Nov. 15 SparkysHeart — Acts 24-26

Nov. 15 SparkysHeart — Acts 24-26 Sparky's Prayer: Thank You, Lord God; because truth sets us free from many anxieties, we rest in You for Your constant protection and provisions. Help us to remember and pray for the evil ones who go to great lengths to discredit both God's people and His work. Help us to remember that righteousness strikes fear in those who are unbelievers and to remember that indecision is a decision against what God wants for our lives. In Jesus’ mighty saving name, we humbly pray. Amen.
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Ephesians 6:23-24 — Love and Trust PAUL'S PRAYER: Dear Father God: Help Your peace-in-the-midst-of-war be with all our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Could You and the Lord Jesus fill them with love and with full and effective trust in You. Could Your unfailing favor be with all who love our Lord Jesus with an undying love. Heavenly Father, we do love the Lord Jesus with unfailing love. Let us never outlive it. In the saving 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' saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/praying_paul/pwp.pl?319

Verse: As the LORD commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; [he] Joshua left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. ~ Joshua 11:15 (NIV)
THOUGHT: Joshua is one of my favorite Bible heroes. He was a great servant to Moses. He refused to be swayed by his peers or by the crowd when he spied out the Promised Land. He followed in the footsteps of a great leader and was a great leader himself — not an easy task! Joshua was vigorous and vital even in his old age. Most of all, Joshua was obedient to God and did everything that God had commanded him to do, as well as what God had commanded Moses that he should do. In other words, Joshua was faithful!
PRAYER: O LORD God, our Abba Father, when the story of our lives are told, help us to be viewed as one who was faithful to all that You have asked of me. We want to serve You with an undivided heart and a life that brings You the glory and praise You deserve for Your generous grace. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
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WHAT JESUS DID! — The Loyal Servant Matthew 24:45-51 (NLT) "Who is a faithful, sensible servant, to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his household and feeding his family? If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I assure you, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But if the servant is evil and thinks, `My master will not be back for a while,' and begins oppressing the other servants, partying, and getting drunk — well, the master will return unannounced and unexpected. He will tear the servant apart and banish him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
WJD THOUGHT: There is tremendous pressure to make God a nice, benevolent, senile, man Who smiles for everyone and judges no one. In a society and culture of quick fixes, God is easily manipulated and all people deserve to get to go to heaven and be with Him forever, no matter how they have lived. The shortsightedness of such a view is apparent to anyone who has been in the presence of evil. It does not matter if that evil is disguised and clothed in social respectability or if it is unvarnished and terrifying. Evil and God, evil and goodness, evil and heaven don't fit! No matter how much we want to blur the distinction, God does care about the difference between righteousness and wickedness. It matters deeply to Him; it is His holy character, to treat people justly and as their actions deserver. Without the transformational power of Jesus' death and resurrection — and our participation in it that even through grace, faith, baptism and the Holy Spirit — we all would fall outside the boundaries of righteousness and justice would demand a rigorous verdict of us all. But Jesus is the great righteousness maker. His sacrificial death that we share in through grace and His abiding power to transform us daily through the Holy Spirit make us righteous and holy in the sight of God. But those who do not know Jesus as Lord, who have not honored Him by their lives, words, and heart, will find that while God's justice if fair and true, justice without Jesus' grace is a bitter prize to receive!
WJD PRAYER: O great Judge and Father of the Ages, thank You for the sacrificial death and transforming life of Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank You that we stand in Your presence without fault, free from any accusation, and holy in Your sight. But Heavenly Father, we know that those attributes are mine by Your grace and not by our actions, so we pray this day that our lives bears witness to the righteousness You have given us in Jesus. In Jesus' mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/1115-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — Close, But ... Mark 14:57-59 (NLT)　Finally, some men stood up to testify against Him with this lie: "We heard Him say, `I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.'" But even then they did not get their stories straight!
WJD THOUGHT: Yes, Jesus did say something like this. Yes, it was confusing to those who heard it, even His closest followers. But, Jesus never intended to say such a thing about the literal Temple in JerUSAlem. He was talking about His own body, which they would nail to the Cross. God raised Jesus from the dead after three days. The point is that Jesus' enemies could not make the charges stick without lying. He is innocent and yet they are determined to put Him to death. Nothing is quite as brutal or corrupt as religion that loses its way.
WJD PRAYER: Dear Father God, guide us into the way we should go and keep us from the blindness of our own selfishness. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/mark/1115-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — The Owner's Story Luke 20:9-13 (NLT) Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: "A man planted a vineyard, leased it out to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. At grape-picking time, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. So the owner sent another servant, but the same thing happened; he was beaten up and treated shamefully, and he went away empty-handed. A third man was sent and the same thing happened. He, too, was wounded and chased away. 'What will I do?' the owner asked himself. `I know! I will send my cherished son. Surely they will respect Him.'"
WJD THOUGHT: This parable is very autobiographical for Jesus. He is clearly referring to what God has done. Religious leaders had taken over the running of God's people. However, they wanted to run it their own way, and resisted God's desires and His leaders to the point of abusing and killing them. So God would send someone who is more than just an owner's representative; He would send His cherished son! Jesus is that cherished Son! What unfolds in the events that follow happened to God's beloved Son! It does not just matter historically; it also matters significantly in the life and heart of God. In other words, God loves enough to send His cherished Son to save us!
WJD PRAYER: Father God, thank You for Your indescribable gift. In Jesus' mighty saving name, we pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/luke/1115-wjd.html

WHAT JESUS DID! — Not Wanting to Be Defiled! John 18:28-32 (NLT) Jesus' trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then He was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers did not go in themselves because it would defile them, and they would not be allowed to celebrate the Passover feast. So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, "What is your charge against This Man?" "We would not have handed Him over to you if He were not a criminal!" they retorted." Then take Him away and judge Him by your own laws," Pilate told them. "Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone," the Jewish leaders replied. This fulfilled Jesus' prediction about the way He would die.
WJD THOUGHT: Semantics {study of meaning in language; symbols; and logics } and blind spots! These are two of the biggest problems religious people of every age have had. Rather than pursuing righteousness from the heart, we have a tendency to try to justify ourselves using legalistic maneuvering — i.e., "His accusers did not go in themselves because it would defile them ..." In other words, they were asking for Jesus to be killed, but were also worried about being righteous by the letter of the law. They are worried about the Passover and are thus fulfilling God's plan that Jesus would be the Passover Lamb, sacrificed for His people's deliverance. While we can see the blindspots and the legalistic semantics of Jesus' opponents, can we see our own? One of the most important requests we can ask of God is this: O Lord God, please reveal to us our spiritual blindspots so that our hearts will be pure. A world of evil lurks in the hearts of men and women that seek to justify their religious actions rather than asking for God to reveal and to eradicate every evil thought and desire from their heart!
WJD PRAYER: God forgive us! We recognize that our own heart at times is so very deceitful. We want to be pure and not have to try to justify ourselves by legalism. Cleanse us thoroughly by Your Holy Spirit as He does the work of transforming us to be more and more like Jesus. Help us see our blindspots and inconsistencies so that we can wholly serve You with a pure heart and righteous life. In Jesus' mighty saving name and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we humbly pray. Amen.
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/john/1115-wjd.html

Daily Guide to Miracles from Oral Roberts Ministries A Threat to the Devil — by Jerry Savelle; Jerry Savelle Ministries International I had a lady tell me once, "Brother Jerry, I saw you on TV the other day. You were talking about how the devil came against you and how you and Carolyn had to stand and stand until you finally won the battle.”
"Shortly after that," she continued, "I was watching Kenneth Copeland on television. He was talking about the adversity he and Gloria had been through and how they’d had to fight the good fight of faith, and they had won.”
"And then I turned on the TV and there was Oral Roberts talking about how the devil had come against him and how he and Evelyn had stood on the Word and fought the good fight of faith and won.”
"I do not understand it," she said. "It looks like the devil is after you guys all the time. He does not ever bother me."
"Well," I replied, "apparently you are not a threat to the devil."
What makes you a threat to the devil? You are a threat to him when you are deeply committed to the cause of Christ and the standards He gave us for living a Christian life. The devil attacks everybody, but he goes full force after deeply committed Christians. They are, by far, the most serious threat to him because they can stop his operation in their own lives and his efforts in the lives of others.
If you want to be a Christian God can use, make an unwavering commitment to walk with Christ. Ephesians 6:10-11 (NIV) says, “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Such commitment is satan’s worst nightmare.
My Declaration of Faith for Today: I am committed to God, which makes me the devil’s worst nightmare!
Remember, "Something GOOD is going to happen to you!"
prayer@orm.cc
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Communicating Isaiah 1:18 — Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (KJV)
We love it when our grandchildren come for a visit. It is especially fun when they come one at a time. Then we can interact with only one, instead of having several clamouring for our attention.
When one little grandson was here, we were talking about how old grandpa is. We could see the gears turning in Michael's mind, and wondered what was going to come out of his mouth. Pretty soon, he said, "How had you get to be so old?" Bless his little heart!
I saw a spiritual lesson. Michael was thinking things through, and then questioned grandpa. Often in our spiritual lives, we question God when we do not understand what is happening. God is okay with that. In fact, He invites us to ask Him questions and to reason life's issues out with Him.
Let us respond to His invitation to communicate with Him, to ask Him the hard questions in life. My understanding of His request is that to "reason together" is a two-way communication. So maybe, we need to be ready to hear some hard questions as well, along with answers to our own questions.
We come in agreement with Judy’s Prayer: Lord God in the name of Jesus, thanks so much that You want open and honest communication between You and us. Help us to be completely honest with You — sharing our deepest thoughts and questions. Help us also to listen to You as You speak to us, as You share Your thoughts and desires with us. In Jesus’ mighty saving name we pray. Amen.
Judy Miller — gjmiller@telusplanet.net
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
http://daily.presbycan.ca/

WHAT JESUS DID! — In Myra the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy, Acts 27:5-6 And when we had sailed over [the whole length] of sea which lies off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia. [6] There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy, and he transferred us to it.
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