Good Morning Loving with the Heart of God Worshippers! As you prepare your heart for worship this morning lift some praises to our loving Father for giving us His heart and mind to go love like Him. Thank Him for overflowing love! Thank Him for using us well and for preparing us to go love more in '24. Thank Him for placing us here for such a time as this to be His hands, feet, help, and Good News Delivery people. Come! Now is the time to worship!
I've been beating myself up a bit, maybe prodded some by Satan, because I feel like I just keep sharing the same things--Go! Live and love more like Jesus! Build small group ministries that reach neighbors. Become a dynamic movement of God. But God just keeps revealing these messages to me for us. And will until we trust and obey. I thought I'd share something different this morning...BUT GOD!
TWFYT reminded me to stop worrying and trust God. They reminded me to not worry about what others think or have or are doing. Focus on God and what He is doing and desires to do in and through me. PTL! He provides where He guides. Amen. You are part of His provision. Where's He guiding you? I ended my quiet time with the Harvest Prayer's Prayer starters and then blog. I'll add a couple from mine to theirs today as they really had me praying into our fellowship of believers. We are one! Well, supposed to be. Are we with fellow believers? The Church needs to reunite in Christ and for multiplying disciples together. Charles Stanley shows us where to start and what to build upon...intimacy with Jesus. Abiding in the Vine and choosing to live this life as if Christ is all that matters. Living life intentionally, earnestly through our custom-made created purposes for God's glory begins with deep intimacy. Our EC mission statement is to know Christ and make Him known. The make Him known part flows from really knowing Him and following closely as His plans come to and alive through you. ODB continues to speak to what God keeps revealing to me and I keep sharing. He's just not letting this go. He has plans for us and He is raising up Kingdom-minded leaders and small groups that will impact the places where they meet. God really wants us to get some small groups started and reaching and impacting our communities and contexts. They ask, "How have you teamed up with others to serve God? and Who can you support as they serve Him with their unique gifts?" Those are questions we need to answer, process and then enact this summer as we step out of the building and into our neighborhoods in small groups. Keep praying into that and start talking to your teammates about what, where and how. I'm really excited for this to begin and can already taste the fruit to come! The UR just reminded me of my attitude adjustment since the last election and how turning off the noise and constant hate-spewing has changed me and brought me great shalom. Who or what are you hating right now? Jesus commands to not sin in our anger and to love our enemies. Seriously, turn off the noise, hate-mongering and anxiousness-stirring and open your Bibles more and spend your time better at growing in intimacy with Christ and some Christ loving and honoring friends who will pray for and help you to go love--all people--like Christ. We are all made in His image and some are being drawn from their Christ-less ways through our love. Hating people and shunning them was a practice of the Pharisees and we see how Jesus felt about that as we open the Gospels. He said, come to me all you weary--weary of the finger-pointing, hate, shunning and unmeetable requirements to be found in God's favor. We are all sinners. Some have been saved by the grace of God. Who is He sending you to love to Him? Who needs to know His rest for their souls?
So where do we start? The Great Commandments: love God and love like Him and the Great Commission: go lovingly make disciples of Jesus. I don't think we can ever stop being reminded of these or ever stop working on them. We are all a work in process and progress and we need each other to live and love well and more like Jesus. God really loves us and is preparing us to reap His end times harvest. He is with us and has great plans that bring satisfaction, peace and joy. Where's your focus today? begin with worship and then be available and willing to go live and love more like Jesus with some friends. God will handle the rest! PTL and Amen! Shalom!
TWFYT:
Harvest prayer:
March 17 - One Before the Throne
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After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. (Revelation 7:9)
The beauty and majesty as described in heaven will be astounding. Every color and each texture will emanate the glory of God. Every sound and rhythm will carry the message of his wonder, but none will show forth his glory more brilliantly than the faces of those he has redeemed.
The sad reality is that today we are separated not merely by distance and language, but by a large chasm of misunderstanding, suspicion, and apathy. The enemy of our souls has worked a deception on our hearts and minds to keep us from experiencing the glory of God together. He has whispered lies and we have believed that we are more different than we are the same. We have allowed hurt and ignorance to lead us into grave sin and have marred the image of Christ by our hatred and our indifference.
Jesus has a better plan. Jesus has made a better way for us to live and love as one. What miracle of grace would the world behold if we were united as one people under Jesus? Let’s ask him to free us of our sin and unite us so we may worship together and display his glory to a world who desperately needs to know him.
Powerful and wise Father, we thank you that in your wisdom you created us with a variety of beautiful distinctions and lovingly placed us all over the world. Show us how to come together for the glory of your name and the salvation of many. Please forgive us for our selfishness and the many ways we have exalted our own preferences and backgrounds above your plan to unite us in you. Give us humble and forgiving hearts so we may offer the grace we’ve been given to all who would hurt and offend us.
We know that it is through our unity that many will see and be drawn into your loving arms. Show us how to creatively and faithfully find ways to unite as one body with one purpose and vision to make you known all over the world. We exalt you as Creator, Lord and Savior and commit to making your name famous and followed. We pray that your name will be known and received among unreached people and that you will send us boldly and compassionately to everyone’s world with your gospel. Equip us with all that we need to bring to you the reward of your sacrifice.
--Adapted from Praying God’s Word Over Your City: 40 Days of Prayer for A Transformed Community by Trey and Mary Anne Kent. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise the Lord, who made and cares for heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them (Ps. 146:1-6).
- Give thanks for his personal care for you.
- Confess instances of putting ultimate trust “in mortal men, who cannot save” (146:3).
- Commit yourself to putting your hope in the Lord your God.
- Ask God to help you hand your cares to him through daily prayer.
- Pray your church grows as loving people who genuinely administer God's care to all people. Ask for wisdom for your leaders and small groups.
- Pray that God will continually prompt his people to join him in caring for those oppressed or otherwise in need (146:7-10). Ask God to grant corporate and individual wisdom, persistence, and love in seeking to extend his kingdom.
- Pray that the witness of God's people will be consistent in word and deed. Ask God to guide you in helping specific people in your neighborhood to put their trust in the caring God you know intimately.
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Charles Stanley:
ODB:
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When I joined a group of Christian children’s book authors who prayed for one another and helped spread the word about each other’s books, some people said we were “foolish for working with competitors.” But our group was committed to kingdom-minded leadership and promoting community, not competition. We shared the same goal—spreading the gospel. We served the same King—Jesus. Together, we’re reaching more people with our witness for Christ.
When God asked Moses to choose seventy elders with leadership experience, He said, “I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone” (Numbers 11:16–17). Later, Joshua saw two of the elders prophesying and told Moses to stop them. Moses said, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (v. 29).
Any time we focus on competition or comparisons that hinder us from working with others, the Holy Spirit can empower us to shrug off that temptation. When we ask God to nurture kingdom-minded leadership in us, He spreads the gospel around the world and can even lighten our loads as we serve Him together.
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
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How have you teamed up with others to serve God? Who can you support as they serve Him with their unique gifts?
Holy Spirit, please make me a kingdom-minded leader committed to working together to reach more people with the life-saving message of the gospel.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
As Numbers 11 begins, it had been more than a year since the Israelites escaped out of Egypt (10:11-12). They’d spent almost a year at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1; Numbers 10:11), where Moses received the Law, the people rebelled by crafting a golden calf, the tabernacle was built, and the priesthood was established. The Israelites were the beneficiaries of God’s daily care through manna and a cloud that guided them during the day and a pillar of fire at night. But soon after leaving Mount Sinai, the people “complained about their hardships” (11:1), and God judged them with fire. After His judgment subsided, some began to “crave other food” (v. 4). Moses grew tired of their complaints and cried out to God, “I cannot carry all these people by myself” (v. 14). As a result, He instructed Moses to choose seventy leaders to help share the burden (vv. 16-17).
Alyson Kieda |
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UR: The Power of Words
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. - Proverbs 10:12 (NRSVUE)
I only had one brother. He was six years older than I and joined the US Navy when I was 13. As we got older, we bonded over our common interest in ham radio.
On one of our family’s visits to his house, he and I retreated to his radio room and started talking. After a while he said, “You sure hate a lot of things.” His words stopped me cold; he was right. I hated how that politician acted. I hated that product. I hated my income taxes. I realized that even though I claimed to be a Christian, I was living a life full of small hatreds. I would like to say I have completely overcome that mindset; but while I never say I “hate” things anymore, I can still be critical of those who disagree with me.
Words of hatred and superiority can slip into our conversation, demeaning not only the subject of our talk but God’s word as well. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Prov. 25:11). All people were made in God’s image and deserve to be treated fairly and honorably. I have found if we look deep inside others, we may find people very much like ourselves.
TODAY'S PRAYER
O Lord, help us to avoid the trap of careless and negative words. Even when our words are critical, may we speak always with compassion. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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