“Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls.” Proverbs 25:28

A big snowstorm the night before had dropped lots of snow in our city—so much that the schools were closed for the day. But of course that didn’t slow down my 9-year-old son, and he and his neighborhood friends had been outside for hours playing. After awhile, the boys split into two groups and began building snow forts in preparation for a massive snowball fight. They needed strong, sturdy walls to keep the enemy out and to protect “command central” from which they would stockpile their ammo (lots of snowballs) and plan their warfare.

With preparations finally complete, I watched as the boys tried to break into each other’s snow forts, knowing that if they could breach the enemy’s walls, they could probably win the battle.

Today, I’m fascinated by the history of city walls and gates. According to BibleHistory.com, in ancient times, walls around cities were of utmost importance to both cities and villages. Cities were large areas with many homes, a metropolitan area, and were surrounded by protective walls. Villages were smaller areas than cities and did not have walls around them. They were often located close to a city and depended on that city for commerce and protection.

The walls of a city were very tall and several meters thick, with a flat top and towers. The flat top enabled guards to walk along the top edge and see far in every direction—both inside and outside of the city. They could watch for criminal activity inside the city, and they could watch for enemy invasions coming from outside the city.

Towers were built higher than the rest of the wall and were often positioned on top of a gate. They were also located where the walls turned a corner (called corner towers). The towers allowed even greater visibility and also provided a protected place to fire off arrows and hurl other weapons at the enemy. The gates themselves were an important part of a city’s life. The gates were open during the day to allow for commerce and travel and were closed at night to protect the city. Important meetings were often held at the gates.

Ultimately, a city depended upon its walls for protection. If the walls were breached or knocked down, an enemy could overtake the city. Understanding the importance of a city wall helps us understand this analogy as God compares a man who has no rule over his own spirit to a city without walls.

When we go through our days without taking charge over our own spirits, we are like a biblical city that didn’t have a wall to protect it. We are vulnerable to attack from the enemy.

So, how do we have rule over our own spirit? By protecting our “walls.”

I believe the main way is by putting on the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18. God does not leave us without protection while we are living on this earth. We have our armor to protect us from enemy attacks, we have prayer to fight the battle, and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. We need to be proactive to protect ourselves.

However, the threat is from more than outside sources. Just as the soldiers of an ancient city could see criminal activity within their own city walls, we must also protect ourselves from the battle we fight with our flesh from within ourselves, because it’s just not outside enemy attacks that can hurt us—our own decisions and choices can lead to our downfall as well. Having control over our own spirits means that we live as mature believers, taking control of our emotions, actions and words. It means walking in the Spirit so that we do not gratify the desire of the flesh. We must set a guard on what we watch, read, hear and do.

When we set boundaries, our “walls of protection” can’t be breached, but when we ignore our own boundaries, we can end up saying things we regret; we can end up dwelling on negative, fearful thoughts; or, we can end up in places we shouldn’t be doing things we shouldn’t be doing. We have then breached our own walls of protection, giving the enemy a foothold into our lives. If we repent and make a better choice, we can move forward. If we repeat the bad pattern, it can become a stronghold.

Just as a bunch of 9-year-old boys understood the importance of walls in winning the battle, as Christians we too must be savvy enough to maintain the walls of protection in our own lives.

Thought: Keep your wall of protection in good repair.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, We thank You that You have not left us defenseless. You have given us the armor of God to protect us, prayer to wage the battle and the Holy Spirit to guide us. Help us to make the right choices each day so that we can live in freedom, not in bondage. Amen.

Image: xedos4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How many times have you said, “Sure, I’ll pray for you,” when someone shares a prayer request with you, but then you forget about it?

Or perhaps you hear about a situation on the radio that you want to pray for, or you want to add a particular country to your prayer list. It’s easy for these random thoughts and requests to fall into the black hole in our minds.

Part of the problem is that we often think of these requests or someone shares them with us when we’re out and about in the midst of a busy day or maybe when we’re at church. We’re usually distracted by what we’re already doing, so it’s easy for the request to get lost in the multitude of other things that are already going on.

Well, I’ve stumbled upon a few ways to deal with this situation.

One solution is an idea my sister Mary shared with me. When she fears she may forget to pray as promised later because of all the distractions of the here and now, she stops and says, “Sure, I’ll pray for you. Let’s do it right now.” And then she stops and prays with the person right then, trusting that the Holy Spirit will bring that request to mind later when she needs to pray again.

Just lately, I’ve decided to try another tactic to capture these type of what I call “butterfly prayers” that flutter at me through my day. I decided to make a prayer board and hang it on the wall in my home office. I chose my office, because that is where I spend most of my time during the day. I’ve started carrying a small notebook in my purse, and as I hear of requests I need to remember, I write them in my notebook and then add my butterfly prayers to my board to help me remember them. What’s different about these prayers is that often times they’re for people or things not on my usual prayer lists–which makes me prone to forgetting them. And they’re often requests that are time sensitive; they need intensive prayer for a set amount of time. Well, now every time I glance at the board, I see them.

I’ve also added a few other things to the prayer board that I want to be reminded of frequently. Let’s look at a some ways to use this prayer board and brainstorm what you may want to add to it.

First of all, to make the board, I just purchased a bulletin board. You can stop there if you want and be ready to go, but I also covered mine with colorful paper. I added a few sparkly stickers to the top and purchased some fun tacks. That’s certainly not necessary, but it spiffs it up a bit. Then I hung it right where I would see it frequently.  (Just a home improvement hint: my husband recommends using Velcro strips. They’re fast, forgiving, and don’t leave holes in the walls!) Now for a few ideas on how to use the board.

• Add those butterfly prayers that you need to pray for frequently.
• Hang your current scripture memory verse on the board.
• Put a picture of a missionary you’re praying for on the board.
• Put a picture of your sponsored child on the board.
• Are you praying for a certain country or geographic area of the world this week? Add that to your board.
• Choose a name of a persecuted Christian (see Open Doors ) to pray for each day/week and add that name to your prayer board.
• Don’t forget your pastor. I’m sure he or she would appreciate the additional prayers.
• Add any lesson/character trait you’re working on. For example, for the last two years I’ve attended a spiritual retreat. Each time I was at this retreat, the Lord has given me a one-word concept He wanted me to work on. The first year my word was joy. This year the word is focus. I’ve added that word to my board.

Be sure you change out the information on your board as you’re done praying for past requests and new ones come along. You may even want to change the decor on the board to match the seasons and spiritual holidays to help you focus on them as we celebrate them throughout the year.

These are just some ideas to get you started. I’m sure you can think of others, and I’d love it if you’d share those in the comments section below.

Enjoy your prayer board and …

Pray on!

Rejoice! Pray! Give thanks! These are just a few things that God commands us to do in 1 Thessalonians. If you have five minutes, you have time to do this study! To do Words to the Wise, just click on the link!

I was reading a Grace Livingston Hill book recently (old-fashioned fiction stories). In her book one of her characters is wondering about how prayer works. The character had recently come through a dangerous situation safely, and after a friend told her he had been praying for her, she was wondering if that friend’s prayers could have specifically worked to help keep her safe. This is what the character was thinking.

“Was prayer perhaps like the radio, just as sounds were stored up in the air, so perhaps prayers were hovering about on their way to and from God?”

What an interesting way this is of looking at prayer! I love the visual this put into my mind of millions of prayers floating around in the air on their way to the throne of God. Romans 8:26-28 tells us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, so we know that prayers are also directed to us from heaven. It’s a two-way street of prayers on a heavenly highway!

This quote on prayer from a fictional character really started me thinking about how God may use our prayers. I wonder if the prayers that are prayed on our behalf are at some point hovering around us in a hedge of protection. When we pray for our children or spouse, do those prayers envelop them as they go about their days? As we pray for other countries, do those prayers gather forces with the prayers others have prayed to “cushion” that country?

What must the heavenly airwaves look like with all the prayers of the saints?

I wish we could see it. What do you think?

Pray on!

As 2011 has kicked off, I’ve been evaluating my life and what I want to do for this year. I’d already been thinking about this for a few days when I was in church on January 2. My pastor Dave Rodriguez introduced a type of praying that was perfect for the mindset I was in. It’s called the Prayer of Examen. Richard Foster has a chapter on this type of prayer in his book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home.

Basically, the Prayer of Examen is an inward spiritual practice, where we analyze what is going on inside of ourselves. It has two components:

1.     The first is where we examine how God was working in or through us throughout our day and how we responded to Him, and

2.     We examine our conscience to see where we need to be cleansed, purified and healed. See Psalm 26:2,3.

An important thing to remember, however, is to do this with God. Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you. God can help us to see the truth, but also He will do it in a loving way.

So, as I was in church, Pastor Rod suggested we all go through the Prayer of Examen in the context of looking over the past year of 2010. Here are the questions he suggested we answer.

1.     Looking over the past year, for what am I most grateful or thankful?

2.     When or where in the past year were you cooperating most fully with God’s action in your life?

3.     When were you resisting?

4.     Beginning today, how do you want to live your life differently?

Take some time to prayerfully answer these questions. What do you want 2011 to look like for you?

While my church did this in the context of one year, many people pray the Prayer of Examen on a daily basis. You can ask yourself these same questions using the last 24 hours as your context. Here are some ways it may help you to do this on a daily basis, or at least semi-regularly.

Perhaps you take a walk every evening; you could answer these questions as you’re walking. Or maybe you like to journal, and you can journal your answers. Perhaps you want to mentally run through the prayer as you’re lying in bed at night.

Whatever way you decide, incorporating the Prayer of Examen into your life may help you to grow spiritually as you invite the Lord to help you analyze your heart.

Pray on!

Resource

Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home By Richard Foster / HarperOne

Lately it seems that I am being challenged on my expectations for my prayers. To be more specific, I am praying, but am I really expecting God to work through my prayers? I’ve heard several teachings on authority in prayer, a theme that has been repeating itself at church, in prayer meeting and in my devotional readings. I know from past experience that when I keep hearing the same theme repeatedly that I need to pay attention. God is trying to teach me something!

What I am hearing lately is that Jesus had to go back to heaven to be with His Father for a very important reason:  so that the Holy Spirit could come and fill each believer on earth. Jesus was only one person and while on earth was limited to the number of people He could reach. But once He returned to heaven, God put into the action the next phase of His plan–and that is filling and equipping believers (that’s you and me) with His Holy Spirit. God is using us to spread His message to the ends of the earth. Let’s consider some of Jesus’ amazing words to us before He left this earth.

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14: 12-14

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
John 16:7

Those are powerful words. Have your ever let them sink in to your mind? Jesus really said that we were to do even greater works than what He did. Do we take Him at His word on this? In other words, when I am praying, do I believe that God will work through my prayers?

So many things to consider here …. In the next blog post, I want to explore this topic further. Until then …

Pray on!