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Prayer Under Pressure

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You;

Psalm 63

We Seek You Lord

My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

Psalm 63

You Are The Answer

2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

Psalm 63

I Remember What You Have Done In the Past

3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! 4 I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.

Psalm 63

I Worship With My Whole Heart

5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.

Psalm 63

You Are My Provider

6 I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.

Psalm 63

You Are My Peace

7 Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. 8 I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.

Psalm 63

You Are My Help

9 But those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin. They will go down into the depths of the earth. 10 They will die by the sword and become the food of jackals.

Psalm 63

Thank You For Your Protection

11 But the king will rejoice in God. All who swear to tell the truth will praise him, while liars will be silenced.

Psalm 63

I Rejoice In You Lord

Make plans to be part of "21 Days of Prayer" beginning Sunday, August 1st. Daily Prayer services Monday-Friday 6:00-7:00am & Saturdays 9:00-10:00am (There will be a special prayer experience for kids as well on Saturday mornings.). For more information visit www.cityhills.com/21days

Help! I Can’t Forgive Myself

…forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

Forgiving Yourself

  • Forgiving yourself does not mean what you did was ok
  • Forgiving yourself does not make the consequences go away
  • Forgiving yourself means that you receive what was paid for by Jesus instead of trying to pay for your own debt by living in toxic shame.

3 Truths About Shame

  • Shame: The intensively painful feeling that we are unworthy of love and belonging
  • Shame depends on you buying in to the lie that you are alone and unworthy of love.
  • The devil wants to use your shame to drive you away from God. God wants to use your guilt to draw you to His grace.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Romans 8:1

Challenge

  • Focus on Jesus. Who he is and what he has done for you.
  • Treat yourself like someone you love.
  • Stop trying to change your past, and allow Jesus to change your future.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19
Make plans to be part of "21 Days of Prayer" beginning Sunday, August 1st. Daily Prayer services Monday-Friday 6:00-7:00am & Saturdays 9:00-10:00am (There will be a special prayer experience for kids as well on Saturday mornings.). For more information visit www.cityhills.com/21days

Help! I’m Struggling to Forgive

Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

Three Truths About Forgiveness:

  • In order for relationships to work, we must let the One who designed them define them.
  • My relationship with God is inseparable to my relationship with the people God has put in my life.
  • “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.”

Forgiveness is Not:

  • It’s not minimizing the seriousness of the offense.
  • It’s not reconciliation.
  • It’s not forgetting what happened.

1. Pray for them.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

(Matthew 5:43-44 NIV)

2. Bless them.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

(Romans 12:14 NIV)

3. Forgive others as Jesus has forgiven you

Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32
21 Days of Prayer - Make plans to be part of "21 Days of Prayer" beginning Sunday, August 1st. Daily Prayer services Monday-Friday 6:00-7:00am & Saturdays 9:00-10:00am (There will be a special prayer experience for kids as well on Saturday mornings.). For more information visit www.cityhills.com/21days

Change Your Words, Change Your World

Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].

Ephesians 4:29–32

Your words affect you.

Your words affect others.

Your words affect God.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin]. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Ephesians 4:29–32

Challenge

  • Ask for God’s help with your words
  • Ask for people to help you with your words
  • Be slow to speak and quick to listen
  • Use your words to encourage the people in your world today
21 Days of Prayer: Make plans to be part of "21 Days of Prayer" beginning Sunday, August 1st. Daily Prayer services Monday-Friday 6:00-7:00am & Saturdays 9:00-10:00am (There will be a special prayer experience for kids as well on Saturday mornings.). For more information visit www.cityhills.com/21days

An Attitude Adjustment

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Praise

Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Surrender

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Thankfulness

For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Trust

Make plans to be part of "21 Days of Prayer" beginning Sunday, August 1st.  Daily Prayer services Monday-Friday 6:00-7:00am & Saturdays 9:00-10:00am (There will be a special prayer experience for kids as well on Saturday mornings.). For more information visit www.cityhills.com/21days

Watch It

1. Watch Your Mouth

“Therefore, rejecting all falsehood [whether lying, defrauding, telling half-truths, spreading rumors, any such as these], speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one another [and we are all parts of the body of Christ].

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:25-28‬ ‭AMP‬‬
Speak Life

2. Watch Your Anger

Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness].

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:25-28‬ ‭AMP‬‬
Forgive

Watch Your Work

The thief [who has become a believer] must no longer steal, but instead he must work hard [making an honest living], producing that which is good with his own hands, so that he will have something to share with those in need.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:25-28‬ ‭AMP‬‬
Be Honest & Generous

Challenge: What harmful behavior do I need the Holy Spirit to help me with today?

What Fuels You?

“And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd.

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-24‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Pleasing God

They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore.

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-24‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Truth

Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-24‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Purity

But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it!

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-24‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Conviction

And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-24‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Worship

Challenge: Check your heart

Finding Your FIT

“He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Live By Faith

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Be Intentional

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27


Be Teachable

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

Proverbs 12:15

To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.

Proverbs 12:1

Truth In Love

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Four thoughts from Ephesians 4:15:

• Truth is not relative
• We are called to speak truth
• How we speak truth matters
• Jesus is our example

Jesus Is…

1 Authentic

He gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,

Philippians 2:7

2 Enjoyable

He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Mark 10:14

3 Accepting

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:15-17

4 Passionate

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

Matthew 7:28-29

5 Powerful

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

John 5:8-9

Not Easily Shaken

“And then our immaturity will end! And we will not be easily shaken by trouble, nor led astray by novel teachings or by the false doctrines of deceivers who teach clever lies.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Don’t live by feelings.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

Isaiah 40:8

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Psalm 119:105

Don’t follow the crowd.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Proverbs 14:12

Delight in God’s Word

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

Psalms 1:1-3 NLT