God has not forgotten you - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Day 19 – (31^st of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men (Psalm 121) 

• Keep them from all harm and watch over their lives
• Watch over their coming and going both now and for evermore.

Prayer for yourself:

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.”  Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.  Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.  (Isaiah 49: 13-16)

“God is the God of Romance!” is a phrase we use in my family, because we have witnessed God’s romantic hand bring the couples in my family together.  The testimonies are so great that my sister is writing a book!  My two older sisters were married in their early 20s, my brother a few years later, each with divine, interwoven love stories.  And our parents, oh my, they have the most romantic story of all, and they are now the cutest in-love, in their late 80s couple you have ever seen!  God is the God of Romance.  

When my nieces started getting married I admit, I struggled a bit, because in my mind, it was MY turn for my extraordinary love story.  With each niece wedding, and there have been 6 to date and my nephew is getting married in less than 2 weeks (I am SO excited for him!), I find myself saying, “HEY GOD!  Oh Youuuuu-hoooooo, GOD!  Over here!  Have you forgotten about ME?!”   

But God does not forget.  He has not forgotten about my romance, and He has not forgotten about your love story either.  He is not a man that he would lie; and He does what He says He will do!  

God is GOOD!  and He is Faithful!  

To reinforce the truth that God has not forgotten, Psalm 121 is our prayer for the men today, and it is a personal reminder to me that God does not forget about His children.  Let me share one more quick story, and I hope it encourages you today as I have been encouraged.  

Many years ago (and it seems like TOO many years, but I know, God’s timing is perfect), when I was living in Aspen, CO and not walking the Walk, my sister Lisa was visiting with her family, and she gave me the challenge of my life.  Lisa said, “I am going to pray, and then you open the bible and point, and let’s see what it says.”  

Bible roulette!  

My reaction was, “Yeah, right!  OK - let’s do it!”  

I was certain my finger would land on some random page, and the words would be meaningless.    

To set the stage, we were standing in her condo in Snowmass, overlooking God’s majestic mountains with lavish wild-flowers everywhere.  Gorgeous!  

Lisa prayed, I opened the bible, and I will never forget it, my finger landed smack on Psalm 121!  

“I look up to the mountains - does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! 
He will not let you stumble; 
the one who watches over you will not slumber....
The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade...
The LORD keeps you from all harm, and watches over your life...”  

All of a sudden God was speaking to my heart, and He said, “Barbara!  I have had my hand on your life all this time, and I have not let your foot slip.  I have been protecting you, and even though you have been ignoring Me, I have been right at your side every day.  I love you, and I have a great plan for your life!”  

WOW! God had not forgotten me.  And today, He has not forgotten YOU or the men for whom you are praying.  He has a great plan for each of us!  Plans to prosper us in every area of our lives; plans to give us a future and a HOPE!  Plans for THE divine connection and Kingdom marriages!

AMEN!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012

The Anchor of Hope - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Day 18 – (30^th of January)

Hebrew’s 6 contains some of the best scripture with encouragement to HOPE!  Our prayers, and this blog are all about securing ourselves and our faith in Hope!  When you are waiting for your dreams to come true, it is challenging on some (most) days to maintain your faith, and continue to hope.  I posted a few verses from Hebrews 6 with a prayer on November 22, and I think it is worth revisiting and praying today!  (I added to the London Ladies’ prayers for today.)  

9-12I'm sure that won't happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn't miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you've shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.  13-18When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!" Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.  18-20We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.  (Hebrews 6:9-20, The Message)  

Prayer for your 10+ men (Hebrews 6) 

• Leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity
• Be fruitful in their faith
• Continue to show love and help God’s people
• The men will have energy and intensity towards attaining a full-bodied HOPE, and they will hold onto it until the end. 
• God does not lie, and we pray that the men will be like Abraham, stick it out, and receive everything that God has promised them!  
• They will grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go!  It is an unbreakable lifeline - and anchor for the soul.  

Prayer for yourself: 

We choose HOPE!  

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:9-10)

Hold on, and Dare to Hope!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012

He is my refuge! 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Day 17 – (29^th of January)

He is my refuge!  

Photo borrowed from  IArtDesigner.com

Prayer for your 10+ men (Psalm 91) 

• Dwell in the secret place of the Most High & abide under the shadow of the Almighty!
• They will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” 
• Not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day
• No sickness will come near you
• Trust God and Do not fear!

Prayer for yourself:

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Refuge:  (Strong's #4268 Machesh) 

A shelter, refuge, protection, fortress; a hope, a place of trust; a shelter from storm.  

One of the 4 words for Man in Hebrew is Ish (Strong's #376) "Man, husband, a male, an individual person.  Unlike the generic term "adam" which means "human,"  ISH portrays male-ness and so is logically paired with its feminine form, Ishah, "wife" or "woman."  (From my Spirit Filled Life Bible word definition.)  

"A MAN (Ish) will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a cover (shelter) from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."  (Isaiah 32:2 NKJ)

As our men trust God and find refuge from Him, may they be strengthened to be all that God has created them to be as a man - Ish!  

AMEN!

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012

Help Our Unbelief - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Help Our Unbelief - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

We are on day 16 of 40 days of prayer and fasting for men in collaboration with a group of ladies from London, and their wonderful church, Holy Trinity Brompton.  I have been posting from the Prayer Guide they are using, because it seems more powerful to be praying together across the pond, for men all over the world.  I believe it IS more powerful!  

If you pray with us for one day or forty, you are affecting the lives of the men you are praying for, including your future spouse!  

Day 16 – (28^th of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men (Hebrews 3) 

• Fix their thoughts on Jesus and turn their hearts to the living God
• Encourage each other daily 
• Hold firmly till the end to the confidence and HOPE they had at first
• They will have unwavering faith, and enter God’s rest

Prayer for yourself:  

(In the Prayer Guide today was a repeat of yesterdays, so I crafted a prayer for us from Romans 4:16-17 the Amplified and NKJ versions)

Lord, help our areas of unbelief.  Your Word says, “Inheriting the promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith...”  

Give us the gift of the faith of Abraham!  

We believe in the God “who gives life to the dead, and speaks of the nonexistent things that [God has foretold and promised] as if they [already] exist.”

And “like Abraham, who contrary to hope, IN HOPE WE BELIEVE” that You will fulfill Your promises in our lives.  

AMEN!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012

His footsteps - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

I love the last line of Psalm 85 - "His footsteps are my pathway!"


Enjoy your praying today, and know that together we are making a difference in the lives of many men all over the world!  So with the London Ladies we pray...

Day 15 – (27^th of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men (Psalm 85) 

• Receive favour.
• Restore and revive them
• Be shown unfailing love and be granted salvation
• Listen to the Lord, receive His peace and not return to folly
• Have righteousness go before them and prepare a way for their steps.

Prayer for yourself:

In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory.

Pursue Righteousness - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Day 14 – (26^th of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men (2 Timothy 2:22-25) 

• Pursue righteousness, faith love and peace
• Do not have anything to do with foolish or stupid arguments
• Be kind to everyone & able to teach
• Do not be resentful & gently instruct those who oppose them

Prayer for yourself:

You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden…(Matthew 5)

Before I looked at the prayers for today, I was thinking about the word "righteousness", and I was planning to look up the definition to satisfy my curiosity about the meaning of the word in the context of the bible.  I have been curious because I met a very nice man recently who is going through a divorce.  His hope was to go through marriage counseling with his wife to work out their issues.  However, his future-x-wife told him that counseling was not an option and the only thing he could do to restore the marriage was to spend a year alone (and they have 5 kids) and become righteous with God, because he is not a righteous man.  
Whoa!  That is not the loving Jesus I know.   (I will add that the couple is Mormon.) 


Religion is about what we DO.  Jesus said it is DONE.  


The definition of Righteousness (Greek Dikaiosune, Strong's #1343) in my bible says this:  

"Just, the quality of being right.  Broadly, the word suggests conformity to the revealed will of God in all respects.  Dikaiosune is both judicial and gracious.  God declares the believer righteous, in the sense of acquitting him, and imparts righteousness to him." (see 2 Corinthians 5:21)

It is done!   Relax!  Enjoy life!


My paraphrase is - "Pursue God, have fun, and receive the lavish love of the Father who declares you righteous!"  

AMEN!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012

David! 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Have you ever been to Florence, Italy to see the gorgeous David?!

Psalm 86 is a "Prayer of David", and he is crying out to God to hear him and help him.  I often pray for men to have a heart like David, and be men after God's own heart.  

On my last trip to Florence a few years ago, I saw something I had never noticed before on THE David.  Sometimes it is difficult to get one's eyes up to his face!  Michaelangelo made the pupils of David's eyes in the shape of a heart.  What an incredible detail.    


Today add to your prayers that your 10+ men will have hearts like David and be men after God's own heart; eyes like The David - to love and see others through God's perfect Love.  

Day 13 – (25^th of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men (Psalm 86) 

• Answer their prayers and guard their life

• Have mercy on them and bring them joy 

• Show them Your forgiveness and abounding love

Prayer for yourself:

He predestined us to be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.

AMEN!  

Expecting to be amazed! 

Barbara

The Bachelor - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Day 12 – (24^th of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men (2 Timothy 1) 

• Fan into flame the gift of faith
• Not have a spirit of timidity (fear), but rather have a spirit of power, love and self-discipline
• Not be ashamed to testify about the Lord

Prayer for yourself:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

The Bachelor!

Yes, I confess, I watch The Bachelor - usually in snippets, and last night I was flipping from the presidential debates to Ben and the cat fights.   Putting all those beautiful women together in a house, all focused on “winning” the affection of one man, is just a petrie dish for the Uglies of jealousy, insecurity, fear and self pity.  Even the most beautiful dress, shoes, smile and hair will not attract the Bachelor in the long run if the Uglies are festering on the inside.  Did you see Ben’s face each time a girl started whining about not spending enough time with him?  He was repulsed when the insecurities surfaced.  (Except with Courtney, but I think the producers do that for ratings, and he is a nice guy!)  

I bring The Bachelor up because this morning it is on my mind to visualize my future with THE man.  If I see it, then I can imagine the steps I need to take to get to the destination.  It’s a bit like planning a road trip (or getting directions on your GPS.)  You pick the destination, visualize your arrival, but you must go back to see the roads and turns needed to get you there most efficiently.  

Rather than visualizing the superficial things I want in a man or a marriage, I found myself imagining how I will FEEL, and I don’t mean the feelings of being in love, but how I will be feeling in my life - emotionally, spiritually, and physically.    

How do you want to be feeling in your own skin when you are in a budding relationship with the person you will marry?   

How will you be feeling when you meet that person?  

• Confident!
• Happy!
• Passionate about your work or ministry! 
• Healthy!
• Accepted and loved by God!  
• Loving Jesus!
• Secure!
• Excited about the future!
• Content!
• Peaceful.......   

There is no room for the Uglies when you feel that good.  “Perfect Love drives out ALL fear!”  Receive, and be filled with the perfect Love of God, and the fear-based Uglies will be driven out of your life.  

Write a vision of how you will be feeling in your future relationship; take the time to feel those feelings, and then write the testimony for all of us when it becomes a reality!

AMEN!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012

Adding men (correction) - 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

Greetings!  


It occurred to me over the weekend that my growing prayer list of men does not include the men in my family!   So I have an additional list of 13 men.  Married or not married, they all need encouragement, strengthening and blessing!  

Prayers of Faith and Blessing - 

The London Ladies of Holy Trinity Brompton

Day 11 – (23^rd of January)

Prayer for your men (1 Timothy 6) 

• Flee from the love of money
• Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness
• Fight the good fight of faith

Prayer for yourself:  

So you are no longer a slave, but a child; and since you are a child, God has made you also an heir. (Romans 8:16-17)

AMEN!  

40 Days of Prayers for Faith and Blessing

Day 10 – (22^nd of January)

Prayer for your 10+ men  (Psalm 71) 

• Rescue them and deliver them in Your righteousness

• Turn Your ear to them and save them

• Be their hope and their confidence

• May they rely on You all their lives, and ever praise You

Prayer for yourself:  

We are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."  

AMEN!   and have a wonderful day!


Barbara

UnVeiling! 40 Days of Prayer and Blessing

40 Days of Faith and Blessing.  Day 9, 1/21/12

Day 9 – (21^st of January) 

Prayers for your 10+ men (Psalm 51):

• According to Your great compassion, blot out their transgressions. 
• Teach them wisdom in the inmost place
• Let them hear joy and gladness

Prayer for yourself:

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."  (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Yesterday my friend Debi Tengler in Houston said, “It is time for the [your] UNVELING!”  It just so happens that I am going to Vail, CO this weekend, and this morning we have the scripture above to pray over ourselves.  I love God-incidences!

My purpose in starting this blog was to repost emails I sent out last summer called 40 Days of Declarations, so I am including one of our Days of Declarations for you to add to your prayers if you choose.  

Barbara unveiled in Vail

From the 40 Days of Declarations:  

My good friend Meg was married for the first time at the age of 43.  On New Years Eve a few months before Meg met her husband, we were in VAIL together, and we decided with my silly-fun hat with a veil, we declared that we were being UN-VEILED, for our future husbands.  Later that year, and a few months prior to meeting her husband, Meg was praying for the man she had not yet met from a document she shared with me called “Scriptures for Husbands.”  I just now opened it up after several years, and I was amazed at what I saw, “For such a time as this!”   I did not realize until now that it speaks of the un-veiling.  It was Meg’s time.  

Unveiled Meg

This year, 2012, is our time!  

One other note of confirmation, before I opened the document, I had an image of a man coming out of a cave that he had been in for a long time.  He was adjusting to the brightness of the light, and his skin was soft and pale.  The picture spoke to me of the many men who have been in life’s “prisons” for various reasons, and our prayers and declarations are breaking them free!  With that in mind, see the opening scripture in the following introduction to “Scriptures for Husbands”!  I will send you the document in its entirety if you would like to have one too.  

There is a declaration for today at the end, so feel free to skip ahead since this is a bit lengthy.  (Emphasis is the author’s)

Scriptures for Husbands

Ann Kramer, Founder and President Intercessors For A Righteous Nation

  “This is what the LORD says:   ‘At just the right time, I will respond to you.’...
       I will say to the prisoners, “Come out in freedom,”
      and to those in darkness, “Come into the light.”’” [come into the light of the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS].   (Isaiah 49:8-9 NLT)

In every human relationship, marriage being the most intimate, there are three stages of love.  The FIRST stage is SUPERFICIAL.  When we are first getting to know someone, we usually only relate on a very shallow level. As time progresses, we begin to let our guard down, revealing sides of ourselves that we would have been afraid to UNVEIL until we were more secure in one another’s love.  

This brings us to the SECOND stage of love, which is DISILLUSIONMENT.  It doesn’t take us too long to realize that this is NOT the person that we THOUGHT we married!  Actually, this is a very healthy and important stage of development.  We cannot be DISILLUSIONED unless we FIRST have some ILLUSIONS.  An illusion is simply a FALSE EXPECTATION—and false expectations ALWAYS bring DISAPPOINTMENT.  

When we come to the stage of DISILLUSIONMENT—and ALL of us will sooner or later—we have three choices with which to respond.  First, we can say, “I must have made a mistake—I’m out of here!”  Then we are off to find someone else who will fit our illusion—only to be disappointed again—because, unfortunately, illusions are NEVER based on reality.  

Secondly, we can try to squeeze our spouse into the mold of our illusion through manipulation, intimidation or domination, and make life miserable for both of us—not to mention that those kind of tactics are nothing short of witchcraft!  

Thirdly, we can cry out to the Lord and say, “DIS-illusion me!”   It is interesting to note that the material used in bridal veils is called, “SILK ILLUSION”.  Illusions always shroud or VEIL REALITY.  They are mirages that will always mislead us.  So, when we ask the Lord to DIS-illusion us, we are asking for Him to strip away every VEIL—every false expectation that keeps us from loving the REAL person unconditionally.

If we choose the last response, we will step into the THIRD stage of love, which is the SUPERNATURAL phase.   Here, we begin to ask the Lord to help us to see our husband with HIS eyes and LOVE him with HIS love—and He will overwhelmingly meet us there with HIS ability to love.  

May we be like the woman in Proverbs 31:26 who, “…opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness giving counsel and instruction.”  May we see the Word of God which we declare in prayer transform our [future] marriages into exactly the same image that we are creating with our words—into HIS very own image—into the glory of the Lord Himself!

“And all of us, as with UNVEILED FACE, because we continued to behold in the WORD OF GOD as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit.”  (II Corinthians 3:18).

Declarations:

Thank you Father for confirming your purpose in calling us to declare the Word over Kingdom marriages.  Thank You for giving us all “eyes to see, and ears to hear” what You are saying to us, for such a time as this.   

• Father God, DIS-illusion all of us!  

• We declare that every VEIL—every false expectation that keeps us from being free to love the REAL person you are bringing into our lives, unconditionally, is stripped away.  

• We declare that today we are divorced from false expectations!

• and we declare a divorce for the men from their false expectations; Lord lead them to divorce their false expectations about the woman they are seeking for marriage.  

• We declare that we are UNVEILED - and we will be seen by the person You have chosen to be our marriage partner.  

• We declare that all of us with the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into his glorious image. (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLV)

• We declare that we are transformed by the Word, and we are the Proverbs 31 woman who, “…opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness giving counsel and instruction.”  (Proverbs 31:26)

• We speak with the authority of our agreement to those who are bound or in prison, “Come out in Freedom!” and to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, “Come into the light!” [of the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS].    (Isaiah 49:9 Amplified)

• We declare that the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings and His beams, and you (those who have been held captive) shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy. (Malachi 4:2 Amplified)

AMEN!  

Expecting to be amazed ~

Barbara

© Barbara Nelson – 2012