Praying the Armor of God and Other Items

Besides the Out of the Fire blog, I also write The Character Building for Families Blog, which is geared toward Christian parenting and homeschooling.

My most recent post there is Pray the Armor of God Over Your Family. I wanted to let those of you who follow Out of the Fire know about it as well. No matter what age your children are, whether they are still at home or long since grown, I hope the article will be helpful to you.

For those who enjoy learning by listening, I’m also pleased to announce the new Out of the Fire Podcast. Episodes range from 5 to 12 minutes in length, with the average being about 7 minutes. I’ve purposefully kept things short, with the intent of providing quality content which doesn’t take too much of your time. As with the Out of the Fire blog, the podcast is about intercessory prayer, the prophetic, and other Christian topics. You can access the podcast through Anchor, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Breaker, and Pocket Casts, with a couple of others coming soon. Search “Lee Ann Rubsam” or “Out of the Fire Lee Ann Rubsam” or find any of them at my page at Anchor. At this point in time, the content is different than current posts at my blog, so I hope you will keep up with both!

A few other thoughts:

I know many of you are alarmed at the radical turn for the worse the U. S. is taking. I encourage you to keep your eyes on the Lord, rather than the news reports. I believe God is still going to turn things around. Be patient, believe that He is still working (He is, and it will become evident in His perfect timing), and continue to pray, knowing that He has heard His people and will continue to do so.

There is much going on under the surface. This is the way God often works, like an underground river, always flowing, but then it suddenly erupts above ground. In the meantime, we can dwell in His peace, resting confidently in His deliverance.

I continue to be profoundly impacted by the word God spoke to me some weeks ago:

“Expect God to do things through your prayers.”

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The Intercessor Manual, by Lee Ann Rubsam

The Dream Book: A Practical Guide to Christian Dream Interpretation,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

Praying with Expectancy

Does God ever say things to you that really state the obvious — no-brainer kinds of ideas? Well, He does with me … because I need to hear them. Suddenly, a concept which should be very “elementary, my dear Watson” becomes profound. The Holy Spirit breathes new life into it, and I take hold of it once again.

I had a moment like that a few days ago. The Lord interrupted my thoughts with, “Expect God to do things through your prayers.”

Now, I should know that. We all should. And we do. Yet, sometimes we fall into acting like we don’t. We carelessly allow an unbelieving mindset to creep in, where we intercede, but we don’t really believe what we’re asking for will be granted. We underestimate the tremendous power in prayer, totally forgetting James 5:16’s assurance that, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

We forget God’s oft-repeated promise that He will answer when we call. We slip into praying without expecting results — which begs the question, if we don’t think He will respond, why are we even asking?

Perhaps not expecting God to do things through our prayers is how we get into the habit of praying in generalities: “Bless all the people in our church.” “Make everyone who is sick among us well.” “Have mercy on our world.” “Help all who are depressed in our city.” These are extreme examples, but I spent my early years in churches where petitions like them were raised every week, and then we all mumbled unenthusiastically, “Lord, hear our prayer,” without any confidence He would do anything.

Our personal petitions can slip into sounding vague, too. Broadly general prayers are safe, because we don’t risk being denied a desired answer like we would with a specific request. They are also lazy, because they don’t require us to seek God’s mind on how to pray into a situation before we plunge in.

What is the better way? First of all, it might be time to fill ourselves again with the Bible promises which reveal God’s desire to answer us. Need some help finding them? Here’s a good start.

Secondly, it’s a good idea not to rush into placing a petition. We should take time to ask the Lord how He sees the situation. When we know His mind on a matter, we can pray with assurance of a “yes” answer. “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14, 15).

While waiting on Him for guidance, we can pray in tongues. It gives us a head start on praying perfectly and precisely for the need. It is also a way to open ourselves up to hearing details from the Lord which we can then pray in our native language, knowing what we are praying. Paul said we are to do both: “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. … I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also…” (1 Corinthians 14:14, 15).

If we truly expect God to answer, we’ll be anticipating what He’s going to do and how — like the excitement children have in wondering what gifts Christmas morning will produce. In a normal family, there is no debating about whether gifts will be there, just a solid confidence that they will show up. I want to be like that — on tiptoe in my heart, eagerly waiting to see how He is going to answer each prayer.

If we expect God to act when we pray, He will. This is part of what it means to have faith. We must cultivate an expectant mindset, and then watch carefully to see what He does, so we don’t miss it when it arrives — because often the answer will be packaged differently than what we had envisioned. God is perfect in all His ways, and we can fully trust Him to answer our prayers in the best way possible.

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The Intercessor Manual,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

 

 

 

 

The Intercessor’s Companion,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

 

 

 

 

Your Intercession Questions Answered,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

 

The Names of God Updated Edition

Many of you have purchased my booklet, The Names of God, through the years. It is an alphabetical list of God’s names and titles as found in the King James Version, along with their Bible references.

I am pleased to announce that The Names of God is now available in standard paperback at Amazon (affiliate link) and other online book retailers for the first time. (I also carry the new edition at my website.) The e-book version has been updated, too. Both editions now include about 30 more names in the main list (now more than 660 names), as well as additions to the Hebrew names and the “Who” names / characteristics chapter.

I have also added a chapter at the beginning called “Knowing His Name.” In it, I share insights the Lord has given me on why knowing His name is important — to us and to Him!

I hope you will enjoy this updated, expanded version of The Names of God.

There is also a free listing of the names at my website for you to enjoy. It does not have as many names the book does, since I quit updating the web page some time ago. It does not include the Bible references, either. Still, it’s a good place to start, and I hope you will be blessed by it.

You may also like my page, He Calls You Beloved. It is a list of endearing terms God uses for His people in His Word (KJV), done in the same style as the names page.

~ Lee Ann

The Beloved Benefactor

Can you imagine a man or woman planning to marry someone when the marriage only benefits the other person? The spouse-to-be brings absolutely nothing to the table — no personal attractiveness, moral character, agreeable personality, or thoughtfulness; no talents, financial assets, social status, or education. Nothing. The relationship is entirely one-sided. We would probably ask, “Why would anyone do that?”

I had a conversation with the Lord recently where He explained that this is exactly what He has done for His bride and for each of us individually. Everything we have, He has given to us.

Purity? We had none of that until He forgave us. He provides the spotless wedding gown and adorns His bride with His jewels. He has supernaturally restored to us a pristine virgin status we did not possess. Our radiant beauty comes from the glory He has placed within us by giving us His Spirit and His new nature.

Did He fall in love with us because we pursued Him? No, He says, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16), and, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Was it our impressive talents which attracted Him? Sorry, those are gifts from Him. “What do you have that you did not receive [as a gift]? Now, if you received it , why do you glory as if you had not received it [as a gift]“ (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Maybe it was our vast knowledge or intelligence. Seriously? Compared to the One Who knows everything? Or, maybe our wealth. “Yes! He must have wanted my $$$ for His kingdom!” Nope. The silver and the gold are already His, as well as the cattle on a thousand hills (Haggai 2:8 and Psalm 50:10). Maybe it was because He saw us as influential, charismatic people who could make Him look good. Ick. Sorry again.

… Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and … the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things …, and things which are despised, … and things which are not, to bring to nothing the things which are: so that no flesh is able to glory in His presence. — 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Sometimes we forget what we were before we yielded to Jesus. We deceive ourselves into secretly thinking God picked us because of some good He saw in us. We also tend to forget that everything we now have is still only ours because it flows from Him, day by day, moment by moment. We’re not hot stuff now any more than we ever were. It’s all from Him.

In Ezekiel 16:1-14, God paints a picture of the one-sided relationship He had with Israel. He likened them to an illegitimate, abandoned newborn, whom He carefully watched over, waited for, and eventually made His bride. He gave her the only clothes she had — fancy ones, with jewels and a crown. He provided the finest food and every luxury for her. That same story applies to us.

The beauty of all of this is, the Lord does not remind us of our lack in order to shame us. Although He points out that we are nothing without Him, we have His approval. We are “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). He wants us to feel glad about our total dependency, because He is glad. It is His purest pleasure to give us everything, to be our everything. Giving us all that we are and all that we have brings Him exhilarating joy. It is a mystery beyond anything we can fathom, and brings us into a more profound love for Him as we contemplate it.

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Before Whom We Stand: The Everyman’s Guide to the Nature of God,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

 

 

 

The Names of God,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

Free Online Intercessor Course

The class is filled.

You can still contact me to be put on a waiting list, in case someone backs out. Waiting list names will given first chance when we do this course again at a later date.

Do you desire to grow in your ministry of intercession?

12-week online Intercession course

Weekly sessions on Saturdays, 10:00 a.m – 12:00 p.m. CST

March 6 through May 22

Our time together will be partly teaching and partly praying together, putting into practice what we learn. You will learn to flow in the leading of the Holy Spirit.

12 spots available

E-mail me at leeann@leeannrubsam.com if you are seriously interested in committing to the 12-week course.

(A couple of additional weeks will be available at the end of the course for anyone interested in starting/leading a prayer group of your own.)

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The Intercessor Manual,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

 

 

 

 

Your Intercession Questions Answered,
by Lee Ann Rubsam

 

 

 

 

 

The Intercessor’s Companion,
by Lee Ann Rubsam