PRAY PRAY PRAY (Cafe Sozo)

Prayer For Trusting in God

Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today to bring you our Prayer petitions. We are concerned and challenged LORD but in the midst of it all, You were on our mind. The concerns that we speaks about are: (you fill in) _______________, ___________________, and ________________________.
Father, your Word says that we will be far from oppression and we should not fear terror for it shall not come near us. (Isa 54:14) You said that we would be established in righteousness. You said that if they gather together against us that they would surely fall. You said that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and that ANY tongue that rises against us; we would condemn. (Isa 55: 10-12)

You said for 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Father, you have not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind. Father, your Word says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto your own understanding so we put

our trust in you and will not go by what we can reason in our head but instead we will walk by faith and not by sight knowing that You will lead us beside the restful waters all the while refreshing our minds and emotions regarding these matters that confront and challenge us today.

We thank you Father for your love, your wisdom, Your guidance, Your peace, and we look to you for comfort because we love You and trust You. Your Word is a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet. You said: Do not let your heart be troubled, (John 14: 26, You said my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. You said I will compass thee about with favor as a shield, you said I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight, I will break in pieces the brazen doors, and cut asunder the bars of iron. Thank you Father that we have great cause to rejoice in your Word and to delight herself/himself in You. In Jesus Name we ask and pray. AMEN.

Whether it be prayer, faith, peace, wisdom; whatever your situation, you MUST be consistent in your approach. What you put in is what you get out in many cases.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose]. 1Corinthians 15:58

Dearest Friend, I am pleased to greet you, write to you and encourage you today. My prayers go out in agreement with your prayers and I know that all is well. The seasons are changing and we are changing with them. Maybe a stranger cannot see it on the outside of us, but our faith is getting stronger and stronger every single day. We are OVERCOMERS. I pray that all is well with you and your family today. I assure you that as you stand in faith believing God that it will be…all will be well. I have to talk to you about some important things before this year winds down on us. I’m just asking you to take a few minutes of your time to read this letter. You see, I’ve been trying to write it all month and now there aren’t many if any days left. Smile.

Be consistent is the message that I have for you. It means: be steady, be reliable, be unfailing, be regular, be dependable, be stable and be continual. Webster’s 1824 Dictionary describes: marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity : free from variation or contradiction ;a consistent style in painting. This whole entire month I have been trying to find a way in human example to describe to you. I continuously found examples in being consistent; but I was looking for a story that I personally knew more about to share with you. Let me say that being consistent is something that is hard to assess by an outsider in many cases. We can all best assess ourselves.

I prayed for yet another good example, (there are many/ a lot that I do and do not know about) just when time was running out, I ran into my friend Rene. Rene is a faith friend of mine. She works as a cashier in a market that I go into. I don’t casually know her. All of the stores that I patronize I get to know the people who work there. I met Rene right around seventeen years ago.

When I first met Rene, she made it clear that she loved Jesus. I didn’t ask her; she volunteered. It was amazing to me because at the time, I wasn’t so verbal myself that way about my love for Jesus. Smile. She was so full of the love of God that it showed. Customers gravitated to her. As long as I’ve known her, she has walked to and from work, well over five miles in each direction. I know personally that God is first in Rene’s life. She is consistent with God and He is the head of her life. She consults Him about every decision that she makes, every single one. She has sacrificed greatly for her family over the years. I believe that now she is raising her little granddaughter. Even when she had tough times, I never once heard her complain, not one time.

One day, I made a decision to get in her line at the store, no matter what. When we see each other we share testimonies. I know that if I talk to Rene, I’m going to have yet another great opportunity to give God praise in public. A lot of people hear us when we do this. We don’t care. We aren’t loud or obnoxious. Usually when I look around I see people smiling when they hear us because they know we are truly sincere and not just grabbing attention. A lot of times some of the other cashiers join in and we even have had the manager joining in on our declaring the wonder of God on the job in front of customers. We can’t shrink back, we can’t waiver.
I hadn’t seen Rene in a while and when I did she was telling me why. Her words were: ELAINE, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT GOD’S FAVOR! She explained that she had went into the hospital for a 45 minute surgery and she woke up on life support eleven hours later! She said she did not know what had happened but she woke up thanking God. Soon thereafter, they sent her home because miraculously she had returned to normal.
A few days thereafter, Rene and her friends went to the Palace to see Joel Osteen. She explained that when she arrived they explained that her seats were in the bleachers above the bleachers. You know the ones? Maybe not, I do. Rene was telling me how she called on the LORD; she explained it this way: “I said LORD, I cannot go all the way up to those seats there must be a mistake, my friends want to go home, you know I can’t go up there. LORD, I need your help, You’re going to have to fix this for me, I can’t do it.” In the meantime, her dilemma had been brought to the attention of the ushers who went and got the person who was in charge of decision making.

In the end, they took Rene and her friends to a private suite, right by the stage on the first floor. They were each given their own personal television monitor to assure that they could see and hear and they were served special food cooked to their specification and liking at no cost to them! Renee is consistent as many people are. Her consistency allows her to receive God’s best. God is her rear guard, He sees to it that people smile on her, that she is protected, that she has joy, that she has health, that her needs are met and she knows it.

The most important thing is that this type of favor is available to each and all of us. God is no “respecter” of persons…the bible says so. Rene singled out God, showed Him her love and regard for choosing her, she showed Him her faith, gave Him her full attention. Renee made Jesus the head of her life and NOT just in words. She calls on the LORD for every single decision. That’s what she does. My prayer for each of us this month is that we will stay in faith, stay on task and be consistent so we can each see the full measure of what God has for us.

Dear Friend, How are you? I know that you’re alright no matter what you are facing. About two years ago, I woke up about four o’clock in the morning to get ready to go to early morning prayer but I was so dizzy and the room was spinning that I thought that I was still asleep. I was so disgusted when I realized that I was awake. I had to press on. You see, I had faced much much worse so really this was nothing but I STILL wanted it to go away. I had to get up and just push myself to go to prayer.

It was the funniest thing that as SOON as I got in that chapel…it went away.

When I left out…POOF…it came right back. It was the trick of the enemy always trying to hold us back from our assignments. I could have had a pity party- in fact, I did for quite awhile to myself and anyone who would give me sympathy…not many thank the LORD. (smile) So I was able to move on to more important matters. I’m not saying ignore all sickness, I’m just saying that I had been sick before and though this seemed like it; I claimed a healing and got it. What a victory. You have no idea.

I’m a soldier in the army of the LORD, collecting full benefits and I just want to encourage you because you’re a soldier too. I’m collecting full benefits, but this is a tricky war we’re fighting here and it’s serious. Soldiers are getting wounded on the battlefield and some are being taken out and some are going AWOL. It’s crazy. There are a whole lot of soldiers out there without ammunition and some don’t have any armor and I mean none. Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us the whole prescription for what to do as soldiers. The combat gear is free and you already have it. You just have to put it on.

So, fellow soldier; you’ve reported for duty… IT’S UP TO YOU.

1. What next?

2. Which direction will you go in?

3. Will you go out to the nations to take the Word of the LORD to them?

4. Will you willingly and eagerly lay hands on the sick?

5. Will you go into the ministry effectively with a fervent heart?

6. Will you lovingly and peaceably carry the message of the gospel to the four corners of the earth?

7. Will you implement that witty invention that the LORD gave to you?

8. Will you love your neighbor as yourself taking care of God’s family knowing that he’ll take care of yours?

9. Will you get rid of anything in your heart that doesn’t belong there?

10. Will you do all that there is to stand and stand therefore?

11. Will you move closer to God today…not tomorrow?

12. Will you make this world a better place more than just with words but with deeds?

13. Will you save souls?

14. Will you recruit more laborers to do the work that God has called us to do?

15. Will you walk in love at all times no matter how you feel?

16. Will you do all that you can to make those around you look better and be better than they are never taking credit?

17. Will you serve the LORD and HEARKEN to His every bid?

18. Will you teach and share everywhere that you go?

19. Will you listen when it’s called for?

20. Will you hear?

Oh if only I were able to assure you that there would be no more questions, but there will be many many more. Just be ready to answer them for when you reach a level where you can search yourself and answer them with ease you’ll be ready to move from the front lines and up up up in the ranks. That’s the way God wants it…I know it. Be Well Sister Elaine

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