Tag Archives: medicine

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; P.G – Flourishing and Useful

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Balaam was an interesting Old Testament character. A sorcerer who was willing to let God show him marvelous things, Balaam acknowledged God’s awesome power, but refused to change his life. Still, when Balaam was taken to a high vantage point, the Spirit of God came upon him and he spoke words of blessing: “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.”

Like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.   Numbers 24:6

Not only were the flourishing plants diverse, they were useful. Cedar grows strong, straight and solid. Its aromatic, repels insects, and has been used for eons for respiratory ailments, skin rashes and infections. Aloe, too, possesses healing properties for burns, inflammations, and topical bacterial infections. The juice is a strong antioxidant, hunting down free radicals and protecting the body.

As a part of God’s garden, are you flourishing? Are you useful? Consider these things today, asking the Lord to keep you firmly planted in Him so you can come alongside others with a word of healing, encouragement or exhortation. Pray, too, for Christians in government to find their spiritual political usefulness.

Recommended Reading: Numbers 24:1-14

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Managing Tough Times

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Max Lucado

How we handle our tough times stays with us for a long time! When you’re tired of trying, tired of forgiving, tired of hard-headed people, how do you manage your dark days? With a bottle of pills?  An hour at the bar, a day at the spa? Many opt for such treatments.  So many, in fact, we assume they reenergize the sad life. But do they?  They numb the pain, postpone the pain, but do they remove it?

Is there a solution? There is.  Be quick to pray.  Stop talking to yourself. Talk to Christ, who says, “Are you tired? Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. (Matthew 11:28).”

God, who is never downcast, never tires of your down days.“Come to Me,” Jesus says.  “I’ll give you real rest!”

from Facing Your Giants

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Joyce Meyer – Lift Up Your Eyes

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But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.—Psalm 3:3

When you feel down, everything around you seems to fall apart, and you begin to lose your strength. Your head and hands and heart begin to droop. Even your eyes and your voice are lowered.

You are downcast because you are looking at your problems, and this only makes you feel worse. Sometimes you are tempted to say, “Oh, what’s the use?” and just give up. But God is waiting for you to lift up your eyes and look to Him for help.

Life will always bring discouraging situations, but you don’t have to let them get you down. Despite life’s distressing circumstances, you can be confident in the Lord, the lifter of your head.

Lift up your eyes, hands, head, and heart and look not at your problems, but at the one who has promised to see you through to victory. Smile . . . it will lift your spirit.

 

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Joyce Meyer – Train Yourself

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For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. —Proverbs 23:7

I encourage you to practice being a positive person. It’s just a matter of breaking one bad habit and forming a new one. I was so negative at one time in my life that if I even tried to think two positive thoughts in a row my brain got into a cramp. But now I am very positive and actually don’t enjoy being with people who are negative.

Discipline is required any time you are forming a new habit. You might consider putting some reminders around your house or in your car, like little signs that say “Be positive.” Ask a good friend or spouse to remind you if they hear you slipping into negativism.

Practice trusting yourself rather than doubting yourself. If you are applying for a promotion at work, don’t think to yourself or say, “I probably won’t get it.” Pray and ask God to give you favor with your employer and then say, “I believe I will get the job!” And if you try and the outcome isn’t what you were hoping for, then tell yourself, “If the job was right for me, God would give it to me, and since He didn’t, He must have something even better in mind for me.” You can train yourself to be positive in what appears to be a negative situation.

Lord, show me where I am stuck in negativity and need to break through to trusting You. Help me to have the right thoughts and attitudes that move me forward. Amen.

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Joyce Meyer – Let God Do the Healing

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O Lord my God, I cried out to You and You have healed me. —Psalm 30:2

James A. Garfield became president of the United States in 1880 and was shot in the back six months later, in July 1881.

After the shooting, a doctor tried to remove the bullet, but couldn’t. In the following weeks, more doctors probed his wound to try to locate the bullet, to no avail. Eventually, Alexander Graham Bell provided an electrical device doctors thought might locate the bullet, but that didn’t work. Doctors later learned that sometimes removing a bullet causes more trouble than leaving it alone.

Garfield died on September 19, 1881, not as a result of his wound, but because of infection and hemorrhage that probably developed after so much probing for the bullet. The very thing physicians thought would heal Garfield ended up killing him.

When you have a “wound” of some sort, whether it’s a disappointment, a betrayal, being abandoned or rejected or some other hurtful situation, don’t keep probing it. Go to God and ask Him to heal you in the way He knows is best for you. Then take your hands off. Don’t try to “fix” yourself, but do follow the Holy Spirit as He leads you into healing and wholeness.

Love Yourself Today: Is there a wound in your heart that you have probed too much?  Ask God to heal it; stay sensitive to His Spirit; and let Him bring new life and strength to you.

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Max Lucado – The Father’s Outstretched Arms

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The prodigal son. Going home a changed man.  No longer demanding he get what he deserved, but willing to take whatever he could get. How many years had it been? As the boy came around the bend that led to his house, he rehearsed his speech one more time. He turned to open the gate, but the father already had.

“Father I have sinned,” he said. (Luke 15:21).  The two wept.  Words were unnecessary.  Forgiveness had been given.

If there’s a scene that deserves to be framed, it’s the one of the Father’s outstretched hands. His hands call us home. Imagine those hands.  Stretching open like a wide gate, leaving entrance as the only option. He forced His arms so wide apart that it hurt. And to prove that those arms would never fold and those hands would never close, He had them nailed open.

 

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Gain through Pain – Greg Laurie

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Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow—James 1:2–3

I avoid pain at all costs. That is why I don’t run. I have tried running, and it hurts. People have told me, “Just run a little. Walk, and then run from here to there.” So I do it, and I hate it.

For me, the most ideal workout would be a pain-free one. I don’t want my muscles to be sore the next day. But as the expression goes, no pain, no gain. And what is true of working out is also true of life: no pain, no gain. If you are looking for a pain-free life, then you are not going to gain spiritually. You see, pain reminds us of a deeper need. Adversity teaches us eternal truths that we would not otherwise learn.

I experience a certain kind of pain every day. I don’t know if I would call it pain, but it is a hunger pang. From the moment I get up, I want to eat. And by 10:00, as lunchtime begins to roll around, I am basically hungry. So I wait, and I tell myself that lunch is coming. And that hunger pang reminds me of a deeper need.

When I have pain in my life, it reminds me of a deeper need, which is a need for God. And He will teach us lessons in those valleys that we would never learn on mountaintops: things we need to know and things we need to share with others.

Think about your life and about some of the greatest lessons you have learned. They have come through adversity, haven’t they? Those are the things you pass on and share with others. You remember those times when the Lord came through for you. And that is why we need to understand that God is in control of all these things.