A Hook in Your Mouth

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!  

“Don’t allow us to be tempted. Instead, rescue us from the evil one.” - Matthew 6:13 GW

Lord, we all struggle with self medicating in one form or another - whether it is food, drugs, sex, gossip, shopping, alcohol, video games, coffee, fantasy...the list goes on and on.  Even healthy things, like our own families, can become an idol that we crave more than we do You.  Most of us have at least one of these hooks in our mouths — foreign gods that we turn to for comfort instead of the one, true God of all comfort.  

Father, I lift up my friend.  Together we lift up our country and our world.  It is so distressing to see the violence, selfishness, unrestrained lust and greed that are so pervasively and shamelessly flaunted.  As it was in the days of Noah, (Gen 6:5,11-12) we revel in our debauchery, and those in greatest decay are celebrated and held in highest regard.  Lord, deliver us from our foreign gods.  Help us to abandon unhealthy thinking and heretical relationships that keep us in slavery, with despair in our hearts and a hook in our mouths.  Tap us on the shoulder when challenging circumstances tempt us to look longingly over our shoulder at the lusts of our Egypt.  Show us the way of escape and strengthen our resolve to take it.  Call us forward, Lord, away from the intoxicating aromas of leeks and onions that serve as bait for our return to slavery.  Help us to stand up for righteousness, even if we are the only one.  

Father we ask for strength and boldness.  Soften our hearts to be willing to call out to the wandering masses with compassion and love.  Let us remember our own wanton bent, that our words will offer a lifeline of hope and deliverance to those mired in their ways.  Teach us wisdom to wait upon You, and with the wind of Your Spirit to rise up above temptation with eagle’s wings (Is 40:31).  Help us to set our eyes firmly on Your kingdom.  Then, may we catch the beautiful aroma of the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor 2:15) and pursue Him — first, foremost and forever.  In Jesus Name ❤️

Dear friend, is there a hook in your mouth - something unhealthy that leads you around, determines your course and controls your behavior?  The enemy is also a fisher of men.  He watches our lives to determine which is the best bait with which to catch you.  Why not come to the Father.  Ask Him to remove the hook from your mouth and replace the hunger for what will harm you for a hunger for His goodness.  💡


If you have been encouraged or challenged, please repost and further His kingdom!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A City On A Hill

Image
A CITY ON A HILL By:  Julie Souza Bradley Lilly “You are light for the world. A city cannot be hidden when it is located on a hill. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand. Then its light shines on everyone in the house.” – Matthew‬ ‭5:14-15‬ ‭GW‬‬ And I saw thousands of souls struggling in a churning sea.  Under the darkness of a moonless sky, without a boat, they were tossed.  Beneath them sharks swam, nipping at heels, eliciting sharp cries from those who flailed.  It caused them to cling to their neighbor, pushing them to submerge, sputter and gasp.  Exhaustion, chaos and hopelessness hovered over the waters like a mist, obscuring the small points of light that seeped out from around the boarded windows of the nearby city on a hill.  The city on a hill—a beacon of hope to those drowning, contained behind windows shuttered with fear. Lord, we see chaos all around us —man’s inhumanity to man— fear, anxiet
Read more

Paul’s Handkerchief Prayer

Image
Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:6 Lord, we don’t have to be the only one in a room to feel alone.  We can be in a coliseum full of people and still feel lonely.  We feel alone in our skin.  You encourage us to not forsake meeting together as a church (Hebrews 10:25), but it is the internal companionship that keeps us from feeling loneliness in that packed coliseum. Father, I lift my friend.  Your Word says that where two or more are gathered in Your Name, You are there in the midst of them.  So Lord, as in Acts 19:12 when Paul sent a blessed handkerchief to the sick and they were healed, likewise, across time and space I take hands with Your precious child.  Together we bow before You and admit we need You.  We invite Your presence.  If they feel lonely or alone today, in their life or in
Read more

Beauty Among the Ashes

Image
Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that   I would see the goodness of the Lord in  the land of the living.   Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage,   And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” - Psalm 27:13-14 Father, we thank You that with You all things are possible.  All around us there are financial troubles, poverty, disease, depression, anxiety, divorces, confusion, disappointment, illness, loss, pain and grief.  The list goes on and on.  People are suffering, Father, and are clinging to the last vestiges of hope.   Lord, I lift up my friend.  You know precisely what weighs on their mind today, and which troubling thoughts strike fear in their heart.  Long seasons of struggle bring with them weariness and discouragement.  I cry out to You on their behalf, Lord.  You are able.  We ask for miracles.  Nothing is too difficult for You.  We ask that You take what the enemy intended for evil
Read more