Refueling ~

My Pastor has been teaching on Spiritual Warfare with recently moving into the area of prayer an important role in warfare as stated in part Ephesians 6:18.  It also tells there are many kinds of prayer, all are an integral part in our relationship with our Father and Lord as we have a role- a shared vested interest as we walk out our lives here. The Bible tells about many who have gone before and the prayers they prayed. Jesus showed us while He walked on earth how getting away with the Father in prayer was His time of refueling so to speak.  In Matthew 14 it tells us that after Jesus had fed the multitude he told His disciples to get into the boat and wait for Him on the other side.

After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Matthew 14: 23 NIV –He refueled and then walked on water!

We are witnessing a time that most all of us have never witnessed before with everyone collectively worldwide – globally -  experiencing an unseen enemy. The enemy has always been there Revelation 12 calls him the serpent of old who deceives. We also need this refueling to be able to offensively war the unseen.

I am always amazed how the Lord inspires me to desire more of Him. Throughout the years He surely has been my source of strength and has shown Himself true to me forty plus years, in all situations. He has been speaking to me how important our prayer is as well as praise.  At every turn in my seemingly clutter with fitting into a small house I find notes, articles, books and journals that lead right to what He wants me to remember about Him and moving forward.  Ever REFUELING.

This is one example.

I happened to see a little devotional book, a gift to my in-laws dated November 23, 1997 – from Mom with love and prayers.  The book titled “Sunset with God,” meditations to end your day God’s way, no particular author. I turned a few pages and stopped here:

The Power of Prayer

Small children are often taught to say their evening prayers by learning a prayer such as “Now I lay me down to sleep.” Although teaching children to pray is good, the “rote-ness” that is often learned can lead to the devaluation of this very precious and important time with the Lord.

Because evening is wind-down time, we may think our prayers lack the power and conviction that is available earlier in the day. However, prayer at any time of the day can have a powerful effect in our world. For instance:

Queen Mary said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than she feared all the armies of Scotland.

John Wesley’s prayers brought revival to England, sparing them the horrors of the French Revolution.

Revival spread throughout the American colonies when Jonathan Edwards prayed.

Time after time, history has been shaped by prayer. The Rev. Billy Graham says, “I tell you, history could be altered and changed again if people went to their knees in believing prayer. . . . Today we have learned to harness the power of the atom, but very few of us have learned how to develop fully the power of prayer. We have not yet learned that a man can be more powerful on his knees than behind the most powerful weapons that can be developed.”

Matthew 14:23 tells us Jesus sought to be alone with the Father after what must have been an extremely taxing day of preaching, teaching, and healing multitudes. Perhaps our prayers are more powerful when weariness causes us to drop the pretenses of “religious” language in favor of direct communication with the God into Whose hands we’ve placed our lives.

Tonight, speak honestly and openly with the Lord about your concerns, and make your petitions know. Then cast the care of them onto Him and sleep in peace, knowing He is at work on your behalf.

                                                       ~                                                                             

I, as I believe you, have many concerns. Take courage with confidence that you have all you need to get you through any and all circumstances. My prayer would be that in this season you find that your strength comes from the Lord and that He has given you all that is needed to refuel in Him through prayer. I also ask that the revelation of His WORD - that is life giving - start to flow throughout you and you come to know that know, nothing is impossible with Him and through Him. Amen

Now I pray your sleep is sweet in Him, tomorrow is a new day you can give to Him. Open your eyes to not just look, but SEE what He up to and trust Him with what He’s doing in you. VB