Proverbs12:25 Heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop: but a good word makes it glad.
     
     Coach Gary Kubiak said. “Tough times do not last but tough people do.”
     How do I get a good word into my heart when I am heavy of heart and the heaviness is making me stoop? How do I turn it around so that I am looking upward toward God and not focused on all the disappointments that have piled up in the last few weeks, months, or years? 
      First of all, thank God, His mercies are new every morning, and yes, we can start over from a position of faith, even little faith. Lam. 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Again, thank God, that it is the LORD who will lift up my head during times of difficulty. Psalm 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. 
      We are not alone in our walk with Christ. The Holy Spirit is in us confirming Jesus Christ is Lord and that He has overcome the world. John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 
      We do not have to live a life stooped in defeat. You can’t decide the length of your life, but you can control how you want to live it. Well, I want to live in Christ from a position of victory. Now, how do I do that?
      God’s promised manifestation of a prayer of faith will change prayer to substance and matter. Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Why do some find it hard to believe that prayer can change anything? Some find it especially hard to believe when we are in a long season of hard times. 
      As my friend Scott puts it, “The act of prayer brings a result similar to the laws in nature. Sublimation: the substance changes directly from a solid to a gas without going through the liquid phase. Condensation is gas changing to a liquid.” Scott says, “If these basic laws surround us, then why can’t God who created these laws of nature change the situation we are praying about? Why then do we think it difficult for God to change what we are asking for, in the spirit, to then manifest in the natural and become matter or substance in the now?”
      Can Scott get a bit technical? Yes, he can, but he is right. Matt. 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
     Prayer changes everything. Jesus believed this because He prayed all the time. When Jesus chose His apostles, out of His disciples, He did it after prayer. The Lord got the instructions from His Father as to who should be chosen. Luke 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles. 
      This works the same way today, as in praying, so you can choose your partners in business, or friends in life, or (touchy ground here) your spouse.
     When Jesus wanted direction He prayed. Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Right after this time of prayer, Jesus says to his disciples. Mark 1:38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 
      The Lord knew what to do because He had received instructions in prayer to go to the next town and preach there. We can do this today when looking for a job or starting a business. When buying a house or wanting direction where to move to. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
    There was certainly something powerful about the Lord’s prayer life, because His disciples wanted what Jesus had through prayer. Luke 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Is this what we are lacking, a desire to learn how to pray?
     In the Lord’s darkest hour He prayed for us. Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. The Lord’s last human action is prayer. In the insanity and nerve splitting pain of the torturous cross, Jesus is praying for us. This tells me that no matter how hard life gets, keep praying. 
      I have been preaching to myself in this blog. I needed to hear this word in my spirit so that my heart would not stoop. A good word makes the heart glad, and Jesus is the Word that makes a heart glad. Thank you, Lord, for your forgiveness and for ministering to me. I will again bring my life to you in prayer and make it matter. Amen.