6th day to PRAY for 2015!

As we stand on the front steps of 2015, I am celebrating the opportunity to pray with you. There is power in our praying! At whatever day you have jumped on this prayer chain of 15 days, you have chosen a powerful weapon of offense on behalf of your family! You have drawn a line in the sand and taken your stand on the watch! Let us continue moving forward as front line warriors! So far, we have prayed:

Day 1 – for the lines of purpose and a perspective of hope
Day 2 – our position in Jesus Christ and abandoning ourselves to this place of love
Day 3 – a posture of open hands
Day 4 – trusting in his presence and his promise
Day 5 – living in the pleasant places of Father’s word and truth

Today, Father led me to the word power and speaking the power of blessing over our home and family. I received this phrase and teaching from a friend named Kerry Kirkwood, a pastor in Tyler, Texas. Kevin Walker introduced Ron and I to Kerry, and we had the great privilege of having he and his wife at our home for dinner with our small group one evening. His teaching on the power of blessing has been revolutionary in Ron and I’s life, and I wanted to share it with you.

Just as Jesus spoke blessing over us (Luke 24:50-51), so we speak blessing over our lives, our world and our community (1 Peter 3:8-9). Before Jesus ascended to heaven after the resurrection, this was his final action. Luke writes that “he lifted up His hands and blessed them.” After this action, he was “carried up into heaven.” We should take note and join Peter when he writes to bless, “knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.”

Kirkwood writes: “True blessing spoken over someone or something is describing the way God sees them. This is a prophetic insight to see the way someone or something is supposed to be, not how they may appear to be at the moment. . . . When we declare God’s intentions, we release His ability to change things from what they are into His desired plan. What a radically different response from what we naturally tend to do! We tend to overstate the problem without stating any of God’s intended plans. It’s no surprise when our prayers are more of a reporting nature than praying the solution. . . . Precious time is wasted when we continually rehearse the disaster that will occur if God does not come through in a situation. It’s with the eyes of faith that we look at the situation through God’s perspective.”

So, I am inviting you today to add to your posture of “open hands” a decision to speak blessing at the beginning of this year of 2015! I have attached 2 sample prayers of blessing from The Power of Blessing by Kerry Kirkwood. Speak them today over your home and family! I promise you that you will experience the power of what Kirkwood writes when you engage in this activity.

The Power of Blessing sample prayers