Week Eleven! ~ 10-5-2006

Hello and a Beautiful, Happy Day to one and all!! J

I am sitting at my desk finishing my Nectarine and beginning this email so that when I get home I need only finish up…but I cannot remember what week I am on now!  What a blessing to get this far.  I would love to go on and on but I don’t believe my purpose is to detail my faith high but rather to inspire ya’ll and encourage your own personal growth in our amazing Lord.  I have a prayer list that seems to grow by the day…some mornings I think, Lord if I didn’t know you better I’d worry I am too lengthy in my prayer requests.  Yet I know in my heart He loves to hear from me and from all of us.  Thinking of all the people on my prayer list and the different things for which I am praying for I began to feel inspired just this afternoon to touch on fear.  Fear is something we have to pray away…it is something most all of us experience…nevertheless the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  God is impressing upon us that fear comes from Satan, that little stinker plants it in our minds and lets us fight internally with it.  Our wonderful Lord is showing us thru His word that we need to ask Him to remove this fear from us and replace it with trust in Him, and with power, love and sound minds!  How awesome is our God indeed!  Then we can be as God wishes for us, as said in Psalm 112:7, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” These evil tidings can be the tragedies in the world around us, or sickness of ourselves or a loved one, or losing a job, being separated from loved ones, or countless other things that can raise the fear level as planted in our minds by the evil one.  I read an awesome reflection on Bible.com encouraging us to reach out to our fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ.  We should never feel embarrassed when the evil tidings overwhelm us...instead we should ask the Holy Spirit to impress upon someone's heart to pray for us...better yet, we should speak up and ask of our friends and family to pray with us and for us.  God knows we need the Body of Christ, His church, especially when we are afraid, or hurting, or depressed...He knows and He has given us this awesome and powerful gift of prayer.  We can give this gift to others when we pray for them.  Someone, we'll call them Smoochy, once told me that a close friend of theirs, we'll call them Scruffy...well, Scruffy had been upset that Scruffy was not made aware of Smoochy's particular problem before it was solved.  Scruffy said they were upset that Smoochy had denied Scruffy the right to pray for them!  Don't feel embarassed, or shy about sharing your troubles with your friends and family...if they're anything like Scruffy then they WANT the right to pray for you in your time of need!  In return, pray for them right back!  Pray thankfulness for having caring friends and family.  Praise God for blessing you with the wonderful people who surround you!  I praise God everyday for each and every one of you - without you I would be talking to myself right now!  Seriously though, I truly feel that you are all a blessing to me, whether you are near or far...I am blessed beyond measure just for knowing you!!  Yes, you!!  ALL of you!  Just for the record...it's Week 11.   I am praying this week that God may fill you with love, power, strength and a sound mind, and that He remove any fears and/or doubts clouding your life.  I also pray that He continue to allow me the great honor of your time each week as you share in my thoughts and reflections on His Word and His promises and His great power and love in our lives.   I continue to pray that God surrounds you with His love, favor and blessings this day, this week and always.  Have an awesome weekend and week ahead!
Love through Christ,
Niki

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