Power To Change

by Aleta Kay



“I can’t help it; it’s just the way I am.”  “I’m a good person but I’m not perfect.” “At least I’ve never stolen anything or killed anybody.”  These are all statements we use to justify ourselves. We compare ourselves to the worst of society and tell ourselves we’re better than those people. From a social standpoint that may be true. But if we were really happy with ourselves we wouldn’t need to compare ourselves to anyone else.

          We all have things in our lives, within ourselves , that we would like to change. I would like to be a stronger prayer warrior. I would like to be an organized housewife. I would like to have more determination and less proneness to give up when things get tough. I would like to be a better friend when it comes to keeping in touch with people. I could go on. You could probably make your own list.

          But how do we circumvent those “I can’t help its?” How do we become what we want to be? I’m still working on it, still learning. Here’s what I’m working on today: PRAYER. Prayer is the key to everything.

          Most of us, if we do pray, do it on the fly—while we’re driving, doing dishes, exercising or going for a walk or to the doctor. That’s not real prayer. That’s like your teenage son walking out the door and saying, “By the way, I need you to wash my best jeans and that special shirt I like to wear. I’m going to need it later this evening.” Then he comes home and asks if you got his wash done and what’s for supper. Later he again asks for something while he’s doing something else. He’s talking at you, not to you. We do the same thing to God. No wonder we think He isn’t listening. No wonder we don’t see the results we desire to our prayers. What do we think God owes us?

          I’m reading a book by Benny Hinn called “The Anointing.” It has my attention and I am stuck on just a few pages because I need to practice what it is saying. I need to make the instructions found there a part of who I am. I have to begin with the prayer, “Lord, change me—PLEASE!!!”

          In a nutshell it says we need to earnestly spend time on our knees longing for, thirsting for and seeking God. In Psalm 63David alludes to all three of these aspects of prayer. If we get on our knees (if you’re disabled and can’t get on your knees you can close your eyes and visualize yourself on your knees) and just tell God how much we long to be in His presence, in His fellowship, we will begin to see our sin so we can confess it to God. This usually brings tears of remorse that cleanse our souls. When that aspect is through, we then thank Him for the cleansing and realize that “as the deer pants for the water, so our soul longs for God, the Holy Spirit, the Living Water. We invite God to spend time with us. We cry out to Him for the requests for the problems our friends and loved ones are facing and know that we have His ear. After we have prayed for others we can then pray for our community, town, state, country, missionaries, homeless people, the economy, lost people around the world and finally for ourselves. When we have the peace in our hearts that He has heard we can bask in His presence for a little while. This brings an exuberance, a sense of rejoicing in His presence followed by a deep sense of peace. Don’t you long for peace?

NO GOD

NO PEACE

KNOW GOD

KNOW PEACE

          When we get back to earnest, heartfelt, soul searching, God seeking prayer, we will find ourselves obeying the scriptures:  Romans 6:11—we will count ourselves as dead to sin (on a daily basis—this process must take place every day) so that sin no longer controls us and we will find ourselves praying all day as we go through our routine. We will be “praying without ceasing” as instructed in I Thessalonians 5:17.  If you want your prayers answered, if you want to change your life for the better, get on your knees. Make the sacrifice of time and allow yourself to long for, thirst for and seek after God. You’ll be glad you did!

Are You A Peacemaker Or A Troublemaker?

by Aleta Kay



    

You and your husband have been married long enough to have a few children of your own. The problem is he has children from a previous marriage and the mother of his other children has demands of her own. It’s causing friction in your family. Your kids wonder where they fit into their dad’s life compared to his other children. They hear the two of you arguing and wonder if their family is going to remain intact. They won’t tell you they are worrying about the stability of their own family situation, but they do worry. On top of that, you can’t stand that other woman and you resent the intrusion of her children. Sure you understand that your husband is their father, but sharing him isn’t easy.

These are some of the things that implode a family. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Do you have to put up with that woman? It wouldn’t be so hard to share your husband with her kids if she wasn’t part of the package.

Your husband is so stressed, he feels like running away from all of you. He’s being pulled in so many directions he doesn’t know where to turn. He wonders if anyone cares about his feelings, which he isn’t sharing because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and he doesn’t want to argue, yet it always seems to end up that way anyway.

What’s a family to do?

Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall inherit the earth.”

Romans 12:18 says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth within you, live peaceably with all men.”

It is so important to keep the lines of communication open among your family, without fear of repercussion. The more you encourage your husband and stand by him, the stronger the bond between the two of you. You must choose to trust him and let him be a part of his other children’s lives. Be willing to participate in his outings with his other children but don’t push it. Be the example of grace and patience to the other woman and her children and you come out a winner.  Rom 12:20 says, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”

The Blessing of Forgiveness

by Aleta Kay



Your kids have stolen from you, run away, told lies about you, accused you heinous things. Your husband has committed adultery, maybe more than once. Your mom drives you crazy and your dad is completely disinterested. Or your parents died and left everything to that no good brother or sister and you are seething over it.

          With all of that anger and bitterness inside of you, how is your health doing? Do you have high blood pressure? A Hiatal hernia? A bleeding ulcer? Acid reflux? Gall bladder problems? Irritable bowel syndrome? Hpertension? Depression? Let me ask you: are the health problems worth holding on to that bitterness and anger? Are your feelings, your possessions, or those of your parents, more important to you than your family?

          Have you ever done anything to hurt anyone else? Of course you have. We have all been hurt, and we have all hurt others, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. We all want to justify ourselves and say, “Well what I said or did isn’t as bad as what they did. Anyway, they deserved it.” When we give ourselves an out like this, we are keeping ourselves in bondage (slavery) to that bitterness. We are not willing to move forward. We get stuck in the past and we make ourselves more miserable than the people we are resenting.

          Don’t you think you deserve good health? Don’t you think you deserve to be happy? You won’t get either of them by holding on to those negative, angry, bitter feelings. Do yourself a big favor: ask God to help you forgive. You’ll be healthier and happier, and you’ll have better relationships with everyone around you.

          Jesus said, “If you don’t forgive others neither will your Father in heaven forgive you.”

Why Should I Listen to God?

by Aleta Kay



          We are created by God to have fellowship with Him and to help our fellow man. The best way I know to answer this question is with God’s word. It will speak for itself.

          The Israelites had been delivered out of slavery in Egypt and had finally, after many battles, taken possession of the land God promised them: Canaan (now called Israel, which included Jordan at the time the promise was fulfilled). They had fought many battles and now needed rest. Joshua 22:4, 5 says, “But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” God had given them victory over their enemies. Some of those victories had been nothing less than miraculous. God deserved their complete obedience and adoration, just as He does ours.

          Joshua 23:4-9 says, “Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain (the ones not defeated in battle), to be and inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them: But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day. For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.”

          Joshua 23:16 says, “When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.”

          Joshua 24:13-15 says, “And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

          The command in Joshua 22:4,5 is repeated in Matthew 22:37. Do you see how these might also apply to the U.S.?

This is Your Invitation

by Aleta Kay



Do you like weddings? Sure, they make women cry—happy tears, tears of joy. They are festive, beautiful, and so often temporary. People spend an enormous amount of money on a celebration that they aren’t even committed to for a lifetime. Maybe the parents are really crying because the money may have been spent in vain and they know it.

          But there is another wedding feast that won’t cost us anything. The festivities will last for an undetermined amount of time and there will never be a divorce. The feast will be incredible and there is no dress code, no income level you have to meet to be accepted. Sound too good to be true? On earth it is—but all things are possible with God.

          Luke 14 gives us the invitation. “A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, ‘Come; for all things are now ready.’ And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.’ And the servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.’ And the lord said unto the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.’

          You see that invitations were sent out to the first two men, and most likely many more who also made excuses. This is a picture of God inviting people to join His family, to repent of their sins, accept the blood sacrifice of Christ on the cross, ask Him to be their Lord and Saviour, and ask Him to help them be more like Him. The first people to whom the invitation was given were the Jews, God’s chosen people (they are still His chosen people, but like the rest of us, must accept Christ as the Messiah to be accepted by God).

          When anyone rejects the invitation God offers it to someone else. If you are reading this then He is offering it to you. If you have not already accepted the invitation to be born again, today is the day; now is the time, as stated in 2 Corinthians 6:2—“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Once you have accepted this invitation you have an automatic invitation to the marriage supper of the lamb, which will come later. Come on, join God’s family! It’s great.

Why Should I Pray?

By Aleta Kay



           Exodus 17 gives us the account of a battle between Amalek and Joshua. Joshua was a soldier in God’s army. He was on the winning side as long as Moses held up his hands. When his hands got tired and dropped, the battle turned and Amalek and his army began to defeat Joshua and his army. Moses’s brother Aaron and his friend Hur went to the top of the hill to hold up Moses’s arms so Joshua and his army could defeat the Amalekites.

          God already knew who was going to win the battle. If Aaron and Hur had not helped Moses God would have laid it on someone else’s heart to do it. But Aaron and Hur got the recognition for helping Moses, thus having a hand in the outcome of the battle. They received the blessing of cooperating with God.

          Another example of how God hears prayer: When God was getting ready to destroy Sodom and Gommorah He first talked to Abraham. Abraham’s nephew, Lot and his family, lived in that area. Abraham was concerned about them so he pleaded with God to spare the city if God could find fifty righteous people in the city. God could not find fifty. Abraham asked again if God would destroy the city if there were forty-five righteous people. He kept bargaining with God down to ten people. God couldn’t even find ten righteous people in that whole area.

          If Abraham had not pleaded with God on behalf of those people he would have missed the blessing of that fellowship with God, and he would not have had the privilege of pleading on behalf of his family.

          A modern day account: I have a friend who has a nephew who was diagnosed with leukemia, brought on by a liver infection. The young man was not wild. He was not living a life of revelry and disobedience. He and his family attended church regularly. His parents and other family had a great deal of faith. The doctors had tried chemotherapy which did not work. They tried a variety of different drugs, all to no avail. I won’t go into all the details but it really opened my eyes as to all the energy that the family expends in just taking care of a cancer patient even when he or she is in the hospital. His mother posted repeated e-mails asking for prayer, stating that she was just too exhausted to do all the praying herself. She needed help. There were subsequent e-mails thanking people for their prayer support.

          Will God’s will be accomplished without prayer?  There is much debate about that. I do not believe we can change God’s mind because He sees all of time at once. It is already done. He knows ahead of time whether or not we will do what He asks, or whether He will do what we ask. The purpose of prayer is 1)for us to have fellowship with our heavenly Father, which He wants more than anything. It’s why He created us. 2)He wants to give us the opportunity to work with Him wherever He is working. If we say no He will raise up someone else to do the job. That person will get the blessing and the one who refuses the offer will miss the blessing.

God does not promise He will always do our will. Sometimes, no matter how right we think we are, no matter how much we pray and ask God to do a particular thing, He says no and we don’t get what we asked for. The usual response is to get mad at God, turn your back on Him, and take matters into your own hands. It means we think God doesn’t do what is best for the situation. We don’t trust His judgment. We react out of hurt and anger, forgetting that God sees the end from the beginning. We are instructed in the Lord’s model prayer to pray for God’s will to be done. Trust Him. He’s NEVER wrong.

Claiming God’s Promises

by Aleta Kay

Here are a few things I have learned about getting your prayers answered (although all prayers do get answered: sometimes the answer is no; sometimes yes, and sometimes later).

Hebrews 11:6 says, “For without faith it is impossible to please him; but he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” We must believe that God exists and that He is all-powerful. We must believe that He wants to give us good things. Then we must diligently seek Him as if looking for a lost heirloom.

The way to get that faith is also through prayer. The book of James tells us we don’t get what we want either because we haven’t asked, or because we have asked for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing. John 15:5 says we can’t do anything on our own. We can’t even get the desire to pray without asking the Holy Spirit to give it to us. Then we have to put some effort into it. We have to open our Bibles, ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand what He is trying to tell us, then meditate on it. Let it sink into your heart so it becomes part of you.

Matthew 6:9-13 gives us the order of things we should pray for, starting with acknowledging God’s sovereignty.

Deliberately set aside a time for prayer and Bible reading, just as you would keep a doctor appointment. It might only be ten minutes, or it could be an hour. Then try to keep an open line of prayer throughout the day, because you never know what is coming. If we mess up, we should ask God to forgive us immediately and try not to do that again. That keeps the prayer line open.

Look for passages or verses where God is promising something. Write it down. Try to memorize it. The more you read it, and see results to your prayers, the more your faith will grow.

Now watch your prayers start getting answered. If not, contact me. I’d love to hear from you.