This is the prayer I have prayed over my husband, my children, my extended family members and my friends in the year passed. And I will continue to pray it until either its fulfillment or God takes me home, whichever comes first.
Wherever the pronoun 'you' is mentioned, that is where the name of the person you are praying for goes. Oh, and as always, this must be prayed out loud, even if its only a whisper.
The words we speak have the power to kill or grow, wound or heal. Be careful what you say; think before you speak. Perhaps it would be a good idea to only speak when God tells us to speak. What if we spent year 2013 doing that? The world would be a lot more peaceful, wouldn't it?
The spoken Word of God has the power to divide: it divides families. In our family, some believe while others do not. Some believe only part of it, while some don't believe it is even relevant for today. The Word of God is alive and doing quite well.
The body of Christ, The Church, is waking from her slumber of the last few hundred years or so. We are strengthening ourselves in The Word of God by reading it daily. We read, we think on these things; we pray over The Word which we have read. The more we seek God, the more God reveals Himself to us.
The opposite is also true. The less you seek out God, the thicker the veil covering your eyes, the harder your heart becomes and the less you will listen to those who truly love The Word of God, The Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Word of God in the flesh. Leaving the glories and riches of heaven to be born in humble surroundings, to be born into a world that was dark with sin and unrighteousness. Leaving home, a place of light and love, Christ came to a place of intense darkness and wickedness in high places.
Even at His birth the local king wanted to know where He was born. Not to worship Him, as he stated, but to kill Him, that He might remove this threat to his own kingship. The wise men made themselves known to the king's court, because that was the correct act to do when visiting foreign lands. And their only question, directed at the king, was, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?"
Herod was a sly king indeed. To reign as long as he did without being overthrown or killed outright himself, he must've had a poker face. He could say one thing and think another without giving away his secret intentions. A true politician. He demanded of the chief priests and scribes where Christ would be born and their reply was to quote the prophet Micah: "In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet (Micah 5:2) 'And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are not the least among the princes of Judea: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel.'"
He asked the wise men the date of the star's appearing and how long they had already been searching. And sent them on their way with the instruction to bring him the location of the new King. But when the wise men did not return to the palace with the information of Jesus' location, King Herod ordered all of the baby boys 2 years old and under to be killed. But Joseph was warned in a dream to leave and flee to Egypt for safety, until Herod's reign was ended, which he did. He gathered up his young family from the place where they had been living while the baby was young and fled to Egypt, remaining there until the wicked king had died.
A dead king has about as much power to rule and make decisions as a pile of dung. He no longer has any authority or sayso about the events which take place in the kingdoms he once ruled. However, a new king was now ruling in Herod's place and he was just as wicked if not more so. For Joseph, on the words spoken by an angel of The Lord, was returning to Judea, but instead was directed to Galilee, to Nazareth; there it was that he raised his family, even the young Jesus, the Savior of His people.
Throughout His lifetime here on earth, Jesus' life was threatened. Even during His ministry, men sought to stone Him for the words He spoke. And when He was crucified, the enemies of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ thought they had won. But we all know that that is not true. For Jesus Christ walked out of the tomb in which He was buried, after the stone had been rolled away by the power of God. His glory was so brilliant that it took out the guards, knocked them unconscious and speechless. And I bet they were scared, too. They saw Him walk out of that grave. I think if I hadn't believed before that moment, I sure would've believed AT that moment. I sure do love my Jesus.
Words. The Power of Words spoken. The Power of The Word of God spoken. Much will happen in this year 2013. Just to say it reminds me of the sci-fi books I used to dig into. And some of the songs I used to listen to. Some will look at the last two numbers -13- and automatically believe that it will be a bad year. Because of their superstitious beliefs they will always look for the bad in every event that the media outlets speak of; not just the popular news shows, but the tabloids and the social media as well. The number 13 in a child's life is pivotal. They have left childhood behind, chronologically speaking, and entered teenhood. We are in the young teenage years of the 21st century. Truly, it is a new beginning; a year of possibilities, a year of ideas and hopes.
Look not on the year's numerical status. Nor on its place in the timeframe of 'what if'. Today is the day of salvation. Our lives are short and our days are numbered. Only God knows the number, the date of our death. We do NOT need to know when we will meet God face to face. We DO need to know that we are READY to meet Him, though. This is the year of accepting God Is. Those who believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and that He died for our sins and iniquites, rose from the dead and walked out of the grave and into our hearts, will live for ever in the eternal presence of God. Those who do not believe will meet God but once and be judged.
The believer will not be judged. Why? Because we have Christ not only in us, but on us. He covers us with Himself and God cannot see us. Jesus is not only our Savior, He is our Defense, our Lawyer. Those who do not believe will not have Jesus for their defense. Having rejected Him in this life, the unbeliever will not have any opportunity after death to believe or accept. Now, Today, is the day, the date that you must believe. The Word of God says that tomorrow is not promised to any one, even the believer. Therefore, all must believe on this side of the grave, while we have breath and are alive.
It is currently 10:39 A.M. Today is nearly half over.
What will you do with this Jesus?
