Oswald Chambers on Prayer

We use prayer as a last resort; Jesus wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do; Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all. We are to pray during times of joy as well as sorrow. Jesus wants us to talk to Him, not so much about Him. He wants us to talk to Him about unbelievers before we talk to unbelievers about Him.
Oswald Chambers

Did you stay or walk away?

LUKE 17:11-19

In Luke 17, Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem and ten men who had leprosy met Him. He healed them all and yet only one came back and praised God that he was healed. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

When you had felt His touch, were you the one that returned or did you walk away? Sadly, there was a time in my life that I was one of the nine. When my daughter was born, she had a hole in one of her lungs and she was having trouble breathing. I remember the moment as if it was yesterday. It was raining outside and as my tears began to match the rain, I prayed, asking God to heal my daughter and I made so many promises to Him that I never kept.

He answered my prayers already knowing that my promises would fade once the danger had passed. Even though I walked away He never gave up on me because He already knew there would come a day when I would feel His touch again but this time I returned forever.

Guard your heart

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

23 Guard your heart above all else,for it determines the course of your life.

Guard your heart from becoming “hard”. The first time you do a wrong thing there is uneasiness within your soul. The more you repeat the wrong choice the less you feel uneasy. A hardened heart is whatever hurts God no longer hurts you.

Guard your heart from becoming “dull”. You become deaden to emotions. An example, next week is Easter and the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus will once again be told in our churches. Have you heard it so many times that it longer moves your emotions? God help us to never lose the power to feel the agony of the cross and the joy of the resurrection.

Guard your heart from becoming “rebellious”. It is possible to know right yet deliberately take the wrong way.

God save us from the darkened heart.

Image among the trees

I noticed in the leaves of a tree the formation that looked like a horse’s head. The wind blew forcefully and the image was gone. The limbs did not break and when the leaves gathered themselves again, the horse was now formed from the head to the shoulders. We are like the leaves that at times are blown and we lose our image, but if we bend and do not break we come back even stronger, even more complete.

Truth..Who do you listen to?

Genesis 3:10-11 NIV

"I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked?

I believe that God is saying to us, “it was not I that gave you a message of fear.” “I never taught you shame.” “Who has told you that you are less than?” “Who made you think that you could hide and more important that hiding could solve your problems?” Those voices you hear are not Mine and if you believe I taught you shame, fear and unworthiness then your truth is not my truth.