Heal our Land

Daniel 10:“Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.”

When the prophet Daniel didn’t get an answer to his prayer he withdrew for three weeks of fasting and spiritual discipline puzzled by the silence of God. Finally an angel explained the battle going on with the king of Persia. What seemed like to Daniel like a case of unanswered prayer had, in ways hidden to him sparked a battle among unseen combatants in the spiritual realm. Prayer is our strongest weapon agains invisible forces. (Philip Yancey)

Paul said in Eph. 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Ps. 106:23  “So He said He would destroy them had not Moses stood in the breach before him.”

God says he would have destroyed the people had it not been for Moses interceding through prayer for them.

Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it but I found none.”

Help us Lord to stand firm and stand in the gap for our land and our families. Help us to be that man God is looking for.

How Much Longer Lord

David, being chased by Saul,  wrote Ps. 13, "How long O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?"

(From David Jeremiah's book, "Bend in the Road") Like a child in the backseat on a long trip, we call out the same questions to God, "How much longer, Lord? How much farther? Are we there yet? 

There are some prayers that God does not grant either the first or second or third time. Often time, this delay will keep us in a state of humility and make us realize the value of grace.

David finish this Psalm with this, "But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me."

When you can't feel His hand, Trust His heart.

I Am Weak But He Is Strong

I bear willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord’s workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my schoolroom is darkened, I see most. —Charles Spurgeon

1 Peter 1:6-7, 10 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The weaker we are the stronger His grace is revealed, Or to put it another way, “When this little light of mine becomes dimmer, His great floodlight shines all the more brightly." Pain offers us great wealth. When life wounds us and we are in deep pain, we instinctively cry out to God. Life is difficult and difficulty is the only path to wisdom. Pain draws us to God’s Word.—David Jeremiah.

Tried for a season, pure for eternity, Warren Wiersbe.

The Bend in the Road

Sometimes we come to life's crossroads

And we view what we think is the end.

But God has a much wider vision

And he knows that it's only a bend-

The road will go on and get smoother

And after we've stopped for a rest,

The path that lies hidden beyond us

Is often the path that is best.

So rest and relax and grow stronger,

Let go and let God share your load

And have faith in a brighter tomorrow-

You've just come to a bend in the road.

Helen Steiner Rice.