Happenings: Donuts and conversation at the Bread Ministry today 10-12. (lunch too for workers)
Tonight 6-7:30 dinner and video huddle for all who will come.
Saturday 10-1: Clothing Closet
Sunday after worship is our new members class. All who wish to know more about our church or to join are welcome.
Good Morning very Loved, very Loving, Servants of our God Who Is Love! This life really is all about LOVE! We don't need a man-made holiday--well maybe some do--to remind us to love. Loving God and others and even ourselves is a command that wraps up all the ten commandments are about and what God requires of us. LOVE! Today, another man-made season begins in some churches with Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Lent is celebrated in some churches as a season of pertinence and self-examination and fasting from some sinful choices. Do we really need a holiday or season to remind us that we are all sinners that fall short of God's standard and to confess and repent of sins. That, like loving, should be a daily thing.
Start with focusing on Love. (maybe "loving" might be a word to work on this year) God is Love. Love lives in us and wants to love through us. Jesus modeled "agape" love. That's sacrificial, dying to self love as He laid His life down for us and our sins. He commands us to go agape like Him. Maybe focus on that the next forty days that lead to Palm Sunday. Yes, examine yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind some things you need to repent of or work on and do it. That is part of becoming more like Jesus and allow God to shape you more fully into the person He created you to be. Become More in '24! Work on that and maybe focus on a word for the season.
Today, we will celebrate Fat Wednesday with donuts and love as we share and hang out with our neighbors in need. That's love in action that we are commanded to live. Come join us! Come share love and allow God to mold and use you as His vessel. That's what these days and seasons should be all about--love and loving like Jesus. Amen! Thank God for His love for you and for loving through you and ask for His help to do that better. He loves you and loves to answer prayers form the heart like that! Go! Love! Amen
Harvest Prayer Blog:
February 14 - God Wants Your Prayers
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Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
You may be thinking “Without ceasing? I hardly pray at all. How could I possibly pray continually throughout each day?”
It’s not only possible, it’s exactly what God desires. He has great plans for us and for His kingdom that can only be accomplished if we will continually communicate with Him.
So, why should we value prayer? Why should we seek to become men or women of unceasing prayer?
“Pray without ceasing” is not a nice thought from God, it’s a command. God is telling us to pray and to pray with no intermission. It is hard to believe, but God wants to communicate with you more than you want to communicate with Him. How could this possibly be true?
Grace-filled Father, You have given me a powerful command to obey – communicating with You continually. Guide my heart and lay it alongside of Yours every moment so that I might lean into a lifestyle of prayerfulness! Show me how to press into Your purposes for me, for others, for my church, community and nation! I long to hear from Your Spirit who will share with me Your thoughts, for Your thoughts are much higher than mine! Draw me more deeply into the mystery of unceasing prayer and teach me to unleash Your power on earth as it is in heaven.
---Adapted from Simply Prayer by Bill Elliff. This book is available at prayershop.org.
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- Praise God for his holiness and righteousness.
- Thank him for promising to work all things together for good.
- Confess any coldness of heart.
- Commit yourself to becoming more and more conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).
- Ask God to renew your love for him as it was when you first believed.
- Ask God to lay on your heart those for whom he desires you to pray. Request the Holy Spirit to show you how to pray for each person.
Prayer Pointer
“Productive prayer requires earnestness, not eloquence.” —Anonymous
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ODB:
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Jim and Laneeda were college sweethearts. They got married and life was happy for many years. Then Laneeda began to act strangely, getting lost and forgetting appointments. She was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at forty-seven. After a decade of serving as her primary caregiver, Jim was able to say, “Alzheimer’s has given me the opportunity to love and serve my wife in ways that were unimaginable when I said, ‘I do.’ ”
While explaining the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote extensively on the virtue of love (1 Corinthians 13). He contrasted rote acts of service with those overflowing from a loving heart. Powerful speaking is good, Paul wrote, but without love it’s like meaningless noise (v. 1). “If I . . . give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (v. 3). Paul ultimately said, “the greatest [gift] is love” (v. 13).
Jim’s understanding of love and service deepened as he cared for his wife. Only a deep and abiding love could give him the strength to support her every day. Ultimately, the only place we see this sacrificial love modeled perfectly is in God’s love for us, which caused Him to send Jesus to die for our sins (John 3:16). That act of sacrifice, motivated by love, has changed our world forever.
By Karen Pimpo
REFLECT & PRAY
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How have you tried to serve others without love? How can a love for God and others inspire your actions today?
Loving God, thank You for loving me. May my actions flow out of a loving heart today.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
First Corinthians 13 is considered to be the love chapter of the New Testament. The love Paul describes is contrary to what our culture values and portrays. It has nothing to do with lust or satisfying one’s own needs. Instead, it’s directed outward toward others and is totally unselfish. Such love isn’t primarily an emotion but an active decision to stay engaged and remain connected. Yet this type of love is impossible apart from God’s work in us through the Holy Spirit. It’s the greatest of human qualities (v. 13) and an attribute of God Himself (1 John 4:8).
Alyson Kieda |
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UR:Ash Wed.
If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. - Matthew 6:14 (NIV)
I had never given up anything for Lent because the practice did not seem meaningful to me.
Then one year on Ash Wednesday, my pastor challenged us to think differently about giving up something for Lent. He asked us to think of a person we were holding a grudge or anger or resentment against and invited us to forgive them.
Years earlier I had gone through a divorce. My spouse had cheated on me again and again. I had been deeply hurt. How could I ever forgive him?
I struggled with my feelings. Was I ready to release all the pain he had caused me? Finally I decided that, yes, I was going to forgive.
The pastor asked us to write on a piece of paper what we were giving up. I wrote it down, then folded the piece of paper. The congregation was then invited to burn our slips of paper in a bowl. It was one of the most meaningful Ash Wednesday services I had ever attended.
It wasn’t easy to forgive. And by forgiving him, I’m not saying that what he did was okay because it wasn’t. But deciding to give up my feelings of hatred and resentment was a freeing experience, and it still is. I could move on with my life without the weight of anger and resentment that I had been carrying around for years. So I would like to challenge you to give up something meaningful for Lent and surrender it to God. You won’t believe how liberating it is!
TODAY'S PRAYER
Thank you, God, for forgiving us. Help us to be as forgiving of others. Amen.
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