Nov. 13 SparkysHeart — Acts 19-20

Nov. 13 SparkysHeart — Acts 19-20 Sparky's Prayer: Thank You, Lord God: that regardless of how the evil one rants and raves, You are always there to protect and guide us. Help us not to be intimidated by his tactics. Help us to remember that when the god of this world is challenged, all hell will break out against us. Help us to remember that anger and rebellion is contagious and will spread like a wild fire. Help us remember that others can misunderstand our anger as rebellion. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we humbly pray. Amen.
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Ephesians 6:17-18 — Spiritual Resources PAUL'S PRAYER: Dear Father God, our resource for everything: Help us make full use of Your spiritual resources given to us. Help us destroy evil through the power of Your Word and the power of Your Holy Spirit. Help us be a prayer warrior, for it is through prayer that You empower Your soldiers. So help us to stand -by right belief, by right thinking, by right living, by right praying. Help us to pray at all times in the Spirit. In the saving name of Jesus and by the power of His Holy Spirit we seek Your face. In Jesus' mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/praying_paul/pwp.pl?317

VERSE: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ~ Hebrews 11:13 (NIV)
THOUGHT: I am not good at waiting for much of anything. I am like the kids who have seen the catalogues for Christmas toys and are anxious for the big gift day. God does have a great Gift Day ahead for us. On that wonderful day, all our waiting will be over and our faith will become sight. Let us follow the example of these great heroes of faith, and welcome that day from afar, by anticipation, praising God for His victory through Jesus Christ in our lives.
PRAYER: Victorious King, Ruler of the Ages, we praise You for the resurrection that lies ahead for us. We thank You in advance for the day we get to see You face to face and join the great celebration of heaven. Until that day, please use us to help others glimpse the character and joy of Your great victory. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/

WHAT JESUS DID! — No One Knows! Matthew 24:36-41 (NLT) "However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son Himself. Only the Father knows. When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day. In those days before the Flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People did not realize what was going to happen until the Flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left."
WJD THOUGHT: Jesus makes clear that the exact moment of the Son of Man's coming is not certain. Whether He is referring to the destruction of JerUSAlem or to His ultimate coming to bring time to an end is not so clear. To me, it seems fairly clear that while there will be very obvious signs of JerUSAlem's imminent destruction, Jesus return is incalculable. In fact, He tells His disciple three different stories to help them understand that they cannot know the exact time of His coming. He, Himself, does not know the time of His own coming. Neither do the angels. The bigger issue is the surprise and unexpectedness of His arrival. It will seem like any ordinary day with eating and drinking and marrying going on just like in ordinary times. No one will be expecting it. But His disciples will be ready for it. It might be a surprise but they will not be unprepared!
WJD PRAYER: O Mighty Father God, Ruler of the Ages, please give us patience and attentiveness while we wait for the coming of Jesus. Help us to be found faithful and righteous when Jesus comes and please help us as we seek to influence those in our families to not only love Jesus, but also anticipate His coming. In the mighty saving name of Jesus, our Coming King, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/1113-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — Watching by the Fire from Far Away Mark 14:53-54 (NLT) Jesus was led to the high priest's home where the leading priests, other leaders, and teachers of religious law had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed far behind and then slipped inside the gates of the high priest's courtyard. For a while he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.
WJD THOUGHT: Jesus was brought before the leaders of the Jewish people, but the leader of His followers stood at a cowardly distance sneaking around trying to watch the proceedings. While Jesus faced the cold ridicule of those in power, Jesus' self-proclaimed loyal follower warmed himself at a fire in the company of those put in charge of the Son of God's torture. While it all seems so despicable from the safety of our distance of two thousand years, if we are honest, most of us have done the same thing. When Jesus, His cause, or His Kingdom is maligned, we pull back from the discussion, hang back, and try to be unnoticeable.
WJD PRAYER: Father God, give us wisdom to know how to stand up for Your Truth, Your Son, and Your will without totally alienating us from others. Also, dear Father God, help us to never back down in our spoken faith because we are afraid. We want to be wise and courageous in our loyalty to Your Son. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/mark/1113-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — They Hung on Every Word Luke 19:45-48 (NLT) Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls. He told them, "The Scriptures declare, `My Temple will be a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves." After that, He taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill Him. But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word He said.
WJD THOUGHT: Those in power wanted to shut Jesus up; they were so adamant {stubborn} about it, they plotted to kill Him. However, the everyday folks heard the voice of God in Jesus' words and they hung on every word He said. Our trip through the Gospel of Luke this year has been based upon our need to hear the voice of Jesus and to know His ministry first hand. So often in our world today, people will go read a best selling Christian author before they will read their Bible. They will read books about Jesus rather than reading the Gospels that the Holy Spirit provided us to know the story of Jesus. We want to issue you a challenge: join us in using these last six weeks of this year to read through each of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) at least once. Hang on Jesus' every word. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you know Jesus more so you can become like Jesus more completely.
WJD PRAYER: O righteous and holy Father, God of all creation, please reveal Your Son to us and in us as we seek to know Him better in the closing weeks of this year. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/luke/1113-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — The Second John 18:24-25 (NLT) Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire; they asked Him again, "Are you not one of His disciples?" "I am not," he said.
WJD THOUGHT: A disciple? Yes, a disciple is one who follows a master in order to be like that teacher. Clearly, Peter has not gotten the concept yet. He might be willing to be like Jesus in His power, performing miracles and amazing the people. However, this "Cross thing" that holds Jesus' attention is not understandable to Peter. So he fails, again. Not just once, but now a second time he denies his Lord — the very Lord he is seeking to emulate. History will later show that Peter did become like his Master. Are we not glad that Jesus did not give up on Peter when he failed ... this second time! Are we not glad that Jesus does not give up on us either!
WJD PRAYER: Dear Father God, forgive us for our failure and our sins. We do not like our sinfulness and we want to be more than we are. Please fashion us into a vessel fit for useful and faithful service to You and to Your kingdom. We truly believe that You can make us more than we are. We trust You, dear Lord God, that You can use our failures and our sins to grow us into a more holy and useful person for You because of His saving grace. In Jesus' mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/john/1113-wjd.html

Daily Guide to Miracles from Oral Roberts Ministries The Miracle Power of Seed — by Richard Roberts Second Kings 4 tells the story of a remarkable miracle. The prophet Elisha was running a Bible school with a hundred students when a famine struck the land, and they needed food. One day God sent a man to Elisha to plant a seed of a sack of grain and 20 loaves of barley bread. Elisha told his servant to give the food to the prophets to eat.
"What?" his servant exclaimed. "Feed one hundred people with only this?"...Elisha repeated, "Give it to the group of prophets so they can eat, for the Lord says there will be plenty for all. There will even be some left over!" And sure enough, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the Lord had promised. vs. 43-44 (NLT)
I have often wondered how God did that. I do not know how He could take a sack of corn and 20 barley loaves and feed a hundred men with food left over any more than I can understand how Jesus fed 5,000 men, not counting the women and children, with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. And there were 12 baskets of leftovers! (Matthew 14:13-21.) But it illustrates the mighty miracle power of God. He can take a small seed of faith and provide a miracle in circumstances when there seems to be no way.
There is miracle power in each little seed you sow. And when you sow it, God grows it. The Word teaches that when you give-plant a seed unto God-He uses it not only for His glory, but He gives it back in the form of your need ... multiplied. What need are you facing today? Plant a seed against that need and let God begin His work on your behalf!
My Declaration of Faith for Today: As I plant a seed against my need, I believe God multiplies it back in the form of my need.
Remember, "Something GOOD is going to happen to you!"
prayer@orm.cc
Visit the Make Your Day Count web site: http://www.makeyourdaycount.com

Culture Shock Romans 1:14 — For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. (NLT)
I belong to a writers group, and each month, we meet for a time of prayer, fellowship, and encouragement for one another with our writing. We have a schedule for the year, and each month, we are asked to bring an item we have written, to share with one another.
Recently, the topic was "culture shock". We were to write about an experience of going from one culture to another.
My first thought was that I did not have anything to share; I have never been on a mission trip. I would have to pass when it came time to share. Then, the Lord began to speak and to show me that going to another part of the world was not the only way to experience culture shock. I only had to go across town and step into an elevator, where I found myself with two youth who had piercings on their noses, tongues, and lips. Well out of my comfort zone, I found myself having a conversation that went beyond the usual "Hi, nice day, are you having a good summer?" We chatted in the elevator as we travelled to our floor. We all got off on the same floor, and yes, you guessed it! We all found ourselves in the same appointment room with more time to continue our conversation. It is not so important what we talked about, but more that I would step out of my comfort zone and enter into a youth culture which I had not grown up with. Even having two boys of my own had not taken me into the age of piercing the body.
How easy it is to turn our heads away or to look down so as not to be drawn into eye contact or a conversation with others who live right in our own communities and have a different culture than ours.
Mark 2:16-17 — When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw [Jesus] eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked His disciples: "Why does He eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (NIV)
Jesus did not turn away. He found time for everyone who crossed His path. As for me, I have realized from this experience, as I am living in His image, that I, too, need to be more accepting and willing to step out of my comfort zone.
We come in agreement with Julie’s Prayer: Dear Lord God, we are sorry for the times when we have turned away from others. Help us, Lord God, to live in Your image, in all that we do and say, to all whom You send across our paths. Lord God, infuse us with a boldness that takes us out into the world as Your hands and feet. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
Julie Bowles — julieanni@rogers.com
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
http://daily.presbycan.ca/

WHAT JESUS DID! — Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, accompanied us. Acts 27:1-2 NOW WHEN it was determined that we [including Luke] should sail for Italy, they turned Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the imperial regiment named Julius. [2] And going aboard a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail for the ports along the coast of [the province of] Asia, we put out to sea; and Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, accompanied us.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IBGN-IBEGOODNOW-NEWSLETTER/