Whatever

This quote from Wesley L. Duewel's book Mighty Prevailing Prayer continues to roll around my mind...


"Whatever gets you too busy for prayer time, whatever distracts you from holy prevailing, whatever robs you of hunger for God, for souls, and for time for prayer warfare is a hindrance to God and His kingdom. You cannot afford it." 


Whatever...


There is a verse in the Bible many call the Whatever verse. 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phil. 4:8

It ties in with the thought from Duewel. If we are focusing on the Phil. 4:8 Whatevers, we will not get too busy for prayer.. we will hunger for God.. because if we are focusing on these Whatevers, we are focusing on Him and His truths.


The next verse in Phil 4 strengthens Duewel's thought also... 

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. 

And the God of peace will be with you. Phil. 4:9

When we are in the Word... seeking, studying.. getting to know Jesus, we will see what He does.. He seeks the Father, He prays, He trusts God etc. and when we do what He did... when we put it into practice, we will be in prayer, hungering for God, participating in prayer warfare ...


As God has shown me over and over and over and over... it is about Him.. being in His Word and in Prayer with Him!

A One.. Two Punch

Catching up on my reading in the Daily Walk Bible today. This verse really grabbed me... 2 Kings. 17:41 "Even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols.  To this day their children and grandchildren do as their fathers did."  


WHOA!  Who or what am I serving today?  Work, money, media, computer, me (selfishness), food, laziness... the list in endless! 


And a reminder that what I do today affects the generations to come. What kind of legacy am I leaving?


Then I opened up the book Mighty Prevailing Prayer by Wesley L. Duewel and read this....


"Whatever gets you too busy for prayer time, whatever distracts you from holy prevailing, whatever robs you of hunger for God, for souls, and for time for prayer warfare is a hindrance to God and His kingdom. You cannot afford it." 


Again WHOA!  Obviously the Lord is telling me something here. Time for some soul searching... by the Holy Spirit! 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

See if there is any offensive way in me,   

 and lead me in the way everlasting.  Ps. 139:23-24

Time....

Stumbled across this today in an article I was reading on prayer and thought it was good... something to we all need to consider....

The question deals with finding time to pray...

Q. How do you find the time?

A. Time isn't found. It's chosen. We all get the same 24 hours a day. No one is too busy. They just busy themselves with different things by their choice. That's the tough news. From the Gospel accounts, Jesus appears to have regularly withdrawn for whole evenings of prayers. Do you think that you are busier than Jesus? I doubt it, so if He had the time, then you should be able to have the time. (from http://thepracticaldisciple.com/ )

Ouch? Yep.. Ouch! Like it or not we make time for the things we want to do and that we deem important. I am praying God moves in our hearts so that we see what is truly the most important.. that we will be like Mary and choose the better thing.. that we will seek first the Kingdom.

Week.... Weak...

A friend recently shared that she saw a sign that said something like "One week without God makes one weak." Cute play on words and very true statement. We need God... we need to meet with Him.. daily.. sometimes hourly, depending on our current circumstance. We need to meet with other believers for fellowship, encouragement, support, and accountability. We need to be in the Word daily and be putting it in us for those moments when we don't have Bible readily available (which is often when the enemy strikes).

If you have been away from God whether for a week or many, many weeks, the great news is He is right there ready to welcome you back with open arms. He wants to spend time with you... all it takes is your willingness to give up some personal time (computer, television, reading, sports, gaming, etc.) to spend with Him. It might be tough at first, but each day it gets easier and easier. I encourage you to spend time in the Word and in Prayer daily... meeting with God. And I encourage you to be connected to and involved with a local church for fellowship. I spent some time away from church. I did not realize how much I was missing until I allowed God to draw me back into a fellowship. We need that....Believers are not meant to fly solo!

Give God your weakness and your week! He will do amazing things with them!