You see, the acronym stands for the people that this prayer is going up to the heavens for... there is a group of men that God has put on my heart for which these words are meant, and to respect their privacy, I have decided to withhold all of their names, their professions, their areas of need being at least somewhat exposed in the prayer that follows.
The important thing isn't the acronym. It isn't whether or not any of you an figure out" all or part of it, either... for that is between God and I. I haven't even told my very best friend here in the earth, because I believe that, since she knows a few of the people represented here, I would like to keep the guessing games at bay and allow the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do here...
That said, to continue...on to the thoughts, lesson, and prayer about BBENJJJIY, D WARTSS STANKKI MMUCH!
*****Please forgive the uncouth word picture of the acronym, though in some ways, it is fitting...*****
In the book of Judges, chapter six, we find the story of Gideon. Now, Gideon was a man who threshed wheat in a winepress as a means of survival, because all of his people were being oppressed by the Midianites and Amalakites, and others in the land. These others had been coming in and devouring the food of the Israelites, and oppressing them in other various ways. The Israelites had begun to disobey God, and were worshipping the foreign gods brought in by their oppressors and neighbors.
It is in this story we find a man using the wrong tool - a winepress -to attempt to save his own life with the grain of the land. it is a fearful act that some would call downright foolish. And yet, in this very setting, in verses 11-13, we read:
The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.'
'But sir,' Gideon replied, 'if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, "Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?" But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.'Did you catch that? God called Gideon UP to a higher place and reality.
You might be thinking , What does that have to do with the prayer you're preparing to share, Harmony?
Gideon was the right person in the wrong place using the wrong tool in the wrong way... and God saw him there, and called him into who he was! Even when everything seemed to be going wrong, God still walked into the situation, called things what they are in Heaven, and helped that reality come down into the earth!
We see the same thing in varying places in the text of the Bible; God calling into being that which is not. With Abraham, it was a son, and with that son, much of the world. With Simon Peter and the disciples who turned apostles, it was fishers of men. With Mary, the mother of Jesus... it was God Incarnate in her womb. This is God calling what we see as something else... this is what God does to shift our paradigms and change our lives, if we will let Him in to d so... and He is about to do this one more time!
BBENJJJIY, D WARTSS STANKKI MUCH!!!
To those of you God knows this is for...and perhaps to the men aside from this group whom the Holy Spirit brings to read this for one reason or another:
You are mighty warriors of the Most High God, in the heavenly realms, and it is time for you to stop thinking of yourselves as stinking warts on the face of this earth, or acting like it, and to walk into the calling upon your lives!
Wow. Harsh language, Harmony! I thought you were such a loving person!
Yet reader, I am. God calls us to speak the truth in love, and HERE I GO!
Father God, in the name of Jesus, the Almighty, Holy One of Israel,
First of all, praise and thank You for the privilege of coming before Your very throne through my prayers, O God, be they written or aloud. You are awesome, awe-inspiring, holy, true, and wonderful, and worthy to be praised alone... above all others, forever!
You know the people this prayer is representative of, and to whom Your command has gone into the earth. You promise us that when You send a word, it never returns void but fulfills all that it is meant to accomplish, and for this, I praise and thank You!
Like Gideon, Father, you have called these men Mighty Warriors. They have been in the wrong frame of mind, walking in fear, working things out in the flesh as Gideon old did, but, Lord, it is time for Your angel to come and tell them, "The Lord is with you, o mighty warrior of God!" And it will be so as You send the word into the earth as You send it even now through these words.
O God, You call these men mighty in You, and not in themselves. You call them to be men of valor, honor, and the Word. may it be so in the name of Jesus in accord with Your word, which never lies but always accomplished what it means to by the Spirit's power.
I thank You that You have given me the opportunity, and not merely the privilege, to pray for these men who have been on Your heart and whose names are tattooed in the palm of Your hand from eternity on; these men You sent Your Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for at Calvary, and whose names are meant for the Lamb's Book of Life. O God, soften their hearts toward You, and shut their eyes, minds, and ears to the enemy. Shift every paradigm within them that utters other gods before You, O Father, and make Your name great in their hearts and on their lips! Remove the barriers, those walls meant to keep all pain and surprise out, which also blocks You out of their lives. Heal the tender and broken places within in ways only YOU know how, when, and where to do so. Bring godly men who are totally on ire for You, filed with Your Spirit, whom they will respect, into their lives; remove the influences that are not of You and replace them with Your people, of whom they are a part, unknowingly.
Father God, raise them up to be WHO and WHAT You have truly called them to be, each and every one! May Your Spirit move upon them as long as this post is up, and as long as it is in the people's hearts who read it. My praise is raised to You, O God, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, because I know that I know You are ready, willing, and able to accomplish all of this and more! I know that You come before us, bending down in delight, even as we come to Your throne, that Your answer occurs on a level we may understand, or at least be able to recognize.
Whatever means necessary, Father God, change, transform, shift, heal, and draw to You by Your DUNAMIS power and grace, for it is for Your glory, in the name of Jesus, the Messiah, the holy One of Israel.
Amen
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