Day 6 of 40 Days of Prayer

That is why the Lord says,

    “Turn to me now, while there is time.

Give me your hearts.

    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,

    but tear your hearts instead.”

Return to the Lord your God,

    for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

    He is eager to relent and not punish.  (Joel 2:12-13 NLT)

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you Lord that you are slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, keeping mercy and unfailing love and faithfulness for thousands of generations. Thank you Lord, that we can join together to pray for our nation and our leaders, in one voice and in one accord. We ask for forgiveness of our sins against you and each other, we pray that each heart would seek repentance and to turn away from any sin, foothold, or stronghold that is keeping us away from your will Lord. We pray that hearts will be joined together to lift you up to the place of honor and glory that you deserve. We pray that choices will be made, that lives will be changed and that people will seek you out with their whole hearts. We pray that you would not be an afterthought to this nation, that instead you would be the first thought, that this land would see a revival of great proportions, an awakening of souls and a hunger for more of you God. We pray that people would proclaim that you are their Lord and not this nation, that you are all we have ever needed, all that we need and all we will ever need. We pray that each and every life would be refreshed with a new anointing from your Holy Spirit, that your sons and daughters will prophesy, with dreams and visions so that all would call on the name of the Lord God Almighty and be saved. We thank you for your Son Jesus who gave us our inheritance, who made us righteous by his blood, who sought us and bought us, we give you all the praise, honor and glory and in Jesus’ name we pray ~ AMEN

Day 5 of 21-Day Challenge: Accountability

I’m going to pick up my 21-day challenge with accountability. Who are you accountable to? Do you have a Girlfriend in GOD  that you can go to and request her to stand in the gap for you? Have you ever thought of asking someone to help you with the areas of your faith or life that you struggle with? GOD created us to lean on HIM, yet HE also created us to need one another. Although my husband is my best friend, I still need girlfriends (sisters in faith) that can relate to our struggles and issues, but most importantly that we can encourage each other in our walk with GOD and have some accountability with.

I was on fire, I was doing so great with my 21-day challenge (well at least I thought I was), but out of the blue I was given the opportunity to go spend time away with my husband while he was at training in the states. It was wonderful since he was only going to be in country for 3 weeks and already had been gone for 3 months! I was encouraged by my mentors in my church, when they assured me that it’s okay to take time off from my blog, my FB page and my volunteer work at my church when my husband is home.

Unfortunately, I let that lack of accountability go a bit overboard during that time; I didn’t read my Bible or say my prayers during that time (I usually spend about an hour a day praying for others and reading my Bible and devotions). I learned this Sunday that the reasons for my behavior was rooted in fear.  I was afraid I was disappointing GOD, and ended up letting the enemy whisper his lies to me, I felt shame and guilt, so I avoided GOD, instead of repenting and seeking forgiveness.  I know I’m happiest when I’m close to GOD and following HIS will, so why did I allow myself to listen to those lies, was it the lack of accountability? If I had a girlfriend in God that I could be honest enough with and say, "I haven't been praying or reading my Bible, I feel terrible, I want to, but I keep coming up with excuses" maybe if I had someone to nudge me and say, "I know your hubby is home for a short time, but what if you just take 30 mins a day for GOD instead of your usual time...". In the end, the blame is all mine, but it's something that has been a burden to me and now that I'm getting back into my routine again, I needed to share this, to keep myself accountable and to hopefully encourage you if you've ever 'fallen off the wagon' before or if you ever do in the future. I’m comforted knowing that God never left me and because I have a repentant heart and spirit, I’m just as much a beloved child of GOD today as I was before. I also know that GOD teaches us, even when we don’t see a teachable moment or event in our life, GOD can use any circumstance to build up ourselves and others. 

Repentance and Following GOD

I’ve caught up on my Bible readings, I usually read 4 chapters a day, 1 NT, 1 Proverbs, 1 Psalm & 1 OT; via Project345.com . But with the devotions I’ve been writing, I’ll start on a chapter and usually during the reading, I’ll get what I believe is to be my devotion, and I stop my daily reading and begin reading and researching on the scripture for my devotion. So today, I’ve caught up on Revelation 4-9 and 2 Kings 15-20, what I’ve noticed in both of these OT & NT readings, is repentance and following what GOD has instructed us. 

In 2 Kings, the Kings of Judah repeatedly had this said about them, “He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. But he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.” (2 Kings 15:3-4 NLT).  Each one of these Kings continued to leave these pagan shrines up, kind of like, turning a blind eye to what the people were doing. Today’s thinking is, ‘If I don’t see what’s going on, it’s not really happening’. When we don’t listen to what GOD tells us we are sinning, in the case of the pagan shrines, GOD made it perfectly clear: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord you God, am a jealous god who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected- even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.” (Exodus 20:2-6 NLT)

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” (James 4:17 NLT).  You see, by failing to remove the shrines, the Kings were passing their sins upon their children; these same children grew to be the Kings, and committed the same sins. Leaving these pagan shrines also opened the availability for sinning against GOD, a foothold that can become a stronghold of sin. In other words, this is the sin of rebellion, knowing what should be done, but refusing to do it; just like in the devotion I wrote yesterday about hardening your hearts.

Repentance is knowing you have sinned and then seeking forgiveness. The key to repentance is once you have confessed your sin; you must not continue to commit that same sin. Do you remember this example:  “ ’Teacher,’  they said to Jesus, ‘this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?’ They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!’ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.  When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, ‘Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’  ‘No, Lord,’ she said. And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I. Go and sin no more.’ “ (John 8:4-11 NLT).

The key to a truly repentant heart, is to NOT desire to sin again. Our flesh is weak, but our spirits are stronger, so we can overcome the sin, because “Greater is He who is in me, than he who is of this world.” (1 John 4:4b) and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV).  I’m not saying that if it’s a sin that has been in your life for years, that you would instantly be removed of that burden (although this is absolutely possible and has happened to many, many believers!). It’s the desire to sin no more, the desire to please GOD and truly be remorseful of that sin and continue trying to break free of that stronghold of sin. It’s a battle of faith and perseverance and one can be victorious over what once was a stronghold of sin. It can be turned into a stronghold of faith if one continues to cling to their faith and believe for freedom from that which bondaged them in sin.

In Revelations, I was reading about the events to come, great destruction will befall on the earth, people will see signs, wonders, and amazing destruction; but they will refuse to turn from their sins and acknowledge GOD as Lord. Why would they be so resistant to turn, because those sins have caused a stronghold in their lives, their hearts had hardened and they refused to believe or repent.  You can’t turn on the news today without seeing images and hearing stories about atrocities happening today, don’t you believe people’s hearts are being hardened, being de-sensitized to the human condition. We live in a world where GOD is being pushed out and flesh is being promoted, Christians are not the minority, but they are being treated as though they were. As an American we live in a country where we can still go to the church of our choosing, we can read our Bibles without fear, we can worship GOD and not be afraid of the consequences. But there are more countries in the world now, that don’t allow this worship, than countries that do allow this freedom.

Morals have been left behind, sins are not only being allowed, but are promoted in the name of progress. Some believers are trying to make areas that are black and white, gray, so they can fit into their lifestyle. Christians are not to judge, we are to encourage and love each other, we cannot condemn, but we cannot allow what we are taught in the Bible as a sin, to be accepted either. Does this mean we are to judge, yell, and scream at one another; no, we would be falling into the same category of the unbelievers, we cannot show love when we are condemning. Yet, we can say we do not agree with this or that, and if possible, vote or ban against. We must always use GOD’s word to be our conscience, the Holy Spirit lives inside us to guide us, but only if we will allow HIM to. Some believers have stopped listening to the Holy Spirit and started listening to the lies of the enemy, by trying to reason their way into believing what they want to, slowly hardening their hearts and stiffening their necks. But, if we keep our hearts tender and repentant we won’t allow a foothold to become a stronghold of the enemy.