The library was just a few blocks from our home, and
since we had finished watching a video we decided to return it on the way to
church. Technically, it wasn’t due back
until Tuesday, but in case of snow it would be something we didn’t have to
concern ourselves with during the week.
Besides who would want to be responsible for withholding Anne of Green
Gables from anyone?
Traffic was pretty good for a New Year’s Day
morning. Hubby easily pulled up to the side
of the library and opened the return deposit box slipping the video into the
slot. Banging on the door a few times
the movie finally dropped into the bin.
Looking to my right I noticed a man standing outside my
friend’s church, which was located directly across from the library. His behavior was a little unsettling, not
because of something I thought was unusual but he looked as if he was waiting
for someone to show up and they hadn’t arrived.
Back and forth the gentleman turned his head checking out
his surroundings. My husband and I
watched the situation and began wondering what was really happening. Both of us felt that something was not
right.
A few moments later the man opened the church door and
went inside. Not feeling comfortable
about what we saw our church plans changed in an instant. “I
guess we know we’re we are going today.” I said as my husband made a quick
right into the church parking lot.
You see, this wasn’t only our friend’s church, the pastor
is our neighbor and my husband made a commitment to him that he would always
have his back (something that I wasn't aware of until later that day). Well, that confession was
about to be put to the test.
Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list.
New on DFB – Reservoir, VIC,
Australia; Afghanistan; Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa; Maracaibo, Zulia,
Venezuela; Suva, Central Division, Fiji; Germany; Kenya; Malaysia; Sweden;
France; Guyana; Seychelles; India; Slovakia; Netherlands; Pakistan; Cambodia;
Ethiopia; Jordan; Kharkov, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine; Berkhamsted, England,
United Kingdom; Greece.
USA
– Hanceville,South
Vinemont & Wilmer, AL; Red Bluff, CA; Sudbury, MA; Fruitport, Ionia & Whitehall,
MI; Crystal, MN; Hollis, NH; Jaars, Richlands & Thomasville, NC; Poteau, OK;
Doylestown, PA; Converse, SC; Strawberry Plains, TN; Elmina, Prosper & Sherman,
TX; Yakima, WA.
I am so thankful for your visit and hope that you come back each week to participate in the weekly challenges. Join us in our new series as we spend time in the study of Daily Favor Prayers.
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below. All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life. Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
Don't miss out on this week's challenge
(below).
In the Beginning
At the beginning of every year I’m full of joy in
anticipation as to what God is going to do and can’t wait to dive into new
projects. Oh who am I kidding … I get
that way every week. Just ask my
husband. Yesterday I asked him if he was
excited about re-roping the cat towers.
You can imagine the look I got!
As my story begins, this isn’t something that I would
have added to my Christian bucket list … or any list for that matter, but God
chose to begin the year His way as He does anyway and always!
The Unlikely Visitor
Opening the door to enter we were immediately brought
into a heated confrontation that has taking place in the middle of the corridor. The pastor was dealing with the man that we
saw outside of his church. Not getting
into his business, we proceeded to go into the sanctuary when a woman from the
church tugged my arm quietly pulling me aside.
Walking into the sanctuary, hubby had no idea that I
wasn’t behind him and began to talk to one of the members we
knew. Being a small city you get to know
the people and the churches in town.
After filling me in on the situation, I told the lady not
to worry and we’d take care of it. She
wasn’t exactly asking for my help, but being a friend of ours she felt it was
necessary to inform us about what had taken place that morning.
Now I wasn’t being prideful, but went into action for
what I had been trained for in dealing with special needs such as in
emotionally disturbed cases. The pastor
was calmly trying to “talk him down” when I observed the faces on the
congregation. They were distressed and
unfocused, but extremely concerned about the life of their pastor. What congregation wouldn’t be if they
witnessed this going on in their church?
Fashion Always Matters
Walking up to my husband who was engaged in deep
conversation with his friend, I motioned for him to come with me and said, “Follow my lead.” Without hesitation he tagged behind and we
stepped out into the vestibule area.
There was no question of what had to be done, and being
in the situation many times in the past hubby was spot on with his
actions. Spending a lot of time ministering
among the people in South Jersey and Philly streets was about to pay off for
us.
The first thing we needed to do was to separate the
pastor from the individual. Quickly my
husband stood between the two as I began to stir up a conversation with the
visitor distracting his attention so the pastor could leave the vicinity.
Addressing the pastor I intervened and suggested that he
was needed inside, and that he should go prepare the congregation for the
service. The pastor wasn’t sure if that
was what he should do, because he was concerned about the flock's safety and the
uninvited guest that was making his presence very well known. Assuring him that it was the right thing at
that time, he left us to take care of the situation.
Safely inside the sanctuary the pastor led his
people and the service finally began. It
was behind those doors that we learned why the traveler was so angry. He shared events that had happened in his
past and current situations that caused him to behave in such an unruly
manner.
Seeing that his body language was changing another
diversion was needed. Making sure to be in
a safe position I slowly took his hand and gently touched the top of it as I
softly spoke to him. Looking down from
his over six foot stance he looked me in the face, and as if a bird flew in
front of him as a distraction in a calm voice he said, “I like your sunglasses. They’re
really cool.” It always pays to be
in fashion!
Unwelcome Spirits
Taking over the conversation my husband asked the visitor
some questions keeping the backpack of the visitor in his vision. While listening I noted the young man’s
clothing, appearance and overall look.
He was dressed nicely, his clothes were in fashion and clean. There was no sign of alcohol or drugs that we
could detect, but there were definitely “unwelcome spirits” present.
To look at him you couldn’t tell that he was
not in his right frame of mind, but listening to his speech there was something
distinctly wrong. The possessions he was
carrying weren’t ones that could be sold or distributed on the streets, if you
get my drift.
When I asked him if he was from this area he was quick to
tell me of his current living conditions, thus the needed backpack setting by
his feet in the corner. His travels for
justice had taken him across the country leaving his mark from state to
state. Raising his voice he was
passionate about the things he spoke and even rattled on without error large
quotes from the Bible. Aww… but even satan
knows scripture!
He had done his homework and used specific passages to
justify and promote the vengeance that was in his heart and on his mind. He demanded respect and felt mercy had been
violated therefore warranting his actions that were to come.
Talking him out of his plans I convinced the stranger to come
inside and worship with us. You might
not think it was a sound thing to do, but at that point the Holy Spirit was
leading me to do this.
Grabbing his backpack, with a smile on his face he stated
he was glad to join us. Observing where
I was about to sit he glanced at my husband and slipped into the pew in front
of us. Sitting down he settled back and
stretched his very long arms out along the back of the pew making himself right
at home.
Whew … had we weathered the
storm?
The Status Quo Has Changed
My husband sat directly behind the young man with me
moving about three or four feet to his right putting some distance between
us. Making sure that the man’s hands and
backpack were always in clear view, hubby kept an eye on him remaining poised
to go into action lest something started to go amiss.
The congregation geared their attention toward the man my
husband was talking to earlier. He asked
for song requests among the congregants and I called out, “It should be a song of praise.”
Rising we began to sing every verse of the first and second selections.
We watched as the visitor sang the songs as if he knew
them, but something happened when we sang the words “Holy Spirit.” Putting down the hymnbook the man latched
onto his backpack and abruptly left the sanctuary, with hubby following right
behind him. The status quo had changed
and both my husband and I knew it.
I’m Diving in … Going Deep Lord!
The congregation stopped singing and sped into panic mode
as the pastor swiftly made his way out into the corridor. I watched as the sheep lost focus when their
shepherd left the room. Taking the leap
of faith I stepped out prepared to let the Holy Spirit take charge through me, and
called for the congregation to make their way to the altar at the opposite end
of the room.
From the outer hall we could hear an up roaring with the
man’s voice rising to a shout. No longer
did he hold back, but had risen to the point of violence like angry ocean waves
crashing down to destroy anything in its path, only water was nowhere in sight
and there were no wild “pigs” among us.
We didn’t know what we were walking into that day, but like
the rains from Heaven that morning, the river of God had carried us there for a
reason. I wasn’t sure why but I was
excited and invigorated; God had answered my prayers of discouragement as to my
usefulness and He was about to be glorified through His servants.
“That’s my son,” the reverend's mother called
out. I could almost imagine Mary, the
mother of Jesus when she witnessed her son being taken away to be nailed to the
cross. How her heart must have been
breaking as she called out to him not being able to stand in the gap for His
safety.
Disregarding what I was hearing and seeing, the Spirit of
the Lord led my steps as to what we were to do.
“Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor;
be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving
the Lord.
Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and
patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:11-12
AMPC)
Wanting
to rush to his side, I took hold of the woman’s arm urging her to turn around
and come with me to the front of the auditorium. “I
know he's your son; it’s going to be all right and the best way to help him is to enter the
Throne room of God and intercede for him.”
One
by one the people obeyed and gathered hand-in-hand to enter into prayer. I began to pray aloud, but
as I did the Holy Spirit led me to pray over the faith of those who stood in
the midst of this ordeal. I thanked Him
for their faithfulness and servanthood as I continued to call on the promises
of God through His shield of protection and favor.
The prayer seemed to last forever and the grip of the
hands I held got tighter as my voice uttered the power of the Holy Spirit to
protect and form a shield around His people.
I was fully aware that my husband was in danger, but never feared for
his safety. God was with us, and His
peace overflowed in my spirit with compassion as I prayed in agreement for the
troubled soul who entered this dwelling.
The Word of the Lord
I could hear that the disturbance at the back of the
sanctuary had calmed, but was still involved. When I finished the prayer the
people remained gathered around me. It
was then the Holy Spirit had me ask about their vision and preparedness for the
future of the church in situations such as this. At that time I didn’t know that this was
something the pastor wanted to discuss with their “changing” church.
Could God count on them to be bold warriors when
encountering difficult situations, or would they be like so many other churches
and turn these people away never giving any thought for the soul that could be
lost for eternity? Would they be
servants God could use or a wussy church that wanted to live in a bubble and
not see any of the messy things in life?
With smiles on their faces, shortly afterward the pastor
and my husband returned to the sanctuary.
Not knowing what happened to dissuade the intruder, the people were
still afraid and two men had locked the doors to the building. At that point the congregation was relieved
and ready to make haste in getting out of there, when the pastor said he was going
to close in prayer and dismiss us.
This was a test from the Lord for the readiness of His
people to be prepared for the end times and I didn’t want to fail it. The distraction from satan wasn’t going to
stop the work of God in this church, and again I spoke out in boldness.
“Oh no … I came to hear from God.” Looking at the pastor I humbly said, “Didn’t
you spend time with the Lord? What did
He say to you? I’m not leaving until I
hear what God has told you.”
I walked back to my seat and watched as the others
returned to theirs as well. The spirit
in the church changed and we couldn’t wait to hear what God had revealed to
His servant to share with us. Even though
it was late, the pastor spoke with wisdom on the peace of God that dwelled among
us continuing a message from the previous week on Luke chapter two: “Where is
the Peace?”
He spoke on how we are to do things in love with
the help of the Holy Spirit. His message shared how God’s children are to live in
peace among people and how we aren’t to become derailed when evil distractions
come. Hindsight would have worked here!
The understanding of a
situation or event only
after it has happened or developed!
How appropriate for the situation, and exactly why the
devil didn’t want this word to be spoken to the church. The Word of the Lord indeed refreshed and
renewed us as the Holy Spirit drove home the message we lived out that morning.
To the Current Church
Today I’m writing this to the church for the end times. If we are to be used by God, He will always
send people into our lives to cause us to live out His Word and the faith we
declare through Christ Jesus. Some
situations may not be easy, but that’s when we are to step up our game into the
next level through prayer.
When we walked into church last Sunday our hearts and
minds were set on doing whatever God wanted us to do for Him that day. We didn’t anticipate what would take place,
but prayerfully were prepared.
What you may not realize is that we pray daily over the
people on our street, which includes our neighbor who is the pastor of that particular
church. Before he entered that church
building on January 1st the prayer of God’s favor shield had already
gone before him. Although we didn’t know
the events that were about to take place, God did.
The Loving Shepherd
That Sunday the pastor’s message extended into the
passage in Romans on the behavior of God’s people when they encounter
things that are unlovely and wicked.
The Apostle Paul shares the mind of Christ with us on how we are never
to lack confidence, zeal or react in fear to anything satan tries to throw our
way.
“Let your love be sincere (a real thing); hate
what is evil (loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness),
but hold
fast to that which is good.
Love one another with brotherly affection (as
members of one family), giving precedence and showing honor to one another.
Contribute to the needs of God’s people (sharing
in the necessities of the Saints); pursue the practice of hospitality.”
(Romans 12:9,10,13 AMPC)
After the congregation had left we spent some
time with the pastor. I expressed how
the first thing I wanted to do was to feed the boy; his thoughts were the
same. Giving word that he had eaten the
pastor gave him a bottle of water. The
conversation took a twist with both of us being teachers, and we began to
dissect the situation as we would with a child in distress.
Obviously there is much more to this story
than I am able to reveal as to why fear went rampant that Sunday morning, but I
can share this with you. The pastor told
us that the man never asked for anything of him materially and in fact had his
own wad of cash stashed inside his coat pocket.
We didn’t find out the contents of his backpack, but learned from the
police that he was on the FBI watch list (wanted) for situations involving
Washington, D.C and the president. So
you can kind of tell … it was a big deal to some people!
Everywhere this man went he was treated as a
threat and removed from the premises, yet he was still free to roam the country. Was this the only church that ever prayed for
his soul! Is this the sort of place God
is looking to use to shower favor on in the midst of trials and tribulation?
I was so proud (in a godly way) of how the
pastor handled this situation with kindness and love, despite how he was being
treated by this individual.
14 Bless those who persecute you (who
are cruel in their attitude
toward
you); bless and do not curse them.
16 Live in harmony with one another;
do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust
yourself to (people, things)
and give yourselves to humble tasks.
Never overestimate yourself
or be wise in your own conceits.
17 Repay no one evil for evil, but
take thought for what is honest and
proper and noble (aiming to be
above reproach)
in the sight of everyone.
18 If possible, as far as it depends
on you,
live at peace with everyone.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave the way open for
(God’s) wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is
Mine,
I will
repay (requite), says the Lord.
20 But if your enemy is hungry, feed
him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning
coals upon his head.
21 Do not let yourself be overcome by
evil,
but overcome (master) evil with good.”
(from Romans
12 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition AMPC)
What a wonderful way
to begin a new year with the shield of favor wrapped tightly around God’s
people for protection and deliverance!
God had worked in the heart of a loving young shepherd who had spent
time in fellowship with The Great Shepherd Jesus, through prayer and studying
the Bible. We witnessed him walking out
the Word of God before he ever preached a word!
This Week’s Challenge:
Dive in to Daily
Favor Prayer
I’m truly excited about
what God is going to do in this year that He has graciously given us. In my
time with the Lord I’ve asked Him what our focus should be. Every step
I’ve taken has led me back to the Throne of grace and the Daily Favor of God
given to us through prayer.
With that in mind, I
hope you will follow along as we “unwrap the mysteries” of Daily Favor prayers
over the coming weeks. As the end time
church we need to be prayerfully prepared for whatever or whomever comes our
way, so that the Word of the Lord reaches every soul, everywhere!
Are you ready to dive
into the glorious plans of God through the work of the power of the Holy
Spirit? Let’s go …
Our first challenge of the year is to begin in
prayer. To help get ready for the new
things that God is about to do in our lives this year, I’d like to share with
you an inspirational prayer of deliverance and protection from my brother in
Christ Jahmadar Cassie. Pray
this prayer daily declaring it to be so by faith in your life.
Behold,
God is thy Helper
and the
Lord is with them who faithfully uphold thy soul;
The Lord
hear thy prayer,
give ear
to the words of thy mouth and honor the petitions
of those
standing in the gap for thee;
He shall
continually keep thee no matter thy lot
and shall
duly make a way ...
even when
none seemingly exists!
He is God
of the impossible!
God is looking for people that will allow Him to do new
things in their lives so that His favor of salvation can be shared with every
nation. Are you willing to be
swept away by God’s Holy grace (favor) to experience all that He wants for your
life? Let’s begin by going deep in
prayer and watch how God releases His Daily Favor on our lives this year.
Be forewarned, the supernatural new thing may begin in
your very own church or home and it certainly won’t be what you expected! How will you react to the unlikely “visitor”
He sends your way? By prayer and faith
we can do this!
It’s time to be prepared … be very prepared!
“Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
forth; do you not perceive and
know it and will you not give
heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert
(…
or even in the church)."
(Isaiah 43:19 AMPC)
Dive by Steven Curtis Chapman
If this article has encouraged or helped you, please
consider sharing it by using the social media icons provided at the end of this
post.
Until next time, prepare for God’s favor
in prayer!
“Seek me in prayer and reap the favor of My presence.”
Jesus Christ
*Unless
noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual(s) privacy.
Note: Emphasis
is given in some scriptures to show clarity or understanding and is not to take
away from the inspirited Word of God.
When used,
the words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him
no place in our lives.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
What’s New This Week: Click
on the photo or link.
The
Master's Plan for Daily Prayer
by
Larry Kreider
Available in paperback or eBook.
Maybe you don’t know the Living God that I
know, but would like to have this kind of favor in your life also. Click on the above tab “Tell Me” for more
information on becoming a child of the Savior.
Content and Image Copyright from Favored1. Do not copy.
Scripture
reference was taken from the New King James Bible Version provided by Gateway Bible.Image credit: Google Images or Dreamstime Creative Common License if not specified.
Image: Rapairing A Cat Scratching Post Cat Wearing Sunglasses Status Quo Hindsight Follow the Shepherd
Disclaimer Notes: Results may vary due to lack of belief.
Daily Favor Prayer, Teaching Series, The Favored Shield Weapon, Favored1, Daily Favor Blog, Prayer, United Prayer, Happy New Year, Steven Curtis Chapman, Christian Living, Inspiration, Larry Kreider, Repairing A Cat Scratching Post, Anna of Green Gables the Continuing Story.
