It's Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday! PTL and meditate on all that means to you. As we approach that Good Friday cross, think about what His broken body and spilled blood mean to you, us and all who will come. Yes worship today! We are washed white as snow! PTL!
Good Morning Redeemed of the Lord! PTL--right? You are made in God's image for His purposes. When we come to Christ we are made new, cleansed and purified and now gifted, equipped and empowered to go love and share the Good news of our salvation. He has brought you with a price and paid for you in full. PTL! You are redeemed, delivered and made new. Shed the old today and step into the new nature and the new things God is doing. Our God is not stagnant or absent. he is alive and active and transforming and molding you to go do your part in His Good News Delivery Co. and to live and love more like Jesus. Your potential in Christ has been activated! PTL! What are His plans for you and your co-laborers today? Step into them and shine the light of your salvation and walk in the joy of it today! The world needs that and God has your custom plan already in action. Shed the old and step into the new with much thanksgiving and worship! Trust and obey as you worship, receive and follow Him today. I'm praising for you and praying for God to make clear the plan to you today and to give a willing heart and moving feet! Come! Let us worship! You matter! You are redeemed. You are empowered! PTL!
Contemplate the devos for today below and maybe process and plan with your teammates. What's God saying and what new thing does He have for you today! Take that baby step of faith and watch what He will do as you offer yourself. Shalom! Know His joy as you allow Him to live and love through you and encourage and spur some friends on.
Sarah Young
ODB
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It’s just an old pocketknife, worn and tarnished with time. The blade is chipped and the handle notched, but it was one of my father’s treasures, kept in a box on his dresser until he gave it to me. “It’s one of the few things I have from your grandfather,” he told me. My grandfather died when my father was young, and Dad treasured the knife because he treasured his father.
The Bible tells us that God also has an unlikely treasure, something we might not expect. In Revelation, we see a throne in heaven encircled by “four living creatures” and “twenty-four elders,” bowing before Jesus in worship (chs. 4-5). Each one is holding “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people” (5:8). In ancient times, incense was something precious, used by kings (think of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh offered to Jesus in Matthew 2:11). Our prayers may not seem like much to us at times, but God wants them lifted before Him always.
Revelation 5 emphasizes the worthiness of Jesus because of His sinless life and loving death for us. Jesus’ worthiness points us to why God values our prayers. Our prayers are precious to God because we’re precious to Him. Because He loves us with such selfless, priceless, and merciful love, He longs for us to stay close to Him in prayer.
By James Banks
REFLECT & PRAY
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How will you love God with your prayers today? Who and what can you bring before Him in loving prayer?
Loving Savior, You’re worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12).
Discover more about the life-enriching power of prayer.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In Revelation 4, the apostle John heard a voice that said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place” (v. 1). Immediately, he was taken to heaven “in the Spirit” (v. 2), where he saw an incredible vision of heaven’s throne room (vv. 3-11). In chapter 5, Christ is introduced as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (v. 5). Almost immediately, though, He’s described as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (v. 6). This one who lovingly receives our prayers will also one day open the scroll we read of in today’s passage (vv. 7-14).
Tim Gustafson |
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UR: Small Things Matter
Those who despise a time of little things will rejoice when they see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. - Zechariah 4:10 (CEB)
My brother Tommy was intellectually disabled and lived in a group home. Because I lived in another country, I did not visit him in person. One day I decided to start sending him postcards so he would remember that he had a sister who loved him. I wrote to him regularly. I would choose a nice picture, write out my greeting, and send it across the sea.
Tommy passed away some time ago. After his death, the personnel at his group home gave the postcards to my mother. Tommy had saved them. The staff told my mother that Tommy had slept with the postcards under his pillow every night and that he wouldn’t let anyone else touch them because they were so precious to him. It moved my heart deeply to know that an action of mine that was so small had meant so much to my brother.
Our lives are full of things that seem inconsequential. While a kind gesture or an encouraging word may not seem noteworthy, they can mean much. God’s word encourages us to love, even in little ways. In doing so, we spread the joy of God’s kingdom, and lives can be changed.
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for opportunities to care for others. Help us to share your love today, even in little ways. Amen.
I to We
TWFYT
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