Updates: Installation of new members has been postponed for a few weeks due to illnesses and injuries.
The Muik's (Chris and Yvonne) have been battling COVID and sickness for over a week. Please continue to pray for them.
The Sosa's will be home as Amber and Ariana begin healing from broken sternums from their head-on crash. Pray for healing and comfort and shalom for the whole family. Pray for God's provision as their only car is totaled. All five were to be part of today's new member's group.
Darlene Skinner continues to recover from spine surgery. Please pray for healing and patience in the process and for shalom for the family.
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Good Morning Light, Joy, and Peace Bringers! We are children of the Light and we get to know and share love, joy and peace. Amen! We live in very chaotic times and are living through tests and trials of faith and often very hard times. BUT GOD! He specializes in bringing shalom to the chaos and often uses us as we choose joy and peace and allow His love to come alive in and through us. Check out the Upper Room and Harvest Prayer Blogs below and sit at Jesus' feet, choosing and receiving His love, peace, joy and wisdom and courage to share them.
Begin this day with choosing joy and lifting praise. Maybe you need to dig out that gratitude list to help you start with refocusing praise. Jesus is the Light and the Joy of our salvation. Rejoice! He is always with us! He is our Shepherd and we can know and hear His voice and follow Him through every valley. He calms the storms and shelters us under His wings. He is our Rock and Strong Tower. He is the Prince of Peace! And He loves you! Yes rejoice! Know His peace beyond understanding. Abide in His Love!
See you all soon as we gather to worship in person and on Zoom at 10. Pray as I message the service for today. What's Church? You and we are the Church! See you in the building where we gather or on the airwaves as we gather to worship, pray, praise, study God's Word and encourage each other. Prepare your hearts to enter His courts with praise and thanksgiving! yes, REJOICE!
UR: God of Light
Let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy. - Psalm 68:3 (NRSVUE)
I stared at the calendar, and my heart sank. Years before, on the first day of spring, my son had died unexpectedly. This year the anniversary of his death fell on a Sunday, and although I wanted to stay home, God urged me to go to church. During the children’s time in the worship service, the leader used a flashlight to teach the children about sharing Jesus’ light with others. Memories of my son in Sunday school came flooding back.
As the children left the sanctuary, one little boy skipped toward the door shouting, “This will be amazing!” After a few giggles, the congregation turned their attention back to the pastor; but I kept thinking about the boy. Through the excitement in his voice and spring in his step, the light of Jesus spread into my heart.
It’ s sometimes easy for despair to douse the light of Jesus. I had arrived at church feeling low. However, God helped me realize that sharing the light of Christ with others is a way of honoring my son. On my walk that afternoon, birds sang and flowers bloomed. I collected empty cans in the road to recycle as my son would have done. Shining through dense, gray clouds were streams of sunlight. The little boy was right; this day was amazing!
TODAY'S PRAYER
God of light, we thank you. Continue to illuminate our hearts and brighten our spirits. Help us to serve you better. In your Son Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Harvest Prayer Blog and prayer starters:
March 3 - Peace and the Gospel
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He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. (Ephesians 2:17)
“Jesus preached the gospel of peace and those who responded received His peace. That wasn’t just a first century phenomenon but has been the case through the centuries. The great English preacher and revivalist John Wesley experienced people responding to his preaching by receiving the peace of Christ.
To Wesley’s surprise, he began to experience the Holy Spirit powerfully convicting people of sins while he preached. Well-dressed, mature people suddenly cried out as if in the agonies of death. Both men and women, outside and inside the church buildings, would tremble and sink to the ground. When Wesley stopped and prayed for them, they soon found PEACE and rejoiced in Christ.”—Wesley Duewel, Revival Fire, p.77
Focus in prayer on these three areas in light of Wesley’s experience:
1. Hearing the truth of the gospel.
2. Conviction of sin through the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. Peace through the acceptance of and obedience to the gospel.
Spend some time praying over and affirming each of these points. Watch as the peace of Christ begins to change your emotions and thoughts.
Lord Jesus, thank you for preaching the gospel of peace. You knew how much we would need that in our lives. You have provided for us through your life, death, burial, and resurrection all that we need for peace in this world and forever in your eternal house. Forgive me when I forget what you have provided and wallow in anxiety and fear. Today, I choose the peace that comes from your presence in my life.
--Adapted from Prayer, Peace and the Presence of God (A 30-Day Journey to Experience the Shalom of Jesus) by David Butts. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise God, whose kindness toward you will last forever and ever.
- Thank God for loving you with an everlasting love and drawing you with lovingkindess (Jer. 31:3).
- Confess any ways in which you have not reflected that kindness to others.
- Commit yourself to considering God's kindness to you (Rom. 11:22).
- Ask God to clothe you with compassion, kindness, and humility (Col. 3:12).
- Pray that your neighborhood may see the kindess, compassion, and forgiveness of God in the way the members of your congregation treat each other and outsiders.
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