Day 145

Turn to Me

“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn yeeven to me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning” Joel 2:12.

What a blessing it is when we are able to get away for a fasting time from ministry, housework, errands, and responsibilities of everyday life. On our last get away we didn't move our truck for two days. Now that is my kind of fast!

We walked leisurely enjoying the beauty of the scenery and God's creation with the mountains in the backdrop of the lake. We heard the birds singing, fish jumping, the doves cooing, boat motors humming, the wind whistling, the rumble of the thunder, and the sound of rain on the roof. These are things we often don't take the time to observe or take in on a daily basis so to pull apart is a sort of fast from the pace of the world. It is a time we can hear from God which is what a fast is all about anyway.

Most of us don't take the time to stop and take in the simple pleasures of a leisure life. We always have an agenda, a meeting to attend, an event to get to, a task to do, a TV program to watch, or an email that needs to be responded to.

I remember going to Africa in the same fast mode of speed I normally do at home. As we traveled from village to village I was on full speed and the nationals we were with kept saying, “Slowly, Slowly”. You think we might be better off to learn the lesson of taking the time to go slowly, to take the time to really see and hear the voice of God through His creation, a whispered word, or by taking the time to read His Word.

Maybe you need to fast from some of your activities and take the time for a special retreat to meet with the Lord. You can do that on your back porch, but if you are like me it helps to get away. If we stay at home we are often distracted with all around us that needs to be done. First thing you know we are caught up in a chore or a hobby and before you know it the day is gone. Take a look at your calendar and make plans to spend a day with God alone. Remarkable things happen when you do.

Day 144

Pile Your Troubles on God

“Pile your troubles on God's shoulders....He'll carry your load, He'll help you out” Psalm 55:22. (The Message).

Our office is a distance from the parking lot so each day I carry a load on my shoulders. Between the computer, the books I carry back and forth, lunch for the day, and supplies for the office it can have me dragging by the time I get to the door.

I have been looking for a rolling bag I could use to help carry the burden, but had not found one that would fold up sufficiently to go into my car. The bags I found were either too small to carry my load or too large to store in my trunk. Then other days the load seems a little lighter and I can carry it without trouble. Isn't that the way life is, some days our burdens feel too heavy to carry and sometimes it feels like the weight of the world.

My friends knew I was searching for a rolling bag and began helping me look. Eventually they found one and brought it to me the other week. It is so much easier to put my items in the bag and roll it to the office. My shoulders feel such relief and I am so grateful to have help with the load.

He tells us in our key passage to pile our troubles on His shoulders. Do you know what a relief it is to have someone come up and offer to help carry our burden? It feels like a weight has been lifted when we can hand some of our load over to them. So why do we find it so difficult to roll our troubles over on God, the One person who can help us more than anyone? In another passage in 1 Peter 5: 7 He tells us to cast all our anxieties and worries, all our concerns on Him, for He cares for you, to paraphrase.

We feel the relief in the physical realm, but isn't it a relief to be able to share your burden with someone else and have them carry it in prayer or walk beside us through our difficult time with a listening ear? God is available to do that twenty-four seven but we often choose to continue to carry the load ourselves. Won't you take His advice today and cast all that concerns you on Him? I promise if you do the load will be a lot lighter to carry.

Day 143

Do The Things I Don't Want To Do

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” Romans 7:15-17.

I use to read this passage to our son and he would say, “That's it, that's how I feel. I don't want to do the things I do, but then I find myself doing just that”. The life of addiction always seems to be a constant struggle. God says He has made a way out of any temptation so why do we find ourselves doing the things we don't want to do? Why does the addict continue to go back to the drug in spite of warnings, attempts at rehab, the effects of their actions on their families, or the threat of loss of some sort in their lives?

I have a book on my shelf entitled, “Why Don't They Just Quit”? Is that not the question we have asked many times as parents of an addict or have had it asked of us? I use to put our granddaughter's picture up before our son in hopes of keeping him from using drugs, for their sake, but it was never enough. I had an alcoholic tell me one day he would literally pick his daughter up and set her out of his way in order to open the cabinet or refrigerator for the next drink.

Today I am grieved once again as I watch an addict leave rehab stating she just wants to go use. We hug her and try to encourage her not to go that route. I am haunted by the vision of this young lady as I looked into my rear view mirror. She has made the choice to fight against the rules one too many times, doing those things she didn't want to do maybe; what she hates doing maybe; but what she finds herself doing. I drove away wishing I could help her, knowing she is not ready, knowing I can't fix it, but vowing to pray for her.

One statement in the book I mentioned is this: “Addiction is never satisfied. After it has destroyed health, devastated families, ended careers, and put children in foster homes, it still wants more”. No one is immune to the devastating effects of drugs, not the rich nor poor, not the Christian nor the non-Christian, not the young or old, not the mother or father, nor the business man or woman,

Won't you join me in praying for this young lady today and those like her who are blinded by the enemy in a world of addictions. I know this girls image will be in my mind for a very long time. Lord, help those in the darkness to see a great light. I pray you will draw her to yourself. Let her recall the positive things she learned while in rehab and cause her to turn from the destructive path she is walking to return to You. Oh Lord, I do pray she has made the decision to invite You into her heart. Protect her on those streets tonight Lord. Oh Lord, hear our cry on her behalf and all addicted to substance. Break the strongholds that bind them. Amen

Day 142

Obey God Immediately

“Obey Me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you” Jeremiah 7:23.

As I got to meet and talk to a young lady yesterday she said God had called her to a ministry to help the homeless but she was scared, she kept doubting. She didn't know where the supplies would come from to give out, nor how she would obtain the gas to go. She kept expressing her fear to take the next step in obedience. I reminded her that fear does not come from the Lord; she said, “I know”. We often know but our response does not show we believe. I remember reading somewhere that when God calls you it will probably be something only He could do, not something that you can accomplish on your own.

As we shared I told her if she truly believed that God was calling the only thing to do was to obey immediately. Sometimes we have to step our foot into the water in order to see it part right? The call requires action. We either act by obeying or we say no as we keep seeking or praying over something we know He has already told us to do.

I have seen people say that God has called them to a ministry but end up having more excuses why they can't obey. Could this be a form of rebellion? It is certainly disobedience. How long will God continue to call if we continue to say, “Not yet Lord, let me go tend to my sick one's, or bury the dead or raise my family, or maybe when I retire”. Isn't that often what happens? We want to live our life our way, on our time table, and when we do that we are in direct disobedience to Him.

We need to take His call seriously. He doesn't contend with us forever. If we don't obey there may be a time He stops calling. I for one do not want that to be my plight. I want to always be obedient immediately when He calls me to a task. How about you, will that be your choice the next time He calls you? Make the decision right now to say yes immediately.

I remember the chorus to a hymn entitled, Trust and Obey: “Trust and Obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”. Obedience brings with it joy and pleasure. Obedience also may mean laying aside your agenda, your leisure, maybe even family time in order to fulfill His purposes. As you are obedient in little He will trust you with more and more. There is nothing like living in His perfect will for your life. Nothing!

Day 141

Restoration After the Locust

“I'll make up for the years of the locust, the great locust devastation----locusts savage, locusts deadly, fierce locusts, locusts of doom, that great locust invasion I sent your way. You'll eat your fill of good food. You'll be full of praises to your God. The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder” Joel 2:25-26. (The Message).

Do you feel as if you have been stripped sometimes when you have gone through a hard struggle in life? Have you ever seen plants stripped by locust? Nothing is left. Not the leaves, not the fruit or vegetable, nothing but the stem is left. That is the way we often feel after our stripping process.

For years our family felt like that stem---stripped by our son's drug addiction, stripped of family members in tragic ways, stripped of jobs, stripped of self-reliance, pride, and so much more. Such great devastation caused great wailing in the passage in Joel and we often find ourselves in the same position, wailing for our children or things we feel we can't live without.

As I reread this passage I realized that God said He had brought the locusts to do the stripping. They had slowly but surely accomplished the work needed. Even now when something needs to be stripped from our thoughts, our attitudes, or our words He allows the locust to come and do their job. He allows the stripping to hopefully bring us to a time of repentance and restoration.

Praise God along with the stripping He gives us a promise that one day we will eat our fill again. We will sing praises to Him for the journey, for loving us enough not to leave us like we were. The Lord comes to strip us over and over to take away those things we put in place of Him, things yes, but maybe even a relationship we have made our priority over Him.

We may not understand what He is doing during the stripping process, but as we cooperate with Him in it we can look back and be grateful knowing that all things work together for good to those who are His own. We should always thank Him for loving us so much that He strips us of those things that keep us from being the best we can be. 

Day 131

Iron Sharpens Iron

“As iron sharpens iron so a friend sharpens a friend” Proverbs 27:17.

God has blessed me with good friends in my life time. Some come and go, some stick through thick and thin, some are gone a while but when we meet we start right back up like we have never been a part. Some are more like the sister I never had and we can share our hearts, laugh and cry together accepting each other as we are. There will be up's and down's, hurt feelings, and misunderstandings but no matter what we remain close friends.

Thankfully God has blessed me with friends who love me unconditionally, who can hold me accountable with love, correct me when I am off base, affirm me when appropriate, and who pray for me often. I know you know what I mean by the importance of good friends. When I was going through such difficult times in our family I could always depend upon those friends to intercede on our behalf. Never did I doubt the power of their prayers which I knew got me through the long nights.

In my Bible I have a card a friend gave me in 2003 as I prepared to go on an overseas mission trip. It is a promise to pray for me. Her words were: “I will be faithfully praying for you”. It is such a blessing to know someone is praying as you go. Those prayers give protection, guidance, direction, and wisdom beyond your human capabilities. I am so grateful to have had those faithful prayer partners over the years. I know God has heard each one and He has heard mine for them. We definitely sharpen each other.

Do you have friends who pray for you as you face a difficult situation or make a decision? Do you have friends who hold you accountable not just telling you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear? Are you like iron that God uses to sharpen your friends to be all they can be in Christ? And do you allow them to sharpen you?

On Wings is also blessed to have prayer partners who are committed to pray for our families and the ministry needs. We are praying each and every day for God to bring the prodigals home. We also lift up the family members who are hurting and troubled over their loved one. Our prayer room is available to all our families who want to come for times of prayer. God uses us all to sharpen each other and we are gratefultthat we feel more like family as we grow closer through our prayer time and Bible Study together. 

Day 130

Dry Bones Praying

“Again He said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD GOD to these bones. Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and your shall live” Ezekiel 37: 4-5.

It was my privilege to attend a seminar years ago led by Sylvia Gunter. I had long bought and read every prayer book she had available as they led you to pray scripture for every subject you could imagine. One day I was thumbing through one of her books and came to the Dry Bones Praying page. It is based on Ezekiel 37 and Sylvia had written it to be prayed for the Prodigal. I have prayed it and given it to other mother's to pray for their children who needed to be reached.

I remember finding a bone while at the seminar on the property and I brought it home and wrote Dry Bones on it as a spiritual marker to remind me to pray the prayer for my prodigal and others. When we moved our office next to God's Acre we chose to set up our prayer room in the room facing God's Acre and were amazed that God had placed us right beside the dry bones, some of which will rise to meet Him in the air one day.

Why don't you open your Bible to Ezekiel 37 right now and pray verses 1-14 for your prodigal and/or other prodigals you know. A prodigal is anyone who has walked away from God's plan and purpose in their lives. Do you know anyone like that? Will you intercede on their behalf, crying out to God to breath life back into them and free them to be His servants.

I want to share with you what Sylvia has written at the end of the prayer” “You may be standing in a desperate situation in the battle of a lifetime. You may feel that your are in the darkest storm of your life. You may be the parent of an out-of-control child, and it seems that everything in your world is out of your control. Good news! It is! But God is still in control. El Roi, the God who sees, knows it all and has a plan that He is working out. God will change your prodigal inside out, not just clean up his act. Take strength and comfort from these prayers. Re-center yourself in God's purposes and promises, and take up new prayer weapons to fight the real enemy, not the person”. Taken from Living in His Presence by Sylvia Gunter.

If you would like a copy of the Dry Bones Prayer please let me know and we can either email or mail to you. You can email me atsandra@onwingslikeadove.com.