Perspective Changes Everything

"It's possible for people to look at the same thing and see it differently.

That's called perspective."

Brad Henderson

 

I have learned much through my involvement in Moms in Prayer International but one of the most valuable things has been to begin prayer with praise using God's own Word. When we begin prayer in this manner, we begin with corrected vision. We see our circumstances through the eyes and character of the Most High God instead of our circumstances. That is, our perspective changes, and—

 

Perspective changes everything.

 

As we praise the Lord God through His own words—reflecting on, thinking on, declaring and perceiving the vastness, worthiness, and strength of God—we honor God for Who He is. We "put" Him in His rightful position as Creator and Sovereign over the looming large to the minute details of the universe. As we declare His reality through praise, our perception is changed and sharpened.

 

Praise magnifies God. Our vision is filled with a God that is bigger than we imagined.  Best of all, we experience a wonderful awareness of His presence and hear His words—“Courage!  I AM!”  He is a BIG God, completely faithful, trustworthy, and good!

 

Praise changes the pray-er, because it is centered on God. And what we center our lives on is what determines our perspective. To quote Steven Covey—

 

Whatever is at the center of your life

will be the source of your

strength, guidance, wisdom, and power.

 

Praise results in a deepened confidence, or trust, in God.  When that happens, we can know the rest of God in any situation.  Teaching on Ecclesiastes 3, Brad Henderson said, in contrast to the "brutality" of life "under the sun"—

 

The events of life "from the hand of God" are …

beautiful, enjoyable, secure, and perfect.

 

The details of life can often be difficult, but the plan of God is good. That is because His plan is filtered through His holiness and love. And praise reminds us of that. That is what Habakkuk discovered. Praise made all the difference for him as his perspective changed to see the triumph of God—

 

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

even though the olive crop fails,

and the fields lie empty and barren;

even though the flocks die in the fields,

and the cattle barns are empty,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

The Sovereign Lord is my strength!

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,

able to tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

So let us praise and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2 NASB)

 

Perspective changes everything!

 

 

We are Changed

After graduating from high school, I attended community college. That first year, I'd arrive early to sit on an old couch in the hall across from the dining room, before its doors opened usually, and read my pocket New Testament prior to class.

 

That was when the Spirit impressed upon me 2 Corinthians 3:18. Paul wrote that “all of us who have had the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.  And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.” (NLT—italics mine) 

 

As we seek the Lord’s face and spend time beholding Him in His Word and prayer, the patterns of our hearts and minds begin to resemble His heart and mind, “from glory to glory,” as the NKJ puts it. We are changed.

 

We are changed because God’s Word causes us to know and focus on the truth of Who He is. 

We are changed because God grows bigger and bigger every day in our mind’s eye, in our thinking. 

We are changed because through prayer we are communing with the Lover of our souls. 

We are changed as our conversations with Him increase to "without ceasing."

We are changed as we experience God’s specific answers to our specific prayer requests. 

We are changed because we grow in confidence that He cares about the little things as well as the big. 

We are changed as we discover, just like Hagar, that God SEES us and He HEARS us—all the time. 

We are changed…

 

Are you a mom feeling anxious and burdened? Are you losing hope?

 

Let the Lord God change you.

 

Take your eyes off the world and put them on your Lord. Seek the His mercy in prayer for your children and experience the life changing power of the Lord, the King of Glory. He is our "Lord, strong and mighty, invincible in battle." (Psalm 24:8 TLB)

 

Phil Wickham wrote—

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness?

 Whose love is mighty and so much stronger?

 The King of Glory, the King above all kings!

 

 Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder?

 Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder?

 The King of Glory, the King above all kings!

 

Who brings our chaos back into order?

 Who makes the orphan a son and daughter?

 The King of Glory, the King above all kings!

 

 Who rules the nations with truth and justice?

 Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance?

 The King of Glory, the King above all kings!

 

This Is Amazing Grace, by Phil Wickham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXjkbODrro

 

 

And the Lord will rescue me from all evil and take me safely into his heavenly Kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

2 Timothy 4:18 (GNT)

 

 

 

 

Hermit Crabs

Recently in our Moms in Prayer group, we prayed Psalm 91:1 for our children: That _______ would dwell in the shelter of the Most High and will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

 

After our prayer time, one mom commented that for some reason a picture had come to her mind of a hermit crab operating out of the cover of his protective shell.

 

 

 

What a good illustration of that verse! That is what we want for our children, to operate—to live life—covered by God's protective "shell."

 

I like the way the Amplified Bible "speaks" this verse: " He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]." And also the Expanded Bible: "Those who go to God Most High for safety [dwell/sit in the shelter of God Most High] will be protected by [lodge in the shade/shadow of] the Almighty."

 

The Hebrew word for dwell is yashab. It means to dwell, remain, sit, abide, or inhabit. It is a verb, meaning it is a word indicating that an action is taking place or it can indicate a state of existence. Not just mere existence, though. It is a state of living out existence, of living out life!

 

Praying moms, through our intercession for our children using the Scripture, the very breath of God, life is released.

 

Francis Frangipane wrote that when we "pray His Word, [we] are having an impact on the as-yet-unformed essence of life with the Spirit of God Himself! This is why God calls us not only to know His Word, but also to pray it. … Every good and holy that we see manifested in people, in churches and in life is first conceived and then birthed in the womb of prayer."

 

This is our charge, praying moms, to lift up our hands to the Lord in prayer for the life of our children.  (Lamentations 2:19 GW) May our prayers keep them under the shelter of the love of the Most High God.

In Returning and Rest

Years ago, the Lord gave me the verse, Isaiah 30:15a: "In returning and rest, you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength…" (NKJV)

 

In reading other translations and perusing word definitions, I came to understand this verse to mean that when we stop struggling or fighting (the word returning was defined as meaning retirement or withdrawal) and rest in God, we will have victory over our enemies. It's when we are quiet and calm and have confidence or trust in the Lord that we have the strength—the power we need to see us through any circumstance.

 

As moms, it is easy to be anxious for our children and carry heavy loads, which get heavier as our children grow older. But the Lord tells us to come to Him and rest from these heavy loads, our labors, to stop fighting, and to share His yoke. (Matthew 11:28-30) Then His calm will be our calm, His peace will be our peace, as we trust Him to do whatever is needed in His own good way and time. We can pour out all our heart, all our worry; we can cast all our cares on Him. We can do that because He takes the load when we are yoked with Him. That is why His yoke is light—He's carrying the burden of it, not us.

 

We are not alone.

 

Jesus stands beside us. He not only fills our hearts and minds with peace, He gives us victory. He is with us as a mighty, awesome one, as a powerful, fierce and great warrior. That is what Jeremiah wrote—"…the Lord is with me like a violent warrior." (HSCB) He is the champion on our side

 

The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name.

Exodus 15:3 KJV

 

We praise You, our mighty and awesome Lord. We praise You that You are the same warrior for us that You were for Jeremiah and for the Israelites. You hear and answer our prayers. You offer us real peace and real victory as we return to you and rest. In You we find quietness and confidence. In Your strength we know strength and salvation. You are our warrior who stands with us. As Isaiah wrote (49:25), You will contend with those who contend with us and save our children. May we rest in You and stay yoked to Your side! In the precious and powerful name of Jesus, amen.


 

Snow People

In these early days of January, I'm missing the snow of former years.

 

When my son was small, we lived just outside of Libby, Montana, six miles up the mountainside. Our bedroom window overlooked the back portion of our yard, which was framed by tall pines with a background of mountainside. When the full moon rose over the ridge, the yard would light up. You could see grasses, stumps, bushes, the gravel driveways, smaller out buildings, etc.

 

One winter, we had over three feet of snow on the ground, almost covering our back fence. On a clear evening, when the full moon rose, stumps, bushes, even out buildings seemed to have vanished under a glistening cloak of snow, reflecting back the brilliance of the bright moonshine.

 

I do love winter snow. And, although I'm not obsessive about it, I have quite a few snowman items. I even have a little snowman Christmas ornament that hangs on my office wall—I couldn't pack it away and get it out just once a year. The tiny metal snowman holds up a sign that reads, “Isaiah 1:18”—which in the NKJV reads, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” (NKJ)

 

When we turn to Jesus, all our scarlet sins vanish and we become glistening and brilliant reflections of His light. We become His "snow people." That is because, as Romans 5:17b tells us, in Jesus God gave us the Christmas gift—His righteousness. When Jesus was born in that Bethlehem stable, His purpose through His life and death was to make it possible to cloak us with His righteousness.

 

Righteousness is the quality of being right or just. Righteousness, in Daniel’s words (9:14), belongs to God. God is righteous. God never makes a mistake, never does anything wrong, never misjudges—He is always right in all He does—ALWAYS!

 

Psalm 119: 137-138 tells us He is upright in all His judgments and all expressions of His will, that His testimonies are commanded and appointed in righteousness.

 

Psalm 119:142 says His righteousness is everlasting—it never fails.

 

Revelation 16:5, 7 and 19:2 tell us that He is righteous in everything He does even in His judgment and punishment.

 

In Jesus, the righteous Judge took off His robes, stepped down from His bench to wrap His arms around us with love. Not only that, He, the righteous One, took our guilt and its consequences and bore our sins in His own body on the cross that we…might live for righteousness. (1 Peter 2:24a) “…that (we) may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”  Isaiah 61:3b (NKJ)

 

Through the righteous life of Jesus and His obedience to death, God’s righteousness is satisfied providing us with peace with God. "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.” (Psalm 85:10 NKJ) It is as Isaiah wrote (32:17 NKJ), “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”

 

His work of righteousness is what makes His followers snow people!

 

Our Lord, Your snow people praise You, our righteous Lord and Savior!

 

 

 

A Sword or a Golf Club

Not too long ago, I opened up Twitter and was reading down the tweets when I came upon one by Moms in Prayer International. It said, "There are NO words to describe how LOST this generation is! MOMS will gather to pray & cry out "This day we fight!"

The next tweet was from a moms' group promoting putt-putt golf and Santa.

 

I was struck by these two very different mom-focuses. I'm not saying the second tweet was bad. It's just the first reveals the importance of having an eternal mindset.

 

Francis Frangipane wrote: "We are in a season of life when kings are going to battle. In the context of that battle, where are we? If we are not fighting on some level, if we are only sighing from heaviness, dear friend, our world is in trouble indeed. This is a day when kings go to war, not a time when we can comfortably nap away our responsibilities."

 

Replace the word "kings" with moms. Are we fighting in prayer for our children or sighing? Are we at war or napping?

Those are questions every mom who is a follower of Jesus Christ needs to ask herself. The enemy's desire is to destroy our children. It is always wartime.

These words of Francis Frangipane are poignant: "…when we fail to pray, life descends into deeper chaos." Chaos is not what I want for my children. And I certainly don't want the enemy to have the upper hand on their lives.

 

But, remember—we have the right as daughters of the Heavenly Father to enter His throne room with confident outspokenness in plainness of speech, with fearlessness and courage, and ask because seated at the right hand of God the Father is the Son, our High Priest, who shares our feelings and has compassion for us. (Hebrews 4:14-16) Because our Advocate stands with us, our prayers before the Throne have the power to bring to the lives of our loved ones the opposite of chaos—order, stability, harmony, calm, peace. So—

 

 Let's pick up our swords and fight!

Let the high praises of God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands

Psalm 149:6 (AMP)

 

 

 

Arise!

As I was reading my journal from October 2010, I came across this verse:

“What do you mean, you sleeper?

Arise, call out to your god!

Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah 1:6 (ESV)

 

I had written under it this quote:

 

The stark reality:

God's people are the link between God's mercy and the people who need it.

Brad Henderson

 

These notations made me think. We as the church have a great responsibility to call out God to extend His mercy to those around us. Surely we pray. But this kind of calling out, what the captain of the ship asked of Jonah, is something that means to verbally do so with passion and emotions. It is not passive or wimpy but loud!

 

This is the prayer that comes from the heart's depth for rescue, for salvation, when we are at the end of our rope, as were the sailors on the ship that was threatening to break up due to the tempest. (Jonah 1:4)

 

And this is the prayer of the intercessor who stands in the gap, who is the link between those who need rescuing and God's desire to rescue them.

 

"Arise." This is what the captain told Jonah to do. This is also the command that God twice gave to Jonah.

 

Three times the word "arise" is seen in the book of Jonah—1:2, 1:6, and 3:2. Each time the same Hebrew word was used. It is the word "quwm" and it means to rise, arise, stand, rise up or stand up. But it also means to fulfill, perform, carry out, even establish. It is a word that is more than just getting up to your feet. It has the sense of then moving those feet to go forth and do what needs to be done.

 

It is time for us to arise, to go forth and do what needs to be done. It is time for God's people, the church, to stand up before Him and ask the Lord to consider those around us, to cry out to Him for their salvation.

 

Praying moms—as we arise and cry out for our children, our prayers stand in the gap between them and the Lord's mercy. Let us arise!

ARISE, CRY OUT IN THE NIGHT,

AS THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT BEGIN;

POUR OUT YOUR HEART LIKE WATER

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.

LIFT UP YOUR HANDS TO HIM

FOR THE LIVES OF YOUR CHILDREN,

WHO FAINT FROM HUNGER

AT THE HEAD OF EVERY STREET.

Lamentations 2:19 NV

Fired Up to Victory

When I open my email inbox each morning, usually I first scan down what's new to delete "junk" and mark some newsletters or correspondence to read later, but I often pause in the process to read the shorter devotional emails. One morning, the first devotional I read told a story about runners in a Special Olympics event in Seattle. Just after the start of the race, one runner fell. In response, all the other runners stopped and turned around to help him. Then, together they ran the race, all crossing the finish line together.

The next devotional I paused to read was titled "I, Me, Mine, Myself," written by Charles Swindoll. He wrote that "ours [America in particular] is an age of gross selfishness. The "me" era." That was a huge contrast to the previous devotional where the "we" win was more important than "me."

 

Then, I read a devotional in which Dietrich Bonheoffer wrote that only the humble believe God and that He, in turn, "is near to lowliness, He loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken." We just celebrated Christmas when the Lord Himself became "poor, low, lowly, and weak out of love for humankind," giving up His position so we could "win" together.

 

After wading through some more mail, I came across these words from Anne Graham Lotz, "If we accept [Jesus'] offer and put our hand of faith in His, He will walk with us hand in hand, not only through the remainder of our journey, but through the gates of heaven that will be opened wide for us." Now that is a win, a victory, which echoed that day's KLOVE Scripture verse, Psalm 62:7—"My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me." (NLT)

 

Our victory in this world does not come as the world expects. It isn't about "me." It's about "we." It's about our hand in Jesus' hand and our hands holding the hands of others.

 

Have you heard of the champion race horse, Seabiscuit? Red Pollard, the jockey who rode Seabiscuit knew just what would make him run and win. He said, “Here’s what happens when he falls behind: He’s got to get eye to eye with another horse who’s got fire in his eye. And after just a couple of seconds of that he will take off and he will win the race.”

Photo courtesy of the internet.

 

That is a great illustration as to why followers of Christ must not be loners but instead must be "we."

 

Praying moms, you and I are not meant to be "me" but "we." Just as we need Jesus, our Head, we also need each other, the Body. We need the fire in each other to stir us up to win!

 

So, as the writer of Hebrews urged, let us keep gathering together to pray and in doing so we can "fire up" one another to victory! (Hebrews 10:24-25)