Tag: Job

A Vulnerable Prayer (for me)

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

Father God,

I know it is not a scheduled day to post a prayer in my Prayer Journal, but my heart is stirring within my soul to write a prayer to You. I pray you will lead this prayer. Guide my words. Pour out my soul. Speak Scriptural truth to me and to those joining me in prayer via this unscheduled prayer.

Father, much has been discussed this past week regarding our Foundation in Christ Jesus. Lord, no other foundation has been laid but that which is Christ. Lord, I stand on that foundation. I thank you for providing something equally sure and fluid. Lord, this foundation in Christ cannot be shaken, broken or harmed in any way. Yet it is fluid in its growth and constant expansion as, one by one, we call upon the Name of Jesus Christ in belief that He is the way, the truth and the life.

Standing on the promise of this foundation, I find my faulty structure. It’s my thoughts of myself. Father, I have a solid structure. I am confident in my building. I am consistent in my work by Your faithful measure of grace. But, Father God, I stunt my build when my thoughts take over. This. This is where I fail as your building, as your fellow worker.

Then, Lord, my Bible falls open to Job 27, and You open my eyes to a truth declared by a member of this Eternal Structure called the House of God. Lord, Job pours out a promise that pricked my heart and caused me to stand. Oh, Lord, how much power is found in the Word of God!

This morning this familiar passage became so new. For that I thank you for being a Living God and for gifting us with Your Living Scripture!

“As long as my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit (about me to me). I hold fast my righteousness (my truth in Him) and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days. -Job 27:3-4,6

Father, I pray that you will remind me to control my heart from reproaching myself within my thoughts.

  • Lord, bind the falsehoods that I spew toward me.
  • Lord, seal my lips from uttering deceit about me to me.
  • Lord, strengthen my truth of who I am in You as a solid structure standing on a sure foundation!

Oh, Lord! How good You are, my Father, my God!

Prayer Sister,

If you can relate to the words of this vulnerable prayer, please take it personal. Pray these words from your heart to God’s heart. Write Job’s declarative promise on paper. Commit it to memory. Fight those inner thoughts with the power of Scripture. Stand with me on the sure foundation of Christ Jesus. We are not fighting this battle alone.

XOXO

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Don’t throw a stone at a preacher

- JaclynPalmer 2 Comments

This happens. I wrote about it in my next book. This excerpt was cut from my sample chapter nine. My prayer is that this little snippet will cause you to bend a knee in prayer for preachers, their wives, and their children.

1 Corinthians 9 records the powerful message that stirred my simple words of truth.

” Can you believe this is an issue? Preachers of the Word being judged for the shoe they wear or the car they drive. They must be so careful in the price tag on their clothes, of their house, and in the appearance of their children. My question is, Why? Why can’t a preacher look as if he gets paid for what he does? Is it because he gets paid from our checkbooks. Do we take his purchases personally?

Could it be that we cut a 10% check, put it in the basket, cover it in prayer and the Lord turns our sack lunch into the feeding of the five thousand? Could it be that it is not about our tithe, but about his obedience to preach the word in season and out of season? Could it be that he has a job and he gets paid for working? Furthermore, could it be that his shoes are not about us at all?

Perhaps.

I know some of us hold images in our memories from the eighties. Memories of Preachers behaving ungodly in their finances. Memories of preachers hurting the name of Christ with their love for one more dollar. May I say, that will always happen regardless of occupation.

Let us not put the behaviors of another pastor or preacher on the shoulders of the one providing our Spiritual meal today. Rather, that we hold our pastors and their families up in prayer. Pray they will be strong enough to withstand the judgmental stones thrown at them, yet soft enough to demonstrate compassion upon the heart of the stone thrower.”

Pastors are monumental in the family of God. We need them, truly. My heart smiles when I get to talk with a pastor. It truly fills my heart. Not because they are on a pedestal, but because they choose to do what they were called to do.

That behavior is qualifications of a hero in my book.

Happy Friday! I hope this little post unites us in prayer and frees our grip from any possible stones.

Jaclyn.

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The Hope of the Godless is You

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

Jesus is the answer. It’s the obvious statement, right? To you and me, maybe. But what about to the heart that cannot cry to the ears of the Almighty, to those who choose not to believe in the Name of Jesus Christ.

What is the answer, what is the hope, for that person?


Amid his mire, Job discusses this exact question with his friends. “For what is the hope of the godless … Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?” – Job 27:8


Jesus is still the obvious answer to the hope of the godless. But if they are blinded from the Answer, then the question remains, what is the hope?


The hope of the godless, my sweet friend, is you.

Before you judge my theology, listen to this simple truth. God created all mankind. Jesus died and rose again for each person God created. How perfectly, God knows the heart of man, both of his children and of the godless.


In contrast, the Holy Spirit only resides in the heart of those who believe. Therefore, God only hears the cry of his child; he does not hear the cry of the godless*. As a child of God, we have an incredible gift in prayer.

Not only do we get to take our prayers to the very Creator of the vast universe, but we get to hear God’s prayers pressed on our hearts.


We get to pray! And God is wanting to be a part of it.

He wants to answer our prayers. He wants to comfort our hearts. And, yes, he wants to know all that is deep within our souls. But how sweetly God also desires to pray through you. To say to you, “I know the heart of a man, and I want you to pray for them.”


I venture to say, some of us remember when our identity was godless and hopeless. It is in this memory of our ‘Before and After’ that we pray for others. We pray for their hearts to be softened, for their eyes to open, and for the joy of salvation to overcome their souls.

We get to be the prayer warrior who fights for the salvation of another.

Seed by seed, prayer by prayer, little by little the prayers of the family of God unite for the unheard cries of the godless. What is the hope of the godless? The hope of the godless is found in the power of the prayer of the righteous.


Elihu (a friend of Job) answered, “If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him…then man prays to God, and God accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.” -Job 33:23-28


*John 9:31