When Storm Clouds Loom in Life

storm clouds

The Power of the Lord Breaks

Every Stronghold!

Today marks the official beginning of the autumn season.  Autumn signifies the end of summer.  It marks conclusion with an eye toward winter when much seemingly lies dormant.  It is a time of turning inward.  Crops are harvested and brought in for consuming and storing for sustenance in the months ahead.  This is also a time of gathering storm clouds and fall weather threats.  We have been witnessing the ravaging floods in Colorado and other natural devastation brought on by changing weather patterns.

Can You See the Clouds?

There are clouds of a different nature looming over our Nation.  Clouds of division, the inciting of class warfare, racism and political combativeness blanket our country and seemingly escalate on a daily basis.  As we learn that more and more of our privacy and rights are being diminished ‘while we are sleeping’ what can we do to keep the United States of America the land of the free and the home of the brave?  Scripture tells us that the weapons of our warfare as believers are not carnal.  What does that mean?  Our weapons are not physical as one would readily think.  Our mightiest weapons are spiritual and if used appropriately are mighty to pull down any stronghold or deadlock in the natural.

Are You Protected?

First of all take some time to review the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-17.  If you are not putting this on daily start now.  You would not go into any physical battle without protective gear and weapons so why would you live your life without the same protection in the spirit?  Verse 14 says to gird your waist with truth.  To gird is to tighten or bind.  The waist is the middle or core of the body.  When you tighten your core the whole body is strengthened.  So it is in the spirit.

To walk protected you must walk in truth and righteousness.  Take some time this week to check your walk in these areas.  Are you honest and forthright with God?  Are you honest and forthright with yourself? Are you honest and forthright with those in your life?  Seek the Lord this week for insight and help to ensure you are strong in truth and righteousness!

How prepared are you in the gospel of peace?  Verse 15 says to shod your feet with the peace gospel.  To shod is to put on a protective covering.  Your protection as you walk daily is the gospel.  To walk is to advance forward.  To advance the Kingdom of God you must be so wrapped in the gospel that you bring it wherever your feet take you in a day.

Your shield is faith.  How sturdy is the shield you currently carry? Again, you would not go into a physical battle with a broken shield or none at all would you?  How can you strengthen your faith?  To fortify your faith just look back at all the Lord has done and brought you through in your life.  Know that He is always there bringing you through!  Encourage yourself in the Lord and in His Word.  If you apply yourself He will meet you.  Read the testimonies of other Christians and listen to good preaching.

Your helmet which protects your head and mind is your salvation in Christ.  This is a most precious gift not to be taken lightly.  Take some time to think about what salvation means to you.  Spend time in gratitude daily for your salvation in Him.

The only offensive part of the armor of God is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.  If you are not meditating on the Word of God or if you are not even familiar with the Word, you are fighting a battle with no weapon.  Would you do this in the physical?  I doubt it.  If you have failed to pick up or have dropped your sword it is not too late.  Do not feel overwhelmed by trying to set up a Bible reading program you will not keep.  The key is to start and build on your plan over time.  When tempted by the devil in the wilderness Jesus used the Word of God to respond.  He gives you the pattern to follow.  You can only use the Word of God as Jesus did if you know the Word of God. Start today!

Personal Victory Leads to Corporate Victory

When you are strong in all aspects of the armor of God you are a victorious believer in your own life and circumstances despite how things may look in the physical.   From this personal place of walking in the Lord’s power you are equipped to join other believers in saturating your city, state and country in redemptive prayer.  Just check the news on any given day.  We are in very serious trouble.  Now is the time, we are the people sent to the Kingdom ‘for such a time as this!’  Step up today and do your part.

Quotes to Ponder This Week

“Away with you Satan!  For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”  Jesus, Matthew 4:10

“…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2Chronicles 7:14

 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews [God’s people today encompasses all believers] from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.  Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14

“So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”    Romans 10:17

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down  strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…”  2 Corinthians 10:4-5

“I believe that those people who have a burden for America to be saved and for God to send another awakening from coast to coast, we will move together…Jesus will fulfill His work for America to be saved.”  Reinhard Bonnke

“Without divine intervention, what we call America will be gone within the next couple of years…only God can save us now.  If we don’t see a turn in the next two or three years, America as we know it will sink into the abyuss and will be gone forever.”  Rodney Howard-Browne

“…a growing number of evangelists [to include Reinhard Bonnke and Billy Graham] redirecting their entire ministry focus in an acute attempt to save America.  Most sense a divine directive from God like never before-with an added belief that this nation’s window of opportunity is quickly closing.”  Marcus Yoars, Editor of Charisma

A Prayer Request

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray.  Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety.  They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line 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 diplomatic and military personnel and their families.  May the Lord keep them safe.  Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism.   We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.

Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel.  May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe.  May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.

We continue to pray for truth to prevail as we saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America and for all of us who call ourselves American.  These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk.  Fail not in this hour.

Please Join Me In Prayer

Father we thank You for our salvation.  We thank You for Your Word to encourage, direct, lead and guide us during our journey on this earth.  As we put on the whole armor of God each day we thank You for Your faithfulness to cover us in whatever may come our way.  Thank you that as Your people awaken across this land that we can come together in the spirit to break every stronghold in our lives and over this country so Your light will once again shine bright from shore to shore and be a beacon to the world.  May Your light shine bright through each of us to bring Your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  We pray this in Jesus’ mighty name.  Amen and amen.