Good morning, DearHeart.
My heart is on fire.
The authority that God has given us is amazing. Mind-blowing amazing. When we pray, things move and shake.
Lives move and shake.
Shackles move and shake.
The key is this: we have to ask in order for the Authority to happen.
My sons mean everything to me. You already know that. Here is the deal – raising boys to men means that they will go through seasons where they jump the rails … seasons where you look at them and think “who are you and what did you do with my son?”
I think of you reading this and I wonder who is connected to your sphere of influence. Who all have you been assigned to to bring change, and healing to life? Who are those close – who mean the world to you, and who are on the fringe – watching, observing, curious, following.
Your place,
your area,
your people,
all are your assignment. Your spouse, your ex, children, workmates, mom, dad, cousins, your town, your state…it is a big deal that you live where you live with your people because you are carrying the Kingdom of God Almighty with you, into the space…into all your places, and, into your home. The influence of the Holy through you is powerful beyond measure.
Let that sink in.
I love His voice, I cherish it, I listen for it.
Each derailment teaches me more about stand-in-the-gap prayer.
Each changes me.
It always results in the greatest learning of my life. And, when I think I have it figured out, another wave comes. There is more to learn. There’s more to the truth that prayer changes everything. So far, the hardest seasons have taught me to pray like I have never prayed before and to hear Him like I’ve never heard Him before.
In crisis, hearing heightens. Sometimes heightened because I’m listening for anything resembling God’s Voice and I think He has gone silent, forgotten … only to learn later that He was moving as much in the silence as He does when He is front, center, and obvious. In crisis, every page of His Word comes alive to me: living, fresh, new, and written exclusively for me. Every page, an encounter that carries me. Everything in creation – a Word from the Father.
To survive, to cope, to glean, to thrive, it is all set in motion by the act of “ask”.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Phil 4:6
Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face continually. 1 Chron 16:11
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matt 7:7
So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Luke 11:9
Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. John 17:24
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Eph 6:18-20
Wake up.
Ask.
Keep asking.
Go.