Tag: Forgiveness

How to Find the Joy We Seek

Posted on by Dorci

One of the greatest joys of being a parent is watching your children come through childhood, with all its arguments and competitiveness and jealousies, grow up, forgive each other, and become good friends. 

To see your children making plans to get together, to sit and have a conversation, laughing and enjoying each other’s company, there’s just nothing like it. Seeing the love between them fills a parent with a delightful contentment. 

I imagine this is a tiny fraction of the joy the Lord has when He sees His children maturing and growing in His love and then loving one another, forgiving and accepting one another in the spirit of godly brother and sisterhood. 

The apostle Paul, along with Timothy, wrote to brothers and sisters in Philippi, sounding almost as a father writing to his children:

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:1-4

There is nothing so easy to fall back into when surrounded by the world than a worldly, fleshly, prideful, egotistical, argumentative attitude. Kind of like children, right? And the very antithesis of love.

But we don’t need to live that way. 

We are filled with the Holy Spirit, the One who makes known to us God’s love.

And daily we have a choice: we can walk in the Spirit, or suffer in the flesh. 

When we walk in the flesh, not only do we rob God the joy of an unbroken abiding relationship with us, made complete by seeing His children love one another, we rob ourselves of the joy and the peace we all so desperately want and need. 

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…”
Galatians 5:22a

Love is the first fruit of walking in the Spirit, and all others depend on it. Love brings joy, and joy brings peace. 

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16

As we walk in the Spirit, we won’t be held hostage by our fleshly attitudes. Yield ourselves to the life God’s given us, day by day, moment by moment, and the Father’s love will flow through the Spirit to us, and through us to others. 

What an amazing privilege.

To know God’s love, a love far deeper than any the world can ever know, and to allow ourselves to be a conduit of that love for our brothers and sisters, and even for our enemies who so greatly need Him, glorifying and magnifying the Name of Jesus.  

“It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 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.”
2 John 1:4-6

In His Love,

 

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer the Lord Will Be Glorified

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You. We praise Your magnificence, Your glory, Your righteousness. You and You alone are God and You hold us, with grace, in the palm of Your hand. 

You have blessed us mightily over the centuries, providing for us in countless ways, teaching us and leading us out of sin, pouring out Your Holy Spirit for revivals, saving lost souls, and letting the light of your truth shine throughout this country. 

And in many ways we have taken so much of it for granted. We have taken the glory for ourselves instead of acknowledging You, instead of thanking You for giving us wisdom, strength, and the freedom to prosper, and the victory we’ve needed, over and over, to remain free.

Instead of acknowledging that it’s You who has allowed us to remain a nation with freedoms we enjoy every day and praising and thanking you for it, we have let the freedoms You’ve given us lead us into the bondage of sin, calling evil good and good evil.  

Father, we humbly ask for your forgiveness. 

You are a God of great grace and mercy, and we know your heart’s desire is that we repent and turn to You to live rightly because You know sin hurts and destroys us. You know what we need to turn back to you, and sometimes that is suffering.

Father, may we turn to you quickly. For those who know You, may we boldly and without fear proclaim Your name, glorifying You with grateful and loving hearts that we may be salt and light to the world around us.

Please pour out your Holy Spirit for revival again, to soften hearts and open the spiritual eyes of those who are lost and those who are backslidden so they will turn to You in repentance, acknowledging and receiving You as Lord, glorifying and praising You, so we can be one nation, united, under Your grace, protection, and blessing. 

Our hope is in You.

In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen.

 

Thankful Thursday – Mercy

Posted on by Dorci

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
 1 Chronicles 16:34

There is so much going on in the world right now that our minds can get pulled into a million different pits, so I thought it was important to start Thankful Thursday again.

I don’t have to tell you how despairing and overwhelming the state of this world is in right now. 

But God’s mercy endures, now and forever, and when we remember that, and give Him thanks, we will have hope. 

The words of David recorded in 1 Chronicles were part of a psalm spoken when the ark of the covenant was returned after battle to its rightful place in the tabernacle. God’s glory had been restored among His people.  

Today we’re facing another kind of spiritual battle, and the enemy is doing all he can to hijack the glory of God from this world. 

But God’s glory now lives inside His people. We are His tabernacle. 

And we know that “All the promises of God in {Christ} are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”  2 Corinthians 1:20

In Him we have His immeasurable love and grace and mercy and forgiveness. 

In Him we know He will lead us, give us wisdom, and provide for us. 

In Him we know our eternity is with Him. 

This life is short, and one day, when this battle is over, all wickedness will disappear, and His glory will reign forever more, where we will live in eternal peace and safety and love. 

So, wherever your thoughts have roamed to today, let’s focus them back on our merciful Heavenly Father, who already has the victory (and so do we!), and give Him thanks.  

What are you thankful for today?

 

The Saturday Song – God’s Not Dead

Posted on by Dorci

It’s revival day! 

Today’s the day Franklin Graham is leading Prayer March 2020 in Washington D.C. for the healing of our nation, and the day Pastor and Rabbi Jonathan Cahn is leading his event, The Return, also seeking God’s forgiveness, repentance, revival, and healing of our nation. 

Heavenly Father, we come to you in humility and total dependence on You, praying that in Your mercy You would pour out the power of Your Holy Spirit throughout our country to soften hearts and open eyes to the truth of the destruction of sin, and the truth of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that paid for our sins, that many will turn to You with repentant hearts and that there will be a great awakening and revival of our nation in the name of Jesus Christ.  We pray you would send your warrior angels to bind the hand of the enemy from stopping or disrupting any of the prayer events going on today. We look to You, LORD, for help and hope and renewal. In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

This is the song the Lord put on my heart to share today.

 

 

God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)
Newsboys

Let love explode and bring the dead to life
A love so bold
To seek a revolution somehow

Let love explode and bring the dead to life
A love so bold
To bring a revolution somehow
Now I’m lost in Your freedom
In this world I’ll overcome

My God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion
God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

Roaring, He’s roaring, He’s roaring like a lion

Let hope arise and make the darkness hide
My faith is dead I need resurrection somehow
Now I’m lost in Your freedom
In this world I’ll overcome

My God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion
God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

Roaring, He’s roaring, He’s roaring like a lion
He’s roaring, He’s roaring

Let heaven roar and fire fall
Come shake the ground
With the sound of revival
Let heaven roar and fire fall
Come shake the ground
With the sound of revival
Let heaven roar (Let heaven roar) and fire fall
Come shake the ground
With the sound of revival

He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion
God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion
God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion
God’s not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

He’s roaring, He’s roaring, He’s roaring like a lion
He’s roaring, He’s roaring, He’s roaring like a lion (Roaring like a lion)

 

 

 

Further Update for The Return

Posted on by Dorci

Hello Friends. I wanted to share with you the link to the updated schedule for the event The Return, as the times have changed just a bit since I last posted. 

The main event is this Saturday, September 26, but there will also be an event this Friday afternoon/evening, and a time of worship Saturday afternoon/evening, depending on your time zone.

You can watch it live from the website. Please remember all times listed are for Eastern Standard time, so please adjust accordingly. 

What is The Return?  Pastor Jonathan Cahn explains it like this:

“A movement, an appointed time, and a specific day set apart for one purpose – the return to God, that there be a coming before His presence in humility, in sincerity in prayer and repentance, that there be intercession for America, for each other, and for oneself, for God’s mercy, for salvation, for healing, for revival, for restoration, and for the fulfillment of God’s purposes for America and all who dwell within it.”

Along with Jonathan Cahn, there are many speakers and prayers scheduled, and I expect this to be a powerful time of repentance, of awakening and returning to the Lord.  

Heavenly Father, you are the Righteous and Holy One. We are in desperate need of your grace and mercy and forgiveness through your Son’s sacrifice on the cross.  We pray you would anoint these speakers and prayers, that your Holy Spirit would fill them to speak your will, that you would draw countless people to watch this event, to hear of your love and offer of forgiveness, and that you would bring a powerful revival within each of us, and throughout our country and our world. In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen.