Well friends, what can I say? It has been a fun and challenging journey for the past 30 days. I hope more than anything that you have done some seeking on your own and discovered how important having a strong, fervent prayer life is.

I know it won’t always be easy. As we have learned, the enemy is constantly attacking us. He wants to see us broken, stressed, overwhelmed and as far from God as possible. If he can keep us busy enough, mad enough, distracted enough, selfish enough…he will do it. Anything to drive a wedge between us and the abundant life God has for us.

But we have a weapon. A powerful weapon that we can use to fight against these attacks and that is prayer!

So my biggest prayer here for you on this last day of October would be that this journey towards fervent prayer would just be the beginning.

Tomorrow will be another day to do battle. Another day to put on the armor so that you can withstand the fiery darts of the enemy. Another day to seek God in all things and to remain alert and aware of the enemy’s schemes.

I also hope that after this month you will have walked away changed. Maybe you have started a prayer journal and you are documenting the requests and the answers so that you don’t forget. Or perhaps you are getting on your knees and establishing a new routine before you start the day. Or you are writing out scripture on your prayer cards and hanging them in your prayer closet (or armoire).

If we have done the hard work of building a routine of fervent prayer we will see the results. No, not every prayer will be answered in the way that we might hope. But we will likely be more aware of all the ways that God is working.

After studying fervent prayer and all the ways the enemy comes at us, we are wiser. We can see more clearly and have learned to fight the battles with a power that only comes from God. We have full access to Him, may we never forget that!

So I encourage you to keep going. I think that reading and re-reading Fervent again and again will only reveal more. I have different things underlined and highlighted from each time I have been through it.

Yes, this is just the beginning.

We are stronger, smarter, suited up and ready to walk in the callings that God has for us.

We are ready to march around our walls and declare victory in God’s name! We have spouses, kids, parents, siblings and so many more who need our prayers. We need to take what we have learned and get to it!

Let this last day of the month be the beginning of a lifelong journey of fervent prayer!

Lord, we just thank You for all You have taught us through this journey. Thank you that we have such intimate access to You through prayer. Lord,  I know we will face challenges and disappointments in the coming weeks and months. Please guard our hearts and our minds. Give us Your strength so that we can go forward in Your name and Your power! Thank you for the transformations that have taken place over the past month. Stir our hearts that we would continue to seek to know You more! In Jesus Name, Amen!

James 3: 13-18 ^{13 “}Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Some heavy words to start our day today but man did they challenge me when I was looking at the chapter in Fervent on relationships.

One of the things I like to do as I am studying God’s Word is to read the passages in different versions of the Bible. The BibleGateway app is wonderful for things like this! I use an ESV Bible, but at times the Message Bible offers a more “plain language” view and it is particularly relevant here.

^{13-16 “}Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

^17-18 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.”

Whenever we are trying to look better than others, things fall apart. Can I get an Amen!

But when I stop and look at my own behavior in relationships, isn’t that what I find myself doing? The need to fit in, to belong, can often translate into a striving for success so that we appear like we have it all together. This can lead to pride.

Pride in my life is a bad thing!

I start puffing myself up, making myself look good and then I start to think “hey, I’ve got this life managed pretty well…” I stop praying, stop seeking God’s wisdom and start relying on my own. What is that saying? Pride comes before the fall?

Each and every time friends…each and every time!

I want to be remembered as someone who is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings. Isn’t that what we all want?! But I can’t do that and be fighting for my place at the top at the same time. I want people to see Jesus through me, in all areas of my life.

Priscilla said this, “The magnet that draws other people out of darkness toward the light and hope of Jesus Christ is so often not the A-B-C evangelism presentation they hear but the one they see – the recognizable change and difference in people who claim to be at peace with God themselves.” Fervent p.174

As we walk through the end of this journey of Fervent Prayer I hope that we would be stirred to seek God’s wisdom for our lives. That we would be humbled and gracious towards others. That we would be that light in a dark world. That we would daily seek God for the strength to do those things. Without prayer, without God’s help, I am a hot mess.

But through Him and because of Him I can build relationships with others, disagree and be respectful at the same time, offer compassion and mercy to those suffering around me. I can’t do these things on my own, I need God’s help. Today I am grateful that His work isn’t finished with me yet. That I have the opportunity to make a difference because He has made a difference in me.

Lord, we just thank and praise You for who You are. We ask Lord that You would pour out Your wisdom over us. Give us eyes to see Your will, hearts that seek to love others the way You loved us. This life is a gift, help us to be the kind of person that people will know, we are different because of You. May our lives bring You the glory and honor You deserve! In Jesus Name, Amen!

“Together we are a mighty force. Satan knows that. And by remaining united, we let him feel that.” Fervent p.171

We are in the home stretch friends, can you believe it?! Priscilla addresses the final strategy when she looks at how the enemy can and does attack our relationships with others. And more specifically, our relationships with other Christians.

If you have spent any time online recently you have likely seen Christians on both ends of the spectrum. Especially in a presidential race…everyone has an opinion about who is best, or worst. Labels are thrown around and division can happen quickly!

This is right where the enemy wants us to be.

This fictional quote (not a real C.S. Lewis quote) was shared all over FB, and while it wasn’t actually in Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, it is an interesting look at how the enemy may work in situations such as these.

Be sure that the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is “out there” in the “broken system” rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself. Keep up the good work.  Uncle Screwtape

How easy it is to become divided from one another when we are focused on all the problems we believe are out there and refusing to see our part in it?!

We have been attending a wonderful church in a community close to ours since we moved to Minnesota. It can be hard to find a place to “belong” in a new town and it was so important for us to find a solid, biblical church. Even after the first week, we felt welcomed. It was a good fit.

But then something happened to me. I started focusing on what I thought everyone else was doing together. I began to feel that I (we) weren’t being included and the pity pot of “poor me” became by close companion. I thought “if only they’d invite us….this would finally feel like home.”

That became my focus week after week. But here’s the deal, I didn’t do anything about it either. I waited for the invitation, but never did the inviting myself. I craved community but didn’t want to do any work to cultivate it.

I felt jealous and I misjudged people. I made myself pretty unapproachable. I would come in, find a seat and not talk to anyone. I am an introvert by nature so some of it is who I am…but I made myself seem closed off when I put up my walls. And then I blamed others when I felt alone.

The enemy works on our insecurities.

I have long struggled to feel like I belong. And when I kept myself disengaged from community, expecting everyone else to just come to me…my feelings of rejection built. Rejection led to resentment and I have already shared what that can do in my heart!

Then one Sunday morning our pastor preached on community and something he said struck a chord with me. I had been waiting on others instead of looking for ways to offer the very community I was seeking to those around me.

Of course the enemy wants to see those in the church in disharmony! If he can cause a division, he wins. We must fight back with prayer!

Priscilla says this: “Prayer helps us stay focused on bigger things, on much more eternal things than the petty stuff that threatens to puff itself up beyond actual size and become some huge deal it doesn’t deserve to be. In prayer we experience the kind of hard-fought peace that unites us into an army of soldiers for Christ.” Fervent p.172

Are you feeling left out? Pray about it.

Are you struggling with the opinions of a fellow believer? Pray about it.

Seek God in all these areas, and with prayer we can ask for clarity. We can pray for direction and seek out our part in a specific matter. We can pray for courage to take some action that would foster positive change. We often don’t have the grace to handle these situations without God, so pray first. He will guide your steps!

1 Cor. 12:25 “…that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”

1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Lord, we know the enemy seeks to draw us away from one another. To disrupt our sense of community and belonging among believers. Lord guide us, especially in our interactions with other believers. Help us to remain united, to be a light with one another. Let there be no place for disharmony and may we choose to always be in prayer for our relationships with one another. In Jesus Name, Amen!

Yesterday we talked about unforgiveness. And believe me when I say that I understand in a real way how difficult it can be to forgive someone, to let it go. But I have found in my own life that when I am unwilling to forgive, I am bound in chains.

Freedom comes from releasing the hurt to God, extending grace (even when it is undeserved) and giving up the “right” to punish someone for how they have hurt you.

Priscilla said this and it just hit home for me: “Genuine freedom and renewed fervency are waiting for you on the other side of forgiveness. And the forgiveness you don’t have any desire to give right now can be amazingly enabled through prayer. When galvanized with the living truth of God’s Word, fervent prayer is the bucket that can dip down into the reserves of God’s strength and pull up all the resolve you need for releasing other people from what they owe you.” Fervent p 161

With fervent prayer we can access God’s strength. With fervent prayer we can fight against the enemy who wants to see us angry, bitter and resentful. Knowing how poisonous resentment can be to us we have to find a way to remove it from our lives. Only God can change our hearts and our minds. Let Him take what is hurting and broken and restore it!

It can still be a struggle though, I get it! In those times I often have to look to God’s Word for the reminder about how grace was extended to me first. God set an example through the death and sacrifice of Jesus. A sinless God who took on my sins so that I could be free.

Ephesians 2:1-10 is a favorite passage of mine. Evidence of those “But God” moments and a reminder to treat others as He has treated me. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^{[b] 4} But^[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

It is easy for me to sit and think of all the ways I have been slighted or hurt by others. It is much harder (because it requires humility) for me to be honest about the multitude of ways I have done the damage myself. I am not innocent either and if I want grace extended to me when I hurt someone…shouldn’t I be willing to do the same?

And here is something that jumped out at me when I was reading those verses in Ephesians that hasn’t impacted me before. God didn’t just send His Son to pay the penalty for my sins. That alone, that forgiveness, would have been enough.

But God, who is full of mercy and grace, chose to make us alive through Christ AND He says we will be raised up and seated with Him in the heavenly places so that He can show us his immeasurable riches. WOW!

God is overflowing with grace and love for us. How can we not do the same to those we come in contact with? When we spend time in prayer seeking to know God, asking for help in our weakness and praying for His grace to flow through us I think that the way we respond to hurt may be radically transformed.

Yes, we live in a sinful, fallen world and at times it is down right rotten to us. But when we access God’s power, through fervent prayer, we can bring light into the darkness.  

Lord, Your love overwhelms us. You pour out grace and mercy over us and yet at times we struggle with offering grace to those that have hurt us. Help us Lord to see others as You see them. May we remember the sacrifice that was made on our behalf and may we look to You for help in those times that showing mercy is difficult. Thank you for providing the ultimate example of what extending grace looks like. In Jesus Name, Amen.

“Unforgiveness is a strategic design, craftily implemented by your enemy to outwit you, to cripple your effectiveness in prayer and your power to stand against him victoriously.” p153 Fervent.

I spent a lot of years stuck in the pit of unforgiveness.

Unable or unwilling to forgive those who have hurt me, resentment became a close companion. It was easy to point my fingers and blame. It became second nature to say “I wouldn’t feel this way if you hadn’t done xyz…”

Hate and anger would fester. I quickly came to that place where I was bitter all the time and I was unable to see the good in any situation. Have you ever found yourself there? Bitter, angry and resentful and stuck in unforgiveness?

I remember one morning, sitting in front of the mirror to get ready for work, and I looked at myself and didn’t recognize who was staring back at me. I felt dark and ugly inside and I needed help.

I have heard it said that resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Oh how this was true in my life. The people, places or things that I was upset about weren’t hurting like I was inside. I suffered alone and thought my anger would “make them pay.” Instead, I was paying with my mental, spiritual and emotional health!

Let me share an example from my own life.

Years ago I started working at a bank. I didn’t know anything about banking and started as a teller. I quickly was promoted to the customer service phone banking center. A friend of mine at the time was looking for something new and I told her about some openings we had in our department. She applied and was hired.

Months later a “lead” position became available and this friend and I were the two people vying for the spot. She had become close friends with the department manager and spent time out of the office with her. We both went through the interviews and she was offered the job over me.

When I asked the manager why I didn’t get the job she said it was because she heard that I was looking for another job outside of the bank. They didn’t trust that I was reliable and would stay. Those things said about me were not true and I was so upset. I was sure that I knew who had told those lies, but it was too late, the decision had been made.

I felt hurt and betrayed. A friend had sold me out to advance her career. I immediately cut her from my life. I didn’t confront her to hear her side of the story. I believed she was the one who had said those things about me and in my mind our friendship was over.

Soon after I applied for and was hired for a different promotion within the bank. It was something that I couldn’t have applied for had I gotten the other promotion. Through that job I had the opportunity to advance in ways I had not planned or expected. In the long run, that no was a gift.

But despite that, I held onto the resentment.

I spoke poorly about her to others, I refused to let that betrayal go and acted rudely towards her if we came into contact with one another. I wanted her to hurt because she had hurt me.

Today I am just sad about how I handled everything. Honestly, I don’t know that our friendship could have been restored…but I certainly didn’t act in a Christ-like way. I had the chance to show grace and instead I spewed hatred. That isn’t how I want to be remembered.

Someone in my bible study shared that when you let someone off your “hook”, you are putting them on God’s hook instead. He sees all, He knows. But what if I missed an opportunity to be grace to someone who didn’t know God’s grace in a real and tangible way. That is my regret.

So today I use that situation as a reminder to me. I didn’t like the way I felt during those years. I don’t feel good when I am holding onto anger and resentment. Today when I am hurt by someone I try and pray for them.

It is hard to be angry at someone while praying a blessing over their life.

It doesn’t always mean that the relationship can be restored to the way it had been before the hurt…but it does mean that I am letting go and letting God handle the hurts. There is freedom in that.

Through prayer we can bring those hurts to God. He understands, He can bring peace into the darkest hearts. But we have to be willing to let go of our desire to hurt back. Easier said than done at times…I know! But again, it brings freedom and I think we all need that!

Lord, we come to you with our hurts. We know that You are a God who restores. Help us Lord to let go of resentments, to stop living in unforgiveness so that we can walk in freedom. We thank you Lord that you gave us the greatest example of grace. Help us to show grace to those that have hurt us as well. We know that often times we will only be able to do it in Your name and because of Your power! We need You moment by moment Lord! In Jesus Name, Amen!