{"id":23706,"date":"2015-01-01T00:20:55","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T05:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=23706"},"modified":"2014-12-31T22:13:12","modified_gmt":"2015-01-01T03:13:12","slug":"2014-three-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/01\/2014-three-things\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 &#8211; Three Things"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13840\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg\" alt=\"SeekingHimLogo\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg 560w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">If God is for us, who can ever be against us?<br \/>\nRomans 8:31b NLT<\/h3>\n<p>As I look back over the past year, there are three things God has shown me that have changed my perspective and my faith:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Yes, but&#8230;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Lay Me Down<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Pocket Prayer<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Yes, but&#8230;<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n<p>Those two words have made such a big difference in my life. \u00a0When satan tries to bring up the past, reminding me of my failures or stirs up feelings of guilt, regret, or condemnation &#8220;yes, but&#8230;&#8221; stops him in his tracks. \u00a0&#8220;Yes, but&#8230;look how far God has brought me.&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;Yes, but&#8230;look what God has done.&#8221; \u00a0According to the Scriptures:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged<br \/>\n[he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment;<br \/>\nfor him there is no rejection, no condemnation\u2014he incurs no damnation];<br \/>\nJohn 3:18a AMP<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.<br \/>\nRomans 8:1 NLT<\/p>\n<p>Satan despises those two words\u2014&#8221;<em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Yes, but<\/span><\/em>&#8230;.&#8221; \u00a0That simple phrase keeps me from getting caught up in the enemy&#8217;s trap and shifts my focus. Those two little words give me the opportunity to praise God for all He has done in my life.<\/p>\n<h4><em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Lay Me Down<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n<p>Too often I get in God&#8217;s way. \u00a0I run ahead of His plan. \u00a0I forget to seek His will. \u00a0One night in church we sang \u2018<strong><em>Lay Me Down<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 by Chris Tomlin. \u00a0The words of the chorus resonated deep within me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;I lay me down I&#8217;m not my own<br \/>\nI belong to You alone<br \/>\nLay me down, lay me down<br \/>\nHand on my heart this much is true<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s no life apart from You<br \/>\nLay me down, lay me down<br \/>\nLay me down, lay me down&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In John 13:38a (NIV) Jesus asks: \u201cWill you really lay down your life for me?\u201d \u00a0I must let go of my pride\u2014I have to give up my rights\u2014if I truly want His light to shine through my life.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><em>Pocket Prayer<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>I just finished this Max Lucado study. \u00a0It answered so many questions I had regarding prayer. \u00a0It completely changed my prayer life. \u00a0The idea behind it is simple (because prayer <em>should<\/em> be simple). The basic outline goes like this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #008080;\">Father, You are good.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #008080;\"> I need help. Heal me and forgive me.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #008080;\">They need help.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #008080;\"> Thank You.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #008080;\"> In Jesus&#8217; name.\u00a0Amen.<\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Simple, right? \u00a0Then I embellish it in the areas I need to pray about. \u00a0Funny, sometimes I get so caught up in the \u2018You are good&#8230;\u2019 and thanking Him that I forget to pray the rest. \u00a0And that&#8217;s ok. \u00a0After all, prayer is just a conversation with God. \u00a0If I am all out of words&#8230;beyond words&#8230;incapable of words, then I just pray this and the Holy Spirit takes it from there. \u00a0As Romans 8:26-27 (NASB) tells us:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness;<br \/>\nfor we do not know how to pray as we should,<br \/>\nbut the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;<br \/>\nand He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,<br \/>\nbecause He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.<\/p>\n<p>It is so freeing when I don&#8217;t have to worry about saying the right words or praying the perfect prayer. \u00a0As Max says &#8220;<em>Intercessory prayer isn&#8217;t rocket science. \u00a0It acknowledges our inability and God&#8217;s ability<\/em>.&#8221; \u00a0God&#8217;s ultimate Will is inflexible but we can alter His strategy with our appeals and intercession. \u00a0Hallelujah!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/maxlucado.com\/audio\/daily-audio\/before-amen-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to find the <em>Pocket Prayer Challenge<\/em>. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/beforeamen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">And here<\/a> for the <em>Before Amen<\/em> book.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"> *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 * <\/span><\/p>\n<p>I love Christian worship music. \u00a0Many, many songs have touched me this year. \u00a0But today, let me leave you with just one that speaks volumes about my life. \u00a0For no matter where I find myself in this life, His great grace always finds me.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mqd8MoiCbcI?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><center><\/center><center>Singer\/Songwriter: Matt Redman along with Jonas Myrin<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Romans 8:31b NLT As I look back over the past year, there are three things God has shown me that have changed my perspective and my faith: Yes, but&#8230; Lay Me Down Pocket Prayer Yes, but&#8230; Those two words have made such a big [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[1302,2489,5889,3367,1287,425,8136,7972,8137,1371,7662,8138,1721,2578,1773,3174,6764],"class_list":["post-23706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-chris-tomlin","tag-coffee-hour","tag-cynda-cottrill","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-john-1338","tag-john-318","tag-lay-me-down","tag-matt-redman","tag-max-lucado","tag-pocket-prayers","tag-romans-81","tag-romans-826-27","tag-romans-831","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-your-grace-finds-me","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6am","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23706"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23722,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23706\/revisions\/23722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}