Carter Conlon | Daily Devotionals

There are those who feel deeply wounded, carrying pain from what has been done to them. The weight of it feels like something you can't rise up from. But consider Jesus. He was wounded, bruised, betrayed, rejected, and yet He didn't stay in the grave. The same Spirit that raised Him from the dead is able to give life to you. No wound is deeper than His, and no pain is beyond the reach of His power.

Don't allow your pain to define your future. The power of God is greater than what has been done to you. Bring your brokenness to Him, and let His life begin to restore what has been lost. You are not finished. There's still life ahead of you.

Join us every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern Time at itstimetopray.org, where people from over 200 countries and dependencies around the world are coming together saying, "God, raise up a testimony to your glory one more time. Use my life. Take me as I am, and make me a miracle."

It's time to pray.

There must be a wholesome fear of God in the heart of anyone who claims to speak in His name. In the Old Testament, warnings were given to those who stood before the people and said, "Thus says the Lord," if in fact He had not spoken. There must be in the hearts of those who claim to speak prophetically an honest and sincere fear of God. 

 At the same time, there can be confidence when He has spoken. There can be a witness in the heart and from the text of Scripture. Over the years, He has spoken about things before they happened, and He has never failed, not even one time.

Seek today that kind of a relationship with Him, where there's both reverence and confidence because you actually know the sound of His voice. 

Didn't Jesus say that? "My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me." Talk to Him about all of these things today. 

 It's time to pray.

Every time we look into God's Word, we should be changed by His power. The scripture says in Psalm 119:130, 'the entrance of your words gives light'. God is able to bring light into our hearts and minds when we read His Word. We can ask God to put direction in our steps and to give us the courage we need to go where He's calling us to go. His Word becomes light to our path.

Let's allow the Lord to work in and through us so that you and I can make a difference in this generation we're now living in. As we read His Word, let's pray that God would give us grace, boldness, and strength to walk in obedience and to become a blessing to all those around us. As a matter of fact, that's what we're called to be according to the Word of God. Let's begin to pray. Talk to God now.

It's time to pray.

When something is called a prophetic word, it means it is a word believed to be given by God. It is based on scripture, on what He has done, what He does do, and what He's planning to do in the future. It's based on the character of God, how He has worked with nations and peoples in the past, and what He does when we find ourselves back in certain or exact situations.

If anyone speaks prophetically, the word that they speak has to stand the test of scripture, the witness of leadership in the church, and the witness of the Holy Spirit in your own heart. You are free always to accept it or to reject it, but look for the witness of scripture and the witness of the Holy Spirit, and then respond accordingly, because many, many people are going to be claiming to be speaking for God in the days ahead.

Pray for discernment.

It's time to pray.

Matthew 26:35: Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Peter spoke these words sincerely to Jesus. He meant them, but sincerity did not prepare him for the fire and the trial ahead of him. Jesus told him plainly that he would not get through the night, but Peter argued because he believed in his own strength.

In the garden, that belief collapsed. God allows these moments to reveal truth. The fire of trial shows us that loyalty must be sustained by Christ, not by human resolve.

When your confidence fails, do not despair. Let Jesus Christ become the mercy and the strength and the life and the direction and the future that you could never procure in your own strength. Remember, the end of me is the beginning of God.

It's time to pray.

In Psalm 23:5, David said, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You know, he didn't say in the absence of my enemies. He actually said in the presence of my enemies. Your enemies can be all around you with their swords drawn, but all they can do is butter your bread for you. That's all they can do. There's nothing to be afraid of. When you're in the hand of God, goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.

Some don't respond to the second table as Lazarus did because they fear the repercussions of it, but there's nothing to be afraid of. Today, choose to sit in the place of resurrection life that He has prepared for you.

Join with us every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern time at itstimetopray.org when people from all over the world are coming out of the wilderness and taking their place at the resurrection table of Jesus Christ. It's time to pray.

Hebrews 4:10: For he that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works.

Entering God's rest means stopping the struggle to prove yourself. It means ceasing from trusting your own strength. Peter learned this when his confidence failed him. God was not rejecting him, He was redirecting him.

Human strength can only take you and I so far. Divine strength alone can carry us to the finish. When we surrender control, then God takes over and takes responsibility for our future.

Stop trying to figure out the journey in your own thoughts. Yield your life to Christ and allow Him to live His life and His strength through you. As the Apostle Paul once said, it's Christ in us, or in me, that is the hope of glory.

God is willing to give you what you and I don't have in ourselves. Talk to Him about it today. It's time to pray.

This Memorial Day, we pause to remember those who gave their lives in service to our country. Their sacrifice reflects the words of Jesus in John 15:13. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

As we honor today these heroes, we also find comfort in God's promises. Psalm 34:18 reminds us, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. If today brings sorrow, may you find peace in knowing that God sees, God cares, and God holds every tear.

Let's not take for granted the freedoms we enjoy. Let's pray for the families who continue to bear the weight of this loss. May God bless you, and may He continue to bless this nation.

Remember my brother, my sister. Be thankful for those who gave their all so that you and I can live in freedom. And when we pray, let's always remember this cost. It's time now for you and I to be thankful. It's time to pray.

In the scriptures, Peter the Apostle sat at the table with Jesus and made a sincere boast of loyalty. He meant it when he said it though. "I'll be offended yet will not I." He was sincere to the core of his being. But sincerity is not strength.

Jesus warned him that the night ahead would demand something he did not have. When Peter entered the garden, his confidence disappeared and silence took its place. Scripture says he had nothing left to say.

Jesus was not condemning Peter. He was simply uncovering the truth. "The spirit truly is willing but the flesh is weak." What is of us alone will not stand in the fire. What is of Christ in us will remain.

God brings us to this place not to shame us but to save us. Today I want to encourage you to lay down confidence in yourself and allow Jesus Christ to become your strength today.

It's time to pray.

Once we get back to the cross and yield our lives to the purposes of God, we can then say with the Apostle Paul, "I am crucified with Christ." That means my will, my plans, and my ambitions are laid down, yet I live not by my own strength, but by faith in what Christ did for me on Calvary.

Paul understood that life flows from trusting what was purchased there. The old life is surrendered so that the promise of life that God gives can be received. This is not self-improvement. It's an exchange. God gives life where surrender has taken place.

The Christian life is lived by faith in what Christ has already done, not by striving to produce our own righteousness. Return to the cross and trust God today to give you the life that He promised you. Yield to Him again and live. Live from what Christ has fully accomplished.

It's time to pray.