Prayer Warrior Battle Skills #1....series

Prayer Warriors by Ron Halvorsen

(click the link above if you would like to get a copy of this book or just to check it out. )

 Battle Skill 1 Putting on God's Armor

    This is one of the lessons that I will let the book speak for itself. I will not be sharing the whole section(a lot of typing) but I will share the more important parts.

"The Holy Spirit instructs us about the Prayer Warrior's armor in Ephesians 6:11-18. This amazing armor is not human armor, but "the armor of God" Himself. So precious to God are His warriors' spiritual safety and battle preparations that He gives each of them a set of His own armor and commands them to put it on. Wise Prayer Warrior don this armor each morning to protect them during the day. Examining this passage, we find that it lists the armor piece by piece- armor that was familiar to New Testament Christians. They saw it on Roman soldiers everywhere. Paul then matches the armor with its spiritual counterpart:

1. Helmet- Salvation

2.Breastplate - Righteousness

3. Girdle (from navel to knees) - Truth

4. Sandals- Gospel which brings peace

5. Sword of the Spirit- The Word of God

6. Shield- Faith

Prayer Warriors earnest about their task will find it rewarding to study this armor closely. Especially keep in mind that each portion of the armor is found in Jesus Christ Himself. Putting on this armor is not recommended - it is commanded!

We wear this armor in two ways: defensively and offensively. We depend on the armor to protect us from the burning arrows Satan launches when attacking us."

".....Then in full armor, the command comes to "Stand braced for battle." How then do we fight?"

 

"Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." 

Ephesians 6:18

 

Spiritual warfare is fought on the battlefield of prayer. That is where the victories are won." (pg. 61-62)

What I'm Doing...

This week I have been making gluten. If you would like to see the way I make gluten - click HERE.
I have had some problems with back spasms - well that is what I have been told it is anyway. I am not 100% convinced since the problem seems to be more in my right leg. But I thought that it might be a good idea to start working on making some gluten to put in the freezer. And I thought it might be good on my back to get a work out. I am trying to work it out but not over do it so, I make one batch completely and I got a second one half way done- and let it soak in water all night. I have already kneaded it in water and have it simmering away in some broth right now. I have also got a 3rd batch soaking in water. After a while I will get it kneaded and rinsed under water( takes about 10 minutes - give or take a bit.) I have been getting about 10 patties per batch.
We also had some gluten for lunch today. It looks like I will be able to put about 4-5 things of it in the freezer. Once you make up the broth it is a good idea to try to make up several batches.
I also have some other cleaning to do - plus I need to work on the post tomorrow about the Prayer Warrior.
I have started reading a new book and I would like to tell you about it. I shared a long time ago about it - but just this week became the right time to read the book. Last time I picked it up and tried to start reading it - it just did not work. This time - I can just tell that it will be a blessing to read.
I hope you all are having a good week. :O)

Turf Wars

I have been thinking about sharing something with you and then this phrase "Turf Wars" came to my mind and when I looked it up I thought it would be a great title for this post. Wikipedia says: "A turf war is "a bitter struggle for territory, power, control, or rights"." This is not exactly what this post is about, maybe a little bit though.

You know sometimes we think that what our opinion about a situation has the most truth too it and so we "struggle" to be right. This happened to me last week. I was talking to a few ladies and one of them was talking about how hard her divorce(that she had gotten 4 years ago) was on her now 30 year old daughter. So the daughter had been 26 years old when her parents got a divorce. In the conversation - it was stated more than once that it is much harder on adult children when their parents get a divorce. Well that just hit me in the wrong spot. It is probably mostly because my son is going through a divorce and his 3 year old daughter is suffering and it will affect her the rest of her life. And part of it was because my parents got a divorce when I was 11 years old. I had been very sheltered up to this point. SO much so that when my Mom told my sister and I that she and my dad were getting a divorce, I innocently asked, "What's a divorce?" My little family - Mom, sister and I moved from Pecos, Texas to Oklahoma City. I went from an over protected environment to having a lot of freedom- really too much freedom.

Oklahoma City can be a very dangerous place to live. I could tell you several different stories of scary things that happened to me - that had I not had guardian angels watching over me - bad, very bad things could have happened to me.

Anyway from these two aspects - I can come up with a lot of information and facts which prove the point that divorce IS hard on children and not only affect them during the divorce but for the rest of their lives.

Anyway I got a bit caught up in the trying to "talk sense" into these ladies. Which did not seem to understand my point of view. And I missed a very good opportunity to use a very good sentence that helps to end conversations that you just don't want to continue. - "You may be right" or "I am sorry you feel that way" I wish I could write these on my hand so that I could remember to use them when needed. Anyway I finally excused myself from conversation. As I thought about this conversation - I realized that when they had talked about how much harder divorce was on adult children - it really made me feel like my feelings from what I had gone through were not validated. Nor were the feelings that my granddaughter also has. And I realized that - that had been my reason to want to be RIGHT. If I could prove to them that it was just as hard and maybe even in some aspects - harder for children, that maybe my feelings would be validated. I then realized that just because they have different opinions than I do - does not invalidate me or my feelings - it is just their opinion. And they have the right to their opinions - just a I have a right to my opinion. And I need to allow other people to be who they are - not try to "struggle" to be in control or to be right. Acceptance is a very important lesson to learn. I have the right to be me and others have the right to be who they are and the sooner I can figure this out - the happier I will be.

I hope that this has made sense to you. It is a lesson that I have learned before, but apparently I needed to learn it again. Maybe this time it will be more ingrained in my thinking and help me to learn how to better to accept other people.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER~
1. Acceptance is key

2. When others have opinions that are different than yours - does not make you wrong or invalidate your feelings

3. Remember when you are in conversations that really are not healthy - you might want to use one of these two statements: A. "You might be right"  B. "I'm sorry you feel that way"

A Sign of God's Promises

 

Yesterday was a rainy day around here. In the afternoon, my husband noticed that we had a rainbow outside our window. I grabbed my cell phone and rain outside. I wanted to get a photo of such a pretty clear rainbow. As we looked we noticed that there was not just one rainbow - but two!! What a great surprise.

Rainbows signify God's promise and as I looked at it - I was reminded that God is still in control and He is taking care of us. I am so thankful!

 

It looks like we will continue to have rain in our forecast for today as well. Which is a good thing, ever since a couple of summers ago and the drought that we had - it has been awfully dry around here. You remember hearing that we lost several trees, we even lost a favorite tree. So we really need rain. So we are Praising God for the rain!!

 

What are you Praising God for today?

 :O) 

What Seventh Day Adventists Believe...#26

Fundamental Belief # 26

 Death and Resurrection:

 The wages of sin is death. But God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people. When Christ, who is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous will be glorified and caught up to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the unrighteous, will take place a thousand years later.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.   

Romans 6:23

    which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.   

1 Timothy 6:15, 16

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.   

Eccl. 9:5, 6

Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.   

Psalms 146:3, 4

These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." 12 Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.

John 11:11-14

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.   

Colossians 3:4

    Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

1 Corinthians 15:51-54

    But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

    Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

John 5:28, 29

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. 7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.   

Revelations 20:1-10

Drawing Nigh to God ....series

Drawing Nigh to God

by Minnie E. Dauphinee

"The Secret of Victory...We Must Watch"

We are rapidly approaching the supreme event of the ages- the coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven. At that time "the earth shall reel to and from like a drunkard"(Isaiah 24:20). "The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll"(Isaiah 34:4). "The elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up"(2 Peter 3:10). In order that we may be ready to meet Jesus with joy when He comes, He admonishes, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Matthew 26:41).

 

It is not enough to pray. Jesus says, "Watch." We must guard every avenue of the soul that the enemy may not enter to tempt. And Indian kneeling in the snow constructed a trap and covered it with twigs, except for a small opening. When asked what he was doing, he replied that he was preparing a place to snare rabbits.

"But where is the snare?" inquired his friend.

I don't put the snare in for a couple of weeks," he explained. "The rabbits will come tonight and be very suspicious of this. Each night they will come a little closer, until they feel quite confident that there is no danger. When they begin nibbling at the twigs, then I will put in the bated snare and will catch a rabbit every night."

 

We are to pray and watch unto prayer, that there may be no inconsistency in our lives. We must not fail to show others that we understand that watching unto prayer means living our prayers before God, that He may answer them."

 

Many professed Christians unnecessarily place themselves where sin is made to look attractive and innocent. They seek happiness in amusement that weakens faith and lessens their love for spiritual things; they choose reading that diverts the mind from the study of the Bible; they find companionship among those whose influence dulls their spiritual perceptions. It is against all these snares that Jesus says, "Watch."

 

"We know He is coming - we read and

believe it;

Earth's signs and the Bible agree.

We sing it and teach it - and yet do

we live it,

That those about us may see?

................................

"We know HE is coming, and make the

confession

That truly His coming is nigh;

But, ah, of what good is a mere word profession

If actions our teachings belie?

 

Oh, let us be earnest? We know He is

nearing-
Our maker, our Saviour, our King;

But only to those who have loved His

appearing

Salvation His coming can bring."

-Pearl Waggoner Howard

What a Promise!

Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.  

  Psalms 55:22

 

Isn't that a wonderful promise?! I think so!
Have a great day! :O)