40 Days of Prayer-Day 33

40 Days of Prayer-Day 33

The word tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb 10:25) in Christian fellowship and worship. As a spirit-filled believer, the relationship between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and genuine Christian fellowship is essential. We will not grow spiritually as God intends without consistent, meaningful, dependant fellowship with other spirit filled believers.  Iron sharpens iron. Prov. 27:17. So spirit filled Christians sharpen each other. To become spirit filled but remain isolated, independent, separate and apart from other spirit filled Christians is not God’s will for us. In fact it will hinder our growth and even lead to a loss of the fullness of the Spirit’s presence in our lives. After Pentecost, the believers continued steadfastly in the faith, with communion and fellowship with other believers, even to eating and praying together. Acts 2:42. It is therefore essential that we as spirit filled believers experience and engage in genuine Christian fellowship with other spirit filled believers. PRAYER: Father baptize us with your Holy Spirit and bring truth and revival into our lives and churches. Open my understanding as to the importance of Christian fellowship in my faith walk. Don’t abandon us to our sins, have compassion on us and deliver us from our sins. Restore us to a place of spiritual oneness with you.

40 Days of Prayer-Day 32

40 Days of Prayer-Day 32

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Heb 4:9-11.  When we enter into God’s rest, we cease our own efforts. In the creation story, God worked 6 days then He rested on the 7^th day,  blessed, set apart and made holy the 7^th day Sabbath. Gen 2:1-3, Exod. 20:11 . Adam did just the opposite. On his first full day of life, he rested on the 7^th day Sabbath, (Exod 20:8-11) then he worked on the 1^st  day through the 6^th days of the week (Exod. 20:9) This is the same sequence concerning man’s redemption. In Christ, God completed the work of redemption through His sinless life, death and resurrection.  Man begins experiencing this redemptive work by resting first in what God has already done for him. Man rests in the facts that (1) Jesus died for our sins and has given us eternal life as a free gift, (2) that Christ’s righteousness covers us, (3) that at the cross the power of our sinful nature was broken and we are now free to serve God, and (4) that Christ will live His life of perfect righteousness in us if we choose to let Him. We are therefore to rest in Christ’s completed work. Once we rest in these truths, we are able to faithfully serve and obey God in our lives and ministry. PRAYER: Father baptize us with your Holy Spirit and bring truth and revival into our lives and churches. Lead me to enter into the true meaning of Sabbath rest and cause us to seek you and forsake our wicked ways and turn to you with our whole hearts. Have mercy on us and pardon us.

40 Days of Prayer-Day 31

40 Days of Prayer-Day 31

Oftentimes, we are filled with anxiety and stress and feel burdened by serving Christ. But part of abiding in Christ is fully trusting in Him in every situation. When the disciples were fearful during the storm at sea, it was because they were depending upon themselves and realized they could not save themselves. Jesus, however, was at perfect peace when He awoke because of His faith in the Father’s care. Mark 4:35-41. We should have that same rest in the care of the Savior.  Fear, anxiety and stress reveals our unbelief and our self dependency. Whenever we relinquish that self dependency and turn to Jesus, He is then free to help us.  Living faith in Christ will smooth the tempests of life and will deliver us from fear worry, stress and danger. Abiding in Christ gives us the relationship He had with the Father, thus enabling the Father to speak through Him and now us. John 14:10. PRAYER: Father baptize us with your Holy Spirit and bring truth and revival into our lives and churches. Remind me to look to Jesus when opportunities to serve you or trials arise in my life. Cause us to trust in you completely and not in ourselves and bless us abundantly.

40 Days of Prayer-Day 30

40 Days of Prayer-Day 30

Obedience and abiding go hand in hand. That is when we abide in Christ and He abides in us, obedience to the 10 commandments becomes a part of us. The 10 commandments are inseparably connected to God’s love. The first four commandments reveal how we are to love God and the last 6 commandments reveal how we are to love others. Thus, summed up —Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matt. 22:35-40. The Word gives us practical advice on how this love should look. Put away lying and speak truth, be angry but sin not, don’t let the sun go down on your anger, don’t steal but work, don’t let corrupt communication come out of your mouth, don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, put away all  bitterness, wrath, evil speaking, and malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving, even as Christ has forgiven you. Eph. 4:22-32. We should owe no one anything except to love one another. Love works no harm or ill to anyone. This fulfills the lawn and exhibits the attitudes and behaviors the Lord wants us to exhibit in our lives. Rom. 13:8-10. PRAYER: Father, baptize us with your Holy Spirit and bring truth and revival into our lives and our churches. Remove our rebellion and backsliding and write your 10 commandments on our hearts and lead us to allow Jesus to live out His life of obedience in us.

40 Days of Prayer-Day 29

40 Days of Prayer-Day 29

Sanctification is righteousness by faith. It is simply looking to Jesus to manifest His righteous life of victory in our lives. Heb 12:1-2. The perfect qualities of Jesus are imparted to us as a gift, not gradually but instantly once we enter into the realization that Jesus became holiness for us. We don’t have to try to be holy. That’s imitation. We don’t have to draw from Jesus the power to be holy. When we accept righteousness by faith, Jesus imparts His holiness to us. He gives us what He has. His patience, love, holiness, faith, purity, godliness etc. This is impartation, not imitation. Our job is not to imitate but to choose to let Christ impart His virtues to us, and  believe it will happen. Then slowly but surely we begin to live a life of order, soundness, consistency, and holiness, kept by the power of God. (1 Peter 1:5). When unrighteous desires come, don’t fight them (that’s our own strength and we will surely fail). But turn to Christ who is living in us and ask Him to manifest His righteousness in us. Heb. 12:1-2. Then we simply wait in faith believing He will do it, because those who are waiting for Him will be like Him when He comes back. 1 John 3:2. PRAYER: Father baptize us with your Holy Spirit and bring truth and revival into our lives and our churches. Lead me to allow Jesus to fully manifest His righteousness in me through faith in Him. Pour out of your spirit on us and cause us grow and to come into the fullness of Christ.

40 Days of Prayer-Day 28

40 Days of Prayer-Day 28

Most of  us live a life of sporadic obedience and broken promises to God. But how do we experience a life of victory through Christ over every temptation and sin Satan brings our way? How do we allow Christ to live out His victorious life over sin in us? We have to believe that He lives in us through the baptism of the Holy Spirit and He will manifest His love, pure and holy, virtuous thoughts in our minds. It's a matter of faith. Rom 6:6, 11-14, Isa. 26:3-4, John 15:4-5, Eph 3:16-167, Gal 2:20, John 14:16-18, 1 John 3:24, 1 Cor 2:16. Practical steps we can take to achieve this is (1) turn your mind immediately away from the temptation Satan presents. Phil 4:8, (2) believe that Christ has broken the power of your sinful nature and temptation at the cross, (3) believe Jesus is in you and ask Him to manifest His virtue in you in relation to the temptation. Be specific, (4) Believe He will manifest Himself and don't fight the temptation yourself. When we do that, we are really trying to resist in our own strength rather than looking to Jesus for  victory. Heb 12:1-2, (5) thank Him for the deliverance He has just given you.

PRAYER: Father baptize us with your Holy Spirit, and bring truth and revival to us and your church. Lead me to let Jesus live out His victorious life in me when I am tempted to sin. Help us to believe that the greatest power in this world lives in us through your Holy Spirit.

40 Days of Prayer-Day 27

40 Days of Prayer-Day 27

When Jesus died on the cross, Satan’s power over us including the power of our sinful nature was forever broken. Rom 6:6, 11. That  means all our sinful tastes, desires and propensities were defeated at the cross and we no longer have to be controlled by them. But we have to believe this reality. But belief alone is not enough. As Christians we often struggle with our besetting sins. Those sins we just keep repeating over and over again. We can believe and feel great relief that Satan’s power over us was defeated at the cross and even gain confidence that the next time we are faced with the temptations that cause us to fall, we will finally have the victory. But then the temptation arises and we fall again. We plead with God to remove our sinful response to the temptation but we continue to experience defeat.  That is because above and beyond our belief that the power of our sinful nature was broken at the cross, we have no power in and of ourselves to obey God. It is only through Christ living in us that He gives us His victory over sin. We cannot substitute our own righteousness for the righteousness of God. Rom 10:3-4. We have to submit ourselves to Him and die to self, so that we may gain Christ’s righteousness. PRAYER: Father baptize us with your Holy Spirit and bring truth and revival into our lives and churches. Reveal to me how to let Jesus live out His life of victory in me. Strengthen me with might by your Spirit in the inner man. Fill me with your love and help me to reveal that love to others.