Hello friends. When I was commissioned by the Lord to set up an intercessory prayer group at my church in 2016, I had very little idea of what that entailed. One key thing that I learned about intercession is that my heart has to be clear of unforgiveness and offense. Unforgiveness is a believer’s “kryptonite” (like in the movie Superman).

This is a good short devotional about receiving God’s approval to pray with power.  Let’s understand the basic conditions for getting our prayers answered.  All prayers are heard; but not all are answered. – https://www1.cbn.com/devotions/importance-of-forgiveness

If you need more information about biblical forgiveness, please visit Dr RT Kendall’s resources: https://rtkendallministries.com/resources/store#!/~/category/id=802012&offset=0&sort=normal

John Bevere wrote a very good book about this topic too. 

The Bait of Satan, 20th Anniversary Edition: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense https://a.co/d/dItF4lY

Please visit his ministry website for more resources. https://johnbevere.com

I think another “kryptonite” for believers is unbelief or apathy. For me, I notice that it reveals its ugly fruit when I start complaining or grumbling. Please don’t take complaining and grumbling lightly. Please do whatever you need to do to keep the complaints from escaping your mouth. For me, I have to listen or read tougher preachers on sin such as Billy Graham, Francis Chan, Charles Stanley, John Bevere, David Wilkerson, etc. 

Why is complaining or grumbling so bad? All you need to do is read the book of Numbers to understand why a generation of Israelis did not make it into the promised land after their supernatural deliverance out of Egypt. Only Caleb and Joshua of that generation made into the promised land. Here is Bible Project’s short video about the book of Numbers: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/numbers/

I’m not saying that you must keep your trials and tribulations a secret, but that you must be careful who you talk to about your struggles. I only share my struggles with believers who can pray for me and who would be willing to tell me if I’m wrong in my theology or I’m grumbling too much. Their rebuke would be kindness to me. Why? Because the words coming out from my mouth have tremendous power to bring life or death. I want them to rebuke me and tell me to stop talking if I’m complaining and grumbling. 

Sometimes when I see Christians who grumble about their struggles on social media, I wince. Because they are broadcasting to nonbelievers to think poorly about our God who can’t seem to take care of His children; and also I wonder if they are inviting more demons into their lives because non-Christians are praying for them to their gods. John Ramirez, the ex-warlock shared that there are demons behind these religious rituals and objects. Personally when I’m going through a trial, I only want prayers from believers who are rooted in their faith and in a church community. 

Please be very careful who you share your struggles and troubles with. Whenever someone shares their struggles with me, I always pray for them in my quiet time and I don’t ever gossip about them. Please go to people like me in your church community to share your struggles and for prayers. 

For those of you who are seeing a therapist, I strongly recommend that you only use a Christian therapist. Therapists influence your decisions and thoughts tremendously and I am concerned that a nonbeliever would steer you away from Jesus Christ and God’s will for your life. I also think it’s okay to ask about their success in overcoming obstacles that you need help in. For example, if you need counseling for a relationship problem with your adult child, then ask your therapist about their relationship with their adult children. It’s okay to interview a therapist before you open your heart to them and pay for their services. I don’t oppose Christians using a therapist as long as they are believers too. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6&version=NLT

Jonathan Youssef has great guests on his podcast. This one is about the importance of learning biblical theology. In my college church, we had great worship, great fellowship, great social events, great ministry outreaches. But we lacked good, solid Bible theology. This great crack became obvious when I left that church after graduation. I’ve been developing my Bible theology in the past 13 years. For me I discovered that worship, fellowship, social events are great to have whenever I can get them but it is not foundationally vital as learning bible theology. Please listen to his guest, Nancy Guthrie. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/candid-conversations-with-jonathan-youssef/id1477197071

While learning bible theology in the last 13 years, I listen to the guests in Sid Roth’s Supernatural show in order to not become a stiff academic type, who lost their wonder of Jesus Christ.  I add their testimonies in my spiritual diet so I don’t become a religious grump.  I hope their stories help you too.  https://sidroth.org/television/weeks-guest/

(BTW, I try not to send too many emails knowing how busy we all are, but there must be someone in here or my prayer group who must need my messages this week.  Please be patient.)