So the older I get, the more I've realized that I allow my emotions to control EVERYTHING! If I feel sad, my actions are sad. If I feel happy, my actions are happy. Sometimes I am completely irrational and just plain out of control because of my emotions.

Now, God gave us emotions for a reason. I'm not saying they are bad. In fact, they are a blessing. Emotions allow me to rejoice, to experience the "feeling" of love (which is only part of love by the way), to feel sad when I need to feel sad, to feel sad when my brother or sister in Christ is broken and hurting and needs me to hurt with them, to laugh out loud with a big smile because I am so happy inside, and so on and so on.

My emotions truly are a blessing from the Father. In fact, He tells us in Proverbs that He is keeping our very own tear bottle for each of us! However, there is a bad side to these crazy things called emotions. The bad side comes in when I begin to allow these emotions to control me. When my sad day drives me into depression just because I can't seem to shake it off. Sometimes my emotions cause me to act rude, mean, and just plain ugly toward people. When I let my emotions control me, I become like a human rollercoaster. Sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am mad - up and down, up and down. So the other day I was reading Colossians 2:9-10...

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

This verse tells us that Christ is fully God, therefore God being fully Christ (confusing I know, hang with me). It also tells us that we have been given the FULLNESS of Christ - not just a little, not just some...no ALL, fullness, one hundred percent filled with Him.

Okay, the next part says that He (Christ) is the head over EVERY POWER AND AUTHORITY. Does this mean that we have power through Christ? YES! Complete power through Christ - we have power through Christ over Satan, evil powers, and evil authorities. But check that last part again...Christ, who is head over every power. Sometimes, my emotions get so out of hand that they tend to have power over me. They force me to act a certain way, or believe a certain thing about myself.

For instance, I am a sinner inherently, therefore I am going to sin (even though I hate it). Sometimes when I sin, my emotions go crazy and i feel all this guilt, sadness, and condemnation even after I go to the Father and ask forgiveness. Because of my emotions, I began to go crazy and start believing that Jesus doesn't love me anymore or isn't happy with me anymore because I screwed up. I know that's not true because of 1John 1:9!

Okay, so what am I saying in all of this? I am saying that emotions are a good thing, a blessing in fact. But when they become an EVIL power in my life and begin controlling my actions, moods, and motives, I've got a problem. I must realize that through the name of Jesus I have power over my controlling emotions of sadness, insecurity, anger, hatred, love, happiness, and EVERY OTHER EMOTION YOU CAN THINK OF!

God loves you. He has blessed us with emotions - use them wisely!

Most people see school as a place to kill time until the afternoon when they're free to have fun with friends or watch TV. Some see it as just a place where teachers try to cram all of this information into your head that you think you'll never use again. But maybe school can be more than that. Maybe school is a mission field that can be used to reach out to others and show them the never-ending love of God.

Other than sleep, school takes up the majority of a student's day. Most students are at school for at least seven or eight hours. That's a big chunk of time to be in one location for nine months out of the year with the same people every single day. A lot can happen in someone's life over the course of nine months. But, as in most cases, we are often too self-centered to notice that other individuals walk the planet, too. People are stereotyped and labeled under categories that are mostly untrue. But for some reason, most of us still stick to our own groups in our own little worlds and aren't concerned about the needs of those around us.

But what if you did something different? What if you decided to make a change?

What if instead of gossiping about the awkward girl in school, you stood up for her? What if you offered your pencil to someone who needed it? What if you showed the new girl around instead of letting her lose her way? Or what if you just said hello to someone who's hardly ever spoken to? And what if it changed their world?

Little acts of kindness can make a big difference in someone's life, especially someone who's having a horrible day. And the more little acts of kindness you do, the more courage you'll build up to do greater acts of kindness. If we girls would look at school as a mission field where we can show love to others, then more opportunities to show Christ's love will come up. If you're in tune with the Spirit and your eyes are focused on Him, you will be able to see little ways to love on other students.

We don't always see the practical places like school as being a mission field because somehow we're under the impression that a mission field must be some foreign country that's poverty stricken and where no one knows Christ.

But a missionary is someone who is sent out to a location to help others and share what they believe. You don't have to be working in an orphanage in Africa or handing out food in Haiti. You can be right where you are, so let Christ use you to change a life, a school, or even the world. Remember, as it is written in Matthew 5:14, "You are the light of the world...," so shine on!

Sarah Smith grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with an English degree. She loves being a child of God and serving in missions. She has gone on trips to Germany and London and served a recent term of five and half months in London as a missionary intern. She recently applied to seminary and is looking forward to attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall to study Christian Counseling.

Forgiveness is truly a divine ability, and one that we cannot hope to fully execute in our human nature. Perhaps we are most like our Maker in the moments when we choose to forgive those who have wronged us..hurt us...betrayed us. And in the moments when we allow forgiveness to govern our actions, I believe the heart of God honors our prayers.

The following prayer was found on a scrap of paper during the liberation of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany during World War II.

"Lord, remember not only the men of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us. Remember rather the fruits we have brought, thanks to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown out of this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits we have bourne be their forgiveness."

I am moved by this prayer in ways I cannot even express in words. You see, this particular concentration camp was created primarily for women. Between the years of 1939-1945, over 130,000 female prisoners passed through the gates of Ravensbruck. Only 40,000 lived to tell about it. Corrie ten Boom, one of my spiritual heroes, was among that 40,000. She eventually shared her story through the book, The Hiding Place, which was later made into a movie as well. One of the recurring themes of the book is forgiveness.

When I look at the betrayals in my life, they seem inconsequential when compared to the suffering inflicted by the leaders of Ravensbruck. Yet somehow the women held captive there allowed God to infuse them with the capacity to forgive. So how can I not allow God to do the same in my life? Forgiveness is a gift we can choose to give. It is not conditional upon the wrongdoer's acknowledgement of their mistake. Think about it...some people will never accept responsibility for their actions, nor will they seek your forgiveness. But we can bestow the gift of forgiveness anyway, and in doing so, we can bear the fruit of the Divine.

When we reflect on our spiritual heritage, there are several spiritual "giants" who have lived such sacrificial lives that even non-believers admire their legacy. One of those "giants" is the small-statured Mother Teresa who spent her life caring for the forgotten in the streets of Calcutta. Her work was difficult, yet she endured without complaint. I think her prayer below reveals how she did it...

"Dear Jesus, Help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go, flood our souls with your Spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus. Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be your shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching - not by words but by our example...by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do...the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you."

What would happen if each of us woke up each morning and lived each day with the goal of spreading His fragrance wherever we go? Oh God, let that be our prayer and our desire - to preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example.

Nestled into an Old Testament book that rarely gets much attention is a short prayer from a guy named Jabez. We don't know much about him, but we do know that God liked his prayer. Check it out below:

Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked. (1 Chronicles 4:10, ESV)

So what does he ask for?

1. He asks God to bless him. Seems kind of selfish, right? But since our God is a God who longs to bless, Jabez issues a simple yet powerful request that resonates with the heart of a loving Father.
2. He asks God to enlarge his border. Hmm...selfish again, right? Well, I think the key here is motivation. Jabez is not asking God to make him great - He is asking God to make His own name great by expanding the influence Jabez has.
3. He asks for God's hand to be with him. This is proof positive that Jabez is not into power or selfish gain. He doesn't want the blessings of power and influence without the hand of God there to guide him.
4. He asks for God to keep him from harm and subsequent pain. Jabez understands how easy it is to become consumed with worldly things, so he asks God to keep him safe from such desires. You see, he is not just seeking physical protection - He is asking for spiritual protection as well.

And God granted what he asked. May we be like Jabez today, lifting up simple but bold prayers to our God who is able to answer in abundance.

One of the best ways that we can grow our prayer life is to observe and study the prayers lifted up by the saints in Scripture. One such prayer is found in 1 Samuel 2 and is voiced by Hannah, the mother of Samuel. In 1 Samuel 1, we see that she prayed and wept before the Lord, asking Him to give her a son. And when God responded with the birth of Samuel, she promised to give him back to the Lord. This was no empty promise, for Hannah honored her word and brought her son to live with the priest Eli in the house of the Lord.

She then prays an amazing prayer that acknowledges the character of God. It begins like this:

1 Then Hannah prayed and said:
"My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

2 "There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

She has just given God the one thing she wanted more than any other - a son - yet her soul is still able to lift up her Maker simply for who He is. Even though she is making such an extravagant sacrifice, she is not consumed with her own emotions and demands. Rather, she pauses to reflect on the character and sovereign nature of God. How refreshing her words of praise must have been to the ear of God, who spends so much of His time listening to our selfish requests. So what would happen if all of us today adopted the heart of Hannah and prayed simply to praise?

Prayer for the Day:
Father God, You are glorious and powerful. You are holy and righteous. You are everything we in our humanity are not. We praise You for Your matchless worth. We worship You for your infinite nature. You are God, and there is truly no one like You.

While it would be nice to transport all Christ-followers to our own personal Caribbean island, it's just not possible nor is it what is best. We cannot live inside our own Christian bubble and still expect to reach a lost and dying world. Christ knew this, so in the moments leading up to his arrest and death, He lifted up a prayer to His father on our behalf.

John 17:14-16 says, "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

So our prayer should not be for God to take us "out of this world" but rather a plea for God's protection during our journey. Without His help, there is no way we can pursue a holy life in such an unholy environment. But with His protective Hand, we can learn to live a set apart life that is "out of this world" and a living testimony to all who see it.

Making It Personal:

• Are you daily asking God for His protection from the enemy?
• What steps can you take this week to make sure you are living a "holy" life even in an unholy environment?

Our enemy has some pretty good attack strategies - one of the biggest and best being something I call "The Flashback Attack." You see, he has a way of replaying in our minds a movie reel of all our past mistakes. We watch our failures, and we buy into the lie that "God could never use someone like me." But the truth is that nothing could be further from the truth.

If we look at the life of Samson, we find a beautiful example of how God hears the prayers of even the biggest screw-ups.

Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." (Judges 16:28, NIV)

Samson had totally allowed his pride to get in the way of his walk with God, and it resulted in a betrayal by Delilah, a really bad haircut, and the loss of his eyesight. But after all the mistakes and bad consequences, Samson had a divine realization that God wasn't finished with him yet.

He called on God for His power one more time, and God heard his prayer.

And regardless of what your "criminal record" may be, God can hear your prayer, too.

I think I'd like to have Paul as a prayer partner. Read through his letters, and you'll often find him mentioning something like the following:

"I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers." (2 Timothy 1:3, NIV)

Imagine the comfort it had to bring to Timothy to get the news that Paul was praying for him constantly...both night and day. As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to pray for one another and to do so faithfully.

So take some time today to figure out a prayer plan. Maybe you keep a journal to jot down a note when a friend shares a prayer need. Maybe you download a prayer list app for your cell phone and track requests that way. Maybe you keep a note card in your Bible with a compilation of that week's prayer concerns. Figure out a system that works well for you and put it into practice.

Make it a priority to intercede for your family and friends. Trust me, it's one of the best gifts you could ever give them.

Making It Personal:

• What are some ways that you have used in the past to help you remember to lift up prayer requests?
• What does it mean to you personally to know that someone is praying for you?

It's hard to admit when you've made a mistake, so most of just don't do it. But in spiritual terms, this prideful behavior will only serve to hinder our spiritual growth. I also believe it is directly correlated to God's favor (or lack thereof). When there is a spirit of pride, God simply cannot and will not bless. When there is a spirit of humility and a willingness to admit our sin, I believe God responds in full measure to our request for help. We see it in action in the life of the Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 1:6 says, "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you."

Nehemiah takes confession to the next level by not only acknowledging the sin in his own life but also that of his entire nation. And as a result, God answered his prayer in amazing ways. If we keep reading in Nehemiah, we discover that the king of a foreign nation gives Nehemiah permission (and the resources) to return to his homeland to rebuild the walls around the city. There's no reason for this king to stand behind Nehemiah other than the hand of God moving him to do so.

Great favor comes with great humility, so it's time to start praying some humble prayers. It's time to get honest before God and confess the struggles we are facing. If you ever want your prayer life to grow, confession IS a necessity.

Making It Personal:

• When was the last time you truly confessed your sins to God?
• How can you make confession a part of your daily prayer life?

I believe there is a direct connection between the anointing of the Holy Spirit in ministry to the quality of prayer in the life of the minister.

This ministry began with a foundation of prayer when a group of 12 girls got together and asked for the power of God to move in the midst of a simple, college Bible study. More than ten years later, I think our ministry's growth and success is directly attributed to the fact that it began with much prayer.

In December, we spent a month as a team praying and fasting for God's anointing for our spring "Undivided" events. Again, I believe God has answered beyond measure.

So I am reminded yet again that talent, planning, and creativity are great, but they are meaningless with the anointing of God.

God, help us to have ministries founded and grounded in prayer. Help us be ministers whose daily communion with You is rich. And let us reap the harvest that comes when Your Spirit reigns.

It's that time of year when sickness just seems to be attacking everyone. Most parts of the country have experienced an unusually strong winter, and with the cold has come an array of colds, viruses, and allergies.

But maybe you're experiencing a sickness far more threatening than a physical one. You see, without proper care, our souls can soon descend into a spiritual sickness. So what must we do to stay spiritually healthy? Well, one of the critical prevention steps is a consistent prayer life.

Alexander Cockburn once said, "A childish soul not inoculated with compulsory prayer is a soul open to any religious infection."

Without consistent prayer in our life, we expose ourselves to the harmful and invasive germs of the enemy. They attack our soul and prevent us from ever maturing into the disciples we are called to be. We remain childish souls forever.

But there is an alternative plan. We can inoculate (vaccinate/protect) our soul with the power of prayer.

So where are you today? Are you soul sick or have you taken the prayer vaccine?

Most of us are familiar with the story of Daniel and the lion's den. Like David and Goliath or Jonah and the whale (or big fish), it's one of the most talked about tales in all of scripture. But we often forget what landed our man Daniel in that den in the first place.

If we go back to Daniel 6, we discover that a commitment to prayer was his only crime. Some shady political leaders convince the king to issue a decree declaring it illegal to pray to anyone but him, and then they sit back and wait for Daniel to defy the order.

Daniel 6:10-11 (NIV) says, "Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help."

Prayer was an integral part of Daniel's daily life, and no decree from an earthly king was going to interfere with his allegiance to the Heavenly King. Even though disobedience of the decree was punishable by death, Daniel was willing to face the consequences.

I wonder if the same could be said of me. Would I have the courage to keep praying even if it could cost me my life?

What about you? Do you have the guts to pray even when it hurts?

E.M. Bounds, an old-school preacher man from the 19th century, earned a pretty impressive nickname. You see, history sometimes refers to him as the "American prophet of prayer." Having had a few nicknames in my day, I can honestly say that none of mine come anywhere close to topping Mr. Bounds. He was a man who believed in the power of prayer, and everything about his life was a demonstration of that deep-seeded belief.

Because prayer was such a pivotal part of his daily faith walk, it was only natural that it would become the focus of many of his sermons and books. If you start digging into his work, you'll find some amazing gems of wisdom regarding prayer. For instance, check out this one:

"Prayer is the lungs through which holiness breathes."

That's a powerful thought, especially considering the fact that Hebrews 12:14 tells us, "...without holiness no one will see the Lord." So if we want people around us to see the Light of Christ, we have to start living holy lives. And if we want to live holy lives, we better get on our knees.

Prayer is the gateway that keeps us connected to God and open to the power of His convicting Spirit. It enables us to see the truth about our spiritual condition and reveals to us the areas that demand repentance. And as God begins to do His sanctifying work in our lives, our desire for Him will grow exponentially. Just like a boy and girl in a new romance seize every moment to be in each other's presence, so we will long to seize every moment with our Love. Soon we'll be staying up late and waking up early because we just can't wait to hear what He's gonna say next. And somewhere in the process of falling in love, we'll finally see the beautiful value of holiness - of ridding our lives of anything that would keep us apart from our King.

So today, Lord, we ask that you would stretch our lungs. Convict us, mold us, change us...winnow away at anything in us that does not reflect your holiness. Let holiness breathe out in every whispered prayer, in every passionate conversation, and in every overjoyed love song. Let nothing separate us from you.

Virtually every religion in the world incorporates the discipline of prayer into their spiritual practices, so some might ask what makes our prayers so special. Deuteronomy 4:7 (NIV) has the answer. It says,

"What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?"

As Christians, our prayers are not to a wooden statue or to a dead prophet - they are spoken to a living God who has sent His very Spirit to indwell us. While that may feel too close for comfort sometimes, it's certainly "comforting" to know that He is near.

You see, our God invites us into His inner circle so that we might know Him intimately and passionately. He invites us to draw near, and the assurance we receive in return is that He will return the favor.

James 4:8 (KJV) sums it up, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."

So take some time to draw near today. His arms are open, and He's waiting for you.

Making It Personal:

• Deut. 4:7 is spoken by Moses as he teaches the children of Israel about the God they serve. He is equipping them to go and inherit their promised land. What promises are you waiting to claim in your life? Have you earnestly sought God's help in reaching/claiming your promised land?
• Think back to the last time you felt God draw near to you during a prayer time. What do you think was special/unique about that prayer time?
• What steps can you take in your prayer life today to draw near to God?