Prayer Connect: "TALKING HANDS!"

TALKING HANDS!

“And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Psalm 90:17).

This scripture illustrates the potential beauty of a person’s touch in a way that their hands can talk by producing actions that yield some kind of favorable results. Metaphorically speaking, there are ways of how our hands can talk to many people. One can learn much about a person just by looking at their hands. Someone perhaps can tell what kind of work they do, such as gardening, auto mechanic, painting, etc. Signs of age may be detected by someone's hands. Even sign language is a unique way of talking with the hands. Spiritually, what do people see when they observe our own hands? Do our hands display the symbol of prayer and Christianity?

Hands of Prayer

By prayer and fasting Esther and her handmaidens stood in the gap as her people were in jeopardy of being destroyed. After Esther clasped her hands in prayer to the King of kings, she was able to approach the King of Shushan in Esther 5:2-3: “The king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. Then said unto her, what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.” This was a woman’s touch! What effect, for she had touched God’s throne in prayer beforehand!

When crisis comes your way, how do you handle these situational items or things? Do you just juggle them in your hands, hoping to keep up with the flow, or do you reach up and put every item (juggling pin) in God’s hand, and let Him control it all? Your hands are talking! Do the nails on your hands tell that you bite them because you’re filled with worry? Pray and trust in God!

When prayer requests are presented, are you “all hands” volunteering to pray? Do you engage in turning the pages of the Bible to study, meditate, and pray the Word of God? Your hands are talking! Are you afraid to face the challenge? Get some hands-on experience. Ecclesiastes 9:10 reminds us, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…" Participate in corporate prayer and touch-and-agree in one accord with a prayer partner, for there is unity when we walk hand-in-hand together. One can put one thousand of the enemy to flight, and two, ten thousand!

Thanksgiving and praise are a form of prayer. Do you allow handcuffs to bind you during worship or prayer meetings, keeping you “out of service?” When God is reaching out to you to do something for Him or to simply speak to you, do you respond to Him with the hand gesture, “Talk to the hand?” Your hands are talking! What you do with your hands and the kind of fruit you bear that comes from your hands, have a great impact upon you and on those around you.

Hands of Service

Acts 20:34 declares, "You know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." Reach out to people and seek to be a servant by ministering to the needs of others. Serve heartily as unto God and not as unto men. God is your rewarder! As a Good Samaritan, be willing to lend a “helping hand” to those in need, and touch their lives not only in word, but also in deed. (Luke 10:33-37) Your hands are talking!

Be hands of strength and support. Nehemiah 2:18 declares, "Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." We can't really have strong hands unless we rely on the hand of God!

Can we improve our hands’ appearance, not physically, but spiritually speaking? Perhaps, we need a manicure set for our spiritual hands. So, what are your hands saying? When you allow God’s hands to mold and make you, and you truly walk in the will of God, then everything else is “hands down.” All things work for the best according to His divine will, and you can truly see the handiwork of God! And at the end, it will be worth it all when the Bridegroom says, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant,” and takes us (Bride) by the hand and sweeps us away forever!

Flo Shaw

Director

World Network of Prayer

IN HIS HANDS

“Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, 'Why could not we cast him out?' And Jesus said unto them, 'Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting'” (Matthew 17:19-21).

Oh, how familiar the scripture setting; and, oh, how well we can relate to the disciples. Jesus has also given us power and authority over all devils and all diseases. We experience success in a measure, yet all too often we fail.

In the scripture setting above, at just the bidding of Christ, the evil spirit had gone out, thus proving there had been nothing in the will of God or in the nature of the case to render deliverance impossible. So, what was the problem? The problem then, and now, remains the same. In the spiritual world, failure has but one cause...the lack of faith. Faith is the one condition on which the omnipotent power of God can enter into and work through one of His disciples.

The power they had received to cast out devils and heal the sick was not a permanent gift or possession they held within themselves, but rather the power was in Christ to be received, held, and used by faith alone. If the disciples had been full of faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Conqueror of the spirit world, and as the One having given them the authority in His name, then that faith would have given them the victory. In answer to their question, "Why could we not?", their Master stated the reason, for all time, "Because of your unbelief."

Let's take this problem a step further, and ask an additional question, "Why our lack of faith or unbelief?" Since we have faith to believe for some things but not others, we begin to understand that "the measure of faith dealt to every man" must grow beyond that measure in order to believe for greater things. So, how does faith grow? Faith needs a life of prayer to reach its maximum potential and growth. Although there can be no true prayer without faith, prayer is also the way to more faith. Our faith can only live and grow by feeding on the God who gave it to us in the first place. Men and women of strong faith are men and women of much prayer.

Jesus is teaching His disciples two valuable lessons in regard to prayer of great power and importance: 1.) faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and strengthen; and 2.) prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development. Simply stated, faith needs prayer and prayer needs fasting. And now, we begin to see the hands of faith. Prayer is the hand with which we grasp the invisible; fasting, the hand with which we release the visible. Prayer is the reaching out after God and the unseen. Fasting is the letting go of all that is seen and temporal.

In prayer and fasting, we confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain what we seek in the Kingdom. We not only lay aside the sin, but we also lay aside every weight, as we become soldiers who carry only what is needed for warfare. And, as we fight, we hear the encouraging words of our Commander-in-Chief saying, "If ye have faith, nothing shall be impossible to you."

Should not this glorious promise encourage us to pray more? Isn't the prize worth the price?

PRAY: Please pray and implement these principles conveyed, as applicable in your life.

Gwen M. Porche' ©

Guest Writer

Prayer Network Coordinator

Global Impact Ministries

World Needs:

Pray for all that have family and were affected by the explosion in Mexico and the building collapse in Nigeria. At least 1 person was killed, 15 injured, and dozens of buildings damaged in Mexico, and in Nigeria, at least 3 people have died as a result of a 21-story building collapse.
Pray for the Lord to bring an end to terrorism by imprisoning all who have assaulted the harvest field.
Pray for the family of the man that died in Spain after being gored during a bull run, and for all that were stabbed by a man dressed as the Joker. He stabbed 17 people on a Tokyo train.
Pray for America and Israel’s relationship, peace in Israel, and the return of their land.
Continue to pray for our world during this Covid-19 season as Europe is currently reporting an increase and areas in European countries such as Latvia and Romania are imposing new lockdowns, curfews, and other measures. Also, Moscow is in the midst of a 10-day lockdown, and Russia is in the worst phase of the pandemic.

POA HOPE Prayer

Fall ’21 "90 Day Prayer Journey"

It’s that wonderful time of year!

Rosh Hashanah, on the historical Jewish calendar, brought the beginning of the year 5782. Celebrating those special days with God’s chosen people only added to the feelings of expectancy and urgency many are feeling.

Fall; beautiful Fall. The colors are simply glorious. The weather is marvelous. Everyone wants to be outdoors, by a fire, cooking, working, and just enjoying cool, brisk breezes.

It’s time again to unite with POA’s HOPE Prayer Family around the world to pray. What a blessing to come together for a cause so close to the heart of Jesus; His covenant children who have lost their way and those who love them and refuse to give up hope.

October 1, we will commit to pray our 14th season of “90 Days of Prayer” for our beloved prodigals and those who love them. Some of us have been together 7 years, praying faithfully every Spring and Fall. What journeys we’ve had of love, grace and mercy!

We will again pull our thoughts and prayers from the scripture-based book by Dr. James Banks, Prayers For Prodigals. We may deviate some, however we like staying with the scriptures Dr. Banks has compiled for each day.

We invite you to join our HOPE Family for these 90 days of binding together in hope and faith. If it is your first time, we welcome you to a family who cares deeply about all prodigals.

“And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border” (Jeremiah 31:17 KJV).

Believing for the harvest,

Don and Dy Anne Long

POA HOPE Prayer

Email: hopejer3117@aol.com

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Photo Credit: Timothy D. Heard

“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things” (Joel 2:21).

When the people of God gather together in one mind and one accord, and cry out to Him, God hears and He takes notice. We see Him do great things; greater than we could have ever prayed.

Registration is $25 per person. Click the link below to register now.

General Presbyters A-J

Access Challenged Nations

Join the World Network of Prayer and Global Missions in praying for the nations that currently do not have an apostolic work. We will focus on one nation each week.