Stay vigilant

I urge you to be especially vigilant regarding the faithfulness of priest and consecrated persons to the commitments made at their ordination or entry into religious life... The authenticity of their witness requires there be no dichotomy between what they teach and the way they live each day. ~~ Pope Benedict XVI, speaking to the bishops in Cameroon

Do not give up

Do not accept the temptation to give up! The adage “Prayer changes things” is more than a trite phrase, a willful wish or a powerless Christian cliché. I know that on the surface prayer seems like an incredibly ineffective weapon in the face of such malignant hatred and violence toward the Jewish people. Yet I am convinced that if we were ever to realize the true power of Spirit-directed and Spirit-inspired prayer, we would be shocked.
...The significance of the power of prayer is not based upon the strength or ability of the person praying. Rather, it is rooted in the immeasurable power of God and the awesome force He releases in response to fervent intercession. As the Scriptures declare, “The effective prayer of righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16). ~~ James W. Goll, The Coming Israel Awakening

The Discipline of Prayer

I am the ground of thy beseeching; first, it is my will thou shalt have it; after, I made thee to will it; and after I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that thou shouldst not have they beseeching? ~~ Juliana of Norwich

Holding His Name Holy

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:7) “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be you name.” (Matthew 6:6) Reflect and repent if you have not regarded the name of the Father or Jesus Christ with awe, reverence and repent if you have not regarded the name of the Father or of Jesus Christ with awe, reverence and respect or if you have held it in contempt and used it in damning or casual cursing. Offer prayers of repentance for how multitudes of celebrities and entertainers mock, degrade, ridicule, and blaspheme the name of God and of Jesus. Pray that the Holy Spirit instruct you and Christians in your area to “hallow” the name of God as Jesus did. ~~ Intercessors for America prayer letter

With God

Have the faith of God. Christ in us is greater than we know. With God, all things are possible if you dare to believe rather than assume.

In His Face

The Lord has shown me the key to Job’s salvation, the thing that brought him through to the other side. Despite all his wrestlings, his questions, his anger, his self-pity, his depression and his indignation, he kept his face toward God. You can get away with almost anything if you do it in the face of God. (Please do not misunderstand me; I am not saying you can get away with moral failure or outright sin.) You can rant, you can rave, you can kick, you can yell, you can have a temper tantrum, you can have a pity-party, as long as you do it in God’s face. I’m not saying it’s okay to do those thing; but I am saying that if you do them in the face of God, He will bring you through. ~~ Bob Sorge, In His Face

Early Church

In the early Church, the power of the corporate body watching and praying in one accord was the key to the release of what we define as the apostolic ministry: preaching the gospel with signs, wonders and miracles. ~~ Mahesh Chavda