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

Balancing Your Life - Lesson #6

“What Are You Stuffing Yourself With?”
Our family was getting ready to leave for the lake just after lunch on the 4th of July but we got a little distracted because of the annual hot dog eating contest on ESPN. Some families might keep background Christian music playing while they are in their homes; we tend to have Sports Center on autopilot at 1707 Wentworth. Just a little confession to feel cleaner. Anyway, I was trying to put my makeup on but couldn’t help but get in on the drama of the moment. Rusty and Will, my husband and oldest son, were glued to the tube (the youngest son was watching in the privacy of the attic) as the two top contestants were neck and neck stuffing themselves with hotdogs. As they stuffed another dog into their mouths a person behind them would change the number on the marker they were holding like the men at football games changing the down marker after each play. The intensity grew as they approached the final tick of the ten-minute giant digital clock. A crowd of thousands at Nathan’s on Coney Island cheered wildly as they frantically crammed more dogs and buns in washing them down as needed with water. It was not a pleasant sight to say the least. I was thankful that we would be served Boston Butt and ribs at the Epperson’s lake house not hot dogs. The six-time champion Takera Kobayashi was two dogs up on the defending champion Joey Chesnut with about a minute to go. It really seemed almost over for the American. When I say he looked pitiful I mean it. It looked like he was about to throw up but fighting through the apparent discomfort he continued to cram those dogs in one after another. The Japanese fellow looked refreshed as he doubled over his dogs and shoved them down his throat. It looked like he would retain the mustard-colored champions belt when at the last second the American tied up the score-59 hotdogs and buns in a mere 10 minutes. Yes history was made that moment on Coney Island. Never before in the 93 year history of the contest had there ever been a tie. Sudden death was to follow. Whoever got 5 extra dogs in the fastest would be declared the 2008 winner. The crowd was obviously pulling for the American-after all; it was the 4th of July. With the unbridled enthusiasm of an SEC crowd the New Yorkers cheered Chesnut to victory. The American was literally stuffed like a prize trophy; he was the champion of the day. Headlines in papers all across the land declared him a great American. You have to laugh to keep from weeping. If we’ve ever needed for God to bless America it’s now. It pains me to even record this “historical” event but I see some powerful spiritual analogies. I pride myself in saying that I would NEVER participate in such a ridiculous contest. Before the contest started ESPN’s Sports Center broadcasted for at least an hour with more details than you could ever imagine. Like discussing competing horses in the Kentucky Derby the pedigree of each dog eater was discussed ad nauseum. Some of the contestants looked entirely normal. One fellow was a spinal surgeon by profession. All of them had gone through extensive training to get on the stage of Nathan’s that day. There had been preliminary eat-offs in various other locals during the year. They purposed to be right where they were that hot July day. But they didn’t purpose to be there after they ate their first dog ever. At some point between 1 and 59 things got terribly out-of-balance. What about you? What are you “stuffing” your life with? “Did you start with the Spirit and are now trying to attain things by human effort? “ (Galatians 1:10) Could you be putting in so many other things that there’s little room for Him? Is intimacy with your heavenly Father something for just a select few? Is the world crowding out the Word in your life? Are you in competition with others to “get ahead “ in the world by cramming in all it has to tempt and offer to you? Are you striving each day to do more and more in less and less time? As I remember those two dog eaters cramming in more and more in the shortest time possible I can only think of people trapped by the world. They are moving faster and faster minute after minute for zero eternal significance. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
As I got in on the suspenseful final minutes of that silly contest with those men literally stuffing animal by-products into their mouths the Holy Spirit highlighted a sentence I had read in John Piper’s book ‘Hunger for God’ and it is as follows: “Your soul is stuffed with small things.” I will end this “hotdog eating” story with paragraphs taken directly from that book. Be still and listen for the Holy Spirit as He will convict the majority of us who live in America. My prayer is that you will do what He says.
“Desires for other things (the enemy) enter in and choke the Word (Mark 4:19)-the only weapon is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness in our hunger is not because He is unsavory but because we have kept ourselves stuffed with “other things.” What we hunger for most we worship. The birthplace of Christian fasting is homesickness for God. The greatest adversary of love to God is not His enemies but His gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God Himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable and almost incurable. The “pleasures of this life” and the desires for other things –these are not evil in themselves, these are gifts from God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV watching and internet surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of these can become deadly substitutes for God. When you take your stand on the finished work of God in Christ, and begin to drink at the River of Life and eat the bread of heaven, and know that you have found the end of all your longings you only get hungrier for God. The more satisfaction you experience from God, while still in this world, the greater your desire for the next. C.S. Lewis said, ‘Our best havings are wantings.’ The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ… the more homesick you get for heaven. If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestations of the glory of God, it is not because you drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things.”
Ann Allen Salter
July 7, 2008

Balancing Your Life - Lesson #5

“A Storm is Coming….What Will You Do?”

1. Storms are inevitable.

2. Storms vary in duration and intensity.

3. Storms are impossible to accurately predict. (Luke 8:22-24)

“There is nothing about a storm we are in control of except how we prepare for it and then how we choose to react to it.”

“We don’t have a clue!” verses:

Romans 11:33_____________________________________
1 Corinthians 13:12 _________________________________
Isaiah 55:8-8______________________________________

*2 Questions that are real faith-killers in a storm: WHY GOD WHY?/ WHEN GOD WHEN?

*You are whistling for the enemy if you choose to repeatedly engage and entertain these questions.

WHY DO STORMS EXIST?

1. To shape us : 2 Cor. 3: 18, Romans 5:3-5

2. To strengthen us : 2 Cor. 12:9-10, Habakkuk 3:17-19

3. To test our faith : James 1:2-4, 1 Cor. 10:13

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

1. Prepare ahead of time: Psalm 119:11,105 & 1 Peter 4:12-18

2. Seek shelter immediately: Psalm 32:7 & Psalm 91

“You can fellowship with the storm or God but not both.”

3. Wait for it to end: Psalm 37:7.34, John 14:27 & Psalm 107:28-30

“How you wait depends upon how much you trust your shelter?”

Ann Allen Salter

"Balancing Your Life" Class Lesson #4

“James and the Demo Cell Phone…Listening for His Father’s Voice”

Although I never saw the movie I do remember a title of a movie from years ago called “James and the Giant Peach.” Sounds like a silly movie but the title obviously stuck in my mind and so with that memory the title for this story quickly came to mind . Let me explain. Last Wednesday night when leaving church I was standing outside of the children’s wing talking with friends and watching some of their children play. The funniest site was watching the intensity of the youngest Treadwell child. James Treadwell is only 18 months old and he was running back and forth in the grass with his head up looking straight ahead while the entire time keeping a cell phone held tightly up to his right ear with his right hand. It looked like the arm and phone were super glued up there. He was intently listening not saying a word as he went about his 18-month old business. Since his mom and two brothers were right there I suppose that James was listening for the voice of his Daddy. I mean this went on for the entire time we were out there. We were trying to decide who was going to eat and where while all the time James was running around obviously very attached to his new piece of technology. I was startled when I first saw him because I feared he had taken his mom’s phone. Kelly informed me that at Costco a few days before the salesman had given all three of her boys demo cell phones. Thomas and Samuel liked theirs as well but with James the demo cell phone had literally stuck. I realized at that moment as I talked to Kelly that another “story” was being written. Oh I want to be like young James Treadwell listening intently all the time for the voice of my Father. Not just during my priority time first thing in the morning but all throughout the day and night. Constant communication with the Father is crucial because it’s how we get to know Him more and the only way to know his perfect direction and will for our life. Without His direction we are destined for one problem after another; or we’ll settle for the good versus the best. His ways are so much higher than ours. Could hearing God’s voice be as simple as holding a cell phone up to your ear all day long like baby James? Listening for God’s voice is as simple as A, B, C- A) Ask Him to speak- “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know(Jeremiah 3:33) B) Be still and listen. You must stop what you are doing and thinking and focus on hearing God. God’s voice is still and quiet and gets crowded out by a hurried body or mind. C) Come unto Him. Learning to listen for His voice will be one of the most valuable lessons you will ever learn in life. Invest much time and discipline in learning to listen. A wonderful book on the subject is Dr. Charles Stanley’s “How to Listen to God.” He points out 5 ways He can speak to you and greatly simplified they are as follows: 1) The Word- this is His primary way to speak to you. Meditating on the Word is one of the best ways you can hear His voice for divine guidance. “Meditate on it day and night so that you will be careful to do everything in it.” (Joshua 1:8) 2) The Holy Spirit (Promptings…speaks to your Spirit) –alive in you, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth if you will choose to obey. 3) Prayer -this is your relationship to Jesus-your lifeline to the Father. We all need to practice more time listening in prayer than speaking. Remember that hurry is the death of prayer. 4) Praise- God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3); it silences the enemy therefore allowing you to hear the Father’s voice and 5) People and circumstances -we need to camp out on this one for a minute. Please be careful with category #5. You better know the Word, have a powerful prayer life, and be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit or you could be easily deceived. The voice of God will never include anything contrary to principles of scripture. Remember that the Holy Spirit is your #1 counselor not any person. A much used scheme of Satan is to masquerade as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy your ability to hear and obey God’s counsel. Be very careful who you choose to listen to. Having warned you about this, please don’t be so paranoid that you fail to take seriously when God does speak to you through His servants who bring you confirmation or a prophetic word from the heart of God. Remember that the Holy Spirit is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8), and He will speak words of wisdom and knowledge through clean vessels as His Spirit leads.
Hearing God’s voice is as simple as A.B.C. Simply ask Him to speak, be still, and come unto Him continually just like baby James with the cell phone stuck to his ear. Your heavenly Father is madly in love with you. He created you for the primary purpose of relationship with Him. He is always whispering in His still small voice words of love, encouragement, healing, and deliverance. Shut out the world, keep your ears open to His voice and promptly obey when He speaks. Then and only then will you fall in love with Jesus, come to the end of every other longing, and fulfill your destiny. He is speaking….are you ready to listen? You’re in for the time of your life.
Ann Allen Salter
June 2008

"My Utmost for His Highest" Daily Devotional

We've added the link to the website for Oswald Chambers devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" to the links list on the right side of this blog site. (When I just re-read the title of this post, I had mis-typed "hightest" instead of "highest" - I bet Ann Allen could make a lesson out of that) The link will take you to the home page of the website where you can click on "Today's Reading" to get the devotion for that day. If you are looking for something to kick start your quiet times each day, this is one option. I hope you find it a blessing!
Melissa