Smokin

"The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God..." -- Revelation 8:4

"Smokin" some prayers! How about you?

Today's prayer: "Lord, let every breath I exhale be unto You a prayer, rising to the throne, like the smoke that rises from a fire."

Treasure

"He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." -- Matthew 13:52

My husband and I are cleaning out the basement -- a task that energizes me but drains him. However, yesterday he came upon a childhood Disney book that his mom read to him when he was young. Too young to read, he said he remembered memorizing the words in the book and then he'd "read" them back to her. I asked him if the book was old, smelly, and crumbling after all these years and he replied yes. I then asked, "what did you do with it?" He replied, "I put it with my treasures."

I had to smile when we got to Bible study last night and our pastor explained the scripture passage in Matthew 13:52 in terms of finding a treasure in your basement that you had forgotten about and how when found it brought great joy to its owner. It's just like God to supply the example before the lesson!

Water

"And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded." -- Matthew 10:42, NLT

Today I thank God for water. It's at my disposal with just a turn of the faucet. I can bathe in hot water or drink a glass of cold water without much effort. This day I choose to "give a cup of cold water to the least of these."

Provision

"For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." -- Matthew 6:8

Have you ever received a bonus or an unexpected gift of money and the very next day your car breaks down or the washing machine quits? Most of us would look at that extra money as money we can spend in whatever way we want, but I challenge you to think about it in a different way. Your Father knows what you need in advance and He has an uncanny way of sending the provision before the precipitating event. God also uses His children to get blessings to others. The next time you receive an unexpected windfall, stop and give thanks, and then ask God where the need is.

Burning Ones

"Our God is a consuming fire." -- Hebrews 12:29

Burning Ones, Jesus Culture

Here inside your presence
I'm taken by the wonder of You
Here inside your glory
We give our lives fully to You

We cry holy, holy Are You
Your love it burns inside
Our hearts are satisfied by You
Your love is all we want
Is why we ask for more of You

Holy, holy are You
Our hearts are burning
burning for You
we cry holy, holy are You
Our hearts are burning
burning for You

We are your burning ones
We are consumed by You
We set our lives apart
We are consumed by You

So let this love be like a fire
let our lives be like a flame
Feel us souls with Your desire
Let our passion bring You fame

Wisdom

"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." -- Proverbs 4:7

Satan doesn't tell you up front that he's going to tempt you to sin. He builds it in steps. He also doesn't tell you if you trip on the step you may fall all the way down the stairs. Get wisdom. It is supreme.

Daily Bread

"Give us this day our daily bread." -- Matthew 6:11

I saw a quote about motivation this morning and it got me thinking about prayer. Here's the quote: 

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing -- that's why we recommend it daily." -- Zig Ziglar

Prayer is our daily bread and I recommend it daily, hourly, minute by minute, breath by breath.

Neck Attire

"Don't ever forget kindness and truth. Wear them like a necklace. Write them on your heart as if on a tablet. Then you will be respected and will please both God and people." -- Proverbs 3:3

We often take great care in picking out our accessories -- whether it be a necklace or a tie. Proverbs 3:3 instructs us to take greater care of kindness and truth. Never forget them; make them part of your daily attire; then you will be well-dressed for all occasions.

Navigate

"Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God." -- Isaiah 50:10

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." -- Proverbs 18:10

When you are stumbling in darkness (whether it be due to affliction or misery or something else), you can run to the name of the LORD and be safe. The phrase "trust in the LORD" means to navigate toward the light, which is the name of the LORD. Trust in the name of the LORD; not in yourself, nor in any creature, but in the LORD Himself; in the perfections of His nature, His mercy, His grace, and His goodness; in the name of the LORD, which is a strong tower, and in whom is salvation; in Christ, in whom the name of the LORD is, and whose name is the LORD our Righteousness; and to trust in Him, when in the dark, is a glorious act of faith; this is believing in hope against hope.

So, what is it you need today:

If healing, navigate toward Jehovah Rapha, The Lord Our Healer

If provision, navigate toward Jehovah Jireh, The Lord That Provides

If protection and guidance, navigate toward Jehovah Rohi, The Lord Our Shepherd

If victory in battle, navigate toward Jehovah Nissi, The Lord Our Banner
If pardon, Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Lord Our Righteousness

If cleansing, navigate toward Jehovah Mekadesh, The Lord Who Sanctifies
If security, navigate toward Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is There

If peace, navigate toward Jehovah Shalom, The God of Our Peace

Everything you need is in Him and in His name!

Excerpt from the song, Because of Who You Are (Judy Jacobs)

Because of who You are, I give you glory

Because of who You are, I give you praise

Because of who You are, I will lift my voice and say

Lord I worship You, because of who you are

 

Jehovah Jireh, you're my Provider
Jehovah Nissi, you reign in victory
Jehovah Shalom, you're my Prince of Peace

Jehovah Rapha, when I'm sick in my body you're my Healer
Jehovah Shammah, you're always with me

Jehovah Sabaoth, you're my strong deliverer

Because of who You are, I give you glory
Because of who You are, I give you praise
Lord it's because of who You are, I will lift my voice and say
You are worthy Lord, I worship you
Lord I worship You, because of who you are

This blog inspired from Shawn Baker's message, "The Eternal God and His Eternal Work"

http://www.oxfordcog.com

Drip Drip

"Let my words drip like dew, like gentle rain on grass, like showers on green plants." -- Deuteronomy 32:2

"My eyes drip [with tears] to God." -- Job 16:20

About a year ago I attended a session at Cincinnati House of Prayer. The guest speaker was Terri Terry from IHOP-KC (author of Silent Songs of Worship: God's Tabernacle Within Us). During her teaching she asked us to participate in a powerful exercise. She asked each of us to begin knocking on our chair and to continue knocking for one whole minute. When finished she said now, that's the equivalent of a continuous prayer movement. Your prayers should be a constant drip drip drip, filling the "bucket" in heaven and when that bucket is full it shall tip over and pour out the answers, the blessings, and the provisions.

Never stop praying because every prayer "drip" counts and you may just be one small drip away from tipping the bucket.

Leadership

"But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant." - Matthew 20:26

If you are a true leader you will not need to recruit followers. True leaders follow hard after Christ. They don't worry about building a flock of people to follow after them. Become a servant of Christ and the rest will fall into place.

"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility." -- Augustine

"True greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you." -- Oswald Sanders

Message

"Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message." -- Malcom Muggeridge

There is a message around every corner. God is speaking -- all day [and night] every day, every hour, every minute. 

I love how God speaks. I love that my daughter recognizes how God speaks. I love that just this week while we were in the middle of a text conversation, she asked me a question, and God beat me to the answer! Just as I was typing the same response, the television program in the background began singing the answer. You just gotta fall in love with the Creator every time that happens. And I'd just bet it happens more than we pay attention to; more than we know; and more than we can fathom.

Pete Repeat

"For God speaks once, Yes twice, though man pays no attention." -- Job 33:14

When my girls were younger they had a toy parrot called Pete, the Repeat Parrot. They received hours of enjoyment from pressing the button, speaking a phrase, and listening to Pete repeat it back to them. I was reminded of that toy during a prayer meeting last evening. God speaks once and even repeats Himself and yet man pays no attention.

When we press in we hear God more clearly and having heard His heart we become an echo of the very sound of heaven.

Today's prayer: "May thy kingdom come. May thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. May my life become an echo, a repeating, of all that You are! Amen."

The Blind See!

"John's two disciples found Jesus and said to him, John the Baptist sent us to ask, 'Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?' Then he told John's disciples, 'Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard -- the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.'" -- Luke 7:20, 21

At first glance, this picture may seem ordinary to you, but it is far more than that. This is my "formerly" blind husband cleaning windows. In fact, he was pointing out spots that I missed! Go and tell what you have seen and heard -- THE BLIND SEE!!!!

Advance!

There are 3 things that advance the Kingdom -- prayer, obedience, and persecution [Shawn Baker]. Now you might argue that all 3 carry some degree of pain or "inconvenience" and probably the degree of pain increases in that order.

Prayer is not painful, but it can feel inconvenient, especially to the person who hasn't quite grasped the "love" exchange between two friends. But since God's design is to partner with us in prayer, prayer is KEY! God always sets His people to praying when He's about to move mightily.

Obedience is a little more painful than prayer. It's that darn flesh that doesn't want to behave! Sometimes obedience can feel like taking a beating to the flesh, but obedience produces great joy in the end!

Persecution [for our faith] is something that most of us have not experienced; not like the early Christians, but as time goes on we can expect to see more of it. Paul says in Philippians 1:12-14 that his imprisonment served to advance the gospel. In fact, he goes on to say that even his brothers in the Lord were encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly because of his persecution. Verse 13: "As a result [of my chains], it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ."

Prayer + Obedience + Persecution = Advance!  After all, who wants to retreat?

Slow Me Down

A Prayer by Wilfred Peterson

Slow me down, Lord!

Ease the pounding of my heart

By the quieting of my mind.

Steady my harried pace

With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me, amidst the confusions of my day,

The calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves

With the soothing music of the sighing streams

That live in my memory.

Help me to know

The magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art

Of taking minute vacations of slowing down to look at a flower;

To chat with an old friend or to make a new one;

To pat a stray dog,

To watch a spider build a web;

To smile at a child;

Or to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day

That the race is not always to the swift;

That there is more to life than increasing its speed.

Let me look upward

Into the branches of the towering oak

And know that it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down, Lord,

And inspire me to send my roots deep

Into the soil of life’s enduring values

That I may grow toward the stars

Of my great destiny.

Flip It

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn't, it wouldn't make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn't serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up." -- Daniel 3:16-18, MSG

You've heard the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade," But there's a new catch phrase out there that people are using and even making shows about. It's called "Flip It" -- take a bad situation and flip it into a good one.

I recently heard my pastor say that he is waiting for the day when someone facing a challenge calls him up and says, "Pastor, get over here, there's a miracle about to happen." But most often the calls are more along the lines of "Pastor, my whole life is falling apart!"

What if we really took hold of the mindset of the Kingdom and treated every negative situation, every sickness and disease, every disappointment and trial, like a miracle-minded opportunity for God to show Himself strong on behalf of His people? God invented the term "flip it" -- Romans 8:28!

Publish It

"Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it - not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives - and we publish it." -- 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, The Message

Heard this great quote today: "Everything you say or do tells me something about you." In other words, our actions and our speech serve as the publisher for the letter we're writing to the world everyday. We are telling the world around us who we are and whose we are. What are you publishing?

Do It Well

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'" MLK

"Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ." -- Colossians 3:23-24

Color Outside The Lines

"Train up a child according to the tenor of his way, and when he is old he will not depart from it." -- Proverbs 22:6

If you're familiar with the "True Colors" test you will know that "golds" do not color outside the line. I'm a gold, but my children and grandchildren are not. When my daughter sent me this picture of my grandsons painting their room it gave me great delight. They are obviously having a great time, but more importantly, my daughter doesn't seem to be stressed by the potential mess. There are no perfectly placed drop cloths, no painter's tape to mark off "forbidden" areas, and no painter's smocks on the boys. I love that about my daughter and I love that she is raising her boys in the "tenor" to which God created them. :)

Mirror Mirror

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" -- Luke 6:41

I recently read an article entitled, "Dear Me."  It was quite eye opening. It began by stating that although you many not realize it, the traits you dislike (and admire) in others are probably traits you also possess. The article went on to suggest that we often bewail the very traits in others that reflect our own tendencies or actions. Here are three examples from the article:

"My boss is incredibly secretive. It's so unhealthy--he's creating a culture of concealment. But don't tell anyone I said so."

"I can't believe my kid has been smoking pot--I'm so upset, I've had to double my anxiety medication."

"I wish I could get my sister to stop tearing herself down. I mean, she's not a total loser like me."

I think the author is on to something. Luke 6:41 tells us to get the plank out of our own eye before trying to remove sawdust from our brother's eye. Could it be that the sawdust in our brother's eye reminds us of the plank we struggle with? This article has caused me to become a little more reflective about the traits in others that seem to get under my skin.

Today's prayer: "Search ME, O God, and know my heart! Try ME and know my thoughts!" -- Psalm 139:23

Labor Day

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." -- Colossians 3:23


People are curious and will often ask each other, "What do you do for a living?" And I think we tend to grade the answers on a sliding scale; subconsciously determining which jobs are more important than others. This drives me insane. Whether we believe it or not we have all been strategically placed by God to accomplish good works which He has determined (Eph. 2:10). Our job is to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth and God determines our vocation -- we can't all be "VP" -- in fact, servant-minded is kingdom-minded, so the next time you encounter someone in a "servant" position, stop and think twice about "grading" their vocation -- because in the kingdom those who are "least" are greatest. Happy Labor Day!

Announcing: The Burn Room

Passion for your house consumes me ...

The Burn Room is a place to worship, pray, and soak in God’s presence.

When / Where: Second Friday of each month, beginning October 14, from 7-9 pm in the Sanctuary at Oxford Church of God, 5450 College Corner Rd, Oxford.

What goes on at The Burn Room?

The OHOP band will lead worship for 2 hours, from 7-9 pm. We allow the Holy Spirit to move as He sees fit. Feel free to come and go; worship will be continuous. We encourage you to engage your heart fully and worship freely (sit, stand, kneel, dance, etc.)

What if I need/want prayer?

We would love to pray for you! Just look for someone in "The Burn Room" shirts and we’ll take it from there.

The Burn Room is a ministry of the Oxford House of Prayer: www.oxfordhouseofprayer.com

OUR MISSION:
Transforming lives through prayer.

OUR VISION:
To be a place where people can engage their hearts fully in the presence of God through praise, prayer, and power.

 Come experience The Burn Room.