This is the day the Lord has made! We get to rejoice and worship in it! PTL! Prepare your hearts to enter His courts with thanksgiving and His gates with praise! He is worthy! Amen!
Good Morning Worshipers! Worship is more than just adoring, praising and thanking. It is also obedience and faithfulness to God and who you are created to be and doing what He has planned for you overflowing from love and gratitude in us. Amen! Prepare your hearts to worship today, this week and the weeks ahead. Come offer yourself to our Creator, Savior and Lord! He does have perfect plans tailored just for you as you humble yourself and seek to allow Him to lead you to His best and perfect plans for such a time as this! Amen! Yes, worship!
Today we wrap up our study of 2 Thessalonians and move towards Thanksgiving and Christmas focused on our amazing God with hearts overflowing with love, worship and thanksgiving. What amazing, love, grace and mercy we have been shown and God offers to all who will come! PTL! I love the flow through my devotionals for today (below) that remind us of how much we are loved and how God wants to lead us to the greater things we are created for as we repent, trust, obey and live this life in worship. God is so kind and loving and He lives in You and me and helps us each step of faith along the way! PTL!
Let's start with the Upper Room's reminder that we are in God's loving hands as He provides all we need. The Word for You Today reminds us that we all are sinners in need of grace and to humble ourselves before our Almighty God to be forgiven and helped. Our Daily Bread reminds us that obedience is a choice and an act of worship. Sarah Young reminds us that there is NO condemnation for us believers! PTL! I love and strive towards enjoying the simple life as a sheep following my Good Shepherd! Charles Stanley continues the reminder that we are secure in Christ. We know that we are eternally secure. PTL! But sometimes we forget and need to be reminded and refocused. Are you sinning in your anger? That's one thing some of us have a propensity towards. It's one of those sins we are forgiven of, but may often need to repent. Joyce Meyer speaks into this this morning. Be better, not bitter. Bitterness is a tool of Satan. Be careful not to sin in your anger (even anger at yourself). Keep your focus up and trust God to handle things, guide you to righteousness and eventually bring His justice. Chuck Swindoll reminds us to choose joy and even to laugh, sometimes at ourselves. releasing anger, doubt and other sins becomes easier as we laugh, even at ourselves and refocus with some humor. God wants us to enjoy life and be happy and He has made a way for that as we release all to Him. humble ourselves and just worship! He loves that! And He loves you enough to remind you of His eternal goodness, love and help. Receive and focus on that! That should be a great place to begin your worship today! Amen! man, He really loves you and us! What joy and worship that leads to! Yes, rejoice! Amen
UR: In God's Hands
God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:19 (NIV)
The weather has recently changed from warm sunny days to gray chilly days and even colder nights. The leaves have fallen from the trees. With the falling temperatures and frost at night, it is likely that warm-weather creatures will struggle.
Usually, I am removing the dead flowers from my garden at this time of year. So I was surprised when I began my fall garden work and saw that the cosmos flowers with their bright orange and yellow blooms were still going strong. It was wonderful to see the bees and butterflies receiving a much-needed meal. Even as the seasons changed, the needs of these small creatures were still being met.
I remembered the times when I was out of work and could not see a way to pay my bills or feed my family. But God always provided for our needs.
As a Christian, I have learned to seek God’s help through prayer whenever I’m in need. I rely on Jesus’ promise in Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Today's Prayer
Thank you, Creator God, for your love, kindness, and grace. Our lives are in your hands, and we depend on you. Amen.
TWFYT
ODB
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Tre is a regular at the fitness center and it shows. His shoulders are wide, his muscles pronounced, and his upper arms close to the size of my thighs. His physical condition prompted me to engage him in a spiritual conversation. I asked him if his commitment to physical fitness in some way mirrored a healthy relationship with God. Though we didn’t go too deep, Tre did acknowledge “God in his life.” We talked long enough for him to show me a picture of the four-hundred-pound, unfit, unhealthy version of himself. A change in his lifestyle had worked wonders physically.
In 1 Timothy 4:6-10, physical and spiritual training come into focus. “Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (vv. 7-8). One’s external fitness doesn’t change our status with God. Our spiritual fitness is a matter of the heart. It begins with a decision to believe in Jesus, through whom we receive forgiveness. From that point, training for godly living begins. This includes being “nourished on the truths of the faith and of . . . good teaching” (v. 6) and, by God’s strength, living a life that honors our heavenly Father.
By Arthur Jackson
REFLECT & PRAY
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If you’ve started your journey with Jesus, how would you evaluate your spiritual health? What evidence in your life points to your spiritual fitness?
Heavenly Father, please forgive me when I focus too much on externals. Help me to attend to spiritual exercises like Bible reading, prayer, and loving and serving others.
Make a positive change to your spiritual life with this course.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
When Paul says to Timothy, “If you point these things out . . . you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 4:6), what “things” is he referring to? The apostle opened his letter by saying, “Command certain people not to teach false doctrines” (1:3). Now he returns to that theme: “Some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (4:1). What are the “things taught by demons”? Paul elaborates: “They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods” (v. 3). Several years earlier, Paul had issued a similar warning when he asked the believers in Colossae, “Why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’ These rules . . . are based on merely human commands and teachings” (Colossians 2:20-22). Beware of false religion infringing on genuine faith.
Tim Gustafson |
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SY
Stanley
JM
Swindoll
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