We had a great turn out last evening at Rita's and God provided fair but steamy weather and great fellowship. Thanks to all who attended. We decided to do it again and Wed Aug 21st at 6 will be our next Rita outreach. Pray for opportunities for more outreach next time an thank God for what he did last evening. He is the God that refreshes!
Sunday is hymn sing Sunday and we will collect for Everlasting Life too. Everlasting Life is the ministry of one of our EC center city EC churches. They feed and minster to many needy in center city Allentown. Pray for Sarah for Sun. too as she leads us through Ephesians 3. (read up on that for Sunday)
Appreciate prayers for God to speak and guide this morning as I have a Zoom meeting with our EC Church Planting and outreach director seeking to discern if God is leading us to any small group house gatherings and possibly some church planting that our bishop is calling us to do. I keep feeling the pinch from God to move towards this. This is the next step . Pray for God's wisdom, direction and provision and for us to see the open doors.
I'd like to encourage you to re-read and prayerfully meditate on yesterday's blog and passages. God is still speaking to me about that and flows today's blog through that as He continues to teach and lead us to His perfect plans for such a time as this! He has called you by name and redeemed you and He has great plans for you to discover and step into. Let us commit to pour ourselves out as a drink offering before the Lord.
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Good Morning Accepted, Redeemed, Made New and Alive, Sent Ones of Christ! Amen! Pronounce that in prayer and commitment over you and our Body. Who needs to hear your story? Pray for them and for an opportunity for God to use you. Pray for wisdom, discernment and boldness. Receive His blessings and empowerment as you step out in faith to take the Good News to those around you! God's going before you, upholding you in His strong right hand, preparing you and others and has great plans for such a time as this custom made for you! Rejoice and go live and love as you have been loved and more like Jesus.
Man God is speaking again today! Can you hear Him? What's He stirring in you? What will you do about it? Who are your teammates? What stories is He writing for you to share?
God has threaded all of our devotionals for today through yesterday's and yesterday's blog and many of the messages He has spoken to and over us for months. Be you--wonderfully made, very loved child of God and seek and follow Him to His custom plans for you each day and always celebrate Him and all He has done! Sometimes I hear the excitement from you as God uses you and you share the stories. I feel like that too sometimes and like the disciples who were sent out two-by-two and used by God to spread the Good News and prepare the way for Jesus. They came back gushing and sharing all the stories of how God used them and what happened. Jesus reminds them and us to stop and worship and offer thanksgiving that God knows us and used us. Amen! We are custom made for such a time as this. Go! Share! Worship!
Here's the thread I saw today: You are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God and being prepared for such a time as this. You are accepted and made new in Christ. He calls you by name, redeems you and sends you. He never leaves us and He always wants to lead us to His best. Anything of value in God's eyes comes when we stop striving in our own strength, die to self, stop leaning on our own understanding and offer ourselves for Him to use. We can know contentment and His peace when we pour ourselves out and allow Him to use us just as we are. And as we grow in wisdom of His love and ways, HE sends us and uses us to share our stories and His Good News with all those He sends our way. Did you see that as you engaged with our devos today? What's God saying to you? What will you do about it? Who are you processing and planning with? Who are you feeling led to pray for? Seek first His Kingdom and righteousness and He will provide all we need to be His hands and feet today. Be who you are created to be. Offer back all you have been given for God to use for such a time as this and pray to be the best steward while investing into His plans. He is calling you by name right now and revealing the next step of faith to take! Amen!
Harvest:
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July 25 - Wonderfully Made
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For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:13–14)
When was the last time you looked into a mirror and said to yourself: “I am wonderfully made”? Is there a mirror nearby? How about a camera app on your mobile device? Stop just a minute and try it out.
OK, now look around you; is there someone next to you on a plane or train? Is there a person walking down the street or sitting in a coffeeshop window? Whoever you see, think to yourself: “That person is wonderfully made.”
This isn’t an exercise in vanity or superficiality. No matter who is near you, or what you saw in your reflection, at the core what you saw is beautiful. In Psalm 139 King David reminds us that we are “knitted” by God and that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Looking back further, the very first chapter of the Bible tells us that God created man in His own image. Actually, in case we missed the importance of that statement, the Genesis account immediately repeats it by declaring again: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27).
The image of God—what does that mean? Basically, it means that every single person ever “knitted” by God is uniquely and intrinsically special. Our lives are of inestimable worth, not because of anything we have done, but because of Who our Creator is.
Our nation’s Founding Fathers understood the fundamental importance of honoring life. That is why it’s the first inalienable right listed in the Declaration of Independence. Life is a precious gift from our Creator that human authorities are intended to preserve and protect.
Today, let us celebrate the beauty of every person as being wonderfully made. And let’s pray against any action or message in public policy, the media, pop culture, business, or anywhere else that defaces or demeans the sanctity of human life.
Lord Jesus, I pray that everything in my culture will honor the dignity of every human, whether in music, movies, on television or video games and so many other places. Pour Your light into each of these spaces so that culture influencers will honor human life and not treat it cheaply or abusively.
Father, I pray specifically against the perpetrators of human trafficking and other forms of modern-day slavery in our nation and around the world. I am asking You for the release and healing of the victims. May their spirits embrace the truth that they are not property, but people— individuals made in Your image and greatly loved by You.
--Adapted from We Declare: 31 Days of Intercession for America by David Kubal. 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 for his non-condemning attitude (Jn. 8:10-11), which gives you hope when you fail.
- Give thanks for help in seeing the “plank” in your own eyes before looking at the “specks” in another’s (Mt. 7:3).
- Confess the many times you judge by appearance rather than by facts (Jn. 7:24).
- Commit yourself to God’s judgment (1 Cor. 11:32), and be disciplined by him, learning from your mistakes (Heb. 12:10-11).
- Ask God to help you learn from other’s judgments of you.
- Pray that your loving and nonjudgmental attitude toward one who has wronged you will give you opportunity to present Christ to that person, realizing God will bring every deed into judgment (Eccl. 12:14).
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Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
Connection (Devotions for Everyday Life) © 2024 is a free devotional published daily by Harvest Prayer Ministries. Subscribe here. |
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UR: Rewarding Work
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:3 (NRSVUE)
One day I learned a valuable lesson from a landscaper and his four-year-old son. The father unloaded bales of pine straw, broke them up, and spread large handfuls around bushes and flowers. His son snatched a tiny handful of straw from a broken bale, dropped it close to a flower, then gleefully rushed back to get another handful. The smile on the boy’s face reflected how proud he was to be helping his father. The patient father smiled too.
The little boy did not spread much pine straw. That was not the point. He was together with his father and shared in the work.
Sometimes we make serving God into something more complicated than it is. If we would trust God more and worry less, our work would be much more rewarding. When God puts a task on our heart, we can’t help but look forward to doing it because we are working side by side with our Father God.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help us find joy as we join you in building your kingdom on earth. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
CS:
ODB:
Thousands of people prayed for pastor Ed Dobson when he was diagnosed with ALS in 2000. Many believed that when they prayed in faith for healing, God would answer immediately. After twelve years of struggling with the disease that caused Ed’s muscles to atrophy little by little (and three years before he died), someone asked him why he thought God hadn’t healed him yet. “There’s no good answer, so I don’t ask,” he replied. His wife, Lorna, added, “If you’re always obsessed about having to have answers, you can’t really live.”
Can you hear the respect for God in Ed and Lorna’s words? They knew that His wisdom is above their own. Yet Ed admitted, “I find it nearly impossible not to worry about tomorrow.” He understood that the disease would cause increasing disability, and he didn’t know what new problem the next day might bring.
To help himself focus on the present, Ed placed these verses in his car, on the bathroom mirror, and next to his bed: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Whenever he started to worry, he would repeat the verses to help him refocus his thoughts on the truth.
No one knows what the next day will bring. Maybe Ed’s practice could help us turn our worries into opportunities to trust.
By Anne Cetas
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What Scriptures help you to focus on today and not worry about tomorrow? Where might you place them to help your faith grow?
Help me to remember, Father, that You’re God, and I am not. Please teach me to trust You.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
From beginning to end, the book of Hebrews is richly flavored by the sacred writings of the Old Testament. One scholar notes that the thinking of the writer of Hebrews “was saturated with Old Testament types, echoes and allusions.” Regarding direct quotations from the Old Testament, the same author notes that “there are 40 of them.” Bible readers will find that various quotes are used to highlight and support lofty theological truths such as the deity of Jesus (see Hebrews 1:5-13). Other citations are used to guard and guide behavior. The children of Israel needed the exhortations of Moses found in Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrew believers in Christ needed them in the first century, and we need them now to live a life that honors God: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
Discover the rich wisdom and history of the book of Hebrews.
Arthur Jackson |
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