daily devotional

What if I told you direct access to the single most powerful force in this world is available to you today? Would you be so bold to use it? If the power is available, would you believe that you’re worthy to tap into it in your life … or would you shrink back and tell yourself you’ve never had power to change a dang thing in your life, so why try it now? Sadly most of us hear about this power, even believe it’s true, yet dismiss ourselves from carrying it within us.

GIRL, YOU ARE A POWER HOUSE!!!! And here’s why … 1 Corinthians 3:16 says “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” Then Zecheriah 4: 6-7 says “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord, nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in (the) way; it will become a level plain before him!”

Understand what this means. You have the spirit of God living within you and that spirit can move mountains! Power house! There is power living within you and it’s not meant to just stay inside of you, that power is meant to flow from you and touch every area of your life and the lives around you.

It’s a trick of the enemy to make you believe you’re powerless. It’s also a trick of the enemy to make you believe that while God is powerful and capable of moving mountains, he’s not interested in moving yours. That’s crap. I call absolute total and complete crap! Why would God place his spirit within you, give you his mountain moving power, then not care about it?

So, the question becomes, how do you access this power? Answer, you pray.

And there goes your attention. Prayer is honestly boring sometimes isn’t it? You’re busy, you’ve got things to do and being still ain’t one of them! We’ve been tricked into worrying about things, complaining about things, and stressing over things instead of doing the one thing that actually changes things … praying. And I say we mainly as me, because dang I sometimes forget the power I have dwelling right inside of me.

This weekend I was the recipient of many prayers. I posted on social media on Friday night after my TEDTalk practice and asked for prayer for my emotions. I wasn’t nervous, I was a weepy mess. I got one sentence into my practice and started crying. Now, ain’t nobody want to watch some woman on a stage crying over something they don’t understand. But there I was on the night before the biggest opportunity of my life so far, and I can’t get it together. So, I prayed and I asked others to pray. And hot dang if it didn’t make a HUGE difference! I shouldn’t be surprised by that, and yet somehow I’m still blown away by God’s direct response to our requests.

Knowing this power, I recently started doing a thing. I started playing a game with my prayers. I started looking for random people that I come across, and secretly pray ridiculous blessings over them. Driving on the road a trucker passed me and I felt moved to pray for him so I asked for undeniable favor in his life. A young man was extra kind to me in the store, so I walked behind him (that sounds creepy, but I did my non-creepy walk) and I prayed for complete healing and restoration in every area of his life. It’s become a game. I see someone and I imagine what they may need, and while they have no idea, I just pray.

If I am a power house, housing God’s spirit within me which has the power to move mountains, why wouldn’t I send out that power into the world? Why wouldn’t I want to share it with strangers? Why wouldn’t I want to pour it out on my family? Why wouldn’t I want to tap into that power in my own life? FLIP THE DANG SWITCH WOMAN, YOU’VE GOT THE POWER.

In John chapter 16, Jesus has gathered the disciples, his best friends, sharing a final meal with them. He is preparing them for his death on the cross, telling them all they needed to know. He’s encouraging and equipping them. He warns them in this world they will have trouble, then he leaves them one thing greater than any weapon he could have given them. And what he left the disciples during his last supper, he offers to you and I today.

In verses 23 and 24 Jesus says, “My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

We have power in the name of Jesus. Whatever you ask in his name, God will do. If you ask, you will receive. Jesus also said, you have not because you do not ask.

Let me ask you something, have you specifically prayed over your current circumstances? Have you come to God in the name of Jesus and asked him to work and move? Why is it we will do everything else – we will stay up all night worrying, we will call our girlfriends and complain, we will cry to our mama, we’ll hash it out for hours with a counselor, but will we tap into the power Jesus left us here on Earth to overcome the trouble in this world?

What will you ask the Father, in the name of the son, today? If you ask, you will receive. I wonder what is totally and completely available to you right now in your life, but you do not have it because you have not asked for it. I wonder what breakthrough has been waiting for you, but you haven’t asked. I wonder what provision is available, but you haven’t asked. I wonder how God is willing to work on your behalf moving mountains and breaking chains, if you would only come to him in the name of Jesus and ask.

Jesus said in John 10:10 “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Well … have you tapped into that? Are you asking God for the abundant life Jesus came to give you?

I’m not suggesting the ol’ “name it and claim it” like God is some kind of genie in a bottle and the magic word is Jesus. But what I am suggesting is, in the name of Jesus, God moves. In the name of Jesus, God’s power is released. In the name of Jesus, we are covered.

My friend, don’t wait until a crisis to ask for God’s help. Don’t wait until he is your only answer to ask. Don’t settle for cheap prayers of repetition that come from your memory, not your heart. No, there’s power in his name and that power has been given to you. USE IT.

The answers may not always look as you imagined. I specifically prayed my son who’s in the Army would be stationed in the US, and he went straight to Korea for a year. I prayed my Daddy would be healed and given more time with my Mama, and he died. I prayed my children would be protected from certain harms and temptations and the reality today is the opposite. But Jesus says in John 16:33 says ““In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

I don’t have to understand the answers, I just have to trust the answers. Trust that God hears my prayers and he answers every single one of them. His power is unleashed by my asking and what I see today isn’t the end of the story. Some things take time. Some things are a process. And some things are much more about the eternal impact than the comfort of today.

God is working. He is working every time you pray.

Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Your joy will be complete. You know what that means … it means you don’t have to sit around and worry about it. Whey you pray in the name of Jesus, you can have joy. Joy is a inherent lightness in a heavy world. This is what we receive when we pray about it … a lightness, a relief from our heavy load. Know that when you bring it to God in the name of Jesus, surrender the results to him, it is taken care of. YOU are taken care of. The rest is just details.

Prayer is direct access to the king of kings, the Lord almighty, who loves you wildly and wants to move on your behalf today. Prayer is flipping the switch to the power you have. You are a power house! What will you ask the Father, in the name of the Son, today?