Do What you Say You’ll Do

I’m sharing my heart with you today…

Yesterday was day one, of our church community participating in a 21-Day-Daniel Prayer and Fasting. Over 1000 people signed up to pray and fast. How amazing is that!

Because of health challenges instead of fasting food I am fasting social media. I absolutely love the interaction I have with people all over the world and to interact with friends and family I wouldn’t see otherwise. Many people contact me for prayer and I am honored to pray for them and to hear how God has moved in their lives. Prayer is my passion along with writing and I thank God he put that desire within me.

There comes a time as a child of God, that he calls us to a deeper calling…deep calls to deep…and when we are obedient to his call…God meets us right where we are…and honors us by showing us his heart and his desires…

It takes prayer, and fasting. A time that we willingly, make a sacrifice, showing God just how serious we are to follow him…He said, “This kind, come not out but by prayer and fasting….What kind?

This kind: deliverance from powerful demons; deliverance from addictions and habits that will kill our body, soul and spirit. Prayer and fasting will increase our faith to cast this kind of demon out…

Prayer and fasting brings us closer to God face to face, it reveals to us our sin and weakness and it purges us from this kind of deep hidden sin so that we flow with the Spirit of God. Not focusing on the food or the sacrifice we give up…but all our being is focused on the Spirit of God and what He wants…

Prayer and fasting humbles us before the Lord…our heart and mind and soul becomes awakened by the Holy Spirit and we see into the heart of God…

Yes we still have to function in the world…go to work, take care of our family, do the mundane day to day things…but when we set aside special time to seek God and let go of all the distractions…we are illuminated with grace and mercy…

It’s not about feelings or diets or pride…you may not encounter a great vision or visitation of miraculous encounters…but you will encounter the Spirit of the Living God by faith…faith is a knowing and a certainty it is the revelation of Jesus Christ and who He is and that he has called us into his glorious light.

Yesterday I read some scripture, and did some reading from an inspirational book keeping my heart and mind on the Lord. I prayed and listened for the voice of the Holy Spirit. I went about my tasks…then late last night I watched a TV program on Pure Flix. (And by the way, I don’t consider that social media, if it is then I repent.) The movie was called the Prayer Box. In the first few minutes of the movie I burst into tears because conviction hit me full force as I saw this young man, (he was thirteen) knell at his church altar. Everyone prayed a few minutes then one by one they went back to their seat so the minister could continue the service…the boy stayed at the altar praying…the minister wanted to go on with the service so he knelt by the boy and said, son why don’t you write your prayer request down and put it in the prayer box. So he did. After the service the boy left but he forgot his jacket so he went around the side of the building and as he looked he saw the minister cleaning up, he took the prayer box and emptied it into the trash…the boy waited until he was gone he went over and took the request out of the trash there were about four requests…there are four parts to the movie, you’ll have to watch the rest of the story to see what happened…God really spoke through this to me.

How many times do we tell people, “I’ll pray for you, or I’ll be praying for you?” But do we pray? Are we praying for them? This is the part that hit me hard…even though I am a prayer warrior and have a passion for praying and I pray for many people…there have been times when I said, I’ll pray and walk away and I forget…I try very hard to do what I say because I don’t want to dishonor the Lord… I don’t want to bring condemnation. The Holy Spirit doesn’t do that. He brings conviction. Conviction brings repentance and God gives the victory!

I guess what the Holy Spirit is saying is, “Are you doing, what you say, you’re going to do?”

Let our yes, be yes, and our no, be no! We are human and we do forget but let us become more aware of what we say and do it. Let us be people of integrity, honor and truth so that we are doing right before God and man. Let the purpose and calling of God be carried out so that he can trust us with his plan.

Lord, help us take action and do what we say we’ll do. Not so that we gain praise for ourselves, but that always, what we do will be to glorify you. Amen.

~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 15, 2019

Matthew 5:37 The Message (MSG) Empty Promises

“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

Matthew 17:20-22 Amplified Bible (AMP) He answered, “Because of your little faith [your lack of trust and confidence in the power of God]; for I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have [living] faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and [if it is God’s will] it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.[But this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.]”