Nov. 14 SparkysHeart — Acts 21-23

Nov. 14 SparkysHeart — Acts 21-23
Sparky's Prayer: Help us, Lord God: to seek peace where there is conflict. Make us wise enough to avoid dissension and division, without sacrificing truth and principles. Help us to willingly and humbly place ourselves under church leadership. Help us to remember that good communication is constructive in what God is doing in our lives. Help us to remember that misinformation breeds confusion and contention and to submit to God's Will. In Jesus’ mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
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Ephesians 6:18-19 — Time to Pray
PAUL'S PRAYER: Dear Father God: Help us to fill our time with prayer and entreaties to You. Help us to keep alert for prayer. And to keep on, and keep on, and keep on. We offer supplications for Your holy soldiers everywhere, especially those who preach Your Word. Give them the words and the boldness they need to publish openly the secret of Your Good News about Jesus and His resurrection victory! In the precious name of Jesus and by His authority we ask for victory against everything that stands in opposition to Your Will and our eternal good. 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?318

VERSE: And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:14 (NIV)
THOUGHT: While we wait for God's great victory for us to be fully realized, we also need to know that we are in a battle. God will win this battle through Jesus Christ. The final outcome is certain. Christ has already won the decisive battle. However, let us not be fooled; the evil one will do everything he can to deceive all people and confuse the lost. Let us stick with God's plan — living His Truth, listening for His Voice in Scripture, and following the lead of His Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: Holy LORD, please give us the ability to discern truth and resist the deception of Satan. Please empower us by Your Holy Spirit as we seek to live victoriously for You. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
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WHAT JESUS DID! — When You Do Not Expect Him
Matthew 24:42-44 (NLT) So be prepared, because you do not know what day your Lord is coming. Know this: A homeowner who knew exactly when a burglar was coming would stay alert and not permit the house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time. For the Son of Man will come when least expected."
WJD THOUGHT: It is so easy for us to get caught up in all the things that slow us down in life. There are always bills to pay, schedules to keep, struggles to overcome, difficulties to navigate, families to feed, and jobs to do. We can so easily get caught up in the mundane mess of these things that we lose sight of the glorious thing on the horizon. Since it seems so long ago to us that Jesus lived and died, we can easily lull ourselves into thinking that He will not return in our lifetime, much less at any time. We lose that sense of urgency, passion and expectation. Jesus wants us to always be ready. He is forever at the door just beyond the minor boundaries of space and time waiting to usher in His fulfilled Kingdom in power and glory. Our job is not to know the day this will occur, but to be ready any day it will occur and to live our lives full of holy deeds and holy anticipation of it's certain coming!
WJD PRAYER: O Lord and Master, we want to be prepared and waiting when You come. Please quicken our hearts with Your Holy Spirit so that we can be alert and ready, anticipating Your great victory and longing for Your great triumph when You come. Heavenly Father, please also use us to help prepare others with an eagerness and excitement about Your Son's return in glory with the mighty angels. Help us the Church of this generation; be ready when the day of victory, rejoicing, and triumph occurs. In Jesus' mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/1114-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — Liars for Rent
Mark 14:55-56 (NLT) Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would testify against Jesus, so they could put Him to death. But their efforts were in vain. Many false witnesses spoke against Him, but they contradicted each other.
WJD THOUGHT: Basically, Jesus' opponents were trying to find a liar or two that they could "rent" for the duration of Jesus' trial. The behavior reminds us once again of two terrible realities.
First, religious people can do the most despicable things when they are more concerned with self-preservation than they are about the truth of God.
Second, Jesus is about to undergo a gruesome, horribly unfair ordeal.
The first should always make us pause and ask for God's guidance and intervention. We should never want our understanding of truth to interfere with His will and His people.
The second should drive us to our knees in humility, knowing all that the Lord Jesus has unfairly endured because of His love for us.
WJD PRAYER: O God Almighty, You are the One Who directs the paths of history and brings kingdoms to nothing when they interfere with Your work in the world. Please help us and those with whom we fellowship to never interfere with Your will. Please never let us to be guilty of wanting to preserve our religious understanding at the expense of Your Kingdom, Your people, and Your Will. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/mark/1114-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — By Whose Authority?
Luke 20:1-8 (NLT) One day as Jesus was teaching and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests and teachers of religious law and other leaders came up to Him. They demanded, "By whose authority did You drive out the merchants from the Temple? Who gave You such authority?" "Let me ask you a question first," He replied. "Did John's baptism come from heaven, or was it merely human?" They talked it over among themselves. "If we say it was from heaven, He will ask why we did not believe Him. But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us; because they are convinced he was a prophet." Finally they replied, "We do not know." And Jesus responded, "Then I will not answer your question either."
WJD THOUGHT: Jesus has now entered the battlefield. Yes, He is in the Temple of God. However, His opponents are now going to bombard Him with questions in hopes of getting Him to commit some heinous {terrible} religious offense that they can use to make Him seem scandalous {disgraceful}. Jesus' agenda, on the other hand, is to share the Good News. So outwitting them at their own game, He sends them away with a question they did not want to answer. They will not answer Him, so He sends them away without an answer. He is there to minister. He will not get caught up in their games with the end so near. Let us remember that we must not let religious games ever take the place of God's mission and ministry through us.
WJD PRAYER: Father God, forgive us forgetting so upset sometimes with religious questions. We know there are important issues of truth. Please help us to see these. On the other hand, dear Father God, we do not want to get caught up in the religious arguments and miss the opportunity to minister to others as You would have us to do. Please remove any contentious spirit from us and help us to focus on the things that are matters of your concern. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/luke/1114-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — The Third
John 18:26-27 (NLT) But one of the household servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, "Did I not see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?" Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.
WJD THOUGHT: Three strikes and your out. That is true in baseball. That is also true under the law in the United States. It is not true with God's grace. Three strikes and your broken, but not too broken to be restored. Jesus will confront Peter about his three-fold failure. However, each time Jesus will affirm his value and call him back to useful service. Sin — failure at our most important commitment, our commitment to God — is horrible. It brings all sorts of problems into our lives. However, sin does not have the final word in our lives: God's grace does. Jesus died for sinners — for you and for me! Our sin does not disqualify us from being used by God if we will repent and let holy God remake us into someone fit to serve! So do not give up if you have struck out repeatedly in your walk of faith. Jesus reclaimed Peter and He can reclaim you!
WJD PRAYER: Holy God and Father; please do not let our sin steal our faith away from Your transforming power and grace. We believe that You can remake us and empower us beyond our failures and our moments of unfaithfulness. Grow us and mature us so that those moments occur less and less frequently. Raise us up to be Your loyal, useful, righteous, and faithful servant. In Jesus' mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/john/1114-wjd.html

Daily Guide to Miracles from Oral Roberts Ministries
Our Ultimate Source — by Evelyn Roberts; Evelyn Roberts went home to her heavenly Father on May 4, 2005
A number of years ago my oldest sister had surgery on her hip. Because of other medical problems, her hipbones were soft, and the pins placed in her hip during surgery came out. About four weeks after her first surgery she had to go in for another surgery to put a metal joint in her hip. While she was in the hospital, it was discovered that she had a staph infection.
I was in Florida at the time of the second surgery. I received a call from another sister who said, "The doctors told her that if they do not get rid of the infection, it could kill her." That news hit me like a bolt out of the blue.
I broke down and began to sob. I cried out to Oral, "I cannot lose her. I have lost my mother, I have lost a daughter, and I have lost a son. I just cannot lose my sister!" Even Oral could not console me.
When I was able to get my emotions under control, I went to the Lord. He is our ultimate Source for any problem. I needed help with my sister’s situation, and to get the encouragement I needed I had to go to the Lord in prayer and read His Word. Prayer and reading God’s Word are the two things that put us in touch with God. Yes, it is comforting to have people pray with us, but our ultimate Source of help is God.
God tells us in Isaiah 41:13 (NIV), "I AM the Lord, your God, Who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." And Jesus gives us even more encouragement in John 16:33 (NIV): "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." When problems surround us, we have all the power we need: our ultimate Source, Jesus Christ.
My Declaration of Faith for Today: In time of trouble, I look to God as my Source of help. He is my strength and comfort.
Remember, "Something GOOD is going to happen to you!"
prayer@orm.cc
Visit the Make Your Day Count website: http://www.makeyourdaycount.com

Time For Everything
Ecclesiastes 3:1 — There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. (NIV)
Because God's Word is absolutely clear that there is a time and season for everything, I began, years ago, to feel guilty whenever I used the old clichés, "I have not got time," or "I have not had time," or "There is not enough time."
The guilt in using these expressions increased, so I finally brought my guilt before the Lord, and as we know, whenever we do that, God is going to be totally straight with us, show us in His Word, and get us to come clean with others and ourselves.
Needless to say, God showed me that to continue using the same old clichés as excuses was not honest, not with people or myself. Also, I was making today's Scripture into a lie. Oh boy, did that sting! After much repentance for all the times when I had used those phrases as an excuse for not doing things I had said I would, the Lord showed me how I could change. His Word would not change; I do so love Him for that!
It took me some time to break the habit of using these clichés, but I did it. I learned to say truthfully, "I am sorry, I have not made time to do that yet, but I will." What I mean is that I will make it a priority on my time. As a result, I formed the habit of writing things down and setting a daily agenda that included fitting in fulfilling the promises I had made.
Until I had formed these honest habits in my thoughts, words, deeds, and use of my God — given time, the essence of today's Scripture, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven," kept me focused.
We come in agreement with Rosemary’s Prayer: Thank You, wonderful Lord God, not only for Your Word to us, but also for Your faithful determination to work Your Word in and through us. Thank You for the exceedingly patient way that You go on making us more like You. Praises to Your glorious, gracious name! In Jesus’ mighty saving name we pray. Amen and Amen.
Rosemary Renninson — artrose@dodo.com.au
Westbury, Victoria, Australia
http://daily.presbycan.ca/

WHAT JESUS DID! — Julius treated Paul in a loving way,
Acts 27:3-4 The following day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul in a loving way, with much consideration (kindness and care), permitting him to go to his friends [there] and be refreshed and be cared for. [4] After putting to sea from there we passed to the leeward (south side) of Cyprus [for protection], for the winds were contrary to us.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IBGN-IBEGOODNOW-NEWSLETTER/