Answer to Anger

OK - I figure nobody has been reading this blog, so it's a safe place for me to work on this - and even if somebody does read it, it's probably someone who loves me, so it'll be OK.

The italicized sections below are straight from a friend's facebook note. I copied and pasted them here and then italicized and bolded them to make them stand out on their own. I will attempt to discuss around them using non-italicized text. (I also used some color to try to help.) Good luck making any sense out of it!


I had an eye-opening experience tonight... Experiencing smart people who mean well... but have strayed so far off the mark of common sense... who try to push their will on others like me in the hope of helping them.

It started over Sarah Palin... Assuming that nobody could possibly agree with her on it, I brought up how ridiculous her idea is of no abortion, even in the case of rape... All of a sudden, everyone in the room raised their voice, became extremely vicious, and went straight for my throat. No we didn't. The statement was made with a force behind it to begin with - like you said, as if nobody could possibly NOT believe the same as you believe. We all did, I admit, really want to give our opinions, but there was no raising of voices or viciousness or going for anyone's throat. We just shared our own opinions and our zeal for our opinions probably just came through. Any viciousness felt was self-imposed. It's amazing to me how someone could actually side with the rapists and still call themselves god-loving Christians. I don't see the logic in siding with a rapist coming from the fact that we don't believe in abortion. How does anti-abortion equal pro-rape? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and rapists should never be allowed to have children unless you want more rapists running around. I disagree with this statement hands-down. There is SOME scientific data showing that some behavior is genetic, but most behavior is environmentally based. There can be tendencies toward a behavior, but there is no proven link. I'm not sure of the percentages, but I do know that many rapes that happen are not by people who are attacked by a stranger unawares. Many rapes are simply charges filed when the boyfriend is older and the girlfriend is underage. Others are date rapes that happen due to excess drinking or drugs. Sometimes there seems to be a consensual situation and the girl will chicken out at the last minute, but the boy keeps going, making it a rape, but not something that would constitute making 'baby rapists' running around if they weren't aborted!!! And by removing the option of abortion here, you are giving them even more power than they already have over the women they attack. Rape IS about power, but I don't believe that creating a child has much, if anything, to do with it. Perhaps in a few cases, but not the majority. Plus, removing the option of abortion here actually encourages rape. Again, I don't believe that rape has much, if anything, to do with impregnating a woman. The act is about power and strength, not procreation. They refused to admit it, You make it sound like a fact. Your opinion is not a fact – it’s an opinion. We just don't agree. It's that simple. You did not convince us away from our beliefs. There were attacks and statements from you with an attitute of 'how could you believe any other way' but nothing concrete to change our minds. and when I brought up that point it turned to the entire room yelling NO WAY at the top of their lungs we never yelled - we got a bit excited, but never got mad or raised our voices! and getting ready to rip my throat out because apparently all rapes happen for exactly the same reason. Every time. There is never that one time (like 75% of all rapes) where it's done by someone they know who just really wants to have sex with them, so of course a condom isn't used during the forced entry. So if you agree that most of the rapes are by regular guys, why do you want to kill all children created in this way? It's too far fetched to look into the primitive human male mind which wants to spread its seed to as many women as possible and impregnate them, because the more children you have, the further your genes will travel. Who thinks this way? I don't think there are many men or boys out there who would agree with that as a motivation. Rape is about power, or about getting so close you don't want to stop, not about creating children. Most young men don't want anything to do with having kids out there! There are already tons of deadbeat dads who fuck girls and then leave them, but rapists have been able to generally stay out of our gene pool because abortion was an option. The number of pregnancies from rape – there are no hard facts, but when I researched it, I found that the number is even lower than I thought it would be! “Now for the important question. How many rape pregnancies are there? The answer is that, according to statistical reporting, there are no more than one or two pregnancies resultant from every 1,000 forcible rapes. I don't think it's as high as you are making it sound.” (click on the title of this article to see this site) Plus, most of these 'deadbeat dads' you are talking about were not raping anyone. They are husbands that ditched their families - live-in boyfriends who left kids behind. I don't think the majority of them are rapists! The people who have kids are the ones who determine our next generation of citizens - is this primitive mindset what we want our society reverting into? I don't think this is a realistic view of the people who populate this country!

I'd rather not have victims of rape be tried for murder because they used a coat hanger to terminate a pregnancy from rape. At what point did we say we'd rather have that happen? You know, some girls might have to drop out of college if they get pregnant and then miss out on their education all-together while they raise a child. Other girls might have to pick up another job to support the rape baby which they can't afford to do if they are already on a tight schedule. You are insinuating that life cannot be fulfilling if you don't go to college or have to work two jobs. You are assuming that adoption is out of the question. I happen to know many people who would love to take a baby from someone who is not ready for that step in life. Generally you need to plan to have a child - Be financially stable and have all the necessary pieces in place. I would like to see the results of a survey of parents - of any class - about how much planning went into producing a child. How many do you really think were financially stable and had all the necessary pieces in place? Most will tell you that if you wait until you can afford to have a child, you will never have one. Raising a family is not about money or comfort. It's about love. A girl who's raped didn't do anything wrong. It's not like they got drunk and got knocked up one night... You just said earlier that most rapes happen by someone they know - do you really think that most rapes DON'T happen because of too much to drink? That is exactly how most of them happen - usually both have had too much! Do you want them to be tried for murder if they don't want to rearrange their life and have the kid of a sick and twisted piece of shit rapist? You are still assuming that all men who are labeled rapists are pathological and not just a kid who pushed a little too hard while under the influence of a substance or peer pressure. That night you were also arguing that abortion should NOT be for stupid mistakes people make, yet here you are making the opposite claim. Abortion is not a convenience method of birth control! It'd be like all the hard work women have done for equal rights will vanish like a fart in the wind. Equal rights has nothing to do with this. There is a third part involved – the child created. God created that life and we have no right to take it away for the sake of convenience in our own lives. God makes everything ‘just right’ for His plans and purposes. Just because God’s plans differ from the ones you think are ‘just right’ does not make His plan wrong – it makes you grow into the person HE wants you to be. Life is about God, not about ourselves.

If you appreciate life so much... Even to the point of requiring children with mutations to be born (showing that ALL life is valuable, no matter what or who, and even if they are a drain on society) - then why do you support someone who was instrumental in the invasion of another country and caused us to lose of over 4 thousand of our soldiers (also kids) in Iraq, and caused the death of many many more innocent Iraq citizens. Iraqis are people too, you know. These same "leaders" like McCain and Palin have gotten Russia, Spain, and Iran all pissed at them/us and could very well start world war 3 if they get into office. So while you go save a few unwanted and deformed children, we'll send many more of our best and brightest children off to die while our cities are getting bombed by the entire world. At what point do you stop killing those with mutations? My family has a strong history of cancer - a mutation of cells. Do I kill my children so that they do not become a drain on society? My husband's family has a strong history of mental illness that occurs in their late 20s. Do we euthanize them at 25 so that they do not become a drain on society? My son has ADHD. Do I put him down because he's not like all the others and needs regular medical oversight? My brother-in-law’s father has a genetic disorder that is passed on from generation to generation. Should I work to make sure all my nieces and nephews are put down so that they will not be a drain on our society? Do I encourage my brother-in-law to commit suicide so that when it manifests in his body he won’t become a problem for us? I work with children who have many different ailments - learning disorders, behavioral disorders, emotional disorders, and physical disorders of many kinds. Do they not deserve to live? Are their lives not worth living? Do they not have purpose in this world? Where does it stop? Do we eventually kill everyone who shows a tendency toward needing glasses or is it only those who cannot hold down a job? I will go back again to what I said earlier – God creates life and creates it perfectly for His purposes. When we focus on God and His purposes and not on our own selfish desires, we will see how wonderful this can be – even what the world calls ‘imperfections’.

But go ahead and vote for her because "She's Hot" or "She killed a moose", Those were either not said at all or said in humor to lighten the situation. or because you agree with her hypocritical stance on life. Her stance on life is not hypocritical! She's the one who has lived what she believes! Palin says that the war in Iraq is "God's War" which is total bullshit. THOU SHALT NOT KILL, actually, it's DO NOT MURDER. In the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to make war on the locals on many occasions, and capital punishment was commanded by God. The idea that war is not of God is not biblical. especially in the name of GOD. There's a difference between living by morals set by god, and taking a step too far by blurring the lines between church and state. Separation of Church and State is not in the constitution - it's in writings from Jefferson, I believe, and referred to by others, but from what I’ve been reading, they were more concerned about the effects of government on the church, not about the effects of the church on the government. Several even mentioned that it is important that religious leaders be involved in government. The Constitution was written by those who believed that the government should not be able to interfere with the actions of the church, not the other way around. They believed that the country should be run by people who looked to God for guidance. She wants to run the country like a religious extremist theocracy just like our Muslim terrorist friends in the middle east. I do not agree with you on that. I googled 'religious extremist theocracy and came up with this quote "But the values of his handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts." This is only one of many sites saying basically the same thing, but this is totally opposite of anything they are talking about! The Founding Fathers taught school from the Bible - Creation. Darwin came later. Reproductive rights? Abortion was not legal until just recently in our history! Twenty-five years ago! That’s not very long! The founding fathers wrote government policy according to God's Will, often giving glory to God right in the documents and in their writings. There is no proof of global warming - we do not have enough years of documentation of the weather to say that this change is any more that a pendulum swing that will correct itself again. Tolerance is not a founding belief. Today's liberal definition of tolerance is basically - everything goes EXCEPT Christian morals. The Constitution was written that all could worship GOD as they choose - not that we could all worship whatever we want and walk all over the Christians. The US is a Christian-based country first – a place where Christians can worship in peace. Or at least it should be and used to be. It’s not anymore. She reminds me of Sister Miriam Godwinson in the game Alpha Centauri, which seriously creeps me out (she's a war mongering fundamentalist bible thumper who declares war on you instantly if you ever form a democracy). Written by a liberal, I'm sure... This is technically a constitutional republic and we call it a democracy... but it's definitely not a fundamentalism, at least as long as we follow our constitution... lately we've been using the constitution for toilet paper though, so nothing would surprise me. The ones using the Constitution for toilet paper would be the left wing, not the right. The Constitution clearly states in Amendment I that Congress cannot establish a religion OR prohibit the free exercise thereof – my freedom to exercise my religion is messed with every day that my children are required to attend a public school to learn ONLY the evolution theory of life, and not the creation theory. Granted, both are theories, but evolution is presented as fact. Scientific fact can only been proven if something can be observed or recreated. Neither can happen for how life began, yet evolution is shoved down the throats of my children in every textbook they read. Textbooks they are required to read because the FEDERAL government has made school mandatory – contrary to the constitution! Amendment X states that anything not covered by the constitution or prohibited is to be under the jurisdiction of the states, who are to have governing rights over their people. Many of those rights have been taken away from the states and made cabinet members under the President. Jimmy Carter started the Department of Education, for example, taking educational rights away from the states – contrary to the Constitution!

I think there are more important reasons to pick a candidate than her view on abortion. If you really want the quality of the American family and its values to crumble, here's a step by step guide on how to do it:
1) Force everyone to have unwanted children, even if it means a married woman who's raped bringing another man's child into a household, or a young teenage girl who's raped dropping out of school and having a child she can't support. I think I’ve covered that one already.
2) Continue to demonstrate that you know nothing about our economy and rip it to shreds so our house values keep plummeting, our banks continue to fail, our stock market keeps collapsing, and our jobs keep disappearing overseas. As I write this, the Democrats are fighting to take $700,000,000,000 – that’s BILLION – of our tax dollars to bail out the banks on Wall Street. Why? So the people who have put their money on the line – investments are always risky – won’t lose. It would hurt their feelings. Poor babies. Those rich people would have to sell their homes and live like normal people. We can’t let THAT happen! I thought this was a free enterprise – that businesses could be strong or they could fail – that’s life. Why do we feel the need to bail them out? We’ve already given up our gold standard and it’s made our money basically worthless. (FDR made private gold ownership illegal and people had to sell all their gold to the government. Then Nixon ended the gold standard completely! I know that there are those who argue that the economy cannot run ‘safely’ under the gold standard, but I’m not so sure that the house of cards we are all working with right now can stand forever. Now we’re going to make it even worse! These banks collapsing, I believe, is the result of 9-11. I said it then and I’ll say it again – they played with and covered everything so well right afterward that now the house of cards is coming down. (Would it have been as big of a deal if we had the gold to back it all up?) We can run around and put up a card here and a card there as they fall, but the structure itself will never last – why not let it fall now instead of waiting for us to get more and more into debt and THEN have it fall? Let the cycle run and quit trying to make it go down a path that is against its natural course!
3) Declare war on more countries and strain our military so thin that we have to institute the draft (which mccain says he has no argument against doing) so every american family gets to look at an open chair or two at dinner every night. I do believe that we were brought into war by a deadly attack on our nation. We went after and got Sadam Hussein and the new government asked for our help to get up and going. We are still looking for Osama Bin Ladin. We continue to fight against those who continue to resist the new Iraqi government. We are a major player – a major force in the world. It is our job to help those who ask for it!
4) Lie about everything and make your candidacy about change...ing your mind all the time. I assume you are speaking about McCain – but it’s Obama who is ‘all about change’! Nobody who is running for President is going to say, “hey, let’s just keep everything the same!” All candidates talk change – it’s part of the process! The problem comes when you change what you say depending on who you are talking to. At least McCain is consistent from group to group!
5) Wipe your butt with the constitution. I covered that one already – the Republicans are the ones trying to stick TO the Constitution. The Democrats want to play with it to make it into what they desire at the moment – to bend it and shape it until it’s not even worth the ink it was written with!

I didn't deserve the attacks I got tonight, with a 4 on 1 where everyone tried to vilify me and basically make me out to be the spawn of satan for standing up for my beliefs. Part of the reason you feel this way is because you are taking every difference of opinion as an attack. We listen to you and gave our own points. Surely you didn’t expect to sit in the pastor’s dining room at a church young adult event and say the things you said without someone contradicting you, did you? Especially since I'm basically pro-life in my views anyway. That is NOT what you were saying at the table. I think using abortion as a form of birth control is irresponsible and promotes a culture full of rampant sex where people become numb to it and it no longer means anything. I think sex should be between people who care about each other deeply. But there's definitely a time and place when abortion IS necessary, and the discussion needs to be about who gets to decide when it's appropriate, not whether it's EVER appropriate at all. But you kept arguing that it should be used for whenever you want to, not when it is NECESSARY!

I definitely needed to get that off my chest. Sheesh... So did I.

40 Days of Prayer Day 9

Responding to a Desire to Meet With God
The Day 9 - Monday, September 9

His Word
"The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent" (Joshua 33:11).

Thoughts on His Word
Joshua refused to leave the tabernacle. God had been there speaking face to face with Moses, and the glory that Joshua sensed in that place drew him.
Up to this point, he had been following Moses, but something about the presence of the Lord attracted him. In the verse above it appears Joshua thought, I am not going to leave this place of God's presence. I want to be where God is.
Moses had taught him that the glory came after spending time with God. He had been privileged to see Moses experience times of intimate fellowship with God. During those times, Joshua began developing a longing for the glory he saw on Moses. Perhaps a hunger was being borne in him for a personal visitation of God.
Do you sometimes feel a longing to be in God's presence? Have you been challenged to make prayer a more significant part of your life when you've observed someone who has the peace and confidence that comes from having been alone with God?
Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives a gentle prompting, a desire to be in God's presence. Martyn Lloyd-Jones cautions, "Always respond to every impulse to pray. I would make an absolute law of this--always obey such an impulse."
Joshua lingered at the Tent of Meeting where God had promised, "There I will meet you and speak to you" (Exodus 29:43).

Come to the Fire Prayer Request
Give thanks for every time you feel drawn by the Spirit to pray. Please pray that every speaker and musician involved in the conference will see the necessity of spending much time in the "Tent of Meeting"--the place where God promises to meet and to speak to us.

40 Days of Prayer Day 8

Day 8 Sunday September 7

His Word
"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jeremiah 3:33).
"I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them . . . so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God" (Ezekiel 11:19, 20 NLT).
"I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command . . . You will be my people, and I will be your God" (Ezekiel 36:27-28 NLT).

Thoughts
God's promise to put His Spirit within us became a central hope in the Old Testament.
Repeatedly God promised that the result of His Spirit within us would be, "I will be your God."
When I read "I will be your God" I hear God rejoicing! Finally, He, not idols, not lesser things, but He alone will be our God-the One we adore, the One we surrender to in everything. When we receive His Spirit we receive the ability to have "singleness of heart." We long to know what He wants and once we know, it is our joy to do it. A god is anything that has our allegiance, that we base our decisions on, that we attend to more than another.
Trying to live a consistently obedient life for many Christians is like trying to go up the down escalator. When God fulfills His promise to put His laws in our minds and to write them on our hearts, though, we find it is as though the escalator is reversed.
The Psalmist described it perfectly: "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart" (Psalm 40:8 NLT).

Come to the Fire Prayer Requests
Pray that God's promise to put His law in our hearts will become a great longing. Pray that women will have faith to receive what God wants to give them. Pray that God will be able to fulfill His desire to give women singleness of heart so He can be their God.

Lord, I so very much want to women that attend Come to the Fire to have the faith to receive what God wants to give them! What an awsome thought - for enough faith to receive ALL that God want to give us! I pray that You will help me, if no other, open up completely to You without reservation - without holding anything of myself back. I want to have no idols. I want to base all of my decisions upon You and Your Word. Please send Your Holy Spirit as my guide every moment of every day! Amen

40 Days of Prayer Day 6

Day 6 - Friday, September 5

His Word
"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV).

Thoughts
God seeks those whose hearts are perfect toward him so He can use His power in their behalf. The perfect heart
--is not satisfied with people's affirmation and approval. Once we've tasted God's endorsement and His pleasure, we realize how the other fades into insignificance.
--has a growing hunger to be all for His glory. We realize the pure joy of sensing God's pleasure. A great longing to do all for His glory begins to direct our lives and we increasingly seek only to please Him.
--has discovered that nothing is as totally fulfilling as knowing God receives our efforts and says, "I'm pleased."
--finds that cultivating this hunger to please only him begins to free us. Little by little Satan's lies such as "But others won't understand," or "You won't make as much money" become words that we are free to ignore.
--discovers that a deep inner knowing that this is what pleases God becomes our guide to selecting what to say, how to spend our time.
--is concerned not about our popularity or others admiration, but am I faithful so He can accomplish all He desires? It doesn't matter if the Lord places us in a position where others see us or in an obscure position. Our desire is to be faithful.
God seeks those whose hearts are perfect toward him. And when He finds them, He offers to give them the desire of their hearts. He can trust their desires to be the same as His.

Come to the Fire Prayer Request
Pray that women who attend will see their need. God won't meet our need until we realize we have one. Pray that they will be willing to acknowledge before God their deepest needs as He reveals them.


Lord, I do pray for our needs - both known and unknown. Lord I pray that you will search each heart fully and completely - making our true and deepest needs known to ourselves. I pray that each of us will break before you - that we will recognize our inability to 'do' it ourselves - and that we will find ourselves before you begging for help. Break each of us, Lord. Break us so that you can fix us and put us back together whole and able to serve you with all we have. Amen

40 Days of Prayer Day 5

DISCOVER YOUR PROMISE

Day 5 - Thursday, September 4

His Word
"O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away.
"Test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life" (Psalm 139:1-2, 23-24 New Living Translation).

Thoughts
Jesus told the disciples to go into Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. (Luke 24:49)
As we wait, God shows us our hearts. Generally, we do not see ourselves as He does. We must depend upon the Spirit to show us our selfish ambition and arrogant attitudes.
Dr. Pamela Reeves said, "Only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to point out to us where pride, where self-glory is entering our service, our reactions and thinking. When we aren't given credit for what we have done, when we are overlooked for advantages or when place is given others, our reactions to these and similar situations are red flags the Spirit may use to signal pride at work."
If we allow Him, God will expose what He sees in our heart. When our son Gregg was a boy, his thumb got infected. He decided to take care of it himself, and he carefully kept it bandaged for weeks. One day this badly infected thumb got so painful Gregg decided to show it to his dad. His dad is an infectious disease specialist, so he easily cured it once Gregg allowed him to see it.
God is a specialist in purifying hearts. We are prone to want to keep our sinful nature covered and act as though other people are the problem. When we give Him access to our heart we will begin to realize what a stench our selfish nature is to God.
"Change my heart, O God, make it ever true
Change my heart, O God, may I be like You."

Come to the Fire Prayer Request
Ask God to deepen women's hunger for a pure heart. Pray that they will begin to see how utterly bankrupt they are of goodness and of their inability to always desire His will above their own. Pray that they will hunger for His holiness in their lives.

Lord I come to you this morning asking that You will work and walk before us as we plan to go to the CTTF conference. Work in our hearts - purifying them as we prepare. Open our eyes to see how little we have to offer without You - help us to always look to You for our strength and endurance. Create a hunger in all of us - a hunger for Your holiness. Again, please go ahead of us and prepare our way! Amen

40 Days of Prayer Day 4

Day 3 Wednesday September 3

His Word
"The prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me - he has nothing in common with Me, there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, he has no power over me" (John 14:30 Amplified).

Thoughts
Satan could find no attitude in Jesus that was unlike a holy God. When we are being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, Satan finds the same attitude in us that He found in Christ. There is nothing in us that belongs to him. Instead, we have the desire Jesus mentioned when He said, "I seek not to please myself but him who sent me" (John 5:30).
To constantly live to please God means that
-we grieve when we realize we have displeased God.
-we don't get offended. Getting offended is often a sign of a proud heart.
-we are happy when others are honored even if it is at our expense.
-we wait on God rather than trying to force things to go our way.
-we trust the still, small voice, not our own plans.
The author of The Kneeling Christian said, "Believing prayer from a totally cleansed heart never fails."
Search me, O God, and know my heart today.
Try me, O Savior; know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.

Prayer
Pray that every speaker and every musician involved in the conference will have a heart that is cleansed of all desires but the desire to please Jesus.

Lord, today I lift up the speakers and musicians preparing for CTTF in just 36 days. I ask you search each heart, cleansing it from personal desires toher that those that please You. Walk with them and plant the ideas in their hearts and minds that you want to find at the retreat. Use these ladies to help each woman who attends to walk away living closer to You. Amen

40 Days of Prayer Day 3

Day 3 - Tuesday, September 2

The Boldness of an Honest Heart

His Word
"Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him" (1 John 3:21-22).
"Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life" (Psalm 139:24).

Thoughts
Because of Moses' pure heart that sought no personal glory, he could enter the presence of God unafraid.
The Israelites, though, were terrified to go near God. Moses reminded the people that when the Lord appeared as a consuming fire, "At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain" (Deuteronomy 5:5).
"Why should we die?" they said. "This great fire will consume us" (Deuteronomy 5:25).
So they told Moses to listen to God. "Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey" (5:27). They preferred to live by a list of rules rather then come near the consuming fire of God's presence.
I once heard a young lady admit she was afraid of prayer. She didn't want to go into God's presence and say with the psalmist, "Point out anything in me that offends you." She missed the joyful privilege of having boldness in prayer.
Those with cleansed hearts have a confidence God hears that those with covered sins lack. "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18).
Are we willing to pay the price necessary to have answered prayer? Does it seem too painful, too costly to be honest in God's presence? The cost of unconfessed sin is far more costly.

Come to the Fire Prayer Requests
Pray for women to have a spirit of honesty and humility that gives the Holy Spirit access to their hearts. Pray that they will see their hearts as clearly as they will see them on Judgment Day. Pray that God "will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; [and that] he will purify [His people] and refine them like gold and silver" (Malachi 3:3).
"Purify Your Church, O Lord!"

Lord, I pray for those who are fearful of coming before Your Presence because of her sins. Call to each one, Lord. Place within them a desire for You that is greater than their fear. Place in their lives women who will pave the way for their trip and time at Come to the Fire. Go before us all as we plan, prepare, and present ourselves before your Presence in Olathe. May all the preparations within and without be covered by your blood and your Glory. Amen

40 Days of Prayer Day 2

The Prayer That Changed the History of a Nation

His Word
"I have seen these people," the Lord said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation"
"But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. 'O Lord,' he said, 'why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people" (Exodus 32:9-12).

Thoughts
Within days after promising to always obey God's command not to make an idol, the Israelites worshiped the golden calf. This angered God enough to destroy the entire nation. But before He did that "He made his ways known to Moses" (Psalm 103:7).
God confided in Moses what He, as a just God, must do. Sin must be punished by death. I think God revealed His plan to Moses to determine if Moses would pray the prayer that could prevail-the prayer that would change history.
It appears that God would rather show mercy than punish for sins. When God could find an intercessor who prayed for God's name to be honored, He changed directions.
Notice how Moses prayed: "Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, 'Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the desert'" (Deuteronomy 9:28).
Moses' desires were not about personal gain, power, prestige, or his own honor. What concerned him more was the honor of God. He cared more about how God would look to those around them.
God answered Moses' prayer. "I withdrew my judgment against them to protect the honor of my name" (Ezekiel 20:22 New Living Translation).
When we pray for personal concerns, are we most eager for God to receive glory no matter what honor, privilege, or comfort we must release? As we pray for our nation, we must put aside our selfish purposes and be concerned for the honor of God.
When we can say, "God, I'm seeking for what will bring the most glory to You," perhaps God will answer us as He did Moses: "Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened" (Exodus 32:14).

Come to the Fire Prayer Requests
Pray that God will reveal the true desires of our hearts as we pray. Pray that He will help us to be able to care deeply for the honor of God. Pray that all temptations to desire personal gain more than God's glory will be revealed, confessed, and cleansed.
Purify Your Church, O Lord!

Our Father, I pray that you will open our heads to hear You as we search our hearts for Your desire. Lord, I pray that our own personal gain is NOT what we are truly desiring! Reveal this desire if it resides in us. Help us to confess it to You and be cleansed of it! We want Your Glory and Your Honor! In Christ, Amen

40 Days of Prayer Day 1

Day 1 - Sunday, August 31
The Power of Having a Single Motive
His Word
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).

Thoughts
Imagine the Maker of heaven and earth offering to make of you a great nation! God made that offer to Moses.
God was prepared to kill the sinning Israelites and start again with Moses. Sin must be punished. His righteous anger demanded justice.
God's offer to Moses was real. The sovereign God was offering him great honor! He knew God would be faithful to keep that promise.
But I think Moses also knew it would not have been God's first choice. In fact, when Moses later retold this episode to the Israelites, he said, "The Lord listened to me...It was not his will to destroy you" (Deuteronomy 10:10).
God cared that the Egyptians knew of His love and power available to His people. The only way God could turn away His anger from His people would be to find an intercessor.
So He needed to know what was in Moses' heart. Would he care for others as God himself did? Or would Moses care more for the sake of his own reputation? Were there any selfish desires in his heart?
Prevailing intercession is always heart-searching. The Spirit helps us to search our motives behind our requests.
Moses saved his nation because his heart cried, "O, God, it means nothing to me to be honored, if in the process Your reputation is damaged." This prayer prayed with this single motive was one God could answer.

Come to the Fire Prayer Request
Pray that we will allow the Holy Spirit to show us the hidden motives behind our requests. Pray that God will grant many who attend the Come to the Fire conference the fulfillment of His promise in Ezekiel 11:19: "I will give them an undivided heart." Pray that He will enable us to seek only for the honor of God's name.

Dear Lord
Search me - know my heart - find any hidden motive in my heart - may I only ask for what I truly desire - may my desires be Yours. Lord I especially lift up all those who will be attending the Come to the Fire conference - rend our hearts so that when we join together in Your presence we will have an undivided heart. May all we do be only to seek the honor of Your name. Amen