Thought for Today: Unusual Prayer

There is an area of your life that you need for God to move in an amazing way. You know there’s nothing that God can’t do because the word of God says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

The question is: How do you tell God, or let God see and know that you trust in, rely on, and depend on Him? You understand what Philippians 4:6-7 means when it says, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your heart and minds through Jesus Christ.”

I know this may sound very strange and unusual, but if you want to show God that you trust Him, after you have made your request to God, PRAY FOR SOMEBODY ELSE. Yes, you heard what I said, PRAY FOR SOMEBODY ELSE. You see, we serve an unusual God. He does not do things like we thought He would. 

Well, if you are made in His image then you should be an unusual person. If you want to catch the world, your flesh, and especially the devil off guard, and you want to show God that you trust in, rely on, and depend on Him, then after you have made your request to God, PRAY FOR SOMEONE ELSE. 

When you do this, it distracts the enemy, because the enemy is focused on you, but you have placed your needs in the hands of the Father and are now placing your focus on the needs of others. One of the most powerful gifts that God has given His children, which is seldom used, is the gift of unselfishness. 

All throughout the word of God He shows us the gift of unselfishness, but very few of us grab ahold of this gift. Here are a few examples of the gift of unselfishness:

For the word of God says, “He who hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD and that which he hath given will HE (God) will pay him again” (Proverbs 19:17). Here, look at this, Jesus said “But it shall not be so among you (the children of God) but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).

Romans 15:1 says, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.” And Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

What I am trying to say is this, if you want to show God that you trust Him, if you want to show God that you rely on Him, depend on Him and adhere to Him, do something that the world, your flesh, and the devil will not expect from you. After you have made your request known unto God. DO SOMETHING UNUSUAL, PRAY FOR SOMEONE ELSE. 

In the mist of being lied upon, spat on, ridiculed, mocked, beaten to a point where he did not even look like a human being while hanging on the cross, facing death, Jesus Christ exercised one of the most powerful gifts the Father gave him, the gift of unselfishness. Jesus demonstrated this gift when He prayed this prayer, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

By PRAYING THIS UNUSUAL PRAYER, it moved God to show His power and glory in a way that has changed the world. Through this UNUSUAL PRAYER, Jesus Christ made a way for you and me to have our own personal relationship with God the Father.

By praying this UNUSUAL PRAYER, Jesus showed the Father that He trusted in Him, and He knew that His life was in the hands of His Father, and to show the Father that He knew this HE PRAYED FOR OTHERS. 

If you want to show God that you trust Him, make your request known unto God about the situation and then turn around and begin to pray for someone else. Not only will it confuse the enemy, but it will show God that you have placed that situation in His hands and not yours.  

For it is written, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job (turned things around in Job’s life) WHEN HE PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS; also, the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).

If you want God to move in a certain area of your life, make your request known unto God about the matter, then turn around and do something unusual, show God that you trust Him by doing something unusual, exercise the gift of unselfishness and PRAY FOR SOMEONE ELSE, and watch the power of God manifest in ways that will blow your mind.

Be Blessed

Thought for Today: THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

In this season of your life, you are doing all that you can to be right with God. You try to go to church as much as you can, you read the word of God as much as possible, you pray, and you worship God in spirit and in truth. All those things are good, but doing those things don’t make a person right with God.

Religion has made the term THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD into acts that can make a person be right with God. I know this may sound strange to you, but going to church, reading your bible, being in prayer meetings, knowing the by-laws of your church, singing in the choir, serving on the deacon board, ushering and greeting folks as they come into the church, serving in the parking lot ministry, serving in kids ministry, preaching or teaching the word of God does not make you, me, or anybody else right with God.

Because religion has changed the meaning of “righteousness” into acts of doing things, when a person hears the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, many think of a religious person who has their nose in the air about how everybody else is living wrong and they are living right. But I came by on my way to heaven to expose you to the truth of what THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD means, according to the word of God.

The word of God says it this way, “For He (God, himself) made Him (Jesus the Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; THAT WE (this means you) might be made THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM (Jesus Christ)” (2 Corinthians 5:2). The word of God says, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Spiritual death is separation from God.

This is what God meant when He told Adam and Eve “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof THOU SHALT SURELY DIE” (Genesis 2:17). God gave Adam and Eve a choice; they could have eaten of any tree of the garden except that one tree, but it was God’s way of showing humanity that He has made man a free will agent, you have a choice.

You can be right with God or not right with God, that choice is up to you. After the word of God says “for the wages of sin is death,” the second half of that scripture says “BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD” (Romans 6:23).

I will never assume anyone knows anything about God, whenever I write the thought of the day, whenever I teach the word of God, or whenever God uses me to preach the word of God, I do those things with the mindset that what I am preaching, what I am teaching, or what I am writing is new information to the one hearing or reading my words.

The problem with many church folks is that they assume everyone should know what they know. I will say it again: going to church, reading your bible, praying, and worshiping God in spirit and in truth does not make anybody, including me, right with God. Doing those things will help you maintain a good-standing relationship with God, but they will not make you right with God.

The only thing that will make you RIGHT WITH GOD is accepting the death, burial, and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST and accepting Jesus Christ as your personal LORD AND SAVIOR. Not just Savior, but LORD AND SAVIOR. That, and that alone, is the only thing that will MAKE YOU RIGHT WITH GOD. For it is written, “For the LORD KNOWETH THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS BUT THE WAY OF THE UNGODLY SHALL PERISH” (Psalm 1:6).

Your actions in and for the church don’t make you right with God, and being THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD does not give you the right to look down on anybody else because their sins are not your sins.

When you know the truth about being THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, your life will show those around you that without the LORD JESUS you can do nothing, but with God all things are possible. Stand up women of God, stand up men of God, for YOU ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD and GOD knows you. And know this truth that only what God will do for you will last.

Be Blessed