PFS January 8, 2013

PRAYER FOR SUCCESS: Father, I’m working on this strategic plan and I need Your guidance. Anoint my hands to write the words so whoever reads it can run purposefully with the vision. Bless each of us to adhere to the vision as we systematically achieve each goal with a spirit of excellence. Bless us to harmoniously work in unity as we experience unimaginable success. Amen.

PFS January 7, 2013

PRAYER FOR SUCCESS: Father, There have been so many people who have lost their jobs. Those who have a job are overworked and doing the jobs of two or three people. Touch the hearts of the leaders from every sphere of influence in our society not to be so driven by money that they lose sight of their most precious commodity—human capital. Bless them to honor and do the right thing by their employees who make them successful every day. Bless them to treat their employees as they would want to be treated with respect, commitment and loyalty. Amen.

PFS January 6, 2013

PRAYER FOR SUCCESS: Father, There is so much happening in the world and it seems as though You have been left out. Bless us to never forget You and to recognize You in all things. Amen.

PFS January 5, 2013

PRAYER FOR SUCCESS: Father, I realize You have so much for me. Sometimes, I find myself not doing everything I need to do, but I know when I team up with You success is always mine. Bless me to begin my day with You, acknowledge you throughout the day for Your guidance and direction, and when the day ends to spend more time thanking You for an awesomely successful day. Amen.

PFS January 4, 2013

PRAYER OFR SUCCESS: Father, During this first month of the year I’m establishing healthy habits that I want to continue throughout year. In order for me to that I need your guidance every step of the way. Not just for this month, but for each and every month of the year as You guide me down a path where I experience good success every time. Amen.

New Year’s Day Prayer 2013

PRAYER FOR SUCCESS: Father, As I stand on the threshold of a new year there are things and situations that don’t appear to have life. I can’t seem to do anything to bring them back to life. Oh, but I need a strategy and a rhema Word that breathes new life. I know beyond belief that when You pronounce life the very essence of its existence is resurrected. Bless me not to give up but to believe and speak with unwavering steadfast faith that renewed life and fervency has been breathed on them as they are resuscitated back to life. Because of this supernatural resuscitation I know that ears haven’t heard and eyes haven’t seen the blessing and abundance I will experience in 2013. Amen.

Battle of Wills! It’s Up to You Who Wins

The other day when my Pastor announced that we were corporately entering a fast, you would have thought that he had asked the people to give up their first born. It was interesting observing the reactions of the people about food.

Fasting is a discipline to be celebrated. In essence, more often than not we have abandoned this discipline. All I could think about as I sat there was how much we have become gluttonous worshippers of food. Our gluttonous attitudes propel our society, most notably the Kingdom of God, into placing such a high importance on our insatiable appetites. So much so that when we are asked to turn away from food to increase our intimacy with God, we have a hard time doing that.

Where is the sacrifice? Fasting is like the discipline of tithing; it is not so much the sacrifice as much as it is the obedience to God’s instruction. When God beckons an individual or a corporate body to fast, it is more about obedience than it is anything else. You see, obedience is directly connected to our worship of God. Fasting is one of those disciplines where we worship God in spirit and in truth, if our attitudes are right.

Before, during and after the fast you must examine your motives. This is critical to your success. Not just being successful embarking and throughout the fast, but being successful breaking free of strongholds and bad habits at the cessation of the fast. All of us have heard, or even recited similar words that these come out only through prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:21; Mark 9:29). Yet, when it comes time to exercise the discipline of fasting, and even prayer which is another conversation at another time, we have a hard time doing it.

Our preoccupation with food demonstrates our enchantment with the God of healing more than the God of health. You see, we want to consume whatever we like and expect God to heal our bodies. Even when the healing takes place and we find ourselves right back where we started before the healing occurred, we questioned what happened. I do believe that many people are healed as they go.  Our inability to return and thank God for our health is a demonstrative disrespect associated with our relationship with food and tacitly joining forces with the one who seeks to destroy us

Fasting is celebrating God. Gluttony is not. When we are more willing to fight for those things that cause bodily harm and have been strategically assigned to thwart our ability to fulfill our assignments, we celebrate the spirit of gluttony. Celebrating God in the spirit through fasting becomes second to satisfying the carnality of our flesh.

That intimacy we eloquently voice does not translate into reality because of our unwillingness to fight for it. The major battles of our lives can only be conquered when we are willing to fight with all of our heart, mind and soul for them. Our flesh is in constant war with our spirit. Who wins the battle is all up to you.

SCRIPTURES

Cry aloud! Don’t hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Tell my people about their rebellion and the descendants of Jacob about their sins. They look for me every day and want to know my ways. They act as if they were a nation that has done what is right and as if they haven’t disregarded God’s judgment {on them}. They ask me for just decrees. They want God to be near them. Why have we fasted if you are not aware of it? Why have we inflicted pain on ourselves if you don’t pay attention? Don’t you see that on the days you fast, you do what you want to do? You mistreat all your workers. Don’t you see that when you fast, you quarrel and fight and beat your workers? The way you fast today keeps you from being heard in heaven. Is this the kind of fasting I have chosen? Should people humble themselves for {only} a day? Is fasting just bowing your head like a cattail and making your bed from sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call fasting? Is this an acceptable day to the Lord? This is the kind of fasting I have chosen: Loosen the chains of wickedness, untie the straps of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke. Share your food with the hungry, take the poor and homeless into your house, and cover them with clothes when you see {them} naked. Don’t refuse to help your relatives. Then your light will break through like the dawn, and you will heal quickly. Your righteousness will go ahead of you, and the glory of the Lord will guard you from behind. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am!” Get rid of that yoke. Don’t point your finger and say wicked things. Isaiah 58:1-9 (GW)

I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any. Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will put an end to them together. But the body is not for the desires of the flesh, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: 1 Cor 6:12-13 (BBE)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1 (KJV)

Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Sam 15:22 (KJV)

And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Mark 9:28-29 (KJV)

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Matt 17:20-21 (KJV)

PRAYER

Father, No longer will I fast out of fleshly reasons, but I do so in spirit and in truth. I know that for me to be successful in fasting, I need You to help me. This begins with a transformed heart by celebrating the discipline of fasting unto You and the fast that You have ordained. I present my body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to You through the discipline of fasting because my natural desires are not for the flesh, but for You. I long to be intimate with You. My commitment to fast is a commitment to the enhancement of my relationship with You. Amen.