PRAYER: Praise/Prayer & Rejoice/Request All to YOU, Eternal Redeemer
Philippians 4:4 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."REJOICE In The Lord Always; Again I Will say, REJOICE."....
Ah with Thanksgiving - Christmas - New Years once more behind us, there may be a tendency to ease-up, catch-one's-breath, and simply try to re-connect with the 'normal flow' of daily life.
BUT, as we all know and have experienced, trying to to do that can be even more of a challenge than all the craziness we find through the Holidays. There can be simply way-to-many distractions for us to simply focus on any one particular 'thing'. I will readily confess, over the past 120-days, with Team Johnson making the rounds through Transition Leave, Retirement Process, Praying/Pausing, Listening, Observing/(Striving to) Obey, Waiting on God's Revelation of His Next Adventure for Team Johnson....There's be a boatful of distractions keeping the normal flow in seeming perpetual flux....
Praise God, though, He Understands The Human Conundrum that we often create with no help from anyone but ourselves. Take a look, His Holy Spirit Helped Job who was deep in the midst of a raging storm REMEMBER Who his True REDEEMER really was, even at that moment in time His REDEEMER seemed far from him (which, By-The-Way, HE WAS NOT)....
Job 19:25 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."For I Know That my REDEEMER LIVES, And At The Last HE Will Stand Upon the earth."....
Job's Prophecy that his (and our) REDEEMER LIVES and Will At LAST Stand here on the earth is Quite the Comfort and Encouragement for us - we do, after all, Serve A LIVING Lord and Savior.
As I am pondering Job's Proclamation, I am Hearing His Holy Spirit mention that Job, though outwardly he was being plastered by the attacks of the evil one, Job was well 'encased' in The Whole Armor Of God. I also Hear His Holy Spirit Reminding me that He Stands Ready Each Moment of Each Day to Help us 'Put On' God's Whole Armor.....AND His Reminder that, what I call The Cape of God's Armor (Historic Note: The Roman Soldier often wore a Red Cape, which from afar the enemy could not tell the Roman Soldier was injured since the Cape covered and prevented the enemy for being able to see the Soldier bleeding.....)....Prayer is ever our Cape of Communication, sort of that 'outer-shell' of our Connection with/to God and He with us. I also find it of interest that as The Holy Spirit Provides us with His Roster of our God's Gear, Prayer is The Last Piece He Provides us, Yet One Of The Parts of our Gear Up that we Employ Constantly.....
Ephesians 6:18 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."PRAYING At ALL Times In The Spirit, With ALL PRAYER And Supplication. To That End, Keep Alert With ALL Perseverance, Making Supplication For ALL the saints,"....
So.....BLUF....I clearly hear The Lord Reminding me, regardless of how crazy, or hectic our lives seem to be (AND Even during those lulls, the quiet before the storm), we CAN (and indeed should) be Coming To Him In PRAYER....Thus I would offer up the following Paraphrase of PRAYER and Praise based on His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD as Paul Records in Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Pause and Praise Your Holy Name. Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your Living Example That we May Follow In Your Steps of Prayer and Praise. Holy Spirit, Calm us With Your Presence. Help us, Lord, to Not be anxious about anything. BUT, Father God, Remind us That In Everything By PRAYER And Supplication With our Proclaiming our Thanksgiving To You, May we Let ALL our Requests Be Made Known To You, O Lord, our God. And Lord Jesus, As You Promise, May The PEACE Of God The Father, Your PEACE, Which Surpasses ALL our human understanding, May You, Through Your PEACE, GUARD our Hearts And our Minds In You, O our Lord Christ Jesus. In Your Holy Name we Lift Up our PRAYERS and Praise....Amen and Amen....jaj
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