Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday! Thank God everyday for His amazing love, grace, mercy and forgiveness! What does it mean to you to know that Jesus loved you so much that He was willing to endure the cross for you? Worship!

Good Morning Forgiven Much, Redeemed, Believer, Being Called by Name, Follower of Jesus! He knows you and is calling you by name right now--come! Who is this man, Jesus? How is He impacting your life? He knows you and has great plans for you! Be still and know! Talk to Him about your needs and concerns with grateful hearts fixed on Him. He is able! He will work ALL things together for good! Rejoice! Are you content? Trusting? Faithful? Walking in Peace! You can be! Who is this man that loves me, calls me by name and provides all I need? Yes, worship with much thanksgiving and walk in full surrender to Him and His ways!

Sunday we will wrap up our brief study of Philippians with chapter 4. In 4:11 Paul reminds us that he learned how to be content in good and bad times by keeping his eyes and heart fixed on Jesus. Who is this man that we can trust Him no matter what we are going through? He promises to be with you always and he knows the good plans He has for you. Trust Him! Check out Charles Stanley's teaching on Phil 4:11. We would benefit to spend more time studying this then we are as we just cruise through some of Paul's Epistles. Sarah Young reminds us, as Paul does in Phil. 4 to fix our thoughts on Jesus and things above. She reminds us how helpful it is to try to see things with God's heart and eyes. Sometimes, we have to still ourselves and refocus. Eventually, like Paul we are able to learn to be content as we fix our eyes on Jesus and pray to have His mind and heart. The Upper Room reminds of this truth and promise--God's got this--whatever the "this" is. Trust Him. Cast you anxiety to Him and ask for peace and contentment to overflow you. And know this, no matter the severity of things arrayed against you, God's justice is sure and coming. And His grace will be sufficient to carry you through. Check our Our Daily Bread on this and read Nahum 1 from it. He may be waiting for repentance but His justice and deliverance is sure and coming! Amen! God is with you. He's calling you by name and reminding you that you are His. His deliverance and help is at hand and He will redeem you and whatever you are going through. trust Him! 

Fix your thoughts on things above. Choose joy! And ask for help to be content always. It is helpful to have some close journeyers traveling with you too. We need each other and especially when we are hurting or off track or derailed by some sort of chaos. Ask God for some helpers or how He wants to use you to help others to refocus, stand firm, choose joy and be content that God's got this. Then watch for His miraculous deliverance and workings! He is able--He will! Amen! He loves you and knows what's going on and is at work for your good. Trust Him! Fix your thoughts on Him as you turn off the noise and refocus from the chaos! I'm praying for you! And Jesus is interceding for you too! Rejoice! Amen! Thank God I am forgiven and He has opened the door for His deliverance and a deep relationship with the God who is Love!

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UR: God's Got This!

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. - Hebrews 11:1 (NRSVUE)

Five years ago, my husband of 26 years unexpectedly passed away. He was also the father of our three daughters and the primary wage-earner. Now when I think back on those dark days, I can see how I have been in God’s hands all along.

I prayed for my broken heart, and God gave me comfort. I prayed for guidance, and God led me to a job that would sustain me and give me purpose. I prayed for my girls, and God has led them along their own journeys. I prayed for help with having two mortgages on our family home, and God showed me how to eventually sell that house and move somewhere much more manageable. I continued to pray for direction, and God introduced me to the man who would later become my fiancé.

I do not need to doubt or fear any new hurdle. I’ve seen time and time again that God is in control. It’s easy to go back to worry when the path is unclear. But I know the Lord is with me every step I take. When I start to fret, I remind myself of what I’ve been through and take a deep breath. God’s got this!

Today's Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, even if we don’t see the answers we are looking for, help us remember your promise never to leave or forsake us. Amen.ODB:

God’s Justice and Grace The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. Nahum 1:3 READ Nahum 1:1-8, 15 LISTEN ONLINE English Romantic painter John Martin (1789–1854) is known for his apocalyptic landscapes depicting the destruction of civilizations. In these fantastic scenes, humans are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the destruction and powerless against the approaching doom. One painting, The Fall of Nineveh, depicts people fleeing the coming destruction of mounting waves under dark rolling clouds.  More than two thousand years before Martin’s painting, the prophet Nahum prophesied against Nineveh foretelling its judgment. The prophet used images of mountains quaking, hills melting, and the earth trembling (Nahum 1:5) to symbolize God’s wrath on those who’d oppressed others for their own gain. However, God’s response to sin is not without grace. While Nahum reminds his listeners of God’s power, he notes that He is “slow to anger” (v. 3) and “cares for those who trust in him” (v. 7). Descriptions of judgment are hard to read, but a world where evil isn’t confronted would be a terrible one. Thankfully the prophet doesn’t end on that note. He reminds us that God desires a good and just world: “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!” (v. 15). That good news is Jesus, who suffered the consequences of sin so we can have peace with God (Romans 5:1, 6).  By Matt Lucas REFLECT & PRAY How do you want God to defend the oppressed? How might your understanding of His wrath against injustice prompt you to speak up for the oppressed? Father, I pray for those around the world who suffer unjustly.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Despite the gloomy and apocalyptic nature of Nahum’s message, God had offered immense grace to evil Nineveh. About a century earlier, He’d sent His reluctant prophet Jonah to warn Nineveh that they’d be “overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). The city repented, and God relented from destroying it (vv. 5-10). However, history shows how they relapsed into their old ways, their appalling cruelty earning them multiple enemies. This time their judgment would be final. In 612 bc, the city was overrun by the Medes and Babylonians. Today Nineveh is mostly a ruin located near the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Harvest:

September 20 - Jesus – the Ultimate Intercessor For Jesus prayer was a lifestyle. It seems that He prayed at every major juncture and before every key decision in His life. He prayed in the morning (Mark 1:35). He prayed at night (Matthew 14:27), and sometimes all night (Luke 6:12). He prayed when He was alone (John 6:15), when He was with others (Matthew 11:15–26), and at public gatherings (Matthew 14:19). Scripture records eight actual prayers of Jesus, fourteen teachings of Jesus on prayer, eighteen references to Him praying, as well as three references to His intercessory prayer ministry after He ascended. Every one of His prayers was faith-filled, heartfelt, and fervent. The writer of Hebrews compacts the essence of Jesus’ prayer life into one sentence: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (5:7). Jesus was the paramount pray-er. Jesus Christ was also the ultimate intercessor. Intercession was a major part of His prayer life. It’s from His intercessory prayer life and teaching that we especially want to learn. Many passages of scripture record Jesus’ prayers for others. Matthew informs us that Jesus placed his hands on the little children that were brought to him and prayed for them (Matthew 19:13). Before raising Lazarus from the grave Jesus lets us in on the fact that He has been praying on the way there: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me” (John 11:41–42). After the Lord’s Supper Jesus reinstates Peter with the reminder, “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32). In His final prayer with His disciples Jesus intercedes for their protection, their joy, their sanctification, and their future place with Him in glory (John 17:9–17, 24). In the same prayer He intercedes that future believers will be one and that they may “also be in us [that is, in the Father and the Son]” (John 17:20–23). On the cross Jesus asks the Father to forgive those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34). Finally, forty days later, as He prepares to ascend to heaven, Jesus lifts up His hands and blesses those gathered (Luke 24:50). Intercession ran like a thread, maybe more like a rope, through the fabric of Jesus’ life. Precious Christ Jesus, I am awed that You always live to intercede for me! How blessed I am to have the example of Your prayer life laid out for me in Scripture! Prayer was and is Your very life! I long for the kind of intimacy You have with the Father! What a mystery that Your prayer life is living within me and that You pray Your heart through mine if I will yield myself to the voice of Your Spirit. I entrust my prayer life to You now, and thank You for the promise that when I come near to You, You will come near to me!  Light the fire of intercession within me as I continually seek Your face! --Adapted from Praying God’s Heart (Prayers that Make a Difference) by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount. Prayer Points Praise God as the source of all true wisdom and discernment (Col. 2:3). Thank him for supplying his church with the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and the ability to distinguish between spirits (1 Cor. 12:8-10). Confess those times when you have failed to discern the cultural influences that try to choke out spiritual growth and fruitfulness. Commit yourself to testing the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 Jn. 4:1). Ask God to make you more aware of the reality of spiritual warfare in your life (Eph. 6:10-12). Ask God to lift the spiritual blindness from political leaders in your country, that they may make decisions that help create a wholesome and God-honoring society. 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.