I Pray LIFE Over You

Welcome to week 4 of the “Fridays Are For Faith ‘n Friends” blog hop! I’m honored to have you guys join me again today and I pray that you’ll join me here every Friday for prayer, love, and encouragement. As I explained in week 1, I may not be writing a message every Friday, but I will have a focal passage of Scripture in which I will be meditating on as I write a prayer to encourage your hearts. I will also be available to pray with or for you throughout the day and you can contact me for prayer anytime by clicking here. Also, each week I will share with you my favorite post from the previous week’s link-up.  … So, link-up, be encouraged, and spread the love!

(Job 33:4 NIV- The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of The Almighty gives me Life.)

As I began to meditate on today’s focal verse I felt The Holy Spirit completely consume me. And as I began to personalize that verse and pray it over my own life, my heart began to not just grasp, but tightly grip and take a hold of the beauty, power, and Truth within each and every word. And so, as you are here visiting with me today, know that it is not my chance, but by divine appointment that I get to pray The Life held within this verse over your life today. May you feel His Holy and perfect Presence like never before.

Abba, I come before You this morning asking that You would help us to open our hearts and minds to truly understand, firmly embrace, and wholly receive The Truth that is Your Word. For Father we know that within Your Word lies the purpose and Life that the depths of our hearts so desperately long and cry out for. … Lord, Your Spirit has masterfully made us and it is Your very breath that gives us Life. I thank You for Your Life within us and I ask that with each and every breath we take that You would continually breathe new Life within our beings; mind, body, soul, and spirit that we would operate by Your Spirit, through Your power, and according to Your purpose. I ask that Your Holy Spirit would infiltrate and consume us in such a way that we would become one with You; that our hearts would beat to the rhythm of Your heartbeat. Abba, we long for more You. Fill us with the fullness of Christ and help us to live, stand, breathe, and rest assured that it is Your very Life that lives within us and in You we lack nothing. Father, we love you more today than yesterday. Our love for You is ever-increasing as we come to know the depths of Your heart for us. You are a good Father and we thank You that You never leave us nor forsake us. We honor You and we give You all of the glory. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Your precious Son, and our Lord and Savior— I pray, Amen and so be it.

The song below is one of my favorite songs to sing before God as I enter His Presence every morning. I believe that singing is one of the most intimate ways to worship, praise and just love on The Lord. The song says, “Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain and I can’t control. I want more of You, God”. I don’t know about you, but everyday I long for more of Him. I want His Spirit to ignite and passionately burn within my soul. And so, everyday, I sing to The Lord and I ask Him for more of all that is Him in my life and the beauty in that is— He never denies me, but freely and graciously gives of Himself. So today, even if you don’t sing, I just want to encourage you to just begin to ask The Lord for more of His Presence in your life and watch how He will amaze you as He begins to reveal Himself to you.

Happy Friday! I love you guys!

Believe, Be Beautiful, Be Brilliant, and Be Blessed! 🙂

 Faith ‘n Friends Blog Hop

We’re so glad you’re here!

This is a place to share faith, make friends, and have fun.

Hosts

Faith ‘n Friends
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Deb Wolf
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Tai East
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by Bonnie Lyn Smith @ Espressos of Faith 

 “Waiting on GOD in the Valley“

Thank you so much for joining the “Faith ‘n Friends” Blog Hop, Bonnie!

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Trade Your Ashes For HIS Crown

(Isaiah 61:3 NIV- Bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of The Lord for the display of His splendor.)

One of my favorite songs to listen to as I’m praying in the mornings is a song called “Glorious Ruins” by Hillsong. More so than music itself, I am a lover of lyrics. I listen to every single word of a song. And so as I’m praying, I like to listen to songs that will relay the worship and the cry of my heart to the heart of God because sometimes I’m in such awe of Him and so amazed that I have the honor and privilege of being in His Presence that I simply can’t find the words to speak forth on my own. If you’ve followed my blog then you know that I am a crier and my deepest and most intimate form of worship is displayed through my tears.

This morning as “Glorious Ruins” began to play and I began to sing, I felt those words truly take root it my spirit. I was filled with The Presence of The Lord and I just wept. Part of the song says: “When the mountains fall and the tempest roar You are with me. When creation folds still my soul will soar on Your mercy. I’ll walk through the fire with my head lifted high and my spirit revived in Your story. And I’ll look to the cross as my failure is lost in the light of Your glorious grace. Let the ruins come to Life in the beauty of Your name. Rising up from the ashes God forever You reign. And my soul will find refuge in the shadow of Your wings. I will love You forever and forever I’ll sing”.

Those words truly translate my gratitude for all that God is and has brought to my life. They reminded me that at the cross our failure is lost and replaced with the honor and privilege to stand, walk, live, and breathe in His incredible purpose for our lives. They reminded me of the truth that lies within today’s focal passage and the beauty that it relays from God’s heart to ours. We get to trade in our ashes to behold the beauty of His crown!

God wants to take all of the ruin, ash, and despair that burdens us and replace it with His crown of beauty, His oil of joy, and His garment of praise. He created us in His glorious image. His splendor rests upon and within us and we should never be ashamed or afraid to embrace that and look, live, and love as such. Through Jesus our ruins radiantly come to Life in such magnificent form. Where we see ruins within ourselves, God sees treasure because He knows the beauty that He created within us.

So today, I want to encourage you to not focus on your ruins, but to focus on Jesus and allow Him to show you the beauty and Life that lies within you through His Holy Spirit. Today, I want you to make the choice to trade your ashes for His crown! Live in the light, love, and Life that He provides! He’s worth it and so are you! (John 8:12 NLT- Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I Am The Light of the world. If you follow Me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have The Light that leads to Life.”)

I love you guys!

Believe, Be Beautiful, Be Brilliant, and Be Blessed! 🙂

You can send me your prayer requests by simply clicking here.

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Just A Little Pencil Empowered To Leave Exceptional Marks

(2 Corinthians 3:2-5 GNT- You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. It is clear that Christ Himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with The Spirit of The Living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts. We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God.)

Every single part of our existence is a gift from God. The very next breath that we take is a privilege administered by His power. That very next life-giving beat of our hearts is only because He made the decision to let it be so. My point is, we naturally try to control our own lives when they’re truly not ours to control. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 MSG- Didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of The Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.)

If we were to truly come to the realization that we are not our own, but that this body in which our souls indwell is simply a borrowed gift from God, would we sincerely make the choice to live our lives according to that gift? Would we choose to allow God to take the reins of what genuinely already belongs to Him? Or would we choose to keep believing the lie of the enemy that it is ours to do with it whatever we please?

Today, I’ve been in deep thought about life and what it truly means. The first thing that came to mind is, if God literally controls my existence; whether I take my next breath or not, whether my heart will receive it’s next beat, or whether I’ll have the liberty, benefit, and privilege of waking up to see a new day, why would I not allow Him to control my everyday concerns and worries? The things that worry us on a day to day basis are so insignificant compared to the gift of life itself. We hinder ourselves in life by trying to control what God says is His to manage, nurture, and take care of.

The focal passage of Scripture for today says, “It is clear that Christ Himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with The Spirit of The Living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts. We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God.”. I believe that is a reminder to us that just as much as we expect this exceptional, all-consuming greatness from God, He also expects that same greatness from us because everything that He is, He has gifted to us by and through the power of The Holy Spirit. All we have to do is open our hearts to Him and trust Him to work within us.

God doesn’t require perfection from us. All He’s asking of us is to allow the willingness of our hearts to believe in Him and to let Him take the lead. If God expects exceptionalism from me, then I know that He has equipped and instilled within me everything that I need to be just that. I desire to do so much more with my life because of the dreams that He has planted in my heart. It is only through Him that I have become greater. “I’m just a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, Who is sending a love letter to the world.” – Mother Teresa

What will you do with this borrowed treasure known as life that God has so graciously gifted to you? My prayer for you is, whatever He has inscribed within your heart, you will wholeheartedly believe in that and use it to leave exceptional marks in this world for His glory.

I love you guys!

Believe, Be Beautiful, Be Brilliant, and Be Blessed! 🙂

You can send me your prayer requests by simply clicking here.

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Who Does Your Day Belong To?

(Psalm 74:16 NIV- The day is Yours, and Yours also the night; You established the sun and moon.)

Lord, this very day and this very night is Yours. … What a beautiful and hope-filled truth for us to reflect upon and take to heart. Our days and our nights belong to God. He established the earth and everything in it. So, we too belong to Him and every breath we take and every beat of our hearts are all ordained and administered at His hand and by the sound of His voice. When God speaks, supernatural, miraculous, life-changing, Life-giving things take place. The sun, the moon, and the stars without question are all unparalleled wonders spoken into existence by the voice of God, but as you marvel at the beauty that He’s created around you, don’t forget to marvel at and embrace the beauty that He’s created on the inside of you.

So often we lose sight of ourselves and the beauty of who God created us to be seeking after or dwelling on things that were detrimental to our lives and that were never worthy of our time or our effort in the first place. But how much greater would each day and night be if we chose to seek after the priceless treasures of God instead of the things that deter us from His promises and devalue the essence of His purpose for our lives? How much greater would our lives be if we chose to live knowing that each day and each night truly is God’s and that for those of us who believe, He’s not only fighting every single battle of life that seems to a constant force fighting to break us, but that Jesus said that He has already conquered those battles and won the war for us?! (John 16:33 AMP- I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer, take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted! For I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.)

Know and believe that no matter what you go through and no matter how tedious life may seem at times, absolutely nothing can separate you from the endless love of God and His extraordinary purpose for your life. (Romans 8:37-39 NLT- Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, Who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.)

Awake and arise in the morning with joy in your heart knowing that your day is God’s and sleep in perfect peace at night knowing that your night is His as well. Nothing and no one can sever the promise of God’s love for you or His faithfulness to you. So chose to live life fearlessly and faithful and not just to simply exist in it broken and silent. Don’t give up! Stay in faith and refuse to quit because though you’ve endured and suffered through what seems like an endless nightmare, on the inside of you lives a God Who provides the power, ability, and capacity to become the reality of a beautiful dream. You are here on purpose, so live, treasure, and regard your life as such! (Jude 1:2 VOICE- Kindness, peace, love—may they never stop blooming in you and from you.)

I love you guys!

Believe, Be Beautiful, Be Brilliant, and Be Blessed! 🙂

You can send me your prayer requests by simply clicking here.

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Celebrate The Value Of One

(Luke 15:3-7 VOICE- Jesus told them a story. Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one, leave the 99 in their grazing lands and go out searching for the lost sheep until you find it? When you find the lost sheep, wouldn’t you hoist it up on your shoulders, feeling wonderful? And when you go home, wouldn’t you call together your friends and neighbors? Wouldn’t you say, “Come over and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep”? This is how it is in heaven. They’re happier over one sinner who changes his way of life than they are over 99 good and just people who don’t need to change their ways of life.)

We have the honor and privilege of serving a God Who treasures every single one of our lives. In His eyes we are all priceless and have an incredible purpose to carry out, but how amazing it is to know that He would leave everything and everyone else behind just to seek out that one broken heart not only to mend it’s pieces, but to mold it into something even more beautiful, precious, irreplaceable, and valued than before. I just love that He loves us so much and that even when we’re completely shattered and mangled emotionally and spiritually, He never gives up on us, but seeks after us to ensure that we never give up on Him or ourselves.

As I was reading today’s focal passage, I thought about how many times I was that “one” feeling lost and broken in comparison to how many times God sought after me to restore my heart unto His and I simply could not think of or remember a time when He wasn’t there to provide whatever it was I needed in that moment. However, what really tugged at my heart today was knowing that there are so many people who are so lost and so broken that even if He sought after them, they wouldn’t recognize His Presence because in not knowing Him they wouldn’t understand or realize the cause in which He came. (John 10:10 AMP- The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance; to the full, till it overflows.) It’s heartbreaking that so many people have never known or experienced the beauty, truth, and binding promise of the heart of Jesus in that verse.

Jesus said that we are to be the salt and the light of the world. (Matthew 5:13-16 NIV- “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.) Just as salt enriches the food for our bodies, we are to seek after the brokenhearted and enrich their lives with The Word of God. And just as light shines giving us clarity and guidance for the path we are to take, we are to shine and radiate His love and guide their hearts back to His.

Seek after and celebrate the value of one, even if that “one” happens to be you because restoration and transformation takes place in The Presence of God and you will not leave His Presence the same way you entered into It! (Isaiah 60:5 NIV- Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.)

I love you guys!

Believe, Be Beautiful, Be Brilliant, and Be Blessed! 🙂

You can send me your prayer requests by simply clicking here.

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