Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice! For this is the day the Lord has made and it's beautiful and we get to worship in it!!! Yes praise the Lord and prepare your hearts to worship!
Good Morning Worshippers! we gather to worship, praise, pray, study, fellowship and glorify God! Amen. I also have a funeral after worship. Pray God uses me well . Thanks! May God come inhabit our praise as we enter His courts with praise and . May His Spirit bring His Word alive to us and lead us out the door prepared for a great Sabbath and a week of loving service that flows from grateful hearts. Amen!
we will study James 1 and think about our confident hope in Christ. Check out the thread through the devos below. God has great plans for you and us as His team. he will never leave us and nothing can ever separate us from His love and less we choose to renounce our faith and walk away. DON'T!!! Receive His embrace and release all your troubles, hurts and concerns to Him. He wants that and will bring His peace and restoration as you do! Again, more to worship about! See you soon fellow worshipers! Shalom!
I to We
Sarah Young
UR: God's Embrace
You yourself [O God] have kept track of my misery. Put my tears into your bottle — aren’t they on your scroll already? - Psalm 56:8 (CEB)
I volunteer at a women’s prison. One of the highlights of my year is the annual gathering. Inmates and volunteers all pack into a huge gym, sitting side by side as guest speakers and worship leaders share messages of hope and encouragement. We enjoy two hours of worship and prayer, clapping and singing. The gathering concludes with volunteers distributing care packages to each inmate.
This year something different and life-changing happened. The chaplain asked the volunteers to come to the front of the room. She said to the inmates, “These women are here to pray with you; if you want prayer, come forward.” Every woman in the gym stood up! We watched silently as, one by one, women stepped forward to receive prayer, bravely sharing their pain and heartache. A few times, I felt a woman rest her head on my shoulder, like a child with her mother. More than once, I noticed teardrops landing on my shoes during the prayer.
These images reminded me of how God pays attention to our every tear and embraces us in our sorrow. As I thought about that gathering, I truly experienced what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ.
's Prayer
Dear God, thank you for comforting us like a mother comforts her child. Help us to turn to you in difficult times and to be a place of safety and refuge for others. Amen.
ODB
Peace in the Release
The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
Kayla’s brow furrowed as she shoved yet another slip of paper into an overstuffed box labeled “Give It to God” on all four sides. Sighing deeply, she sifted through the written prayers she had previously placed in the box. “I read them out loud almost every day,” she said to her friend. “How can I be sure God hears me?” Chantel handed Kayla her Bible. “By trusting that God keeps His word,” she said, “and letting go every time you write or read a prayer you’ve released into His hands.”
The apostle Paul urged believers in Jesus to “rejoice in the Lord” and gave good reason to do so by affirming, “The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5). He encouraged God’s people to trade anxious thoughts for faith-filled prayers, to believe He receives every request, and to praise Him while resting in the unfathomable peace of His never-ending presence (vv. 6-7).
The Prince of Peace—Jesus—guards our emotional and mental well-being when we turn our thoughts toward qualities that point to Him, things that are “true,” “right,” “pure,” and “praiseworthy” (v. 8).
The peace of God protects us when we trust that the God of peace is with us. Liberated from the burden of clinging to concerns, we can experience peace in the release of every prayer into God’s trustworthy hands.
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
How has God used Scripture to help you trust that He hears your prayers? What concerns have you been clinging to instead of giving them to God in prayer?
Dear God, thank You for being my peace whenever I release my worries into Your hands.
Philippians is one of the Prison Epistles (along with Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon) that Paul wrote while in prison. The letter to the Philippians is often referred to as the “joy letter” because of the apostle’s repeated emphasis on our joy in Christ. That’s striking by itself but made even more significant when we remember that he wrote this letter while in custody (1:12-14). He not only reflected on the joy we have in Jesus but also on what it means to have peace in Christ—even while in prison. This powerful truth can speak into whatever circumstances we might be facing. For some, that literally means being imprisoned. But regardless of our situation, Jesus is profoundly at work in our lives and the fruit the Spirit produces is joy and peace.
LISTEN ONLINE
