Tag: christian

A Prayer for SIL, Day 73

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Lord, there is just something deceptive and aggressive in SIL that comes out in some of her behavior towards others. In the way she acts and reacts, what she says and doesn’t say, and the way she just looks at people with an odd expression on her face at times. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but You know exactly what’s going on. I pray that You reveal it to those who need to know so that it can be dealt with.

“Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath for all these things I hate.” declares the Lord. Zeph 8:17

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? Matthew 9:4

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Matthew 10:26

Lord, I don’t think she knows that the evil is there. It controls her, but she has no clue. She just obeys it, acts on it in subtle but damaging ways. I want to recoil, to be sick, when her face leaks hostility. It’s so different than other times when her face is gentle and caring. When she sincerely seems to care about those around her and she speaks with respect. If she avoids identifying her feelings because of this, I ask that You take her by the hand and stand with her in front of the mirror of Your Word so she will have the strength and support to see what’s there and to cast it out with You.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, or joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseverance, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, will be blessed in his doing. James 1:22-25

Lord, walk with her, holding her hand, and teach her to be a doer.

In Your Revealing Name,

Amen

A Prayer for SIL, Day 72

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Lord, open her eyes when she’s clueless of what’s happening outside her self-focused world. Show her what You are doing, and what others are doing.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert… Acts 20:28-31a

Jesus, I pray that SIL pays careful attention to what goes on both in herself and to those she impacts. The enemy will come speaking lies, drawing her away from You and trying to destroy her progress in improving her relationships with those You have put into her life. I pray that SIL becomes alert to what is happening around her so she can recognize the enemy before any more damage is done.

In Your Watchful Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 71

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Lord Jesus, Bright Morning Star, rise in SIL’s heart.

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19

Just as Peter told believers that their (the disciples’) experience on the mountain when You were transfigured confirmed for them the Old Testament prophecies concerning You, I pray You give to SIL an experience with You that will confirm what You’ve been telling her and will jumpstart her heart to be fully yours again. Show her Your glory and Your power and Your holiness so she will humble herself before You and then be able to reflect Your clear, untainted light to others.

In Your Glorious Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 70

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Lord, I lift up SIL to You again this night as she sleeps. Fill her dreams with wisdom, guidance, and truth. And may what she learns in her sleep impact her when she’s awake.

Behold, you delight truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Psalm 51:6

Jesus, reveal the truth to SIL, strengthen her to face the truth that is in her inward being, that she sees what’s there – both the good and the bad. I pray that You teach her wisdom in the areas inside herself that she’s reluctant to go to. Show her Your delight each time she is truthful so that she will seek more truth. Show her that Your delight in her is worth more than any suffering she has to go through as You walk this healing path with her.

In Your Delighted Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 69

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Lord, she confuses me. But I know she doesn’t confuse you. Speak to her. Show her what You see when You look at her. Show her Your love and the places she holds back from You. Renew her spirit with a fresh outpouring of Your Spirit into her heart and mind.

Again Joel 2:38 comes to mind – I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…

She is flesh and lives in the flesh – and so greatly needs Your Spirit with all His healing, instruction, and comfort. May SIL respond to Your call the way the disciples did – giving up their old lives for new lives with You. And may she fall in love with You again – may she return to her first love.

In Your Wise Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 68

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Jesus, You love SIL so much You died for her. You are patient and long-suffering as You call her to Yourself. Help me to be patient also, to love her with Your love.

With all humility, and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to mainatain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph 4:23

Bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Colossians 3:13

From the beginning we have had You as the center of our relationship. The Holy Spirit has been the One who has kept us connected. Forgive me for the times I have been responsible for breaking that unity. And help me to forgive SIL for the times she has broken it. May we center our relationship once again on You, to make You our focus, as we learn to bear with each other.

In Your Patient Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 67

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Lord Jesus, calm the storm raging in SIL just like You calmed the storm for Your apostles. She says she’s confused and clueless despite all the words I’ve spoken to her. Something in her is preventing her from seeing, hearing, and understanding.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him. 1 John 2:11

For this people’s heart has grown dull and with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. Acts 28:27

Lord, I know this is about people seeing and hearing You, but I feel like it’s also about SIL seeing and hearing me. She seems to fit this description exactly. She doesn’t want to see for seeing involves pain and she does everything she can to avoid pain just like she avoids responsibility for her part in the problems that are impacting her. This attitude seems so cemented in her that she may never change. But I know nothing is too strong for You. Nothing is impossible to You. I pray that You heal her, open her eyes and ears a little more each day until she can look into the light of truth and own what she’s done, so that she can repent and be freed and healed and restored.

In Your Brilliant Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 66

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

Jesus, I lift up SIL to You again, for Your continued work in her. It feels like it’s been so long, but You see what I can’t. You know what she needs. You know where she resists You and why. And You know how to fix her.

Looking to Jesus, to founder and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2a

Jesus, You are the founder of her faith, the faith that once guided all her thoughts and behavior, the faith that filled her with overwhelming love for You, the faith that now seems to be just glowing embers in a dying fire. You are also the perfecter of her faith. Only You can restore the fire and rekindle her love for You, and fill her with faith that rules her heart and mind. Continue to work in her as Your Word says You do. I know that You love her and won’t give up on her.

In Your Perfecting Hands,

Amen.

The Deadly Barcode

On By LindaIn allegories, analogies, and parablesLeave a comment

By AJ and Didi

Once upon a time there was a barcode walking through town. And then he saw an exclamation point. Exclamation Point walked up to Bar Code until he was three inches from him and stared and stared at him. And then Exclamation Point fainted. The whole town stared in horror.

The next day Bar Code saw a period. Period walked up to Bar Code until he was three inches away and stared and stared at him. And then Period fainted. The whole town stared in horror.

On the third day Bar Code saw a question mark. Question Mark walked up to Bar Code until he was three inches away and stared and stared at him. And then Question Mark fainted. The whole town stared in horror.

On the fourth day Bar Code met a comma. Comma walked up to Bar Code until he was three inches away and stared and stared at him. And then Comma fainted. The whole town stared in horror.

This continued to happen for a whole month.  And then the whole town started calling him the Deadly Bar Code.

So don’t stare and stare at a bar code or else your town will stare in horror at you.

At first glance as AJ dictated her story to me, it seemed to make no sense. Just a fun imaginative story from a seven-year-old. But then my spiritual ears perked up. There was something of value in this story. A spiritual nugget of truth and a warning.

What if we replaced “bar code” with “sin”? Then the story would be about sin moving through a group of believers. Someone approaches the sin and looks at it at length (stares) which eventually ends in disaster (death). The rest of the people are then filled with the fear of the Lord (horror).

 Consider the case of Ananias and Sapphira.

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.  Acts 5:1-5

This is not the only example we have.

Eve drew close to the serpent and focused on (stared at) the fruit. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:6

Achan drew near and considered (stared at) the forbidden things at the fall of Jericho. “when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” Joshua 7:21

David’s heart drew near and longed for (stared at) Bathsheba when she was bathing. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 2 Samuel 11:2

In each case, a glance became a stare which led to coveting and then a sinful act. And in each case, those who saw it were horrified by the result of the sin.

The moral of this story is found in the words of a children’s song: be careful little eyes what you see. There’s no telling how many times Eve may have glanced at the fruit before that day, but on that day her glance became a stare which led to coveting and then to sinful disobedience. Achan and David followed the same pattern in their own temptations. Most of the time we can’t control what we glimpse, but we can control what we allow our minds to dwell on. Jesus said if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. He didn’t mean to literally remove your eye, but the warning is clear. Don’t stare at sin.

Scriptures:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23a

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:6

And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord. Joshua 6:16-19

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. Joshua 7:1

 “when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” Joshua 7:21

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 2 Samuel 11:2

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? Job 31:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

A Prayer for SIL, Day 65

On By LindaIn prayersLeave a comment

If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, Then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.  2 Chronicles 6:24, 39

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

Jesus, if SIL is defeated before the enemy because she has sinned against You, if the problems she is having is the result of sin, I pray that she turns and acknowledges Your name like she did once before. As she prays and pleads with You, hear her prayer and forgive her. I pray that she humbles herself and seeks Your face, and that she turns from her self-centered ways and centers her heart and mind on You so that You will hear her and forgive her and heal her in every way – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

In Your Waiting Arms,

Amen.