What? Jesus prayed for me?

Jesus prayed for me!

And He is STILL praying for me!

I can't even unpack these -

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word..." (John 17:20)

"Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us" (Romans 8:35).

"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

Gayle and I were having our devotional time a few hours ago and in the middle of our discussion on prayer itself, the above three verses literally bolted into my mind like lightning.

Jesus prayed for me...did you hear that? Jesus prayed for ME!

All I can say is, why wouldn't I do all I could to listen, learn, obey, and serve Him with all my heart?

Did you REALLY read the first verse, from John 17:20? Do you know the context of verse 20? Jesus prayed for me right before He was murdered...think about it!

The crazy thing is, He is STILL praying for me! Ever interceding...

Don't you see? I HAVE to live my life for Him!

What will YOU do? You know He was praying for YOU TOO, right?

Praying and believing for the future!

"...(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;"

This is from Romans 4:17 (NKJV). When I woke up this morning (at about 6:15 AM), this Scripture was on my heart and IN my spirit! An unusual verse perhaps to think of when writing a Thanksgiving post. But...check this out...

I opened the "new post" window, pasted the logo I wanted to use for this blog and copied the verse above from Biblegateway. com onto my new blog window. But then I stopped because Gayle and I were ready to have our morning devotional time. We are using Mark Batterson's Draw the Circle devotional book and we're in our third time through. Today, Gayle read Day 25. The title for this chapter is, "A Prophetic Voice."

I wish I could just copy and paste today's devo right here into my blog because every word Batterson wrote for day 25 had already been placed in and on MY heart when I first woke up. Let me share one paragraph under the heading, "Personal Prophecies."

"Prayer isn't just the way we cultivate our own potential; prayer is the way we  recognize potential in others. Like Paul, who saw gifts in Timothy that Timothy couldn't see in himself, we, through prayer, are enabled to see with prophetic eyes. We are given supernatural insight. Then we are prepared to speak with prophetic boldness into the lives God has positioned in our path" (140).

Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2015. Gayle and I praise and thank God daily for His abundant supply. I, as anyone talking about this "holiday" could, thank God for the rest of our lives for all He is and for all He's provided. I thank Him for life eternal made possible through Jesus. I am thankful for Gayle, my family and friends, and for His sustaining daily strength in spite of critical health issues.

But today, I am also thankful for the things God is going to provide us in the near future! I said in my last blog that I would share some things about four things Gayle and I are praying about AND FOR! 

1. We thank God that He is going to miraculously save the girls, the manager(s), and the owners of New York New York which is a local strip club. We are praying for each person to have other vocational opportunities as well. With everyone involved out of "the business," we are praying that God would provide the building for a ministry center that could be remodeled and sanctified for His work.

2. We thank the Lord for the work He's doing at a local high school. And trust me, He IS working. But our praise takes us to the work He's about to do there. Revival is coming. We're sure of it. And many, many lives (students, faculty and staff) are going to be transformed by the grace of God. Jesus is about to show up, AND show off! (Thanks for that too, Mark Batterson!) (I wish I could share the story of just ONE young man, a ninth grader who has the faith of someone who has lived for Christ MUCH longer. He's amazing! Perhaps soon, he will share his story here.)

3. Gayle and I praise God for the open doors He is going to provide to have my books edited professionally and published. I am convinced that the Lord gave the ideas and themes to me and I believe that He is going to use them to reach a lot of folks with the Gospel.

And, 4., Because of the love and support of some dear friends whom I love with all my heart, Windstorm is back on the Web. I had a dream that took shape in 1985. That dream has yet to be fulfilled but that dream, with many parts, is about to come to pass.

We believe. And, we give thanks!

              

Blogging again...

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly nine months since my last post. I write again, today, in the shadow of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France. I am not even sure how to re-introduce things for which I am passionate. To cover everything in this post would take much longer to write than there is time, and, it would take much more time to read than you can spare. I, for the sake of time, will highlight those things for which Gayle and I have been praying earnestly. Longer "stories" about these "dreams" will be forthcoming. An old familiar bullet list will have to point the way today...

• Where, really, would one begin to comment on or "analyze" the events in Paris over the last twenty-four hours? Hundreds of hours of news coverage have now accumulated. I have watched a significant amount of that coverage. Just a short while ago I heard the end of an interview with an "authority" in understanding the radicalization of Muslims. He made this comment, (which is somewhat of a paraphrase): 

What we need (he said) is to determine what causes persons to turn to the dark side. That way, it would be easier to identify potential terrorist threats.

Wow, could we ever take off and chase a whole herd of rabbits with that one...(are a bunch of rabbits a herd?)

This particular thread of the ongoing debate over the "radicalization" of Muslims who actively engage in terrorism assumes, as does all of Western society that human beings are independent of any spiritual influence. So, given that people can simply choose to do good or evil society must safeguard itself against the influences that would cause people to choose to do evil.

But a fundamental biblical truth trumps the ideals and philosophies of any culture or society. While many different texts could be considered, here is one that lays the context for evil in the world. (From 1 John 5:19 ESV)

"We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

Yes, people can do good things. But, that doesn't change the fact that until one is born again and comes under the influence of the Holy Spirit, "radicalization" lurks in the darkness. So, to all the pundits who want to try to squelch the radicalization of people who become terrorists, there is only ONE hope...

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!

PERIOD!

Next time out -

• A strip club turned ministry center
• Revival at a local high school
• Book projects
• Windstorm on the Web