Do you have a war room?

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11999094_10156022493035253_8222602234699705186_n.jpg?oh=ed905be99c5af19910bb9e69c9f6910c&oe=56720C73

I just read that this movie is now #1 in the country!  I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I've been so excited about this movie since the very first mention of it. I went to see it by myself (on purpose) on opening weekend, and I cried the whole way through it. You see, I've been there, and I can personally attest to the power of prayer. 

Do you have a war room? In my first house, it was a screened in porch. I spent a lot of time with God out there, digging deep into Bible study, but I can't say I had a prayer strategy or spent a lot of time praying.

When I moved into my house in Texas years later, I turned my front porch into my sanctuary. I started meeting with God there every morning shortly after moving in, and by then I found the need and desire for a specific prayer strategy. Life is a constant battle, and without prayer, many days feel hopeless. With it, we can overcome anything the enemy throws at us. I learned how to fight my battles the right way, with the right power.

Now I have three war rooms. My front porch (where I can watch the sun set in the evenings), my back porch (where I can watch the sun rise), and my prayer corner in my living room (where I can sit by the lamp light when it's too cold to sit outside and where I can cover the wall with Scriptures, prayer requests, and answers to prayer). 

It works, and I can tell story after story of specific ways God has answered my prayers, led me to victories, and changed my life in unimaginable ways. Yet even better than that, I've watched other lives change and know that God used me to pray them through. 

If you haven't seen the movie, please don't wait another day!  Make plans to go. And if you don't have a war room, make one, and then develop a prayer strategy to fight your battles the right way. The only way. 

The lamp light

Tucked in the corner by the fireplace

Sit a small lamp and a chair,

A few books and pens and notecards,

A worn and tattered book of prayers.

Before the sun comes up each morning,

I turn the lamp light on.

I sit to talk with God

About how my days have gone.

I fess up all my failures,

And add to my journal of praise.

We adjust my grumpy attitude

And address my selfish ways.

I read a portion of Scripture,

Ponder over a devotional page,

I reflect over how it affects me

So differently each year I age. 

Once my heart is in tune with the Spirit,

I open that tattered book by the chair.

I anoint my family with Scripture,

And surrender them all in prayer.

Though I always fall short as a wife,

A mom, a daughter or a friend,

Know I give you the gift

That matters most in the end. 

Every morning when you wake up,

And you see the lamp light on,

It means you have been prayed for

Even before your day has begun.

By Rachelle D. Alspaugh