Good Morning Reached and Reaching, Incarnating Love, Servants of the Lord! Oh we are so loved! PTL and thank Him that His love was irresistible to us. Thank Him for using us to reach others as we incarnate His Love, Hope, Shalom and Help. We were custom created by Love to love, help, disciple, bring peace and hope alive. And PTL that God is using many of us to do that well. Thank Him for sending those in need of these things to us as well. Ask Him to keep up His good work in, through and around us. Amen! Some think they are coming for bread, but the Bread of Life has more in store for those He is sending. PTL and keep praying into that!
I am telling you that if you want to see God at work and/or allow Him to use you, just show up any Wednesday during Bread Ministry. I am constantly amazed how God sends just the right people to the right people and how He is drawing many to Him just because we are there and care. I just sit there and God sends people. Plan to join us next Wed. for donut day from 10-12. And keep praying for God to bless and use this awesome ministry. Seriously, you need to check this out! You will experience Jesus' easy yoke as we just be ourselves and love like Him, pray, encourage and help. Pray for God to lead us to some other connection points to those He wants us to love and minister to. We are doing what we can with what God provides through willing servants and God is using this! Come and see!
Check out the thread through our devotionals below as we learn to seek God for more, be available, trust Him and allow Him to lead and use us. Life in Christ and as a disciple is just being you, being available and willing to be used. And the benefit is that we are grown towards Christlikeness. It is so rewarding as we are blessed by being a blessing and blessed to be more of a blessing.
Yesterday I visited Jim Handfest at the hospital and Kay was there. He is bouncing back towards normal but still is undergoing some testing. Kay has an ear infection I prayed for as well. Jim is eager to get home. Continue to pray for healing for both and for wisdom and shalom for Kay. I stopped to visit Nancy Bahr but her floor is under COVID lockdown. Pray for protection and deliverance and for an opportunity to visit soon. I also visited Glad Ketner. She's always happy to see me. She seems to be communicating better. Pray for healing, patience in the process, wisdom for staff and family for next steps and for shalom over her and Linda. She says hi to all and that she misses you. She's worried about her family too. I did get a big hug before leaving. While i was at the hospital, I talked to a patient transport person and prayed for her. She said it is so busy and staff is really stretched and stressed. She said 70 people were in ER awaiting beds. She said they were opening some closed floors to try to accommodate the need. Continue to pray a covering of protection and health over us and for deliverance and healing for all who are sick right now. 'Tis the season, as they say and probably a really good thing we did Zoom only last week for church as many of us were exposed to things over the holidays. It may be God's will and timing that we have another week of Zoom and worship from home as the snow is coming. Watch for info on Sat. regarding our worship plans for Sunday. Pray for our Support Team meeting tonight and our Vision Team meeting Tues. Ask God to reveal His plans, bring wisdom and that we would plan and steward well and follow well all His blessings. Thanks! Pray for wisdom for me as I begin sorting through what Medicare plan to choose. (I'm open for your input on medigap or advantage plans). Please pray for favor for today as I try to sell my broken car and that I get a fair value for it. Thanks!
Ok here's todays Word from God for you...be still and know! He is God and He is speaking all the time. He has great plans for you that are custom made for you to discover and grow into. Seek Him more in '24 and work on becoming more in '24 too. Turn off the noise and live this life in Christ for Christ alone. That's all that really matters. And when you get to heaven your stored rewards will be based on how well you did with living and loving like Jesus. So choose well, listen, trust and follow well. God's cheering you on and I'm praying for you. Shalom is available as you come to know Christ more and make Him known more better! Revival starts with prayer! And you all are critically needed prayer warriors. What's God saying to you? How does He want you to pray? Who does He have for you to love well today! Seek Him more earnestly and listen more intently with the plan to follow His lead more often. He's preparing you and the way, so rejoice and relax in Him!
Harvest Prayer Blog for Revival:
January 4 - Praying for Revival (Day 4): There’s Something More
|
|
|
One of my favorite revival stories comes from the Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland during the years of 1948–50. A couple of homebound elderly sisters, one who was blind and the other who was severely hampered by arthritis, were instrumental through their prayers. The sisters, grieved by the decline of the church in their community and especially by the lack of interest among the young people, prayed faithfully, often late into the night. God implanted a vision for revival in their hearts, and they began to cry out with faith and hope.
As the leaders of the church joined in prayer, God began to move in tangible and powerful ways. The pastor and elders repented before God and humbled themselves in desperation for their community. In one of the prayer meetings, it was reported that the home shook, much like in the Book of Acts (see Acts 4:31).
The presence of God descended upon their community and surrounding villages throughout the Hebrides. Stories emerged of people coming under such strong conviction of the Holy Spirit that they fell to their knees in the streets, begging forgiveness. Eventually, no village was left untouched by the presence of God.
It all started with the faith and conviction of two sisters who simply offered themselves and their prayers as catalysts for revival!
Pr a y e r Po i n t s:
• Praise God that He responds to the prayers of His people and delights in displaying His glory.
• Humble yourself before the Lord, invite Him to reveal ways you need to repent, and ask Him to bring you into alignment with His Kingdom plans.
• Pray that you will be a prayer catalyst for revival—and will inspire others to pray with faith and boldness.
• Ask the Spirit to prompt your church to pray with a 2 Chronicles 7:14 vision of seeing your city and nation healed in the truth and power of Jesus.
• Pray for the revival of your church, the spiritual awakening of the lost, and the transformation of your community.
Father, I praise You because You respond to the prayers of Your people and delight in displaying Your glory! I humble myself before You in this moment and invite You to reveal anything in me that displeases You so that I can repent and realign my life with Your kingdom plans. May I be a prayer catalyst for revival and inspire others to pray with great faith and boldness.
Holy Spirit, please revive my church, spiritually awaken the lost, and transform our community for the sake of Your glory!
--Adapted from Day 4 by Carol Madison: Do It Again, Lord (30 Days of Hope-Filled Prayer for Revival) compiled and edited by Carol Madison. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
|
|
Charles Stanley:
Upper Room: The Power of Love
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. - Psalm 36:7 (NIV)
When our family relocated to the desert southwest, about the only relief from the relentless heat of the summer months was a trip to the public swimming pool. My parents enrolled my brothers and me in swimming lessons. I can still recall the fear during some of those first lessons, especially when we were taken into the deep end of the pool. But our instructors were kind, and we trusted them to keep us safe.
Many years later, my wife and I had three small children of our own, and we needed to teach them to swim so that they could be safe in and near the water. My wife, being a certified water safety instructor, taught them. I recall some thrashing, splashing, and even some crying, but our children knew their teacher was always there to support them and keep them safe from danger, and that she would not let them go. Eventually my children swam very well, competed on swim teams, and were rewarded with ribbons and trophies.
Now, in my later years, I sometimes reflect on how those swim lessons are similar to my relationship with God who is my teacher and is worthy of all my trust. Yet there are times when I thrash about and feel consumed by fear. But then I remember that God is love and will not let me go.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for your everlasting love that surpasses our understanding. Help us to remain devoted to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Our Daily Bread:
|
I didn’t notice him at first.
I’d come down for breakfast at my hotel. Everything in the dining room was clean. The buffet table was filled. The refrigerator was stocked, the utensil container packed tight. Everything was perfect.
Then I saw him. An unassuming man refilled this, wiped that. He didn’t draw attention to himself. But the longer I sat, the more I was amazed. The man was working very fast, noticing everything, and refilling everything before anyone might need something. As a food service veteran, I noticed his constant attention to detail. Everything was perfect because this man was working faithfully—even if few noticed.
Watching this man work so meticulously, I recalled Paul’s words to the Thessalonians: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12). Paul understood how a faithful worker might win others’ respect—offering a quiet testimony to how the gospel can infuse even seemingly small acts of service for others with dignity and purpose.
I don’t know if the man I saw that day was a believer in Jesus. But I’m grateful his quiet diligence reminded me to rely on God to live out a quiet faithfulness that reflects His faithful ways.
By Adam R. Holz
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
How should your faith affect the way you work? In what ways is being a faithful worker a powerful testimony?
Father, please help me to remember that there are no small jobs in Your kingdom and to faithfully serve You each day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Waiting for the second coming of Jesus is a consistent theme in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians (see 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-17; 5:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; 2:1-12). The subject of work is also prominent (see 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; 5:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). Paul’s labor for the gospel resulted in the establishing of the church, but he also labored with his hands: “We worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you” (1 Thessalonians 2:9). “Waiting” and “working” should characterize believers in Jesus until He returns.
Arthur Jackson |
|
|
|
|
|
The Word for You Today:
LISTEN ONLINE
