Release the Secret Weapon - A Five Minute Friday post.

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I woke up the other day hearing the Lord mid-sentence. We'll talk about what He shared with me next week, but the point is this: 

He is speaking... 
  and I am hearing!
           #JazzPraiseHands and #HallelujahAmen

But for now... this is Five Minute Friday... and our One Word Prompt is: RELEASE! 

{GO}

I'm not one to believe in coincidence. I know it is sometimes easier to reason things away but it seems with every weekly prompt as of late God has already been speaking to me all around the one word.

And with Release... well, it seems we are in a season of releasing things and the Lord is merciful and kind.  Even when it doesn't feel like it... even when He may need to pry my fingers open in order for me to let go!  

There are seasons that He calls us to step up and pick up some things, and oh boy - there are seasons when He calls us to step down and lay down some things, too!

But as soon as I saw the prompt I knew we would not really dig in to all of that quite yet! Maybe one day we'll talk about the laying down and letting go in order to make room for the unknown-whatever-is-next... but not today. Oh no... 

Today I want to talk about a secret weapon that should be anything but secret... and how He released it long ago and it is a GIFT for us to unwrap and put on... put to use... and how using it makes all the difference!

I've said it over and over... --I've talked about how Prayer is my Jam. 

I fell in love with Jesus and learned to pray all at the same time. It simply became the way I got to know Him. 

It didn't take long to find that it was a powerful tool, but many treated it like a Secret Weapon!  

It has never felt strange or strained for me to call out to Him in prayer --whether for my own need, or for yours, or in the middle of the night for Bangladesh or Mongolia... Yeah - sometimes He wakes me up to pray for people and nations whom I do not know.

Some of my favorite verses are all about Prayer...

"Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live." Ps 116:2 NKJV

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Jer 33:3 NKJV

"And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.

God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings, yet he also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, his holy ones, in perfect harmony with God’s plan and our destiny.

So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose." Rom 8:26-28 The Passion Translation

And those are just the first few that came to mind! 

Of course, there is also Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus Himself teaches us how to pray!  

I love how it reads in The Passion Translation:

"When you pray, there is no need to repeat empty phrases, praying like those who don’t know God, for they expect God to hear them because of their many words. There is no need to imitate them, since your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. Pray like this:

Our Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of your name be the center on which our lives turn. Manifest your kingdom realm, and cause your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is fulfilled in heaven. We acknowledge you as our Provider of all we need each day. Forgive us the wrongs we have done as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil. For you are the King who rules with power and glory forever. Amen..."

I learned early on to pray specifically, so when He answered, 'coincidence' was quickly ruled out and the testimonies of how He answered prayer immediately built my faith!

The problem I have seen over the years is that many do not put to use this weapon... this tool... this conversation that opens us up to Him and trains our ears and heart to hear His Voice in many different forms. I don't know if it is because the enemy convinces them that they don't know how to pray... or that prayer doesn't work or doesn't matter... or maybe that they need someone else to pray with them or for them... 

But I promise you, 
He longs to hear your voice! 
He longs to release the answer
to your prayers!

Prayer is a partnership! 
We talk, He listens...
and He talks, we listen.  

It's not a monologue or a long list to be checked* off one by one.  

It's a conversation... and like any friendship, it takes time to build up a rapport, to be able to cut to the chase and just dive in deep... but it is well worth the effort! 

Prayer is the Secret Weapon
that changes the world,
one heart... one life...
one whispered cry or
urgent need at a time! 

And it all starts with your willingness to put your heart into words and spill it out before Him!

He is the One who
knows what we need,
even when we can not know... 
or when we think we know,
but we are mistaken!

He is the one who
releases the angels,
releases the answers,
releases the Word that
will never return void!

He taught us how to pray
and He is ever praying FOR us...
He is our example and
the answer to every prayer!

He is --always has been,
always will be-- our secret weapon! 
And He loves to hear
our hearts and our voices,
when we call to Him in prayer!

{STOP}

(Five minutes will never ever be long enough to discuss the power of prayer... or the importance of it!)

I can honestly say that it has been the time I've spent in prayer --for myself and for others-- that has brought me the closest to the Fathers' heart and released within me a heart that beats to the rhythm of His!

What about you?  
Do you put to use this Secret Weapon? 
Do you have any testimonies
you can share in the comments
about the power of prayer? 

I'd love to hear!



*  = The official end of my Five Minutes!

The Five Minute Friday community is the best gathering of Flashmob writers around!  We wait for the one word prompt and we throw caution and hesitation and editing to the wind, and we let our fingers fly and our feelings feel and we just wait and see what flows out in five minutes (or so! Because, grace!) and we hit Publish without second guessing or backspacing! 

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about: "RELEASE"

The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!

Photo's courtesy of Unsplash

I'm also linking up with the lovely writer communities linked below:

Crystal Twaddell for #FreshMarketFriday

Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp

Barbie Swihart for #Glimpsesofhisbeauty

Jennifer Dukes Lee for #TellHisStory

LORI SCHUMAKER FOR #MOMENTSOFHOPE

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