Today: Bread Ministry from 10-12; Dinner Huddlen6-7:30 tonight we eat, fellowship and work on plans with Revival Church for our upcoming Light in the Night and pray into that. next week we begin the Chosen season 4.
Good Morning Drawing Close, Very Loved, Children of God! God is Love. He created us out of love to be in an eternal relationship with Him and fellow believers. He created, gifted, is preparing and molding us to be His vessels of love to the world today. We all matter to Him. Everyone does. And He's empowering us to go change the world with His love. PTL! Thank Him for His patient, correcting, love. Ask Him to prepare and send you to love well. Ask for His heart and mind to guide you as you work on living and loving more like Jesus. He really has some great custom plans for you today. Draw close and hear His loving directions for you today. He is upholding you in His strong right hand and leading you to His best. PTL! Today we get to practice sharing His love, our hope and help at the Bread Ministry and when we gather tonight to plan how to bring the Light alive in a few weeks. Dwell in His love this morning and receive His love and directions. Then go and live and love like Jesus as God leads you. Oh what a great day this will be! Amen!
Our devotionals for today speak into drawing close into God's love, staying focused on Him and praying to be His vessel. Check them out. What's God saying to you? What will you do about it? As for me and my house we will love and serve the Lord as we allow Him to love through us. Amen! God's grace is amazing and sufficient no matter what your day is bringing. he is always with you and waiting with open arms of love for you. Invite Him in today and dwell in His amazing grace and sufficient love. I'm praying for you! Shalom!
ODB:
|
When I give our beautiful, fluffy Norwegian Forest cat, Mystique, belly rubs and play with her, or when she falls asleep on my lap in the evening, it’s sometimes hard to believe that she’s the same cat we met years ago. Mystique used to live on the streets, underweight and fearful of everyone. But that gradually changed as I started putting out food for her each day. One day she finally let me pet her, and the rest is history.
Mystique’s transformation is a reminder of the healing that can come with patience and love. It reminds me of God’s heart as described in Isaiah 42. There, we’re told of a coming servant filled with His Spirit (v. 1), who would tirelessly and “in faithfulness” work to establish God’s “justice on earth” (vv. 3-4).
But that servant—Jesus (Matthew 12:18-20)—wouldn’t bring God’s justice through violence or pursuit of power. Instead, He’d be quiet and gentle (Isaiah 42:2), tenderly and patiently caring for those discarded by others—those “bruised” and wounded (v. 3).
God never gives up on His children. He has all the time in the world to care for our wounded hearts, until they finally begin to heal. Through His gentle, patient love we gradually learn to love and trust once more.
By Monica La Rose
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
How have you seen transformation through patient love? How can you grow in experiencing and sharing God’s love?
Dear God, thank You for never giving up on me and for patiently loving and caring for my wounded heart. Please help me love others with that same patient love.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Isaiah 42:1-7 is an encouraging passage in the prophetic writings. It contains images and metaphors that reveal the patient and loving nature of the “servant” of God (v. 1). The servant of God is the one who carries out His mission of redemption and restoration. But we also see the split identity of the servant. Verses 1-4 are commonly understood to refer to a single individual, the predicted Messiah, fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Some commentators believe that verses 5-7 turn from an individual servant to a corporate servant, the nation of Israel, who will be “a light for the Gentiles” (v. 6). Both passages describe the same gracious God whose servant(s) doesn’t “crush the weakest reed” (v. 3 nlt) and who can “open the eyes of the blind” (v. 7 nlt).
J.R. Hudberg |
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Stanley:
Sarah Young:
UR: Grounded in God's Grace
Paul wrote, “I pray that . . . Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” - Ephesians 3:16-17 (NRSVUE)
It had been a long time since I operated my model trains. One by one I started the three trains, but at a certain stretch of track, each one came to a complete stop. Because each engine was in good repair, I knew there must be a power-supply problem. The electrical current designed to operate the engines had been disrupted. In order to correct the problem, I had to clean the tracks so that the engines could maintain contact with the track and receive the needed supply of electrical current.
This process reminded me of our need to stay grounded in God’s grace. We remain grounded in God’s grace by not allowing anything to get between us and God, so that our connection with God remains uninterrupted. Just as I must take time to clean the train tracks, I must take time to cultivate and restore my connection with God.
When our connection to God is broken, we are diminished. The most powerful way to reconnect with the Spirit is through prayer. Indeed, daily prayer is our lifeline to God’s life-preserving grace.
Today's Prayer
God of the ages, keep us grounded in your grace so that we do not lose our connection to you. Sustain us on our journey. Amen.
LISTEN ONLINE
