“Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then turn them off.”

Her home was connected to this amazing power, but she failed to utilize it. I liken this to those who have accepted Jesus for their final destination (salvation), but have never trusted Him with their destiny. The power is there, but they're still getting by on our own strengths. 

Imagine what might happen if we not only tapped into His power, but left it on! 

It's almost as easy as flicking the switch. Just a matter of surrendering and inviting Him to come in and take charge, sitting back and watching Him go to work. That's really it! We humans like to complicate things and make them out to be more difficult than they really are, when The Lord has made it very simple really. 

Is there something He has been calling you to do? Something you would love to do, only you haven't quite figured out how? Or, just maybe He wants to do in you something you haven't even thought of yet!!! Just imagine! 

Are you willing to invite Him to take over? 

I truly cannot wait to see all He will do through you!

Blessings, 

Sue

I decided to search out Scriptures that speak on just how well He knows and loves us this week and I pray these truths will bless you as much as they have me. 

He know you:

• “The Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9). 
• He regards you as “the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8).
•  He can “empathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,” King David wrote, “You knew my path” (Psalm 142:3). 
• “He knows the way that I take,” declared Job (Job 23:10). 

• “The Lord delights in you” (Isaiah 62:4). 
• “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine” (Isaiah 43:1). 
• “I have written your name on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16).
• “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy” (Psalm 147:11). 
• “The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. (Zephaniah 3:17)

• So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, ‘Abba, Father’”. (Romans 8:15) 
• God sought you. He searched you out. Before you knew you needed adopting, He’d already filed the papers.  
• For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.(Romans 8:29) 
• God sent Him [Christ] to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children. ( Galatians 4:5)  
• You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. — (Galatians 3:26)
• The moment we accept His offer we go from orphans to heirs:  You are His heirs… (Galatians 3:29)   
• Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17)

• “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand” (Psalm 37:23–24).

Then seizing him [Jesus], they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.  And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.  A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.  The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”  And he went outside and wept bitterly. - Luke 22:54-60

Have you ever made a promise and failed to keep it? Let another down? Swore you would never do something and then did that very thing you swore you'd never do?

If so, have you received the gift of a second chance? Do you know the power of being forgiven? If only Peter could have known then, how his story would be shared throughout history. His story that would bless and encourage millions who have failed in one way or another, that there is a gospel of second chances. 

Peter suffered the brokenness of sin, shame and guilt. The Lord had warned him, and even in Peter's determination, he had managed to fail Jesus anyway. Seeing Jesus look his way the moment he failed, must have crushed Peter's heart. 

 I have had moments like that. Moments when you realize that you've dishonored the Lord and let Him down. It could be something as simple as promising to spend time with Him each morning, in His word and in prayer, but I rolled over again for a few more minutes of precious sleep. 

I believe Peter's story of denying His Savior is our great reminder that our failures don't determine our future with our Lord. 

God can take those times we've fallen short and failed Him and make something good come from them. 

Notice this passage in Mark 16, 

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”-Mk 16:5-7

Did you catch it? I must have read this passage hundreds of times, but didn't see this until recently. Look again at the command the angel gives to the women after Jesus has risen. 

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (v.7 emphasis mine) 

I never noticed before that the angel singles out Peter, rather than simply telling them to go tell the disciples. It's as if he is saying, "go tell the disciples and especially Peter...". It seems that all of heaven had watched Peter fall and fail to keep his promise to Jesus. And now all of heaven wanted to help Peter get back up. Or had Jesus specifically told the angel to mention Peter? Either way, Peter's relationship with Jesus needed to be restored. But that doesn’t apply just to Peter. I believe we all are important. We all matter to Jesus, and He wants to make sure our relationship with Him is blameless and untarnished.

While our failures are not part of His plan for us, He can take our failures, slip-ups, sins and shortcomings, and restore us back into His plan. 

Don't ever give up! Even though Peter was ready to, all of heaven was ready to help. Just as they are for each of us! Let your sin break your heart as it breaks your Savior, and then come back and openly confess it to the Lord and be restored. He will bless you and use you to bless others once you return to Him.

Blessings, 

Sue

It's important to note that Jesus makes this promise while speaking to His disciples the evening just before his arrest and crucifixion. I believe Jesus, knowing all that was about to transpire, was imparting full authority to them by giving them the power to ask in His name. At that time, to speak in the name of a person meant to fully represent them in all ways.

Therefore, Jesus was promising His disciples that while they were fulfilling their mission; He would do anything they asked Him to do while asking with the authority of His name. In short, He was handing His disciples a great privilege as well as a tremendous responsibility, but what does this promise mean to us?

First and foremost asking in His name is acknowledging His authority-  that Jesus is the only way to God's throne of grace. In other words our standing before the Father is based solely on the finished work of Jesus alone. We come to Him in prayer, not through our own  merit, but in the name of Jesus. We have been united to Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection, and now through our prayers.

Secondly, we must pray wholly surrendered to His will not ours. How often have we prayed believing we know what the answer should be and were disappointed when the outcome did not turn out as we planed? 

Praying according to God’s will is to pray in alignment with his character. It’s seeking to pray for things Christ would desire. It is praying in a way that views life from God’s perspective. And beloved, the better we know our Savior the easier it will be to be assured of His will, and to be able to boldly and confidently approach His throne of grace. 

Finally, we should pray always seeking His glory alone, not our own, for that is our sole purpose for being here on this earth.

Keeping these three objectives in mind as we approach God in prayer should make it easier to pray for each of His children, for prayer is a beautiful and precious privilege. It is an honor to be given the right to come before God at any time and in any place, bringing all our petitions before Him. But we must pray in a way that acknowledges Christ and seeks to glorify Him always. 

Blessings, 

Sue

 "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray [publicly] standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets so that they may be seen by men. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." - Matthew 6:5-8

Why pray in secret? 

Why is it important to pray in secret?  Why is Jesus careful to add that when we pray we should seek a secluded place and shut the door behind us?

As I thought about that, I thought of the children's book called, The Secret Garden by, Frances Hodgson Burnett. The story is about two children who are transformed from being weak, sickly, and friendless to physically and emotionally healthy children in the garden, and I thought perhaps F.H. Burnett might be onto something here. Just like the children in the garden, our souls can be transformed by our time in secret prayer.   

 Secret prayer is simply a term used to described our time in prayer alone with God.

 Psalm 91 has much to say about dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

 I'd love to encourage you to spend some time reading over Psalm 91, for I believe here Moses, who walked so incredibly close to God while here on earth, is encouraging us that if we truly wish to grow deeper in our walk with The Lord it will be through our time spent in the "secret place of the Most High."

Here are a few benefits I believe Psalm 91 highlights for us to encourage us to spend time with our Father in prayer:

1. R-e-s-t! 

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.(V. 1)

Not so much for our physical bodies, but our minds and anxious thoughts. Are you like me in that I can keep mulling things over and over in my mind until I finally have to say, "Enough!" and give it over to God. I have also found writing out my prayers very helpful, for it seems once I can set it down on paper before Him, I can leave it there with Him and rest.  

2. Protection

3. Freedom from Fear