Tag: Power

Saturday Song – In Jesus’ Name (and a little something extra)

Posted on by Dorci

Good morning (or afternoon or evening!), everyone. I wanted to share a couple of things with you today.  

First, I came across a message this morning I wanted to share with you light of yesterday’s blog. It was written in 1980 by a man in Rwanda who was killed for not renouncing his faith in Christ. After his death, this statement was found posted on the wall in his room. He had written it the night before. 

I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!

We are the Fellowship of the Son!

And second, because of my fellowship with a beautiful sister in the Lord at church last Sunday, she reminded me of this song that so encouraged me, and I thought was also appropriate to share with you today. 

This life is hard, and sometimes it’s even harder for us who are trying to walk the walk of faith because that makes us a target of the enemy, like the man in Rwanda. I know there’s pain, I know there’s suffering, believe me, I know. But I also know there’s healing in Christ. He wants to heal your heart and mind. It doesn’t usually happen overnight, but if you’ll begin, in faith, offering Him the pieces of your heart, He’ll begin putting them back together. If you’re hurting today, I pray for your healing, in Jesus’ Name. If you would like specific prayer, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send me an email. 

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

For Him,
Dorci


In Jesus’ Name (God of Possible)
by Katy Nichole

I speak the name of Jesus over you
In your hurting, in your sorrow
I will ask my God to move
I speak the name ’cause it’s all that I can do
In desperation, I’ll seek Heaven
And pray this for you
 
I pray for your healing
That circumstances would change
I pray that the fear inside would flee in Jesus’ name
I pray that a breakthrough would happen today
I pray miracles over your life in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ name
 
I speak the name of all authority
Declaring blessings, every promise
He is faithful to keep
I speak the name no grave could ever hold
He is greater, He is stronger
He’s the God of possible
 
I pray for your healing
That circumstances would change
I pray that the fear inside would flee in Jesus’ name
I pray that a breakthrough would happen today
I pray miracles over your life in Jesus name
In Jesus’ name
 
Come believe it
Come receive it
Oh, the power of His Spirit is now forever yours
Come believe it
Come receive it
In the mighty name of Jesus, all things are possible
 
I pray for your healing
That circumstances will change
I pray that the fear inside will flee in Jesus’ name
I pray that a breakthrough
Would happen today

I pray miracles over your life in Jesus name
I pray for revival
For restoration of faith
I pray that the dead will come alive in Jesus name
In Jesus’ name

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Keep Running

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your holy and precious name. We glorify and magnify the name of Yeshua HaMashiach – Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One. 

Father, many of us are weary of running the race. We’re bogged down with our own personal sorrows and sufferings, health issues, difficult relationships, just trying to make ends meet, and when we add to that all that’s going on around the world, we are at a loss. We are overwhelmed and sometimes we just want to give up.

Lord, forgive us of our sins, and overwhelm us with the power of your Holy Spirit to keep running. Fill us again with the passionate love and fervor of faith we had at the beginning.

Remind us continually to keep our eyes fixed on you and not on those around us who would discourage us and keep us from wholeheartedly following you, living as your light in the world, using the spiritual gifts you’ve given us, and fulfilling the calling you have on our lives. 

We know you’re with us every step of the way. 

We pray in the precious name of Jesus and because of His blood spilled for the forgiveness of our sins, amen. 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Faith

Posted on by Dorci

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you, for you are holy and sovereign. You are gracious and merciful to give us all we need to live a life of godliness. 

As we come to you in prayer for the people and actions going on around the world, we ask that you would empower us to pray in your Spirit, in complete faith, not in fear.  

We know nothing comes as a surprise to you, and nothing is beyond your control. So we pray, in the name of Jesus the Messiah, that you would bind the work of the enemy. We pray you would discharge your angels to set a hedge of protection around the oppressed. We pray you would impart your wisdom and knowledge to leaders who are defending their country, and to those helping them. We pray for continued courage and victory for those who have stepped up to fight for and defend their freedom and their very lives. And we pray for believers who are who are on the front lines of this assault, that you would fill them with an unwavering confidence in you and your faithfulness. 

We pray you would overcome evil, and bring souls to repentance and belief in Christ, receiving Him as Lord and Savior. 

May your love overcome and your light shine within the darkness, and in and through us, that you may be glorified and worshipped in the Spirit and in truth. 

Let us not give in to fear, but remain steadfast as we abide in you, immersing ourselves in prayer and in your Holy Word. 

We pray in the most holy and precious name of Jesus, the Christ, amen. 

***

As always, if you have any prayer requests or questions, please don’t hesitate to email me or contact me through the Facebook or Twitter pages.  The Lord bless you and keep you. 

For Him, 
Dorci

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Live Unafraid

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your most holy name. We praise you for your faithfulness and goodness. We praise you for your love and for the plans you have that are so great, so glorious, so miraculous, that we cannot even begin to conceive of them. 

Father, when your servants, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful to you and trusted you even in the furnace, you protected them, and because they chose to live unafraid, even King Nebuchadnezzar praised your name.  

Lord, we ask that you would give all of us who believe in Christ the kind of courage and strength and conviction to live unafraid and that the world will see your faithfulness in and through us and have no choice but to praise your name. 

No matter what we’re going through, whether it’s physical, emotional, financial, or even persecution for our faith in you, may we live unafraid, filled with the sure hope we have because of what Christ did for us on the cross and because the Holy Spirit indwells us, knowing that you are an ever-present help in time of need and that you promise to be with us and love us to the end.  

Thank you for giving us all we need to walk victoriously. May we daily avail ourselves of all the riches of your glory in Christ Jesus. It’s in His blessed name we pray, amen. 

Fight the Good Fight

Posted on by Dorci

I’ve talked a few times about the meaning of the words “be strong and courageous” in the Old Testament. The last time, in Be Strong and Very Courageous, I mentioned that this exhortation could be found one time in the New Testament. Now seems like a good time to take a look at that.  

Paul wrote his first letter to his brothers and sisters in Corinth after hearing they were fighting about everything under the sun, and the fellowship of believers was being torn apart by pride, jealousy, sexual immorality, taking one another to court, and the misuse of the Lord’s supper. 

Reminds me of a group of children left to themselves, and spiritually, that is what they were. They were a new church full of new believers. Baby Christians. That’s why Paul writes to them such a long letter as if coming from a father writing home to tell his children – Stop! In Christ, this is how you should think and behave… 

Paul even addresses them by saying “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil, be infants (or innocent of it), but in your thinking be adults.” 1 Cor. 14:20

Then, one of the last things he tells them in his letter (1 Cor. 16:13), is:

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” (2011 NIV)

First, the word strong means “to empower, to increase in vigor, to be strengthened.

And courageous. Courageous is good, but as we look back further to the original translations, we begin to get a better, more powerful picture of what’s being said. 

In the 1984 NIV:
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”

The Modern King James Version says it like this:
“Watch! Stand fast in the faith! Be men! Be strong!” 

And (stay with me, I’m going somewhere with this) in the King James Version:
“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”

That word that’s been translated in modern language as “courageous,” and as “be men of courage,” and in the MKJV which pulls no punches by saying “be men!” is andrizomai, and means “act manly, or quit like men.”

This is the only time this word is used in the NT. 

Of course a phrase like quit you like men is lost on us in the 21st century, so I did some digging. 

In 1 Samuel 4:9, the Philistines encouraged one another in their fight against the Israelites by saying “Be strong, and quit yourselves like men…”  meaning “exist, or become” men. 

Quit in this instance means to conduct or acquit oneself; to behave in a certain manner. 

Of course, just because the phrase is “quit like men” doesn’t mean that leaves out women. At that time it was the men who went to battle, so it makes sense that the origin of the word is phrased that way. But Paul made our identity in Christ clear:

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Galatians 3:26-28

Paul charged believers to not stay spiritual infants, but to mature in their faith, in their behavior, in their love for one another, to fight the good fight, and serve Christ well. 

Fight against the outward enemy, and that of our own flesh that wants our way, in our own time, that sinful nature that is puffed up with pride and doesn’t care how we’re hurting others, or grieving the Holy Spirit.

Fight it to the death.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Paul uses the phrase, “quit like men” straight out of a battle scene told in the scriptures. Four times in his writings he refers to believers as soldiers. 

“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4

We are (in case you haven’t noticed) in a spiritual battle that seems to intensify every day.  

We don’t know what a day will bring. Inwardly, the enemy will do what he can to tempt us to betray who we are in Christ. I’ve seen many who, in the past, claimed to profess a faith, but who have fallen away. Outwardly, Christians are actively being persecuted, tortured, and killed around the world. 

Let us persevere as good soldiers, remaining in Christ, clothed in our spiritual armor, not giving in to fear, but allowing ourselves to be trained by God’s discipline and His Word, and live our lives as maturing, sanctifying, hopeful, believing servants of our Lord, and remember that

“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
(from Habbakuk 2:4)

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but to those who have faith and are saved.”
Hebrews 10:38-39

 

Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and because of Him, we ask you to empower us by your Spirit to grow up in Christ, to walk worthy of our calling, set apart as mature soldiers in the fight against everything that sets itself up against you, to take into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and fight the good fight.