Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday! What are you most thankful about your salvation and new life in Christ? Who needs to hear that today? Start with worship and thanking God and then go into this day praising and sharing your hope!
This weekend is the last week to submit your spiritual gifts results to me before we start scheduling our working on growing in them. I need them by Tues and we will start the following week to work on understanding and applying our gifts. Remember God has given each of us at least one gift when we come to Christ as our Savior and receive His Holy Spirit into us. What are your gifts? They are given to help you repent, grow into the person you are created to be and used to bless others and unify to grow His Church. We need each other to step into our custom given gifts and use them in unity to bless God, others, each other and to grow His Church? What's your part? Let us figure that out and work better together to be His dynamic movement of disciple makers and Church revival bringers. Amen! LINK to test: Spiritual Gifts | FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey | Assessment, Analysis, Test
Sat. 10-1 Clothing Closet
Sun. Worship 10 am with Children's Church. We will be collecting for Everlasting Life Ministries
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Good Morning Righteous Child of God! Amen! Thinking about that should lead to worship an much thanksgiving. That should overflow in to the day as you die to self, take up your cross, shed you old nature more, step into your new nature more and step out in faith and prepared to follow Jesus well today! Amen. Contemplate that today and maybe process with a friend or two. What's God saying to you right now? What will you do about that?
Col. 3:8-17 Meditate on this and check out how this flows through our devos for today below and then engage with the Connections Blogs/ Worship, surrender and prepare to follow Jesus today! Yes rejoice!
NOTE: In the NLT verse 11 is rendered Christ is all that matters. Are you living like that? Is He you all and in all you do? Talk to the Holy Spirit about that!
8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
TWFYT:
ODB:
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Would they win by arguing? Never, a small-town leader warned residents in Adirondack Park, where a pitched battle between environmentalists and small-business owners ignited the “Adirondack Wars.” The name described their fight whether to save the area’s pristine wilderness in Upstate New York or develop it.
“Go back wherever you came from!” a local leader had shouted at an environmentalist. But soon a new message emerged: “Don’t yell at each other. Try to talk to each other.” A Common Ground Alliance was formed to build bridges between warring factions. Civic dialogue led to progress—with nearly a million acres of wild land protected even as Adirondack towns grew more prosperous than they’d been in twenty years.
Peaceful coexistence is a start, but Paul taught something even better. To the new believers in Colossae, he said, “Rid yourselves of . . . anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8). Paul urged them to exchange their old ways for a new nature in Christ: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” he wrote (v. 12).
The invitation is offered today to all believers: surrender our old, cantankerous lives to new life in Christ. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace” (v. 15). Then, in our peace, the world will see Jesus.
By Patricia Raybon
REFLECT & PRAY
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Whom could you forgive today? With whom can you make peace?
Dear God, when my old life erupts in anger, please grant me new peace in You.
Discover more on the healing power of forgiveness.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Paul wrote to the Colossian church to correct false teaching about Jesus and to instruct us how to live “worthy of the Lord”—fruitful and faithful lives that “please him in every way” (1:10). The apostle emphasizes the supremacy of Christ in creation, redemption, and the church (chs. 1-2). He then calls for Jesus to be supreme in their lives (chs. 3-4). Using the metaphors of putting on and taking off clothes, Paul says to live a transformed life—a Christlike life reflecting His character (3:1-17). The apostle lists various sins that believers must “put to death” (v. 5): “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed . . . anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language” (vv. 5, 8). Then he instructs believers to replace them with the Christ-honoring virtues of “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (v. 12). We’re to “bear with each other and forgive one another” (v. 13) and envelop everything in love (v. 14).
K.T. Sim |
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UR: Enduring Adversity
Do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
At a young age, I faced the heartbreaking loss of my father and grew up separated from my mother due to our impoverished background. Life became even more difficult when I tragically lost my mother when I was 17. I endured threats and physical abuse as I pursued my education. In search of peace, I made the difficult decision to flee my country.
Throughout my journey, my faith in God has not wavered as I have witnessed God’s hand at work, giving me the strength to persevere. God blessed me with a resilient and positive mindset, which has sustained me.
Matthew 6:26 reminds us of God’s unwavering love and care for us, which assures us that we are valuable. This encourages me to trust in God’s providence during challenging times. Isaiah 41:10 reminds us that God is always by our side, ready to offer strength, help, and support. With God as my constant companion, I know I can face any challenge.
Though my journey to find peace is ongoing, I find solace knowing God remains faithful. I choose to focus on the positive aspects of my story, for they remind me of the resilience and faith that have carried me this far. I am confident that as I continue to rely on God’s strength, I will find the peace and fulfillment I am searching for.
Today's Prayer
Dear God, we seek your grace and guidance. Guide our steps and fill our hearts with your love. Amen.
Connections Blog
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February 28 - Desire God’s Purposes to See Unity Grow
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I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17:22-23).
Most people’s prayers seek the best fix for a situation. We typically pray whatever we are told to pray for a situation, with no real thought of “What does God want to do here.” Something happens to that dynamic, however, when people pray together. They start to let go of their desires to see their purposes fulfilled and start to open themselves up to what God wants.
The value of this to a church is huge when it comes to ministry and decision making. If people pray together over an issue, even if people come to prayer thinking they know what the church should do, praying together opens them up to God’s desire.
Years ago, I was a part of a church plant in Colorado Springs that was meeting in a school. We felt the Lord leading us to purchase land. We found two pieces of property—one was very close to the school and 42 of our families, the other was five miles away. That distance was not a big deal, but it was not in the neighborhood we had been ministering in for the past five years. The property close to us cost 1.5 million, the other $450,000. Many of us felt the issue was not the difference in price, but where God wanted us. Pray, figure that out, and He will provide. There were plenty of leaders on both sides of which piece to purchase. We started praying together. We even called a corporate prayer meeting on one of the pieces of property. As we did that God began to put a vision of the ministry we could have on the $450,000 piece of property into those of us who wanted the other piece. That is what God will do when we pray together—agreement comes so we can pray His will with confidence.
People who are disgruntled with decisions a church has made usually have not prayed with the body over that issue.
Pray together and watch unity grow.
Righteous Father, how You must grieve when Your people fuss and want their own way instead of coming together to pray so that You can guide hearts toward unity. Show me how to be one who always suggests prayer over getting what I want. Give me a heart that is yielded to what You desire rather than what seems best to me. Fill me with joy in Your house of prayer as You bring our faith family together on our knees.
--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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- Worship God with reverence and awe as a consuming fire blazing with holiness (Heb. 12:28-29).
- Give thanks for his plan to refine your faith through trials and tests (Jas. 1:2-4).
- Confess any times this week when you have not seen God’s purpose for you in these trials (Mal. 3:2-4).
- Commit yourself to submitting to God’s testing in your life.
- Ask God to strengthen you with his power (Eph. 6:10-11).
- Pray for those who are undergoing severe testing, that God may show them his purpose and strengthen them in their weakness (Heb. 12:7-13).
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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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