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God bless America! What a beautiful land we live in, and how thankful we are for the freedoms we enjoy here. God has blessed us immeasurably and we are very grateful for those who serve in our nations from the president to the military. We are both so proud to be Americans. America is a land of abundance and blessing, and it is interesting to note that there aren’t too many people trying to leave the USA, but lots and lots of people trying to find their way here to live in our great land.

The Old Testament is filled with references to land and the blessing that comes with it.
There is a land flowing with milk and honey, there is a fruitful land, a land that remains, a return to their homeland, and most familiarly a healing of our land. We could say all those things about America. We are fruitful, but also needy. There are still so many who need to know God. He cares about where we live, and how we use our land. His hand of blessing comes as we humble ourselves and pray for our nation and its leaders. Let’s hold up the standard of righteousness in America!

I Tim 2:1-3 is very specific about our responsibility to pray for our leaders. If we want our land to continue to be great, as believers, we have to prioritize praying for our leaders. Let’s do that today: Father in the Name of Jesus, we pray for our leaders, and ask you to guide and direct them as they are filled with godly wisdom. We pray they would know you and make decisions based on your Word. We pray that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness. In Jesus Name, AMEN.

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We began this month looking at James chapter 5, and here at the end of the month, we will look at it again. Here is what it says in the Message Bible:

13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.
16 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

The amplified Bible actually says, the prayer of a righteous man/woman makes great power available, effective in its working. So are you hurting? Pray. Do you know someone who is hurting? Pray for them! That probably means we can all be praying all the time. The world is full of hurting people. Life often comes down hard on people. We live in a fallen world. This earth has a curse on it. Bad things happen to good people. Trials and tribulation come to everyone. Storms of life fall on the saved and the unsaved. Just look at the story parable of the house built on the rock, compared to the one built on the sand. What a strong element prayer is in our own foundation.

If we want to be standing strong after the storm passes, and rise above the world’s system, there are some basics that we have to do. We walk in love, we remain under the protective covering of God’s blessings, we use our faith, we speak the name of Jesus, we wear our armor, we use our authority in Christ, we pray the promises, we pray in the spirit, and we keep our flesh under. And most of all, we PRAY. Prayer makes great power available, or as the Message Bible says, the person of prayer who is right with God is something to be reckoned with.

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Yesterday we talked about how not to pray. Today we are looking at the tax collector who got it right. He was commended for his humble prayer. Here is what it says in Luke 18:13-14
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Pharisee was all about what He had done, and how good his deeds were. The tax collector realized that He needed God’s mercy because He was a sinner. The tax collector was the one who was justified, because he humbled himself before God. In light of that, if we want to know how to pray, this would be a great place to start. Let’s remember who God is. He is GOD! We are not! We are nothing without Him. He is our everything. Once we embrace salvation, we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, but that also is only because of God’s great mercy. He gives us right standing, and a robe of righteousness, not to show off how great we are, but to demonstrate His goodness. Let’s come humbly before our awesome God.

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I like watching the show What Not To Wear sometimes to see how transformed a person can be just by learning how not to dress. When you understand the don’ts, and get a grasp on the do’s, you can have some real success, even just in the way you dress. What is amazing is that along with knowing how to dress for your body type, and appropriately for each occasion, confidence builds. I have seen the same thing happen when people learn how to pray. Luke 18:9-11 actually talks about how not to pray. Let’s read it and get the picture.
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
It sounds like a little bit of pride was going on, and a lot of self righteousness. So how are we not supposed to pray? With pride and self righteousness. Let’s do just the opposite. Let’s be humble and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That is how we should pray!

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I John 5:14 and 15 says this:
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
This is one more of those scriptures that sounds too good to be true. Did it really say that what we ask we will receive? It really does. It is always to remember that God’s will is wrapped up in His Word. So we could say it this ways, if we ask anything according to God Word (which is His Will and Testament to us) we can be assured that we will receive it. Doesn’t that make sense even on a legal document? If you have been willed something, can’t you claim it as your own? Say you mom willed her house to you. When she died, you wouldn’t tell the probate lawyer, I don’t deserve it, or I don’t think I should have something that nice. You would say, thank you very much, can I have the keys please!!! Let’s know God’s Word, so we can know His will and then let’s have confidence when we pray. Can we pray for healing? Yes, it is in God’s will. Can we pray for provision? Yes, it is in God’s will. Can we pray for protection? Yes, it is in God’s will! Let’s confidently pray God’s Word over our families, our church, our communities, our states, our nation and our world. God hears, and He answers!

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I love all of I John chapter 3, and particularly verse 22 about receiving from God. It is always good to read each passage in context, and if you start in verse 16, this is how it reads.
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
It sounds like love is pretty important when it comes to prayer! We are not just supposed to be talking about love, but really loving people through action. We can have confidence when we come to God if we have loved in word and in deed. If we really want to receive from God, the promise of verse 22 is for us, when we love like Jesus loves. Let’s please God by loving people completely!

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I was once involved in a prayer group that met once a week at 7:14 to pray for our nation, and it’s leaders. We met at that specific time, because of 2 Cor 7:14 that says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, God will hear us and heal our land. All you have to do is watch one hour of the national news and you can see that our land need God’s healing hand. From every type of criminal behavior, all the way to our nation’s capital, our nation needs the healing of the Lord. I want to encourage you, maybe even twice a day, when 7:14 rolls around in the morning and at night to take a minute and pray for our nation and its leaders. Pray protection around our civil servants and protection around our borders. God tells us to pray for where we live, so if America is your nation pray for America. For years and years I have prayed for Switzerland, that a mighty move of God would take place there as well, since my roots are there. Maybe God will place another nation on your heart to pray for. Wouldn’t it be amazing if all of us together at 7:14 AM and PM everyday would take time to pray? Untied prayer brings amazing results. We can pray like this: Father, In Jesus Name, we pray for our nation. We believe for our leaders to be surrounded with Godly men and women to give them wise counsel. We pray for protection and blessing upon our nation as well, in Jesus Name, AMEN.

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One of my life long prayers has been to be bold in sharing my faith with those who don’t Christ yet. Living our faith out 24/7 is our goal, but being bold enough to speak when we have an opportunity and to believe that God will give us the words that are specific for each situation takes faith. But we have been given power to be a witness, and to boldly speak God’s Word into the lives of the people we meet. We can be believe that God will put us in the path of those who need to know Him. We can even be more specific and ask God to give us words of encouragement for those who just need a pat on the back to keep going. Just like the disciples in the book of Acts, we pray that our faith can be effective and that we can share the gospel with those who need Jesus. Let’s be bold as a lion yet gentle as a dove! Let me pray for you today: Father, I ask you to give all of us boldness to proclaim your word like never before We want our lives to be a beacon of hope to those who are lost, and an anchor to those facing storms. Thank you for the boldness you give to enable us to be your hands and feet to a hurting world. In Jesus Name, AMEN

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Intro:
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. As we began this series on prayer, This poem came to my heart:
Digging Deeper, strength to gain
Lives renewed, for permanent change
Let’s step up our prayer life to a higher plane
To bring honor and glory to Jesus Name.
What does God seem to be saying to you about your own prayer life? I hope you are using this series to gain momentum in your own prayer life. Here is your dailyeword.

Have there been times in your life when you were ready to give up? I’m sure we all have faced circumstances where there seemed to be no possible solution, and we felt like all was lost. Ephesians 6:13 is such a terrific verse because it reminds us that when we have done all we can do, to stand, we can still be confident that God is working behind the scenes for good. When you see a duck calmly gliding across a lake, you don’t see their little webbed feet paddling like crazy. We can be like the duck, and believe that God is working busily on our behalf to help us make it to our proper destination. Most of the time, we are the busy little webbed feet, trying to make something happen on our own. God encourages us to just chill and keep on standing when we had done all we know to do. In your life, I encourage you, let God do the paddling, and you do the standing. He really does have your best interest at heart. Let me pray for you today: Father in Jesus Name, I pray for those listening or reading this today. I ask you to infuse them with strength and to help them see that you are working on their behalf. Give them boldness to stand in the grace you have for them today.

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John 15:7 says this, “If you remain in me, and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. What a wonderful scripture! Have you ever wondered why asking is so important to God? Doesn’t God already know what we need, He is all knowing, right? If He already knows why doesn’t He just give us what we need? The answer really isn’t very complicated. Perhaps you remember the scripture in II Cor 5:7 about faith being such a very important component to Christian living. The Amplified Bible says it this way, “For we walk by faith, we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor, so we walk not by sight or appearance.” The simple answer to why God wants us to ask is because it activates our faith. It opens the door for us to be able to receive from God. Asking is how our faith is activated. James 4:2 reminds us that we don’t have because we don’t ask. Faith is what activates the hand of God. He sees our faith, and He then He moves. Our faith grows as we hear the Word of God. That’s why it is so important to read and study the Bible, and to be planted in a good Bible believing church where the Bible is taught. As we know God’s Word, which is God’s will for our life, we can boldly ask in faith, and see John 15:7 come to pass in our life. We will ask and we will receive. Let’s pray this together. Dear Father, In Jesus Name, thank you for giving me the measure of faith, and for giving me the ability to have my faith grow as I hear the Word. I will remain in your Word, and remain in your presence, because that is the best place to be. In Jesus Name, AMEN!

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