Hi folks!  Things have been very busy with ministry!  Still producing a daily prayer podcast, have begun a new private Facebook group, and have held some private meditation sessions!  Had a men's group a couple of weeks ago.  Also have an upcoming group session this week.  God is good!

The video above is a welcome video I shared in the group to welcome new members.   We have over 225 members for the first week!  It's very encouraging!  I think it is a sign that people are making more time for prayer and obviously are being driven to engage online because of current circumstances with social distancing.

In the video I share a welcome to new members as well as personal testimony of God supernaturally healing me of depression.  I hope you listen in.

For the Facebook group, Peace Be Still Daily Prayer Download is a private group and requires an invite for you or you can request to join.  I hope you consider it, there have been good engagement so far. There is a link at the end of the video to find the group on Facebook.  Otherwise just search for "Peace Be Still Daily Prayer Download" on Facebook.

Now related to current situation of the virus, during times of intercession, here are some scriptures that God has been putting on my heart over the last month: 

• Matthew chapter 6 (all of it)
• 2 Chronicles 7:14
• Hebrews chapter 12 (all of it)
• The book of 2 Peter (all of it)
• Psalm 4 
• Psalm 144

It would be interesting for you to read through those scriptures and see what the LORD speaks to you.  It's an excellent time to develop a deeper walk with the LORD.  I wonder how He has been speaking to you during this time?  If you are willing, let me know in the comments!

Here is the content of Podcast 15 if you want to review it first and then listen.  
Episode 15- “she judged him faithful… he gave glory to God”

Hello my name is Gina, your prayer partner from Into the Waters.  Our promise that brings peace today comes from Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Let’s pray as we begin.  “Lord Jesus, I humbly ask for your power to rest on each one as they listen.  Open their ears to hear, open their eyes to see, give them the ability to understand what the Spirit of the LORD wants to say to them today.  Position them by faith to believe and judge you as faithful.”
Yesterday’s episode shared that for God to be your strength means he is a PLACE of strength.  As your place of strength, he is a hiding place for you, and one who pours out his strength by dispatching supernatural forces to surround you and deliver you.  If you haven’t yet listened, please listen to yesterday.  But for today, instead of the focus of him surrounding us with his power, the focus is his miraculous strength pouring out through you."

Listen to these scriptures- You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 2 Cor 4:7

Though you are merely a clay vessel which is fragile and powerless, yet the excellence of his power and strength is to be shown through you… as being from God, not yourself.

Who really believes this?  Who really believes the miraculous power of God will be poured out through their frailty?  A woman named Sarah did.

Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

By faith… big words.  She judged God faithful, more really big words.

If we are honest, they are so challenging.

Write down this question.  What is the state of my faith?  How am I judging God right now, as faithful or unfaithful?

Some seasons our faith is great with full faith in God.  In others, we waver.

We are in a difficult season right now due to the virus.  God wants us to position by faith, and judge him faithful.

How are you judging God right now, as faithful or unfaithful?  Make a note to talk to God about that.  Unburden and ask for revelation so that you judge Him correctly.

Because when you judge God as faithful and by faith believe, God will do amazing things through you.  Scripture says that Abraham (Sarah’s husband and known as the father of our faith) grew strong in His faith as He gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. 

Abraham had excellent opinion of God and his faith grew strong as He gave God glory.

The promise of God’s miracle working power being poured out through you is only activated by faith and good opinion of God.  Abraham and Sarah had a clear vision and promise from God.  So for this kind of miraculous experience, you have to have a promise from God.  It has to be personal to you.  Sarah had a promise from God.  She would give birth at a time in her life when her womb was dead.  She judged God faithful to deliver.  She laughed at first; then she tried to make it happen on her own power; but somewhere along the way, she stopped reasoning and she believed.  So, He poured his miraculous strength into Sarah and supernaturally enabled her to give birth to a promised son at the ripe old age of 90 years old. 

Many of us also laugh at the absurd thought God could do something miraculous through us.  Often we may grab a promise; but then attempt receive it by striving in our own power.  Somewhere along the way we need to stop reasoning and believe in the supernatural strength of God manifesting in us. 

Write down this question.  What promise has God given you that requires His power? 

Here are some promises that are yours by faith in Jesus- You are adopted and heir to the kingdom of God.  You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.  Do you see yourself there?  Do you see yourself seated with Christ?  You have been given the authority of Christ Jesus, the maker of Heaven and earth.  He is King of kings.  You are part of his royal lineage.  Do you see a crown on your head?  He has promised to give you a crown of beauty instead of ashes.  Are you holding ashes of death or do you see yourself as crowned in beauty?  You are charged by Christ to do greater works than he did.  He will do whatever you ask in His name so that Jesus can continue to bring glory to the Father.  You are his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he planned long ago for you to do.  Do you believe you will do greater works than Jesus?  Boy is that a challenging one.  Yet he said it.  Do you believe it?  You are Jesus’ friend.  You have been made whole in Jesus Christ.  With God as your shepherd, you lack nothing, not one thing.  You are more than a conqueror through him who loves you.  Since God is for you, who can be against you?  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  You are the apple of his eye.  You are forgiven.  You are chosen by God, holy and dearly loved.  Your soul is sealed by the Holy Spirit he has deposited in you.  Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  You are precious in His sight.  Your life is not your own, you’ve been bought with a price.  Have you surrendered?  Not your will, but his will?  It is key to receiving supernatural strength.

As an exercise for deeper meditation, which of those promises I just read struck you?  Find your promise.  There are over 3K promises in the bible.  After you find your promise, position by faith!

That gives you a sense of an episode if you haven't listened yet!  God rewards those who earnestly seek Him.  He provides for those who seek first the Kingdom of God.  Seek God first! Blessings on any who take that time with God.  Hope some of the prayer inspiration we are offering is a blessing also!  

For this blog, I challenge you to practice not knowing how to pray!  (Yaaayyy, an easy exercise!)  I suggest Spirit filled believers try this several times over the next week, perhaps making it a prayer habit, doing it every now and again, especially when under pressure.

Romans 8:26-27 says the Holy Spirit is our help in weakness.  It says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Here is the Message translation of this same section in the book of Romans 8- 26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along.  If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

When I pray with people or hear what burdens them, it is often about situations that hurt or grieved them.   And it’s not about what the stranger said or did, it’s about the family member, the friend, the co-worker, or the spouse who lashed out, walked away, betrayed, aggravated, accused, heaped shame, argued, humiliated, rejected them, etc.  It is these situations that can throw us some serious curve balls inside leaving us in emotional states where we are confused and in shut-down mode emotionally, not knowing how to pray.  It’s okay!  God knows all about this weakened state and has promised the help of the Holy Spirit!       

Many of us need HIS help.  It’s a shared need within the Body of Christ.  In my small group just this week, by the end, when it came to praying together, I realized that everyone had expressed a hurt that clearly grieved them.  It was either a recent hurt or a hurt experienced repeatedly during childhood, but a memory was fresh and came out in our time together.  All 7 of us indicated in some way that a loved one’s words or actions penetrated our heart producing sorrow, anger, confusion, dismay, hurt, etc.

Like our Savior, we will carry grief and sorrows.  Through them we identify with our Savior.  But in them, we are not to bear them alone.  We cast our burdens on God because He cares.  Christ carried them; and still carries them for us, Isaiah 53:4. 

John 14:  16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

This is a miracle people!!!  Christ’s Spirit within you!  Think about it!

Jesus is clear, “I will not leave you comfortless (KJV).”  The NIV translates it as not being abandoned by the Father, i.e. “I will not leave you as orphans”. 

How often do you say to yourself in prayer, “The Holy One is in me.”  How often do you focus on Christ indwelling in you for your prayer time?  How often do you take the focus off yourself, and say “Holy Spirit, please pray for me.”   

This is a relieving prayer, a simple prayer of release that God offers to us as we grieve and mourn the unexpected attacks and confusion that comes from loved ones and friends, and as we face our own sinful shortcomings.  We are given a gift to simply sigh and moan.  It is a very simple prayer that brings great comfort.  

In some of the meditation sessions, to start us out, I instruct participants to release deep breaths, to openly sigh and moan if they desire.  I’ve noticed it’s not done without multiple encouragements from me.  Our culture is not used to expressing emotion “outloud”.  We should do it.  Maybe you’ve noticed scripture from the Old Testament that reveals the Israelites tearing their clothes, weeping out loud to openly express emotion?   Maybe you’ve noticed in James 4:9 we are to release emotion?  Not releasing is neither good for our spiritual state or our physical one.

In the 1800’s an Army surgeon, William Beaumont was able to see that negative emotion affected the internal workings of the digestive system.  He saw this through observing a man who had an open wound called a fistula.  Through the fistula he was able to see what happened inside this man’s body when he expressed anger, frustration, fear, etc.  The stomach did not release gastric juices the way it was supposed to and upset the digestion process.  Whether you realize it or not, your body is containing your stress.  Part of truly calming your insides is not a one hour workout or run or chanting a mantra, it comes from the Holy One who resides inside you, assigned to transform by divine power not physical exertion.  We are to tune into Him.  He is not a temporal solution that calms us like eating ice cream or running 5 miles.  He is a forever help, coming alongside us, advocating on our behalf in accordance to the perfect will of the Father.

So in childlike faith, try something new.  Walk out the promise by faith.  If God says the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans and sighs, we need not figure it out.  Instead, release yourself into His care and trust.

Follow this format in your own way…  Enter into prayer with deep breathing, inviting the Holy Spirit to pray for you.  Ask Him to take over.  Tell Him you want help in prayer right now and ask Him to pray for you.  By faith trust it is happening as you begin to sigh deeply and moan if it comes.  Just keep breathing deeply, releasing sighs and/or wordless groans.  As Romans 8:26-27 says, the Holy Spirit will be praying for you according to the will of the Father, advocating on your behalf.   Set a timer for 5 minutes and just enter in with the Holy Spirit this way. 

See if at the end, emotion may not bubble up and let go, release it and express it in prayer.  See if at the end of the sighing, that His peace that surpasses understanding has not brought life into your body and soul.  See if at the end He has helped you hone in on what is really eating at you and why.  If something is revealed, now you have words!  Take those words to God in prayer and tell him what is on your heart about that situation.  In childlike faith believe and hand your prayer time over to His Spirit within you. 

Romans 8:  9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

 I’d love to hear feedback from those who try this exercise.  Blessings!

Friend,

In the 13 years I have been serving God and his people in prayer, and the almost 20 years I have known Him, He has taught me a few things about persisting and abiding.  He has shown me the reward of intimacy at His feet. 

God longs for intimacy with His people.  Discerning His voice and depending upon His character to produce outcomes  in our lives is key to intimacy and living a Spirit empowered life.  But too often we rely on our efforts.  Too often we are confused about God's ways and frustrated in our prayer closets.  Therefore, by faith I am establishing a new ministry.  It is for individuals and leadership teams who want to seek His face, listen for His voice, and act in faith to the leading of His Spirit.  This is the purpose of intothewaters.com.

If you are looking to do any of the following:

1. Learn how to battle to destroy strongholds in your mind, e.g. fear, worry, anger, shame, etc
2. Learn ways to quiet your mind and enjoy your time with God
3. Hide his Word in your heart with creative, multi-sensory application
4. Learn about the blessing of fasting and join with others in prayer and fasting
5. Have access to member only resources and hear testimony from others
6. Attend active listening sessions in Rochester, NY
7. Be deeply in love with God

Then please sign up!  It's free!  You will be kept up-to-date with blog posts, new site content and offerings, as well as future resources like a weekly prophetic text (1 Corinthians 14:3) sent to your mobile number.  You must be signed up with email and mobile phone!  Share the site with a friend who might want inspiration in their time with God!

Secondly, if you are part of a board of directors, a leadership team, any group that might benefit from pressing in for God's guidance or help, then please inquire here. 

Start the year believing for more with God!  I am believing for you too!  Praying His supernatural power and life enter in at greater measure!

Blessings of His love to you!

Gina
Psalm 27:8-  My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"  Your face, LORD, I will seek.