Guaranteed

I woke up early with a dozen prayers rising from my heart.

For the boy, far from home, estranged from his father...

For the beautiful one who is starving herself, tormented...

For the loved ones serving far from home...

For the awkward places in my kids that may have something to do with my parenting...

For the one who struggles to express love, not knowing how greatly he is loved...

For the beloved friend raising two special needs kids...

For the one whose restless, aching hunger will never be satisfied by addiction...

I've seen so many miracles and yet there are many more that I long to see and experience. Urgently.

"The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this."

These words float into my mind and I know they are from the King James Bible, committed to memory years ago in elementary school. I look them up and they are the promise to reassure my aching, longing, yearning heart.

"Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever...

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

For those who live a land of darkness will see a great light...

you will break the yoke of their slavery

and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders...

The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven's Armies

will make this happen!" (Is.9 NLT)

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts...the passionate commitment of the Lord... Other translations say, "by the fixed purpose of the Lord...the Lord Almighty is determined to do all of this...the Lord's great love will make sure that happens..."

Comfort.

My petitions become proclamations! My urgency becomes a celebration of worship. My prayers are for things that are backed by the passionate commitment, the zeal, the love, and the purpose of the Almighty God, the Lord of Heaven's Armies!

"But..." you say.

But what about the prayers that have been prayed for so long and yet there is still no answer? He knows. He gets it. Even though He sees the end, He knows that from our perspective the journey has been long and the waiting is hard. That is why your faith is so precious to Him. A treasure. Not to be taken lightly. Your faith pleases Him. It's irresistible. So strengthen yourself with His promises. Worship and celebrate. The answer is on the way!

It's guaranteed by the passionate commitment of Lord of Heaven's Armies.

Declaration of...Faith

June is a crazy month for me... As a teacher and parent there's just a whole lot going on. It all screeches to a halt with a giant crescendo on the Last Day of School and I discover that I'm utterly exhausted. Flat. I long for sleep and when I'm not sleeping, all I want to do is lie around and read.

It's really important to take time to rest and relax--for our bodies, our souls, and our spirits. After a couple of days of rest, I was still feeling like I was carrying around a weight in my soul. I've learned that you can be weary in body without being weighted down in soul and spirit so I was motivated to get to the root of this. I picked up a piece of paper I have entitled "Daily Confessions of Faith". I began to speak out loud, "This is going to be a great day. God is guiding and directing my steps. His favor is surrounding me. Goodness and mercy are following me. I am excited about today. I am starting my day with faith and expectancy and I am anticipating good things..."

As soon as I began to speak, light began to flood my soul! Heaviness and weariness can creep in just because we have made agreements with the "facts" of our lives rather than God's truth. Confession of His truth breaks off the chains of heaviness! This is not the same thing as the power of positive thinking. The power of positive thinking rests in our ability to think up good thoughts, keep on thinking them, and somehow create our own reality. Success rests in our ability to do it. It's a counterfeit. The real thing is declaring what God has already said to be true. He said it, He promises it, it has already been created for us, we simply need to receive it. The power is of God rather than of us.

You can find all kinds of "confessions" on the internet. You want to be sure that you're confessing something rock-solidly based on the Word of God. I highly recommend Dr. Neil Anderson's materials. I regularly use his confessions Who I Am in Christ and 20 Cans of Success.

It's also important to "declare" your confession, to speak it out loud. Yesterday my daughter was feeling miserable. I encouraged her to go out onto the deck and shout, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!" It was hard to do. At first all she could do was whisper, but when she declared it a huge smile filled her face!! The lie of discouragement was dispelled and truth brought freedom and joy!

"You will also declare a thing,
and it will be established for you;
so light will shine on your ways."
Job 22:28 NKJV