10.

6But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
7For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
8If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
9But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
10For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Our MAIN AIM is to pursue Godliness. The way to that is CONTENTMENT or gratefulness. If you are grateful , truly grateful for what you have, then it's hard to want anything more. Once we are thus able to control our wants, we are no longer vulnerable to the trickery of our desires. Those who "want to get rich" precariously perch themselves at the edge of a BIG fall. By focusing on what money can buy us, we are taking our eyes off what is really important.

So, is it wrong to be rich? Well, the world in general considers you rich by the number of material blessings you possess. Our desire to meet this standard is what makes it so wrong. By wanting what we don't have, we express a lack of contentment.We are in fact proclaiming,"God hasn't done this right!"

The Scripture commands us on this accord to flee from our lusts for things and to seek the kingdom of God. Pursue godliness. Don't put your hope and security on a fickle master like money.Our Ever Dependable God is more than capable of richly supplying us with things to enjoy!

The God I serve is ALL POWERFUL!!

This is long, but take your time. You may need a few days to fully digest this meal. It’s as much as I can remember of Pastors sermon on the Sunday before last:
What is the power that God has?
The Lord has the power to recreate the earth and reverse the curse. And I believe Jesus came to show us that power. He came into the world to declare that He is God the Son and that He has the power to bring the Kingdom of God to a cursed earth. He came to show that He is the promised King and Messiah who could give back sovereignty to man by restoring the earth and eliminating sin.
Mathew 8 and 9 are a series of miracles that portray Jesus’ authority and power. The miracles were foretastes of Kingdom power. When Jesus healed the sick, He was giving a preview of a glorious Kingdom where there would be no sickness. When He raised the dead, He was giving a preview of a glorious Kingdom where there would be no dying. When He calmed the waves on the sea, He was previewing a glorious Kingdom where natural elements would never be out of control. When He cast out demons, He was previewing a Kingdom where there would be no demonic activity at all. When He spoke the truth, He was previewing a Kingdom where there would be no lies but only truth. When He manifested His holiness, He was previewing a Kingdom where there would be only righteousness. Everything He did declared to man, "I am the One who can reverse the curse, and restore sovereignty to man in a glorified eternal Kingdom."
Who is given the Power of God?
All authority in both heaven and earth has been given to Christ.
Luke 10:18-20 18He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Satan, the unemployed, jobless choirboy that he is, has no power to operate in the heavenly realms anymore. So he tries to make on earth-his dominion-HELL.
Jesus says to us though, “ I’m giving YOU authority over him.”The Greek word used here in the original biblical manuscript for authority is Exusia or delegated authority.
Jesus had the exusia to forgive sin, heal sickness and cast out demons. We, his followers have been given the very same exusia to preach, teach, heal and deliver (Mark 3:15.)
In other words, with exusia we can overcome the power of the enemy.
The Greek word for power here is dunamis. It signifies exploding power that manifests or is visible. The manifested or visible dunamis of Satan (sickness, debt, death, evil practices, harmful things ) can be overcome by our exusia. An example to further clarify this:
At a traffic junction, a heavy laden lorry hurtles towards the busy epicenter. The traffic police at the centre may be thin and scrawny. But he’s in his uniform and in the right place at the right time. The lorry can kill the policeman if required. Yet, it STOPS when he shows the STOP board.
The lorry’s dunamis was overcome by the policeman’s exusia.
Jesus can give you both Exusia and Dunamis. Exusia is the right to use our Dunamis, or might.
As a child of God, you are given both authority and power over Satan’s.
Eph 6:10, “10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” reminds you to exercise the power you have been given and at the same time you are also called to remember that you are shielded by His power as well. 1 Peter 1:5 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Gospel Exusia

Our Exusia has never been rescinded (John 14:12). Powerless ministries become powerful on discovering the exusia power of the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:18 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
In the above verse, the message of the Cross is the Gospel and wholly about Jesus. Jesus is the Wisdom and Power of God. To those who accept the power of the Cross is given the Power of God.
When you share the Gospel, you are allowing the power of Jesus to manifest in the person you are ministering THRU which he is saved. It’s the power of God that acts on his willing accepting heart to save him from everlasting death.
So by sharing the gospel you are given the very same authority.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 tells us that there is power in the Good News. The gospel can break any shackles. Only the fullness of the Power of God can be the remedy for the illness of the world.