I have been praying my 30 minutes a day and in the last three days from when a group of us got together to just submit to prayer . In just a few short days God has done some crazy awesome things. He has shown me the true power of prayer and ignited a spirit in me that I can not explain. I have been challenging people to give up 30 minutes and just pray for presence and the very first person that I encouraged was someone I used to serve with in a church back home a few years back.
It started with a Facebook status where I just really felt called to encourage him. As God has given me a gift for encouragement this isn't something that is uncommon and thus I usually write something. As God has been teaching me to be BOLD in myself and in my faith I felt the need to reach out and I wrote something that was actually pretty bold in itself and challenged him to begin this challenge with me. Little did I know that God was answering my prayer from that morning that He might use me to inspire others and grow others... this is what I wrote: "he PROMISES to renew your heart and spirit. He PROMISES to renew his mercies each morning and he commands more than ANYTHING else int he bible to FEAR NOT. I challenge you sir from today until the end of the year that you pray for 30 minutes a day. that you pray for God to come to you and your heart and that a renewal and revival in your heart begin. That in those days you write down what God is showing you and that you be strong and consistent in it for the word PROMISES if you draw near to him He will draw to you. i hope you take this challenge and that you rest in the PROMISES of his word. I'll be praying for you as I pray 30 minutes a day that you see the truth and life that He be the strength of your heart. Remember He is the same God who gave David the strength to beat Goliath. ♥"
Pretty strong words for me-- but I felt that they were needed and what I got back was INCREDIBLE. I wrote earlier about following the call and just listening to the Lord and doing so got me this in an e-mail from the guy I challenged to pray:
"A friend challenged me to pray for 30 minutes everyday and to write down what I received.
This is what I received. "I will stand with you while you fight the enemy. But you have to get on the battlefield! I will make My enemies yours, but you have to get on the battlefield. I am your source of strength. I will make you strong enough to no longer serve My enemies. I will fill the empty void in your heart so that you have the strength to fight. I will fill your soul with victory so you can give the glory to Me. But it is you who have to get up, take your sword and trust Me Whom loves you with all My heart. I want your victory more than you do. So fight with Me!" "
What a beautiful word. The bible talks about picking up the sword of the spirit but in such a literal way I haven't thought of it before now. An incredible picture that God wants to fight our battles with us and all we need to do is join Him. He will win. He will fight, He will carry us when we are too tired but we have let Him. We have to open our eyes and hearts.
To me this is encouraging as I know so many that struggle with sin whether it is drugs, drinking, sexual immorality, heartbreak ect. We can defeat these, we can win against these personal battles with a God who pledges to be with us. Philippians 1:6 "Having confidence in this that He who began a good work in your will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ."
I myself need to have the confidence to "Let Go and Let God" as I struggle with having lived for a long time knowing God but not living for Him. I was in the world and of it and as much as I have grown and moved from that a small part of me just won't accept that He has washed that all away. That those sins He died for so that I might have life more abundantly, and yet knowing better a part of me holds on to the guilt and regret. I'm thankful for the experiences as they have allowed me to help and encourage others but also broken by them at times that I could have made such terrible choices that hurt not only myself and others but I did it all in the name of being a "christian." Again I'll say it -- You have two choices -- Honor God or Despise Him. NO MIDDLE GROUND. So in this time of prayer I am praying He show up in that. That He fight that fight. That He take that guilt and hurt away and replace it with his joy alone.
So as we pray for God to show up let's stand with Him. The multitude of people God has been putting in my life and my heart to challenge to pray has blown my mind and all I had to do was listen to His spirit and immediately obey His call. So excited for what He will do in the coming days. It's been about 60 or so hours since this call to prayer began and it just is incredible to me how much He has already done and I know He will continue to work. I pray that all I do bring Him glory and praise and that none of this be about me but all about Him. <3
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
My Beloved, I find you to be beautiful
There is a song by gateway worship called "Running" and the lyrics are beautiful. Youtube it if your intersted it...
But verse one says the following.
"I hear the voice
The voice of the One I love
He's calling my name
I hear the voice
The voice of the One I love
He's calling my name
He's saying
Come up higher
And hear the angels sing
Come up higher My beloved
Come up higher
And leave this world behind
I find you to be beautiful"
There are a lot of things this song says that speak to me but particularly in this verse where it indicates that the Father is calling us "beloved" and saying "I find you to be beautiful" show me things that I have never really considered before. I know that God loves me, and I know that the word says that I am to seek a husband who loves me like Christ loves the church. When I think about that phrase I think about a sacrificial love. A love that it would seem only a father can give but these words of beloved and beautiful are tender words that signify more than the boundaries of a parental love or service but also a deep love and devotion that marriages are really built from and on.
As I have been praying for God to show up it's just incredible that He chooses to show me that not only will He use me, not only will He allow me to encourage others, but really thinking about what it means if God sees me as his beloved. If He sees me as beautiful. It's incredible.
As a woman in particular I hope to one day meet a nice man who loves God more than He will ever love me and who will treat me like a treasure. Who will find me beautiful, who will call me his beloved. Gives me a whole new meaning to "like Christ loves the Church" as perhaps this is not only a sacrificial love. Perhaps its also a deep rooted love of covenant and devotion that is typically associated with marriage. The more I think about it the more I see it and wonder how I could have missed it all these years.
Tonight at the Drive we were told about Immanuel- God with us and asked to depict what we thought that meant, what that means to us and what we want Immanuel to bring us. It was an incredible message and I learned more about my answers to the questions when I left than when I was there. A love I knew about but not in Gods context and in a sense a complete love.
*I thought God being with us meant faithfulness. He is faithful to provide, to comfort to love to encourage. But more than that, I now see He is loving in an incredible perfect way that leaves no other need or desire.
*I thought that to me that meant my life could have joy even when it wasn't happy all the time as happiness comes from circumstances but joy comes from the Lord. But what I now see from when I left is that it also gives me peace and comfort that I knew He promised to provide but never saw in this way-- in this area.
I had nothing to put for what I wanted from Immanuel except that I wanted Him to continue to show up. What I didn't know was that I needed to learn more about His love which ironically I have been telling all kinds of people about like crazy the last couple days not because I'm trying to but because it just comes out. A love so deep that perhaps we can always learn more. So captivating that you can't help but talk about it.
Isn't it so perfect that He doesn't just give us what we want but gives us what we truly need. Incredible !!!
<3
So as you all continue to pray-- and I continue to pray-- I pray that his presence show you that you are not only his child... but that He finds you beautiful and that you are his beloved. So when we say that His love is the one true love we might know that it truly is. And knowing that makes Him alone not only enough to make you content-- but perhaps it can also satisfy you in your deepest needs. That He truly can be everything your heart desires. It's captivating to me to know that my savior --the author of beauty could find me beautiful despite all my shortcomings. That He sees me as His beloved and that is more than satisfying for me!
But verse one says the following.
"I hear the voice
The voice of the One I love
He's calling my name
I hear the voice
The voice of the One I love
He's calling my name
He's saying
Come up higher
And hear the angels sing
Come up higher My beloved
Come up higher
And leave this world behind
I find you to be beautiful"
There are a lot of things this song says that speak to me but particularly in this verse where it indicates that the Father is calling us "beloved" and saying "I find you to be beautiful" show me things that I have never really considered before. I know that God loves me, and I know that the word says that I am to seek a husband who loves me like Christ loves the church. When I think about that phrase I think about a sacrificial love. A love that it would seem only a father can give but these words of beloved and beautiful are tender words that signify more than the boundaries of a parental love or service but also a deep love and devotion that marriages are really built from and on.
As I have been praying for God to show up it's just incredible that He chooses to show me that not only will He use me, not only will He allow me to encourage others, but really thinking about what it means if God sees me as his beloved. If He sees me as beautiful. It's incredible.
As a woman in particular I hope to one day meet a nice man who loves God more than He will ever love me and who will treat me like a treasure. Who will find me beautiful, who will call me his beloved. Gives me a whole new meaning to "like Christ loves the Church" as perhaps this is not only a sacrificial love. Perhaps its also a deep rooted love of covenant and devotion that is typically associated with marriage. The more I think about it the more I see it and wonder how I could have missed it all these years.
Tonight at the Drive we were told about Immanuel- God with us and asked to depict what we thought that meant, what that means to us and what we want Immanuel to bring us. It was an incredible message and I learned more about my answers to the questions when I left than when I was there. A love I knew about but not in Gods context and in a sense a complete love.
*I thought God being with us meant faithfulness. He is faithful to provide, to comfort to love to encourage. But more than that, I now see He is loving in an incredible perfect way that leaves no other need or desire.
*I thought that to me that meant my life could have joy even when it wasn't happy all the time as happiness comes from circumstances but joy comes from the Lord. But what I now see from when I left is that it also gives me peace and comfort that I knew He promised to provide but never saw in this way-- in this area.
I had nothing to put for what I wanted from Immanuel except that I wanted Him to continue to show up. What I didn't know was that I needed to learn more about His love which ironically I have been telling all kinds of people about like crazy the last couple days not because I'm trying to but because it just comes out. A love so deep that perhaps we can always learn more. So captivating that you can't help but talk about it.
Isn't it so perfect that He doesn't just give us what we want but gives us what we truly need. Incredible !!!
<3
So as you all continue to pray-- and I continue to pray-- I pray that his presence show you that you are not only his child... but that He finds you beautiful and that you are his beloved. So when we say that His love is the one true love we might know that it truly is. And knowing that makes Him alone not only enough to make you content-- but perhaps it can also satisfy you in your deepest needs. That He truly can be everything your heart desires. It's captivating to me to know that my savior --the author of beauty could find me beautiful despite all my shortcomings. That He sees me as His beloved and that is more than satisfying for me!
"Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."
In 1 Samuel 2:30 we read that the Lord said "Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained." It gives us two places that we can be...we are either honoring Him or despising Him. He doesn't give any other options. No middle ground. There is no half way pursuit. Luke warm will not do. But how? How do we do this? I believe in many ways but this particular text gives us an incredibly important example.
At beginning of chapter 3 in verse 1 it says.." In those days the word of the Lord was RARE-there were not many vision." The significance of this verse could be many things. I'm not a biblical scholar but here's what I got: in THOSE DAYS it was different from these days we are in now. In THESE days thus if it used to be rare to hear God then in these days it is not rare. In THESE days He speaks to us. He gives us vision, He gives us desires.
So in two verses we are called to honor Him and we are told He speaks ... but How? How do we Honor him?
As we continue to read 1 Samuel we then see that the Lord was calling Samuel and He kept running to Eli as He didn't recognize God's voice. How often do we do the same. He calls and we run to someone or something else. But here is a beautiful instruction in 1 Samuel 3:9 that Samuel was told to say "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." Such a beautiful instruction that I hope you will just take a moment and think about. Reread that line.
These instructions right here are heartbreaking to me. If in our day it's not rare for God to speak, then how is it so rare that we say "Speak, LORD for your servant is listening." In my own life that brings heartbreak as it brings conviction. I am called to listen. I am called to serve and yet too often I get caught up in my plans, in my life, in my circumstances.
As I am praying for God to just show up it just shows me what my response needs to be. Silence. Obedience. I need to pursue him with a passion and urgency and when He speaks I need my response to simply be that I am his servant and I am waiting for instruction. Do not confuse this with passive sitting and doing nothing waiting for God but rather be RUNNING toward Him and listen to his direction. And when we don't do this.
We have two choices: Honor or Despise. So which do you do? Do you honor Him? or do you dispise Him? Do you listen to Him or do you listen and assume it's someone else like Samuel did at first? Do your run To Him or do you run AWAY from him? Do you recognize His voice? Do you stop to listen to it?
As I continue to pray and encourage others to do so as well I encourage you to remember that in our day God speaking is not rare and you can honor him by saying "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." I'm praying for each of you who have decided to join me in this pursuit of prayer and hope you will share what you are learning as well.
2011 isn't over so don't wait for 2012 to start listening to God as He speaks. <3 Anita
At beginning of chapter 3 in verse 1 it says.." In those days the word of the Lord was RARE-there were not many vision." The significance of this verse could be many things. I'm not a biblical scholar but here's what I got: in THOSE DAYS it was different from these days we are in now. In THESE days thus if it used to be rare to hear God then in these days it is not rare. In THESE days He speaks to us. He gives us vision, He gives us desires.
So in two verses we are called to honor Him and we are told He speaks ... but How? How do we Honor him?
As we continue to read 1 Samuel we then see that the Lord was calling Samuel and He kept running to Eli as He didn't recognize God's voice. How often do we do the same. He calls and we run to someone or something else. But here is a beautiful instruction in 1 Samuel 3:9 that Samuel was told to say "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." Such a beautiful instruction that I hope you will just take a moment and think about. Reread that line.
These instructions right here are heartbreaking to me. If in our day it's not rare for God to speak, then how is it so rare that we say "Speak, LORD for your servant is listening." In my own life that brings heartbreak as it brings conviction. I am called to listen. I am called to serve and yet too often I get caught up in my plans, in my life, in my circumstances.
As I am praying for God to just show up it just shows me what my response needs to be. Silence. Obedience. I need to pursue him with a passion and urgency and when He speaks I need my response to simply be that I am his servant and I am waiting for instruction. Do not confuse this with passive sitting and doing nothing waiting for God but rather be RUNNING toward Him and listen to his direction. And when we don't do this.
We have two choices: Honor or Despise. So which do you do? Do you honor Him? or do you dispise Him? Do you listen to Him or do you listen and assume it's someone else like Samuel did at first? Do your run To Him or do you run AWAY from him? Do you recognize His voice? Do you stop to listen to it?
As I continue to pray and encourage others to do so as well I encourage you to remember that in our day God speaking is not rare and you can honor him by saying "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." I'm praying for each of you who have decided to join me in this pursuit of prayer and hope you will share what you are learning as well.
2011 isn't over so don't wait for 2012 to start listening to God as He speaks. <3 Anita
Monday, November 28, 2011
Pray like Hannah
Last night I had an incredible experience with a group of people simply praying for the presence of God. Not praying for Him to do anything at all but SHOW UP. Such a humbling prayer and incredible challenge to pray 30 minutes each day just for that and not take it up with the usual prayers of "grow me in this," "encourage me in this"... not asking for Help but asking for Him. Not someTHING but someONE as one of the people eloquently put it last night.
So 30 minutes a day I'm going to surrender to God from now until the end of the year just praying for Him to show up. Show up in my life, in Orlando, in The Drive, in my school, in my friendships. Nothing more nothing less. It was suggested I blog about what I'm learning to encourage others who are on this same journey.
Today God is teaching me about Hannah and the heart she had in her prayer that is seen in 1 Samuel 1-2 The heart she had asking for a son but saying in 1:11 " And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” "She wanted a son to give him to the Lord. She wanted God to get the glory as we see in her heart felt prayer in chapter 2. That He is the Rock. He is the Holy ONE and that she wanted what was OF HIM alone only to give it as an offering.
Let that be our hearts. That we seek Him to be seen so that it might be an offering for Him and that it might bring Him Glory.
It's only around 2 pm and the amazing things God has done today alone has been incredible and encouraging. Allowing me to encourage people to join in on this, allowing me to reach people I've never reached, using me to speak into others. INCREDIBLE. and I am so thankful.
He promises that if we draw near to Him HE will draw near to us. So let's have Hannah's heart and draw near to Him so that He might receive glory :)
If you want to join in on this challenge let me know so that I might be able to encourage you !
Anitahelton@gmail.com
So 30 minutes a day I'm going to surrender to God from now until the end of the year just praying for Him to show up. Show up in my life, in Orlando, in The Drive, in my school, in my friendships. Nothing more nothing less. It was suggested I blog about what I'm learning to encourage others who are on this same journey.
Today God is teaching me about Hannah and the heart she had in her prayer that is seen in 1 Samuel 1-2 The heart she had asking for a son but saying in 1:11 " And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” "She wanted a son to give him to the Lord. She wanted God to get the glory as we see in her heart felt prayer in chapter 2. That He is the Rock. He is the Holy ONE and that she wanted what was OF HIM alone only to give it as an offering.
Let that be our hearts. That we seek Him to be seen so that it might be an offering for Him and that it might bring Him Glory.
It's only around 2 pm and the amazing things God has done today alone has been incredible and encouraging. Allowing me to encourage people to join in on this, allowing me to reach people I've never reached, using me to speak into others. INCREDIBLE. and I am so thankful.
He promises that if we draw near to Him HE will draw near to us. So let's have Hannah's heart and draw near to Him so that He might receive glory :)
If you want to join in on this challenge let me know so that I might be able to encourage you !
Anitahelton@gmail.com
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