5-7-2022 Devotion: Praying for Your Family

 Today, we look at praying for your wife and children. The prayer for your "Ezer" is specifically for the wife. One day I will write a prayer for wives to pray for their husbands. Our family needs our prayers. The world is doing all it can do to steal our children. God wants us to stand firm in the faith and pray.

Prayer for My Ezer

Blessed be your Name Lord God

Who has not left me alone

But has blessed me with an ezer

To be my equal and my partner in life.

Help me to understand the role of my ezer

That I do not hinder or interfere with her God-given purpose.

Help me to encourage her as she walks in obedience to her calling

Given to her by You in Your Divine wisdom.

My ezer is strong and full of courage,

She is a mighty woman of God like Deborah,

She prays like Hannah,

And has the strength of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

This day I affirm my delight in my ezer

She is my love and my joy.

I thank You Lord God for her blessing my life.

Amen and Amen.

Prayer for Children

Blessed Redeemer, may my children today have Your blessings and protection;

Give each one of them a heart to follow You.

Guard them from the enemy and direct their paths to Your righteousness;

Guide them with Your loving hand that they may follow You closely today.

May my sons be like Ephraim and Manasseh and

My daughters like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

Keep watch over them I pray,

In Yeshua’s Name.

Amen.

5-6-2022 Devotion: Surrender

 Today, we look at the prayer of surrender. This is a key to living a satisfying life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As we surrender to Him, we rest in Him. As we rest in Him, we trust in Him. As we trust in Him, we surrender to Him. We live a life completely dependent on His grace and mercy. That is really your best life now!

Prayer of Surrender

Blessed are You Holy God

We now give our all to You,

Our bodies, souls, and minds together as one without division;

We give our time, talents, and families all to You.

We give our pasts, presents, and futures

All to You for guidance, forgiveness and safekeeping.

Whatever occurs to us today, we will trust in You.

Our very lives are in Your hands.

We thank You for the Torah.

You have provided truth to instruct us how to live for You.

Your ways are perfect.

May we walk in obedience to Your commands and bring Glory to Your Name.

It brings comfort to give our all to such a great God;

You are love. 

Yet, Your love for us remains a mystery.

May we show our love for You by studying and obeying the Torah.

Into Your Hands we commit our all

That Your name may be glorified.

Blessed be Yeshua.

In Your name I pray.

Amen and Amen.

5-5-2022 Devotion: Affirmation

 Today, we look at the "Prayer of Affirmation." This is not some prosperity gospel "name it claim it." This is a prayer that acknowledges who God is and what He has done for us. Speak the words from a grateful heart.

Prayer of Affirmation

Blessed are You Lord God

There is No God like unto You

Your mercy, grace and forgiveness

Is from everlasting to everlasting.

From the depths of our hearts

We praise and worship you with all that is within us.

You have been our fortress, our refuge, and our deliverer.

We confess our shortcomings, failures, and sins 

And admit that they are no way to thank You

For the goodness You have shown us.

We praise and adore You

That Your Torah (Bible) is true.

Your forgiveness and cleansing power knows no end.

We thank You for deliverance and protection.

May We live every day, every hour, every minute,

Every second to glorify You.

In the name of Yeshua, we pray.

Amen and amen. (Saying something twice in Hebrew means you are emphasizing its importance).

5-4-2022 Devotion: Prayer

 Today, I begin posting some sample prayers that are designed to serve as a springboard to your prayer time. Prayer is not so much about asking for things as it is building a relationship with God. We will start with a sample morning prayer and evening prayer. Speak the words slowly and reflectively.

Morning Prayer

Blessed Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You

That You have protected us through the night

And mercifully restored our souls to us.

We are refreshed and ready for Your calling today.

As we follow Your commandments today

May we show the compassion and love of Christ

To one of Your creations today.

May our lives be a blessing to You today;

And also to someone who needs to see You in us.

No matter what occurs today, let us never forget that 

This is the day You have made and we will rejoice and be glad in it.

All power and authority is with You

And we will praise You today.

In Yeshua’s name,

Amen.

Evening Prayer

Blessed Holy One, my redeemer, God and King;

I thank You for Your guiding hand today

Your protection and faithfulness

To myself, my family, my church and the persecuted.

Allow us to lie down and rest this evening.

May our dreams not trouble our sleep

And may we have Your peace surrounding us.

Let us awake tomorrow refreshed

To do Thy service, trusting in Thy grace,

And mercy to carry us through the dark hours of the night.

All our love to You.

In Yeshua’s Name,

Amen.

5-3-2022 Devotion: He Will

 Psalm 62:11; "...power belongeth unto God." I think with so much fear, uncertainty, anger, frustration, and despair at every level these days on a local, national, and worldwide level, we need to recalibrate ourselves to the wonderful realty of the doctrine of God's Providence. It is a short and direct line from this important doctrine to how we live our lives and respond in difficult times. I would not want to leave the house, fly in a plane, drive my car, or go anywhere if I thought the outcome was left to chance. This is not fatalism. Fatalism believes things just occur randomly without any plan. That is the opposite of the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Sovereignty means that God is in charge. He will do as He wills and no person, thing, or devil can stop Him. I hope that gives you the comfort it gives me. I do not fear the economy right now. Many in my industry are in a doom and gloom mood. Not me, I trust the LORD! This is not a passive do nothing excuse to be lazy. To the contrary, believing in Divine Sovereignty encourages me to work as hard as I can and leave the results to Him.That is living a life of faith and it is good.

5-2-2022 Devotion: Liberation

 Ephesians 1: 11: "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will...." I have heard people say, "I'm not comfortable with a view of divine sovereignty that takes away man's free will." However, Divine Sovereignty does not do that. He does not violate the will of any person. When one embraces Divine Sovereignty, it is the most comforting and liberating truth of all. I would not want to live in a world where God is not in charge. To me, that would be the most frightening terrifying existence possible. The fact that every single event in the universe fits perfectly into the will and purposes of our eternally kind, gracious, and good God, is a massive concept with massive benefits and implications. For example, I get a flat tire and I will be late for a meeting. I could get frustrated and that would not change anything. I prefer to believe that the flat tire was God's will and it kept me from being somewhere other than where I am. Maybe, someone ran a red light and would have hit me and I would have been injured. However, the flat tire kept me from that accident. All of a sudden life becomes much more peaceful because I am in God's hands and He is in charge. This was life-changing for me. Please join me!

Fourth Lesson of the Quarter: The Holiness of God Part 4: Holiness and God’s Name

 The Holiness of God Part 4: Holiness and God’s Name

This is Part 4 of a series on the Holiness of God. Each week we will study a different aspect of God’s holiness. When you have completed the series, you may experience a change in how you worship, speak, and pray.

Leviticus 24: 10-16: “And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) And they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be shewed them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.”

We have been studying the holiness of God, but we have not defined exactly what holy means. In this study, we will learn about what holiness is, and the necessity of holiness in our lives, especially in how it relates to God’s name. 

Holy has different meanings. Popularly, holy means moral purity and righteousness. While this is certainly true, it is the secondary meaning in Scripture. The primary meaning of holy in Scripture is “separate.” When the Scriptures speak of God’s holiness, it is primarily referring to God’s transcendence. “Transcendence is a theological term that, when referring to the Christian God, states that God is outside of the universe and is independent of it and its properties. God is ‘other,’ ‘different’ from His creation. He is independent and different from His creatures (Isaiah 55:8-9). He transcends His creation. He is beyond it and not limited by it or to it.”

In reading today’s passage, how does it help you to understand the degree God regards His name as holy? We read that an Israelite is put to death for curing the name of the LORD. This shows you how serious an offense it is to curse God. God holds His Name in such high regard that death was the appropriate penalty for cursing Him. Think about this word when you hear people dishonor God’s Name. 

We need to honor and hold sacred God’s Name. The Lord Jesus Christ taught us about the importance of God’s Name in prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6: 5-15), the Lord Jesus Christ taught that “Hallowed be thy name” is the first petition of the prayer. It was not part of the formal address: “Our Father, which art in heaven.” Some believe that there is a connection between the first two petitions in the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be thy Name” and “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” The logical connection is that the kingdom will not come, nor His will be done, until His Name is first revered by His people. If it was part of the formal address, it would have been, “Hallowed is thy name.” In the Ten Commandments, God commanded that His Name was not to be taken in vain ever. To blaspheme the LORD, is to commit an offense against His Holiness. How we use God’s name reveals our deepest attitudes about Him. If you have a flippant casual attitude toward His Name, you will have a flippant casual attitude about Him. If we are going to be a Christ disciple, we will reverence God’s Name. God’s people revere His Name. 

God demands that His children love and respect His Name. In prayer, worship and Bible study, we are to enter into the time with a deep sense of awe and respect the sacredness of the occasion. I urge you to take some quiet time just to meditate (literally: mutter to yourself quietly) on God’s Name and His Holiness. In doing so, we are demonstrating how serious the matter is and our respect for the living God. Respecting God’s Name in our private devotional life will support our living our lives as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we want to walk in holiness, start with how you treat His Name. 

Prayer

1. Praise God that He is both transcendent and close enough to you to hear your prayer and praise.

2. Confess ways you have not honored God’s Name as holy in thought, word, or deed. 

3. Thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to you the priority off His Name in prayer.

4. Ask God to manifest His will in your life by His Holy Spirit through your reverence of His Name.

In these studies on the Holiness of God, I have attempted to call the believer to a deeper respect of God’s Name, His Holiness, and the sacredness of the experience of worship. As I write this, it is nine days before April 17, 2022, a day referred to by many as “Easter Sunday.” While this study is not on the subject of Easter, there are many ministers, pastors, church leaders that will have Easter Egg hunts on that day used to remember the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some may even have Easter bunnies as part of the children’s celebration.  Some will even have those egg hunts inside the sanctuary and then proceed to have a service celebrating Christ right after. I am of the opinion that those that have so little respect for the sacredness of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot possibly have the Holy Spirit inside them. Before you say I shouldn’t judge, I want you to know that the Apostle Paul had no difficulties calling out hypocrites and deceivers by name. Moreover, the Lord Jesus Christ had no difficulty calling the Pharisees hypocrites. The point is we must stand for truth. It is too important to just let these things occur without comment. If you attend a church that dishonors the name of God, leave now. There are assemblies of God-fearing believers waiting for you. Go find them.