Good Morning Praying Friends! I sure could use some prayer! I think we all can at times too, maybe daily. It's 2 am. Another sleepless night. I've seen two specialists with no resolution to the issues that put me in ER last Sun. I am feeling better...tired but somewhat better. The real specialist I need to see is the pulmonologist and they have no openings until July. So I appreciate prayers for healing, deliverance and for a much earlier appointment to open up. Thanks. Praise God for carrying me through vacation and for a week of forced rest this week. Thanks!
Since I couldn't sleep the thinking was to do my quiet time early and try to get some sleep after. Seems like the pattern has been to finally fall asleep between 12:30-2:30, so I'm right on track! In my tiredness, I still had a great time with the Lord. he is speaking to me and I know will to some of you as you engage with our devos below. What's God saying to you? I'm hearing that He is affirming us and wanting to lead us to his best. Are you up for that? Don't lean on your own understanding. trust God and allow Him to lead. he is capable and has great plans for you and us. And don't stop praying! I'm praying for you and believing God has some amazing things ahead as we rest in Him. Jesus said for the weary to come and find rest for our souls. Amen!
See you Sun. God has a Word for us! he has a plan for all of us! let us pursue Him and those plans wholeheartedly and as His Body! Amen!
ODB
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On my free day in Paris during a visit a few years ago, I had some time to roam around the famed city by myself before meeting a friend by the Eiffel Tower for dinner. All was fine until my phone’s battery died. I didn’t have a map, so I wasn’t sure where I was going, but this city girl didn’t panic. I just continued to walk along the Seine River and kept my eyes on the towering Eiffel Tower. My plan worked until I got closer to the landmark, which somehow disappeared behind the surrounding buildings.
I was astonished that such a large structure could be hidden in plain sight! I finally realized I needed help, so I asked for directions and found my friend.
Life can be so unpredictable. As we face obstacles and challenges in life, we can ask God for help and direction. Asking Him helps us not get lost along our journey or be tempted to take detours or to quit. Especially when life seems hard or confusing, we can turn to God for guidance.
In Proverbs 3:5-6, Solomon encourages his readers by telling them to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
As we seek God’s wisdom through prayer and reading the Bible, He’ll guide us. Let’s continue to trust Him and follow His lead.
By Nancy Gavilanes
REFLECT & PRAY
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Why is it sometimes hard to follow God? How can you stay better connected to Him?
Dear God, thank You for leading and guiding me.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The book of Proverbs is presented as a life manual from a father to his sons (see 1:8; 3:1; 4:1; 23:15; 31:2) to teach them how to live a life that honors God. He instructs them to trust (3:5; see 22:19), obey (3:6; see 8:32-33), and fear Him (3:7; see 1:7; 14:16). Living a God-honoring life means seeking His ways and doing His will. There will be times when we won’t understand His ways (Isaiah 55:6, 8-9), but we’re to trust Him because He’s God and therefore trustworthy (Deuteronomy 7:9). Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, warns that our human intelligence is never enough: “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:7 nlt). We’re not to trust in our own wisdom because “those who trust in themselves are fools” (28:26).
Visit ODBU.org/OT021 for further study on wisdom in this course on Proverbs.
K.T. Sim |
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UR: Capable Hands
All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSVUE)
Today I crocheted a butterfly. I found the instructions on the internet and followed them carefully, hook in hand. However, nearing the end of the instructions, I hesitated. Things didn’t look right at all. Then I read the last line of the instructions, which said to fold the work in half once the crocheting was done. When I did so, I held in my hands a perfectly lovely butterfly!
It can be like that in our Christian walk as well. There is no denying it — sometimes life doesn’t look at all as we think it should. The Lord responds to our “corrections” in Isaiah 29:16, “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay? Shall the thing made say of its maker, ‘He did not make me,’ or the thing formed say of the one who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’”?
The Lord’s hands are capable. We can trust in his power to bring about transformation that will make our hearts rejoice. After all, the instructions are his and so is the skill.
Today's Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the way you made us. We trust in your capable hands. Amen.
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