ESTHER’S WARRIORS MINISTRY

Blessings as we move into summer!  Please hold in prayer all in our nation challenged by weather disasters for safety and restoration.   So many are now facing unspeakable threats to their homes and well-being.  Pray for needed help and comfort as they walk through their day.

But God Was With Him

There are times in our walk that all seems impossible for change. What we see with our natural eyes and what we are told in the natural suggest ‘forever’ in a given situation.  In Acts 7:9-10 we read, “And the patriarchs
becoming envious sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and
delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom….”
(Emphasis mine)  There are times in our walk that we feel as if we have been sold into slavery to a circumstance.  If we are not careful our view of the natural environment can become a prison and hold us tight in bondage.   This view can be of an individual, a family member, a specific situation or our location.  Over time it will become so distorted because we cannot see beyond our addiction to the belief we hold on to so tightly. Such an addiction keeps us stuck and does not allow room for change.  Change is always taking place but we are blinded to it by our obsession to hold on to somethingthat is no longer valid.

Maintaining a Clear
Heart

If Joseph had chosen to be bitter and resentful his story could have been much different.  Instead he maintained a heart (it is always a heart issue) of forgiveness in the midst of unimaginable circumstances.  This forgiveness extended to his brothers who sold him into slavery.  This forgiveness extended to those who wrongly imprisoned him.  Because he worked on keeping his heart clean (not an easy task to be sure), God was with him. Not only was God with him but He “…delivered him out of all his
troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom….”

God does look at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).  He is not as much concerned with what we may be doing for others.   Nor is He really watching us to see how well we may be ‘serving’ within the confines of religious patterns.  How many meals we cook, how many times we take someone for an appointment, how many people we coerce in to saying ‘the prayer’ are all immaterial if our heart is not right.  What really matters is what is going on in our heart.   What is on God’s heart is what is in our heart.  What are we really thinking and saying to ourselves as we interact with others?  We can have a smile on our face and a lilt in our voice yet carry malevolence in our heart.

Blessed Are the Pure in
Heart

Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  (Matthew 5:8)  As Kingdom followers of the Lord we strive to maintain clean hearts so we can see God and see God move mightily in our lives.  We know that when He blesses us we are to then turn to be a blessing to others and thereby lead them to Him.  The most critical state is the state of your heart for out of your heart will flow all the issues of life for you.  The shift begins in your heart.

Be honest with yourself and take a deep look at your heart issues this week.  If they are not what they should be ask the Holy Spirit to help you clean up the landscape of your heart.  Too many so called Christians are focused on what they perceive to be the state of another person’s heart or the direction they think they see another person taking.  We can be deceived to keep a checklist of all we do for others and to keep a checklist of all we perceive others do unto us.  All the while, God is simply checking our heart.

Do not worry about everyone else’s heart. Your commissioned responsibility is the care and maintenance of your own heart that it would reflect the heart of our Savior.   As we clean up our heart we will be delivered to go forth for Him with His favor and wisdom.  As we each clean up our own heart we will be better equipped to come together in unity with a heart that beats as one with the heart of God.  After all, isn’t this why He came?

‘Pray the States’

Join us this week as we ‘pray the states’ toward the 2012 Presidential election.  We are praying for each state in the order of admission to the Union.  Please cover Missouri admitted to the Union August 10, 1821, in prayer.  Pray for wisdom and discernment for the political leaders, pastors and church leaders, the people residing in Missouri and for all in our Nation.  Each state is important in forming our United States of America.  We commit to pray for a different state each week so we not only provide prayer cover but also to make us aware that our country is bigger than the space we personally occupy in it. These are our United States.  Let us pray that we will arise united ‘for such a time as this!’
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A Prayer Request and
Personal Blessing

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray.  Please keep our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety.  They are our frontline on the battlefield, let us be their frontline in the spirit.  Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.  God bless all our military personnel and their families.   May God richly bless the United States of America and keep her safe.

May God richly bless you this week and help you shift the issues of your heart to a place of freedom and peace in Him.  Amen
and amen!