So...our 365 Days of Praise DAILY ATTRIBUTE blog post for 2016 came to a close. But, I still think of you every morning as I kneel and use one of God's attributes as the springboard for my prayers. My tattered 2016 Prayers of My Heart journal is a diary of prayers, praises, repentance, intercessions, and notes and thoughts I've had in my prayer time with the Lord.
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Have you ever goofed really big?

Or done something stupid?  Maybe you just weren’t thinking and in hindsight thought to yourself, “What was I thinking?” That happened to me today.  I decided to delve into some deep cleaning after having company over the last few weeks and doing lots of cooking.  The first thing I tackled was our gas stove. When sudsy water didn’t do the trick, I grabbed the oven cleaner (to use on self-cleaning ovens). I had a twinge of wondering if it was okay to use on gas stoves, but plunged right into the project…in a hurry to check it off my “to do” list.
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“Then the Lord will be ZEALOUS for His land and will have pity on His people.”

Isaiah 9:7, John 2:13-17, Joel 2:18

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Our home was filled with the laughter of grandchildren. I felt like a short order cook in the kitchen and loved every minute of it. I prayed. Lots. Christian families have an enemy who wants to destroy them and their relationships. But, we have a GOD who is bigger than any of Satan’s schemes. When we pray, God hears and moves to act on our behalf. When people say, “but God didn’t…..,” we have no idea what God DID do behind the schenes. We don’t know all the ways He acted and intervened on our behalf. We won’t know until heaven.  God is zealous for us.  In Joel 2:12, He calls us to return to Him with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning; to rend our hearts. His response to the one who does that? He relents. Why? Because He is ZEALOUS for us. He wants sin out of our lives and His joy and peace in our lives.

As we think about 2016 coming to an end, what are ways you’ve seen God’s zeal? Is He pursuing you to draw closer to Him? Is God prompting you to put aside sin so you are a more pure vessel through whom He can work?

In Jesus’s zeal, He cleansed the temple of the money changers; saying, My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.” (John 2:17) Today, we are the house or temple of God.  So, what do you think Jesus, in His zeal, wants for us?
To be filled with sin? Or, to be places…people of prayer?

I believe our Heavenly Father wants us to be people of prayer.

Will you join me in making 2017 a more prayerful year? 

 Many of you have shared with me the powerful changes journaling your prayers has made. Others have shared that you want to journal, but don’t know how.

It’s simple. You write your thoughts to God. You also wait and listen. As we speak to God without audible words, He speaks back without words we hear.

This year, I’ve sent you an attribute of God each day to begin your praise of Him. I’ll not be doing that in 2017, but I will be continuing to focus on a different attribute of God each day in my personal prayer time. Why? The more in-depth we know God, the more our relationship with Him grows. The more we’ll trust Him and turn to Him.

I hope you’ll order your 2017 Prayers of My Heart Prayer Journal today, and give journaling a try. You can journal every day, once a week, or once a month. There’s no right or wrong way or amount to journal. But try sitting in God’s presence with your journal open; recording what God impresses on your heart. Be blessed, not stressed, as you talk to God about your day, relationships, and His will. Record your intercessions for others, then go back and write “PTL” for “Praise the Lor”d when He answers your prayers.

You can order your Journal HERE. And, if you’ve been blessed by the 365 Days of Praise attributes you’ve received in 2016, please consider making a donation to Hill Country Ministries. We are a non-profit 501 (c)(3) which depends on donations to continue our blog posts, prison ministry, ministry to moms, P.R.A.Y. with Passion Conference, and so much more. And, in 2017, we’re expanding our ministry to the deaf and Vietnamese. If you’d like to learn more about these ministries and how you can join us, please let us know.

It’s been a blessing and honor to be a part of your day in 2016, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for us in 2017. Thank you for helping us CONTINUE.

Lord God, You are ZEALOUS for us. Forgive us when we sin. Cleanse and purify us as You did the temple so we are houses of prayer – worshipping You and interceding for others. 

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:14

Jehovah (YHWH) is one of the primary names of God. Scholar Charles Ryrie explains:

 

• I AM WHO I AM, the inner meaning of Yahweh – “I am the ONE who is” – emphasizes God’s dynamic and active self-existence.
• Yahweh, literally, YHWH, is the most significant name for God in the Old Testament, occuring 6,823 times in the O.T. and is especially associated with God’s holiness, hatred of sin, and gracious provision of redemption.

 

When we read, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you,” we can’t help but be reminded that just as God sent Moses to rescue the Israelites from bondage in Egypt; God sent Jesus to rescue us from bondage to sin. Yahweh, a holy, loving, redemptive, rescuing God. How we praise Him!

YAHWEH, self-existent, dynamic I AM, we tremble at Your holiness and love for us. Rescuer, Savior, we worship and adore You with abounding thankfulness on our hearts. 

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

It’s Christmas! We’re excited to be with family and friends. Or, we’re not. We’re sad and alone. Or, maybe relationships aren’t what we wish they were. What do we do? Do we STAY in our melancholy mindset? No, we don’t. We go to our WONDERFUL COUNSELOR. We talk to Him. We pray and ask Him to show us what to do, what to say, whether to make that call or not. We trust Him. We ask Him to fill us with His mind and energy; to do His will and bidding. We get out of the way so He can work in and through us. It’s CHRISTMAS…Christ’s mass. We focus our eyes and hearts on Him.

Today is a reminder of the incarnation. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the angel said to Mary. “And you will bear a child – Jesus. Christ in Mary. Born out through her flesh.

And today, each believer is given the same heavenly message. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” Jesus said. “Christ in you,” Paul explained. As Mary bore Christ through her flesh, we bear Christ through our flesh as we pray to be filled with His Spirit and walk in His will.

Today is Christ’s mass. We seat Him on the throne of our hearts so HE is borne out through our lives.

Lord Jesus, WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, rule over our minds, emotions, and wills. Bear YOUR nature in and through us. Counsel us so that our words and actions are goverened by You. As the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, fill us so YOU are borne out through our lives. We love and worship and praise YOU, Lord Jesus. 

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

Have you ever been “stung” by sin? Has someone else’s sin ever hurt you? Of course, both we’ve sinned and other’s sins have hurt us. We live in a fallen world. Not one of us is perfect. But, there is VICTORY in Jesus. Just as we might kill a bee so it no longer stings us, to an umpteenth degree, Jesus did away with the eternal sting of sin and death. And so we sing, “There’s victory in Jesus.”

Lord Jesus, You are VICTOR over sin and death. We celebrate and sing YOUR praises! 

“For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, UNDEFILED, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;”

Hebrews 7:25-26

This is one of my favorite descriptions of Jesus. Why? For the reason it gives. Christ is able to save me not because of who I am, but because of who He is. My sinfulness doesn’t throw Him. I have an innocent UNDEFILED Savior who is able to secure my soul for eternity on the basis of HIS holiness, not mine.  I’ll take that any day of the year. How about you? With a grateful heart to my Lord, I’m singing His praises. Are you?

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus – there’s something about that name. Holy, innocent, UNDEFILED. We love and praise You!

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, PRINCE OF PEACE.”

Aleppo. Crisis. Children injured. Death. War.  Will it ever end?  WILL PEACE EVER COME?

Reread Isaiah 9:6. The answer is “yes.” Jesus is the PRINCE OF PEACE.  We who acknowledge Him as Savior can experience His reign in our hearts and minds – giving us daily, moment by moment peace. We look forward to His eternal kingdom of peace; when the government rests on His shoulders. Yet, many do not know Jesus as Savior.

Today, please pray for those who do not yet know Jesus, the PRINCE OF PEACE. Pray that in the midst of the turmoil, they turn to Him and find PEACE for their souls.

Lord Jesus, PRINCE OF PEACE, thank You for the internal and eternal Peace You bring to each who calls on You as Lord and Savior. Show Yourself to each child and adult who calls out to You, and woo them to respond to You by faith. 

“‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I ALSO OVERCAME and sat down with My Father on His throne.’”

Revelation 3:21

Do you feel defeated and “down?” If so, “be on the alert,” we’re warned numerous times in the Bible. As Christians, we’re empowered to be victorious. We’re equipped through the indwelling Holy Spirit to be overcomers as Christ OVERCAME. There’s an indwelling undefeatable power residing in us because Christ, the OVERCOMER, has given us His Spirit.

Looks can be deceiving. The appearances of things can be misleading. It may seem dark and dismal to you. We can at times feel as though we’re in a fog because we can only see this moment.

But Christ has prepared a path for us – golden streets on which we’ll walk and dance. Golden crowns we’ll lay at the feet of Jesus.

Keeping our eyes on the heavens, we pray for breakthroughs. Keeping our eyes on heaven, we await the day Christ, who OVERCAME death and sin, will burst forth in great light and power to take us to our eternal home.

We overcome because the OVERCOMER lives within us.

Christ Jesus, we praise You, who OVERCAME sin, death, and defeat. Glorious Lord, rise in us so we give evidence to Your power and great glory and point others to You. 

“ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the NEW COVENANT in My blood.’”

Luke 22:20

New. We wish for new starts. We long for new things to replace old ones.

And so, Jesus ushered in a NEW COVENANT with mankind. New – in the sense that it was unprecedented. New – in the sense that it wasn’t from days of old.

The New Covenant wasn’t like the Old Covenant; made with the blood of a lamb. The New Covenant was made with His blood. Jesus had to die in order for the New Covenant to be sealed. And, so He came from heaven and became both the giver and the sacrifice of the New Covenant.

“New Covenant – My blood” – Jesus said in the same breath.

So while we gather and celebrate Christmas, let us remember the Giver and Gift of the New Covenant.

Lord Jesus, Giver of the NEW COVENANT in Your blood, we praise You and celebrate our relationship with You. 

  Help others prepare their hearts for Christmas by sharing and liking on Facebook or forwarding these email blog posts as we FOCUS on JESUS.

Click HERE to order your 2017 Prayers of My Heart prayer journal.