MO #617... "If I Could be With You One Hour... (Overcoming Temptations)

LET THE

SONSHINE

..."Your eyes light up your inward being.

A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul."

Luke 11:34a

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If I Could Be With You One Hour...(Overcoming Temptations)

Remember your first love?

It was your first real love..you wanted to be with him/her every minute of every day, but it wasn't possible; remember thinking how wonderful it would be to just be alone with them for a short time each day? Like the old, old song goes, "If I could be with you one hour tonight..." Jesus sang His version of that song to me today and told me what was on His heart. He did it through a poem a dear friend sent to me.

The Lord reminded me of the importance of setting a personal hour aside each morning to be with Him. We can get so caught up in service TO Him, and it's sort of like when you're cooking a big holiday meal, you taste and piecemeal until your appetite is satisfied, then when it's time for the meal... you're just not hungry any more.

As I've prayed with and for you, I've included myself...and I take time out during the day for a quick prayer snack or two. But a friend of mine has been praying fervently for me in the early morning hours. I keep waking up very early...completely refreshed... wondering why I can't sleep. Today the Lord made it very clear... I'll explain what the Lord has said to me from the "Prayer Record" devotional prayer guide I have here.

(Matt. 26:36-45)

"Before Jesus was to be arrested in the garden He had asked His disciples, Peter, James, and John, to watch and pray with Him. When He returned, He found them sleeping.

Jesus' words to Peter were: 'What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that YE ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION: the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' (emphasis mine)

Jesus knew the great temptation that Peter would soon face...how he was to be tempted to deny Him, and He wanted Peter to be prepared to face that temptation victoriously. He wanted Peter to spend some personal time in prayer with Him.

Jesus, would also soon be tempted to. 'Let this cup pass from Me.' He would be tempted to reject going to the cross.

Jesus prayed and had the strength to overcome His temptation; Peter slept. Jesus, in that hour, prayed three times, 'O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.' Peter slept all three times that Jesus was praying. Peter later failed when tempted and denied the Christ he so dearly loved...not ONCE...but THREE times!

WITHOUT spending that one hour...that one hour that we set aside to be with Him personally each day, we will also fall into the temptations that we will face, for, like Jesus told Peter, 'The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' Every overcoming saint has a record of spending personal time with the Lord alone on a daily basis."

This was taken from a book I wrote some years back. Howfast we can forget things we already know...how easily it is to be tricked by the enemy...how swiftly the flesh can become weak when we get too busy to spend quiet personal time with Jesus.

"If I could be with you one hour..." He is saying to me and to you, "In one hour, we could discuss all of your problems. In one hour I could prepare you with Scripture and promises to call upon. In one hour I could cleanse your heart and send you forth a pure vessel to minister to others' needs for the day. In one hour I can make you stronger than any temptation that will come your way. In one hour we could really get to know each other and become the most intimate of friends. Will you spend just one personal hour with me each day?"

I confess and repent before you that I have broken my one continuous intimate personal hour with the Lord into bits and pieces during my busy days. I've prayed, but not taken the time to personally, privately, praise Him. He is ever on my mind, but I've not taken the quiet time to allow myself to dwell on His thoughts towards me. I've asked Him for forgiveness, and have determined that I will begin each and every day quietly and personally in His presence.

And to my friend that sent me the following poem...thank you for praying for me each morning and "waking me up" to my need for one hour with Him each day...I'm going to spend at least an hour with Him personally each morning before I begin the rest of the piecemeal prayers throughout the day...

Prayers are the stairs we must climb every day

If we would reach God, there is no other way

For we learn to know God when we meet Him in prayer

And ask Him to lighten our burden of care.

So start IN THE MORNING

And though the way's steep,

Climb ever upward...till your eyes close in sleep

For prayers are the stairs that lead to the Lord,

And to meet Him in prayer in the climber's reward.

There are some Scriptures, that as I read them, a Holy fear comes over me... I think, Oh, God...don't ever let this be me... Don't ever let it be said that You did not know me...that we were never intimate. For, you see, we can do many things FOR the Lord without ever truly knowing Him or being intimate with him...

Matthew 7:22-23

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"

I never KNEW you! This word "knew" is the same word that is used when it says that Adam KNEW Eve and they brought forth a son. It means to be intimate with...to be personal... to take time to be alone with. Many marriages fail because the intimacy is lost...and we can separate ourselves from our first love, Jesus, by becoming so busy that we do not take the time to be intimate with Him.

For the next week...turn off the TV, put down the romance novel in exchange for a TRUE romance, give up that sports activity...you know where you can find an hour...find it, set it aside and spend it alone with Jesus. And then report back to me about what an awesome week you had...

In Him and He in me,

Marlene \o/

MARCHING ORDERS #617

Marching orders are paraphrased verses out of the Living Bible. No commentary is added...they are the pure Word of God.

"As Christ's soldier do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs, for then you cannot satisfy the one who enlisted you in his army." II Timothy 2:4 L/B

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.

O Lord, hear me praying; listen to my plea, O God my King, for I will never pray to anyone but you. Each morning I will look to You in heaven and lay my requests before you, praying earnestly.

I love the Lord because he hears my prayers and answers them. Because he bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I breathe!

Don’t recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do, who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

The Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how to pray as we should; but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.

So I want men everywhere to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from sin and anger and resentment.

Pray all the time. Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes. Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere.

If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask for, my Father in heaven will do it for you.

(Living Bible)

Philippians 4:6.

Psalms 5:1-3.

Psalms 116:1-2.

Matt. 6:7-8. - Rom. 8:26.

I Tim. 2:8. - Eph. 6:17.

Matthew 18:19.

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