 By OSU Special Collections & Archives Thankfully, I have never had to cut down a tree before. But, if I ever had to, I know I would be thankful to live in our modern age where we have chainsaws that make the work a lot easier. Prior to having chainsaws, people used two-man crosscut saws to cut down trees. In America, crosscut saws were used as early as the mid-17th century. As you can see from the photo above, these saws were huge, and you needed help to weld them. So, you are probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with God? Well, much like the lumberjacks of the past who used crosscut saws, we need a partner to get our work done. As Christians, our partner is God. You may not have ever thought about God as your partner before, but, isn't He the most wonderful and able partner you could ask for? YES!! I am certainly grateful to have Him as my partner. In his book Intercessory Prayer, Dutch Sheets tells us, "Without question, humans were forever to be God's link to authority and activity on the earth. Here we have, I believe, the reason for the necessity of prayer. God chose, from the time of Creation, to work on the earth through humans, not independent of them. He always has and always will, even at the cost of becoming one. Though God is sovereign and all-powerful, Scripture clearly tells us that He limited Himself, concerning the affairs of Earth, to working through human beings." So, in order for God to work through us, we must partner with Him and do our part. God has the power and He gives us the authority to use His power. It's an amazing partnership. Thanks to Holy Spirit living in us, we have everything we need to use God's power in our lives. We simply need to recognize this, and harness it and get to work for the Lord. Chris Tomlin, one of my favorite Christian artists, wrote a song about this in 2018 called Resurrection Power. Here are some of the lyrics: You called me from the grave by name You called me out of all my shame I see the old has passed away The new has come Now I have resurrection power Living on the inside Jesus, You have given us freedom No longer bound by sin and darkness Living in the light of Your goodness You have given us freedom Listen to the song here: Are you ready to partner with God? Think of all you can accomplish! Let's start today.
I will leave you with a beautiful, powerful, and incredibly appropriate quote from St. Teresa of Avila: Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which He looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
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 Have you noticed how windy it has been lately? This past fall and winter, and even right now, the intensity of the wind has been crazy. The winds have been whipping around our house, making those loud whistling sounds and shaking the house itself. It has been happening for months now. These winds are blowing all over the world. These are winds of change. I can feel it. The winds of change are upon us. This is God working!
The Lord shows us that He is working by doing works and wonders in the natural world. He has always done this, and He is doing it right now. (Remember, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13: 8) Do some research and you will not only see that places in the U.S., but all over the world, are experiencing shakings and groanings in the natural world.
I stumbled across the "Not Me, Him!" YouTube channel earlier this week. I am not exactly sure who this young man is, but he is awesome! God bless him for the work his doing and sharing with the world. I wanted to share this video he created a few days ago that he put together concerning exactly what I am talking about here. Take some time and watch it. I think you will enjoy it.  We are living in unprecedented times. Things are happening in our world that many would not believe or even conceive could happen. But, here we are. Again, I want to emphasize that you need to research and listen and discern for yourself. Having said that, I would like to share with you a few of the sources I use and trust. Here are the places you can go to get started: It is vital that all of us open our eyes to what is going on around us. Open your eyes, ears, hearts, and minds.    I am part of a remanent of believers who knows that revival is coming. I have been praying for a revival in some form or fashion for a few years now. However, I have friends who have been praying for this revival for many, many years. One dear friend of mine has been praying for this revival for almost 30 years! (Wow! That is more than half of my life!)
Well, folks, the time is now. We are standing on the precipice. A great awakening is upon us. Actually, it is already beginning. Thank you, Lord!!! This world is crying out for help and hope. We, as a people, are desperate to be saved and for a saviour. The chaos and turmoil we have been living in over these last few years has finally reached its boiling point. What we need is God. And, praise the Lord, God hears our cries and He is answering us! True revivals are taking place all across this great nation of ours --from east to west. People by the hundreds are pouring into churches and tents and they are getting saved! They are being healed from sickness, disease, and addiction. They are becoming children of God--our brothers and sisters in Christ! Hallelujah!! And, I truly believe this is just the beginning. Oh yes, we are just getting started. Hundreds, even thousands--dare I say millions more will be saved before everything is said and done. The Lord our God is doing awesome things in this land. May we all go out and be a part of it. Watch this Flashpoint video from February 9 and it will give you a taste of what is happening. The dams are about to burst open wide. And, I can't wait. Thank you, Lord for letting us witness this. I pray that eyes all over the world will be opened and that an unprecedented amount of lives will be saved. I hope you will join me in this prayer!  I grew up listening to Tom Petty. His music, with and without The Heartbreakers, and The Traveling Wilburys and others, was a staple in our home. It is still hard for me to believe that he is no longer with us. But, I am thankful that his music and lyrics are!
I think all of you know by now that music is a very important part of my life. And, if you read my blog regularly, you also know that I like to take popular and/or secular music and look for God in it. Or, find a way to point any music that I listen to back to God. It is just something that I do. So, yes, I am doing it again! In the unprecedented times in which we are living, where I feel that the devil and his minions are freely showing themselves and obviously think they have the upper hand and control our nation, I have news for these demons, WE have the victory. God has already won. You have been beaten! You may think you have won, but not so fast--we Christian, we Believers, We WON"T BACK DOWN! And, so this song and these lyrics have never been more relevant. Thank you, Tom for sharing this anthem and your many wonderful gifts with us! Well, I won't back down No, I won't back down You can stand me up at the gates of hell But I won't back down No, I'll stand my ground Won't be turned around And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down Gonna stand my ground And I won't back down I won't back down Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out I won't back down Hey I will stand my ground And I won't back down Well I know what's right I got just one life In a world that keeps on pushin' me around But I'll stand my ground And I won't back down I won't back down Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out I won't back down Hey, I will stand my ground (I won't back down) And I won't back down  Image taken from dutchsheets.org Back in December a friend of mine shared a link with me, and I am so grateful. The link was to a "Give Him 15" segment. I was immediately hooked. And, I have been listening ever since. It dawned on me the other day that I should share it here on my blog.
You may already be familiar with Dutch Sheets and his "Give Him 15" ministry. It all started out of intercessory worship at a Dutch Sheets Ministries gathering when Julie Meyer sang, "Will you give me fifteen?" as a prophetic cry from the heart of God for this nation. It is a mandate for Dutch and the intercessors of America. Give Him 15 calls believers to give fifteen minutes in prayer as our continual "appeal to heaven." And, so it all began on November 7, 2020. And, it is going strong. If you go to Dutch's website, you can start from the beginning and listen to all of them, if you so choose! I highly recommend that you do just that! Listening to Dutch each day has become one of my most favorite things! I look forward to hearing new insight every day. Dutch is so full of the spirit and wisdom. He reveals little nuggets each day that I feast on for days! I love it! There is just something so calming about Dutch and the way he presents thoughts, ideas and Biblical wisdom. Dutch's wife, Ceci, sometimes leads the appeals as well. She offers a nice change of pace when she is on. You can either listen on his website Dutchsheets.org or you can add the Give Him 15 app to your smartphone. If you go to his website, you can also listen to "Conversations With Dutch" which is his podcast. During this troubling time, I find great comfort in Dutch Sheets and his ministry. I encourage you to take part with Dutch and thousands of others, including me, as we "Give Him 15."  We all know how important our prayer life is to our spiritual growth. We should not only be praying each day, but we should be praying multiple times throughout the day. Actually, as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." The pray without ceasing part should be our ultimate goal. (Look, I know it is not just something you jump right in and do. You have to work yourself up to it. That is part of what spiritual growth is all about.)
But, the focus of my post today is to impart a little nugget of wisdom to you. If you want your prayers to be more powerful--if you want them to truly come alive and wield the power of God--then start praying the Word of God. There is nothing more powerful than echoing the words of Jesus Christ, but you must do so with conviction in your heart! Not only are there tons of scriptures that are prayers in the Bible that we can pray, but there are scripture models that help us guide our prayers. Paul has numerous prayers we can follow. Many of the Psalms are prayers. We can take basically anything from the Word of God and turn them into our own prayers. We simply must be awake and intentional in using them for ourselves. (We also get a vast education in all the things we can praise and thank God for as well!) So, there are also many times in life when we might not know exactly how, or even what to pray, and again, the Bible comes in handy. You can read the Word and find a variety of prayers that can apply to your situation. This is just another one of the countless reasons why it is vital to read the Word each day and to stay grounded in it. This is also why the Word is alive and breathing--its contents are as valuable and needed today as they were thousands of years ago. (See Hebrews 4:12) What if you can't put your prayers into words, even after all of this? Well, the beautiful thing here, is that even if you can't put your prayers into words, or even intelligent thoughts, the Lord knows our hearts. In Romans 8:26 Paul shares with us, "...but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." The Holy Spirit fills in for us! He takes the groanings of our heart and turns them into intelligible prayers that God can hear, understand and answer! Hallelujah! When we pray the Scripture, we can be ensured that our prayers are being shaped by God's Word. And, that is where the power lies--and that is the key to making our prayers truly powerful. |
WELCOMEI am so glad you are here! I am Erica Strickland, a girl who loves God. My goal here is to simply share His love and light. Categories
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