The Boomerang Prayer – Nehemiah 4:4

4 Nehemiah prayed, "Oh listen to us, dear God. We're so despised: Boomerang their ridicule on their heads; have their enemies cart them off as war trophies to a land of no return;

– Nehemiah 4:4

As Christians, sometimes we get the impression that we should always be agreeable, and nice, and ready to turn the other cheek . . . every time.  While most of our daily "attacks" do warrant such responses of Grace and Forgiveness, sometimes, when the enemy comes calling and the attacks are threatening our health, our homes, our families, and most importantly, the Kingdom work that God has assigned us, we have to pray a Boomerang prayer and ask God to SMACK the attackers with a dose of their own medicine.  In today's scripture we see that Nehemiah's adversaries were closing in all around the Jews who were trying to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.  They were poised for attack and threatening their very lives, so what did Nehemiah do?  He sprang into action!  He got swords, and lances, and shields, and all the workers armed themselves!  But get this . . . and this is SO important . . . they armed themselves for Defense, and they asked God to go on the offensive and fight the battle for them while they continued their work of rebuilding that wall.

When I was a kid we had a saying: "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you!"  That's the best description of the Boomerang prayer I can think of.  It's basically asking God to return the "favor" to those people who would make it their life's mission to see you fail.  But while God is doing His work and "Gluing" it to them, it is up to us to arm ourselves and to make sure our defenses and our fortifications are well-established.  We MUST be in the Word, every day, so that we can continue the work that God has given us to do.  We have to daily, put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), so that we can produce the fruit that Glorifies God and fulfills His purpose in our lives.

So when the enemy comes around, and you begin to feel and to hear the murmuring and the lies, grab your armor!  Don't get discouraged and don't quit what God has given you to do.  Pray that Boomerang prayer because you have Truth and Righteousness on your side! Keep moving forward with Peace and Faith in your heart! Have confidence in the power of your Salvation and above all else, roll up your sleeves, dig into His Holy Word, and produce fruit!  Be a fruit tree!  Be an orchard!  Be ALL that God intended you to be, because He goes before you and foils the schemes of the enemy!  He Glues it to them!  He sends the enemy running away with that scrawny, ugly, pointy little tail between his legs . . . straight to the land of no return!

Prayer

Father, sometimes we need to pray a Boomerang prayer and we thank You that You are there to listen to our cries for help.  Thank You for protecting us and for giving us the armor – the defenses – we need to continue our work for You.  Forgive us for the times when we forget and neglect to put it on and for wanting to quit when we are under attack.  Help us to remain strong and to make a habit of putting on your armor, every day, so that we can be fruitful for Your Glory.

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

The Delightful Servant – Nehemiah 1:11

11 O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant's prayer – and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you – and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king." I was cupbearer to the king.

– Nehemiah 1:11

Why is it that our children will always cheerfully and willingly do work for the neighbors, or other relatives, or for youth events at the church, but when it comes to doing the same labor intensive tasks at home, they run away like the plague is coming!  And I'm not only talking about THIS generation either . . . I was the same way!  I would go out of my way to do an excellent job for almost anybody else, but at home, the drudgery and the "slave-like conditions" were unbearable! I would expect my parents to go out of their way for me – to provide for me, and to make sure all my needs were met – but when it came time to honor what they did for me, I disrespectfully shirked my duties and then blamed them for wanting me to *GASP* do WORK around the house!

Sometimes we treat God like that don't we?  Sometimes, I think we forget that it is we who are serving our God . . . NOT the other way around.  Our Father in Heaven has already provided all the freedom and victory we need to be successful in this life, but when it comes to gladly, and cheerfully, and delightfully serving Him, we run the other way because well, it's inconvenient and it cuts into our "plans."  I look around and I see men and women – who are called by His name – struggling with recurring negative themes and sin in their lives, and who will take all the prayer and all the help they can get with a smile and an open hand, but when it comes to spending time developing their relationship with God – getting to know His heart, and growing the love-relationship He so desperately desires, they can barely muster 5 minutes a few days a week to mutter their laundry-list of wants and needs.

Now don't get me wrong . . . we ALL need prayer, and from time-to-time, we ALL need help, but if we would just take the time to delight in serving our God; if we would serve Him with eager enthusiasm and excellence – going the extra mile with joy and celebration in the task, with no need for applause or recognition, the success and the victory that has already been established for us would be realized and our need for assistance from others would occur less frequently.  We would stand as over-comers, Victorious in the joy of our Lord, delighting in the work of His hands, expressing His Love, and His Mercy, and His Grace to a lost and hurting world.

It's time for the church to be delightful!  It's time that we spend more time helping the world to heal, than spinning our wheels on ourselves.  I mean each one of us has the answer to be able to recover from our past mistakes.  We have the resource readily available to us for a victorious future!  We need to stop looking at God like He still owes us something and we need to start being the most delightful servants – honoring our God with our best efforts and our extra energy so that HIS kingdom can be known and glorified to a world who has so far, only seen that Christians are problem-filled needy people, unable to manage their own lives . . . I mean who would want to be a part of that?

So get ready!  Roll your sleeves up!  Dig in!  Devour His Word every day!  Get quiet with God on a regular and consistent basis, and then . . . Serve with Joy!  Delight in honoring your God!  Get involved at church, join a ministry team and be willing to do the most menial of tasks, and do them with a smile.  Volunteer to do whatever is needed – even cleaning the bathrooms or picking up the trash – and sing praise songs to God while you do it, honoring Him with your best trash-picking abilities.  Work in the nursery, or help by handing out meals, or even – how about this one – sweep your neighbors walk, or pull their weeds, or offer to mow their lawn!  Serving God doesn't just happen at church . . . His work is all around us!  Show Him that you LOVE Him with ALL that you are and ALL that you do, wherever you are!  If you do that, with all sincerity and reverence, HE will make you successful and the desires of your heart (the desires HE has given you and prepared for you), will be realized, to the Glory of our God!

Prayer

Father we delight in honoring You today!  We find our Joy in serving You!  We are happiest when Your work is accomplished through us!  Forgive us for the times when our laziness causes us to neglect our relationship.  Help us to continue serving with glad and joyous hearts and place in our hearts the urgency of needing to grow an ever-deepining love-relationship with You.

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Get Up and Take Charge! – Ezra 10:4

4 "Now get up, Ezra. Take charge - we're behind you. Don't back down."

– Ezra 10:4

The saying goes that the "journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."  This is a wise and true saying, but if I can put my own "twist" on it and apply it to today's scripture, I would change it to read:  The road to Victory—that is already yours in Christ—can only be achieved by getting up off your face and taking responsibility for your life.

It is good to get on your knees before God and pour your heart out to Jehovah Chatsahi (The Lord IS My Strength).  It is wonderful to lay prostrate before the King of Kings and reveal your pain to Jehovah Rapha (The Lord IS My Healer).  It is imperative that you fall on your face in repentance and confess your sins to El Roi (God Who Sees).  And when you are under attack, it is comforting to wrap your arms around the feet of Jehovah 'Uzam (The Lord IS My Strength in Times of Trouble).  All of these can be amazing encounters with God Himself, and they do so much to establish your relationship with HIm; they are oasis times in the middle of the dryness of life, and they do so much in establishing the love-relationship that God so greatly desires with His children.  They are a great place to start . . . BUT . . .

In order to achieve Victory . . . I'm talking all-enduring, never-wavering, in-it-to-win-it, no one's gonna take it, It's-mine-mine-mine-all-the-time-time-time, kind of Victory . . . you have to first get up off your face!  That's the first step in your Victory journey.  That's the starting point at which you take charge of your life.  That's where all those around you who believe in you, and only want to see you succeed, can see for themselves that you mean business, and they can rally around you in support.  It's where the real work begins, and make no mistake about it . . . it's gonna take hard, disciplined, never-backing-down, roll up your sleeves cause it's gonna get messy kind of work.  But all that hard work . . . throwing out the trash of bad habits that have plagued your life . . . or eating and exercising so you can start being healthy (maybe for the first time in your life) . . . or saying goodbye to toxic relationships . . . and without fail – digging into the Word – EVERY day – without fail – E-V-E-R-Y-D-A-A-A-Y-! are going to bring about lasting Victory in your life.  The kind of Victory that not only changes your life, but it changes the lives of everyone who knows you because the Power of God flows freely from everything you do and say.  You might as well change your name to Victor or Victoria because it's who you are and no other word describes you better!

So by all means, take all the time you need on your knees, on your face, sprawled out like a piece of carpet on the carpet, arms wrapped around the feet of Jesus, and pour yourself out like a bucket of rain water all over the throne-room floor.  Cry, and wail, and lament and get "real" with Jehovah - God!  Take your time and tell Him all about the things in your life that you need Victory over.  Press in to your Maker and deepen your love-relationship with Him.  But when it's time . . . and He'll let you know when it's time . . . Get Up!  Take charge of your life!  Embrace the support that God has placed around you!  Don't back down – EVER!  

Your Victory has already been established by the Risen Christ, but getting that Victory is all up to you and your willingness to get up off your face and take what's yours!

Prayer

Father, thank You for the Victory that is in Jesus!  Thank You for sacrificing so much so that we could become Overcomers and Victorious Warriors.  Thank You for the time when we can spend pouring ourselves out to You, and thank You for the ability to rise up and to grab hold of Your Promises for us.  Forgive us for not taking charge of our own lives and for expecting cheap victory.  Help us to be strong and to take advantage of the support You've placed around us so that we can realize our Victory!

Have a Blessed and Victorious day everyone!

– Richard

Establishing Grace – Ezra 9:8

8 "Now for a brief time God, our God, has allowed us, this battered band, to get a firm foothold in His holy place so that our God may brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens as we serve out this hard sentence.

– Ezra 9:8

How are you at dealing with the hard times of life?  You know . . . the times when everything you do seems to turn bad; the dog bites you, and the cat scratches you (and throws up a hair-ball on your expensive rug), your kids are whining and complaining about not having enough this, that, and/or the other "thing" that their friends all have, your boss is all over your case over something you forgot to do, you hit a pothole and spill your coffee all over your new clothes on the way to work, you get a speeding ticket on the way home, you forget to thaw something out for dinner so you go to the fast food place and when you get home you find out they got your order wrong, and to top it all off . . . it's 100º outside and the AC broke and all you want to do is close your eyes because it's all going to start all over again tomorrow, but it's too hot to sleep and you're lying awake at 3am just wishing that "Calgon" would "take you away?"

OK, so maybe that's a little extreme but I think you get the point.  There are hard times that we all go through, and while we're in the middle of them, life can seem to get the upper hand on us.  But we survive.  We overcome.  We somehow make it through to the other end of the long, dark tunnel of gloom and we emerge where the sun is shining, and the birds are birding, and everything (for a while anyway) is hunky-dory and A-OK. And then . . . we forget about God for a while, because well . . . everything's good and we don't need His help anymore.  Ouch!

Why is it that we pray hardest and we earnestly press in to God only when we are in the middle of our struggles, but not when things are going good?  It's during the times of harvest – the easy times when we are feeling "blessed" that we should be praying our most earnest and heart-felt prayers to our God.  We should be thanking Him, and exalting Him, and giving Him His due honor, because it's during these times, when our heads are clear, and our hearts are wide open, that we establish our firm foothold in the Faith and in the God who Loves us so much, and we build our strength in the knowledge of His Word and the Wisdom of His ways.  It's BEFORE the storm that we should be preparing – not during – and certainly not after.  

Think of it this way: if you are going on a trip across the country, and part of that trip is going to take you through a long, hot, arid desert, you prepare your car for the trip right? You make sure the vehicle is tuned up and that all the fluids are topped off.  You check the tires to make sure there is enough tread and that they are in good road-trip shape, and you double-check to make sure the spare is in good condition as well; you check the AC to ensure a comfortable ride through the desert, and you pack an ice-chest with plenty of water to get you through the hot trip ahead.  You wouldn't go into the desert unprepared would you? And you certainly wouldn't wait until you are broken down in the middle of nowhere to start praying for a miracle (although if you are broken down in the middle of nowhere, a miracle is exactly what you'll need).  No, you establish your foothold ahead of time by preparing your vehicle so that you will get through almost any "normal" scenario you might encounter during your trip through the desert.

Why is it then, that we wait until we are in the middle of a crisis in our life to start praying and to start reading our Bibles?  Change your circumstances BEFORE they happen by establishing your Grace with the God of Heaven and the Commander of the Angel Armies who are at the ready to fight on your behalf.  God, our God, has given us the time BEFORE the hard times to establish ourselves – to establish our Grace by getting a firm foothold in the truth of His Word and by growing our love-relationship with Him so that WHEN it's time to serve out our hard sentence – to go through those hard times – He will brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens until our time of testing is done.

So get in your prayer closets my friends!  Get on your knees!  Raise your hands to heaven and praise your God (who loves you so much)!  Call out His name and get to know Him on a real and personal level! Find out all you can about the God who knows your name and who personally breathed life into you so many years ago!  Tell Him about your failures and confide in Him the deepest darkest fears that you've kept hidden from everyone else!  Be vulnerable and expose your soul to Him! Establish your Grace with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!  He has given you the time BEFORE the testing . . . it's time to take advantage of that brief time because your next hard time could be just around the corner.

Prayer

Father, thank You for those brief times - the times when we can breathe deep and feel the sun on our faces.  Thank You for giving us time to establish a firm foothold in Your Holy place; for allowing us to commune with You and to get to know You on a deeper level.  Forgive us for neglecting You during the good times and for only calling out to You during the hard times.  Help us to establish a deep and lasting love-relationship with You during the times of blessing so that we can get through our hard times by the power of Your Grace.

Have a blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Are You Committed? – Ezra 7:10

10 Ezra had committed himself to studying the Revelation of God, to living it, and to teaching Israel to live its truths and ways.

– Ezra 7:10

When I was in high school, at the beginning of every school year, I would make a commitment that I would study hard, do my homework, and pay attention in class.  And every year, without fail, I would do just that . . . for about a month.  Then, as the newness wore off, and the work became increasingly difficult, and the teachers began piling on the homework, the normal distractions of teenage life were able to pull me away from the commitment I made, and I would soon find myself back in the same ruts of missed assignments, failing grades, and the "dog" constantly eating my homework.  It was the same thing every year, year-after-year, over-and-over again.  I hated it, but I never could seem to stick to the commitment I made at the beginning of the year.

It wasn't until later in my life, after many failed attempts at employments and relationships – actually, after I became a Christian – that I came to understand the importance of commitment.  I learned the value of the follow through, and I experienced the adrenaline rush of accomplishment as I started becoming successful – all because I was making better choices and keeping my commitments.  It wasn't easy, especially at first, but with each completed goal, I changed. With each follow through, I grew.  With each step along the way, I matured and a metamorphoses took place in which I became committed.

The secret was in absorbing the Word of God. The power to succeed, the energy to persevere, the joy in discovering truth, all came day-by-day and Word-by-Word. I learned that God Himself had committed Himself to me, and as I wrapped my mind, and my soul, and my heart around that truth, my commitment to Him and to living my life for Him, became food, and water, and air for me – the essence of life itself was wrapped up in my commitment to the revelation of God in my life and I am still living that commitment today.

My friends, if you are struggling in any area of your life, commit yourself to His Word. Study It!  Absorb It!  Drink It and eat It with a voracious appetite!  Make It the most important thing in your life!  Commit yourself, wholeheartedly, to God and I guarantee you that you will find Victory over your struggles. The things of life will not go away, but you will have the Power of God and the Favor of God to overcome those things that always seem to trip you up.  You will find success as you commit yourself to God's Word, every day . . . without fail.

God has committed Himself to you . . . are you willing to commit yourself . . . to Him?

Prayer

Father, we commit ourselves to Your Word, and Your Ways today.  We honor you with our devotion to becoming Your disciples and to living the Truth of Your love for this life You have given to us.  Forgive us for the times when we neglect Your Word and help us to remain committed, for all our days, to You.

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Just Keep Building! – EZRA 4:4

4 So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built.

– EZRA 4:4

Have you ever been involved in building something good?  Something worth building?  A ministry to orphans; an outreach to the homeless; a food bank; or maybe even something as simple as writing letters to missionaries to help build their spirits?  Isn't it odd, strange, and seemingly somewhat coincidental that while you are doing your best to bring some good into this world, someone, or a group of someones, or an entire army of someones, will try to beat you down, and harass you, and try to discourage you?  In today's scripture reading in the book of Ezra, we find that the people of Israel were harassed and berated for 15 years while they rebuilt the temple of God.  That's 15 years of being laughed at and insulted. 15 years of ridicule and taunting. 15 years of having to continually hear the negative as they worked their butts off in order to honor their God . . . YOUR God, and MY God.  

How would you like to be followed around all day by someone telling you you're no good and the work you're doing will never amount to anything . . . for 15 years?!  We can't stand it for 15 minutes before we start questioning ourselves and our abilities to complete the task, or the project, or the outreach under such difficult circumstances! Our resolve sometimes is dependent too much on the approval of man and not enough on the appointment God has hand-picked for us.  The assignment is ours and nowhere in His Word does it say that things will be easy and everyone will approve of what we are doing. To the contrary!  The Word warns us that we will encounter troubles as we build according to God's purpose for our lives.  There will be lies, and rumors, and naysayers, and deceivers.  People will hurt us – some intentional, but some out of good meaning, but just using bad judgement. Regardless of the reason, opposition is just part of our walk in this life called Christianity.   

We need to draw our strength and find our resolve in the God who sees all, provides all, and knows all.  We need to be kingdom builders – no matter what, or who, or why anybody else thinks differently. We need to learn to hear God's voice in our lives so that we know we are building His way and in His timing.  When we can get to that point, when we can know that we know that we know that God is behind us, then 15 years, 25 years or even 50 years won't be enough to deter or discourage us from the work we are doing for our God.

The enemy hates us!  He doesn't want us to have any victory in any are of our lives.  Building God's Kingdom defeats the enemy and makes him hate us even more and he will stop at nothing to get us to quit.  But the enemy's tactics are only lies and the God of the Angel armies builds us up as we build for Him!  He builds us up with Grace, and Peace, and Joy, and Forgiveness, and Endurance, and Righteousness, and Love, and Heavenly Determination!  He gives us HIS all so that we can give Him all we are . . . with everything we are . . . and everything we hope to be . . . for the Glory of HIS Kingdom, forever and ever . . . AMEN!

So doubt the doubt!  Let go of the lies!  Disbelieve the deceivers!  Say NO to the naysayers!  Keep moving forward!  Keep serving with excellence!  Keep Building with all that is in you to build!  Just keep being who God created you to be and before long, you will see God remove the roadblocks and change the hearts of those who were sent to harass you.  You will see Victory and you will dine at the table of Grace and God will plunge you into a sea of Joy . . . all because you kept on building, even though it would have been easier to quit.  You just kept building!

Prayer

Father, give us the strength to continue building – even in the face of discouragement and opposition.  Give us the desire to complete Your purpose for Your Glory.  Forgive us for the times when we get discouraged and for letting the negative voices influence us and for the times when we feel it's just too hard and we want to quit.  Help us to remain strong and purpose-driven for You!

Have a Blessed day everyone!

Richard