In the 8th grade, I was the same height I am now.\u00a0 I was one of the toughest kids in school and even the 9th graders didn’t mess with me much.\u00a0 My teachers always said, “be a lover, not a fighter!” I just responded, “I’m both”.<\/p>\n
Well, one day toward the end of the year I learned a lesson about picking fights that I have never forgotten.\u00a0 Leonard was a year older than me.\u00a0 He was\u00a0not much bigger than I was and kinda quiet, but one day he made a remark I didn’t like much.\u00a0 Don’t remember what it was, but probably a comeback to some cocky thing I said.\u00a0 Anyway, I decided that after school he needed to learn to\u00a0just keep\u00a0quiet.\u00a0 I followed him out of the building and tried to pick a fight.\u00a0 He just kept walking.\u00a0 So, I resorted to a little shoving and taunting.\u00a0 When we finally got to the end of the grounds, he had had enough so he turned and was ready to fight.\u00a0 By this time, a crowd had gathered and my reputation was on the line.\u00a0 I had on a new shirt, so I took it off to show my chest and muscles.\u00a0 What followed was a completely humbling beating by a kid named “Leonard”.\u00a0 I don’t give up easily, so by the time he had decided I’d taken enough, my back and arms were extremely\u00a0skinned up and I was a bloody mess.<\/p>\n
I learned a lesson to never pick unnecessary fights, because you may regret the fight that comes back.<\/p>\n
We should never be surprised by the level of retaliation when we pick fights.\u00a0 As Pastor Mark said, “Prayer is picking a fight with the devil”.\u00a0 Our enemy is fine to leave us alone when we aren’t doing much to mess with his principality.\u00a0 But when we commit ourselves to 40 days of prayer and fasting to bring about God’s will on Earth, we are throwing boulders at the gates of hell and we shouldn’t be surprised that he comes out fighting.\u00a0 He will hit us with discouragement and will attack us in our weaknesses and at the point of our identity.\u00a0 He will get us to doubt ourselves and our God.\u00a0 He will tell us we are asking for the wrong things or with the wrong motives.\u00a0 He doesn’t fight fair.\u00a0 But\u00a0the weapons\u00a0we fight with are not the weapons of this world, but have the power of God behind them to demolish his\u00a0strongholds ( II Cor 10:4<\/a>).<\/p>\n We can never forget this:\u00a0 Prayer and God’s Word in our mouths have divine power!\u00a0 (Rev 12:11<\/a>) Satan likes to use deceit and get us to believe our prayers are having no effect because we are usually too impatient on answers.\u00a0 But, if our prayers have no effect, then why is he bothering to mess\u00a0with us or trying to discourage us???<\/p>\n The prayers we pray when we feel like quitting are the prayers that bring breakthroughs!<\/p>\n Don’t get sucked in.\u00a0 For some reason God likes to let the odds get built up against us, let us get into a place where it looks like there is no way out.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 So, we aren’t tempted to share his glory.\u00a0 So when the bottom drops out, your finances and your health are attacked, when you feel like you are alone on the battlefield, Take Courage!\u00a0 That’s when you are in a place where God’s power is revealed and God receives the glory.<\/p>\n Praying Hard is hard because it’s hard!<\/p>\n But like almost everything in life, the things that come easy are rarely appreciated and usually taken for granted.\u00a0 We don’t want those kinds of answers or blessings!\u00a0 We want God-powered God-sized victories.<\/p>\n So Keep Praying. Pray Hard… for as long as it takes and do not be afraid of the circumstances you see.\u00a0 Trust God!\u00a0 Recite His Word.\u00a0 He loves to hear it and Satan can’t stand it!\u00a0 Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world ( I John 4:4<\/a>)\u00a0 Demolish his strongholds by proclaiming God’s Word and do not grow weary.\u00a0 This battle is not ours but the Lord’s (II Chron 20:15<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the 8th grade, I was the same height I am now.\u00a0 I was one of the toughest kids in school and even the 9th graders didn’t mess with me much.\u00a0 My teachers always said, “be a lover, not a … Continue reading