A good neighbor is someone who is respectful, friendly, and considerate of others. Someone who will is willing to help you, but also stay out of your business and respect your lifestyle. They is nothing worse than a nosy neighbor.
Someone who keeps their children and pets in check. I had a neighbor who had four aggressive dogs, and let them run loose. Every time I would walk out to check my mail, or get in my car they would come and try and bite me. I had them attack my dog as I was bringing her to the car. Which caused a very expensive veterinary bill, but refused to help pay the bill.
An intercession is a specific form of prayer where we stand before God on behalf of someone else. We can also intercede for our country. It’s about being a spiritual advocate for others and when we intercede for a country, we stand in the gap for them.
We see this in the Bible when Daniel intercedes for Israel by praying for God to restore Jerusalem and the Temple, free the people from captivity, and forgive the sins of the nation.
God responded to Daniel’s prayer by sending the angel Gabriel to provide understanding about Israel’s future. Gabriel told Daniel that after 70 years of captivity, his people could look forward to 70 weeks (490 years) of blessings, mingled with conflict.
When I think about prayer throughout history, I realize mankind has always reached out to God. Regardless of where they live, age, or even beliefs. It’s as if we are hardwired to communicate with Him.
It’s remarkable that had God created this concept of communication process of prayer for us. Think for a minute about billions of people all over the world over thousands of years praying to God. Imagine those prayers that have ascended to His holy throne.
Not only is He willing, but He wants to listen to us at any given time. We don’t need a special formula and we don’t even have to be in a kneeling position. All we need to do is to talk to God be honest with Him and speakinh from our hearts.
We can stand in the gap. Lik Daniel standing in the gap for Israel, like Ester standing in the gap for her people. We can stand in the gap for our country.
Ezekiel 22:30-31says,
“I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads, says the Lord God.”
Praying to God is imperative. We can stand in the gap for people and the problems of the United States. We can stand in the gap for politicians to receive wisdom and pray the Lord will bring us godly leaders.
Our world is being destroyed by nonbiblical values. We need to become intercessors and stand in the gap. If we don’t our country will be destroyed.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us,
“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up the other; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.”
The key to successful intercessory prayer is to rely on the promises God had laid up throughout scripture for us. We do not have to wonder what His will is for our nation or our leaders. He has made it plain in His Word that He desires godly leadership.
When we are fully persuaded of God’s promised, we an pray with confidence, knowing that He hears us and we are declaring His will in the earth.
There are people in this world who like to deconstruct the works of good and like to cause harm to other people causing pain and sorrow by doing evil things. If you pay attention it’s easy to see. It’s all around us. They prefer darkness to light and are in a constant battle with the light of the world. If you read the Bible you can see everything It taught is happening or has happened.
These things are written on the pages of the Bible.
Jesus is a known harbinger of the values of the eternal kingdom. And the values of the kingdom include peace, joy, meekness, gentleness, compassion, mercy, and truth. These are values the world does not possess, not appreciate. These are the values Jesus came to instill in people. I can not imagine people not wanting these things to be prominent in there lives.
This battle rages because of the fear people with worldly values are being exposed for their ugliness, and their bad behavior. The Bible tells us,
“For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, not anything secret that will not be known and come to light” -Luke 8:17
Some people are oblivious to the values of heaven. Therefore are ready to fight anyone who would dare expose them. It’s a whole lot easier to feed their flesh than it is to seek righteous living. They think they can reign in the world with absolute freedom doing all sorts of things. The end justifies the means for some people whereas if you go against the values of heaven they get praised for it.
God promised to reward us for how we serve Him on earth.
Truthfulness, compassion, love, kindness, meekness, and justice are values Jesus taught. These values are hard to be found in our world today.
Jesus warned His children that,
“A servant is not greater than His master (God). If they persecute me, they would persecute you too” – John 15:21
Jesus says that it would not be easy for His children to live by the values of heaven on earth. But to look to Him who is in the end will have justice. And that they would receive crowns for their good deeds.
Each of my principles I live I try to center around the Lord, with the mind of giving glory to Him. I let love be my guiding principle. God is love, and the Holy Spirit pours His love into my heart and soul.
I take time each day to pray and have a connection to Him.
Obedience builds faith in Jesus, and produces God’s favor in my life.
Why don’t our most crucial tasks get done? That thing we’ve been putting off for months. When we know is going to catch up to us. Either there are consequences or we miss the opportunity to do them.
Every action or decision we make has consequences that’s just a fact of life. I know I need to get back to the gym, especially with the colder months coming. And walking and hiking a few easy trails is out of the question.
I have been putting it off because of the money and I’ve been a rut after my surgery and then losing my dog, who brought so much joy in my life. I’ve been on the struggle bus. I can do something about getting in shape, but getting a dog is not possible right now. But I really need to buck and just do it.
God knows we need a way to get from this world to heaven and that we can’t do it on our own. So He built a bridge: Jesus. When Jesus came to this world, He bridged the gap between us and God. By dying on the cross, He made it possible for us to get to heaven.
But Jesus isn’t simply our bridge to heaven or one of many bridges. He is the only bridge. You can’t go to heaven on any other religion bridge or I’m a good person bridge. Jesus is the only way. No one gets to see the Father unless he or she goes through Jesus.
Jesus didn’t come to start a religion. He came to have a relationship with you. He has a purpose and a destiny for your life. Religions tend to condemn people if they don’t obey their “rules.” Jesus is about love and mercy. Not rules and judgment.
When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?
I have to admit I had to think on this one. At age 12 I had already been through so much. two brothers had already died. One in a drowning accident and one murdered. My father had turned to alcohol to deal with my brother’s drowning because he had given my brother permission to go on a boy scouting trip with the church. Guilt had overwhelmed him. He would go to work come home start drinking until he passed out.
My sister had moved out right after her graduation from high school. It was then I really realized I was all alone. At age 12 I thought, maybe if alcohol was helping my father cope with my brother’s death, maybe it would help me cope with the pain and no one really cared about me anyway. I could easily get alcohol and no one would notice, my would just think he drank it all.
This led to my journey to drugs, drugs, and alcohol numbing all the pain, and I thought was just what I needed.
God loves to give His children the gift of “the full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22. It is a precious thing, a source of deep peace and consolation, and He wants us to have it.
I was never more intuned to this until the pandemic happened. I saw fear take over so many people. From panic buying tothe knock-out fights in grocery stores, over someone wearing a mask or not. I was lectured to by family members because I chose not to get the experimental vaccine that everyone rushing to get. I chose to trust God.
Assurance is something that goes by repeated conflict, by our repeated experimental proof of the Lord’s power and goodness to save, when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety. When these things have been repeated to us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply in the Word and power of God, beyond and against appearances, and this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance.
God’s way of growing His sweet gift of assurance in us is by putting us through numerous and varied hardships. This process is designed to be hard. I think God was testing me through the pandemic. As if you say, “Will you trust that I will take care of you?”
Trials are the way that faith is proven, refined, and strengthened. As my family adhered to the government’s wishes and was vaccinated. I did not, yes I got covid, but I knew God would get me through it. My family got covid even though they were vaccinated. (imagine that).
James 1:2-3 writes,
“Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.”
Assurance grows through conflict, and assurance produces character which produces hope.
One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 27 verse verse 1 says,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation, in whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.”
The pandemic exposed each of our weaknesses and exacerbated some. Confidence is a struggle for many people, and anxiety can erode away the confidence of even the most secure people. Psalms is a place I can go when I need more confidence or encouragement.
God is our light when we feel like darkness is closing around us.
One of the most peaceful, consoling fruits in the Bible is righteousness. And that the righteousness of God depends on faith. It’s a fruit that is realized “later” in increasing amounts.
We cannot have assurance until we have knowledge of the evil and deceitfulness of our hearts, which can be acquired only by painful, and repeated experiences.
There is a good example in Peter. Peter confidently promised Jesus that he would never deny Him only hours before He did. We don’t realize our sinful nature is how weak our faith is. We don’t know how proud and self-reliant we are. It is the fairy trials that apply heat to our faith and cause the chaff our unbelief in the form of doubt, fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy, bitterness, self-ambition, fear of man, and more to the to the surface. And when we see that chaff, we can fear that our faith may not be real.
But that’s what God wanted. When we sun in us and feel helpless to get rid of it on our own, it pushes us in preparation to trust Jesus’s work on the cross alone. When we see our numerous weaknesses and feel our helplessness to be strong on our own, it pushes us to search out and trust Jesus’s promises to us alone.
We can have no security from gifts, labors, services, or even past experiences, but that from first to last our only safety is in the power, compassion, and faithfulness of our great redeemer.
It is the various kinds of pressing, painful, exposing trials that teach us to trust in Jesus for everything and to really “live by faith in the Son of God” ( Galatians 2:20).
As God grows the full assurance of faith in us and causes the joyful, peaceful fruit of righteousness to grow in us through trials. He wants our faith to rest fully on Him -the Rock of Jesus, so that we rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9).
Isaac Newton said,
“We are never more safe, never have more reason to expect the Lord’s help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without Him.”
If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?
If I had to give a million dollars away. I would first help our veterans. They signed a blank check win they chose to sacrifice themselves for our country. It’s a shame that so many have to suffer when they return home and we do not take care of them. It is estimated that 22 veterans commit suicide a day when our government is supposed to take care of them.
Second I would start a non-profit to help abused children, with counseling programs and such. The government agencies in America have failed. Children fall through the cracks and are either killed by their parents or abused. It’s is estimated that one in four children experience child abuse or neglect in their life time and over 2000 a year are killed by their parents in America. No child should ever have to experience this.
Making God’s Presence our Priority. Seeking the presence of God should be our top value. When you love the Lord being near to Him is like nothing else.
In Exodus 33:15 Moses says,
“If your presence does not go with us, do not send us there.”
I want the presence of God to shape what I see and how I pray. When we perceive what God is doing it changes everything.
God longs to have quality time with us. Think of it this way if you met a friend in a group setting, you may not get to know that person in the same way that you could if you spent time with that person one on one. If we only worship God in public settings but don’t spend time alone with Him you will never get to know Him personally.
Listening to the pastor preach is great to grow our understanding of God. But we only get stoked by another’s oil when we leave or that person fails us, our light burns out. Likewise, learning about God through other means does not replace discovering Him for ourselves.
Worshiping God is a tool He had given us to express our love and affection to Him and honor Him in Spirit and truth. But our lives should also be a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice means offering ourselves to God in a worshipful way, living a life that is consecrated to God and not conformed to the world.
Some ways to be a living sacrifice to God include:
Changing what Is evil with ourselves.
Being transformed into Jesus’s likeness.
Living according to God’s purposes. Living a life that is in accordance to God’s purposes for our life.
Sacrificing emotions such as anger, depression, frustration, or hardening our hearts.
There are blessing that come from sacrificing to God:
Being accepted by God.
God comforting us by showing us we are on the right path.
God helping us to discern His will and know Him.
Being a living sacrifice means believing who God says we are and what He has promised for us.
Praying is simply communicating with God. It should be our everyday conversation with Him. We can talk to God at any time of the day, and He desires constant fellowship with us. There is never a moment that we have to live without Him. He loves when we take little moments throughout of day to connect with Him.
Worship and prayer both play a significant role in drawing near to God. When we do this from the heart, He recognizes our need for more of Him. Jesus paid the price in full for us to be able to be in fellowship and have favor with Him.
Jesus continually left the crowds and went to places of wilderness to get away with His Father. If Jesus, who was God in the flesh, needed to spend time with God the Father alone, his much more do we need to prioritize time with Him?
Time with God may look different from sitting in a prayer meeting, going to church, or a prayer meeting. Don’t put God in a box, time with Him should be refreshing, and joyful. Maybe He leads us to sing scripture or read quietly. Maybe He could highlight something in His Word that may lead you into a time of repentance.
God desires interaction with us, and we should lean into how He leads us to seek Him. We should not assume a formula for pursuing God, but be open to His guidance during our time with Him.
His presence is important because:
He is worthy
We are inviting Him to dwell with us in every area of our lives.
There is a fruit that comes from worshiping, prayer, and fasting:
Satan can no longer no longer torment us. He is defeated.
We align our properties with God’s
We experience freedom
We have the opportunity every moment of our lives to draw closer to Him. There is no one like Him in all the earth. No one can compare to Him.
There is always an invitation to go deeper with Him and discover more of His character. There is nothing like the joy of partnering with Him in preparing the way for His coming while we get ready for the harvest of delivers that will come in the last days.
From Pity to Praise 