Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday! Yes! PTL! What does that mean to you? Tell God and others about the many blessings of knowing, loving and being forgiven by Jesus!
Thank you for all your prayers! God heard and continues to answer! We had a great birthday day with Karen and I finally slept decent last night. Time for day two of celebrating! Keep covering us, worshiping and just loving God and others. he has plans for you today!
Good Morning God's Good News Delivery Company--Disciple-Multipliers! God's got a plan just for you and a role to play as He gathers us, prepares us and sends us to love like Jesus and make disciples! You are God's masterpiece, made new in Christ to go do all he planned for you! yes PTL! be still and know. Reload and go. Find some friends and seek God together too. keep praying and believing! he hears and answers and is even preparing 30 new ones for us to mentor and grow with! Yes PTL!
Gotta fly but check out the two days of I to We devo. What's God saying to you? How is He preparing and equipping you? Who are you processing, praying with and preparing to go and love with? he has great plans! Discover and step into them in faith and obedience today. Maybe even invite someone to brunch Sunday!!! I'm praising God for you, our gathering and unity and our focus to go love well and multiply disciples of Jesus! Praise and pray with me and ask God to reveal His plans for you. Amen!
I to We
ODB: Time to believe, live and represent the truth today. Open your heart and mind to truth and pray for others to be open too! Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life! be Jesus!
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Jack hates school. The lectures on algebra, grammar, and the periodic table bore him. But he loves building houses. His father takes him to work in the summer, and Jack can’t get enough. He’s only sixteen, but he knows about cement, shingles, and how to frame a wall. What’s the difference between school and construction? Love. Jack loves one and not the other. His love fuels knowledge.
As believers in Jesus, we’re to “love the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Paul says a satanic figure will use “signs and wonders” (v. 9) to deceive “those who are perishing” (v. 10). Why are they perishing? “They refused to love the truth and so be saved” (v. 10). Their failure to love the truth blinds them from knowing it. They’ll be duped (v. 11).
What do we know? That important question depends on a more basic one: What do we love? Our passions incline our heart and direct our mind. We cherish what we love. We protect it and seek more of it. If we love truth and wisdom, we’ll search for them as precious gold (Proverbs 3:13-14; 4:7-9). They’ll guard us. “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you” (4:6).
What is true wisdom? Jesus says it’s Him. “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Our most important question is who do we love? Love Jesus and you’ll learn His way. He’ll guard your life by guiding you into His truth.
By Mike Wittmer
REFLECT & PRAY
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Why is it important to love the truth? Why does Jesus say He is the truth?
Dear Father, please fill my heart with love for You and what’s true.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Embracing the truth is essential for believers in Jesus, for He’s the one who is the truth (see John 14:6). Judas Iscariot is a classic example of one who had the opportunity to fully follow Christ but didn’t. The life of Judas and the teaching of 2 Thessalonians have several things in common. First, Satan is at work in both. Luke 22:3 says that “Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot,” and 2 Thessalonians 2:9 notes that “the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works.” Furthermore, John 17:12 refers to Judas as “the son of destruction” (esv), a term also found in 2 Thessalonians 2:3: “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (esv ). Satan’s agenda is deception that leads to destruction. We can avoid his deceiving ways by loving Jesus and embracing His truth.
Arthur Jackson |
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UR: Jesus is Our Healer (YES! PTL! Receive it and pray for healing for others. God has been using us to heal! and that is drawing people to Him. keep it up! Grow your faith!)
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” - Mark 9:24 (NIV)
In 2020 I met a man who was recovering from a double organ transplant. He joined our faith community, but because of the fragility of his condition he connected with us primarily through online worship, phone calls, and handwritten letters. Once a month he and I would meet to share conversation and Communion. He always marveled at his healing and reminded me that being alive is truly a miracle.
I think of those visits when I consider today’s reading and marvel at the restored life Jesus gave the child after his years of suffering. I am also amazed at another healing in the story — the restoration of the father’s faith. After witnessing his son’s pain since childhood, this parent found his faith wounded and in need of being made well. His heart-wrenching confession, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” led Jesus to have compassion on the father as well. He assured him with the faith-building words, “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
When challenges wound our faith, Jesus meets us with compassion and a willingness to help. Jesus restores our faith with his healing presence and life-giving words. He makes it possible for us to believe again and to know with deep assurance, “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for your compassion in our times of need. When life challenges our ability to believe, help us to trust your loving care for us. Amen.
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