GOD IS SPEAKING CAN YOU HEAR HIM

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.2.10.NIV the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Psalm 147:11 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.147.11.NIV

God's Masterpiece So much of our prayer life often involves asking God to mold us into the man or woman He created us to be. We want God to use us on earth to do His will as it is in heaven. There was a time in my life when I found myself wrestling from a place of doubt, insecurity, inadequacy and unworthiness. I cried out to God, “I don’t get it! I can’t see how you can use  me!  Father, You’re just going to have to paint a picture.” As I said the words “paint a picture,” they resounded loud and clear with me as if the Holy Spirit had highlighted them in my heart. I looked in my Bible concordance and searched for the word “paint.” I couldn’t find anything. I went to the Internet, searched for “paint a picture” and found a song by Julie Meyer entitled “Paint Your Picture.” I immediately downloaded it and began playing it. As I listened, I was overcome with the presence of God speaking through the words of the song: “Pick me up like a paintbrush, God. Dip it in the colors of my

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.5.16.NIV

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19‭-‬20 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.18.19-20.NIV Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9‭-‬12 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/ecc.4.9-12.NIV

It Takes Two Norwegian missionary Maria Monsen had reached a point in her life where she wondered what good praying could do. She longed to see God’s river of life flood a spiritually dry China, but she didn’t see a way. Then one day she realized that the source of the mighty Yangtze River started with tiny drops of rain that came together at the top of the mountains. So, Maria sought a prayer partner who would join her in claiming the promise that “if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). When she finally found someone she exclaimed, “The awakening has begun, two of us have agreed!” The raindrops of revival prayer were coming together. Soon, about 40 Christians began meeting in a town in North China for prayer four times a day beginning at dawn. When revival came, more people were born again than in any previous year in North China. One missionary estimated that 3,000 people came to Christ in

Shout for joy to the Lord , all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:1‭-‬5 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.100.1-5.NIV

"Tell"gram vs "Echo"gram It’s not likely that you’ve ever had the need to send a telegram. But in the days before the telephone, email and text messaging, the best way to send an urgent message to someone was by telegram. So many times we approach prayer like we’re sending a telegram. We quickly shoot off a bulleted list of our needs, wants and requests to God and then go about the business of our day. For many of us, our prayer life doesn’t consist of much more than telling God about our problems, needs and situations. It’s like we’re sending Him a “tell”egram describing our prayer needs in detail and lamenting about what needs to happen to make it right. We may even give Him a timeline that it needs to be completed by for all to be right with the world, or so we think, and that’s part of the problem. This often leads to frustration; not only in whatever situation we’re facing, but also in our prayer life because we feel God isn’t hearing us or has given up on

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:5‭-‬6 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/rev.21.5-6.NIV “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19‭-‬20 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.18.19-20.NIV

Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.4.1.NIV My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul.  Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.  I will praise you, Lord , among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. Psalm 108:1‭-‬5 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.108.1-5.NIV

In Pursuit My bookshelves are lined with journals in every imaginable size and shape. Some are in three ring-binders, some leather bound and some covered in fancy fabric, each with a special beauty of its own. The pages are highlighted, tear-stained, scripted in longhand, scribbled in print and written in cursive. Some pages have thoughts written in the margins and other pages are empty, waiting for responses or words left unsaid. These journals are like dear, old friends ... friends who’ve kept secrets, laughed and cried with me, and believed the best even in the worst of times. These journals, like soldiers reporting for duty, retell battles of days past. Inside each is the unfolding story of my relationship and partnership with God. Some of the greatest chronicles of prayer and worship are preserved forever in the Bible. Accounts of a man after God’s own heart, the Psalms are an up-close and personal look at David’s relationship and partnership with God. They are filled with bo

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/zep.3.17.NIV

(Jesus is talking) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28‭-‬30 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.11.28-30.NIV All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: Deuteronomy 28:2 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.28.2.NIV But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:6 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.6.NIV

Rhythm of the Holy Spirit The steady beat of a metronome sitting on the windowsill softly resonates throughout my prayer room. I often find myself captivated by its consistent rhythm. It quiets my mind, soul and spirit and ushers in a gentle peace to the place where I enter into prayer. A metronome is described as “a rhythm trainer to maintain a constant tempo; used to measure and regulate.” As I thought about this, I noticed a weight on the arm of the metronome that can be raised or lowered to adjust the tempo, the pace. At that moment, I heard God whisper to me, “The Holy Spirit is your metronome. He teaches you to measure and pace your life to My rhythm. Your pace should accelerate or slow down depending on what He says.” After this realization, my prayer became a declaration and a promise to tune my ear to God in order to live in His perfect, unforced rhythm. We all need the Holy Spirit’s flawless rhythm. Many of us—whether a teenager, college student, young married, profess

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “ Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.15.NIV For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38‭-‬39 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.38-39.NIV

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/zep.3.17.NIV For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.2.10.NIV In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Ephesians 3:12 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.3.12.NIV

I Enjoy You “I enjoy you!” Those words settled in my spirit as I nestled in my writing cubicle armed with my favorite markers, colored tabs, anointing oil, water, journals and Bibles. I looked at all my personal little idiosyncrasies, and it made me laugh. But in the midst of laughing at myself, I heard the Father say, “I enjoy you.” The very One I pray to finds  me  enjoyable? The God who allows me to enter  His  throne room with all my fears, failures, hopes, dreams, wants, needs and desires is telling me that He enjoys  me?  Then I heard Him speak into my spirit, saying, “This will be a year that I express My delight for My children. I will sing over them as a Father Who is filled with delight. This is how I see you, and I want you to receive like a child would receive and to believe like a child would believe. This is the year of My delight!” One of God’s greatest desires is to have a close relationship with His children—He wants us to spend time with Him, talk to Him and list

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. Matthew 17:20‭, ‬22 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.17.20-22.NIV

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.4.1.NIV “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,  so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:16‭-‬18 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.16-18.NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16‭-‬19 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.3.16-19.NIV So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. Daniel 9:3 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/dan.9.3.NIV

Ground Yourself One beautiful afternoon, my grandkids and I were elbow deep in flour, sugar and sprinkles. Favorite cookie cutters and icing brought out the artist in each of them. Freshly-baked cookies topped with smiley faces, dinosaurs and flowers were now ready to be devoured! “Why aren’t you having a cookie?” one of my grandkids asked as I served their special creations. “I’m fasting right now,” I replied. Puzzled looks stared back at me. “Fasting means that I’m giving up something good, in this case food, for something better, prayer!” I explained. “It’s a special time to pray and hear God. Jesus and other people in the Bible fasted on a regular basis.” Finally, one of them said, “I don’t care what you say, fasting sounds like being grounded to me!” Later that evening, the Lord and I had a good laugh about their response! Yes, at times, fasting can seem like being grounded. Yet, as I have walked with the Lord and He has called me to participate with Him in fast aft

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.3.5.NIV But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:6 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.6.NIV

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”   “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,  but few things are needed—or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40‭-‬42 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.10.40-42.NIV Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.37.7.NIV

Hanging On His Every Word Imagine Jesus told you He was going to drop by your house tonight for dinner. What would your first response be? Probably something like, “I have to get busy and clean the house! I want it to look spotless for Jesus!” Luke 10 shows us this was Martha’s exact response when she learned Jesus was coming to visit her and her sister Mary’s home. When He finally arrived, Martha was running around serving her guests and trying to make everything perfect while her sister did nothing but bask in His presence. Don’t we all wish we could claim to identify the most with Mary? Especially since Jesus Himself applauded her actions: “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). However, the reality is many of us connect the most with Martha whom Jesus corrected: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). Let’s take a moment to look at Martha’s response and Mary’s re

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.   He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:14‭-‬18 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.16.14-18.NIV

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.28.19.NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18‭-‬20 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.28.18-20.NIV

Go Into All the World Before He left this earth, Jesus gave His disciples a commission: “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15, NLT). As the Body of Christ, it’s our calling to go all throughout the world and tell everyone about Jesus. But did you know the Great Commission isn’t only fulfilled through traveling to far-off countries? In his book  Hope for the Troubled Heart , Billy Graham recounts the story of a missionary and his family who lived in a mission camp and received distressing news of an impending attack by a group of thieves. They prayed for protection, and nothing happened that night. A few months later, a man was brought into the mission hospital, and he wanted to know if the mission camp had soldiers on duty that specific night a few months before. The man said he was a member of the gang of thieves who had intended to rob and kill the missionaries, but they were afraid of the 27 soldiers surrounding the mission camp. The missionar

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. 1 John 5:14‭-‬15 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.5.14-15.NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8:28‭-‬30 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.28-30.NIV Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:34 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.34.NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge

The Gift of Intercession Several years ago, I received a summons for jury duty. I apprehensively approached my assigned day with an excitement to serve. The day of my service, which began rather uneventfully, rapidly changed as I was chosen to sit on a panel. The interview process began with the lawyers asking each candidate what he or she did for a living. One by one, each person offered his or her résumé. My turn was quickly coming, and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have a job or a résumé to give, so I asked God, “What do I do?” By the time the lawyer got to me, God had answered, and I said, “I’m an intercessor.” When asked what an intercessor was, I simply answered, “It’s someone who functions much like you, a lawyer. I advocate for others. I use the Bible as my law book. Then I present cases before God for justice to be done for people, places or situations.” Needless to say, I wasn’t selected to serve on a jury. But in truth, that is who I am and what I do ... and the sam