The Heartbeat of Christmas~ PEACE

Hey Girls! It is time to close up my Christmas Series, so today we are going to talk about the PEACE that we hear so much around the Christmas Season. When you hear the word Peace what do think or maybe feel when you hear this word, I hope that during Christmas you get to experience peace, it is such an amazing feeling, okay, I am not talking about the worldly peace but a spiritual peace. You may ask what's the differences? so lets dig in to God 's Word to understand the differences.

Worldly peace I don't believe we will ever experience, on are own strength, we may try to find stability through desires, pleasures, and control of situations, and others in our lives. But we will never be satisfied or have peace because no matter how hard we try we will never be content, Why? because as God's creation and being created in His image, we will never manage on our own, because I believe deep down inside we all long for God ,even if we suppress that longing, by diving into the world of desire, pleasure, and sin. We have peace when we aren't worried, stressed, anger, or afraid of situations in life,  but when we are not at peace our minds usually race, amd our hearts beat faster, we think about everything that will go wrong. God does not want this for his own. so how can we gain peace?

~Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.



In the words of rickwarren.org http://rickwarren.org/devotional/english/christmas-brings-the-peace-of-god
"Once you make peace with God, that’s spiritual peace. Then you get the peace of God in your heart, and that’s emotional peace. 

This is the one you really need for daily living. The peace of God happens in your heart when you’ve made peace with God. All of a sudden, the stress in your life goes down. You’re not as angry as you used to be. Things don’t bother you as much. You’re a lot more patient. You’re filled with a lot more love and peace. Why? Because once you have peace with God, you have the peace of God in your heart." 
So your question may be how do I make peace with God?  It is actually quite simple, Check out the verses below!

~Romans 5:2 (NLT)

² Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

To have faith in Jesus means to trust Him. Simply. Fully. Without reservation.  Taken from  when we have faith it means that we believe in who Jesus was and what he did on the cross. To have faith in Jesus is to reject all other ways of salvation. We cannot trust in Jesus and anything else. We trust in Jesus alone. http://www.gotquestions.org/faith-in-Jesus.html

~1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NLT)

15 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. ² It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.^[b]

³ I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. ⁴ He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.


~ John 3:16-17 (NLT)
¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave^[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.


To experience true PEACE this Christmas season we must come to God. Peace is a gift from God and is consistent with his character.


~1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NLT)
²³ Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

~Hebrews 13:20-21 (NLT)

²⁰ Now may the God of peace—
    who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
    and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
²¹ may he equip you with all you need
    for doing his will.
May he produce in you,^[a]
    through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
    All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

The verses above say that God is peace, so in order to have that peace we need to draw near to Him and be grieved by our sin that put Jesus Christ on the cross. So how do we draw near enough to experience His peace?

~ James 4:8-10 (NLT)

⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

~John 14:27 (ESV)

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

In closing I would like to share gotquestion.org. answer to understanding true peace.

Living in peace can be compared to the petals of a flower unfolding in the morning sunlight. The petals of peace in our lives unfold as we learn more about God. We discover that His character is always faithful. We experience His continual goodness. We read more of His promises (Psalm 100:5; 115:11; Isaiah 26:4). We learn to bask in His overwhelming love for us (Romans 8:38–39). We refuse to allow ever-changing circumstances to determine our level of contentment, relying instead upon the character of God that never changes (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6).

When we develop a lifestyle of making the Lord our refuge, we begin to live in the peace of God (Psalm 46:1; 62:8).

Psalm 91:1 holds the secret to living in the peace of God: “He that 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 will I trust.” That secret place in our hearts is where we go to meet with God. When we choose to live there and hide away under His shadow, staying in constant communion with Him, we can remain peaceful, even when circumstances may not be. When we learn to cry out to Him in times of trouble, we find that His peace really does pass all human understanding (Philippians 4:7).

http://www.gotquestions.org/peace-of-God.html

Thanks for walking this journey with me, through 4 words that are heard a lot around Christmas!! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did writing them, Can't wait to see what 2016 brings!!! hopefully, I will get one more post in before the new year!! If you have any ideas or suggestions of what you would like to learn about feel free to email me!!! God Bless!! Until we meet again!!

The Heartbeat of Christmas~ JOY

Hey Girls!! Christmas Eve is officially here!!! So we are going to talk about JOY. So you are probably like me when I was little, I could not wait for Christmas Morning!! To see what I got for Christmas!!!! it was extremely hard to fall asleep on Christmas eve, that excitement  and the joy of unwrapping presents, being with family, and lots of Eating!! But there is a deeper meaning to the Joy I want to share with you. First, lets look at The announcement of a Savior.

~Luke 2:8-12 (NLT)

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹² And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Wow what a scene!!! Jesus' birth was announced by angels, but did you notice that they proclaimed his birth to shepherds. during this time,shepherds where consider the lowest of lowest people. God didn't send his son Jesus into the world  as a conqueror, but as a baby, why? Because of his love for us. He wants us to Choose to be in a relationship with Him. Then we will be filled with true Joy!

~John 15:9-11(NLT)

⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

So how can we as believers experience true Joy this Christmas?  I believe as Christian we should be the most excited, during this Christmas season. We shouldn't get caught up in the secular way the world celebrates Christmas. This will be expected of them because Jesus is sadly getting smaller in our world we can't change that,Shouldn't we be focusing on the big things like strengthening our own faith and preparing our hearts? Shouldn't we be like Daniel in the Bible where we can only be found guilty of loving and serving our Heavenly Father? Instead ...of making a fool of ourselves by attacking those in the world on meaningless topics? We need to LOVE them. Yes, their are going to be bigger things we need to stand against, but we need to have the evidence from God's Word backing us, not just our opinions for we will only push away the lost! But if we are silent in the little thing that don't attack our God, and are just opinions or choices of companies, groups, or individuals they have a right to that. So I Pray that as believers we think twice before we jump on the band wagon and pray to our Heavenly Father to guide us on when to hold our tongue and remain silent on issues or situations that come into our lives and when to be bold and speak up trusting God to guide what we say in love, joy, and gentleness, but piercing truth to make them hear what God wants them to hear. Remember we live in a loss and dark world and Jesus will become smaller, and we will be tested this is how we show true joy by being rooted in God's Word so we are equipped to respond to the world correctly, joyfully and truthfully. We need to be examples of who Jesus is and be ready to answer peoples question about why we are so Joyful, and not bothered by how the world celebrates, by lighting up our social media accounts with our disagreements, annoyances, or by being anger of needing to be politically correct this will not get us anywhere. I think if we keep getting upset by little things that the world does we will not be showing the lost God's amazing saving grace. but we will continue to push them farther away. We need to focus on the bigger things the world throws at us,We should be sharing with the world the true joy of Christmas. Which is the birth of a Savior, who is Jesus Christ who was born to change hearts through his Journey on earth, by spreading the news that He was the Messiah and then was willing to dying on the cross to carry the ultimate burden of our sin to free us from there chains.

I would like to close in the words of InTouch.org Christians shouldn’t react and become gospel Grinches. Christmas is not a time for austerity, but a time for generosity.

Amid a broken and fractured world, we can tell the story of a God who broke in with redemption and grace. Fallen humanity and a flawed cosmos are in the process of restoration. And our feasts, our gift giving, our joy are mere glimpses of life in the coming heavenly city. Christmas, done right, is a portal into the Kingdom to come.

This is why we shouldn’t fret too much about a culture that has lost the ability to see Jesus in Christmas. Rather we should use this opportunity to tell the world why Jesus is the only source of joy and hope. Instead of rolling our eyes at the tired retail worker who says “Happy Holidays,” let’s imagine the joy of the season by embodying Jesus as the reason for the season... We do it because there is no better story than the story of the babe in the manger, the God-man who entered our world, lived a sinless life, died an unjust death, bore our sin, defeated the enemy powers, rose again in victory and is now seated at the right hand of God. There is no more compelling narrative than the Bible’s story of a sovereign Creator God, a fallen humanity, a redemptive Savior, and a coming Kingdom.

Christians can embody this “Joy to the World” because our Lord has come. The “War on Christmas” has already been won, not in the boardrooms of Madison Avenue, but 2,000 years ago in a cattle trough in Bethlehem. Want more Info?? Click the link below:

InTouch Ministries

I think that was a perfect closing!!! and yes I have one more post of my Heartbeat of Christmas series, and I will post it on December 26!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love This Version of Joy to The World! Enjoy!

The Heartbeat of Christmas~ LOVE

In my last post, I stated that there are only 3 words I hear around the Christmas Season,  but I was thinking about it deeper and realized that there is actually 4 words so we are going to dig deeper into each one. Today we are going to talk about LOVE, not the love the that the world defines, but what I think is the true meaning of LOVE at Christmas. Lets dig in!

So what do you think love means at Christmas? is it the giving of presents to others, being more conscious of the poor and less fortunate? These all capture why we hopefully celebrate Christmas, But do you think that is all? No! Their is so much more meaning to this amazing season, then we realize. We have commercialized Christmas so much, through the hustle and bustle, and being politically correct. that we have lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas. The scriptures below is the true reason why we should celebrate.

~John 3:16-17 (NIV)
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.


The true meaning of why we should celebrate Christmas is because through God sending his son Jesus to earth as a baby, was for  one purpose, to bring Salvation to the lost, by dying on the Cross. The amazing thing about this is that God became human, here is a hard thing to understand about Him, He became fully human, but also was still fully God. So he faced every temptation we also face as humans but the only thing different is he didn't act on the desires of the human heart. but still suffered for our sins. Crucifixion was a horrible and gruesome way to die, I really want you gals to think about this, God the creator, loved us so much!!! that he was willing to come to earth in the form of a helpless baby to ultimately grow up to die for us, to provide a way out from this bondage of sin that separates us from Him, because of his pure and holy nature. Okay here is a picture for your, would a father be willing to sacrifice his son over himself? it reminds me of the story of Abraham and his only son Isaac. Check it out!

~ Genesis 22:1-12 (NLT)

So why is the true meaning of Christmas so important? We need a Savior, because only through salvation will we be rescued from sin, we cannot save ourselves, we try everything in our power to control life, through wealth, pleasure, power, and believing that we have the liberty to do whatever we want,  but in all honesty, no matter what we try to accomplish on our own we will never be content, why? because we are missing an important piece to the puzzle. Since we are created in the image of God, we will only have true contentment, when we return to our Creator. Think of it like this, when you have a dog he/she is so excited to see you when you come home, right?  they want to be with you, to the point they may follow you around or try and get you attention. But when you are not home they aren't content until you are with them. The same goes as humans we have a longing to be loved, accepted, cared for, content and complete. You can feel all of these when you realize your need for a Savior, who is Jesus Christ, who came as a baby, and grew up with one purpose to be the ultimate payment for our sins, to purchase us back, reunite us with our Creator.

So in Closing, In the words, of gotquestions.com,The true meaning of Christmas is love. God loved His own and provided a way—the only Way—for us to spend eternity with Him. He gave His only Son to take our punishment for our sins. He paid the price in full, and we are free from condemnation when we accept that free gift of love.Christmas is the celebration of this incredible act of love. God's love is personal. He knows each of us individually and loves us personally. His is a mighty love that has no beginning and no end. It is this experiencing of God’s love that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Why does God love us? It is because of who He is: "God is love."

~Romans 5:8 (NLT)
⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

~Exodus 20:6 (NLT)

⁶ But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those^[a] who love me and obey my commands.

~1 John 4:10 (NLT)

¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.


~Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)

⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

~Ephesians 2:4-5 (NLT)

⁴ But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, ⁵ that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

The Heartbeat of Christmas~ HOPE

 Okay girls, it is 2 week before Christmas! so I thought it would be a great time to do a mini series of three words we hear a lot around Christmas time. The word we are going study about tonight is: HOPE. What comes to mind when you hear the word Hope?..When we use the the word hope, a lot of the time we have doubt that follows. For example, "I hope it stops raining" also, it usually is followed by the word so, again here is an example, Lets say you ask a friend of yours that is an unbeliever, If he or she is going to heaven and their response is " I hope so" this is a hope that would define the non-biblical meaning, the definition is below.

Hope: A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

 This is a general definition of hope but we are going to dig deeper. We are going to look at HOPE from a biblical perspective. This is the HOPE Christmas is talking about! Lets Go!!

The Old Testament the word Hope in Hebrew is called "batach" (baw-takh')  which translates, confidence, security, and being with out care. You can see that there is no doubt attached to this word. In the New Testament Hope in the Greek language is "elpis" ,  So Hope from a biblical view to sum it up means; Confident expectation and assurance of our foundation in Jesus Christ and the ultimate price He paid on the cross and belief in his resurrection from death. By knowing this we should have no doubt in our faith in Him.

~ Hebrews 11:1(NLT)
 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

This confidence comes from knowing God and his promise he gave us in His Word. If you continue to read Hebrews 11 we get to know many heroes, heroes of faith. Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter. One thing all these heroes of faith had in common, was that their faith was based in their hope in God. This should encourage us as believers to always be ready to share the amazing hope that is within us. guess what that same hope that is within us was in each and every hero of faith.

~ 1 Peter 3:15-18

(NLT)

 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.

Some believers think that faith  is a personal matter that should be kept to oneself, We should not be boisterous or obnoxious in sharing our faith, but like the verses above say, we need to share it with gentleness and respect, otherwise we will just push them away. So I have some questions for you,

Do others see your hope in Christ in your faith, lifestyle, or in your christian perspective? Are you prepared to tell others what Christ has done your life? 

Biblical hope is a reality not a feeling. Sadly, the first Christmas was opposite of what we experience now. It all started in a cold and damp place where animals stayed because there was no room anywhere else....

~Luke 2:7(NLT)

 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

... that night HOPE was born... HOPE for forgiveness of sins, HOPE of a bright future-- forever, HOPE from the destruction of sin, HOPE of salvation, and HOPE of God's presence and power of his  eternal plan for all mankind. This was revealed through the birth of Jesus Christ, and only the beginning of an amazing story to save mankind for our chains of sin, burdens of desire, and choices that push us away from Christ. The birth of Jesus brought light into a desperate world full of darkness and despair. Jesus, is God's plan for salvation,but only a few shepherds got to experience this incredible night. So how can we experience t his amazing truth that we have grown dim too and commercialized? The only way we can experience the true HOPE of Christmas is to realize that the birth of Jesus Christ is only the beginning of God's love for us. The HOPE of Christmas is accepting what Jesus did on the cross accepting him as Lord and Savior of your life and apart from Him we are nothing.Otherwise, Christmas will only be a time of Gift giving, parties, festive decor, and Christmas goodies or it my be a time of sadness, stress, loneliness, anger, and depression. Missing the true point of why we celebrate Christmas. I Challenge believers, to take this festive season to renew our hearts and minds or the HOPE  we have when we accepted Christ's death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead, conquering death itself. Remembering it all started with a baby born and placed in a lowly manager.

In Closing, The true meaning of Christmas should reconfirm in us as believers the power of God the father, Through his plan of sending a savior for all, to rebuild a relationship that was severed by our sin, He longs to be reunited with us, His creation that was created in His image. So I challenge you as we see Christmas lights twinkling, sparkling, and shining, let it remind us of Jesus, who is the light of the world and through him he is the fulfillment of our Hope, and deepest longing. Our Hope in Him is solid and real. he can meet our deepest need and longing only if we let him in. 

The message of HOPE was fulfilled in the birth of Christ. He came to deliver all people from slavery to sin that is so evident in our world.

~Isaiah 9:6(NLT)

 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

~Romans 15:13 (NLT)

 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

~Matthew 1:23 (NLT)

 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

~Matthew 12:21 (NLT)

 And his name will be the hope of all the world.”

 Finally, Are you ready to experience the true HOPE of Christmas?

The Power of Prayer

Hey Girls! so today we are going to talk about the power of prayer. Girls, let me tell you my prayer life has really struggle over the years, I think it is because, I struggled with feeling confident, and worried about saying the right thing,  but also because I was focusing on my own selfish desires, but when I decided to put aside these trivial thoughts, we can truly understand what prayer really is about. So lets dig in, to fully grasp the meaning and understanding of  this powerful tool, though definition, scripture, and examples. First, Prayer is a personal experience and intimate connection with our loving Heavenly Father. God wants to communicate with us, and we can do that through prayer. It is our direct line to heaven and only possible because of Jesus Christ's ultimate payment for our sins, when he died on the cross. Prayer sometimes seems complicated, but it is really a simple, but effective tool. So maybe if we try to understand how powerful it is, it will be easier to become more confident in prayer. Nowadays, I believe we take prayer too lightly, I am guilty of this myself. We should not underestimate it's power. We need to view prayer not just as a ritual or duty,  but our commitment in building a personal relationship with God.

• James 5:16b-18 (NLT)
•  .... The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

If we truly love someone we want to spend time with them right? The same goes for God, if we truly love Him, we will  WANT to spend time with him and experience the joy of the relationship. Lets take a look at a story in God's word that explains this very well. 

• Luke 10:38-42 (NLT)

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary 

38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

This is the application I want you to get out of this passage: We need much time WITH God before we attempt work FOR God!

   We are so busy with life that when it comes time for God, we spend very little time with Him! Jesus says our first priority is to spend much time with Him! Only then can we love Him as he desires to be loved!

If I were to choose one thing that I believe hinders or blocks our availability to set time aside to be with God,to grow in our prayer life, would be this: The busy and hectic pace of today’s world!

Sadly, Christians have believed the lie that a daily 5 minute quiet time is enough! This is untrue! We have been so spoiled by our fast paced world where we can get almost anything at a press of a button, or have easy access to get anything. For example, drive thru windows, your in and your out quickly with very little wait time. Sadly, we expect God to respond the same way! Let me fill you in on a truth right now!! God will not work in you in 5 minutes or less nor will He let you have it your way! So we need to slow down, and make the time to spend with our heavenly father and grow in our relationship with him.

• John 15:1-5 (NLT)

• 15 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 
• 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
• • • 
      

 So how does God view prayer? He sees it as an expression of that which he desires most—your personal relationship of love, intimacy, surrender, and trust in Him. God expects and desires intimacy from us and we need to make the time.

History shows us that believers and churches of every great awakening or spiritual movement averaged more time praying than we do. Those mightily used of God had one common denominator—they spent much time in prayer! 

CHALLENGE: Do you really want to impact others and your schools for Christ? Do you really want to see God move in your families? If so, then we must consistently pray! Until we personally commit to spend consistent time with God, we will never be fully ready to be used by God as His vessel.

I want to give you three reasons why it is important to incorporate prayer in you life.

Reason #1:

Satan fears prayer more than anything else and fights prayer like no other area of your life! because it is showing him that we are willing to combat his fiery darts of temptations, and fleshly desires by allowing Gods word and power to deliver us, because we are vulnerable, weak and unable to fight on our own, we run to our savior, and protector who apart from Him we can do nothing.

Why? 

1. Prayer is essential to putting on our full battle gear! 
2. Prayer is the one way we have spiritual authority to combat Satan's lies!

• Ephesians 6:10-18 (NLT)

The Whole Armor of God

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[b] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[c] 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

If prayer and Scripture are your primary weapons what do you expect from Satan? He will do anything to keep you from praying consistently! He will also fight to keep you from deepening your prayer life! He uses every ounce of power he has to shut you down in this area! 

Reason #2:

Our sinful human nature will always resist the development of a powerful prayer life.

• Matthew 26:41(NLT)

41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” I can tell you this, it will not be easy—it will be a struggle. If we can remember this when we pray it will shift our focus and we will begin to fight back! 

It is normal for our physical bodies to resist the practice of prayer! for example, Does a man going into battle have a grin on his face? No!!! Do not expect to always be happy and excited about praying! but don't give into that negative response or excuses to pray but persevere! the end result will be a huge blessing.

Reason #3:

The world’s belief and understanding of human strength is the direct opposite of God’s way!

• Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,”says the Lord.“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

We tend to place our biggest emphasis and time on human strength. We try to fix things  and figure things out on our own. But we forget that this is not what God desires from us. He wants us to come to a point of vulnerability and weakness.To turn from relying on our own strength, to relying on His strength alone! Plans that we make on our own without prayer offend God. We must ask God to teach us how to pray more effectively. To become a believer who understands and uses prayer in their daily life, we must practice, and practice takes place on our knees!

So how do we practice this powerful tool? well we practice by spending much personal time with God in daily prayer. If we say we want to grow but seldom have serious prayer we are kidding ourselves! God cannot teach you to pray if you refuse to show up for practice!

In Closing, I want to share with you girls practical ways to develop a consistent prayer life.

1. Start a prayer journal

     ~ Write in your journal a thorough confession to the Lord. List you                        sins, thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions. Be specific. 

                    

                   ~ Write a love letter to God. Tell Him how much He means to you.

                  Tell Him why you love Him. Tell Him how important He is to your life. 

     2. Read Psalms 

                

                ~Find psalms of praise and worship that exalt the Lord for who He is. 

                                                          Read them out loud. 

     3. Open your eyes

 ~Look at creation around you. We are often too busy either on our phones or activities of life to take the time to stop and observe God's creation. Thank God for everything in His wonderful creation. 

Girls, there are so many ways and activities available to us to use in our lives, to develop our  daily prayer life, but we need to be willing wholeheartedly to stop and take that time to focus on God. Here is a video just to affirm what prayer is.

Girls, I Pray that through this post, we can learn the importance of prayer in our life, and also its power. I pray that you will become bold in Christ, to stand against the devil in all his deviant plans and temptations, that he throws at us to get us off track, on becoming more like Christ and building an intimate relationship with our Savior . God longs for us to place Him first in our lives and to understand our need for Him.I Pray you will make it a point in your life to chase the devil way with scripture, prayer and not allowing him to have any strongholds in your life. But to be free from the bondage of our sin.Taking control of our life through Jesus Christ alone. I encourage you to listen to the words of this movie clip from War Room and apply it to your life personally, by changing the words she speaks about her husband, and daughter, to your own situations and struggles. I can tell you right now that it works. I have prayed this many times in my own words, in times where I have struggled, and have been truly blessed, freed, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to experience true joy!

                   Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.

 ~ John Bunyan

Prayer is the way you defeat the devil, reach the lost, restore a backslider, strengthen the saints, send missionaries out, cure the sick, accomplish the impossible, and know the will of God.

 ~ David Jeremiah

Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one’s heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 ~ Charles H. Spurgeon