I've added the reading of a little book to my quiet time. It is a collection of prayer answers. Not prayers themselves, but God's answers to us. I've been reading the prayers till I come across one that speaks to me for the day. Here's todays, which I thought was perfect for all of you:
You do not trust yourself to pray rightly. But there is no prayer I cannot hear. I know you voice. I know it as a shout or a whisper. I know it as a sigh or a moan. Any prayer is a prayer that reaches me. I am always listening for you...You are my creature. Your ways are known to me. I am attentive. You are in my care. Prayer reminds you, more than it does me, of our loving relationship. I love you always. I listen before you speak. You cannot pray a prayer I cannot hear.
-- Julia Cameron, Answered Prayer
(Julia Cameron is a controvertial writer when it comes to spirituality - she's not a traditional "Christian". I'm telling you this so you don't assume I'm blind to this controversy. That said, I find maybe one in ten (or less) "answers" or issues that I believe to be an error biblically speaking. But I've never found a traditional "Christian" error-less and so I choose to seek out the good and the blessing in her work (of which there is much) rather than discarding her at hand.)

Read About It: Exodus 3:12-15 (where God revealed his name as Yahweh)
I believe I've mentioned that I'm working through a devotional book on the names of God, in line with my last entry I thought I'd share this quote about God's name "Yahweh" with you.
The amazing events of Exodus defined who Yahweh was in extraodinary detail. Yahweh - Israel's faithful, wonder-working God, the One who out of pity and love reached into human history to untie the bonds of an enslaved people - that was the name by which God wanted to be forever known.
--Ann Spangler, Praying the Names of God, A Daily Guide

Read About It: Hebrews 10:23
Do you daydream about what you'd like to do in the years that lie ahead? Have you considered the possibility that these daydreams may in fact be the will of God for your life - dreams he placed deep down inside your spirit that are starting to be awakened? Is it possible that this is the timing for God's dream for your life to be ignited in your soul? ... When kata and echo are compounded into the word katecho, it literally means to embrace something tightly. However, because of the word kata, we know that this is the image of someone who finds the object of his dreams and then holds it down - taking control of it, dominating it - even sitting on it so it deosn't slip away! [ katecho in the above verse is "hold fast" - Megan ] ... This is the attitude you must have if you want to see your God-given dreams come to pass. you have to wrap your arms around that word from God and never stop believing and pursuing your dream until it comes to pass. If you'll katecho your dream, it won't be able to get away from you, nor will anyone else be able to take it away from you!
The word Katecho in Hebrews 10:23 could be interpreted this way:
"And let us hold fast to our confession, tightly wrapping our arms around it and embracing it with all our might, rejecting all attempts of anyone who tries to steal it from us..."
When you finally discover God's will for your life - when His plan finally begins to awaken in your heart and you know exactly what you are to do - hold fast to that dream. Tightly embrace what God has shown you. Seize it - wrap your arms of faith around it. Hold it down, and Hold it tight! -- Rick Renner, Sparkling Gems from the Greek (my copy arrived in the mail last week!)

My friend lent me her husband's book (with his permission of course) and I've already decided to buy my own copy (I've only had it one day). I'm going to type in yesterday's devotion, it's a little long but fascinating. I hope you enjoy it.
Read About It: Hebrews 4:12 You Have a Two-Edged Sword
What is the significance of the "two-edged sword" referred to in Hebrews 4:12? If you start looking, you'll find out this phrase regarding a "two-edged sword" appears all over the New Testament, so it must be pretty important.
For instances, when the apostle John received his vision of Jesus on the isle of Patmos he said, "And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his contenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." (Revelation 1:16). Notice that this "two-edged sword" came out of Jesus' mouth! Why would Jesus have a sword in His mouth? Shouldn't the sword have been in His hand?
The phrase "two-edged" is taken from the Greek word distomos and is unquestionably one of the oddest words in the New Testament. Why is it so odd? Because it is a compound of the word di, meaning two, and the word stomos, which is the Greek word for one's mouth. Thus, when these two words are compounded into one (distomos), they describe something that is two-mouthed! Don't you agree that this seems a little strange? So why would the Bible refer to the Word of God repeatedly as a "two-edged sword" or literally a "two-mouthed sword"?
The Word of God is like a sword that has two edges, cutting both ways and doing terrible damage to an aggressor. Ephesians 6:17 calls it "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (see Feburary 8). As noted the term "word" is taken from the Greek word rhema, which describes something that is spoken clearly, vivdly, in unmistakable terms and undeniable language. In the New Testament, the word rhema carries the idea of a quickened word.
Here's an example of a rhema or a quickened word: You are praying about a situation and suddenly a Bible verse rises up from inside your heart. At that moment, you are consciously aware that God has given you a verse to stand on and to claim for your situation. You've received a word that came right out of the mouth of God and dropped into your spirit! That word from God was so sharp that it cut right through your questions, intellect, and natural logic and lodged deep within your heart.
After you meditated on that rhema, or that quickened word from God, it suddenly began to release its power inside you. Soon you couldn't contain it any longer! Everything within you wanted to declare what God had said to you. You wanted to say it. You want to release it out of your mouth! And when you did, those powerful words were sent forth like a mighty blade to drive back the forces of hell that had been marshaled against you, your family, your business, your ministry, your finances, your relationship, or your body.
First, that word came out of the mouth of God. Next, it came out of your mouth! When it came out of your mouth, it became a sharp, "two-edged" - or literally, a "two-mouthed" - sword. One edge of this sword came into existence when the Word of God proceeded out of YOUR mouth!
The Word of God remains a one-bladed sword when it comes out of God's mouth and drops into your heart but is never released from your own mouth by faith. That supernatural word simply lies dormant in your heart, never becoming the two-edged sword God designed it to be
But something happens in the realm of the Spirit when you finally rise up and begin to speak forththat word. The moment it comes out of your mouth, a second edge is added to the blade! nothing is more powerful than a word that comes from God's mouth and then from your mouth. You and God have come into agreement, and that agreement releases His mighty power into the situation at hand!
So begin to willfully take the Word into your spirit by meditating on it and giving it a place of top priority. This is how you take the first necessary step in giving the Word a "second edge" in your life. Then when you are confronted by a challange from the demonic realm, the Holy Spirit will be able to reach down into the reservoir of God's Word you have stored up on the inside of you and pull up the exact scripture you need for that moment.
At that quickened rhema word from God begins to first fill your heart and mind and then come out of your mouth, it becomes that "two-mouthed sword" described in the Scriptures. That's when demons start to tremble in terror!
Sparkling Gems from the Greek By Rick Renner
I am so buying this book! If you are interested in Word Studies (Jana) you'll probably enjoy this book as much as me.

I have a friend who keeps in his billfold a list of the consequences of sin - consequences such as these:
• Sin steals joy (Psalm 51:12)
• Sin removes confidence (1 John 3:19-21)
• Sin brings guilt (Psalm 51:3)
• Sin gives Satan the upper hand (2 Corinthians 2:9-11)
• Sin quenches God's Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
• Sin brings physical damage (Psalms 38:1-11; 31:10)
•Sin causes an ache in the soul (Psalm 32:3-4)
• Sin break's God's heart (Ephesians 4:30)
•Sin opens the door to other sins (Isaiah 30:1)
• Sin breaks fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:1-2)
• Sin produces fear (Proverbs 28:1)
• Sin makes me its slave (John 8:34; Romans 6:16)
When he is tempted to disobey God on some matter, my friend pulls out that list and reads it. He asks himself, "Is this a price I really want o pay? Is this a price I can afford to pay?"...

Grant me never to loose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss - The Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free [The prayer is an old Puritan prayer, not one Nancy wrote - she credits it to The Valley of Vision]

When we throw ourselves into religious activities without having made our life onr of prayer, we run into danger. Our days and nights are filled with teaching or printing a newsletter, working in an outreach program or a food bank. We feel we are doing the Lord's work, and perhaps we are. But we will never know unless we take the time to listen to his voice and be certain we are following his promptings and not ambitious ones that start in self. We mus always ask ourselves whether we are working to please God or to satisfy our own need for acheiving results. Judith C. Lechman
Ouch... I think that one bumped something that hurts!

Read About It: 1 Kings 17
When God wants us to take a deeper step with him he will allow the wonderful experience of ours to dry up. He will withhold the rain, and there will be no power, only as we move on. This brook that once fed and nourished us will not be the food for us now. Elijah drank from this brook but when it was God's time for him to move forward, he was obedient to the Spirit's voice.
God didn't want him to stay where there was no rain or power. As long as there was power or water in the brook, it was all right to stay; but now he wants you to go where there is rain. Marie Burgess [Brown] (Read the above scripture to understand this quote in context)

We spend vast amounts of time and energy crafting a thesis in our heads of how life should play out. Then Almighty God spends an incrediably brief amount of time blowing our thesis to bits.
Ray Blackstone, A Delirious Summer - Yep, it's from fiction, and yet, oh so true!

My mom gave me a lovely devotional journal (leather cover, nice soft pages) with quotes from the NIV Women's Devotional Bible 2 in it. This quote lined up perfectly with my last entry, and it's a lesson I sometimes need to remember, so I thought I'd share it! I love God's little "coincidences".
"Sometimes I need to see God and do more than just acknowledge his presence. I need to drop everything else and run to him. I need to forsake the housework, the shopping, and the thousand other things that occupy my time, and go to him for atime of togetherness."
Janice Kempe

The moment I read this paragraph I knew I not only needed to post it, I needed to make it my logo, my disclaimer, link to it and set it in flashing lights. It's not so much helpful to you in your life (or maybe it is) but it will be helpful to you in reading my work.

If I seem to show too little respect for your opinions or thoughts, be assured I have equal doubts about my own, and I don't mind if you think I'm wrong. I'm sure I'm wrong about many things, although I'm not exactly sure which things I'm wrong about. I'm even sure I'm wrong about what I think I'm right about in at least some of the cases. So wherever you think I'm wrong, you could be right. If, in the process of determining that I'm wrong, you are stimulated to think more deeply and broadly, I hope that I will have somehow served you anyway. Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy

Ok... It's from a work of fiction (but something worthwhile needed to come of an afternoon of lounging around with my novel!), no really, this really, truly spoke to me and I wanted to share it with all of you.
"And me. Jodi Marie Baxter. Redeemed to be...me! Not the good girl I thought I was for so many years. Not the hopeless sinner I discovered myself to be. But the woman God created me to be - helped along by sisters so different from myself, who weren't afraid to knock off the rough edges of my pettiness and self-righteousness and judgemental spirit. Yet who accepted me just for myself.
Already wet, I raised my arms toward the sky, yelled, "Thank you, Jesus!" and fell backwards into Lake Michigan..." - The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real By Neta Jackson

My husband bought me a poster with this on it, I like it a lot.
He who works with his hands is a labourer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist.
St. Francis of Asissi

This is from my study on the Fruit of Self-Control - She's looking at Psalm 63. It spoke directly to my heart (something I need to work on) so I thought I would share with you.
"God--you're my God! I can't get enough of you! I've worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts." Psalm 63:1 MSG
"The Hebrew word for "earnstly" [The phrase "I can't get enough of you!" in the MSG quoted here - Megan] is "shachar", and it means "dawn, early, to search for with painstaking, rise, seek diligently, in the morning." We can conclude that the general idea of "shachar" is "rising in immediate pursuit." Psalm 63 opens in the earliest moment of the day, reminding us that a victorious day begins with a victorious morning! You may be saying "But, I'm not a morning person." I understand. But the problem is: God is a morning Person!" Beth Moore, Living Beyond Yourself

"When we hear the words eternal life, most of us tend to interpret that as "a life that waits for us in eternity." But eternal means "unending" not "later." "
John Eldredge, Waking the Dead

"The devil fears nothing like prayer. He knows that if he can break our communication with God, he has cut us off from all power. Hence, he sentinels the gateway of prayer with his seducing agents. He deadens the spiritual sensibilities, hatches excuses, makes evasions in the mind, causes us to suddenly grow dull and drowsy and indolent, and in a thousand other ways he works untiringly to keep us from getting hold of God in earnest prayer.
He engineers strange circumstances to keep us from our knees. He incites a false zeal and, in a multitude of church activities, crowds out prayer. To the degree that he succeeds in causing us to neglect prayer, he has won the day. Our victory comes in arousing and stirring up all the faculties of taking hold of God in the combats of prayer. Sarah Elias Foulkes, 1936
Talk about convicting morning reading...

From this mornings devotional reading:
" As I write, this is the third Sunday when all places of worship in Springfield have been closed on account of the plague, permitted by God, over our whole country, called the Spanish Influenza. I know that in other districts the same conditions prevail. Surely God is letting His children find out how even now how much they have of Him in their lives.
How much are we depending on each other for spiritual food? Does our Pastor do most of our thinking and Bible reading and praying for us at the meetings we have been accustomed to attending? Or are we in the place spiritually where we can live in direct touch with God for the supply of our every need? Surely we need the prayer closet as never before, and as we wait before the Lord there, our strength will be renewed, and the Spirit of God will reach us things He desires us to know." Alice Rowlands Frodsham November 1918

I'm doing a Beth Moore study, I know lots of people live and breath Beth Moore, I don't. I just happen to own this study and it coincides with another one I'm teaching. Anyway... Today I'm reading on God's kindness and found this quote. It's an amazing truth, that I have to admit, has never occured to me before!

"We will never be successful as parents to our children until we are successful at being children to our Heavenly Father." Beth Moore - Living Beyond Yourself (p.134)