Welcome to A Family House of Prayer Site!
It is only just begun, and yet we are already changing the future. We are one little house … one little house that has become "a house of prayer for all nations." Please, join us in making a difference far beyond the reach of your hands …. Just say “yes” to the Lord and watch Him faithfully complete the work in your own home. “Yes, Lord. Make our house a house of prayer for all nations.” Go to the side bar and look for the first post in March "In the beginning" for starters.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
His joy gives me strength...
Having grown up in the church, I learned to sing the verse, "The joy-y of the Lor-or-or-d is my strength," early on. I accepted the joy-strength connection as one of the many mysteries of the faith - something amazing that I cannot comprehend. But last night the Lord gave me fresh insight, taking the verse from mystery to understanding.
3:20 am. My bed warm, my body tired. I could roll over and take the night off. Or, I could rise as usual for my prayer time in the night. Why would I rise? I sensed that it was not a matter of obedience this time. So, why not roll over and get more sleep? A strong temptation, indeed. Then, it occurred to me that I would honestly feel sad, like I had missed out on something special, if I did not rise. So I determined that I would get up for one reason only -- the potential for joy in spending one hour with my Lord. As I pulled back the covers and stuck my feet in slippers, I sensed strength coming already. By looking toward the joy of this hour, I gained the strength of will to rise. In rising, even in its first steps, I gained a tangible strength that I did not have before.
This led me to ponder, how do we do the hard things? Where do we get the strength to move into new territory and to persevere when things get hard?
Perhaps the question of HOW we do hard things has more to do with "Why do we do hard things?" than it does with anything else. The WHY is what produces the strength to follow through. Recall stories of super-human strength. How does the woman lift the car off her toddler? The LOVE produces the power. How do missionaries stay in hard places for years? The JOY set before them is too great to ignore. How did Jesus find the will to face the cross? It was for the joy set before him -- the joy of redeeming us.
How do we find strength to persevere -- in prayer, in parenting well, in teaching our children, in loving others? Perhaps it is the focus on the joy and the love. LOVE casts out the fear, and JOY lights a fire in our hearts giving us the strength to persevere.
Ponder ... What is the joy set before YOU that will give you the strength to move into your calling? What joys will strengthen YOU to persevere?
We are ALL created to enjoy God - to delight in Him. Being with Him, being in the center of His will, is the place of delight. He delights in us and He wants us to delight in Him.
There are great joys available for us now, but sometimes that seem hard to feel in the midst of other pain. However, we don't live for today alone. We live for eternal rewards and eternal communion with Christ. We have a joy set before us that transcends all emotions and circumstances of today.
Lord, may YOUR JOY fill our hearts and set us aflame to bring glory to your name!
After I typed this, I saved it as a draft and went to C-HOP. There a guest speaker, Nathan Panke, gave a message on guess what: The Joy of the Lord is My Strength!
God is awesome!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Bigger Than We Know
When I replied that I homeschool my children, he continued, satisfied that I was a teacher. He asked me if recently, within the past 10 days, I had responded to the Lord on something new and specific ... if I had even written down something, like a letter to Jesus. "Well, as a matter of fact, yes!" It was day 8 after I had specifically responded to the Lord's call at the Call 2 All about starting new houses of prayer. Ever since then, the Lord has been waking me nightly for a special time of prayer alone and we have pressed in more mightily in prayer as a family during homeschool. (I didn't say any of this. I was essentially struck dumb. He moved on quickly.)
However, I know that this specific encouragement is significant. I am continually getting a greater sense that this is so much bigger than me. I feel excitement without anxiety. It is ALL HIM. I am just one small willing servant. YES, I do think that greater things are yet to come ... bigger than me ... and I don't doubt that at times they may be challenge. But I am resting in knowing that they are totally HIS plan, not mine. He will take the initiatives. I just say yes.
Last night I had a breakthrough of sorts: I actually wept when crying for President Obama. And with the tears came a sense of compassion and a longing for his soul to be saved, just because he is dearly loved by God and is lost. (Believe me I have had a longing for his soul to be saved, but it was for the sake of the nation, not him personally.) I hope that this will allow me to pray more directly and meaningfully.
Be blessed. Ask the Lord for his heart. Ask for the night watch in your own home. "Here it's you and me alone, God." -- Misty Edwards song.
Pam
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saying yes and believing....
Faith makes us righteous. Not works. We already know that we cannot work toward relationship with God. Similarly, we cannot work to make God more pleased with us.
So how do we please the Lord? The Psalmist writes: "What can I give unto the Lord for all He has done for me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon His name!' What pleases the Lord? When we call on him. When we freely receive. When we take. He longs for humble people who know their need and who are eager to receive from his bounty.
What was it about Abraham's life that pleased the Lord?
"He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Romans 4:20
Grabbing hold of this truth, let's apply it to prayer. What pleases God in our prayer life? Is it long hours of devotion and well-crafted prayers? It is a strong discipline? No. These things are valuable, yes. But the Lord is no more or less pleased with me in a "good week" with many hours logged than he is in a "bad week" when I wimped out. What pleases God is that I am (1) believing his promises, being fully persuaded that He is able to make my house a house of prayer, and (2) that I am asking (aware of my need and willing to admit it) and eagerly receiving strength from Him.
If you feel that you and your family are being called to make your own home a house of prayer, say "YES!" Allow your heart to embrace the call being fully persuaded that He who calls you is FAITHFUL. He has begun the work, and He will complete it. Then ASK. Ask God to set aside times for you and simply obey. God set aside a time for me that would not have been the obvious choice, nor my first choice -- The middle of the night. But it is God's idea and He has been faithful to wake me every night, and He has been faithful to keep me awake for an hour. He has also been faithful to allow me to fall back asleep afterward and wake at normal time the next morning. In his faithfulness I have found great joy, because I know (regardless of how I feel emotionally) that He meets me there - in the perfect quiet of night.
This next part isn't biblical, but here is one thing that helps me: There is always someone who has a harder row to hoe and is doing just fine. When I feel overwhelmed with five children, I call to mind my friends with 8 and 9 children. They are doing so well - parents and kids alike - so if they can do THAT, who I am to question whether I can make it with five? Another one: I regularly hear about the people who pray from 3am to 6am each night (the entire third watch). So who am I to question whether I can sustain 1 hour of prayer in the middle of the night? If "they" can do it, I can make it.
Remember this: Freely receive from God no matter how you feel you are doing. (Don't let satan trick you into thinking you are unworthy to ask or receive. That is a huge lie.) Don't try performing ... for God or for man. Believe unconditionally in God's faithfulness. Acknowledge that God loves you right where you are and is eagerly awaiting to hear your feeble "yes, I am willing." He will be faithful to fulfill his plans in you.
For Mike Bickle's sermon go to ihop.org under resources. Today's date, 8:30 service (or any, I guess.) For more inspiration at ihop.org watch the Awakening Services or go to the Live Prayer Room. (Warning: There may be more outward manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power than you are used to. Also, you may find that you receive a healing just be joining by web stream. It happens frequently.)
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Join us in prayer for this nation and for babies....
I have also felt led to pray that the Lord would (1) send impossible-to-ignore dreams, visions, and revelation to the leaders of this nation, all the way to the president, and (2) that the Lord would shine a light and expose the things (hidden deeds) that are being done in the darkness, behind closed doors.
So much of our future hangs in the balance.
I am sitting here at the dining room table -- more like the War Room -- planning with our SBA List team what could be the culminating battle of the fight to defeat this abortion-laden health care bill. Every minute, new information comes in about a wavering member of Congress or a tidbit of strategic information from Republican or Democratic leadership.
Having jumped in, I realize now it is important to step back out for just a few minutes.
Without prayer, I am 100 percent sure we will lose. With it, the consciences of wavering members can be lifted up and emboldened. While we are not a religious organization, we cannot succeed without prayer as the wind in our sails. So will you please take just a few minutes, join the 280,760 members of our SBA List family around our virtual dining room table and pray that this bill fails and our nation's children will be protected from the carnage that would result from its passage? This is a defining moment when prayer -- our most powerful lobbying tool-- cannot be left on the table.Also, here is a list of undecided Members of Congress that so you can pray for each by name. These folks are under intense pressure on all sides. Their struggles do not go unnoticed, but pray that through all the clutter they see the clearest reminder of what this is about: the babies that will be lost if this bill passes. >Marjorie Dannenfelser President, Susan B. Anthony List www.sba-list.org
P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to yet, please take a look at our powerful add running in 8 districts this weekend. It puts this whole debate in perspective. www.sba-list.org/baby
Thursday, March 18, 2010
A Little Child Shall Lead Them... picture sharing time
These are pictures shared by G, M, and L. The only prompt was, "Pray and ask Jesus for a picture." Then we worshiped.
Monday during worship, G saw a picture of Jesus with children all around him. This is how she described it: "Angels were in a circle surrounding the children, and outside of the angels' circle were bad people and demons who wanted to hurt the children. Jesus told the children to pray and worship to confuse the demons and bad people.
Next she saw Jesus coming down on a cloud. "All the children could see Jesus coming down into the room, but the parents could not see Him. The kids told their parents, but they didn't believe. The parents went back to bed but the children stayed awake and talked with God."
M saw Jesus standing in the room with us while were worshiping. She also saw "lots of angels with Jesus." M asked, "Jesus, will you heal the sick people?" Jesus answered, "Yes." Later M saw Jesus healing everybody.
Yesterday G saw a girl dancing in the rain. Jesus came down on a cloud and held a golden scepter out to the girl. Jesus was very bright and the girl could only glimpse his brightness. The scepter said, "LOVE." He then put a crown on her head that said, "LOVE., but she could not see it. He also gave her a jewel that said "LOVE" because whe was loving God by worshiping Him and obeying Him.
Today L told us that she saw Jesus walking in a grassy place and Jesus asked her, "Do you want to go explore and see flowers with me?" L followed and Jesus asked, "Would you like to see a cabin?" She explained the rest as follows... in her words. "I looked and saw a meadow. There were flowers. Then we were at the cabin, and it was scary. But God cleaned it up and it wasn't scary any more. We sat in the cabin and talked and talked, until he said, "Let's look upstairs." Upstairs there were lots of yucky bedrooms. We went back down and Jesus made everything beautiful, even upstairs. Then we went out to see flowers and we smelled them. They were purple flowers and tulips and roses and more. Then Jesus went up to heaven and I went back home, but I had to leave my big teddy bear in the meadow. I was sad, but Jesus said it would be okay."
Today M saw Jesus on a cross. She asked, "Jesus, may I please try it?" Then she found herself on a cross and she said it hurt. But Jesus told M. "You look beautiful to me." Then M got back down and went to her mom. She then felt Holy Spirit entering inside her heart and she could feel that Jesus was there too.
Aside ... when L was only barely four years old she drew a picture of crosses with people on them. I asked her what it was. She said, "That is us. We are praying."
Lord, pour out your Spirit more and more on the children and on us all as we daily take up the cross of intercession just like Jesus did and does for us.