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Fortifying Our Call

We are fortifying the church in the area of our call this week.  As I prayed over the church and prepared to lead her into prayer, I heard the Holy Spirit give me this topic for strategy.

This is to strengthen us against the voice of the devil that challenges our identity as we move forward.  You can be a powerhouse and still find an area of weakness in your humanity concerning your identity.

Maybe you have had this happen.  A voice that sounds a lot like your own, speaks and tells you that “You aren’t saved!” “You aren’t a child of God.”  “God won’t help you or forgive you!”  “You can’t expect answered prayer!”  Does that sound familiar?  If it doesn’t then you aren’t breathing! This is a common tactic.  It is a device of the devil.  It is to convince you that you are not who God says you are.  That way you won’t gain territory and overcome obstacles.  It’s a trick but it works so well that the devil and demons use it over and over again!

JESUS’ IDENTITY CHALLENGED 

Even Jesus was challenged by the devil in the wilderness about who He was.  The devil said, “If you are the son of God…”  Jesus was not that far removed from His baptism.   God, His Father, had spoken from heaven and called Jesus His ‘beloved Son in whom He was well pleased.’  Yet the devil took aim and fired in this deeply significant area.

 

IT WASN’T ONLY THE DEVIL WHO LAUNCHED THE ATTACK

It wasn’t just that temptation in the wilderness, where the devil came in person to Jesus, he also incited wicked men to constantly question Jesus’ identity as the son of God.  They were relentless.  They were the religious people.  If anyone should have believed Jesus it should have been the leaders and teachers of the law.  Their anger about who Jesus was, the Son of God, was what caused them to push the crucifixion. So identity is a very big deal!

DON’T BE SURPRISED

All that to say, don’t be surprised if your identity is challenged as well.  If you ever fully believe what Jesus has said about you and what you can do, it will give the devil heartburn!

I hope you will pray through the video with me.  This will help fortify your life against the pitfalls of identity in Christ “crisis”.  So that on those weak or discouraging days, there is some metal in your soul!

I’m so glad you are hanging out with me!

Blessings,
lisa

 

© Copyright Lisa Swayze 2019

Fortifying Prayer Part 1

Fortifying Prayer Part 7

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Fortifying Prayer: Hunger and Desire Towards the Father

As I was praying about the prayer time on Monday night, I heard the Holy Spirit give me the topic of being hungry for God.  That also included having a desire for God.

IF PEOPLE ARE IN CHURCH, DON’T THEY HUNGER FOR GOD?

Not everyone that goes to a church has a true hunger for God.  People may have a myriad of reasons, other than hunger, for attendance.  Sometimes it is the place of meeting people.  Sometimes it is just what the family has always done.  Maybe it is just the “Christian” call to duty.  It is easier, than we would like to believe, to clock in and mark time.  When we are not hungry, we have little desire for the things of God.

Proverbs explains it this way.

Proverbs 27:7 (NKJV)
7  A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

When you are full, not even the thing you would ordinarily love sounds good.  When you are really hungry…or starving, you will eat out of a dumpster.

I’m not looking to eat out of a dumpster but I do want a really hungry heart!

HOW HUNGRY IS HUNGRY? 

Have you ever been asked if you were hungry?  What did you say?  As we start the prayer time, we take a look at our response to natural hunger.  Sometimes naturally, what we think is real hunger, isn’t.  It is the same spiritually.  We are not aware that we are not hungry.  Prayer will help us because, “We don’t know, what we don’t know!”.

THERE IS A LOT OF COMPETITION FOR OUR ATTENTION

I guess you have noticed that by now.  Every advertisement on every medium is created to draw our affections.  But the baubles that come after us successfully are things that make up the natural building blocks of life.

Matthew 13:22 (NKJV)
22  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Who can truly escape the cares of this world since we live in it?  By the grace of God…and prayer!

SO, WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?

We need to fortify the church in this area through prayer over this area of hunger.  True hunger will prioritize our lives and goals.  He will help us!

I hope you will pray along with me.  Use your name, your family’s names and your church’s name.  Speak God’s Word with me over your life.  Let’s fortify though prayer over hunger!

Blessings,
lisa

© Copyright Lisa Swayze 2019

Fortifying Prayer Part 1

Fortifying Prayer Part 6