I have been involved with a prayer group of young men for several years. They come together twice a week early in the morning to pray for personal and corporate needs. One morning, while we were praying, I told them that in spiritual warfare your family becomes fair game. This means that whatever you hold dear can be a target of opportunity for the devil.

Jesus said that He overcame the world and that in His name we too can overcome the world. But this means that we must stay in an attitude of prayer and be vigilant against the wiles of the devil.

James 5:15-18 “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

An attitude of prayer is where we stay in the presence of God continually. When we do stay in God’s presence, we know that our prayers are heard and answered by God. What this means is that we are communicating with God all the time. How can we do this while we are living our lives? It is easier that you think. God made the way back to Him through our relationship with Jesus. We are justified before God by our faith, trusting and believing, in Jesus. This is how we become righteous before God. As we become righteous before God, He will hear and answer our prayers. This is what it means to have our prayers availeth much.

Job sought God everyday, so that nothing would happen to himself and his family. God called Job a righteous man. And no matter what trial Job went through, he never lost faith in God. And God rewarded Job accordingly.

The same happened to Elijah. God gave him 32 miracles during his lifetime. Many people were afraid of Elijah because of his relationship with God. He stayed in an attitude of prayer all of his life. This is also why he lived in the country away from people. But when he prayed, God heard his prayers and answered them.

Any righteous person can have what God has, if you are willing. God has many gifts that any believer can have. These gifts are not just to collect, they are to use in the work of the kingdom. To become proficient in the gifts of God, you must use them continually. Then you will become skilled in that gift and effective in the work of the kingdom. Prayer is a gift of God. Being able to communicate with God and expect an answer from Him.

So, if you want to be a spirit warrior, you have to begin with your faith and prayer.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

I’m not talking about outer or inner space. I’m talking about our personal space that we occupy. We are 3 dimensional beings. Actually we are 4 dimensional beings. The first 3 dimensions are height, breath and length. The 4 dimension is what we live in. It’s your birthday. It’s the month you were born in. It’s the year you graduated from high school or college. It’s the day you were married or the day you die. That dimension is of course Time. Most people don’t consider time, they take for granted. We will live forever, maybe. Time is finite or meaning that it will come to an end. Each of us has been given a set amount of time. And we have the authority to use that time as we will. We are masters of our destiny and can do what we want, maybe.

The smartest person in the world can not outwit time and space. We will all grow old and die. It is the cycle of life. Each person has a set amount of time and we can not reverse the aging process. We have to look at our life and see whether or not we use it correctly. What I mean is have you been charitable to your fellowman? Have you given of your time and energy to help mankind? There is nothing better than to give of oneself of what you have to another. This fulfills your purpose on this earth. We live in one large community, mankind.

If you think you can’t affect the world, you are wrong. I wrote a blog, 5 years ago, that literally went around the world. How do I know? I received about 15,000 comments in one month from almost every country in the world. Approximately, 4 million people viewed my blog. Do you think I impacted the world?

What we do doesn’t even come into our prospective of of our life. The events that happen to us seem disconnected with the world. Yet our lives affect so many people and it has a ripple effect. What we do with our time is as important as sleeping and eating. I know that my words won’t have the effect I am hoping for. Some will take it to heart. Some will think it is foolish. But what is real and can’t be ignored is the effects of time on our lives. You can use your time wisely or thrown it away. The choice is always up to you. Use your time wisely and do something that has lasting effects on mankind.

PS. By the way the answer to the riddle is Time.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

What has a profound effect upon us, but you can’t see, taste, hear, touch or smell and

is consistent and ever changing? And Why?

Let me know if you have figured it out.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

My son was playing little league baseball one summer. I usually stayed and watched them practiced. One day I was at a game of theirs. I was looking at the catcher. It seemed that he was afraid of the hard ball. Whey they came into the dugout, I talked with the catcher. I said look at the other team’s catcher. He would catch every ball and chase it if he dropped the ball. I told our catcher, he has the want to’s. He wants to play baseball at the best of his ability. And I said if you want to be good at catching, you have to want to. This boy took it to heart. His game increased and he began catching almost every ball. He came up to me and said I have the want to’s.

Passion comes from your heart. If we believe that we can, we can. It is an attitude change in our lives. We are only limited by our ability and knowledge. And both of those things can be learned. But the desire has to come from our hearts.

You have to make the decision to achieve the goals set before you. Then you will have the want to’s.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Do you remember the saying, that anyone who forgets history is bound to repeat it. Why do think that saying rings true? If you look at man’s history, the same thing keep happening over and over again. One, war has never ceased. There might be a lull between wars, but it happens again and again. Two, man’s inhumanity toward each other. Every body remembers the Holocaust of World War II. But do you remember Rwanda and where the Hutu tried to exterminate the Tutsi. What about the Syrians that drove half of their population out of their country. Or the Russians who are fighting against the Ukrainians for their oil.

Why do you think that all of this continues? Solomon who was considered the wisest man that every lived said this.

“All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”Ecclesiastes 1:8,9.

Solomon saw the world as it is, not as people thought they were. He saw the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. It’s not very pretty to see who man really is. And before you say, I am a good person, God says there is none righteous. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means we are all sinners and unless we are saved by the grace of God, there is no hope of anything.

So, how do we receive the grace of God? God wrote it down some 2500 years ago.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

If you want to see yourself and the world changed, turn from your sin and repent. Ask God to forgive you and accept Jesus into your heart.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

When we get inspired, we have dreams and visions. Do you remember the first time you were inspired and you wanted to mimic someone, like a fireman or policeman. It could have been a cowboy or a soldier. You saw yourself as being that person when you grew up. That is a dream. As we got older our dreams seemed to change. But the thing about dreams is that we could never become anything unless we dreamed it first. So with the dreams, we set our goals on the prize.

If we can see a goal, even if it is hard to obtain, we can achieve it through persistence. It is a really reason why we should not discourage our children about dreams. If it is unobtainable, the person will come to that understanding. We don’t need to keep telling them that they can’t do it.

My oldest son did very well in high school. He scored high on his ACT tests. He wanted to go to a big university. There was a major university in Texas that was actively recruiting him. But he didn’t want to go to that school. I couldn’t afford to send him to an out of state university. So, he made up his mind what he was going to do. He received two bachelor degrees at the same time. One degree was Accounting and the other was Computer Science. He is now an IT guy making 6 figures a year.

Without a vision, people perish. If you see a dream in front of you, you can accomplish it if you persist. Knowing where you are going and doing something about will accomplish your dream. Don’t give up just because it is hard. Put the effort into your dream and watch it manifest itself before you.

“And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” Genesis 11:6.

God saw the Babylonian people in one mind and one accord and they would accomplish what they dreamed. So, dream a dream and pursue it.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

What is stress? It is a natural response to difficult situations. If it is a natural response, why then does it cause so much damage? It is true that stress can kill us. It is part of our flight or fight response. In other words, it is our response of fear to any given situations. Fear was given to us to keep us safe. We can use fear to assess any situation to see whether or not we should go forward. It is a tool for us. But when it is out of control, fear can mentally and physically damage us.

So, how can we control fear not to be destructive in our lives? Fear is the lack of training and confidence in our lives. It can be applied to anything. Let’s look at the first time you handled a firearm or a gun. It posed a threat of real danger to us. The gun if not handled properly can kill ourselves or others. But once we began to handled the gun, were trained on how to use it and began to fire the weapon, our fear began to lessen. But the threat of death was always there. That’s physically now let’s look at mental fear.

Mentally it is a different story, but the threat of death is always there. Death is repugnant to every human being. No one wants to die, because of the fear of the unknown or I should say what will happen to us. Everyone knows what is on the other side. This knowledge is built into us by God. And facing our destiny is not something many people are willing to do. Fear makes us do things we normally wouldn’t. It can control of actions if we let it. Fear has caused heart attacks. So, what can we do?

The bible says the fear of death holds us in slavery all of our lives. But the word of God sets us free. Free from the law of sin and death. In Romans 6:23 it says, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now that you have heard the truth, what are going to do about? Slavery isn’t what we were meant to live under. We were meant to live free in this world. But only you can decide what you are going to do. It is your choice to be free or live in slavery. A life decision is never easy, but it is always simple. Choose life and live free in this world and in the next one.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

When you become serious about any subject, you begin to focus on it. And when you seriously focus on anything, you see what is really there. As a baby when you eyes first focused on someone, you saw who was there. Then your eyes followed the person as they moved around the room. Growing up, I could spot my parents anywhere I could see them. I knew who they were.

As I adapted my focus to learning, my understanding began to grow and mature as I did. Seeing and understanding knowledge gave me confidence in life. The more I focused, the more I learned. The more I learned the more I could do. And I wanted to do as much as I could. In high school, I learned about isometrics. It is a form of exercise to develop a certain part of your body. I always loved to run. Growing up, I could run great distances without tiring out. I wanted to develop my legs to be stronger. I would stand in my bare feet and hold on to something. Then I would lift myself by my toes and repeat the exercise often. I developed my legs to the point that they became thick. I gave me stamina in running. I focused on running.

I came to the Lord Jesus and was saved, when I was 28 years old. I didn’t know who He really was. So, I wanted to learn all I could about Him. There is only one book in the world to learn about God and His son Jesus. That is the bible. I didn’t read much of the bible growing up. I had not become serious about understanding myself and God. If you want to understand who you are, you need to compare yourself to someone greater. Then you begin to see where you stand in life.

As I read the bible, I began to understand the love, mercy, goodness and gentleness of God. And to what lengths God would go to make sure that I was alright. My relationship is a strong bond between a Father and son. After 45 years, I still don’t know everything about God. And I wont until I reach heaven. The bond is in the journey. I am walking all the way back home to my Father God.

I have seriously focused myself on my relationship to God and have found peace and contentment in this life that so few know.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

I look at people in mental pain and am reminded that it is their conscience that is bothering them. But what is your conscience? I will endeavor to explain what the conscience is and how it effects us.

Everyone has heard of a guilty conscience. It is when we do something that goes against our social mores. It is defined as a specific socially constructed idea that defines morally acceptable behavior. That means that what we believe we will do or don’t do. And when we go against those morals, it affects our physical being. Anger causes cancer. Just like cancer, anger eats us alive.

So, what is your conscience? Our conscience is our heart. It is our mind, will and intellect. It is who we are. You can’t escape yourself. You can’t run and hide from who you are. We carry everything that we have ever done in this life. Even if we hid what we have done deep in our heart, it will pop up at the most inconvenient time of our life. It manifest itself as greed, drunkenness, anger, murder and a multiple other options. We can’t escape the face in the mirror. We see who we are and so does everyone else.

So, how can we escape or correct what we have done in our lives? We don’t have the power to change our hearts. Even if we stop doing destructive behavior, it doesn’t mean that we have changed. We were wonderfully and skillfully made. Specifically constructed to live a good life. And that hole in your heart was put intentionally. It is because that hole can only be filled by one person. And it’s not your wife children or friends. God was the one who constructed us and put that hole in our heart for one reason. So that we would call upon Him to fill that hole. And He is the only one that can.

People have harden their hearts against God and Jesus. Jesus said that the light of God came into world and world received Him not. It was because they had hardened their heart against God. So what do you do if you harden your hearts against your conscience?

Some people go mad, some drink themselves to death and some drug themselves to death. We don’t have the power to change anything. Only God does.

In Hebrews chapter 3, it talks about what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness.

“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)”

God also said, all you who are burden with heavy labor, come to Me and I will give you rest. Turn to God and repent and God will forgive you and give you peace.

Crain Blanchard.

Joesph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

People are taught that prayer is nothing and doesn’t make any sense. For the longest time, I never even expected that God would make any difference in my life. I felt alone most of the time, but I knew that God was calling me. I didn’t want to surrender my life, because I was the master of myself. For me it was a sad joke that I could control anything. My life went from sad to bad and I couldn’t do anything about.

Until one day, a friend invited me to join his business. I am a terrible salesman, but I was interested in his proposition. I continued to go to his business meetings. For three months, I had coffee and listened. Finally, one day he asked me if I wanted go to church with he and his family. Surprisingly, I said yes.

It was an interesting day. First, I was greeted by multiple people and shook hands with I don’t know how many people. We sat and the service began. I stood when they stood and sat when they sat. I was watching all the people sing worship songs. I didn’t say anything, but just watched everyone. Then the pastor came and began to preach. Everyone was listening intently. I was still watching the people. Then the pastor stop in the middle of his sermon and said hello. It was an expression that I used all the time. I looked at the pastor who stopped talking. Then I heard a voice speak to me. The voice said, what more do you want.

I knew who spoke to me and I knew what I must do. When my friend asked if I wanted to go up and talk to the pastor, I said yes. We prayed the prayer of salvation. A peace came over me that I longed for. Then the pastor asked if I wanted to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I said yes and God came down and surrounded me. People shook my and talked. I don’t remember anything except walking into my house. I don’t remember driving home. It is because I wasn’t driving. That closeness with God has never stop.

You see, prayer is talking to God. Just like Adam, God wants to communicate with each us on a daily basis. We talk to God and He talks to us. And the more you pray, the better you become at it.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com