Posted on FaceBook Feb 26, 2021 KINGDOM PRAYER FOR THE NATION 4 ALL IN! “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) I began reading “Choosing the Extraordinary Life” by Dr Robert Jeffress last night. I’m only 50 pages in but already hooked. Dr Jeffress uses the humble ordinary life of Elijah to illustrate how God calls ordinary people, like you and me, to use them for His purposes. If we have not surrendered to God, learning to hear His voice as we draw near to him, we might miss that call and fail to obey. My morning prayer, following 2 Chronicles 7:14, focused on my commitment to doing God’s will and asking Him to use me as He saw fit. As I am getting up off my knees, I glance at my phone to see the time and notice an incoming email from “First15,” one of the devotionals I subscribe to. The title was “God wants to use you.” By now, one would think I would be used to the way God speaks to me. But every time it happens, it blows me away. Lately that’s been happening a lot. Some pastors and preachers talk about being a Christian. “Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the Scripture?” But they often don’t complete the picture. What does that look like? How do we get there? How can we apply that in our own lives? I started these mini-blogs (and sometimes not so mini) to share one passion driving me: the need to surrender everything to God and obey His call. He can do a much better job with our lives than we ever could. We must, however, be ALL IN! My purpose in sharing the story of my life is not to get you to be me. We are each unique, created in God’s image, and He deals with each of us in a unique way. My purpose is to first give Him all the glory, then to show you what a surrendered life can produce in your own walk and to encourage you to seek that surrendered life yourself. Forsake the ordinary life. Choose the Extraordinary life in the presence of God. That is what this trip to Lebanon, KS, in two weeks is all about: doing God’s will. God has been equipping me in earnest these last 4 years. I’ve learned to discern His voice, not in a normal conversational sense, because He doesn’t talk to me that way. He draws my attention by dropping devotionals, podcasts, Scripture references in my lap. He uses Super Bowl commercials. And only because I am committed to be being All In, am I able to hear His voice. He’s in the driver’s seat and rarely does He take the shortest, smoothest route. It’s more like Corpus Christi streets: full of dead ends, detours, construction and potholes. I just have to keep my focus on Him and trust He knows what He is doing. And along the way, He has given me a third passion (the second being the ministry of tending to the broken hearted through GriefShare and DivorceCare.) Four months before the pandemic grabbed the world by the throat, He placed on my heart the need for a REVIVAL among His people. Like Abram, I have no idea what this upcoming trip is going to reveal. At least I know where I’m going. And I suspect this trip, in addition to praying for the healing of our land, is to spark that Revival. Please continue to pray with us, for the healing of our nation and the world. Listen to God’s voice and allow Him to use you to spark a revival among His people. Be Blessed.