Winks from God: Linking Life and Prayer

By Lesli' S. Downs

Every believer struggles with prayer at one point or another and many desire to go deeper but are looking for fresh inspiration and encouragement. Winks from God is 52 personally illustrated, faith-building stories of inspiration, filled with small nuggets of knowledge and carefully selected scriptures to activate the heart and mind. Each story is meant to help cultivate a deeper intimacy with God through prayer by challenging you to take steps of faith to link your life and prayer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664240742

Lesli' S. Downs

Lesli’ Downs is a mom, wife, writer and ministry leader, in and outside of the church. She is a faithful and true prayer warrior who lives a life of prayer. She is trying to help people connect the dots between how God speaks through the word and through daily life. She shares her personal experiences and conversations with God to show little coincidences are really Winks from God and she gives you ways to link life to prayer. Contact her at LesliDownsBuildingBridgesforGod.com

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Copyright © 2021 Lesli’ S. Downs.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Lesli Downs and Chris Baker

Editor: Holly Defatta

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4075-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4076-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4074-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021914365

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/12/2021

Scripture quotations marked ESV taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TPT are from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

I want to give a special thanks to my husband because he believed in what God was doing and he kept me grounded and focused. I love you Kyle and I can’t express how much gratitude I have because you helped me see what God placed inside of me and kept me going.

I also want to thank a tribe of women who have surrounded me with prayer, encouragement and helped flourish me. You truly don’t figure out who you are until you find your tribe. Once you do, hold on to them because they are there to help you flourish into who God meant for you to be!

Father, thank You for this journey and the tribe of people you placed around me to encourage and flourish me. Amen.

Contents

1 Bridges

2 Gullible

3 Time

4 Keys

5 Transformation

6 Salt

7 Potholes

8 It is Well

9 Walk with You

10 Barabas

11 Wedding Day

12 Olive Press

13 Acts

14 Fear of God

15 Image Bearer

16 Pride

17 I AM

18 Unravel

19 Ten Doors

20 History

21 Cardinals

22 Cover Us

23 Bread

24 Gates of Hell

25 Fear

26 Wrestle

27 Deeper

28 Stones

29 Heartbroken

30 Your Story

31 Reckless Love

32 Table

33 Altars

34 Friend

35 Worship

36 Checkpoint

37 Church

38 Atonement

39 Sukkot

40 Pull Up

41 Horizon View

42 Woman at the Well

43 Dance and Sing

44 Be Light

45 One Flesh

46 Veteran’s Day

47 Armor

48 Thanksgiving

49 Hanukkah

50 Bethlehem

51 Mary

52 Shadow

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Bridges

I had a dream last year where several people in armor, including myself, were standing in a gap, and this gap was filled with stones that had words written them. The words were division, rebellion, malice, slander, lies, hate and strongholds. We were building a bridge to reestablish unity by filling in the gap and helping people cross over to a strong foundation. The building of the bridge began to unify us as one body in Christ, and it helped to mature and season our intercession for our brothers and sisters. This was an old bridge made of square natural stones with mortar between them, and on each stone was written the words above. Once we stacked the stones and sealed them with the mortar, the words would change. It looked like a perfectly aligned assembly line that moved in one swift motion. After each brick was stacked and sealed, you could feel the Lord’s mercy coming forth, and the words changed to love, mercy, faith, hope, grace, trust, righteousness, forgiveness, and salvation. These were the building stones (blocks) that made a strong bridge to support people so that they would trust the bridge they were crossing to rebuild a strong foundation.

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:9–11 ESV)

Father, thank You for Your cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your Word that is our foundation. We are in a building season, and we need the blocks to help build Your church. You have already placed these building blocks inside us as gifts. But we doubt and have mistrust in ourselves and our gifts. Father, forgive us for doubting and downgrading our gifts. Lord, tune our senses to see Your movement, and build our trust within us to use these gifts. Help us use these gifts to obtain wisdom, meekness, humility, and courage to stand strong and not remain silent when we should speak and to be silent when we shouldn’t speak. Help us to come together in unity to create one body in Christ and bring forth Your glory. Strengthen our shoulders to support and lift those who have fallen into this gap of division! Raise us up as bridges to help all Your lost children cross over to a strong foundation. Help us build and battle while we repair and fill this gap. Lord, I ask if we fall, let us fall together so that we will rise together stronger as one body in Christ. In Yeshua’s (Yeshua is the Hebrew name of Jesus) name I pray, Amen!

REFLECTION POINTS:

This week, reflect on what gifts you can offer others to show love and kindness. Then find a way to use those gifts to build trust with someone you don’t know well or rebuild trust that may have been lost. It can be something as simple as saying hi and asking how they are, giving them a compliment, paying for lunch, or treating them to their favorite coffee or drink. Small acts of kindness show you listen, and you pay attention to what is going on in others’ lives. These are small steps to building trust and sharing love and kindness. At the end of the week, take inventory of your week and look at the areas that you stepped up in and the areas in which you may have missed an opportunity. Make note on how to avoid missing those opportunities again. Then ask God to help you