Notes from this week's podcast: Need Hope? Pray the Word of God to Walk Through Hard Times

I want to give you some hope and I want to give you some Scriptures to pray the Word of God and the promises of God that perhaps will help you as you walk through these hard times. 

God wants us to walk and live a life everyday that exalts Him, looks to Him, leans on Him. How do we do that when there's so much heaviness around us? Take off that heaviness and put on a garment of praise. 

Isaiah 61:3 - To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Begin to walk that promise as if (God has) already manifested it in your presence. 

God was saying: If you really believe My promise, believe what I have said to you about this situation, as you have been praying it and sharing it, go live it. 

Live the joy of God's promises. 

As we begin to pray for our family members who are struggling, or maybe friends that are struggling through specific hard times, believe God's promises for them. And then live the promise. 

Interact with them as God has already performed that promise in the physical. Respond to that person  out of the promises. They need to hear hope, see hope. And they need to see us living as if we believe God, believe His Word. 

Promises that you can pray... 

1 Corinthians 15:7 - Jesus was seen by an individual. I pray this so many times for individuals who are wandering from God, who need to reunite with the heart of God, who need to come to God. 

Pray: Jesus, be seen by that person today. And I believe that You, God, will interact and take action in their life to cause them to be seen by Jesus today. 

Jeremiah 29:11 - God does have a hope and a future for them. 

Pray: God, I want You to move to bring about hope in their heart, and bring forth their future. 

  Zephaniah 3:20 - I pray all the time that God would restore fortunes before the eyes of family and friends, that things have been lost through time spent wandering away from God. 

Psalm 107:20

Pray: God, send Your Word and heal my friend, my family member, and deliver them from this destruction. 

John 10:28 - Nothing can snatch them out of the hand of God, if they are a believer.

Pray: God, I know, I believe Your promise that nothing can snatch them out of Your hand. Nothing can touch them unless it first comes through Your love. And, they are in Your hands. So, I am believing they are within Your reach, in Your boundaries, and nothing -- no more than necessary -- can touch their lives, and I'm believing  that. And, I know that You are faithful. That's Your promise, God.   

 Deuteronomy 30:6 

Pray: Lord God, I believe that today You will circumcise my heart and You will circumcise the hearts of my descendants so that they will love You with all their heart and soul, that they may live, truly come alive and walk the way You want them to walk everyday, seeking after You, loving You, living for You, overflowing with joy.

Deuteronomy 7:9 

Pray: God, I believe I know You as my Lord and I know that You are God. And, I know that You are a faithful God. You keep promises and mercy for a thousand generations to those who love You and keep Your commandments.

Isaiah 44:3-4 

 Pray: Lord, I pray and believe today that You're a covenant keeping God and that You will pour water on my family member (insert their name), who is thirsty. And You will pour floods on their dry ground. You will pour Your Spirit on my descendants and my family member. And You will put blessings on my offspring (children, grandchildren). And they shall spring up among the grass. And they shall be like willows along the flowing streams. 

Joshua 1:9 

 Pray: God, I believe that wherever they are, whatever they're walking through, You'll never leave them. I believe that You are with them. Your presence will be among them and around them, to sustain them and care for them. Your eye is on them. I believe that, Lord. 

Deuteronomy 1:11 

Pray: May the Lord your God make you a thousand times more numerous than you are and bless you as He has promised you. God, multiply Yourself through their life.

Romans 8:35 - Nothing can separate them from the Lord. (Plus verses 38-39: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isaiah 43:2 - When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

You're standing on the promises of God, the Word of God which is true and faithful. God cannot lie. 

We have to keep walking in obedience. Do whatever God tells us to do. We've got to love God. These people that we're praying for, they've got to see us loving God. Why? It's real. God is real in our lives. And we believe God, and we live for God. 

Hebrews 6:12b -imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 

Don't let the circumstances steal your joy, steal your promises. Pray and believe the promises of God. Follow the heart of God, whatever He tells you to do. 

Remember that your joy is your strength, even during the struggle and the battle. Your dependency, trust in God, your peace -- that is strength to walk through the circumstances with your friend, your family until you see God manifest His promise.