I Am Prospering Everyday: Scripture Declarations & Prayer Prompts Journal

 

This is the first faith-based book that I've published at Amazon. I am blessed to have designed the cover myself. It's quite a milestone and I'm praising God for helping me to reach it! It is part text and part journal for you to write in. This is what I have to share about this Christian guidebook:  

You want reading the scriptures to make a difference in your life and you read the Bible everyday in order to be transformed. You are always seeking ways to understand what the ancient scriptures mean to you today and how you can allow them to change and renew you.

God's Holy Spirit is always helping you to discern and rightly divide the scriptures so that they make sense to you. This is how paraphrasing can help. We do it everyday when we read scriptures, ponder their meaning and ask God to open our understanding and give us revelation knowledge on the messages.

The 32 scripture declarations in this journal are taken from the King James Version of The Holy Bible. I have then included paraphrases of each one. This means that my understanding of each scripture, through my Bible studies and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has been written in simple, modern-day, American language. It is the way that we read and understand the scriptures in order to apply them to our lives in a practical way.

As you read the scriptures and their paraphrases, you will find space after them to write your own understanding and prayers. With the prayer prompts that I've included, you can expand your prayers to Our Heavenly Father through writing out your thoughts.

Also included are blank, lined pages at the end of the book, under the title My Power Scriptures. The word My means you. This is where you can make a log of 20 of your favorite, most life-changing scriptures. One two-page chapter is set aside for each scripture.

I believe that God The Father, God The Son and God The Holy Spirit are one and separate in the help that they give to us. They never contradict each other and they each can be relied upon for specific things. The love of The Father caused him to choose to restore us to himself. Through the Son, he provided for that to be done through Christ's pure sacrifice. Through his Spirit he helps us to become more like him.

You will find me referring to each member of The Godhead in different places throughout this book but if it was not for the love of The Father, we would never be saved. It is he who provided for our eternal salvation. My prayer is that this scripture declaration and prayer prompt journal will aid you as you grow in the Lord. May Our Father bless you richly in every way, through his precious son, Jesus of Nazareth, The Christ, the only Savior of mankind.

Learn more here about I Am Prospering Everyday: Scripture Declarations & Prayer Prompts.

Available in hardcover and paperback.

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Our Prayers For Others

When we pray consistently for someone, God will often give us something that he wants us to do for that person. If so, it will be something that is consistent with how he wants to answer our prayer. It may be something that we'd never think of doing for that person. 

It may be something that we are reluctant to do. It may be something that is difficult or it may be fairly easy. It may be something that aligns with what we are already doing in our lives or it may cause us to stretch a little. It may be something that will obviously bless us in our journey, or maybe not obviously. 

When we pray for someone, though we may know some things about them, we don't know the extent of their needs. We don't know what it will take for God to answer our prayers for them and for his will to be done in their lives. Just be prepared to obey the Holy Spirit's surprising request and prompting. When God uses us in his plans for people that we pray for, we can be assured that it will not only bless them but us as well. 

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Father Teach Us About Charity

Dear Father: 

Help us to receive a deeper understanding of the ways that we should allow charity to reign in our lives, for we know that it involves more than our initial thoughts on what love is. Thank you for the knowledge and help us to be more obedient. Amen!

We Forget To Ask God About The Small Things

Though we pray faithfully, we forget to ask God for many things, big and small, before we step out and try it ourselves. It's easy to go to God with the big things. Sometimes, we go to him for distressing and devastating things when we haven't been giving him the daily time that we should. Our Father, however, does not condemn us and we can always devote more time to building our relationship with him.

What about the small things that we could ask him about? He has time and time again given me favor about something that I was thinking about but never asked him for. I know it was him because after he blessed me he lovingly touched me through His Spirit and let me know. I always feel bad when he shows me this because I know that what I received was what I was thinking. I know that it only came from him and I feel bad because I didn't ask him, that I didn't acknowledge that he was there. 

Instead, I did the old habit of thinking fleetingly about a want or need and quickly shoving it on the back burner to bring it about later by myself. My Father let me know, however, that he was there and heard my thoughts. I did not talk to him about those small things but he chose to respond. He let me know that he wants me to ask him about the small things, because he is there for me, always listening.

Some Christians say it's being obsessive and that we don't have to ask God about every little thing. Well, I say ask God about what they are saying. I know from him communicating with me after he blesses me with simple little things that he is telling me to rely on him more, communicate with him more, love walking with him more. Committing to asking him about small things and for help with small dilemmas will help us to walk better with him. Determining to consult him about small decisions and to ask him for small blessings will help us to draw closer to him.

God's Way Of Doing Things

God's way of doing things is the very best way. We can only learn what his way is by seeking his face everyday. We have to spend time with him in the ways that are available to us. We need to be consistent and persistent. How do we seek his face and learn his ways? We read his Word, The Holy Bible, everyday and we talk to him everyday.

Before we read the scriptures, we ask Our Father to illuminate his scriptures for us. To give us revelation knowledge through his Word. We ask for the ability to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We thank him for breaking up the stony ground of our hearts so that his Word can enter in, take root and bear much fruit. We thank him for transforming us through his Word and helping us to rightly divide it. We ask him to give us discernment of his Word so that we can apply it to our lives in a practical way. We confess that we want to see circumstances and people in the way that he sees them. Most of all, we thank him for helping us to see our lives and ourselves in the way that he sees us. We make sure that we open the Bible every day and read something, no matter how much or how little.

The second way to seek God's face is to meet with him and talk with him everyday. There are 3 types of prayer that will help us to understand God's way of doing things, formal prayer to God, conversation with God and listening to God in quiet time. Formal prayer is when we have a format in which we pray. It is a rotating combination of words, phrases, scriptures and favorite statements that we give to God at a specific time of day. This is the prayer that we pray each day, such as in the morning when we commit our way to him before we face the world. 

 

Though it consists of our favorite format, it shouldn't be repetitive, traditional or ritualistic. The word tells us that our traditions and rituals make his word of no effect. (Mark 7:13)  The most important use of the formatted prayer is in committing our path to God at the beginning of each day. Our formatted prayers are not enough to learn God's way of doing things because they consist mostly of us talking. While commitment and statements of confession are very important to our growth, there is a more important way of seeking God's face.

We need to have conversations with God throughout the day. This is when we talk to him candidly and openly. We revere him as Our Heavenly Father but we talk to him as a friend. If you want to pray and talk to Jesus, that is ok because Jesus is God also. For me, I find that praying and talking to God works better. I also talk to Jesus and thank him for many things. Because God is the one who sent Jesus to shed his blood and have his body broken for us and who raised Jesus from the dead, who cares for me and has numbered the hairs of my head, and is my only Heavenly Father, spending time with him and committing all to him works best for me. 

Jesus is Heir To The Throne and I am joint heirs with him. I will rule and reign with him and without him I can do nothing, so my relationship with The Lamb of God is just as important, but different. It is God's Holy Spirit that bore upon me so that I could accept Jesus as my Savior and it is God The Father who holds the time of Jesus' return. The most important things about my existence and origin I can attribute to God but not to Jesus. It is through Jesus' obedient sacrifice that I am able to seek God's face but God sent Jesus so that I could be restored to fellowship with him, God The Father. (I Peter 1:21)

When we have conversations with God throughout the day we should simply tell him our feelings, our hopes, our confusions our angers. Yes, he knows our thoughts, our hearts, but building a relationship means that we need to tell him about our lives. Our father wants to commune with us, laugh with us, cry with us, share with us. Many of us don't know how it is to have a real father, so we have to learn, to practice having a true, pure, holy relationship with God. 

We've seen TV programs and movies where fathers were loving and kind. We can take cues from them on how to cultivate a loving, sharing relationship with Our Father. It's just a matter of pretending that he's there, imagining him listening, seeing in our minds' eye him nodding his head, choosing to believe that he's answering and conversing. As we reach out he will help us and make it real to us. Before long, we'll look forward to sharing with him day and night. 

The third type of prayer is to be quiet and just listen for the still, small voice of God's Spirit to talk to us. For me, this is the hardest. It's difficult to quiet the mind talk. To not be distracted. I try to sit somewhere quiet, where I can look at the sky if I can. I have chosen to sit 15 minutes each day and just listen for God's voice. Very few people would hear him in the beginning of the process. It takes time, patience and commitment. It takes time to be able to truly quiet our minds. Don't worry if you don't hear anything for a long time. The most important thing is to have this quiet time before God as often as you can and to stick with it. The reward will come. Our Father is faithful!

Seeking God's face to learn his ways makes all the difference in appropriating and manifesting his promises that we find in The Bible. It's one thing to be saved. It's another to live in the fullness of God. Getting closer to him and sharing with him is a peaceful place, not only to learn his personality, but for restoration. We begin to recognize his ways of doing things in our lives and can work with him, not against him. We enjoy going to a place where we can bare all, be exactly who we are and know that we are loved deeply, no matter what. 

Our Desires And God

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

Some Christians say this means that God will give you the desires that you should have. Other Christians say it means that he will fulfill the desires that you have always prayed for, your fondest wishes, your purest and most beneficial desires and long-standing hopes. I believe it is both. They both are important to Our Heavenly Father.

Our relationship with God should be a two-way street. If we don't believe that he cares about our desires, then we are not relating to him. It is of great value that we decide to hear his thoughts and plans each day but he also wants us to turn over to him our thoughts and plans. 

What about our long-standing desires that have not happened? Well, that doesn't mean that they will not, or that God has said no to them. We should continue to believe him that we will realize them, no matter how impossible or unlikely it seems. As we allow his will to come about in our lives, we will see how he imparts his desires for us into our desires. All will be well with us, always, as we grow in trusting him.

So, don't toss aside your most important goals and dreams. God cares for you. He cares about what is important to you. The most important thing is that you tell him what your desires are. Be specific and understand that he wants us to spell it out to him. In that way, we show that we believe he hears, cares and wants to communicate back and forth with us. He wants to hear from you as you purpose to hear from him each day. 

Praying For Those Who Irritate Us

Do you ever have annoyed, frustrated or angry thoughts about anyone? Do the attitudes or behaviors of some people send you into a fit? Are you tempted to have ill will towards those who have misused or mistreated you? 

Have you ever had fleeting or lingering thoughts of wishing problems or misfortune on others? Do you ever find yourself fussing and arguing with yourself about the life that someone lives? I could go on and on and if you profess to have never had any of these types of thoughts or feelings, then you are probably not human. 

I have been on a track for a couple of years now where the Holy Spirit reminds me to stop and pray for these persons. You see, it's not just a matter of us crushing the offending thoughts. While that is an intense and worthy process, it's not enough.

Crushing these thoughts essentially buries them but they are not dead. They are like seeds that can sprout again. God gets to the root of the problem so it can be killed. He wants us to do more than bury unpleasant thoughts about others and generate benign thoughts about people who incense us. 

Our Father God does not want us to suffer any more thoughts that sprout from roots of malevolence. He wants us to be free of malignant thoughts, no matter how mild or fleeting they are. It's a matter of immediately confessing and accepting forgiveness through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Our Savior, and then stopping to pray for the person. It doesn't have to be a long, intense prayer. It can be brief but it should be heartfelt.

When we turn our growth over to God we begin to recognize opportunities to grow. The Holy Spirit prompts, prods and pricks us when a chance is available to do it God's way. It begins from within, where the roots that need to be purged are. God is precise. He wants it all dug out, every offensive thought that hinders. That still, soft voice of his Spirit will remind us. All we need to do is obey, like I did this morning.

The way that God does it for me is to say in my spirit, Did you pray for her?, during or after a hostile thought. He'll say in my spirit, Have you prayed for him?. He won't say I'm wrong for the thought or that I know I should not have been thinking that.

My Father understands why I had the thought and I sense his loving kindness and his mercy. Now, when thoughts like that come, I end up stopping what I'm doing and praying for the person. If I can get on my knees I do. I offer a quick prayer of forgiveness for myself and blessing for the person.

We should forgive the persons for whatever it was that made us offended, vindictive, judgmental. They may not even know us but we know of them and God is not pleased with our thoughts. He wants better for us. Sometimes, the source of our rancor is in our minds or we are just in a bad mood. At other times, our spiteful thoughts can be justified because of real, hurtful events and experiences. 

Whatever the source of these types of troubling thoughts, we don't have to suffer brushing them under the rugs of our minds where they can trip us up later. We can go further and be cleansed of them. Rather than pretend that you never have thoughts like these, submit to God and allow His Holy Spirit to help you. It will make all of the difference in your spirit, attitude and growth. Be pruned! Be purged! Be strengthened!

 

I Feel Optimistic Today Prayer

 

Dear Heavenly Father:

I feel optimistic today! 

Let not my optimism come through fleshly feelings because my flesh is unreliable. I refuse to walk in the flesh.

I pray that my optimism comes through confidence in your right hand of righteousness, discernment of your angels surrounding me and comfort from your Holy Spirit. 

My optimism is through my faith from walking in the Spirit. 

When I am out of the Spirit, show we the way to return to the Spirit so that my Godly optimism may abound. 

I thank you that I have a hope and a future and that my way grows brighter everyday!

In Jesus' blessed name I pray.

Amen!

 

Dr. Charles Stanley On Can Prayer Change God's Mind?

In the video below, Dr. Charles Stanley, of In Touch Ministries, answers prayer questions such as:

• Why pray if God's mind is already made up about what he will do?
• Why pray when God already knows what we want?
• Can we change God's mind through prayer?
• If God knows my needs, why should I pray?
• Does God's eternal plan depend on our prayers?

His lesson will give you faith in your prayers. It will help change your mind about giving up on your prayer life or compromising it.

 

 

Blessed Wednesday! Focus On The Positive!

God's will includes living our lives to the fullest no matter what circumstances we are in. There are many ways that we can more appreciate what God has done and live more uplifting, fulfilling lives. Giving thanks and reaching out to help others helps us to focus on the positive that serving God through Jesus Christ brings into our lives. Even though it is very difficult sometimes to feel positive, God's knows our hearts and will help us if we ask. 

We are so used to working things out for ourselves that we have been trained to not ask for help. We forget that despite how things have been or are for us, God cares about every little thing that concerns us. Just because he doesn't always change our difficult circumstances doesn't mean that he does not care. His plans are just so perfect and his blessings so great that we can't perceive them in advance.

The cares and troubles of this life easily get us down. Some of us have many more struggles than others, so we often feel hopeless and alone. Despite this, our compassionate and kind Father in Heaven is always near to help us to focus on the positive that is available to all who love him and believe in salvation through The Lamb, his precious Son, Jesus Christ.

Help is always near, through The Father, who knows everything about us, through The Son who is ever interceding for us, and through The Holy Spirit, who is given to all Believers as a comforter and a guide.

Dear Father: Increase our faith, restore unto us the joy of our salvation, uphold us with your free Spirit. Help us. We love you with a perfect love in our reborn spirits and nothing can separate us from your love. Thank you, Father! 

 

We Never Have To Stop Praying

We never have to stop praying. We are encouraged to pray without ceasing. (I Thessalonians 5:17) 

There are formal and informal ways to pray. When we accept this, the many ways to pray 24/7 open up to us. We don't always have to get on our knees with a scripted intonation of phrases and quotes.

Prayer, in it's essence, is talking to God. Talking to Jesus. How much more candid, honest and heart-felt are conversational words versus rehearsed prayer speeches.

Being tired or discouraged and not feeling like praying is not even an excuse. We can ask the Holy Spirit to pray for us. He will then utter on-target words that we cannot.

Pray without ceasing and grow closer to God.

Secret Faithfulness To God = Outward Reward

Public or outward acknowledgement is the reward that Christians who are secretly faithful receive from God.

One way or another, our private devotion to God will show outwardly. We don't have to try, we don't have to uplift ourselves to others, we don't have to beg people to believe that we know God through Jesus Christ.

When we are faithful in seeking God's face and drawing nigh to him, his power will emanate from us. When we pray, fast and give from our secret closet, God will reward us outwardly. 

We will receive some type of open acknowledgement, from God, for our secret faithfulness.

Matthew 6:6

Matthew 6:17-18

Matthew 6:3-4

Believing What We Pray For

In order to see the realization of our fondest personal prayers, we have to first believe what we pray for. We don't have to believe that we can do it through our own planning and orchestration but we do have to believe that we CAN receive them from God.

We also have to believe that we can be faithful in managing them after we receive them. This is one way to believe that our prayers will happen, that we'll be getting a favorable answer from God. 

The problem is that we pray for things that we're not committed to, that we're afraid of and that we don't even believe that we can really do. We pray pipe dreams, fanciful hopes or plans that would come to naught if we were given them. This is one reason that in our hearts we secretly say, "I don't believe my prayers will come true." Why don't we truly believe what we are praying?

Many Christians promote that we should ask God for big things, impossible things, things that are beyond what we can do on our own. Yes, we should, but we still have to believe in our own prayers. We have to believe in what we are asking for to improve our lives. We have to believe in the prayers that we pray on our behalf.

How is it possible to receive what we unconsciously don't believe? It is not possible because we would miss all of the signs and open doors that would lead to obtaining the favorable answers that we desire. The challenges that we would see would be obstacles to us instead of opportunities. Because of that, we would blindly pass them by.

In fact, we already see many challenges as insurmountable obstacles or we would not be asking God for help. What exactly are we asking for though? How can we start our journeys to believing what we pray for?  

There's something between the prayers and the receiving of the answer to the prayers that we ask. It is us. We have to work with God and it's up to each one of us to work out what our place is in the fulfillment of the desires.

When we understand that, we can then work with God and receive favorable answers to our fondest supplications. What if we can't see our part in it? What if we just wait for God to do it, like we've been doing?

If we can't understand what our place or part is in believing in our prayers, then maybe we should not be praying for those things or praying in that way. Maybe that is why deep down in our hearts we don't believe what we are asking. 

Maybe our prayers need to be adjusted or re-designed. Maybe the focus of our fondest hopes needs to be altered. Is it possible that we even need to replace a long-standing prayer for another, more accurate one?

If we ask our Father God to help us to develop accurate prayers, he will do it. We don't want to keep spending time and energy on prayers that are never going to happen because we don't believe them. We don't want to spend a lifetime praying inauthentic prayers.

We want to pray prayers that move things, that change things, that bring things to pass. We want to pray prayers that are faith-filled, accurate and effective. Words come first and powerful, faith-filled words bring things into being. These scriptures make it plain:

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Hebrews 11:3 Things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Our prayers are our tongues, our words and the things which are not seen, the invisible things. The things that we are praying for, on our behalf, are the things which are seen, that can be brought into being by our unseen prayer words, if they are accurate. 

The world does not respect or honor God, but the world understands many truths that we ignore. We can learn from the truths that those who do not love God nor his Son are telling us everyday. The knowledge all belongs to God. They don't care to realize it but their knowledge belongs to God. We can take it, along with the Scriptures, and work with God to pray prayers that we can believe in.

I don't know if Dr. Margie Warrell worships God or not but she says this in her article Your Words Create Your Reality:

The words you speak hold power. Power to create new possibilities or to close them down. We unconsciously sabotage our success. Whatever direction your words lead, your mind, body and environment will follow. It’s therefore extremely important to be intentional about the words you use.

We can make our prayers, our words, the fruit of our tongues authentic so that we can believe them and work with God in bringing them to pass.

Stop Anxiety In Its Tracks!

An anxiety-ridden man asked this at a FBook group that I recently visited:

What should you do if you’ve divorced and currently remarried? How do you truly repent from this? Should you divorce a second time -the person that you’re currently with? And what about the children involved?

My advice to him was:

Simply ask God to forgive you for any wrong decisions that you have made. Believe that he has forgiven you through the Blood of Jesus and it is done. Ask him to lead you on how to proceed but stay where you are for now. Don't hurt any more people, including yourself, by making decisions and taking actions that you don't yet understand. Love your children. Stay where you are until you get direction otherwise from God. Accept where you are and continue to build yourself up in your most Holy faith. Blessings to you, your family, friends and to everyone in your circle.

I try to remember to take the advice that I am always giving to others, and it is this:

If you don't know what to do, pray and turn it over to God. Then, if you don't know what to do, do nothing. If you're not sure what to do, but you must make a decision, do what makes the best sense to you while waiting on God.

We are always to wait on God, but often a decision must be made immediately. We can't help that. God will give us an immediate answer, or he won't. One thing that he has already instilled in us is common sense. If we must make a decision and we don't yet have clear direction from God, we must use our common sense.

If we are afraid and must make a decision, we have to do it afraid if we don't have clear direction from God. An ideal situation would be for us to not have to make a decision yet. Whether we make a decision or not, whether we make a move or not, whether we choose one way or another, we are always dependent upon God. 

So, stop anxiety in its tracks! Pray and give it to God. Right now. Do nothing if you don't know what to do. Do what makes sense to you if you have to make a decision now.

Keep stopping anxiety in its tracks by reminding yourself often that it all is in the hands of Our Father. Remember that because we love and trust him and have a prayer session of giving the issue to him, we can't hurt his plan for us through any decision that we make.

  

What Would We Do Without These Two?

I Am So Thankful For My Prayer And Bible Study Life!

How About You?  

It's how we get our strength to successfully endure unexpected daily challenges.

It's how we get the power to forgive and pray for enemies, real and perceived.

Through our prayer habits we become renewed each day.

Through Bible reading and study we learn the nature of The One True God.

We find ourselves becoming transformed into being more like Jesus Christ in attitude and commitment towards Our Father.

We grow in hope.

 

 

Happy Monday & Being Honest With God

 

When I am honest with God, I feel so much power. It's like the covering has been stripped off of secrets and hidden things that don't need to be kept secret from God. Indeed, we don't need to keep anything from God. He knows it all.

The thought came to my mind this morning that whatever we keep secret from God the devil is able to keep using against us. We know that the devil works in darkness. Hiding our true thoughts from God and bringing sanitized prayers to him is darkness.

God is light. In him is no darkness at all. Wherever God looks is light. He sees all. When he looks at us, he sees the whole truth. All the hidden nooks and crannies of our entire existence is open to God's sight. He does not care about all of that, because His Son paid it all.

There is only one thing that God cares about. There is only one thing that is due from us, only one thing that Our Father requires. Honesty. His desire is that we do not continue to hide what is not hidden from him.

He wants us to share with him, tell him the truth, bring it all out into the open, put it all on the table that is between us and him only. He wants us to do this purging every day. Only then can we feel cleansed, hopeful and deeply connected to God.

Don't let fear of what God will think, shame about how we really feel and the devil's intimidation cheat you anymore.

Deep Honesty With God = POWER!

 

 

Image Credit: Risen Hope Ministries

My Past Is Haunting Me

Are you having problems with unwelcome memories from your past? Is any point or stage from your past life troubling you? Are past experiences, mistakes, journeys, sorrows, sufferings, failed hopes, unrealized dreams, etc., consistently bothering you? Do you feel plagued by past occurrences over which you had no control? 

God is aware. His Spirit is always near and within to help us. Struggling with our pasts, something that is unchangeable, is too much of a heavy burden for us. We cannot and were not meant to bear it alone.

We must always look to God, first as a formal committing over to him each morning the health of our mental and emotional state. Next, we must learn to immediately look to God whenever troubling thoughts and memories surface.

There are many short prayers that you can use. I find that this prayer has been helping me to cast down imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God:

Father, help me to see my past as you see it. Help me to see myself as you see me. Help me to see people as you see them. Help me to look beyond the flesh and into the spirit of myself, every person and every situation, past, present and future.

Pray this prayer, or one similar that you create, and you'll find yourself walking more in the Spirit each day.