Stop Struggling… and Start Soaring in Prayer

by Lynne Hammond

I love to pray.

To me prayer is the most exciting and delightful thing in God's whole wide world! And why
shouldn't it be? Prayer is supernatural. Prayer is working with almighty God. Prayer is a mighty
adventure into the realm of the spirit and it brings the plans of God to pass in the earth.

But you know what?

I've discovered over the years that most Christians aren't as thrilled about prayer as I am.

Bless their precious hearts. They wish they were. They want to be. Some even labor and strive
to be faithful in prayer despite the fact that their prayer lives are dry and unrewarding. Other
Christians stumble into times when prayer somehow comes alive…but soon they stumble out of
those times and can't figure out how to recapture them.

What's the problem? Why do some Christians struggle in prayer while others soar?

I'll tell you why. It's primarily because some Christians expect the Holy Spirit to lead them
when they pray…and others don't.

Give God the Responsibility

I'm one of those people who absolutely expects the Holy Spirit to help me every time. I
learned to do that early on because many years ago when the Lord first called me to pray, I
didn't have any clue about how to do it. I didn't know what I should be praying for or what
kinds of prayers I should pray in which situations. In short, I had no idea what I was doing.

What's more, there weren't many books, tapes and seminars on prayer like there are now.
Nobody was talking much about it. I was on my own.

So, because I'm basically a simple person, I just said, "Okay, God. If I'm going to do this,
You'll have to help me. You'll have to show me what to pray about and You'll have to lead me
every step of the way."

The second thing we often forget is that holidays are a God-given opportunity to bring a sense
of security and continuity to our families. This is especially true of single-parent homes where
divorce and division have broken the hearts of children and adults alike. Making memories is
one way to create a sense of wholeness.

Then I expected Him to do it.

I didn't agonize over it. I didn't worry about it. I put the responsibility over on God and just
expected Him to get me where I needed to go in prayer.

Someone might say, "But Sister Hammond, you have a specific call to pray. That's why you
could be so confident. God gave you special help."

No, He didn't.

He just gave me some promises from the Bible. They're the same promises He's given every
other Christian. And I simply believed them.

I saw, for example, in the gospel of John that Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would help
me. I read, and re-read—hundreds of times—verses like these:

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper,
Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—the
Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does
not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with
you [constantly] and will be in you.(John 14:16-17)

That's marvelous! I thought. The Holy Spirit is constantly in me so I am never without His help
in prayer. He is always there!

I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; …the
Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit,
Whom the Father will send in My name…He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to
recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.(verses 18,
26)

Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit Himself will teach me everything I need to know about prayer!

…I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient,
advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor,
Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close
fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with
you]…when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all
the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own
authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that
has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come
[that will happen in the future]. He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive,
draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.(John 16: 7, 13-
14)

Glory to God! The Holy Spirit will not only illumine scriptural truth for me, He will reveal to me
other truths I need to know in order to pray effectively!

Then, in addition to the verses in John, I discovered these verses in Romans and I realized I
had it made!

So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know
what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to
meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too
deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the
[Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in
behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.(Rom. 8:26-27)

Not Just Willing but Eager

Because I simply believed what God's Word said to me about the help of the Holy Spirit, I
didn't strive to figure out how to pray. I didn't labor over prayer lists and follow man-made
formulas for prayer. I just went to prayer expecting the Holy Spirit to lead me.

And sure enough, He did!

"Well, that doesn't work for me," someone will say. "I just don't hear from God in prayer like
you do."

That's because you don't expect to. It's because you haven't fed yourself on what the Word of
God says about what the Holy Spirit will do for you. You haven't developed faith in His
leadership.

It takes faith to flow in the Holy Ghost! And Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing
the Word of God.
I realize that may come as a surprise to some people. They think following the leadership of
the Spirit is something that requires great spiritual maturity or special spiritual ability. No. It
requires faith; and even baby Christians can do it if they'll just believe the Bible.

"Oh, Sister Lynne, following the Holy Spirit can't be that simple."

It is! God made it simple because He wants us to be able to do it. More than that, He needs us
to do it!

The Holy Spirit isn't holding out on us. He isn't sitting back and saying, "Well, when you've
been a Christian for 50 years, I'll show you some things." No, He wants to start showing us
things now. It's to His advantage—not just ours.

You see, although He is our helper in prayer, the reverse is also true. We are His helpers.
Think about it. The Holy Spirit cannot get the work of prayer done without us. He needs our
hearts and our lips. He needs our cooperation as surely as we need His.

So He is not only willing but eager to give us all the help we need in prayer. He wants to take
us into the unseen realms of God because those realms are His responsibility. He wants to
show us things in those realms because He needs us to pray about them. First Corinthians 2:9-
10 says:

What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all
that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him…Yet to us God has
unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently,
exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God
[the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny].

Notice that verse doesn't say that God reveals these things to a few, specially-called, super-
anointed pray-ers. No! It says He has revealed them to us—all of us!

I can tell you not just from the Word but also from experience, that if you want the Holy Spirit
to dog your steps, to be constantly speaking to you and revealing things to you that will help
you pray, just ask Him—and then dare to believe He will.

I did that years ago about the matter of praying for lost souls. I'd read a book about a man
who had a tremendous, burning desire for the lost to be saved—a desire that drove him to his
knees in fervent prayer again and again. When I read about that man, I thought, I don't have
that kind of burden for souls. I just don't have that much passion for them.

So I asked the Lord to give it to me.

At times since, I've wondered if I should have made that request. The Holy Spirit so opened
that realm to me that at times it felt like my heart would break. Then, whenever my fire for
souls would start to fade, He'd do something to stir me up again. He'd give me a vision or a
dream. He'd do something to take me back into that place and get me praying again.

Seeing and Hearing

"Do you think God would do that for me?" you might ask. Most certainly He will. After all, He
said, "Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and
hidden, which you do not know…" (Jeremiah 33:3).

But for that promise to work in your life, you have to believe it. That's what I did. When Jesus
spoke to me about prayer 25 years ago, I had to believe that God was going to show me what
I was to pray about. I had to trust with all my heart that He would somehow get me what I
needed to know.

When you believe that, prayer starts to get exciting.

You see, the Holy Spirit wants to take you on a little trip every time you pray. He wants to
take you into the realms of the spirit and give you things to pray about. He wants to give you
revelations that will help you.

How does He do that?

If you'll look back at those verses we read from the gospel of John, you'll see He does it in two
ways: by showing…and by telling. You will see things with your spiritual eyes and you will hear
with your spiritual ears.

Jesus said, "I only say what I hear My Father say, and I do what I see My Father do" (see John
5:19, 30). Of course, Jesus wasn't walking around with an open-eyed vision of God all the
time. He was yielding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He was allowing the Holy Spirit to show
Him and tell Him what God had on His heart.

The Holy Spirit operates the same way with us.

The problem is, we sometimes miss what He's doing because we are wanting a booming voice
from heaven, a lightning bolt to strike. He rarely deals with us in that fashion. His leadings are
usually much more subtle and often they come in simple steps.

Say, for instance, you wake up in the middle of the night and sense the need to pray. You say,
"What is it, Lord?"

Then, inside you, there's a quick flash. You see yourself getting out of bed going into the living
room. You might not think anything about it at first. So you ask again, "Lord, what do you
want me to pray about?"

Again, you see yourself going to the living room.

What's happening? The Holy Spirit is showing you the next step. He's saying to you with that
inner image, "Go to the living room and I'll give you further instructions there."

See how simple that is?

Where people usually mess things up is by doubting that leading. Instead of being in a spirit of
faith and expectancy that would cause them to assume that inner image is a prompting of the
Spirit, they lie there in a spirit of doubt and unbelief and think, Was that God, or just me? Oh,
it was probably just me.

Then they roll over, go back to sleep and miss an adventure with the Holy Ghost.

Too bad—for Him and for them.

Don't let that happen to you. Start feeding yourself on God's promises about the Holy Spirit.
Build your trust in Him. Develop your expectancy until you're not wondering if you can be led
by the Spirit, you're certain that you can.

Have faith that you can flow in the Holy Ghost. Stop struggling—and start soaring—in prayer!

Spending Time at the Master's Feet

by Lynne Hammond

There's a lot of talk among Christians these days about how to live successful lives. We have
steps and formulas galore that tell us how to get delivered, how to prosper, or how to triumph
over our troubles.
But are all those how to's really working? Are they actually producing the victorious, joyful,
loving Christians the New Testament calls for?
No, for the most part they're not, and I'll tell you why.

It's because genuine Christianity isn't as much about how as it is about Who. It's not about
rules and formulas for success. It's about a person and His name is Jesus. It's about the
fellowship we have with our Heavenly Father in His name.

Somewhere along the way, we began to reduce Christianity to a set of scriptural rules for
success or a bunch of biblical principles to live by. Certainly we have such principles, but the
truth is, you can know God's methods, you can know His written Word and His scriptural truths
and still not know Him. The Pharisees proved it.

Jesus said to them, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;
and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may
have life." (John 5:39-40 NKJ)

That's the way Christians are sometimes. We pour over the scriptures. We come to church and
say, "I know the Word and I believe it!" But we forget that Word is a living being and He is our
Lord. We forget the words Paul wrote to Timothy were not, "I know what I have believed…" but
"I know Whom I have believed!" (2 Timothy 1:12)

Those words make it absolutely clear that Christianity doesn't consist of simply knowing the
Book. It consists of coming into fellowship with the author of that Book.

In other words, Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship.

Therefore, every true victory we'll ever experience, every real deliverance we'll ever have,
every deep and lasting change that takes place in us will come through our fellowship with
Jesus or it won't come at all.

Deliverance at the Throne

Years ago, I saw in the life of one particular lady a striking demonstration of this truth. I'll
never forget the first few times I saw her in our church. She always walked with her head
down and a look of sadness on her face. I felt so bad for her and wanted to help her if I could.
So I took her hand and said to her one day, "You know, if you ever want to talk. I'm
available."

Sure enough, just a few days later, she came in to see me. As we talked, she began to tell me
the tragic story of her life. It had been filled with darkness and pain from the time she was
born. By the time she finished, we were both weeping.

As I cried with her, I spoke silently to the Lord in my heart. Father, I don't have any answer
for all of this. I have no idea what to say or how to help this dear woman. Please, show me
what to do!

"Just get her to My throne," He answered. "I'll take care of the rest."

So after she finished talking, I simply said to her, "Let's pray now. You can start by telling the
Lord everything that you told me."

A long time passed as she prayed on and on, just pouring out her heart to the Father. Truly,
that day she made her way to His throne of grace and He met her there so powerfully we were
both consumed with His mighty presence. When she finished praying, she was glowing with
joy. I have never in my life seen a more mighty deliverance. She walked out that day like a
different woman, and she was changed from then on. She became a leader in our church,
walking with head high as a powerhouse for God.

Regulate Your Life

Obviously, that's a wonderful story. But my favorite part is what this woman said to me years
later. She said, "Lynne, that deliverance was great and I appreciate what the Lord did for me
that day. But the greatest thing is that through my fellowship with Him, He keeps me in a
perpetual state of deliverance!"

That's where most Christians miss it, right there. They go to the Lord once, perhaps when they
get born again. Then, maybe they'll go back to Him again now and then for help and
deliverance from some dire situation. But that's where their fellowship stops. They look back
and say, "God saved me 20 years ago," or "He delivered me five years ago."

God never meant it to be that way! He never intended to be your Savior one time. He never
planned to be your deliverer just on rare occasions. He wants to be a Savior to you every
single day. He wants you to come to Him to find help and deliverance every day of your life!

Colossians 2:6-7 says it this way, "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him." (NKJ) In other words, in the same way you came to
Jesus initially to receive salvation and forgiveness of sin, keep on coming to Him day after day.
Walk in fellowship with Him. Sink the very roots of your being into Him by spending time with
Him and getting to know Him better and better.

The Amplified Bible gives us additional insight into that passage. It says, "As you have
therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct
yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him."

Notice that translation tells us to regulate our lives in union with Jesus. That's our
responsibility. God won't do it for us. Just like we go to the thermostat and turn it up if our
house gets too cold, we have to watch our spiritual temperature. If we start to get a little cold,
we must regulate our lives and increase our fellowship with the Lord.

We should be continually checking our spiritual condition. Instead of just running along on the
treadmill of life, we ought to be asking ourselves questions. "Am I increasing in my intimacy
with God? Do I have more faith today than I had yesterday? Am I growing to look more like
Jesus? Am I being built up in Him?"

An Overcrowded Life

If you don't take that kind of spiritual inventory and regulate your life accordingly, here's what
happens. The busyness of life begins to crowd out your time with the Lord. The time you used
to spend reading the Word gives way to the assault of daily activities. As it does, you find
you're a little less excited about the things of God.

You miss your prayer time a couple of days in a row but you shrug it off. "Lord, you know how
busy I am. I'll catch You later in the week." Before long, you can't count the days that have
passed since you spent time with the Lord. What's worse, the passion for Him that once drew
you to those times of fellowship has grown cold.

I've noticed when that happens, even though you've allowed more time for your natural life by
giving up those times with the Lord, your life doesn't get less complicated. It gets more
complicated. You start feeling emotionally and physically drained. You're living on the ragged
edge and though you still carry the title "Christian," you're living far below the standard that
the New Testament sets for the Christian life.

Of course, no one wants to end up that way. We want to be on fire for the Lord. We want to
serve Him with all our hearts. But we can't truly serve Him without having close communion
with Him.

If you think I'm over-emphasizing the importance of personal fellowship with the Lord, read
your Bible again. Everything in it from Genesis to the Gospels to Revelation is about restoring
mankind's communion with God. The whole Book is about that! Jesus, the very Son of God,
came to earth, lived, died, and rose again to give us a way back to the Father. He did it all so
we could come and fellowship with Him!

Just One Thing

That's why fellowship with the Lord must be our number-one priority. It's the one thing in our
lives we absolutely must have. Jesus made that very clear in Luke, chapter 10, during His visit
with Mary and Martha. There, the scriptures tell us that…

[Jesus] entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her
house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But
Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not
care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." (verses 38-40
NKJ)

We can see there that Mary was regulating her spiritual life. She seated herself at the Lord's
feet. She seated herself! Nobody said to her, "Come on over here, Mary, and sit down. Jesus is
going to preach now." On the contrary, Martha was back in the kitchen hollering for Mary to
come help.

Mary had voices speaking to her like we have today, voices that say, "Can you help me do
this? Will you take care of that? What do you think you're doing just sitting there praying and
reading the Bible? We have work to do!" In spite of those voices, Mary made a quality
decision. She probably said to herself, "I'm going to sit down here come hell or high water and
spend time with the Master. I'm going to fellowship with Him and hear what He has to say."
Then she stubbornly refused to be moved by the pressures around her.

Christians today need to be more like Mary. We need to get stubborn when it comes to our
time with the Lord!

Jesus said the kingdom of God is obtained by the violent who "take it by force." (Matthew
11:12) That was true in Jesus' day and it is true now. The violent take a relationship with God
by forcing every hindrance out of their way.

We won't have a life of close fellowship with Him by just saying, "Well, I'd like to commune
with God but I just can't seem to find time. So I'm not going to worry about it. If it happens it
does, if it doesn't, it just doesn't. Whatever will be, will be."

No, we'll have to get stubborn and belligerent about it. We'll have to say, "Bless the Lord, by
the grace of God, I'm not letting anything get in the way of my time with Him. If I have to get
up early, or go to bed late, or skip a meal, I'll do it to make time to sit at the Master's feet."

Our Greatest Challenge

If you want to know just how wise it is to adopt that kind of attitude, just read how Jesus
responded to Martha when she asked Him to make Mary leave His presence to help in the
kitchen.

He said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is
needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." (Verse
41 NKJ)

I love those words! They bring such simplicity and focus to our lives. Jesus didn't say there is
need of only ten things or even five things (even that would simplify life for most of us). He
said there is need of just one thing and that is spending time with Him.

It's important to note that Martha is not depicted as a sinful person. She was a wonderful lady
with a desire to serve. Although she had complicated her life with many things, those things
were not bad. They were legitimate, commendable things. They were the kinds of things most
Christians get caught up in, activities that are nice and helpful but they don't give you the
spiritual wisdom and strength to do what God is truly calling you to do!

Over the years, I've become increasingly convinced that the greatest thing the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ has to overcome in these last days isn't sin. Conquering sin is basic to our new nature. As the
Bible says, "Sin shall not have dominion over us!" Our greatest challenge is conquering the busyness of
life. We have to overcome the schedules that require us to have our "pedal to the metal" all the time. If
we'll go to God and get the grace to do that, reigning in our activities so we can spend adequate time
with Him, every other problem in our lives can be solved.

At Home in His Presence

The Lord will tell us everything we need to know if we'll just listen to Him. Our only real problem has
been that we're too busy to hear Him. We're over-occupied with the cares of this life.

But right now, God wants to help us change that. He is calling us out of superficial Christianity to a
place of real fellowship with Him. The blood of Jesus has already opened the way for us. Because we go
in Jesus' name, we can approach God with confidence, fully expecting Him to receive us. As one song
says, "He has provided us an entrance to His throne… and by the blood of Jesus, we're at home."

Are you overwhelmed? Do you feel you're living on the ragged edge? Make yourself at home at the
Master's feet. You'll find times of refreshing in His presence. (Acts 3:19) Isaiah 40 says, "But they that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run,
and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Verse 31 KJV)

Even now, the Lord is drawing us to Him. In my heart I can hear Him saying:

Talk to Me. Spend time with Me. Commune with Me heart-to-heart. I'll always be there to meet you, but
you must do your part. Not just on occasion or when the need is great, but every day draw near to pray
and in My presence wait. There before My throne of grace, you'll find mercy and power for the day.
Then you will walk as you've desired in My supernatural way!

Brethern, Pray to Be Hungry

by Lynne Hammond

What is the secret to truly powerful prayer? How do you pray in a way that opens the heavens,
shakes the earth and brings the glory of God on the scene—not just in a trickle or in a stream
but in a flood of supernatural power?

Christians everywhere want to know the answer to those questions. They want to know just
what words to say in prayer. They want to know just how to say them so that God will move
and change their lives, their loved ones … and their world.

But the fact is, prayer isn't just composed of the words we say. If words were all that mattered
in prayer, we could record scripturally accurate prayers into a tape recorder and then,
whenever we needed to pray them; we could just push the button and play the tape of those
prayers.

You know as well as I do that words coming out of a tape player are not going to move God.

No, real prayer has to come from within a man or woman. It must be an expression of a
person's heart. And the more fervent the heart, the more effective the prayer will be. James
5:16 says it this way, "The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes
tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]."

That verse is not talking about casually asking God for something. It's not talking about the
light kind of request you might make when you ask Him for a parking place at the grocery
store. That verse is talking about the kind of request you make when you need something big
from God, when you need Him to move in a powerful way on your behalf.

Prayer that pulls down that kind of power has to be "hot" prayer. It must be fervent prayer
that is ladened with tremendous desire. That kind of prayer doesn't just come out of your
mouth, it comes from the inmost part of you. Your whole being gets involved in it.

You have such an intense inner hunger for something from God that you feel as though you
cannot live without it. Your whole spirit, soul, and body cry out to God in faith and say, "Lord, I
must have this!"

When that kind of cry goes up to God, you know it will be answered because Jesus said,
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled"
(Matthew 5:5).

Intense, Unwavering Expectancy

I've seen that kind of hunger rise up within my husband, Mac, during these past few months.
It was born in him through an encounter he had with God when during a time of prayer, God
caught him up in the spirit and showed him some things about the glory of God. He showed
him about miracles and signs and wonders.

Since that time, Mac has prayed like he has never prayed before. In fact, almost all he wants
to do is pray. And I can tell you: when he prays, his prayers are hot. They are earnest and
heartfelt.

They remind me of the prayer of the prophet recorded in Isaiah 64 where he says to God:

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains
might quake and flow down at Your presence—as when fire kindles the brushwood and the fire
causes the waters to boil—to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations
may tremble at Your presence! … For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear,
nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him
who [earnestly] waits for Him. (verses 1-2, 4)

Isaiah didn't just pray that prayer casually. He cried out and said, "Oh, God! I want to see You
display Your power so I'm waiting on You!"

The kind of waiting referred to there isn't just a relaxed kind of waiting that says, "Ho, hum …
I'll just hang around here and see if anything happens." No, this kind of waiting is an intense,
unwavering expectancy that says, "Lord, I can't stand it if You don't do this so I'm going to
stay right here in Your face until You do!"

As I've watched Mac over these past few months, it's begun to dawn on me why the Church
today doesn't have any more of the power and presence of God than it does. We might as well
be honest about it. We don't see in our churches what the early Christians saw in the book of
Acts.

Certainly we've prayed prayers and asked for those kinds of demonstrations and
manifestations of God. Many of us have prayed, word-for-word, the prayer recorded in Acts 4
asking God to stretch forth His "hand to heal … that signs and wonders may be done by the
name of … Jesus" (verse 30). But so far, we haven't seen God move the way He did then when
so many signs and wonders were worked by the hands of the apostles that people dragged the
sick into the streets so Peter's shadow would touch them. It cannot yet be said of us as it was
then that…

There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks
and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. (Acts 5: 16)
Increase Your Capacity

Why is that?

I believe it's because of our lack of spiritual hunger.

God is faithful to fill the hungry heart and I believe our experience reflects the degree of
hunger that we've had. We've asked God for big things at times, but we didn't have the
capacity to receive them because we weren't really that hungry. We'd come into a worship
service and say, "God we want all You have to give us." But after five minutes in the presence
of God, we'd be satisfied and we'd start thinking about where we were going to eat after the
service.

It reminds me of how we are at Christmas time. We cook a huge turkey and mountains of
other kinds of food because we think we want it. And sure enough, it tastes really good. But
we can only eat a little of it and then we get full. We just don't have the capacity to eat it all.

Sometimes I almost feel like apologizing to the turkey when I put so much of it back in the
refrigerator. I want to say, "I'm sorry, turkey. I wish we could have eaten more but we just
couldn't."

Actually, God is the one we most need to apologize to. He has some things He wants
desperately to say to us; He has some things He deeply desires to show us and do for us—but
He can't do it because we don't have the capacity to receive it. We have the same problem the
Hebrews had in the New Testament. The writer of that book had to say to them, "We have
much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing
and sluggish [even slothful in achieving spiritual insight]" (Hebrews 5:11).

Listen to me. There are parts of God that He isn't just going to hand out to us because we
have a casual interest. He's not going to reveal deep things to us when our desire for Him is
lumped in with our desire for everything else. When we can say, "I want a hot dog. I want my
children to go to college. And I want to see the glory of God."

No, He's reserving His most precious things for those who crave Him above everything else, for
those who are deeply, desperately hungry for Him.

Don't Let Go

If you're not that hungry, don't despair. The wonderful thing about spiritual hunger is that it
can be increased. How? First of all, by asking. As Brother John G. Lake said, "Brethren, pray to
get hungry!"

That's what I'm doing these days. I'm praying, "God, do this in me. Deepen my desire. Make
me desperately hungry and thirsty for You."

I can ask that in faith because I know God doesn't just tease us. He's not the kind of God who
would show us something in Him and then refuse to give it to us. No, He is a God of
fulfillment. He shows us things because He wants us to have them.

In addition to asking, I've also been studying people who were so hungry for God that they
were able to receive extraordinary things from Him. I've examined some of the elements in
their life so I can learn from them.

One of the elements I've found is fasting. If you'll look through the Bible, you'll find that
people who became desperate for a move of God would fast because their heart hunger would
exceed their hunger for food. In Acts 13, we see the leadership in the church at Antioch fasting
and ministering to the Lord. And from that time of worship and fasting, came a move of the
Holy Ghost that launched the greatest apostolic team this earth has ever seen.
Now, I'm not promoting fasting just as an activity. It's not effective when we do it like a
religious formula thinking that if we copy someone else who fasted, we'll get the same results.
I'm saying we should search for the kind of hunger that will make us want to fast, so that
fasting will be an expression of our heartfelt desire for more of God.

Another element I've found in the lives of many people who had a deep hunger for God was
the element of crisis. I know that's not very encouraging and I'm certainly not saying we
should go looking for crises, but we can learn something from those who have experienced
them.

In Acts 12, for example, we see the early Church in crisis. Herod began to kill off their
leadership. He murdered James the brother of John with a sword and then he locked up Peter
and made plans to kill him, too.

The Church got desperate. They couldn't stand to lose Peter! That was more than they could
bear. So "fervent prayer for him was persistently made to God by the church" (verse 5). They
laid hold of God and absolutely refused to let go until they got their answer. As a result, an
angel was sent to release Peter from prison and a short time later, an angel of God smote
Herod and he died; his killing spree ended once and for all.

In Genesis 33, Jacob encountered a similar crisis. He was facing a reunion with the brother
that he'd cheated out of his birthright. His brother was marching toward him with an army and
as far as Jacob knew, his brother planned to annihilate him. So in his desperation, Jacob called
on God.

In response, an angel visited him. Do you know what Jacob did with that angel? He grabbed
him and started wrestling with him. Jacob refused to let that angel go until he blessed him.

At one point that angel said, "Let me go!" Now if Jacob just had a casual desire for God's
blessing, he probably would have said, "Okay, angel, you can go if that's what you want. I
guess I can live without that blessing."

But Jacob was too hungry to let it go at that. He said, "You're not going anywhere until I get
what I want!" There was something in Jacob—not in God, in Jacob! —that refused to give up
until his desire was satisfied.

Set Yourself to Seek

My friend, Patsy Cameneti, went through a difficult time recently and she learned something
about the kind of hunger crisis can produce. Her father, who is a wonderful man of God,
became extremely ill. He was in critical condition in a coma and he was very near death.

Patsy said during that time, her heart became wholly focused on her father's healing. She
would be constantly in a spirit of prayer about it, keeping it continually before God. Through
the weeks that passed, she still did the duties of normal life. She had a birthday party for her
daughter. She taught classes at her Bible school, and cooked meals for her family.

Yet the whole time her heart was locked in on one thing: laying hold of her father's healing.

After the victory was won and her father was healed, the Lord said to Patsy, "Pay close
attention to what you did in your heart during this time of crisis because there are some other
things in Me that you will never be able to obtain without that same intense focus."

Actually, it's not crisis that brings that kind of intensity. It's what we choose to do in that
crisis. When we choose to turn completely toward God as our only help, when we look away
from all else to Him alone, we tap into His power. And we can do that even when there is no
crisis!
Daniel proved that. He was just reading the book of Jeremiah one day and he saw in there that
the time had come for the Jews to be delivered out of Babylon. He saw that according to the
Word of God, the time had come for them to go home.

So what did he do? He told us in Daniel 9:3. "… I set my face to the Lord God to seek Him by
prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes; and I prayed to the Lord my
God…"

Daniel was not in a crisis. On the contrary, he was a counselor to the king of Babylon. No
doubt, he ate well and dressed well. He lived a prosperous and comfortable life. But once he
saw what God had promised, he refused to be satisfied with anything less. So he set himself to
seek the face of God.

Bless God, we can do the same thing.

We can set ourselves to seek God. We may not be as hungry as we need to be, but we can take what
hunger we have and seek God with it. We can pray and say, "God show me things about You. Show me
things in Your Word. I'm not satisfied with knowing just Your blessings. I want to know You!"

I know from experience that when we start praying that way, the Holy Ghost will take hold with us. He
will show us some things that will start making us hungrier for God.

He will stir our hearts until we can pray those earnest, heartfelt prayers that make much power
available, dynamic in its working. He will cultivate our desire for Him until it overshadows every other
desire in our lives. He will work with us until we can pray not just with our lips but with every fiber of
our being, until our hearts cry out like David's did and we can say;

I will seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land
where no water is. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory … My
whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You … (Psalm 63:1-2, 8)

When we begin to pray like that, we will see God move like He did in the book of Acts. We will see
miracles, signs, and wonders. We will experience God as never before.

When we pray like that, heaven will come down in answer to our prayers and the whole earth will be
filled with God's glory.

Brethren, pray to be hungry!

Time Of Possession

In football it is very rare for a team to score without having control of the ball. It's really pretty
simple. If you control the ball, you control the clock and if you control the clock, you generally
control the game.

Consequently, time of possession is a very important aspect of the game. Now don't think for a
minute that this principle is only limited to football. In our society today, so much is vying for
possession of our time. The pulls and demands on our time are seemingly endless.

A Simple Chain Reaction

The fact of the matter is, what we allow to possess us is what will possess our time—and what
possesses out time will control our life. Furthermore, what possesses our time will eventually
be expressed through us.

As they grow older, many people come to regret how their career took possession of their
early life; the climb up the corporate ladder at the expense of their spiritual and family life.
People also come to understand the folly of "let's play and have a good time today" with no
regard for tomorrow's "possession."
Change Your Game Plan
Either way, those "times of possession" have produced "times of expression" through feelings
of hurt, resentment, fear, and loneliness. The list is almost endless. However, as long as you
are living, there is "time on the clock" which means there is opportunity in the game of life to
make a change.

Possession means "subject to or controlled by, the state of being dominated by, and to be
influenced by." In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes about how the god of this world has blinded the
eyes of men to keep them from believing the glorious gospel. The god of this world (or age)
continually blinds people to the truth. He attempts to take possession of people's time to
prevent them from seeing and hearing the truth of the gospel.

He will do whatever is necessary to have people subjected to or controlled by anything other

than the good news of the Word of God. Today, there is so much in our world to influence us
and to dominate our time.

Pastor Wade Porter, our missionary in Kenya, Africa, shared recently that he doesn't know how
anyone living in the United States ever gets any time alone with God. From television, to
sports, to civic clubs, there are so many distractions attempting to possess you and your
family.

A little slice of time given to each doesn't leave much for anything of real significance. Pastor
Porter stated that in Kenya, once the sun goes down, it's time to get quiet with God. I
personally believe that we must get a handle on our "time of possession" or we are going to
end up losing in the game of life.

Are We Blinded To Satan's Plans?

The word expression means "communication, the act of expressing, conveying, to represent in
words, art, music or movement a particular mood or feeling, and the act of pressing or
squeezing out." The god of this world is blinding the minds of people so that their expression
brings glory to him and his plans rather than truth.

The world today truly is an expression of its possession. As you go through your day, listen to
what people are saying. Jesus said that out of the abundance (possession) of the heart the
mouth would speak (expression). Look at how art is expressing the mood of a possessed
generation. Listen to the music that is captivating this generation. Television programming
today is also an expression of what is in possession of our lives.

The god of this world is attempting to press and squeeze out an expression that will bring
devastation and destruction to our spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial lives. He wants
possession of your time so he can gain control of your expressions. It would seem that the
"time of possession" statistics are in favor of the god of this world rather than the creator of it.

The Same From Day One

This is nothing new. The thief of time has been around since the beginning of time. He also is
very subtle by not using only that which is evil to steal our time. Sports, in general, are not
evil. TV, shopping, civic clubs and so on are not evil in nature. However, anything that takes
you away from "time of possession" concerning your priorities, is.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden it was not due to an evil temptation from
the serpent. His deception blinded Eve's eyes and she saw the forbidden fruit as "good." The
object of her temptation was basically benign and not something necessarily evil. When she
took the fruit, it produced evil because it was not the priority that God had set out.

Proper Order Of Priorities

There are many "good" things taking possession of our time that give expression to evil in our
lives because our priorities are out of order. The priorities laid out for each of us in the
Scriptures are:
1. God
2. Spouse
3. Children
4. Church
5. Job

We must make sure our "time of possession" is adequately distributed so that our expression
will bring spiritual, emotional, physical, and financial stability and victory to our families and
us.

If you are not spending time alone with God then all other relationships will be affected. You
must make sure that your "time of possession" with your heavenly Father is first and foremost
in your life.

As you remove all the "good" distractions and allow yourself time for a proper relationship with
God, you will see that there is time for everything else. Remember, one of the stats that
indicates dominance in the game of life is "time of possession."

Let God possess your time and you will express Him in this world.

The Power to Go the Distance

by Lynne Hammond

Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious
compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you
may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy
to the full] what is promised. (Hebrews 10:35-36, Amplified Bible)

When it comes to prayer, I've found that many believers are strong starters. When a problem
arises, they jump on it and pray for a while with much fervor and faith. But when days turn
into weeks…and weeks turn into months with no apparent change in the situation, their fervor
fades and their faith falters.

Then, all too often, they give up. They figure somehow they're not getting through to God. For
some reason, their prayers have failed. And they end up disappointed, not necessarily in God
but in themselves. "I guess I just don't know how to pray," they say.

The worst part of this sad scenario is that these pray-ers are usually mistaken. Their prayers
weren't failing. They weren't praying wrong. They were, in fact, getting through to heaven and
victory was on the way. They simply quit too soon because they simply didn't persevere in
prayer.

To persevere means to see something all the way through to the end. It means to continue in
your effort or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition; to be steadfast in purpose.

People who persevere in prayer aren't just strong starters—they're strong finishers. Once God
puts a person or a situation in their heart, they stay with it. They keep praying...and
praying...and praying God's will in that matter until they see that prayer fully answered, or
until the burden lifts and they sense in their spirit the victory has been won. At times it may
seem every demon in hell is trying to shake their confidence. It may appear that the more
they pray, the worse the situation becomes. But, even so, they refuse to give up until God's
will is done.

Obviously persevering isn't easy. In fact, it's hard work. The Apostle Paul likens it to a military
battle and says you must be spiritually armed and strong to do it.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done
all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of
God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with
all perseverance and supplication for all saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Many years ago, I saw how very powerful perseverance can be through the life of a precious
Christian named Bill. He attended the denominational church where I was teaching a Sunday
school class of four and five year-olds. Every Sunday, Bill gathered up the neighborhood
children, loaded them into his station wagon and brought them to church with him.

One of those children was in my class and he was the most uncontrollable child I've ever seen.
He would crawl under the table while I was telling Bible stories and bite my leg. He would
climb the bookshelves like a monkey. He was a constant disruption.

One day one of the deacons of the church walked in and saw him in the midst of one of his fits.
When the deacon found out he acted that way every week, he met with the other deacons
about the situation and they decided the little boy could not be allowed to come back to
church.

I'll never forget the look on Bill's face when they told him. He looked at them like they were
the most wicked men he'd ever seen. "All right," he said, "if you will let this child continue to
come to Sunday School, I promise to stay with him the whole time and make sure he does not
disrupt." The deacons agreed and for years afterward, Bill loved and tended to that child
faithfully every Sunday.

Mac and I moved away from that town many years ago, so I didn't know what happened to
that little boy until years later. But once when I went back to visit, I asked a friend about him.
"Oh, it's the most wonderful thing!" she said. "That little boy graduated from high school and
now he is in Bible college. He wants to be a preacher!"

Many times when I'm tempted to give up on someone in prayer, I think about Bill. I think of
what would have happened to that little boy if he hadn't persevered. And I'm encouraged to
keep praying.

Don't Settle for Less Than 100%

Some things you pray about won't require great persistence. But others will. Back in 1979, for
instance, the Lord started revealing to me the glory He desires to pour out upon the Church.
He put the vision of it in my heart so I could pray for it. Do you know what? I'm still praying
for the glory today. Although we're seeing more miracles and experiencing more glorious
outpourings of the Spirit than we have in years past, the full glory I have seen in my heart
hasn't yet manifested. So I intend to persist in prayer until it does.

As people of prayer we shouldn't be willing to settle for 50 percent victory. We shouldn't be

willing to settle for 75 percent victory. We should not even be willing to settle for 99 percent
victory. We must determine to pray until we get 100 percent victory—because our God is
mighty enough to give it to us!

What's more, He is looking for people with that kind of persistence in prayer these days. We're
coming to the end of the age. The powers of darkness are running rampant because the devil
knows he has little time left. Many Christians are throwing up their hands and saying, "Not
much can be done now! Let's just try to hang on till Jesus comes!" But the Lord is searching
through the Body of Christ to find people with a different kind of attitude who will become
soldiers in His army of prayer.

He is looking for people who will commit to pray faithfully, people who will say, "You can
depend on me, Lord. I'll take whatever assignment You give me and pray it all the way
through to victory. I know I can do it because greater is He that is in me than He that is in the
world!"

Now more than ever, God is needing people like the widow Jesus described in Luke 18 who
prayed without fainting and refused to turn coward, lose heart or give up. That widow didn't
have a loving, heavenly Father to turn to like we do when we pray. She was dealing with a
wicked judge who neither feared God nor respected man. Yet she kept coming to him and
saying:

Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will
avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the
unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless
when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (verses 2-8)

In that last statement, Jesus reminds us that when we persevere in prayer we must do it in
faith. Speaking the same words day after day in an empty ritualistic manner is nothing more
than vain repetition and it is useless. True persevering prayer isn't like that. It is as heartfelt
the fiftieth time as it was the first time it was prayed and it's always accompanied by a
childlike confidence that expects God to do what He promised—no matter how long it takes.

That means when you pray perseveringly, you don't get up off your knees, look at the
situation and say, "Oh my, it doesn't look like my prayer did any good. I guess I'd better pray
again."

No, every time you pray you must believe your prayers changed things in the realm of the
spirit even if you cannot yet see evidence of those changes in the natural world. You must
believe God heard you and went to work on your behalf. But you must also understand there
are forces of darkness working to hinder the answer to your prayer, and so you must be willing
to stick with the process until you've prayed the answer all the way through.

Plead Your Case

There is only one thing that will give you that kind of tenacity: The Word of God.

To keep praying in faith in spite of all the adverse circumstances and negative reports that
often come along, you must not only know what the Bible promises you, you must see a clear
inner image of that promise being fulfilled. It must shine within you so brightly it chases away
every shadow of doubt.

Sometimes people will tell me about a situation and say, "Well, you know, Sister Hammond,
I'm just praying and standing on the Word."

"Really?" I'll say. "Exactly what scriptures in the Word are you standing on?"

You'd be amazed how many times they can't tell me. They just shrug as if to say, "The whole
Bible, I guess."

Listen, you can't base your prayer request on a general belief in the Bible. You have to be
specific. You have to study the Scriptures and find out exactly what you can expect God to do
in your particular situation.

In some ways, praying is like presenting a legal case. And in the courtroom of heaven, the only
acceptable law is the Word of God. Now, even though the Judge is your Heavenly Father and
He desires to rule in your favor, He can only do so if you base your case on promises and
precedent from the Bible.

That's why in Isaiah 43:25-26, He says, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgression
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead
together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified."

When God says Put Me in remembrance, He's not telling you to remind Him of what a great
person you are or how very much you want your prayer answered. He is telling you to put Him
in remembrance of His Word because according to divine law, that Word is the only plea to
which He can respond.

As Isaiah 62:6-7 says:

I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, who will never hold their peace day or
night; you who [are His servants and by your prayers] put the Lord in remembrance [of His
promises], keep not silence, and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes
her a praise in the earth.

Your job in prayer is to hold God's Word before Him and keep it there until that Word is
manifested in the person or situation for which you are praying. You are to put together an
airtight case based on the specific scriptures and to keep pleading that case in the court of
heaven until your adversary, the devil, gives up and goes home.

Of course, you don't have to do it by yourself. You have the Holy Spirit to help you. One of His
names is Advocate. An advocate is a lawyer who pleads another's case.

As your Advocate, the Holy Spirit will lead you to the scriptures you need. He'll quicken them
to your heart. He'll help you bring forth your case with such eloquence (both in other tongues
and with your understanding) that the devil won't stand a chance against you. Then He'll help
you stand strong until your case is fully won.

No Quick Fix

Often our faith falters when we're praying about tough situations because we haven't taken the
time to truly settle down on what God has said about them. Maybe we've read it and confessed
it a few times, but we haven't firmly laid hold of it. So when the pressure comes, God's Word
slips through our fingers like a greased pig.

What should you do in such cases? First, stop frantically making requests of God. (Remember,
prayers not based on faith in the Word are a waste of time.) Then, start fellowshipping with
Him and abiding in His Word about the situation. Spend more time seeking God and getting
established on His answers in the Word than you do presenting the problem to Him. Meditate
on that Word until it becomes bigger in your heart than any situation—bigger than any doubt
the devil can bring. And once established on that Word, do whatever it takes to continue
holding onto it.

Sometimes getting settled down on the Word takes a long time. I remember one particular
situation where I was praying for an individual who was very close to me. I was so emotionally
involved in the outcome that at times the devil would say to me, "You're so close to this
situation, you won't be able to hear your heart and trust the Word. You won't be able to pray
effectively."

So I would go to the Father and say, "Lord, You promised the Holy Spirit would help me pray
and that He would guide me into all truth. So I'm trusting You to help me set my emotions
aside and see Your Truth in this situation."

After the situation was prayed through, I checked my diary and found that it had taken me
eleven and a half hours of prayer just to get my heart settled on the Word. I didn't do it all at
one time, of course. I just kept at it day after day, until I was so confident in God's promise I
could just rest on it when I prayed, knowing His will would be done.

Sometimes we get in a hurry and don't want to take that kind of time. We want a fast answer,
a quick fix, so we can get on with other things. But God isn't as interested in fast things as we
are. He is more interested in getting them done according to His plan.

And I can assure you, He can get them done. I don't care how big and bad the situation may
be there is nothing too difficult for God. Whatever He has promised He is "able also to
perform!" (Romans 4:21)

All He needs from us is enough faith to go the distance with Him. He just needs us to persist in
prayer, to take His Word and "run with patience the race that is set before us."

If we'll do it and stick to it, Jesus Himself, the Author and Finisher of our faith, will see to it
that our prayers get answered. He'll give us the power not only to start strong but to finish in
victory!

Reach for the Stars! …at Home!

by Lynne Hammond

In the past few year, theres been a fresh emphasis on achieving new goals and accomplishing
great things. Self-help books and shoe advertisements alike urge us all to strive for excellence.
"Reach for the stars," they say. "Seize the day"… "Just do it!"
Although Im in favor of such aspirations, theres one thing about them that has grieved my
spirit: They are seldom seen in the home.

Think about it for a moment. Business people all over this nation work with all their might to
advance their career. They study and plan and spend late nights at the office so they can land
a new account or qualify for a promotion.

Athletes—even the weekend kind—labor and sweat and put in hours at the gym so they can
achieve new levels of fitness or win the local marathon.

But how many people do you know who put that kind of and effort into their own family? How
many people have determined to love their family the very best of themselves? How many
people are most successful when theyre at home?

Not many.

But I believe that as the Church, we can begin to change that. We can set an example for
others by making our families a priority in our lives. We can aspire to be great husbands,
wives, parents and children. We can reach for the stars… at home!

I am confident that if well ask and expect God to help us, He will flood our families with His
glory and they will become a shining light for all the world to see. Before that can happen,
however, we must put some thought and prayer into what takes place in our homes. We must
decide what values we want to teach our children and grandchildren, and then deliberately do
so.

Actually, whether we realize it or not, we are always teaching values to our children. We may
not even know what they are… but we are communicating them nonetheless by what we say
and how we live.

One of the first steps we can take toward excellence in our homes is to be absolutely
intentional about the values we establish there. We cant afford to just let them fall into place
accidentally. We must make conscious, purposeful decisions about them.
If you havent thought much about family values in the past, its time you did. In fact, before
this week is over I suggest you sit down with your family and talk about what values are
already being communicated in your home. Then agree together on the values you truly want
to convey. Write them down. Make a list and put it on the refrigerator or on your bathroom
mirror so youll be constantly reminded of those values, and put them into action every day.

Although your list should be uniquely your own, to help you get started, I want to suggest
three values that I believe should be top contenders for it.

Your Number One Priority

I believe the number one value in every Christian family should be the value of knowing and
loving Jesus in a real, personal way. Notice I didnt say that you should train your family to be
religious and to go to church on Sundays. I didnt say you should teach them to say an
occasional prayer and lay a Bible on the nightstand. I said you should teach them to know and
love Jesus in a heartfelt and personal way!

"Well, Sister Lynne," you might say, "youre a pastors wife… youre a prayer… thats why you
think that should be the most important value in the home."

No, thats not why I think so. I think loving God is the number one priority of life because Jesus
said it is. He said, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind (intellect)… is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment"
(Matthew 22.-37-38).

How do you instill that value in your children? How do you teach your family members to love
God first and foremost?

Deuteronomy 6 gives us the answers to those questions.

Hear, 0 Israel.—the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord]. And you shall love the Lord your
God with all your [mind and] heart and with all your entire being and with all your might. And
these Words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in our own minds and
hearts; [then] you shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and
impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them
when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when
you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets
(forehead bands) between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the door posts of your
house and on your gates. (verses 4-9, Amplified Bible)

If we obey that passage of scripture, well fellowship with God all the time. We wont love Him
for a few days and then backslide for a week or two. We wont just go through some religious
motions every Sunday. Well walk and talk with Jesus all the time. Well live before Him every
day of our lives.

Of course, it is important to read the Bible to our children. It is important to tell them about
Jesus. But in the end, its what we live in front of our children that will carry the most weight. If
our children dont see us pray at home, they will grow up with the idea that being a Christian is
just saying you pray and never doing it. If they dont see us reading our Bibles, our children
will think that despite what the pastor says, reading your Bible isnt really important.

So, let your children see you pray. Let them see you reading your Bible and listening to tapes.
Let them see that Jesus has the supreme position in your life.

Even if you have a "good" relationship with the Lord, dont just park there and remain satisfied.
Keep on growing and developing. If youre hungry for more of God, your children will get
hungry too. And years later, when others have strayed away from the faith and gotten cold,
theyll be seeking the Lord in prayer and in the Word… just like Mom and Dad did. Theyll do
what they saw you do and value their relationship with Jesus more than anything else in life.
Value # 2: Relationships

Another value I believe youll want to include at the top of your list is the value of building,
nurturing and rebuilding relationships. in fact, youll probably want to make it your number one
value because thats what Jesus did. He said that loving God was the principal commandment
and "the second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12.-31).

Our whole life is a series of relationships. Relationships with family members, friends,
coworkers, employers, neighbors… all of them together determine the quality of our lives. Yet,
amazingly enough, many people hardly give them a second thought.

Even Christians seem to expect relationships to run smoothly without requiring much time and
effort. But the fact is, good relationships take constant nurturing and thoughtful input. And
when they break down—which they sometimes do—we must be willing to go to the trouble to
fix them.

Im warning you. if you dont teach our children that lesson at home, they wont learn it,
because our society doesnt value relationships that much. The popular notion these days is
that relationships are like disposable diapers. if they get messy you just throw them away.

As the Church, its our job to rid Our families of that kind of thinking. Its our responsibility to
teach our children that when something goes wrong in a relationship the answer is not to turn
on your heel and walk out. The answer is not accusation, isolation, pouting or slander. The
answer is reconciliation.

Second Corinthians 5:18 says that God "through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself… and
gave to us the Ministry of reconciliation." Think about that. As believers we are to be ministers
of reconciliation!

But how are we going to bring reconciliation to the world or even to our own children if we are
not willing to be reconciled in our own relationships? If those in our own family see us
harboring unforgiveness and resentment, if they see us withdrawing from those who have
offended us rather than loving and making things right with them, how are they ever going to
learn?

Clearly, they wont. So the very first, step in teaching the value of relationships is to
consistently nurture and rebuild the relationships in your own life so that our children can see
how its done. The second step is to help them do the same in their own relationships.

Ill admit. that isnt always easy. I remember years ago when our daughter, Lucy, was about
three years old, she had a little friend named Perry who picked on her all the time. Although
Lucys two older brothers (our sons John and Jim) had taught her to protect herself very well,
Mac and I wanted to teach Lucy about conflict resolution. We wanted her to learn about
reconciliation in relationships.

Time and again, we would invite Perry into the house so we could talk with him and Lucy. We
would explain to them that fighting just wasnt the answer to their problems. Wed pray with
them and encourage them to get along with one another.

One day when I was in the kitchen, my son John who was about six years old at the time came
running in, breathless with excitement. "Perrys dead!" he said.

"What?" I exclaimed. "Perry is what?!" "Hes dead, Mom. There was just no other solution this
time! No other solution!"

As it turned out, Perry wasnt dead. Hed simply been knocked out for a moment by a wrench
Lucy had thrown at him. It seems he had pushed her to her limit and shed forgotten our
instructions about conflict resolution. Thankfully, Perry was just fine.
Those kinds of things are funny when they happen among three year-olds but not when they
happen among 30 year-olds and 40 year-olds. So put the value of relationships high on your
list of family priorities. Some day your children (and their spouses!) will thank you for it.

Value # 3: Character

The third value Id strongly suggest you include on your list of family values is that of character
development. One translation of the Bible especially communicates just how important
character development really is. It says, "He who neglects the job of developing character,
hates his child" (Proverbs 13.-24).

If we truly love our children, we will teach them things like honesty, integrity, honor, loyalty
and self-discipline. We wont depend on the schools to do it. We wont depend on the Boy
Scouts or the Girl Scouts to do it. We will do it ourselves in our own homes.

We will do it by living lives of character that our children can see and imitate. And we will do it
by teaching them that things like lying and cheating will not be tolerated in our homes.

My parents started instilling the value of character in me when I was very, very young. I
received one of my first lessons about honesty, for instance, when I was just four years old
and I still remember it today.

My sister and I had gone to the farmers market with my mother. She had finished her
shopping and we were following her back to the car. On the way out of the market, however,
there was a basket of pecans. When we walked by, we each grabbed a hand full.

Mother didnt notice the pecans until we got home but when she saw them she was extremely,
unhappy with us. "Where did you get those pecans?" she asked.

"From Mrs. Taylors basket," we answered. "Did you pay for them?"

"No," we said. "We didnt think about paying for them."

Immediately my mother put us back in the car and took us back to the farmers market. (It
seemed like a very long ride to us.) Then she made us march up to Mrs. Taylor and apologize
for being dishonest and taking her pecans without paying . That was a hard lesson but it was
good for me, and my, mother loved me enough to let me learn it.

We need to love our children that much too. We need to let them experience some of the
tough lessons of life. We need to instill in them the values that will enable them to fulfill the
potential God has given them. We need to intentionally communicate the importance of things
like their personal relationship with Jesus, their relationships with others, and their character.

I challenge you not to let another week go by without taking some time to think about the
values you are teaching in your home. Use those I have mentioned here as a starting point,
then add to them and make a list of your own.

Then make a commitment to strive for excellence, not just at the office or in the gym but
inside your very own home. Determine to give your family your very best. Seize the
opportunity God has given you to influence those who are closest to you. For when all is said
and done, your family will be one of the greatest measures of your success.

Let the Mirror Set You Free!

by Lynne Hammond

Who do you see when you look into a mirror? You see yourself! It doesn't lie. In the same way,
when we look in the Bible and see Jesus, we must realize that we are seeing ourselves. We are
seeing what God has made us to be.
Are you as free as you want to be?

I can tell you right now, I'm not. Thank God, I'm freer than I used to be, but I want to be freer
still! I want to keep letting God change me until there's no bondage at all left in my life. I want
to keep becoming more and more like Jesus until no sickness, sin, failure or lack of any kind
has a hold on me.

"But Sister Hammond," you might say, "do you really believe it's possible to be that free?"

I certainly do. I believe it because the Bible says so. It says that Jesus went to the cross and
was raised from the dead to destroy the power of sin and every evil thing connected with it. It
says that He has made us free indeed!

The Bible says that by Jesus' stripes we were healed. It says that Jesus became poor so that
we might be rich. It says that in all things we are more than conquerors. Second Corinthians
3:17 puts it this way:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation
from bondage, freedom). And all of us as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold
[in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into
His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another: [for
this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

When we were born again, God's own Holy Spirit came to live on the inside of us. He didn't
just come to visit. He came to stay. He's always there whether we feel like He is or not.

By His power, He made our spirits new. On the inside, we literally became new creations. Our
spirits were set free.

Why then aren't we all living in complete liberty? Because, in spite of the dramatic change that
took place in our hearts when we were born again, our minds, didn't change a bit.

We still had the same old thoughts we've always had. We had the same bad self-concept. We
had all the old worries, fears and habits we'd developed over a lifetime of living without Jesus.
As a result, many of us went right on living in bondage even though legally we had been set
free.

You see, a person doesn't act like who he is—he acts like who he thinks he is. And we were
still thinking like we always did.

That's why the very next verse there in 2 Corinthians 3 instructs us to continue to behold in
the Word of God as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. It is as we continue looking in the Word
that we are changed outwardly into the image of Jesus. It is as we continue in the Word that
what has happened to us on the inside is able to come out!

Come Humbly to the Mirror

Let's think for a moment about this idea of using the Word of God like a mirror. Who do you
see when you look into a mirror? You see yourself! It doesn't matter how many times you look
in that mirror, you never see anyone else there. It's always you looking back at you.

In the same way, when we look in the Bible and see Jesus, we must realize that we are seeing
ourselves. We are seeing what God has made us to be.

Now in the morning when you get up, most likely, you come humbly to the mirror. When you
look in it, it gives you instructions. It lets you know that you need to make some changes and
adjustments. But no matter how many changes you see you must make, you never argue with
the mirror.
You never say, "Nope, that's not me. I refuse to believe that's me."

But people do that all the time with the mirror of the Word. They'll look in it and see that
they're the healed. But because their bodies have symptoms, they'll say, "Well, that's not me.
I'm not the healed, I'm the sick. That must be somebody else in that mirror."

Maybe they'll look in the Word and see that God "gives us the victory [making us conquerors]
through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:57, AMP). But they'll think about how they just lost
their job or failed in some other endeavor and they'll think, "I'm not a conqueror. I'm a failure.
That mirror is wrong!"

If you do that, the mirror of the Word can't help you. So don't make those mistakes. Instead,
come humbly to this mirror. As you read it, agree with it. Receive and take directions from it.

If you'll do that, the most miraculous thing will happen. The Spirit of God will begin to move on
you and change you from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory.

Granted, it won't happen instantly. It won't happen the first time you read it. But if, as the
scripture says, you will continue to behold—you will be changed!

Where will that change take place first? In your mind.

Remember, that's where the real problem lies. Right there between your ears. That's why
Romans 12:2 says, "…be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind."

If your mind isn't changed, your born again spirit will try to rise up time and again to be
mighty in God. But before it can express itself, it will slam into a mental stronghold and be
stifled.

Mice, Mice Everywhere!

A mental stronghold is actually a dominant attitude or belief that has been established by
repeatedly thinking certain thoughts. For example, if you've spent years thinking thoughts of
self-pity, you will develop a victim mentality that will govern your life.

Then every time your spirit tries to act like a victor in Jesus, it will run into that stronghold that
says, "No, you're not a victor, you're a victim. You've always been a victim and you always will
be. Poor you."

Second Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us exactly how to deal with those strongholds.

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are
mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute
arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up
against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive
into the obedience of Christ…

We destroy strongholds by taking captive every thought we have that disagrees with what the
mirror of the Word says about us. That's no small job. It can be done, but it takes effort.

Having a brain full of undisciplined thoughts is like having a house full of mice. Have you ever
noticed that if you don't get rid of mice, they'll multiply at a great rate? Suddenly, they'll be
everywhere—in the closet, under the bed, inside the cupboards, in the pantry. It's terrible!

In the same way, if you don't control ungodly thoughts they'll take over your life. You'll be
driving along in your car thinking…thinking…thinking about how angry you are at someone, for
instance. You'll be cooking dinner and find yourself thinking about it again. You'll find yourself
lying awake at night thinking about it some more. And before you know it, those thoughts
have consumed you. They've robbed you of your peace. They've drained your energy and
you're exhausted.

How do you rid yourself of thoughts like that? The same way you get rid of those mice. You
capture them one at a time. You put yourself on alert and start watching over your thoughts.
When you notice one that's causing you trouble, you say, "Thought, do you agree with the
Bible?"

If it doesn't, then you take it captive to the obedience of Christ.

Step by Step

So let's get very practical here. Let's look at what we need to do with our thought life, step by
step, so we can be changed from glory to glory.

First of all, we have to get honest with God about our thoughts and be willing to deal with
them. I realize that's basic but many believers never get past this initial step. Some are
ashamed of their thoughts so they try to bury them. Others try to drown them with lots of
busyness and activity. Some people just shove them aside and try to ignore them.

People who do that remind me of a teacher I had in the seventh grade. She was a genius and,
like many geniuses, she was unusual. She was the kind of person who sometimes came to
school wearing a wig—backwards.

This teacher had a closet in the classroom that was crammed so full of stuff that if she opened
the door very far, everything would fall down on top of her. So she'd come in every morning,
open that closet door just a crack and as quick as she could, she'd shove her coat inside. Then
she'd slam the door shut so nothing would fall out.

Many times our minds are like that closet. They are jammed full of thoughts that need to be
cleaned out. But we're afraid to open the door.

Have you ever been aghast at something that you thought because it was so evil? If so, don't
try to hide it from God. Open the door of that room just as wide as you can and say, "Okay,
Lord, let's see what's in here. Let's get this all out. You shed Your light on it and I'll confess it
and repent."

The second thing we need to do is find out what the Word of God says about our specific
situation. Many people fail to do that. They think it's good enough to have a general idea of
what the Bible says.

Some years ago, I was counseling a girl and we had identified that she had a problem with
strife in her thought life. So this is what she did. She said, "Strife, I rebuke you. It is written."

I sat there waiting for her to say what is written. I kept waiting for her to quote a specific
scripture, but she didn't. She just said, "It is written," and stopped. Why? Because she didn't
know what was written about strife. She didn't know what the mirror of the Word had to say
about it.

That's like trying to capture a mouse simply by saying, "Mouse, I capture you! I capture you!"
You can't do that. You have to set a trap for it.

The Word of God is the trap for those ungodly thoughts. So find out what it says. Continue in
it. Meditate on it.

Ephesians 5:26 says the Church is cleansed by the "washing of water with the Word." When
you want to wash your clothes, you immerse them in the wash water, don't you? You put them
in the washing machine, turn it on and let that water start swirling around and agitating those
clothes.
That's what the Word does to you if you'll just soak yourself in it. It will begin to agitate you. It
will shake up your thinking. It will loosen old, dirty thought patterns and get rid of them. You
may hardly be aware of it at the moment, but in time you'll see the difference.

The third thing you must do is speak that Word out. You must take ungodly thoughts captive
by saying what the Word says. If you've been thinking angry thoughts about someone, you
say, "I am not going to think about how that person wronged me. The Bible says love is not
touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it. And I have the love of
God shed abroad in my heart. So I'm going to think about how much God loves that person
instead."

That sounds very simple, doesn't it? And it is. Yet over the years I've found that one of the
hardest things to get people to do is to speak the Word of God in the midst of tests and trials.
They resist opening their mouth and saying the Word. They try instead to take the old
thoughts captive with new thoughts. But that won't work.

Thoughts can't overcome thoughts. Words overcome thoughts. It's the Word of God spoken
out our mouths that demolish strongholds.

Let the Blood Purify You

There's one more weapon of divine warfare we can use to take those thoughts captive that I
haven't mentioned yet. And though I don't have space here to go into it in depth, I want to
make you aware of it because it's so important.

The weapon I'm talking about is the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 9:13-14 says that blood will
"purify our consciences…"

We need to preach and study more about the blood of Jesus. We need to reverence it and
apply it to our lives through faith and prayer.

I found out for myself what the blood could do for my thought life years ago when the Devil
attacked my mind with terrible depression. During that time I had to take my thoughts captive
just to survive because I was plagued with thoughts of suicide.

All day long, as thoughts came to me I had to separate them just like you separate clothes for
the laundry. I separated the whites from the darks and I had to deal with every single dark
thought.

I didn't know much back then about the Word of God, but I had read this verse in Hebrews
and I knew the blood had something to do with the purifying power of God. So I would speak
that scripture all the time. I would say, "I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind to purify my
thoughts."

As I did, I found the blood of Jesus is a mighty weapon. We need to use it more often. We
need to hold up the mirror of the Word and see what the blood has done for us. We need to
continue looking at the liberty God has given us through His mighty Spirit who dwells within
us. We need to see Jesus in the Word because we've been made like Him on the inside.

And as we behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we will constantly be
transformed into His very own image in ever-increasing splendor from one degree of glory to
another!

We will, at last, be free!