Increasing Prayer... The X Factor Devotional - Day Forty - March 5, 2010

“…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
James 5:16

Can prayer really make a difference?  Can my prayers actually change things?  Is it possible for the will of God to be thwarted because I don’t pray?  These are legitimate questions.  The answers you give them reflect the very foundation of your relationship with the Lord.  On one hand, if God is Sovereign, He’s going to do everything the way He wants, so why pray?  On the other hand, if He is waiting on my prayers to execute His will, then I had better get serious about praying really quick.  How does His Sovereignty and my prayers go together?

God uses prayer to make the impossible, possible and the ordinary, extraordinary.  Prayers make our efforts effective and help us to define God’s will more clearly.  C.H. Spurgeon said, “Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray.”  Faithful praying releases the Holy Spirit to act.

Someone once said, “God does things when we pray that He does not do when we do not pray.”  May today’s devotional be an inspiration for you to seek the Lord in prayer. 

Prayer Focus: Thank God for hearing all the prayers that have been lifted up on our church’s behalf.  Thank Him in advance for answering them.  Pray God’s people at Impact will pray more than ever before and that everything we do as a church will be labored over in prayer.  And may that start with you!  Make sure you have been and continue to connect with Him through prayer.  What is He leading you to do now for Him and His ministry?

Out of the Box Vision... The X Factor Devotional - Day Four - January 14, 2010

“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.”
Ephesians 5:17

Historical records are filled with the amazing (and often amusing) words of men whose vision was clouded on some important subjects.

On World Population...“The population of the earth decreases every day, and, if this continues, in another ten centuries the earth will be nothing but a desert.”  Montesquieu, 1743.

On Anesthesia...“The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera.  It is absurd to go on seeking it today.  Knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient.  To this compulsory combination we shall have to adjust ourselves.”  Dr. Alfred Velpeau, 1839.

On the Atomic Bomb...“That is the biggest fool thing we have ever done.  The bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives.”  Admiral William Leahy to President Harry Truman, 1945.

Though well meaning, these men just didn’t see things with an open mind.  They looked at the natural world and concluded that certain things simply were not possible.  As we consider their words, be challenged to not look at the spiritual world and conclude that certain things are not possible; for, with God, all things are possible.

Today, it’s time to think out of the box.  Hindsight is 20/20.  So is spiritual hindsight.  Pray that on our spiritual journey the entire church family will experience the unifying power of seeing and believing God for something that is beyond what we could ask or think.

Prayer Focus:  Get alone with God and ask Him for spiritual vision.  Ask God to see with His eyes.  Reach Up to God in prayer for wisdom and insight to think what God can do through you in this spiritual journey we are all on!  Believe God for something way beyond the ordinary… what we can think of and count on!  Let him speak into your life with a challenge … and then take the challenge!