This Week:
Tue Zoom Huddle 10-11
Wed:
Bread Ministry 10-12
Dinner Huddles: 6-7:30 (Pizza Party Fellowship and planning night)
Sat. 10-1 Clothing Closet
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Good Morning Praying Co-Laborers! That's us! Praying and doing our parts in God's Good News Delivery Company. Upholding each other in prayer, encouraging and spurring on to the plans God has for us. Thanks for praying and serving with me! I think about Moses who was called to pray for victory for God's people and how they would be winning while he stood above the valley praying. But when his arms got weary and dropped they started loosing. Arron and Hur, sat him down on a rock and held his arms up for him all day and the victory came for God's people. I have become weary in praying and leading. You are my Arron and Hur, upholding me in prayer. I just took a week to rest and reload. (more on that next). I think of how Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, encouraged Moses to raise up some co-leaders because Moses became weary from doing it all and how God raised up some leaders to assist His people and refresh Moses. I've been thinking about how we recently studied in Acts how the Apostles picked some spirit-filled leaders to deal with the mechanics and politics of the church so they could focus on prayer, teaching and leading. My retreat was supposed to be a time for me to get away, like Elijah when he became weary and depressed and to allow God to minister and whisper to me and prepare me and send me to His next mission.
I said that was supposed to be the plan with my retreat, but that never fully materialized. I was sick at the beginning of the week, cancelled my end of week retreat to Twin Pines and most of the week was focused on church work and planning and dealing with several church issues that seemed to come my way all week. A pastor is never really off the clock, even when trying to get away and refresh. However, the week was not without profit. I was able to get away from some of the tyranny of the urgent and for the first time in awhile was able to draw deep into and abide in God's loving presence as I have not been able to do for a few months. And God continues to draw me deep in, help me sink my roots deep in Him and to hear His still small voice through the fires and winds, like Elijah. I still have a long way to go in this journey, as we all do. If you hear nothing else today, hear this: Make an earnest effort to be still, abide in Christ and sink your roots deep daily! Even through the busyness and chaos, it is essential and critical to abide in Christ and receive all you need from Him. Today I started at 5 and am writing this at 8:45 after abiding deeply and sinking deep. God has great plans for you and us and we need to keep seeking, knocking and choosing His Kingdom above all else before we enter each day. In this life, Christ really is all that matters! I'm trying to remember that and make it a priority. Are you? I need you! God has plans for you and us. May we seek and follow well together and more earnestly. Please! Try it! Thanks! Who are your partners? Think about Acts 9 from yesterday. Peter healed and raised from the dead just like He saw Jesus do. He was with Jesus and learned to do what Jesus did in his context. He even began going to the outsiders and "unclean heathen" because he knew that's what Jesus did and wanted them to do as they carried on the mission. May that be us! And as one, united in Christ, and His well-oiled machine of salvation and disciple making! Amen!
One thing that became evident this week is the reminder that God has called us to become a House of Prayer for the Nations. We need to be a praying people. Check out the Connections blogs below and draw close and listen to that still small voice. What's God saying to you? How can we help each other learn to pray and how can we make more opportunities to seek and pray together? Would you support that? We need to start there! And we need each other to step into our roles in His Good News Delivery Company and to pray together more! Big and small things are awaiting us because nothing is small or wasted in God's Kingdom and He made you for such a time as this, gifted and empowered you and made you for His purposes of growing His Kingdom. Please pray into that and prayerfully engage with the devos below. God is speaking. I need you to hold my arms up in prayer, come alongside each other, and for us to seek, discern, plan and step out in faith together! What's Jesus have for you today? Do it and share your stories and insights. You matter! God loves you and has great plans for you and us! Let us seek and follow together--earnestly! Thank you! I am praying for you! (Note: as part of my drawing close and not allowing the tyranny of the urgent and Satan to get me off track, there will be days with no blogs. They will come as God spurs me to share with you, His and my heart)
One final thing...God has given each of us spiritual gifts to use to walk with Him, spur each other on and grow His church. Some of you have asked about discovering, studying and learning to apply these gifts. I shared a link twice and asked you to send me your results. I have only heard from four of you. We will be spending some of March discovering, learning about and apply our gifts which God has custom blended for you and His purposes. Here's the link again. Please email me your results and we will figure out a few different days and times to apply these together. Thanks! This is how His church will grow and we will connect to 30 new people this year. It's time to come alive in '25! Link: Spiritual Gifts | FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey | Assessment, Analysis, Test
Connections Prayer Blogs:
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February 24 - The Miraculous Power of God
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The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 1:5)!
Maybe I personally am going through a tough time. In the midst of it, I try to pray with trust and faith, but it is difficult because I only see the issue. If I go and pray with others, however, what happens? As I listen to others pray with more faith than I have, my faith grows. Here’s how it works in a corporate situation. Let’s say our church is planning to build. I’m an elder who is skeptical of the plans because they are beyond what we can afford to do. I go and begin to pray with others regarding this. God can now put a heart of trust in me, He can bring me to unity with others, He can give me the faith to believe Him for the miraculous—His vision and plan for my church. When I only pray by myself, that is less likely to happen.
Churches that do not pray together still minister in whatever ways they can, given their resources, abilities and sacrifices. But churches that pray together begin to see the miraculous power of God at work in their midst. It goes beyond what they can and should do into what God wants to do through them.
Jehovah Jireh, teach me to pray with great hope and fill me with faith to believe that You are at work to orchestrate the best circumstances of Your will for my life and for the lives of those whom I love and care about as well as for those I will never meet this side of heaven. Give me a heart of grateful trust in Your goodness and Your mercy, for You love Your people more deeply than my human heart could ever comprehend. Show me how to continually posture myself as a dependent child seeking the heart of my compassionate, all-powerful Father.
--Adapted from the article The Benefits of Praying Together by Jonathan Graf. Check out this powerful resource also written by Jon Graf: Praying Like Paul: Learning to Pray the Kingdom for those You Love, available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise God for his controlling presence everywhere.
- Give thanks that no circumstance in life—even death itself—is beyond his loving control.
- Confess your desire to act according to your own timetable rather than God’s.
- Commit yourself to drawing closer to God in every way and waiting patiently for him.
- Ask for the ability to live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).
- Ask that members of your church family will have the humility and gentleness to consider others better than themselves. Pray that believers will not only look out for their own interests, but also for the interests of others (Phil. 2:3-4).
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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) © 2025 is a free devotional published daily by OneCry Prayer. Find more resources at www.onecry.com |
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These really speak into my week and what I have been enduring, persevering through and talking with God about. He is with me always and working all things together for good! I trust Him to redeem this past week and lead me forward. And he will do that for you as well! Rejoice, abide and sink deep!
Upper Room: Why Are You here?
[Elijah] came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. - 1 Kings 19:4 (NIV)
Elijah had humiliated King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Terrified for his life because of Jezebel’s vow to exact revenge, Elijah fled. In his exhaustion, he uttered a phrase my heart has felt many times: “I have had enough, Lord!” I can imagine the relief welling up in the prophet’s heart as he entered into the safety of God’s mountain after his long, arduous journey. But before Elijah could catch his breath or gather his thoughts, God asked, “Why are you here?” On one level the question implied that Elijah should be elsewhere, completing the work the Lord had given him to do. On another level, it prompted him to consider his heart’s motivation.
Like Elijah, I sometimes find myself crying out, “I’ve had enough!” while facing resistance in ministry. Unconstructive criticism on how I teach Sunday school or lead music wears me down. Parents disrupting the teen ministry frustrates me. Volunteers failing to follow through is discouraging. In these moments I, too, have to answer God’s question, Why are you here? I ask myself, Why am I really doing what I’m doing?
Reminded of God’s holiness, Elijah was refreshed and went on to fulfill an extraordinary destiny. When we pause to evaluate our motivations and realign them with God’s will, we can find renewed zeal in our service to God and others.
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, help us align our motivations with yours so that we can be refreshed and strengthened as we work with you. Amen.
TWFYT: (Don't label yourself or put burdens n yourself that are not from God! And tell Satan to scram when he stirs this chaos and noise in you)
Sarah Young: ABIDE, sink deep and restore!
