Call to Fast and Pray for the elections on Tuesday!

Ladies,


I am certain that I don't need to remind you of what is at stake in the elections on Tuesday! Our nation is at a major crossroads. There is no doubt that we need to be on our knees seeking the Lord's mercy on our country!

Last week in Ann Allen's class, we learned about the the power of fasting in breaking strongholds in our lives!! We heard examples of how effective fasting can be and we were challenged to pray and fast for our nation concerning the upcoming elections.

I'm copying a prayer guide with this post that I'm hoping will help guide you (and me!) to fast and pray at some point between now and the elections on Tuesday! It is an edited version of a prayer guide for the nation that I received this week and may even be available in its entirety in the church prayer room.

I'd love to hear back from those who choose to participate to share how God blessed you!

Also, don't forget to sign up (if there is any spots left) to pray at the church for the 9 days of prayer for our nation!



Love,

M

How do we pray?
"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. "1 Tim. 2:1-4
It is not only biblical to pray for our nation and our leaders, it is commanded. Paul instructs the early church, pray first of all for kings and all those in authority. The context of this prayer is to pray with thanksgiving. The purpose is so that our lives will be lived in tranquility and that men be saved through the free spread of the Gospel. This is the ultimate will of the Father – that men might be saved. When we pray, we are tapping into the power that supersedes the influence of any other force, including the media, fraud, greed and demonic powers arrayed against God’s people, His church. Proverbs 19:21 tells us, “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand.” There is a greater reality and greater influence to which we have access in our prayers to the Father than any of the plans of man. So we pray in these elections from the president down to our local leaders that we may live in freedom, peace and that the Gospel be spread.
I believe the Spirit of God is encouraging us to continue to pray and vote:

God delights in the prayer of the upright:
"The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight". Prov. 15:8
God responds when we call:
"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them." Ps. 145:18-19
Come Boldly to the throne of Grace:
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". Hebrew 4:16
Angels come in answer to prayer:
"And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling." Daniel 10:11
Confidence that He hears and answers:
"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him". 1 John 5:14-15
What God has Blessed, No Man can Curse:
"Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand." Josh. 24:9-10
God will be victorious:
"Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Is. 9:7

We see the power of prayer in the story of King Jehoshaphat. A vast army had come up to destroy God’s people. Things did not look very hopeful. In terms of the natural circumstances, certain defeat was staring them in the face (2 Chron. 20). And yet, we see that God certainly intervened on behalf of His people, turning defeat into victory. As God’s people assumed their rightful position, in intercession “seated with Christ in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6), God caused them to triumph. We must exercise united faith in an AWESOME God, persevering in praise and worship, proclaiming His promise. He makes His people victorious.
In this hour, on behalf of our children and our nation, let us turn more than ever to seek God as Jehoshaphat did. Let us rely on the power and ability of our great God to turn things around. We declare the Kingdom will become His throne, and He shall reign forever and ever. We declare the Lordship of Christ over our great and blessed land – God bless the U.S.A.
Prayer Focus for Elections:
1. Jesus is Lord: Make the Lord awesome and mighty. Declare His rulership. Magnify the Lord and His power over the elections.

2. Pour Out Your Spirit: Ask the Holy Spirit to be poured out in the voting booths, touching the hearts and minds of Americans as they go to the polls to vote.

3. Pull the Lever: Pull the lever for God’s choice for President, Vice President, both Houses of Congress and local leaders and local referendums.

4. Release Angels: Release Holy Angels to guard the destiny and call of God over America. Loose Angels over every precinct and every voting booth in America.

5. Bind Fraud: Bind Fraud and loose the Spirit of Truth into every aspect of the election.

6. Break Enchantment: Break the spirit of manipulation and enchantment, bind the spirits of witchcraft and antichrist as we make a choice for the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces.

7. Protect the Unborn: The next president will determine the next justices for the Supreme Court. Pray that America will choose leaders who will nominate and confirm justices who will be strict constitutionalists, protecting the unborn.

8. Bless Israel: May God use these elections to be a blessing and strength to Israel.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Psalm 33:12
“Lord give us leaders such that it will be for your glory to give us the victory through them.”

"Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night". Nehemiah 4:9
"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt 18:19-20).

Balancing Your Life - Lesson #9

“Hank, Bro and the Garbage Can”
It would have been simple enough if I had put one of those child restraint devices on my kitchen cabinet years ago. But oh no it seems as if God wanted me to learn some valuable principles with repeated garbage can incidences. When I say that this has been a battle for many years I am not exaggerating. Today the lesson in it all finally clicked so I’ll be heading to the baby department at Wal-Mart as soon as I finish writing this little story about my Hank, my Brother, and yes our white plastic kitchen garbage can. To catch you up if you don’t know them Hank is my “substandard” apricot colored Poodle-looking mutt and Bro is my aging weenie-dog (he’s a Dachshund for you non-doggie people). Hank has had a fetish for garbage every since he started living with us. He was one of those rescues from work. I, not unlike most vets seldom own “pre-planned” animals. We tend to collect a variety of the world’s rejects and life with them is always challenging initially as they learn to trust a new master versus their usual previous life of abuse of one form or another. Having said all of that please cut Hank some slack about loving garbage. I’ve rationalized that it’s just because of his rough initial upbringing. All I know is that he was found wandering down the Troy Highway with his tail tucked between his legs. There’s a whole other story how he got from the Troy Highway into my garbage can but we’ll save that for another day. I have learned to put the small kitchen stool in front of the cabinet to stop him from opening it and dragging the garbage can out and eating Lord only knows whatever leftovers and miscellaneous junk the Salter’s have accumulated in the past 24-48 hours. Back to what just happened-this is sort of like live-TV; it’s almost live-writing. Only having left the house for two hours I return this morning to a kitchen floor over-flowing with garbage. I apparently forgot to put the stool up when I left. All was quiet. It was just me and the garbage. Taylor, my youngest son, is still at football practice and Will, my oldest son, is till snoozing the morning away. Normally Hank and Bro would have noisily greeted me at the door as soon as they heard my car pull into the drive way. When I walked into the house their absence spoke volumes. I knew what I was about to see. The garbage-laden kitchen was no surprise. This same scenario has been repeated over and over in our house. I realize at that moment what a real slow learner Hank, Bro and of course, I really am. I stared at the familiar scene and also realized how thankful I was that I had not thrown the coffee filter out that morning. It’s easier to get ground-in grass stains from football pants than clean up coffee grinds tracked all over the kitchen floor. Leaving the scene with that bit of a thankful heart I walked upstairs in search of the criminals. The house was eerily quiet as I went from room to room. Then suddenly I spotted Hank and Bro in the back corner of Taylor’s room. I was staring at their back ends. They were motionless, heads facing the wall of a room they normally would never go through much less lie down in. Taylor’s room is not conducive for anything other than the male-teenage species. Only if you’ve had teenage boys living in your home would you understand this. So there they lay afraid to even turn around and acknowledge my presence. My husband, a much more Biblical disciplinarian of Hank and Bro than me, has substituted the garbage can for the rod on more than one occasion. It is at this juncture in our little story that I stop and pray that there are not PETA readers on board. Rusty isn’t abusive at all; he just taps them with the plastic can and in that stern masculine voice says, “Hank, what is this? “ They are so smart they know it’s the garbage can; they obviously have connected the garbage dots, and they haul tail to the back door to escape what they think will be more of Rusty’s wrath. Hank always appears more petrified than Brother because of his past abuse. We know Brother wasn’t the instigator because of his size but he becomes equally guilty for jumping in on Hank’s garbage. One time they got into barbeque chicken bones and they were sick for days. There has always been a bad consequence for them physically or emotionally every single time it happens. You would think that they would figure it out and stop repeating the same mistake. You would think I would figure it out and go take the time to buy and install the $2.00 restraint device. How many times do we all have to go around the same mountain before we finally “get it”?
I would never make it to Wal-Mart today if I wrote down all of the spiritual analogies apparent in this story of Hank, Bro, and the garbage. I’ll share what the Lord is speaking to me. Ask Him to give you insight as you begin to examine your garbage story. What hit me today like no time previously was that when we blow it (get into the same garbage again) we have a tendency to run from our Master. We can’t face Him with any trace of garbage in us. Because He is holy we couldn’t be in His presence dirty even if we wanted. Our garbage keeps us from Him; from greeting Him in the morning; from enjoying His presence; from hearing His voice. We become like Hank and Bro cowering in the corner of Taylor’s room feeling ashamed but not knowing what to do to remedy it. It has become a vicious cycle. We keep going back and repeating the same ole stupid mistake; getting ourselves onto the same nasty garbage. When we do it we know we are wrong but we just stand at the door wanting out. We fear that God is really going to punish us this time. We feel dirtier each time we sin…the battle is our mind… the enemy begins to speak lie after lie; after all he is the “father of all lies” (John 8:44) . The lies are sent to cause doubt, discouragement, despair-you name it-anything opposite of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life. So when you find yourself in a “garbage mess” all over again what’s the solution? It is a simple all-powerful two word answer- the cross. Go immediately. You won’t “feel” like it-you’ll want to run and hide away like Hank and Bro and then you’ll surely sink into frustration, guilt, disappointment, discouragement-anything the opposite of the peace that comes from His sweet forgiveness. Run to that mercy seat as fast as you can. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Since this is a “repeat garbage incident” which makes you a “repeat offender” shouldn’t you spend some time there asking Him what the root of the problem really is. Be still and listen. The axe must be taken to the root for long term victory. God is so creative in His ways of delivering you from each and every sin. Remember all of the spiritual weapons at your disposal- Praise, Prayer and Fasting, the Word, and let’s add ‘Personal Touch.’ God still uses others through the laying on of hands as conduits of His delivering power (Hebrews 6:1-2) . The Holy Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8). If you’ve been unsuccessfully fighting your same battle let go of your pride and ask a seasoned intercessor for help. I wouldn’t be writing this if I had not asked for help on more than one occasion. Jesus died not only for you to have eternal life but an abundant life (overflowing with love, joy, peace and freedom) in Him. Get out of your garbage and get into His fullness. He is more than enough!!

Ann Allen Salter
August 2008

Balancing Your Life - Lesson #8

"You've Gone Shopping"

Dear Fellow Shoppers,
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of shopping in Satan’s store of “stinkin’ thinkin’.” Let’s face it, most women love to go shopping but it’s time we recognize how harmful it is. This lesson is but a small sample of the countless dangerous thoughts which our minds can entertain. If entertained for too long, you can be assured that the enemy will be selling you the “giant economy size” which takes a lot longer to deal with. Never underestimate the battle that takes place in your mind. It is the battlefield and you must learn to fight with your spiritual weapons – praise, prayer and the Word. If you’ve been shopping for years, as I have been, it will take time to break the strongholds of wrong thinking. You can start by refusing to buy the giant economy size. Long-term victory starts one step at a time so refuse to get discouraged.
I pray that you will quickly choose to substitute the truth of God’s Word for any “stinkin’ thinkin’” and in time will be consistently walking in the abundant peace, joy and freedom that Jesus died for you to embrace.

In His love,
Ann Allen Salter

“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)



1. WORRY ----------> ANXIETY, PANIC, DESPAIR
Quickly replace worry with TRUST and WAIT. Many Christians (women especially) act as if worry is a spiritual gift when in reality it is a well-used tool of the enemy. Worry says “I don’t trust God.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Philippians 4:6-8
Matthew 6:25-27
1Peter 5:7
Psalm 55:22
Psalm 37

2. DOUBT----------> UNBELIEF
Doubt is the opposite of faith so quickly replace it with TRUST/FAITH-believing that God is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do. You must be certain of “the certains” – His sovereignty. Faith lives in the realm of the spirit not the mind. Your mind will lie to you. You must quit listening to yourself an the lies of the enemy. You must choose not to doubt but to trust.
Mark 9:24
2Corinthians 5:7
Hebrews 11:1

3. FEAR----------> PANIC, DESPAIR
Quickly replace fear with TRUST in the one who is in you and will never leave you. “I will not be afraid!” Let His sovereignty silence your thoughts. Choose to praise, pray and speak the Word not to dwell in the enemy’s camp of fear.
2 Timothy 1:7
Hebrews 13:6
Psalm 27:1-3
Deuteronomy 31:8

4. ANGER----------> BITTERNESS, UNFORGIVENESS, RAGE, HATE
Quickly replace this with SELF-CONTROL through the power of the Holy Spirit. Your flesh will not want to do this. Vent your anger to God – tattle to Him first. Choose to be quiet although your tongue will be posed and ready to strike. Uncontrolled anger will get you burned every time. Resist the temptation of the enemy to strike back – choose the supernatural forgiveness that Christ died for you to have. Praise, pray and speak the Word. Thank Him for using the circumstance to grow you more into His image.
Psalm 37:8
Proverbs 19:11
Ephesians 4:27; 31-32
James 1:19-20
Psalm 4:4
Psalm 142:2

5. GUILT & SHAME----------> CONDEMNATION, UNWORTHINESS, LOW SELF- ESTEEM
God will never bring up your past to make you feel guilty. His way is to always lift you up not push you down. Guilt will always push you down and you can be assured that it arises from you “flesh” (sinful nature) or from Satan. Remember that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy but when you schoose to replace his lies with the truths of God’s Word the enemy has no power over you. The moment a guilty thought occurs replace it with the truth that “there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” His blood has covered all your sins – past, present, and future. Now you must choose to forgive yourself otherwise you are saying that His blood is not enough. Confess any unforgiveness and praise and thank Him that you are not condemned but “are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.” Believe you are what He says you are – fully forgiven, loved unconditionally, a precious child of your Father. Claim your inheritance now!!
1 John 1:9
Romans 8:1
2 Corinthians 5:21

6. REASONING----------> CONFUSION
A mind that reasons, wonders, wanders, ponders, etc…is on dangeroud ground. You are headed to “spiritual paralysis by analysis.” You must quickly replace these relentless thoughts with the truths of God’s Word. You must choose to think with the mind of the Spirit instead of the mind of the flesh (sense and reason without the Holy Spirit). You must acknowledge that you will never understand God’s ways. Quit “rewinding the tape” in your mind and choose to TRUST and OBEY.
Colossians 3:2
Romans 8:6
Isaiah 26:3
Isaiah 55:9
Romans 11:33

7. HURT & WOUNDED---------> BITTERNESS, UNFORGIVENESS, RAGE, HATE
Quickly choose forgiveness. This tool of the enemy is used on all believers because he wants to destroy relationships. Satan can’t steal your salvation but he can keep you from fulfilling your life’s purpose because you are busy nursing your wounds. Many Christians wear their wounds as badges of honor but in reality they are only honoring Satan and saying that Jesus is not enough to heal their hurts. “But you don’t understand”…….that’s right, nobody really understands your situation except God and He is capable of healing you everywhere you hurt if you allow Him. Quit replaying the offense in your mind and replace it with praise, prayer and the Word. Choose to get over it.
Matthew 6:14
Psalm 147:3
John 14:18


8. JEALOUSY & ENVY--------> COVETOUSNESS, LOVE OF THE WORLD, LACK OF
CONTENTMENT
Quickly replace any jealous thoughts with the truth that Christ is all sufficient. He is all that we need. You can’t love the world and the things of the world and still have a heart wholly devoted to Him. Boldly exclaim “I am content in Him” and praise and thank Him for all the blessings He has given you. Don’t allow the enemy to sew seeds of discontentment. Remember that true contentment only stems from being in the center of God’s will for you life. When envious or jealous thoughts arise, ask him to show you why. Be still and listen.
Philippians 4:11-13
Hebrews 13:5
1 john 2:15-17

9. DISCOURAGEMENT----------> DEPRESSION
You must quickly choose not to stay discouraged. Satan uses this tool on all believers – it is his mission to make you ineffective. Through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you and act of your will, you must choose to encourage yourself in the Lord. Praise, prayer and the Word are the weapons which drive discouragement away. Entertaining discouragement for any length of time is so dangerous because the “giant economy size” is depression and it’s effects on you and your family can be catastrophic. Choose to get up while you still can and put your hope in God’s Word and promises! Remember that your feelings will lie to you. Rain in your feelings! Trust in the Lord!!
Psalm 42 and 143
Lamentations 3:19-26
Joshua 7:10