Carter Conlon | Daily Devotionals

The whole head is sick and the whole heart faints. Isaiah 1:5.

There are times in life when we lose heart. There comes a moment when you no longer see a future. Your plans fail right in front of you. You can't see your way forward. David once said that his strength failed him and even the light of his eyes had gone out. This is what it feels like when the light goes out inside.

Maybe there's some area of your life where you've lost heart. Lost heart for the work of God. Lost heart for your own future. Lost heart even for hope. I want to encourage you today to bring that place honestly before Him. He will answer you, and you will be amazed at what He wants to do in your life.

Join us every Wednesday night, 7 p.m. Eastern Time at itstimetopray.org, where people from all over the world are gathering together and we're believing for an end time spiritual awakening.

It's time to pray.

Did you know that God does not wait until you're full? He comes to you when you're empty. He doesn't wait till you're strong. He comes when you're weak. He does not look for those who think they're something. He comes to those of us who know that we're nothing without Him. Because He is the one who takes nothing and makes something out of it for His glory.

The enemy of your soul wants you to believe that you must fix yourself before God can use you, but that is very far from the truth. The very place in which you feel disqualified is the place where God wants to reveal His power. Stop disqualifying yourself today and start yielding your life to Him just as it is. Bring your weaknesses, your emptiness, your uncertainty, and let Him turn all of that into a testimony of His power and His power alone.

Talk to Him about this today. He wants to answer you.

It's time to pray.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18.

Do you ever feel that you can't share your faith because you feel that you must be perfected in every area of your life before you do? You and I have a tendency to forget that a little bit of God in our lives is way bigger than a thousand of us.

As we behold God, we start changing little by little. It doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen. We're changed by the Spirit of God into the same image that God has desired us to be from glory to glory. We're changed into what God actually desires us to be.

So let's start to pray. Let's start to call out. Let's you and I now bring glory to His name.

It's time to pray.

There are those who feel empty, as if they've nothing left to give. You look at others and think, "Wow, they're full of faith," but you feel like you have nothing. But God has always worked with empty people. Mary was empty. Elizabeth was empty. Hannah was empty, until the hand of God touched all of their lives. All they did was recognize that God had seen them in their emptiness and chosen His mercy to bring something out and through their lives for His glory. They had no idea what God was about to do through them, and of course, neither do you.

Today I want to challenge you to refuse to believe that your emptiness disqualifies you from being someone that God can use. God is able to bring something powerful out of what feels like nothing. Stop Waiting Until You Are Ready, and allow Him to begin to use your life now. Talk to Him about it. He's willing to tell you what He has for your future.

It's time to pray.

Today you might say something like this: "I've hurt people. I've failed in ways that cannot be ignored." So did the Apostle Paul. He persecuted the church. He stood in agreement with death before his conversion. He compelled people to turn away from God. He never forgot what he had done, but he didn't let it stop God from being God in his life.

There's a difference between remembering your past and letting your past begin to rule your future. The mercy of God is Greater than the worst moments you have had in life. If God could take a man like Paul and raise him up to declare life, then He can do and will do the same with you.

Don't let shame, especially the shame of your past, silence the calling of your future. Let the mercy of God transform your story into a testimony of His power. Talk to Him about it today. It's time to pray.

The fire reveals what theology alone cannot. A believer may study sacrifice and faith, but the fire shows what truly sustains the soul. In the garden, the disciples learned that desire is not the same as ability. Jesus showed them that what is of man cannot survive the fire, only what is of Christ remains.

God leads every believer to this understanding. It's not to humiliate us, but to free us. When self effort burns away, Jesus Christ, being all that is left, becomes everything.

Don't resist the fire of trial that exposes your limits. Accept what God is showing you and turn to Jesus Christ as the source of your strength today. Join with us at itstimetopray.org every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, where people from all over the world are gathering together and saying these words, "Jesus, be the source of our strength."

It's time to pray.

Why do we believe that God has changed in our generation? Why do we accept the lie that what He did before He won't do again? The same God who delivered, empowered, who raised up ordinary people to do extraordinary things, has not changed. The question is not about His ability; it's about our willingness today to believe Him.

We've allowed reasonings, fears, and arguments to take the place of faith. But there must come a moment where we push all of that aside and say, "I will not believe the lies anymore. I will not believe that I have no power, no purpose, or no calling in my life."

Stand where you are, in your home, your family, your community, and declare openly that God is still God. Refuse to shrink back and begin to walk in what He has already planned for your future. Talk to Him.

It's time to pray.

There are so many people today who are in a wilderness time in their lives. Would you be surprised if I told you that it's the Lord who drew you there?

In Jeremiah 31:2-3, in a season of terrible difficulty for the people of God, the prophet writes these words: Thus says the Lord: "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. Israel, when I went to give him rest, the Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you.'"

He has drawn us at this season, in our juncture as a nation, into a very dry place. We find ourselves in a place in this nation where the only thing we can do now is cry out to God. And He has promised us that He will give us this incredible grace of His presence, His power, His redemption, in the wilderness we find ourselves in.

It's time to pray.

For some today, you say to God, "I'm fearful." So was Timothy, yet he became a mighty man of God. You say, "I stutter." So did Moses, and God still sent him. You say, "I'm old." So was Aaron, yet he stood in the purposes of God.

God has never been limited by human weaknesses. We are the ones who limit Him by believing that our condition somehow disqualifies us. But God always takes what seems insufficient and uses it to defeat what seems impossible. A stuttering man, an older brother, a stick, and a simple word from God were enough to confront the powers of hell.

Stop waiting today until you feel qualified. God's not asking for perfection. He's asking for obedience. My encouragement to you today? Step forward with what you have and let Him prove to you his power through your life. Talk to him about it.

It's time to pray.

There's a kind of unbelief that must be established in the heart of every believer. It's not the unbelief that doubts God, but the kind that refuses to accept the lies that are spoken against His purposes.

I want to encourage you today to Refuse to Believe that your life is insignificant to the kingdom of God. Refuse to Believe that God cannot use you. Refuse to Believe that your life will not bring glory to the Son of God.

Every argument, every reasoning, every failure may try to convince you otherwise, but there must come a moment when you decide that those voices will no longer have any authority in your life.

Today, I want to encourage you: don't agree with what God has never said about you. Stand firmly on what He has declared, and let the truth of God's presence in your life now begin to define your future.

It's time to pray.