11 Jan Online Prayer, 8 DAYS OF ENCOUNTER, Wednesday, January 9, 2019
(Eight Days For A New Beginning)
James 4:8 NKJV
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Galatians 5:22-23 NASB
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Introduction:
The #8 in Scripture represents a new beginning, a place of starting over, where second chances await. Our earnest endeavor during these eight days is to encounter the living God—to know Him and make Him known. But also to cultivate a vineyard that will reproduce the fruit of the Spirit in its various varieties in due seasons. From the walk in the Garden, to the close encounter at the Burning Bush, to the Fourth Man in the fiery furnace, and the stranger on the road to Emmaus. God has been seeking for those to encounter His manifest presence. He never originally intended for rituals, routines, or ceremonies to be the protocol to His presence. God has always desired for us to know Him where deep calls to deep seeing Him face to face. It would be appropriate to say that God seeks for us to “experience experiences” with Him intimately!
The law of physics reveals: “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. The same is true in the realm of the spiritual universe. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (Jam. 4:8). It is when we encounter His manifest presence that worldly pleasures fade, earthly treasures fail, and things once considered gains become losses when weighed against knowing Him.
To encounter God we must come away from the superficial, natural, and normal ways into a focused, intense, and sustained time of drawing near to Him! Here is where Henry Blackaby wrote: God is must glorified when we are most satisfied with Him.
When Jesus proclaimed “It is finished” on the cross the veil of the temple was torn top to bottom. God again is inviting us to experience Him, not through religion or second-hand relationship through another person, but spirit to spirit face to face. We have long believed we were waiting on Him to draw near and visit us when the truth is He is waiting for us to draw near to Him. Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; it is the glory of rulers to search a matter out.
For the next 8 Days we will search out the mysteries of God and be found of Him to be bearing the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit is proof positive that our HEARTS, RELATIONSHIPS, and CHARACTER are ground, good and fertile, poised to produce much fruit and have fruit that will remain. This perpetual encounter will create new pathways where our pleasures becomes eternal treasures in reward. As in most things, you will get out of these 8 days what you put into them! Get focused, stay intense, and finish well. It’s time to experience experiences with God! It’s time for a close encounter of a divine kind!
HEART ISSUES
Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
Keep your HEART with all diligence. For out of it spring the ISSUES of life.
Out of the heart springs the issues of life. The issues of life are the issues of the heart. When we get our heart right everything else falls in place. To this end God searches: The eyes of the Lord run to and from through the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him (1 Chron. 16:9). Martin Luther taught that reformation of a nation begins with the reformation of the heart. He contended that the mind was an essential element in proclaiming the gospel but one would do well to look to the heart first. The heart is the well from which the mind draws. If the well be polluted then the mind is compromised.
Today we plough up the uncultivated ground of our hearts and implant the Seed of the Word in good, noble ground to experience 30, 60, 100-fold increase. It is the heart that bears most fruit where God the Father is most glorified and we are most satisfied with Him. It’s time to pull weeds and plant seeds and nurture our hearts to bear the fruit of the Spirit with all diligence—for out of it flow the issues of life!
DAY ONE, January 6, 2019
LOVE
LOVE (agapetōs) – beloved; dearly loved; divine love which is the purest of loves that is unconditional, steadfast, and never fails; it is the instinctive character and nature of the God of love to have affection towards His own and to demonstrate that love in laying down His life, bestowing gifts, heritage, and inheritance
Mark 12:29-31 NKJV
“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Brief: Love is the gravity of the spiritual universe. It is among the most powerful forces known to man. Love is our greatest asset or worse liability. According to Jesus, the command to love God, self, and neighbor is the first and the covering commandment over all others. Love covers a multitude of sins, in that, it restrains us from violating love’s nature and frees us to do as we incline as there is no law against it, for the law of God’s love is above all. Finally, love is the bond of perfection because that which we love most over time we grow to resemble. Love never fails in both good and evil.
LEARNING TO LOVE GOD
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
- Revelation 2:4 NIV – Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Lord, we repent of leaving our first love to go after competing loves and conflicting affections. Today, we make loving You first priority.
- 2 John 6 NIV – And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. Lord, teach us what true love is and to learn to love You by loving Your commands, to offer ourselves as living sacrifices in intelligent acts of worship and reasonable service to the Lordship of Christ, and lay down our lives for the One Who laid down His life for us.
- Colossians 3:13-14 – Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these things put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Lord, grace us to make love the adhesive that binds mercies, humility, forbearance, benevolence, gratitude, and forgiveness together in unity in us and among us.
- Acts 13:22, 36 NIV – I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do. For when David served God’s purpose in his own generation he fell asleep. Lord, our lives are in Your hand, our hearts are in your keeping; create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us, search us, try us, and know us; give us an undivided heart after Your name; cleanse our hands and purify our hearts to see You as You are and to be able to ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in the holy place. In love, we seek to have heart after Your own heart and fulfill God’s purpose for our generation.
LEARNING TO LOVE OURSELVES
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
- John 13:34 TPT – So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. Lord, help us to learn to love others the same way and just as much as You have loved us for we cannot give what we have not received. Freely we will receive so we can freely give. May we rightly love ourselves, so we can rightly love others because we can’t love others if we don’t love ourselves as You do.
- 2 Timothy 3:1-2 Amplified – But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered… Lord, teach us to love ourselves, not as selfish, self-centered idols, but the way You freely loved us so we can freely love one another with that selfsame love.
- Ephesians 5:28-29 NKJV – For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His flesh and bones. Lord, help us to learn to love ourselves the way You have loved us so we can love others in like manner; teach us how to refresh our spirit, restore our soul, and renew our mind, and replenish our bodies that we can prosper and be in health, even as our soul prospers.
- 1 John 4:19 NIV – We love because he first loved us. Lord, teach us to love the things You love, hate the things You hate; we chose to love Your commands by learning to obey what is written and spoken to us by Your voice to have Your love perfected in us so we will have confidence on the day of judgment.
LEARNING TO LOVE OTHERS
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
- 1 Peter 4:8 NIV – Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Lord, help us to possess the love poured out on us through Holy Spirit so that the way we love will protect us from the perversions of love and filter our love to pure love for others the way You loved us.
- John 15:12 – My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Lord, teach us never to calculate our love to others but freely give as we were freely given and have freely received; remove prejudice, bias, racial animosity, partiality, dishonor, self-righteousness, and spiritual pride so our love will not be half-hearted or a contaminated well.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:12 – May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. Lord, may our love be sincere towards others without hypocrisy, not seeded with legalism or limitations of selfish love; help us to understand that love grows as it is exercised and that the greatest gift of love are acts of pure love in living sacrifices.
DAY TWO, January 7, 2019
JOY
JOY (chara) – cheerfulness; calm delight; gladness; an anointing that exceeds circumstances and can even be experienced in sorrow and mourning; holy happiness; wellness, wholeness, and holiness that produces rejoicing and great delight in satisfaction and fulfillment.
Isaiah 12:2-3 NKJV
Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid;
For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.
Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.
Brief: Joy is the serious business of heaven and the essential source that Satan daily seeks to drain out of us. The Bible says, the joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh. 9:10). Therefore, when the adversary seeks to devour our strength he sifts the gift of joy. Joy has a spiritual fluidity. Joy is the only commodity that multiplies as it is divided and distributed. Although there are myriads of means of temporal happiness, the joy of the Lord is an anointing that is self-contained and remains as its wells are drawn from. (Excerpt from Knowing God, J. I. Packer)
THE JOY OF KNOWING I AM LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Jeremiah 31:3 – Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Father, thank you that You so loved us that You sent Your Son to die on the cross for us and Your Holy Spirit has poured out Your love in full measure to us; You cannot love us any more or any less; Your steadfast love never ceases and You love us, not because we are good, but because You are good as we are being perfected in love. Therefore, with great JOY we rejoice in knowing we are loved and accepted in the Beloved; I am My Beloved’s and He is mine!
THE JOY OF LEARNING GODLY CONTENTMENT
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Philippians 4:11-13 NIV – …I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty — I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Lord, teach us to learn the secret of contentment, to not allow our happiness to be limited to our happenings, material things, or on human beings, but on You and You alone. We believe that when You have all of us we have all of You and You are enough to satisfy our every longing; we have learned that godliness with contentment is great gain and to lose anything for Christ is to gain everything for eternity—for through Him we can do all things!
THE JOY OF HAVING GREAT WORTH
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
1 Peter 1:18-19 NKJV – …knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb… Father, we draw great joy from the well of knowing we were bought at a price being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb which makes us priceless and holding great weight of worth because of the life that was weighed in the balance on our behalf.
THE JOY OF GIVING GREAT WORTH
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Acts 20:35 – …remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Father, help us to exercise the joy of rejoicing in knowing there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life and no greater joy than to give sacrificially which is our best imitation of You!
DAY THREE, January 8, 2019
PEACE
PEACE (eirene) – to join peace; quiet prosperity; harmonious inner being and relationship with God and men; a sense of resting; contentment; freedom established on a Person that is self-contained; it does not denote the absence of conflict rather the overwhelming presence of God’s shalom; a state of completeness, perfection, integrity, serenity, security, supernaturally passing human understanding and worldly circumstances.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 TPT
Now, may the God of peace and harmony set you apart, making you completely holy. And may your entire being—spirit, soul, and body—be kept completely flawless in the appearing of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. The one who calls you by name is trustworthy and will thoroughly complete his work in you.
Brief: Peace is not a possession of God, it is who God is. Just as God is love, He is also peace, For He Himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14a). The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom” which is all inclusive of serenity, security, and an inner calm. However the shalom of God goes above and beyond these, in that, it literally translates into a state of being complete, lacking nothing; something totally sound; containing integrity within itself without fracture, failure, or flaw; its presence displaces divisions, chaos, strife, animosity, anger, and demonic activity; its weight crushes Satan under our feet and its presence creates a pathway forward into an abiding security and prosperity. It is supernatural because it passes understanding and surpasses circumstances being self-producing and self-enclosed.
PEACE AS A GUARD
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will GUARD your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Lord, we allow the rulership of Your shalom to be the security guard, the Prince protector of integrity, and the umpire who stands at the gate of our minds and hearts evicting intruders and permitting the good fruit and giftings of Holy Spirit entry and entirety to remain. We let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts!
PEACE AS A GUIDE
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
1 Peter 3:10-12 – For He who would love life… Let him turn away from evil and do good; LET HIM SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT. God of all peace—You will soon crush Satan under our feet, therefore, help us remain in the safe-keeping of shalom and never be driven by anything, but in everything be led by peace through the Spirit of Adoption being that we are called to peace. Our peace is enclosed in the strongtower of Your name, Prince of Peace, through whom we have peace with God; the legal documents of our condemnation were nailed to the cross, and Christ made a public spectacle of our adversary at the cross triumphing over him. Thank you that Your shalom even now is working to accomplish that which concerns us to establish and make us complete, withholding no good thing, lacking nothing.
PEACE AS A GOVERNOR
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Isaiah 26:3 Exegesis Literal Parallel – Him You will keep in shalom, shalom, whose mind is set on You, because he trusts You. Father, we find solace, security, and safety under the rule and rein of Your great peace that passes understanding and surpasses circumstances; as we set up our minds on You, You quiet our thoughts and calm our emotions; the governor of Your peace settles how we feel and gives us a sound mind to think clearly. We trust You with everything and we lean not to our own understanding in nothing because our peace in founded on our trust in You alone. Col. 3:15 Let the peace of God RULE in your hearts…
PEACE AS A GARNER
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Romans 5:1-5 NLT – Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Lord, by faith we have the total package of peace because of what Christ Jesus has done for us. We thank You that when we believed on Him You downloaded in us all of peace in His Person. Today we pray to garner or accumulate the fruit of peace as we pass through development of endurance, strengthening of character, and to hope of salvation completed in us. We unpack where we sow in peace the fruit of righteousness to put away self-seeking attitudes, envy, confusion, and lying to ourselves and others. We will collect the peace we have in Christ line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little until peace overflows our hearts and minds like a river.
RELATIONAL ISSUES
Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified
For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another.
For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.
Brief: The Psalmist wrote, You formed my inmost parts…My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth (Ps. 139: 13, 15 NASB). Our Creator crafted us with a Genetic Code, a.k.a. DNA. Not only does our DNA determine our physical attributes and psychological and intellectual faculties it likewise contains the hidden instructions of our need for relationships. Dr. Gary Smalley calls this The DNA of Relationships. The DNA Code is as follows:
- You were made for relationships.
- You were made with the capacity to choose.
- You were made to take responsibility for yourself.
From Scripture we learn that God created us for relationships with Himself and with one another. The measure of our maturity as the redeemed of the Lord is revealed in the quality of our relationships, our capacity to choose wisely, and taking responsibility in all righteous, good, and truthful things, especially in relationships; Living by the golden rule and the royal law of love, you shall love your neighbors as yourself (Jam. 2:8), is where we are at our utmost for His Highest. As fallen creatures we are incapable, outside of grace, of perfect relationships because of corrupted self-love. But possessing a new heart, renewed minds, and a restored soul we can, by the measure of grace we receive, love each other the way God loved us in Christ.
As we pray into Relational Issues we must measure all of our relationships by the maturity of our fruits; we must remember we have the capacity to choose and choosing is the harvest field from which we sow and reap; we must resolve to take personal responsibility for what we choose and how we treat those around us, and we must stop with denials, excuses, and justifying bad behavior, devaluing others, and being peacetakers instead of peacemakers. Our quest is: “We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly”–Sam Keen. This is how Jesus sees us. His quest is to perfect love in us to make us perfect on the Day of Judgment. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. (Jude 24)
DAY FOUR, January 9, 2019
PATIENCE
PATIENCE (makrothumia) – longsuffering; forbearance; the power to refrain and restrain in waiting; fortitude in pausing or waiting until something occurs or overlooking when delays persist
PATIENCE AND PERFECT WORK
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
James 1:3-4 KJV– Knowing this, that the trying of faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Lord, we observe that patience is a type of a spiritual womb where we can obtain what faith has hoped for. Give us wisdom to not run ahead nor fall behind where patience is having her perfect work; we give You advance praise and thanks for knowing all things are working together for our good because You are good. As faith is found in the incubation of divine timing and patience it grants us grace to persevere pass feelings and thoughts and endure people and circumstances till expectations are experienced.
PATIENCE AND POSSESSING THE SOUL
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Luke 21:19 – In your patience possess your souls. Lord, I choose to allow the fruit of patience work so fully in me so that I can tolerate difficult people hoping to help them and endure the foolish and ignorant using their agitations only to polish my rough edges refining me in the formation of Christlike in relationships; that through my steadfastness, forbearance, and endurance I will be unoffendable, inaccessible from my enemies, and not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.
PATIENCE AND PROMISES
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Hebrews 6:12 – …Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Lord, grant me wherewithal to run my respective course of the race marked before me with an eternal perspective as those who ran before me and the promises I’m running into. Because I’ve chosen a persistent faith I can take hold of that which has taken hold of me and no devil, detour, or delay can stop me from hearing my Lord say, “Well done, good, and faithful servant! Because you have been faithful in the little things. I will give you charge of great things. Enter into the joy of the Lord!”
PATIENCE IN SEASONS
(Scriptures/Prayer Points)
Galatians 6:9 – Let us not become weary in well-doing, for we shall reap in due season if we faint not. Lord, I will allow the work of patience to have her perfect work in me because as I wait on You I grow stronger, my harvest is nearer, and my promises well worth the wait.
DAY FIVE, January 10, 2019
KINDNESS
KINDNESS (chrestoēs) – goodness; gentleness; benevolent; caring and sharing; excellence in character and countenance;
a lovingkindness which encompasses one’s words, demeanor, and actions.
Ephesians 4:32 NIV
BE KIND and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
COMPELLED BY KINDNESS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Romans 2:4 NIV – Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Lord, we repent if we have shown contempt to the kindness and tolerance You have shown towards us again and again; we realize that Your kindness leads us to repentance and compels us to continue to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Thank you that because Your compassions fail not we are not consumed and Your mercies are new every morning.
CONSIDERING HIS KINDNESS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Romans 11:22 NIV – Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Lord, we pause today and consider the kindness documented for us by forgiving us our sins and removing them as far as the east is to the west and having compassion on our weaknesses, lawlessness, and wayward ways; today we will continue in the kindness You have shown towards us by having found us faithful stewards of the trust given us, good and dependable servants, and those found serving and occupying until You return.
CARING WITH KINDNESS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
2 Peter 1:5-11 NKJV –But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lord, we pour ourselves into kindness so that You can pour Your kindness into us; we will add goodness to our faith, and goodness to knowledge, and knowledge to self-control, and self-control to perseverance; and to perseverance godliness, and godliness to brotherly kindness. For this is our intention to make every effort in grace to possess these qualities so these qualities can possess us in increasing measure. Because these qualities culminate in brotherly kindness we will be kept from becoming ineffective and unproductive and we will not forget the kindness and compassion shown towards us at the cross and across Today.
CONSECRATED BY KINDNESS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Titus 3:3-6 NIV – At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior… Lord, because Your lovingkindness is better than life, we will praise You and bless You for the favor You have shown towards us; we will seize each moment and make the most of every opportunity to be gracious, generous, and gentle especially towards those who are undeserving, difficult, or deceived. We will conduct random acts of kindness in a harsh, coarse, lawless culture; instead of killing others with hatred we chose to kill them with kindness – to heap burning coals into their lap and overcoming hatred with love and wickedness with kindness.
DAY SIX, January 11, 2019
GOODNESS
GOODNESS (agathosne)— uprightness of heart and life; a fundamental disposition of positive outcomes and right intentions expressed in generous selfless acts towards others; a moral characteristic that benefits others in a variety of ways (i.e. to the least of these, to one’s enemies, to show tough love for a greater good.)
GOODNESS AND GIFTS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
James 1:17 NIV – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Lord, everything that comes from You is good because You are good and do good; You are working all things together for my good; Thank you for being good to me, not because I am good, but because You are good all the time and all the time You are good! There is no shadow of turning in Your goodness; You are the God of goodness and You change not! Happiness is a by-product of your goodness!
GOODNESS AND TASTE
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Psalm 34:8 NKJV – Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Lord, we have tasted of Your goodness and know that when trials and tribulations come our way or if we are in a wilderness or walking through the valley of the shadow of death that Your goodness is the same yesterday, and today, and forever! You prepare a table in the wilderness before our enemies and our cup of Your goodness is overflowing!
GOODNESS AND LIGHT
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Ephesians 5:8-10 NKJV – You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Lord, we will soak in Your goodness, righteousness, and truth until we become saturated so that we can walk as children of light in a dark and depressed world; let our goodness not just be good intentions of the flesh but born of bearing the fruit of goodness that our goodness will remain.
GOOD GROUND
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Mark 4:20 NKJV – But these are the ones sown on GOOD GROUND, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred. Lord, we plough up our uncultivated heart today in repentance and humility so that we can continue to bear good fruit in repentance that our hearts be good ground where Your implanted word can reproduce 30, 60, or 100-fold for Your glory and that our fruit remain.
CHARACTER ISSUES
Galatians 4:19 Amplified
My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs
UNTIL CHRIST IS COMPLETELY AND PERMANENTLY FORMED (molded) WITHIN YOU.
There are 3 YOU’s:
- The YOU YOU SEE
- The YOU OTHERS SEE
- The YOU GOD SEES
The way you see “yourself” is incomplete because we all have blind spots. The “you “others see is not in full feature because there are hidden things we keep in our private world. The “you” God sees is the real you in a living, breathing, dynamic, organic scope from beginning to end. This is all three together from God’s eternal perspective.
There are 3 Arenas in which your world evolves and where God is working in you, both, to will and to do of His good purpose:
- Your Temperament: The DNA that makes you unique and significant passed to you at the time of conception.
- Your Personality: The public you shaped by background and development openly over time by adaptation.
- Your Character: The you that has been formed and refined around your convictions and God’s commands to prove your character formation in Christ.
The issues of Character is where Holy Spirit moved Paul to intercede for the church in Galatia until Christ was formed completely and permanently. The character is where motives are conceived, movements are birthed, and momentum towards an intentional end are sustained. It never pays to cheat on character issues for lack of development or flaws permitted there eventually collapse under the stress fractures of problems, irritations, and responsibilities.
The issue surrounding character, which needs daily to be placed on the Potter’s Wheel, is for it to be effectually modified in four areas: Your Private World, Your Present Reality, Your Future Possibilities, and Your Eternal Destiny of Stored Treasure. It is here where we pray to there.
DAY SEVEN, January 12, 2019
FAITHFULNESS
FAITHFUL (pistis/pistōs) – credence; conviction; reliance; fidelity of belief, truth, and relationship; trustworthy; validity of proven character based on stewardship of a trusted responsibility
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 NKJV
Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
FAITHFUL IN THE LEAST
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Luke 16:10, 12 NKJV – He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? Lord, help us to learn that our faithfulness, in things large and least, as extensions of ourselves and the measure by which where we are found as stewards of the trust; help us to remember that You can never trust us with more until we are faithful with the trust we have.
FAITHFUL AS GOD
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:3-4 NKJV – He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. Lord, may I daily ask myself this question: Do I want God to be as faithful to I as I am to Him? Lord, teach me Your ways, show me Your pathways, and lead me into living a credible life established on my convictions and character built around Your commands; may grace be measured to me to be trustworthy, reliable, and responsible in things big and small.
FAITHFULNESS AS A FORTRESS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Psalm 25:21; 26:2-3 NIV – May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you. Test me, O LORD and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. Lord, may the integrity of my faithfulness and stewardship of dependability protect me for sowing into corruption and reaping the same; may Your testing my life and examining my heart and mind find me being about My Father’s business only and always doing those things which please Him; may my faithfulness send the code “Access denied” to temptations, schemes, and the bait that Satan sets to ensnare me and turn me back to the yoke of slavery again.
FAITHFULNESS AS THE ULTIMATE APPROVAL
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Matthew 24:46; 25:21 NKJV – Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, finds so doing; His Lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Lord, I will use my faithfulness, born of Your fruit in me, to gauge my maturity in the moment and may my character be the container that will carry me to the throne of grace; may my passion be to hear You say “Well done” because I “well did” and that because my eyes stayed fixed on You –Your faithfulness moved me from being call to being chosen! Father, it is Your great joy to find me faithful in training for reigning with Christ until the new heavens and new earth—For you have called me a King and Priest to You because of the covenant and my commitment to allow you to accomplish that which concerns me.
DAY EIGHT, January 13, 2019
MEEKNESS
MEEKNESS (prasia) — mildness and moderation in disposition towards God and others; humility; flexible and considerate of others; a submission that trusts and relies on God during provocation, violation, and injustice; a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not forced by human will, but that accepts God as good and just; not weakness but strength under control; velvet covered steel.
MEEKNESS AND AUTHORITY
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Psalm 25:9 KJV –The meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek will he teach his way. Lord, let meekness create a yieldedness and surrender of my ways to Yours; as I humble myself, I give You the reins of my character and nature and pray “not as I will, but, Your will be done”; let meekness guide our judgments and teach us Your ways.
MEEKNESS AND MAJESTY
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Psalm 149:4 KJV – For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Lord, today with meekness, we place our lives in Your hands to mould and shape us for Your purpose; we make our hearts soft and pliable so You can work what is best for us and most productive for Your kingdom come; we have come to learn that that which we hold too tightly in our hands becomes deformed because of our grip. So with humility, we pray perfect and beautify that which concerns us as we submit to Your will not ours—we place our character in Your hands and the grip of Your grace.
MEEKNESS AND MODESTY
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Philippians 2:5 NKJV — Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Lord, help us to embrace a humble heart and a disposition of gentleness and mildness towards others so that we can best imitate our Christ who said “I am meek and lowly of heart”; may our gentleness soften hearts and our soft answers turn away wrath; let the wealth of humility be the wealth of our virtue.
MEEKNESS AND GLORY
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
James 3:13-18 NKJV – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Lord, may we put our meekness on display, not to be seen of men to our credit, but that men may see our good works done in humility and glorify our Father in heaven; we showcase, not false humility from a deceitful heart, but true humility drawn from being pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and food fruits without partiality or hypocrisy. Lord, the fruit of humility yields the crop of, not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking about ourselves less and thinking more about others.
SELF-CONTROL
SELF-CONTROL (egkrateia) –temperance; continence; consistency; self-discipline; strength under the control of the Highest Power and Wisest Master; a learned knowledge, acquired skill, and infused ability to restrain passions while not abusing divine ability entrusted to servants of God; this control is not born of human strength or power of ones will but above and beyond the natural into the supernatural fruit of the Spirit of self-control bearing a harvest of righteousness.
1 Corinthians 9:25 KJV
Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
TEMPERED MINDS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
2 Timothy 1:7 –For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. Lord, thank you that through the fruit of self-control we can bridle the untamed soul and be responsible with the supernatural entrusted to us not to misuse or abuse; Lord, through tempered-thinking we can cast down wrong thoughts and take captive right thoughts to have a renewed mind for a transformed life.
TEMPERED MEMBERS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
1 Corinthians 1:24-25—God hath tempered the body together…that there should be no division in the body; but the members should have the same care one for another. Lord, we pray You temper each member of Your body to make us pliable and flexible to mould and shape us together collectively as living stones; we pray for the will of supernatural self-control to keep our members from overstepping their place, as well as, moving them to the place where You gifted, graced, and assigned them.
TEMPERED MENTORS
(Scripture/Prayer Points)
Titus 1:8-9—For an overseer (spiritual leader) must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to greediness; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, TEMPERATE; Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince those who oppose it. Lord, give us tempered leaders who have been found tried and true as stewards of God; raise up spiritual leaders who lead by example and teach by truth; we cry out for leaders who have mastery of fleshly appetites and affections and skill in controlling the anointings, attitudes, and entitlements of the supernatural ministry.
CONCLUSION: AGAINST SUCH THINGS THERE IS NO LAW (Gal. 5:25 NASB)
The Scripture says, There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For those who do not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit… For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death… (Rom. 8:1-2). Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it for us. We live under grace, not under the law, therefore we are called to a higher standard, to live by the Great Commandment and Royal Law of loving others as we love ourselves. We live not by love of the law but by the law of love. In living by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus we no longer make any provisions for the flesh but walk and live according to the Spirit at the highest levels. Encompassing this is the garden within where the Seed of God has been implanted. The trees and vineyard bear the fruit of the Spirit in every variety in due season. Here is where the reputation of Christ’s character and nature are evident. Here is where it was for freedom that Christ sets us free for fruitfulness; if the Son has set us free then we are free indeed because of the Seed. Because the fruit of the Spirit is available in abundance, the good and noble ground, of the HEART, RELATIONSHIPS, and CHARACTER will experience the complete inheritance and the blessing of the Lord which makes us rich and adds no sorrow to it; He daily loads us with benefits and via the fruit born of Holy Spirit we have treasure 30, 60, and 100-fold in the present life and the life to come. Thus, when we “experience experiences” with the living God we experience a life-giving crop harvested from each and every encounter of our choosing.