Many people pray but few are prevailing and returning with their testimonies. (Christian Life-True Love Fostering Fellowship, peace, victory and success in life-Steps with God-Ngozi Nwoke). It is said, it takes prevailing in prayer to conquer the challenges in your lives. Knowing how to travail in prayer empowers you to prevail at all times. I found these steps to prevailing prayer by Ngozi Nwoke I thought it to be worth sharing here. She used the examples of Isaiah 66:7-8-Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16-17(KJV).

This reminded us that Elias prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. Why travail? Because it engages your heart. It pours your soul to the Lord. Engaging your heart results in explosive answered prayers. Matthew 25:3 “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. Matthew 25-26-the Lord tells us to keep watch -for we do not know the day or the time of His coming. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:41

“Watch” was often associated with guidance, direction by the light, and by the Spirit. Though it may be symbolic, if our lamps have no oil, we cannot see where we are going. There is a whole sermon here, but by watching and praying we are putting a guard around us to keep us from falling into temptation, and from missing the coming of our King. Matthew 25-26

A personal story about travailing: I worked for the state and our head nurse, wonderful lady-was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. At the end of shift, it was announced that she had weeks or days to live. My heart was moved with compassion, and I sensed that a travail was stirring in me so thinking it may pass quickly -I went to the lady’s room. There I began to travail as quietly as possible, when it did not lift quickly, I just left and drove home. At home I travailed praying in the Spirit- 3 hours total. I felt it lift. I decided to go on with my evening. The next day I was told that her prognosis had changed, things were not as grave, she was still in the hospital. I decided after work to go to the hospital to see her. I walked in her room and she was so happy to see me. She said, “Thank you for coming to see me yesterday and praying for me.” She said, “I was so sick and you walked into the room and put your hands on me and prayed, and it seemed like things turned around right away.” I said -“Yesterday? “She said, “Yes, thank you so much for praying!” Well, I was about to say I was never there yesterday, and instead I just said, “You are welcome”, not knowing what to make of this myself, and certainly not wanting to dishearten my sick friend. After all -who was encouraged about feeling so much better! I was just a vessel who engaged my heart to provoke divine intervention on behalf of my friend. All Glory to God!

Maybe you have not made a decision to ask Jesus into your heart and life yet, perhaps this message went over your head, I just want to tell you that you can just talk to the Lord and He will listen to what you are asking Him. Jeremiah 33:3 “Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don’t know and can’t find out.”(CEV)

Just say Jesus, I do believe that You are real, You died for my sins, to give me a fresh start, You rose again, to give me a new life eternally, forgive me of all the sin I have been stuck in, give me Your Holy Spirit, set my life anew, change me forevermore. Thank you, Jesus!!!In Your name Amen!

How to prevail in prayers:

1. Engage your heart to provoke divine intervention.1 Samuel 2:13-19
2. It takes groaning in the Spirit to travail in prayers. Romans 8:26-28, I John 5:14-15
3. Engage in a cry of faith. Mark10:47-52
4. Engage effectual fervency in prayer. James 5: 16-18

“I asked the Lord for help, and He saved me from all my fears. “Psalms 34:4

Some of us have been bound up with fear from childhood. Ensnared by fear all of our lives. It is said that “Fear Not” is seen 57 times in the Old Testament and 14 times in the New Testament, further depicting the significance of embracing courage each day of the year, or 365 times in the Bible. (Believers Portal.com-lists all 365 scriptures).

Today people can be bombarded with information -some traumatic and some family friendly- from every country all over the world through the large variety of social media platforms. This definitely does not help anyone who may be already ensnared by fear. Information that years ago was never heard about by most people can be read about within a moment of the event, today. What has compounded things for people who may suffer from anxiety, there are multiple posts about fictitious events auto generated. Those who purposefully intend to fear monger to cause people to act impulsively out of fear.

As a counselor, I advise people suffering from anxiety to cut themselves to a limit of daily news or feeds filled with traumatic announcements that make matters much worse.

I wondered, with all those warnings that God gave us in the Bible to take courage, He created us- and knew what we all would have to endure.

Some of God’s chosen characters met up with extreme fear and were challenged. The story of Moses, he did not believe that he could do what God was asking him to do, he still chose to trust Him and obey and deliver God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. Mary was asked to believe in the supernatural before anyone knew such a thing could happen, a virgin birth; she was facing being stoned and challenged daily, she also chose to obey; Paul was a persecutor of Christians, yet a supernatural deliverance made him turn his life around, he also chose to obey a God whom he used to mock, I can only imagine the pressure that he experienced from believers and non-believers, yet he chose to obey; David, pursued by Saul who wanted him dead, as Saul saw David as a threat to his position as king, David did become king but sought the Lord for direction, forgiveness and strength throughout all his stress. This list of characters goes on-documented in the Bible-those who faced intense fear yet, chose to obey God and do His will.

Of course, the greatest example is Jesus. In Gethsemane, Jesus sweat blood due to the stress and anxiety of being separated from His Father and suffer the ultimate sacrifice so that the gap between God and man would be bridged, though He had thoughts “If this cup could pass from Me… nevertheless not My will, but Your will be done.” What all of these chosen characters had in common was they all surrendered to the will of God, they all prayed and took action as the Father told them what to do to fulfill God’s will. Though Jesus made the greatest sacrifice to come to earth fully as a man, to suffer and die for mankind, then He rose again so that we might be set free from sin and death, eternally free!

All you must do, is believe that He died for you, believe that He is your Lord who has done all of this for your salvation and deliverance! Oh- how He must love you, thank you Lord for salvation! Thank you- Lord for deliverance!

Help us to daily surrender fear, daily pray to you for forgiveness, and listen to your voice and obey what you are asking us to do.

Even though coral is not mentioned a lot in the Bible, there are key points that can be made of the importance of coral in ancient times as a symbol of beauty and wealth. The Bible, however, encourages believers to seek wisdom and Spiritual riches above. Earthly treasures are only temporary. (Smith’s Bible Dictionary)

Job 28:18 This passage (Job 28) is referencing the value of wisdom, it names every precious gemstone, or metal, none of which can compare to the value of wisdom. This specific verse reads: “Coral or jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.” Ezekiel 27:16 reads: “Aram was your customer because of the abundance of your goods; they paid for your wares emeralds, purple fabric, embroidered work, fine linen, coral and rubies.” Lamentations 4:7 “Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were ruddier in body than corals, their polishing was like lapis lazuli.”(New American Standard)

The scriptures referred to how the affluent were seen to be viewed using adornment as an important thing to acquire. Material wealth was put in high regards. God sees material wealth as a stumbling block if that is where you put your hope and high regards; it can be a distraction or an idol.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 3:13-18 NIV “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.” Wisdom is referred to as more eternal, more prudent, of much greater value than any material thing on this earth. God warns about being a fool who despises wisdom.

Jesus gave His life, to allow us a new chance to let go of those material things, to invest in those things that are eternal. We only live one time on this earth, my prayer for everyone is that you have a wonderful life filled with Christ, fearing Him, getting to know Him as your personal savior; Jesus died for our sins and rose again so that our lives would be filled with Him, instead of material things. He is only a prayer away. Forgive me, of all sin, and anything that has separated me from you, Lord. I let go of all those things, in Jesus’ name. Please come into my life and rearrange what is important in my life. I believe you died and rose again to give me that second chance, thank you, Lord. I Love you, in Jesus’ mighty name, I need You, not coral or any other riches, only you!

C.S. Lewis once quoted, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

Benjamin Franklin quoted,” Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.”

In scriptures: Isaiah 46:4 “I will still be carrying you when you are old. Your hair will turn gray, and I will still carry you. I made you, and I will carry you to safety.”

In scriptures: Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

These all may seem to be random thoughts, however the Lord has been speaking to me about staying free no matter how old we grow! As we grow older it seems as if everything around us is changing. Of course, things are always changing, in us and around us. We sometimes get thoughts to do something that used to be no problem to do. Then one day we realize that what we used to do- may not be the safest thing to do anymore. There are those of course who can “dance to the fiddle” til they are 90 years old, God bless them for sure. We must guard our hearts to stay warm and flexible as we navigate discouragement, loneliness, and disappointments in life. We need to guard against our hearts becoming hard, a hard heart is not easily moved by the changes that God has for us. We have walked by faith all of our lives and when we become less involved, for one reason or another, we are left with our prayer life, our long conversations with God and it should be a goal to stay free of those things in the world that may entangle us and tell us that we are no longer free. This is not true. As the scripture says above,” It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” God also lovingly tells us in Isaiah 46:4-” I will still be the same when you are old and gray, and I will take care of you. I created you. I will carry you and always keep you safe.”

Sometimes we are tempted to say it must be God is done with me, but that will never be true- as He says above “even when you are old and gray”-I will take care of you. Once more, He set us free so that as long as we have breath in our lungs, we have a commission to tell others about what Jesus did for us. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, whosoever believes in Him, will not perish but will have everlasting life.” John 3:16

C.S. Lewis quoted: “Freedom always comes with a price.”

Jesus paid a great price for our salvation-for our freedom. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, and then rose again so that you will have eternal life, then Jesus is Lord of your life, your life is filled with love, because Jesus is love. You can pray right now: “Lord fill me with your love and your Holy Spirit, come and change my life forevermore.”

“Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age but they die young.” Benjamin Franklin

Make that your goal, to love deeply, tell others about Jesus and be inspired to dream new dreams!

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

2 Corinthians 10:3,4,5,6 reads: “We live in this world, but we don’t act like it’s people or fight our battles with the weapons of this world. Instead, we use God’s power that can destroy fortresses. We destroy arguments and every bit of pride that keeps anyone from knowing God. We capture people’s thoughts and make them obey Christ. And when you completely obey Him, we will punish anyone who refuses to obey.”(CEV)

Another commentary paraphrase (Dummelow’s): “We live in the flesh, and are subject to it’s weaknesses and temptations, like others; but we are not prompted by fleshly motives, such as dread of giving offence, or desire of popularity.4. For we fight not in our own strength, but in the strength of God, and this reliance upon Him enables us to prevail against all opposition and prejudice, however strong or deep rooted.5. In this strength we shatter the false reasonings and assertions of our opponents and bring back your rebellious thoughts into obedience to Christ,6. while after we secure your submission, we shall certainly punish any who may still resist His will.”

Only our reliance on God enables us to prevail against all opposition and prejudice, however strong or deep rooted. In this strength we shatter the false reasonings and assertions of opponents, and bring back our rebellious thoughts into obedience to Christ, the obedience alone also is a tool to defeat any thing that tries to resist God’s will. This being that our obedience to His word is yet another method of Spiritual warfare. What a powerful God we serve!!!

Our thoughts or imaginations as the CEV translation says it, need to be brought into obedience to Christ, ie. if Christ says you have all the power over any deadly thing then the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living in you gives you that power! If Jesus tells us by His stripes you are healed, the Spirit of the living God Who dwells within you is powerful to heal your body. If you wonder about absolutely anything, Jeremiah 33:3 “Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don’t know and can’t find out.” If the word of God tells us that we can’t find out about some things, its most likely because we have sinned and were rebellious against God. Which was the case in the context of this chapter. Only God can help us overcome our enemies and a big enemy is our thoughts or our imaginations. If they do not agree or are obedient to what God says in His word, then we need to bring our imaginations back in line with what God tells us to think about. Colossians 3:2 ESV Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 They also tell how you are waiting for His Son Jesus to come from heaven, God raised Him from death, and on the day of judgement, Jesus will save us from God’s anger.

Jesus died for us to give us another opportunity to have a relationship with the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, and God raised Him to life, ask Him to forgive you of all sin, disobedience, ask Him to come into your heart and to change your life forevermore. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh with His power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead will dwell within you (Romans 8:11) and provide life to your mortal bodies, daily comfort and direction for you! His Spirit will change all your imaginations to obey God’s word if you choose to obey His direction.