Today: 10-11 Zoom Huddle. All welcome!
12-12:30 Pray for Light in the Night Trunk or Treat. Pray for more cars and helpers. Thank God for His provision. Pray for new connections to neighbors. Pray for unity with Revival Church. Pray for Protection for all and health.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Morning Known, Transformed, Bringers of Good News! Amen! Please Lord! May that be us! God knows you and is calling you by name! He created you with potential and when you received Christ as Your Lord and Savior you were transformed and sealed with His Spirit. That Spirit in you helps you to repent, step into your new nature and go love like Jesus. He also leads you to the plans God created you to do. How cool! Thanks Lord! And we are sent to share this Good News, share our joy and make disciples. May we earnestly step into all of this for God's glory.
You know, one of my struggles and prayers is for God to come examine my heart, reveal any sin or deficiencies and to help me repent and step more fully into my created purposes and operate more fully from my new nature. Pursuing this earnestly all the time, is a real challenge and then the Holy Spirit reminds me that I a being held to a higher standard, as God's Shepherd, than other people. Help me Lord to be fully yours and to fulfill my purposes well! Thank You for Your Spirit in me to help and guide and for calling me to Your Good News Delivery Co. called St. Matt's! Help me to prepare disciple making disciples and Good News bringers. Thanks! Your Kingdom come and will be done in, through and around me and us! May all I think, say and do be for your glory. May I never shrink back or hold back but always stand firm in Christ and on Your Word. Thanks! Amen! How might you help and encourage me and others to step into their potential more fully? Begin with prayer and a covering and then partner together to go live, love and make disciples like Jesus. May we work earnestly at fulfilling our purposes as God leads us to become His dynamic movement that brings Him alive and launches revival all around the area. He does have great plans for you and us! PTL! Step into them! Continue to pray through Harvest Prayer's prayer starters for the Church and our nation too. (see below) We are sent to change the world one soul at a time and with one step of faith after another. Allow the Holy Spirit full access and submit to His leading. Then one day you will hear, "Well done good and faithful servant!" Please Lord!
Spend some time with our devotionals for today as they thread through this thinking and God's Word for you, me and us today. We are to be always ready as we continue to pray and invite God to transform, mold, prepare and send us. We are to release all, including our anxiety and fear to Him. He does see you, know you and love you so much that He will help you to move towards the greater things you are created for. PTL! We are being made new and transformed into His image and sent just as we are to be His vessels of revival and new life. Come Holy Spirit! Fill us as we die to self and crucify and repent of some things. Lead us to your best and our purposes. Cover and protect us and use us well. Thank You! We love You Lord. Help us to trust, obey and follow well today! Thanks! Amen!
What's God revealing to you today? How is He informing your prayers or wanting to use you? Seek first His Kingdom and He will add the things you need to go and love well. Who might He be partnering you with to pray, encourage and go with? I know He knows you and has some great custom made things for you today and beyond. Allow Him to transform and lead you. I'm praying for you and here to help process and pray and maybe even go with you. Shalom!
Harvest Prayer:
|
|
October 22 - DAY 26 OF 40 DAYS OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION
Praying For The Protection And Return To The Constitution And Bill Of Rights
|
|
|
“So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom” (James 2:12 NIV).
The Constitution sets forth how the government of the United States should work. It establishes a Congress, a President, and an independent court system. It stipulates what the government can and can’t do. It guarantees basic treasured rights. This system, founded on godly principles, has worked well for over 200 years.
On March 23, 1798, less than 12 years after the signing of the U.S. Constitution, our 2nd President, John Adams, called for a day of national prayer: “The safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety without which social happiness cannot exist nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed.”
Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974) stated: “I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it: freedom of belief, of expression, or assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice under law, and the reservation of powers to the people...I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country.”
Our government is facing tremendous opposition to the godly principles upon which it was founded. Let’s pray for America to repent and return to God’s design for our nation:
Heavenly Father, our nation was founded on Your Word and the divine guidance You have so clearly given us. We pray for our leaders in each branch of government who have sworn an oath to “faithfully execute” the duties of their respective offices. Help them to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.”
|
|
- Pray that our nation’s government officials will return to the principles of unity, justice, peace, safety, the welfare of all, and the blessings of liberty.
- Pray that those holding government offices in our nation will be continually convicted by the Holy Spirit to honor God.
- Pray for the protection of believers in our government who deeply desire to walk uprightly before God as they serve and protect the Constitution of our nation.
- Ask God to help our nation’s citizens to more fully understand the principles established in our Constitution and Bill of Rights so that they will be more willing to defend it.
|
|
|
Connection Prayer Devotions Sign Up
|
|
|
|
|
TWFYT:
Upper Room: Sudden Changes
Cast all your anxiety on [God], because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7 (NRSVUE)
Sometimes sudden events change our routine and our focus. One day I was moving a bed when it landed on my right foot, fracturing my big toe. This injury changed my daily routine. But though I can’t do certain things right now, I still insist on attempting them.
As I think about my situation, I can clearly see how God takes care of us and delivers us every day in the face of our thoughtless, hasty, and often stubborn actions.
While my activity is limited right now due to my fracture, my prayer is that Jesus will teach me to be more attentive, obedient, and calm as I seek to trust and surrender my life to the Lord, my Savior and Protector.
May God help us hear the voice of Jesus who speaks and says, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
Today's Prayer
O Lord, guide us through the sudden changes of everyday life. May your light illuminate our steps. We pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matt. 6:9-13, KJV). Amen.
Charles Stanley
Sarah Young:
ODB:
|
In the worst UK residential fire since World War II, fire engulfed the twenty-four story Grenfell Tower building in West London, claiming the lives of seventy people. Investigations revealed a primary reason the flames spread so quickly was the cladding used as part of renovation that covered the building’s exterior. The material was aluminum on the outside but had an extremely flammable plastic core.
How was such a dangerous material allowed to be sold and installed? The product’s sellers failed to disclose poor fire safety test results. And buyers, drawn by the material’s cheap price tag, failed to heed warning signs. The shiny cladding looked nice on the outside.
Some of Jesus’ harshest words were directed at religious teachers He accused of covering corruption behind a nice-looking exterior. He said they were like “whitewashed tombs”—“beautiful on the outside” but inside full of dead bones (Matthew 23:27). Instead of pursuing “justice, mercy and faithfulness” (v. 23), they were focused on looking good—cleaning “the outside of the cup” but not the “greed and self-indulgence” inside (v. 25).
It’s easier to focus on looking good than to bring our sin and brokenness honestly before God. But a nice-looking exterior doesn’t make a corrupt heart any less dangerous. God invites us to let Him transform all of us from the inside (1 John 1:9).
By Monica La Rose
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
When have you tried to disguise corruption? How can you prioritize internal change?
Gracious God, please help me not to hide my brokenness but let You transform all of me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Each of the four paragraphs in Matthew 23:23-32 begin with a warning against hypocrisy: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” The religious leaders were condemned for bringing sacrifices while ignoring “more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (v. 23). These words are similar to what God said through the prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require . . . ? To act justly and to love mercy” (Micah 6:8). Micah’s audience was also offering sacrifices without being truly committed to God; they were shiny on the outside but dead inside.
J.R. Hudberg |
|
|
|
|
|
LISTEN ONLINE
