God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

We have all learned over the years that gratitude is powerful. Well I’d like to expand that to include praise as well. Anytime we praise the Lord we are giving Him glory and this act is powerful to bring about an internal joy and peace to our lives.

P= pray

It is so important to incorporate this much missed aspect of spiritual life into our daily routine.^“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”(James 5:16)

In the book entitled “Warfare Praying” the author Pastor Mark I. Bubeck states; We must ask the Holy Spirit to control our praying and to guide us to pray in accordance with His will.” (pg 177). In the story of Joshua in the Bible, the Israelites had finally entered the promised land of Canaan and their first conquest was the city of Jericho. The city had large fortified walls and they would never be conquered by humans. The Lord wanted the Israelites to conquer this godless nation and therefor gave the Israelites the battle plan. They were to march around the city each day for six days and on the seventh day march around seven times- then blow the horns and shout. The Lord did indeed topple the walls of Jericho as the Israelites followed His battle plan. Joshua’s prayer life to the Lord, developed a relationship with the Lord and thus he heard from the Lord. This close relationship and powerful prayer life is available to us as well if we pray to the Lord and listen for His guidance.

R= read the Bible.

For a Christian, reading God’s word is a common part of life, but many people forgo the Bible and instead read devotionals. Unless we actually look up the passages referred to in the devotional, we are simply relying on the author to explain the verses. God can make His Scriptures speak to a wide variety of life situations and therefore the best use of our time is to read Scripture. The Bible is irreplaceable, it is the best way to hear from the Lord and allow Him to guide our life.

A= Affirm God’s Word.

Many self help books talk about affirmations, but affirming what isn’t present to somehow manifest it in our life, is nothing short of wishful thinking or worse partnering with Satan. If we affirm God’s Word, or more specifically His promises, we are speaking God’s word back to Him and this is powerful. For instance, if we feel alone, forgotten or in great need of the Lord’s help we can pray a prayer like this:

“Lord, you said you will never leave me nor forsake me,” (Heb 13:5b) therefore please show me you are with me.

When I made this very call out to the Lord during a very severe illness, two friends called within 30 minutes of each other and gave me the exact same remedy. It was clearly the Lord speaking into their lives to place the phone call. There are no coincidences in life, the Lord is always orchestrating the lives of those who worship Him and do His will.

“The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”(2 Chron 16:9)

I= Invest in someone else’s spiritual growth.

If you are a parent, this is easy, you simply teach your children about the Lord, you pray with them and take them to church and bible class/camp. If you are an empty nester or never had children, this is still very important. The Great Commission is to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. This directive is for everyone. We are all charged with the test to share the Gospel and bring others into the Kingdom of heaven on earth – a spiritual kingdom of those who follow Jesus’ teachings.

S= Submit your day to the Lord.

This is a hard one for most people and I’d venture to guess that this aspect of being a Christian trips people up. We as humans always want to plan out our days and work towards our goals, but what if the Lord has different goals for our life- are we willing to submit to Him? God has a purpose for everyone and it involves bringing others to Christ, so if our schedules are so busy that we don’t have time to do this, we need to re-evaluate our jobs and our life and make some changes. God should be on the pedestal of our lives not our careers, friend group, talents or anything else. If we place Him there, He will make sure that we have everything else we need. “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be given unto you.”(Matt 6:33)

E= Expect the Lord’s promises to come to pass.

There are thousands of promises in the Bible and when we read the Bible many of His promises will speak to our lives and our situation. When we find them we can keep them in the midst of our heart, pray them outloud to the Lord reminding Him that we are waiting and counting on Him to give them to us in His time. During the waiting, our job is to align our lives with His teachings and allow the Holy Spirit to take over every aspect of our lives. As time passes we see the effects of the Holy Spirit on our life and the fruit of the spirit becomes visible:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, long-suffering and self control.

I hope this acronym helps you keep the priorities of the Christian life at hand so that you can enjoy all the blessings the Lord would like to lavish on your life!“From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”(Psalm 113:3)

Food For Thought,

Lisa