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Thursday, October 19 2023
Good Morning Patiently Waiting Kingdom Seekers! Patience, patiently waiting and seeking first God's Kingdom are choices we need to make, maybe hourly. How are you doing with that. I already had the opportunity to choose to be patient and allow God to be the Lord of my day and it's only 7 AM! Old nature me would have been all grumbling, mad, and all jammed up trying to get my urgent agenda done. New me is still here seeking God and listening and writing this blog which is my journal notes for today. We are learning and growing into our new nature. We are getting better at seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness. We are getting better at patiently waiting and better at choosing well from all kinds of other choices that come our way daily, even hourly. PTL! Keep working at choosing better. Ask Jesus to be the Lord of your day as you actively, expectantly, with thanksgiving trust Him and stay active about His Kingdom business assigned you for today. AMEN! So be it! Help us Lord!
Check out our devos for today below and just pray into these and allow them to inform your thinking and choices today. God has great plans for you! Rejoice!
PTL for the amazing journey He has allowed us to choose to enter with Him! Keep your eyes fixed on Him. Keep seeking first His kingdom and righteousness and keep trusting as you actively wait on Him. And know His shalom! Amen
Check out
Upper Room: Amazing Journey
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
On a September evening in 1967, I was camping out on the side of an extinct volcano on the island of Rishiri, near the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The sky was blue-black and the stars brighter than imaginable. As I admired the beauty of God’s handiwork, I began thinking about my life. Soon I would be 21. Where would I be decades from now? What would I be doing?
Now, 54 years have passed. Several years ago, I realized that my questions that evening on Mount Rishiri, and all those questions I had about life in those early adult years, had been answered.
The verses quoted above were written in the front of a small Bible my girlfriend (now my wife of 55 years) gave me as I entered the US Air Force. While those words meant much to me in my early years, they mean even more to me now in the autumn of life.
Looking toward the future, I have only a few simple questions remaining in comparison to those early years. Yet one thing I know for certain: by trusting my Creator, living the way of Christ, and being surrounded by my Christian family and friends, my remaining questions will be answered by a faithful God.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear Lord, thank you for your guidance as we make our way through life. We trust you to direct our steps on this remarkable journey. Amen.
Our Daily Bread:
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The morning commenced like a track meet. I practically jumped out of bed, launching into the teeth of the day’s deadlines. Get the kids to school. Check. Get to work. Check. I blasted full throttle into writing my “To Do” list, in which personal and professional tasks tumbled together in an avalanche-like litany:
“ . . . 13. Edit article. 14. Clean office. 15. Strategic team planning. 16. Write tech blog. 17. Clean basement. 18. Pray.”
By the time I got to number eighteen, I’d remembered that I needed God’s help. But I’d gotten that far before it even occurred to me that I was going at it alone, trying to manufacture my own momentum.
Jesus knew. He knew our days would crash one into another, a sea of ceaseless urgency. So He instructs, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
It’s natural to hear Jesus’ words as a command. And they are. But there’s more here—an invitation. In Matthew 6, Jesus invites us to exchange the world’s frantic anxiety (vv. 25–32) for a life of trust, day by day. God, by His grace, helps us all of our days—even when we get to number eighteen on our list before we remember to see life from His perspective.
By Adam Holz
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How can we turn to God first each day? On stressful days, what helps you trust Jesus with things demanding your immediate attention?
Father, thank You for your invitation to relinquish my anxiety and to embrace the life of abundant provision You offer me each day.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Much of God’s kingdom consists of what’s unseen. In Matthew 6:1, Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees were doing their good deeds to be seen by others. In contrast, He instructs us to give to the poor without others noticing (vv. 1–4). He tells us to pray in secret (vv. 5–6) and not to amass treasure in this visible world but in the world to come (vv. 19–20). Yet the life of faith also includes a trust in our heavenly Father because of what can be seen. Here Jesus points to the birds and the lilies as evidence of His care for us (vv. 26–34).
Tim Gustafson |
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Charles Stanley:
The Word for You Today:
Don 
Wednesday, October 18 2023
Good Morning Talented, Useful Servants of the Lord! Many wonder how they could be of any use to God. Sometimes this is a result of sinful choices and thinking one is beyond forgiveness. We know better, but that still enters our thinking at times. Some think they are too old, weak, untalented, you can add whatever your excuse is. BUT GOD! You were created with talent and abilities to accomplish God's purposes. Your purposes are not like anyone else's. You are uniquely and custom made for many purposes of God that align with your abilities, knowledge, age, and situations of life. Think about the evangelist (can't remember his name right now) that was born with no arms and legs. He has speaking engagements all over the world where He proclaims God's goodness, mercy and love. We all have purposes from God for today and everyday where we grow into His greater things. We were created with purpose. Our lives have meaning no matter the stage of life we are in. And we all are needed to do our part in God's Body. Again, something everyone can do, and were given the ability to be effective at conversion, is pray! Everything God has for us as individuals and His Church is birthed from prayer. Pray-ers are VITAL in our Good News Delivery Co. Check out this blog from Harvest Prayer Ministries about Prayerfully Growing Our Church: https://www.harvestprayer.com/book-of-acts-praying-best-practice-for-church-growth/ and keep praying and birthing God's will for St. Matts! He has great plans for us awaiting our prayers! Check out the UR devo below too with the reminder that God does hear our prayers. ODB reminds us to use what we have for Christ. That describes St. Matts. and our ministries and why we are a pretty healthy church. We have discovered that if we focus on using what we've been given for God's glory, He uses and blesses and grows. To those who are faithful in little, more will be added. Amen! Stop longing and craving things you don't have. Be content with and use what God has given. He promises to provide where He guides. And He is faithful to do so! PTL! Look at your life and discover what God has given you that He has provided for you use to go love others. We all have purposes that God is leading us too and He gives us what we need to do them. If His provision isn't there, stop banging your head against the closed door. Ask for eyes to see His provision for you (and us for our church) and follow His peace and provision. As we faithfully do and steward well all His blessings, more doors will open and more provisions will come. You are uniquely designed and provided for to fulfill your created purposes for such a time as this. It's Jesus' easy yoke you get to put on when you discover and do them. Let us continue to pray for eyes to see, others to see and encourage each other to God's best. Ask Him to grow us into our fuller potential where we will find much joy and satisfaction in Christ. Amen!
Praying and releasing provisions and direction and using what you have for God's glory is our mission. As we continue to grow at that, we will grow into the dynamic movement of God that He is opening the door for us to step through. PTL! Seek, knock, shed the baggage and maybe even the good and better things for God's best. He is lovingly leading you to your purposes and growing you in preparation for the life to come! Rejoice! Know His shalom and blessings and be filled with great joy! Amen!
Upper Room: God Hears Us
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. - Malachi 3:16 (NIV)
A friend and I meet monthly to pray. We share our worries and answered prayers then spend some time talking to God about these things. We have seen prayers answered over the years and have supported one another through difficult times.
One time, when we met to pray, my friend shared something that was really bothering her. It took her a long time to share her story, and all our time together was used up talking through this one incident. At the end of our time together, my friend was distressed because we had not prayed in our usual way. But throughout her story, I had asked her questions, and we had discussed what we thought Christ’s response would be.
I expressed to her my confidence that God had heard our conversation and was fully aware of the situation. God knew her heart’s desire was to honor God in the situation. Just as God heard the concerns of the Israelites when they were in Egypt, God hears us — before we even speak. Though we had not gone through our usual routine of talking and then praying, I know that God was present with us.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you hear our words and know what is on our hearts. Amen.
Our Daily Bread:
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Ever heard of The Sewing Hall of Fame? Established in 2001, it recognizes people that have made “a lasting impact on the home sewing industry with unique and innovative contributions through sewing education and product development.” It includes individuals like Martha Pullen, inducted into the hall in 2005, who is described as “a Proverbs 31 woman who . . . never failed to publicly acknowledge the source of her strength, inspiration, and blessings.”
The Sewing Hall of Fame is a twenty-first-century invention, but had it been around during the first century in Israel, a woman named Tabitha might have been a lock for induction. Tabitha was a believer in Jesus and a seamstress who spent time sewing for poor widows in her community (Acts 9:36, 39). After she became ill and died, disciples sent for Peter to see if God would work a miracle through him. When he arrived, weeping widows showed him robes and other clothing that Tabitha had made for them (v. 39). These clothes were evidence of her “always doing good” for the poor in her city (v. 36). By God’s power, Tabitha was restored to life.
God calls and equips us to use our skills to meet needs that are present in our community and world. Let’s release our skills into the service of Jesus and see how He’ll use our acts of love to stitch hearts and lives together (Ephesians 4:16).
By Marvin Williams
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What talents and abilities has God given you? How can you use them to help people in need?
Dear Jesus, please help me to respond with love and compassion to the needs of others.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Jesus commanded His disciples to be His “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Because of persecution, the believers “were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (8:1). Philip went to Samaria to preach the gospel (vv. 4–5) as well as Peter and John (v. 14). Luke highlighted Peter’s ministry in Lydda and Joppa (Acts 9:32–43), commercial towns with large numbers of gentiles. After raising Dorcas from the dead, Peter stayed in Joppa “for some time” (v. 43). While praying, he saw a vision of unclean animals (10:9–16), reiterating that “God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of . . . receiving eternal life” (11:18 nlt). It was from Joppa that Jonah sailed for Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh to tell gentiles about God (Jonah 1:3). It’s significant that from Joppa, God now calls Peter to proclaim the good news to the gentiles (Acts 10:24–48).
K. T. Sim |
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Don
Tuesday, October 17 2023
Good Morning Trusting, Faithful, Hope-Filled Disciples (learners) and Apostles (sent ones) of Jesus! Rise! Shine! Give God all the glory this morning! He has created you for some special purposes and some just for today! PTL! Maybe it's a day to learn something, maybe to go share some hope, maybe a day to be stretched some? No matter what the day may bring, we know who brings the day and He is worthy of all praise, honor, glory and obedience. It is a day to trust and obey! God's got some great plans for you, even if you can't see it yet through the fog or aren't sensing His presence or call. As you go through each day, step by step with the Holy Spirit, God will reveal some mission or purpose just for you, just as you are and just where He has placed you. So, rejoice, be glad and keep your eyes open and hold loosely to your plans and agenda and give them to the Lord of you and this day.
Check out our devotionals for today below. They all thread through this salutation and theme. God has custom made plans for you that require your trust that will grow your faith as you go share His love and your hope. We are learning as we go and growing more like Christ and into our fuller potential and God's greater purposes. PTL! Worship and ask for help to run your race well today--everyday. God promises to be with you each step and working all things together for good. He is trustworthy and faithful and we have much hope and love to share from our experiences. Go! Live and love life Jesus, sent ones, learners, trusting ones!
OK begin your day with some stretching as you praise and pray and prepare for exercising your faith and sharing your hope today...OK reach to the sky and praise the Lord and say, "I love you Lord!" Now open your arms and receive His love and help for today and stretch out your arms and ask Him to help you go love well today. Remember to breathe well too...Breathe out the junk and breathe in the Spirit's freshness..."YH-WH....YH-WH" Now go love well! You're ready! Remember as you breathe God is on your lips and filling your soul---Breathe in: YH and out: WH. (Remember the teaching that scholars believe that God's name (we add the vowels) Yahweh (YHWH) may have been a breath prayer sound "YH (in)-WH (out)" Therefore from first to last breath and everywhere in between we are praying and pronouncing God's name with every breath. We may not know what to pray but the Holy Spirit does and Jesus hears and takes our prayers to the Father. PTL! Right? YH...WH, YH...WH, YH...WH. Come fill us with Your love and words and send us today with willing hands and feet prepared by you. Thank You YHWH, my Lord, Savior, Helper, and Always-Near Friend. Your will be done. Come! Fill me today. YH...WH, YH...WH... Amen
ODB:
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I held up a picture of people sleeping under pieces of cardboard in a dim alley. “What do they need?” I asked my sixth grade Sunday school class. “Food,” someone said. “Money,” said another. “A safe place,” a boy said thoughtfully. Then one girl spoke up: “Hope.”
“Hope is expecting good things to happen,” she explained. I found it interesting that she talked about “expecting” good things when, due to challenges, it can be easy not to expect good things in life. The Bible nevertheless speaks of hope in a way that agrees with my student. If “faith is confidence in what we hope for” (Hebrews 11:1), we who have faith in Jesus can expect good things to happen.
What is this ultimate good that believers in Christ can hope for with confidence?—“the promise of entering his rest” (4:1). For believers, God’s rest includes His peace, confidence of salvation, reliance on His strength, and assurance of a future heavenly home. The guarantee of God and the salvation Jesus offers is why hope can be our anchor, holding us fast in times of need (6:18–20). The world needs hope, indeed: God’s true and certain assurance that throughout good and bad times, He’ll have the final say and won’t fail us. When we trust in Him, we know that He’ll make all things right for us in His time.
By Karen Huang
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How does the Bible encourage and give you hope and confidence? What are some things you can thank God for?
Dear God, my hope in You is firm and secure, not because my faith is strong, but because You’re faithful to do as You’ve promised.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The author of Hebrews is never identified. Scholars suggest Paul or even Barnabas, Luke, Clement, or Apollos. But no matter, the author clearly understood that his readers needed perseverance to face trials and persecution. Throughout the book, readers are encouraged to endure and hold fast to Christ (2:1–4; 3:7–4:13; 5:11–6:2). And in 10:39, they’re reminded that as believers in Jesus they “do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” Then in chapter 11, known as the “Hall of Faith,” the author commends the many men and women of the Bible who lived by faith and sometimes died because of it. Because of their witness and example, believers in Jesus are prompted to “run with perseverance the race marked out for [them]” (12:1). And he bolsters them with God’s promise: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (13:5).
Alyson Kieda |
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Charles Stanley:
TWFYT:
Monday, October 16 2023
Good Morning Christlike Burden-Bearers! Jesus' command to love others as He loved us is coming to life in and through each of us and us as His Good News Delivery Co. This year I can see and feel the growth in many of you and through our Fellowship as we continue to work on growing into the people we were created to be, operate better out of our true identity and going and loving like Jesus! Thank you all for your parts and participation. We are God's Family and we are better together and making a difference as God loves and helps through us! PTL! And keep praying and serving and celebrating with much thanksgiving! God is good and His Goodness is alive in and through us!
Yesterday we heard a great word of God brought to us through Mike Laise! Thanks Mike! He was talking about putting on our Sunday best everyday by being who we were created to be and loving others as Christ daily. Some of that entails dying to self and being God's love as you travel through the moments of each day just doing random acts of kindness and allowing God to use these offerings. We may never know for sure if we planted seeds, watered, fertilized and had some small part in another's faith journey, BUT GOD knows! Life in Christ today is all about love and not about strict rule following like the Old Testament days. (Funny, the Leviticus chapters he shared are part of the Chosen episode this week) All the legalistic, forced adherence, guilt and fear is not part of God's plan for us today. Like a dog running to its master with excited-glad-your-home-let me kiss-you attitude is what should be motivating us today to live and love like Jesus. (NOTE: as the church janitor, I am glad I don't have to clean up after all those sacrifices! ) Are you a cat or a dog? Are you happy to be with the master, even after messing up or are you showing up to be served when you feel like it? May we all have Mike's passion to serve and love and lead others to Christ!
How's that song go that describes us??? They will know we are Christians by what??? Our grumbling? Pride? Finger-pointing? Apathy? Begrudgingly doing some things? Laziness? Unmeetable standards? Legalism? You know the answer! What are others seeing in your daily lives? God is Love. Love lives in us and longs to come alive through us. They will know and are beginning to experience God's love through our actions and love! PTL and Thank you all too! Many churches unfoundedly tell of how loving they are. We have THE Foundation-Love coming alive and meeting needs through us! Keep up the loving acts of kindness God is spurring you to do. They are custom made for you by our loving Father who leads you to go love like Him and empowers and equips you to do so. Check out our devotionals for today (below) that thread together loving others well, as we are, with what we got, and where we are in our faith journey. All God expects of us is to love. Love Him, others, ourselves and life in Christ. It's His easy yoke and joy-to-do love that blesses Him and others and ourselves too. Ask God to show you who needs some love today and how He has planned for you to respond. Pray for God to continue to open your eyes and heart and to continue to use you and us well. Thank Him for love, loving us and loving through us. Yes, God is love and others will come to know it as we love like Jesus. Pronounce God's Love over you, our church, your day, and in prayer over those you will encounter this week. Tell others how much God loves them and use words if you have to.
Who are we that You are mindful of us, O Lord? Yet You are and You love us so well! Thank You for Your love. Thank You for filling us to overflowing with Your love! Thank You for loving through us and blessing us as we bless and love others. We are truly blessed to go love like Jesus. Thank You! Love through us well today and everyday. Open our eyes, hearts and hands to love like You. May many see and experience You and Your love through us this week. Draw many to Your Love and bring new life. Thank You! We pronounce Your Love over this week and our church. May Your fame and love spread throughout the area as we love well. Our tails are wagging Lord because of Your love and care for us. May others come to find that joy in Your love this year through us. Here we are Lord. You know us, love us and have prepared us to go love. Thank You! Lead the way! May we live and love like Jesus more fully every day and go lovingly expand Your territory. May Jesus' love come to life as we lovingly ask in His name. Amen
Check out the link in ODB to discovery your God-given calling. Very helpful as we continue on growing into our created purposes! God custom made you with love to go love for such a time as this! Dwell in His love today--all day! Love you all! Shalom! I am pronouncing God's love over you right now in prayer. Do you feel it? Receive it!
Charles Stanley:
Upper Room: Burden-Bearers
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2 (NRSVUE)
I had no idea when we bought our home that there were so many large rocks submerged under the soil. Trying to regrade and landscape the yard to create a rock garden proved quite formidable. I had only a shovel and a wheelbarrow — both inadequate for the heavy rocks I tried to lift by myself.
It was not until I called on my landscaper and his assistant that the biggest rocks could be unearthed and relocated. I was grateful for those who helped me build my rock garden, which is now filled with rocks of assorted shapes and hues.
How often we struggle alone to bear grief, pain, loneliness, anger, or regret. But our Christian faith is not meant to be lived in isolation; we are called to lift one another’s burdens. Only when others have reached out to me or I have sought help have my burdens been made lighter. Today someone may need our help — we may not even be aware of it. But when we choose to make a phone call or send an e-mail, a text, or a handwritten note, we may become a burden-sharer. No matter the method we choose in bearing another’s burdens, we are fulfilling Christ’s command.
TODAY'S PRAYER
O God, help us to follow the example of Christ by helping to bear the burdens of others. Amen.Our Daily Bread:
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Kizombo sat watching the campfire, pondering the great questions of his life. What have I accomplished? he thought. Too quickly the answer came back: Not much, really. He was back in the land of his birth, serving at the school his father had started deep in the rainforest. He was also trying to write his father’s powerful story of surviving two civil wars. Who am I to try to do all this?
Kizombo’s misgivings sound like those of Moses. God had just given Moses a mission: “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10). Moses replied, “Who am I?” (v. 11).
After some weak excuses from Moses, God asked him, “What is that in your hand?” It was a staff (4:2). At God’s direction, Moses threw it on the ground. The staff turned into a snake. Against his instincts, Moses picked it up. Again, it became a staff (v. 4). In God’s power, Moses could face Pharaoh. He literally had one of the “gods” of Egypt—a snake—in his hand. Egypt’s gods were no threat to the one true God.
Kizombo thought of Moses, and he sensed God’s answer: You have Me and My Word. He thought too of friends who encouraged him to write his father’s story so others would learn of God’s power in his life. He wasn’t alone.
On our own, our best efforts are inadequate. But we serve the God who says, “I will be with you” (3:12).
By Tim Gustafson
REFLECT & PRAY
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What do you have that God can use? How might it encourage you to consider what He might do with you?
Father, with You I lack nothing, no matter the situation.
Discover your God-given calling.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Exodus 3:1–4:17 tells how God called Moses to deliver His people from Egyptian bondage. Moses protested, giving various excuses for why he was unfit for the job. He doubted his own identity and ability (3:11) and his lack of authority (v. 13). In chapter 4, Moses gave his third excuse: the lack of legitimacy and credibility (v. 1). Having been rejected by the Israelites forty years earlier (2:11–14), Moses argued that they wouldn’t believe that he was now divinely commissioned (4:1). To authenticate his commission, Moses was to offer three signs: a rod becoming a snake (vv. 2–5), his hands turning leprous (vv. 6–7), and water turning to blood (v. 9). These signs prefigured the realms of the plagues—blood (7:19), animals and insects (8:2–4, 16, 21; 9:3), and diseases (9:9)—that God would bring upon the Egyptians so that they too would know that He was the true God (7:5).
K. T. Sim |
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Sunday, October 15 2023
Rally Day offering will be to fund our new "IN" account that replaces our depleted Sunday School Fund and used for study materials, curriculum, and supplies for our "IN" gatherings.
Good Morning Children of the Son! Basking in the Son-light is awesome and you don't need sun block because you won't get burnt!   Today we get to gather and worship the Son of God and Son of Man, our Savior, Jesus! PTL! We have the opportunity to invite others along to meet Him and gather with us to worship and fellowship and we get to pray others into His and our family. PTL! Who are you praying for and who is God nudging you to invite. Pray into that with expectancy and thanksgiving! (one new person a month =12 new members by next year!) On Tues at 10 on Zoom our huddle will begin discussing and praying into God's provision. Plan to join us at 10 on Zoom!
In a few weeks we will get to the promise Jesus made in John 14:13 that whatever we ask in His name, He will do, "so that the Father will be glorified in the Son." Jesus is in heaven interceding for His righteous children (US!!!). PTL! We get to pray and ask for His will to be done according to His plans, timing and character. (1John 5:14). Check out the Charles Stanley devo below for more on that. What an honor and privilege to partner with Jesus in prayer, releasing His power and will! We are a people of prayer and our Good News Delivery Co. is loaded with prayer warriors! Pray for them to continue the hard work of prayer that births God's will on earth and in and through us. And PTL and thank God for all of our pray-ers! Thank you all! Continue your good work! God is hearing and answering!
Pray for Mike Laise as he brings God's Word alive to us today and pray for Sarah as she takes a rare and needed day off to visit friends and celebrate her birthday. Pray for all to have a wonderful and worshipful day. This is the day the Lord has made and we get to worship, fellowship, pray and bask in and share His love and Light! Amen! See you soon! Shalom!
Who is Jesus to you? What's He wanting to do in and through you? Talk to Him about that and PTL for all His love and good plans for you and us! And continue to praise and pray!
Here's 30 minutes of meditative prayer and praise music to get your day rolling as you connect to and listen and receive today in preparation to gather in worship! PTL! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us0g-Z_Lfro
CS devo:
Saturday, October 14 2023
Tomorrow is worship with Children's Church at 10 in person and on Zoom. Who is God stirring you to bring along? Call them up and invite them!
The Rally Day envelope will be used to fund our new "IN" Fund. This replaces the Sunday School Fund (which is depleted) and will be used to purchase curriculum, books, studies and for supplies and food for our "IN" gatherings like Wed nights and our Zoom huddle. They will be received until Nov 5th. Thank you!
Good Morning Peace-Filled Shalom Bringers! Peace. Peace. God's peace...sing it! Believe it! Receive It! Share it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySPQcp5hIqM
God highlighted the word Peace/shalom to me this morning. I awoke at 2 am with great peace. Unable to sleep I came to my office and started meditating on and studying the word peace. Maybe some of you need God's peace today? Ask for and receive it as you sit in His calming presence. Be still and know is a command. Maybe you know someone that needs to find the peace only Jesus can bring. Pray for them and share the peace you have from Christ. Keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem, the Ukraine and other areas of conflict, turmoil, and disaster around the world. Give God all your anxious thoughts, concerns and troubles in exchange for His promised peace and receive His rest, all you who are weary and carrying many burdens. (Check out the UR and ODB below speaking about peace, shalom and rest) What's God saying to you???
I started practicing the "Turn Off the Noise" Challenge over two years ago. I let go of my battling people on social media and in person to try to win them to my way of thinking. I stopped getting all riled up over things that I have no control over and started giving my concerns to God and letting the one who oversees the universe handle things. I have come to know such peace and joy! PTL! He is faithful to take care of things and has promised to and is working all things together for the good of those who believe. I believe and in my stillness and trust I have found much joy and shalom. God is faithful and trustworthy and is carrying out His plans for me and for our flock and for the world. My task is to pray and trust Him. In return I have the gifts of peace, joy, mental health and physical rest in Christ! Try it! Turn off the noise and tune into God! He is faithful! (I didn't even know about the Israel things until someone told me. I can't do anything about that, but God can. So, this week I still don't know much but continue to pray for God's will to be done and let Him handle things. Why do we need to keep watching these things and being filled with the anxiety and propaganda from sources that only exist because we keep giving them a voice in our heads. Turn off the noise! Know peace!)
ODB uses John 14 today. We will read that in a few weeks. This week we read John 9 and 10 and next week John 11. In John 10, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. He is our Good Shepherd who leads us to calmness and takes care of our needs, even in the darkest valleys. PTL! We all have that head knowledge, but to experience it, we need to ask Him to shepherd us and allow Him to do so. He is our model and example as He rested often as He trusted God to restore His soul and carry on His plans while He rested. In John 14:27 Jesus promises to give us His peace. He reminds us that the world can never give us that kind of peace. Then He commands us to not let our hearts be troubled and not to be afraid. He is always with us and at work. He is waiting with open arms to receive us into His rest. Let go. Be still. Know Peace and rest! Amen! Choose to do this! And then be equipped and prepared to go share that rest with others and the rest one can only find in Christ. He is our Salvation, Good Shepherd who brings peace and rest, and our Helper and Friend that we can trust always! Amen.
Turn off the noise on this stormy day and spend some time worshiping, meditating on and receiving Shalom. Here's one more song to pray through. Be still and know peace! And be a peace bringer too!
Peace Be Still: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsIpGiz3SfQ
Shalom! (It's available for the choosing! PTL!)
Our Daily Bread:
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I was elated to find the perfect gift for my mother-in-law’s birthday: the bracelet even contained her birthstone! Finding that perfect gift for someone is always an utter delight. But what if the gift the individual needs is beyond our power to give. Many of us wish we could give someone peace of mind, rest, or even patience. If only those could be purchased and wrapped with a bow!
These types of gifts are impossible for one person to give to another. Yet Jesus—God in human flesh—does give those who believe in Him one such “impossible” gift: the gift of peace. Before ascending to heaven and leaving the disciples, Jesus comforted them with the promise of the Holy Spirit: He “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). He offered them peace—His peace—as an enduring, unfailing gift for when their hearts were troubled or when they were experiencing fear. He, Himself, is our peace with God, with others, and within.
We may not have the ability to give our loved ones the extra measure of patience or improved health they desire. Nor is it within our power to give them the peace we all desperately need to bear up under the struggles of life. But we can be led by the Spirit to speak to them about Jesus, the giver and embodiment of true and lasting peace.
By Kirsten Holmberg
REFLECT & PRAY
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How has Christ brought peace to your life? Who might you introduce to Him?
Jesus, thank You for the comfort of Your enduring, unfailing peace in my life.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In John 14, all three members of the Trinity are mentioned, and Jesus is the uniting factor. The Father sends the Spirit in Jesus’ name; the Spirit teaches and reminds the disciples of what Jesus said (v. 26). Jesus leaves His peace with the disciples (v. 27) and does as the Father commands (v. 31). The Father is “greater” than Jesus (v. 28), and Jesus loves Him (v. 31). These verses paint a beautiful picture of how the triune God cares for us: the Father sends the Son (3:16), who gives us peace; the Father sends the Spirit in Jesus’ name, who reminds us of what Christ has said and done.
J.R. Hudberg |
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Upper Room: The Gift of Peace
I will lie down and fall asleep in peace because you alone, Lord, let me live in safety. - Psalm 4:8 (CEB)
I frequently fall asleep while praying. I used to feel guilty, but I’ve decided to look at it a different way.
My job demands that I be on call 24 hours a day, every day of the year. I could be at home making dinner or on vacation when I receive a work-related call, text, or email. This constant connection to the workplace can have long-term effects and often leads to exhaustion. At the end of a hectic day, bedtime prayer can be a way to decompress, discuss the day’s challenges with God, and enter into a time of rest and reflection.
So instead of feeling guilty, I’ve decided to embrace the blessing that rest can be. Rest has many benefits for physical, mental, and spiritual health. Jesus took time away from the crowds and his followers to find needed rest.
Just as hard work honors God, so do our times of rest. Words from Psalm 23 tell us that God wants us to enjoy quiet moments: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul” (vv. 2-3). Let’s not feel guilty when rest presents itself but recognize it for the spiritual gift that it is.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, lead us to adopt the model that Jesus set for us. Help us to seek physical, mental, and spiritual rest and to welcome your restoration of our souls. Amen.
Friday, October 13 2023
Thank God I'm Forgiven! PTL! Count your many blessings that come from your faith in Christ and all He did to redeem you from sin and to open the door for eternal life with Him in heaven. There is a great peace that comes from the assurance that we are forgiven and know our eternal destination. What praise we are able to lift for the free gift of salvation, the gift of faith, the gift of assurance, the gift of abundant life in Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift He brings to our lives, the gift of growing into our new nature, the gift of God's promises, His Holy Word, protection, provision, and shalom!!! What's on your list today? Count your many blessings and continue to build those gratitude lists to dig out for those hard, dark times we are able to endure through Christ! He is a miracle working God! Amen! And we each are one of those miracles! PTL! Here's a song to start your praise and prayer time: Million Little Miracles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viiw6tGimHo
Good Morning Very Blessed Children of God--MIRACLES of God!!! God knows you intimately. Do you know Him intimately and are you growing in your relationship with your Creator and Sustainer? You were created in His image for His special purposes that are enabled and empowered when you surrender your life to Christ and receive His Spirit. The Holy Spirit opens up Scripture for us and helps us to see, hear and understand God as we spend time with Him in prayer, mediating on His Word, and as we travel through each day watching for Him to be at work all around us. Yes, what blessings! What countless miracles! PTL!
This year we have been working on the Become Me in '23 Challenge where we are working on cooperating with God's Spirit to grow more fully into the people we were created to be and operating out of our true identity in Christ to reach the fuller potential we were created for. Many of us sought God's guidance and picked words to work on this year towards that. How's that going for you? Words like "Faith", "Hope", "Valued", "Restoration", "Relationships" and "Shalom" were chosen and many others too. These are words enabled in us to grow into our new nature and to help us to fulfill our custom-made purposes of God. I continue to pray for these to come to life in, through and around you and for you to see God at work as your grow to become more like Jesus and doing the greater things He has for you each day! I'd love to hear your stories of what God is doing through this challenge!
Here's another great blessing to celebrate: We are know by God and lovingly helped to grow into these things even in the direst of times or the most joyful and every day in between! How great is that! How great is our God who is working all things--ALL THINGS--together for those who believe! PTL! Check out our devos below as you sit, meditate, worship, listen and receive God's instructions and encouragements for today! Share those stories with someone too! Let's celebrate all the good available and given to us today!
Here's a song to meditatively praise and pray through as you end your time of worship with our Lord and Savior today: Great Are You Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QocAVOYJ5o0
You are know! You are loved! You are enabled! And God is with you always! PTL!
CS:
TWFYT:
ODB:
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Opening the blinds one winter morning, I faced a shocking sight. A wall of fog. “Freezing fog,” the weather forecaster called it. Rare for our location, this fog came with an even bigger surprise: a later forecast for blue skies and sunshine—“in one hour.” “Impossible,” I told my husband. “We can barely see one foot ahead.” But sure enough, in less than an hour, the fog had faded, the sky yielding to a sunny, clear blue.
Standing at a window, I pondered my level of trust when I can only see fog in life. I asked my husband, “Do I only trust God for what I can already see?”
When King Uzziah died and some corrupt rulers came to power in Judah, Isaiah asked a similar question. Whom can we trust? God responded by giving Isaiah a vision so remarkable that it convinced the prophet that He can be trusted in the present for better days ahead. As Isaiah praised, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3). The prophet added, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal” (v. 4).
When our minds are fixed on God, we can trust Him even during foggy and confusing times. We might not see it clearly now, but if we trust God, we can be assured His help is on the way.
By Patricia Raybon
REFLECT & PRAY
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When life looks foggy and confusing, where can you put your trust? How can you turn your mind from today’s problems to our eternal God?
The world looks foggy and confusing today, dear God, so please help me fix my mind on You, in whom I can forever trust.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Isaiah 26:4 includes the metaphor of a rock, which depicts the security and safety found in God: “The Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.” The Hebrew word for rock is tsur. What’s literally in view is a cliff, rock, or boulder. Figuratively, what’s described is a refuge. This word is used three times in Psalm 18 (vv. 2, 31, 46). In verse 2, the psalmist multiplies metaphors to stress divine dependability: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock [tsur], in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” In Isaiah 26:4, the word tsur is paired with olam, which means long duration, forever, everlasting, perpetual: “The Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.” The pairing of these words enhances God’s credibility exponentially. Trust Him. His faithfulness is unending!
Arthur Jackson |
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UR: Love in Action
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
One day I stopped into a store to buy a birthday gift for someone, and I saw a man asking customers for change. Many people passed by him and ignored his pleas for assistance. I keep a few care packages in my car, so I decided to give one to him. When I struck up a conversation with the man, I learned a lot about him. But most important, I learned that what he needed was a listening ear. God calls us to be light for others. Even something as small as a conversation can make a world of difference to the lonely and brokenhearted.
Today’s scripture reading reminds us that God is pleased when we lend a helping hand. Our good deeds reflect a grateful heart, and our acts of service and compassion for others point to our relationship with God. We become love in action when we are able to recognize and meet the needs of others. How can we show others that God lives within us and that God can live within them too?
TODAY'S PRAYER
Gracious God, may we become love in action through our compassion and care for all your children. Help us to give and receive your love with humility and grace. Amen.
Thursday, October 12 2023
Good Morning Fruitful Harvesters! Yes we are all part of God's Good News Delivery Co. St. Matts. Division! God is using us as we all step deeper into our assigned, custom made purposes for spreading the Good News and bringing the harvest. Some plant and sow in prayer, funding and action. Some fertilize with words and deeds. Some prune or allow God to prune them for even better fruit. Some reap as God brings in the harvest. Let us celebrate all God is doing and continue to grow into our parts and do them well! We can rejoice and celebrate all God did yesterday with the donuts and conversations at the Bread Ministry. We can thank God for using, teaching and growing us as 30 gathered last night for dinner, Family Ministries and Chosen huddles! God is on the move and using us! PTL! Rejoice and ask Him to continue to grow you and use you well.
Pray for Patrick who God is really doing a work on to step into new life in Christ and for us to continue to seed, fertilize and water. He's real close and God is pursuing him. Pray for an open heart and mind. Pray for the five or six new connections we made yesterday and for open hearts and no hindrances for them coming to taste and see how good God is. Thank God for the woman from bread min. (I didn't catch her name) that joined us last night and connect to some other woman and maybe even God as we watched and discussed the Chosen. Pray for many more connection points for us as we learn to connect others to God's love and help and learn to make disciples. I think there were around 30 gathered last night for a great night of food, fellowship, learning and fun! There's always plenty of food and room for more. Join us next week and bring someone along! God is on the move through us and as we gather to serve and fellowship. PTL! What's God saying to you and confirming as your role in His Good News Delivery Co. PTL for that and ask for Him to continue to refine and grow you as you go live and love like Jesus.
Pray for Sarah as she takes a long overdue Sunday off as she celebrates her birthday. Pray for Mike Laise as he brings God's Word alive for us Sunday. Pray for Karen as she teaches Childrens Church and for kids yo hear and grow in Christ. Thank God for all our servants! Ask God to bring to mind someone to invite to join us. Our goal is to bring one new person a month into our fellowship as our members invite and bring along someone new. Pray for God's favor and to see who and courage to invite. Pray that He would us us all well and grow the numbers being saved.
Check out ODB below. May we grow in knowing God and loving others well. The UR reminds us that God will never forget us, His very loved creations and children! Check out CS devo and keep plowing the soil in prayer and pray that your soil would be prepared and ready to produce some great fruit! Keep praying for Israel and for God to show His faithfulness to all His people and deliver them from evil. His heart breaks but He knows, is at work and is working all things together for the good of those who believe. We believe! May many more see God and be drawn. Amen! may God bring you His shalom today and prepare you for what He has instore today! Love you all and so does God! Rejoice! he is upholding you in His strong right hand!
Our Daily Bread
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In the powerful article “Does My Son Know You?” sportswriter Jonathan Tjarks wrote of his battle with terminal cancer and his desire for others to care well for his wife and young son. The thirty-four-year-old wrote the piece just six months prior to his death. Tjarks, a believer in Jesus whose father had died when he was a young adult, shared Scriptures that speak of care for widows and orphans (Exodus 22:22; Isaiah 1:17; James 1:27). And in words directed to his friends, he wrote, “When I see you in heaven, there’s only one thing I’m going to ask—Were you good to my son and my wife? . . . Does my son know you?”
King David wondered if there was “anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom [he could] show kindness for [his dear friend] Jonathan’s sake” (2 Samuel 9:1). A son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, who was “lame in both feet” (v. 3) due to an accident (see 4:4), was brought to the king. David said to him, “I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table” (9:7). David showed loving care for Mephibosheth, and it’s likely that in time the king truly got to know him (see 19:24–30).
Jesus has called us to love others just as He loves us (John 13:34). As He works in and through us, let’s truly get to know and love them well.
By Tom Felten
REFLECT & PRAY
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How can you know others more deeply? What will it look like for you to love them the way God loves you?
Heavenly Father, help me to honor You by striving to truly know and love others.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
David and Jonathan offer a glimpse of what a true friendship looks like. Though Jonathan was King Saul’s son, he sought to protect David from the king’s irrational anger and bitter hatred. Upon hearing news of Jonathan’s death, David wrote of the pain, loss, and despair over the death of a dear friend. Yet, even during his grief for Jonathan, he also grieved over Saul (2 Samuel 1:24). Saul had pursued David like a common criminal, but David still grieved the king’s death.
Bill Crowder |
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UR:
The Lord says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, fail to pity the child of her womb? Even these may forget, but I won’t forget you. Look, on my palms I’ve inscribed you.” - Isaiah 49:15-16 (CEB)
I am a bit worried about my memory. Yesterday I left my credit card at a store. Then I tried to replace an incorrectly sized item that I had purchased a couple of days before, only to realize when I got home that I repurchased the exact same thing. Then today, I left my cell phone in the lobby while picking up the mail. Thankfully someone returned it!
My forgetfulness reminds me how wonderful it is to know that God doesn’t forget us. God doesn’t misplace us or leave us unattended. God knows exactly where we are and what we need.
God also tells us not to fear. Fear can be crippling, but we are reminded that if we have received the gift of salvation, we are redeemed. God knows us and our circumstances, so we do not need to fear. We can have faith that God will give us what we need. When we are focused on ourselves and our current situation, it’s easy to forget past blessings and to fear the future. But God reminds us to keep our faith focused on the One who will not forget us.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for never forgetting who we are and what we need. Help us not to live in fear but in faith. Amen.Charles Stanley
Wednesday, October 11 2023
Hi again! This prayer for Israel by David Jeremiah was forwarded to me by a reader of the blog (Thanks reader and sharer!) Use this or any other to inform your prayers for God's Chosen people!
This is a David Jeremiah prayer...
Heavenly Father,
The psalmist tells us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
So I pray for peace for Your chosen people, Israel, and their beloved city
today. You have planned for Israel, provided for Israel, and protected Israel for
thousands of years.
But as in days of old, there are those today who seek to harm, even destroy,
Your people.
So I ask you to keep Israel in Your loving care. Put a spiritual hedge of
protection around Your people and their land.
Watch over this nation as a Good Shepherd watches over His flock, and may
Your chosen people find their ultimate safety and security in You.
While You watch over Your people, may Your Spirit awaken in them a hunger
to embrace their Messiah—the One who died for them—until they see Him
face to face.
We pray this in His name,
Amen.
Psalm 122:6
Wednesday, October 11 2023
Good Morning Listening, Watching Followers of Our Good Shepherd! We are learning to listen to hear His voice and follow, watch Him to be at work and joining Him, and allowing Him to Shepherd us. What an awesome God we serve! He wants to be in an intimate, growing relationship with Him as He shepherds and teaches us to receive His best and follow well. Check out John 10 today. Jesus is our Gate to salvation and new life. He then is our Good Shepherd. We know His voice and follow Him. He protects us and takes care of us. The 23rd Psalm may be a great meditative praise and prayer read today. He loves you, cares for you and calls you His own! PTL! And He's actively searching for others to join His flock and uses us to help lead them to Him. Pray for our donut and conversation day today during the Bread Ministry for many to hear His voice and be drawn. Pray for all who come to feel loved and accepted. Pray for our members that come to connect to just the right people and connect them to the Shepherds caring love and salvation.
God will open the eyes of our hearts when we come to Him in humility and asking Him to speak and teach and lead. That has been a theme I've been encountering the past few days. Here's the song to use for centering prayer today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0orH2uloeI Check out ODB below as you prayerfully worship to hear, see and follow today.
See you today from 10-12 at donut day, or tonight at the Chosen Huddle/Family Miniseries gathering at 6 for dinner. Pastor Don is creating a sit down dinner feast! Come! Taste and see how good the Lord is and bring someone along! Pray for this to be a day where our Shepherd is glorified and some step through the Gate and walk with our flock as we walk with Jesus. Amen!
God loves you! Jesus says come and walk in my loving care today. Open the eyes of our hearts Lord as we learn to live and love like Jesus together! Amen!
Our Daily Bread:
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In 2001, a premature baby named Christopher Duffley surprised doctors by surviving. At five months old, he entered the foster care system until his aunt’s family adopted him. A teacher realized four-year-old Christopher, though blind and diagnosed with autism, had perfect pitch. Six years later at church, Christopher stood onstage and sang, “Open the Eyes of My Heart.” The video reached millions online. In 2020, Christopher shared his goals of serving as a disability advocate. He continues to prove that possibilities are limitless with the eyes of his heart open to God’s plan.
The apostle Paul commended the church in Ephesus for their bold faith (Ephesians 1:15–16). He asked God to give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” so they would “know him better” (v. 17). He prayed that their eyes would be “enlightened,” or opened, so they would understand the hope and inheritance God promised His people (v. 18).
As we ask God to reveal Himself to us, we can know Him more and can declare His name, power, and authority with confidence (vv. 19–23). With faith in Jesus and love for all God’s people, we can live in ways that prove His limitless possibilities while asking Him to keep opening the eyes of our hearts.
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
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How has God helped you overcome obstacles or limitations? How does knowing His truth, character, and love change the way you see challenges?
Mighty and merciful God, please open the eyes of my heart so that I can know, love, and live for You with bold faith that leads others to worship You.
For further study, read Why Should I Trust God?.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In his explanation of his prayers for the Ephesian church, Paul concludes by saying that he desires all believers in Jesus to know God’s “incomparably great power” (Ephesians 1:19). To explain what he means, he points to God’s strength that both raised Christ from the dead and established His rule in the heavenly realms (vv. 20–21).
For the early church—small and weak in the face of the mighty Roman Empire—the sheer expanse of God’s power would come as a welcome comfort. No rule or authority or even death itself transcended it, and that very power was promised to His people through the Spirit (Acts 1:8). And, as if that weren’t enough, Paul points out that Jesus’ transcendence and rule isn’t bound to the current age but will continue when all other powers fade away (Ephesians 1:21). It’s that very power that the apostle prayed we’d all come to know.
Jed Ostoich |
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