Learning Objective: To Flip your interior script into the power and authority of Christ within you…1 thought at a time.
Scriptures: Luke 9:1 | Luke 10:19 | 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Dear Lord, HELP! Too often we are highjacked by the negative thoughts that slither around between our two ears. Teach us Holy Spirit what it means to live within the Authority and Power of Christ within us. Lead us out of confusion and accusation. The devil comes to kill and destroy and YOU came that we may have life to the fullest. Today help us to take every thought captive and flip it into your wisdom, guidance and victory over death and destruction.
Learning Objective: Understand the POWERHOUSE link between forgiveness and love that Jesus showcases in Luke 7
Scriptures: Luke 7:36-50
Sweet Jesus, I want to experience the depth of your mercy and love, so much so that it spills out into the lives entrusted to my care. Help me to love first and then lead. To forgive myself and those in my life who have behaved in an ugly way, resulting in pain. Help me to set healthy boundaries to protect myself now moving forward. It is for freedom you have set me free, help me to stand firm and not allow myself to be burdened by the yoke of slavery due to lack of forgiveness.
Learning Objective: To Complain Less Today than Yesterday
Scriptures: Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:13-17
Holy Spirit, help me to give more authority to the strength of God within me than to dissatisfying circumstances outside of me. Forgive me when I forget that you are ALWAYS working on my behalf behind closed doors for a greater good when I place my trust and confidence in you.
Strengthen our weak minds and hearts that are too often ruled by the Teach us the power of a surrendered life to be used for your purposes which far outweigh momentary trials and tribulations we face on this earth-bound journey. Forgive us for forgetting that we are created by you, in you for your glory. This day YOU SET before us life and death, blessings and curses help us dear God to choose LIFE in you that we may LIVE in you for you and your glory.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.â€
How to Flip Your Suffering into Courageous Victory in Christ
Learning Objective: Understand the value and power of suffering in, with and through Christ for a greater good than had the suffering never occurred. Romans 8:28
Dear Lord,
we are blind to the power of suffering in our lives. So much so that we seek
out ways to destroy that which causes us to suffer. We give you permission to
transform our understanding of suffering as it relates to the wisdom of those who
have gone before you and after your death and resurrection. Those who lived and
died in faith, believing in, relying on and trusting in YOU as their hope and redeemer
over circumstance. Help us to release the fear around the very experience that
delivered salvation into this world: suffering and persecution. Strengthen our
weak minds and hearts that are too often ruled by the worldly ways rather than
your will and death to self. Resurrect the power of the Spirit within us, the
very Spirit that rose your dead, scourged body from the grave. Too often we give
ourselves authority and permission to do what we feel is rightfully ours to do.
Forgive us for taking into our own hands the power of life and death. Teach us the
power of a surrendered life to be used for your purposes which far outweigh
momentary trials and tribulations we face on this earth-bound journey. Forgive
us for forgetting that we are created by you, in you for your glory. This day
YOU SET before us life and death, blessings and curses help us dear God to choose
LIFE in you that we may LIVE in you for you and your glory.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set
before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life in order
that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by
obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the
length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.â€
Discern the shadows in your life and take back your ability to dwell in the shadow of the Most High. Understand the gift of refuge you receive as a result of your choice to rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Dear Lord,
You are the only shadow I want to hide in. Deliver me from all the shadows in my life: past, present, future that hijack my true identity and confidence in you. Help me to recognize when I have jumped into someone else’s shadow, diluting the gifts and talents you have blessed me with along with my ability to own and act on the purpose you have for me on this journey of life. More of you…less of me. I want to dwell in YOUR shadow more today than yesterday and experience the safety and confidence that results from my choice to remain in you.
Ignite your faith to believe and be free. Commit to specific behaviors that support your choice for Freedom in Christ including a negativity detox.
Dear Lord,
You alone can free us from sin, selfishness, past pain, regret, envy, resentment, suspicion, taking offense…ALL of it that creates our yoke of slavery in life…we want to be FREE to grab ahold of all that you have already grabbed ahold of us for on this journey of life. Forgive us for our lack of belief. For giving more authority to the shiny objects in the world than to the POWER of your RISEN SPIRIT that courses through our entire being. IGNITE our desire and ability to resurrect who we are in the FREEDOM you died to give us. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to respond this week to your voice alone and along with it the ability to respond to it quicker today than yesterday.
Understand the negative impact of jealous & suspicious behavior in your life.
Learn how to erase & replace the negative thoughts that fuel insecurity.
Dear Lord,
HELP! I’m drowning in the deep waters of jealousy, envy and suspicion. Too often I find myself gripping ahold of the spear of jealousy that not only pierces my own heart but is targeted at other people around me. Override my suspicious mind that creates story through mind-reading and fortune telling. Remind my mind of what my soul always knows: I am enough in and through you. You were not confined by status. Help me to be free from comparisons and envy that rob my life of the fullness of joy your died to give me. Fashion my heart after yours and set me free from being self- absorbed. I am YOUR ambassador and you are making YOUR appeal through me…have your way with me in spite of myself. No need for envy and comparisons. Help me to grip ahold of the sword of the Spirit and cut off jealousy by robbing it of my time and attention and filling my mind with your WORD.
Scripture Readings to Explore:
1 Samuel 18:11, 19:10, 20:33 (Read full chapters for context)
Grant me the faith of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. Be my confidence as I go out into a world that is filled with idols of wood, gold, silver and clay. Help me resist the statues of the world that promise meaning and significance and yet suck the life right out of me, highjacking my identity and value, leaving me empty handed, longing for more. Help me to be quicker today than yesterday to run back to you when I fall prey to the lions of pride, selfishness and insecurity. Walk with me through the fire so that I don’t get burned up by the heat of my emotions when I don’t get what I want or think I deserve. Close the mouths of the lions that prowl around me trying to devour my sense of worth and value. I lack nothing in you. Resurrect a Daniel faith within me today moving forward so that I believe IN, rely ON and TRUST in you alone more today than yesterday. Protect me from compliments and complaints that my heart would stay grounded in the mission for which it beats: to love and be loved by you, to declare to the world that you are the living God, enduring and steadfast forever! (Daniel 6:26).
Too often I sit on the Mercy seat and cast stones at myself and others. How can I give out what I have not experienced within my own relationship with you? Help me to feel your Mercy and Love more today than yesterday. Increase my desire to offer the kind of mercy you offered to the 120,000 people in Nineveh. Ignite within my heart the ability to rejoice in my brother’s and sister’s experience of your love and mercy more today than yesterday. Too often I am Jonah, angry and resentful that you are showing mercy to someone I don’t feel deserves it. “Let He who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus, John 8:7.
