Refresh Signal~

Acts 3:19 “Now it’s time to change your ways!  Turn to face God so He can wipe away your sins, and pour out showers of blessing to refresh you…”

Last week our internet went down and our phones, which provide HD VoIP, or voice over the internet, went down as well.  When I lobbied for this state-of-the art phone system, I assured my boss that I would take the precautionary measure of having a back up internet router installed so our phones would stay online in case the primary internet went down.

Well, when the primary went down, the back-up kicked into gear, except that the main switch wasn’t receiving the signal, so our phones went kaput!

I called our tech guy right away and the solution was simple: Unplug and then replug the router in order to send a “refresh” signal to the switch. 

In our modern, high-tech world, filled with electronics, Wi-Fi, and wireless thingamajiggies, these glitches are bound to happen.  All the technology kind of overwhelms itself and bogs itself down and things stop working.  

And in our hectic, running around all day, not getting enough sleep, too much on our plates, the kids are misbehaving , and the dog has poop on his feet – don’t let him in the house existences, we too might find ourselves going kaput.

We know how to pray, we know what we need to do, we know where the “Main Switch” is, but He is not receiving the signal. It’s time to settle down and send a refresh signal to our Lord.

And the time is now! When we turn to Him He pours out showers of blessings and refreshes us right back.  A shower is an abundance of something.  God does not send a trickle, mist, squirt, dribble, or spray.  He sends a deluge of whatever we need to get back up and running with joy, peace, strength, hope, faith, and love.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We come to You now and face You because sometimes we get bogged down with our lives and there’s a failure to connect.  We know You are there waiting for us to turn to You so You can flood our lives with Your goodness.  Flood us now, dear Lord.  We need it.  And thank You that You are always ready to refresh us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!

ASAP!

Greetings,
 
This past Saturday Jorge and I finished a 40-day prayer adventure.  It was a time of joy as we realized that no one else on this planet cares about our needs and our children’s needs more than we two do, so who better than us to pray together!  (I highly recommend Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson). One thing that kept coming up was our desire to see our prayers answered ASAP. But aren’t we all kind of the same?  We want what we want, and we want it now!
 
Our Lord, however, makes it clear in Acts 1:7 that “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business (The Message Version).”
 
Knowing when a prayer is going to be answered is none of our business; it’s God’s business.
 
Well, that’s a little discouraging until we read verse eight, “What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” 

Even though we don’t get to know the time, we get something better.  We get the Holy Spirit.  Who is the Holy Spirit?  He is that part of the Trinity Who guides us, leads us, empowers us, comforts us, teaches us to pray, washes us, brings unity, sets us free, reveals the deep things of God to us, speaks to us, strengthens us, gives us access to God, infuses us with joy and more…

The disciples received Him and were empowered to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the world.  And when we get Him, when He comes on us, we will be able to (fill in the blank). I highlighted that part of the verse above and then again in this paragraph to draw attention to the fact that there are certain things we will only be able to do because we have the Holy Spirit’s help.  

Do you need to be able to forgive someone? Know what decision to make regarding a business matter or relationship issue? Do you need strength for a crisis you are facing?  Does your hope need restoring? No matter what it is, as we leave the timing of our answers to the Lord, we must embrace the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Having Him is better than knowing when.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You so much for giving us the Holy Spirit Who empowers us to live a blessed life.  We welcome Him into our lives ASAP and are ready to receive all the good He is wants to do in us and for us.  Fill us now with the joy that comes from having Him in our lives.  We know You know how impatient we can be while waiting for answers, but even as we wait we pray for renewed strength from the Holy Spirit.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

Prayer is the Precursor~

Inspired by the DEVO originally published 9-19-2013

Happy Thursday to all my precious brothers and sisters in Christ~

The Bible is filled with stories of folks who endured difficulties.  Sometimes it was for a few days, sometimes it was years.  Remember the woman who bled for 12 years? However, Jonah was swallowed by a huge fish and lived through that nightmare, stuck in that smelly belly, for three days.  Three days!  It took a few years for God to answer my prayers about my child’s questionable relationship choices.  My buddy, however, who was no more/no less distraught then me, received her wonderful and life-giving answer within six short days. Oh well. Nevertheless, the timing is not up to me or you but rather God.  

While I am the first to humbly admit that I do not have all the answers, I do see a possible explanation why God has different time frames for His children, and this first occurred to me in 1990. Jorge and I saved up and bought three-year-old Hormone a Power Wheels electric jeep for Christmas that year. Its maximum speed was about five MPH.  However, what about if I would have given Hormone the keys to a brand new full-sized jeep instead?  Trust me, he would have gladly taken them, but it would have been too much too soon and too dangerous. As his parents, Jorge and I knew that Hormone was only ready for a toy car.  

Our heavenly Father giving us what we want when we want it, no matter what, could also be dangerous or at the very least, not in our best interests. I have often said that as difficult as it was seeing my child making the poor choices I mentioned at the beginning of this DEVO, it taught me so much about prayer and keeping the faith. That entire, long, seemingly-interminable season of heartache and anguish pushed me to my knees, and I can now say I am grateful for all I learned.

I want to encourage everyone who is facing a problem today, who is in the smelly belly of the beast of an emotional, physical, relational and/or financial problem, know that you have options. Yes, God controls the timing, "He makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11)," but as you wait on Him, "Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7)."

In Jonah’s case, and in the case of every Biblical story where God shows up and fixes the mess, prayer was a precursor to deliverance.  It doesn't matter if we bring our problems on ourselves through poor choices like Jonah did (see Jonah chapter one).  Or if like the disciples, who found themselves in the middle of a storm because they were following Christ, we are blindsided while minding our business or even doing something good. Either way, the first step we must always take to get out of the mess, is to pray.  Pray when you mess up, pray when someone else messes up, pray when life just happens. P-R-A-Y!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We always want instant relief. No one likes being in the smelly belly of problems. And sometimes we have to muster up all our faith to trust You while we wait. But Your Word is clear: We must pray before anything else. We must talk it over with You. We must invite You in to do Your thing. There is a divine and amazing blessing that always takes place when we declare our trust in You. Nevertheless, answer our prayers! In Jesus' name, AMEN~