Good Morning Followers of Our Wise and Faithful God and Followers of His Way! Amen! Pronounce that over you and us. Our vocalized words carry weight, especially when lifted as a prayer! This salutation flows from our devotionals for (below).
God created you and me for His purposes for such a time as this. In Hs wisdom He leads us to something new all the time. We are moving from "glory to glory" by His grace. And by His grace we were one way and now another and now moving to a new and improved self in Christ. Amen! Pronounce it. Believe it! Choose it! Know peace! God is in the business of transforming us into His image and empowering and growing us to fulfill our created potential. PTL! So, what's that look like for you? How about for your teammates? How has God gifted you to encourage them and grow His Church? Pray into these things and ask Him to lead you to His Way. Faith is active and will produce results as we step into it and our call. So who are you following? God or your own desires or, heaven forbid, Satan and the world? It's time to die to self, take up cross and follow Jesus as you are with an eye on who God wants you to become and the things He has planned for you. We are reminded in Ecclesiastes what matters in this life, "Love God and enjoy life." When we love God well and live out His plans for us His way we will be able to rest in Him and enjoy life! Amen! It's stopping the striving and putting on Jesus' easy yoke as we walk with Him. Doing that, leads to true joy and peace. Amen! Try it. You'll like it, follower of the Way! I'm praying for you as you engage with these devos and become more than hearers, but doers of the Word, God's way. Amen! I was reminded at the beginning of my quiet time of the greatest commandment that should inform all of our lives and choices: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." What's that look like as you allow God to be God and lead you to His perfect plans? I can't wait to see!
I’m guessing many of you are like me and get aggravated when your computer is slow, or when fast food is less than fast. When I think I need an immediate deliverance from an unpleasant situation or circumstance, I quickly ask God for rescue and most often, I am left in the situation until it is resolved…and perhaps not the way I would have liked. I keep wanting to think that God is teaching me patience in those moments; however, I’m beginning to pay closer attention to what I already know – He wants me to change my expectations from wanting my answers to prayer to be according to my anticipated outcomes to using the mind of Christ He gave me: “‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). The mind of Jesus was always perfectly submitted to the will of the Father…it awes me to think this same mind belongs to me…if I will use it!
Patience (or long-suffering) is a fruit that doesn’t seem to ripen on my tree sometimes. When I need help, I want God to hear me quickly and deal with my situation perfectly, which would, of course, be exactly the way I think He should deal with it. Sometimes God has other answers in mind that I am incapable of understanding when standing in the moment of “need.”
Dallas Willard said, “Wanting God to be God is very different from wanting God to help me.” If I could grasp this, my praying would be very different much of the time! In my heart I know that my prayers should always be in alignment with the will of God, and that I need to lay aside my own agenda in deference to His plans and purposes. But there are just times when I need help from God and so I ask! I wish I could say that I always ask with a pure heart, expecting God to be God and then get out of the way. Often, my whiney prayer is to get my needs met according to my own human expectations. What if God has a higher and better outcome through my suffering…or by letting me experience waiting or pain or disappointment? Am I able to step aside and watch from God’s perspective as my situation plays out in the heavenlies, or am I so impatient that I miss an important lesson, or even a blessing?
James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” The writer of Proverbs states, “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but his motives are weighed by the Lord.” Ouch. When I want prayer to be about me…my need, my timing, my expectation, my way, my comfort, my desire, etc. instead of looking with anticipation for God to be all that He is in the midst of my situation, I’m asking with wrong motives. He holds my best interests in His heart. How can I ever think that my thoughts and ways are higher and better than what He intends? I wonder how often I actually screw up the perfect plans of God because I am impatient or ask selfishly.
ODB:
See What God Has Done
Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around [Saul]. He fell to the ground and heard a voice. Acts 9:3-4
Morse was the son of a Protestant minister and a struggling painter of landscapes. In the 1820s, he made a meager living as a limner—“an itinerant painter” of colonial America. But his was a life God led in another direction. Morse also had an interest in science. He learned about electromagnets, conceiving an idea that would change the world. In 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse conceived the idea of an electric telegraph and later went on to make the first working telegraph.
Probably the most dramatic biblical account of “career change” was that of Saul, who was “breathing out murderous threats” against believers in Christ (Acts 9:1). Jesus appeared to him in a great light (v. 3) saying that Saul was persecuting Him. Essentially, Saul was told to stop because he was under new orders now (v. 6). Saul did a U-turn in his life and assumed a new identity in Christ as the apostle who would eventually spread the gospel wherever he went.
Sometimes what we think is our future really isn’t. God leads us in another direction. Perhaps He needs to call us out of our sin. Or maybe it’s a change of ministry or vocation. When God redirects our lives, we do well to stop what we’re doing and follow our new orders. And as our new path opens before us, we might just echo the joy of the first dot-and-dash message of Morse’s telegraph: “What hath God wrought!”
By Kenneth Petersen
REFLECT & PRAY
How has God led your life in a different direction? What word has He given you to encourage others?
Dear God, please help me be open to Your leading as You guide my path and career in this current season.
The book of Acts contains three accounts of Saul’s conversion: 9:1-19; 22:3-16; and 26:9-18. Saul (later called Paul) made “murderous threats” (9:1) against those who “belonged to the Way” of Christ (v. 2). The second and third times we read of his conversion, Paul is giving testimony of how he turned to Christ. He admitted, “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death” (22:4). The apostle would’ve continued in the way of opposition to Christ had not Jesus intervened (9:3-5) and led him in a different direction. At times, God will also lead us in a different direction for our good and His honor.
Tim Gustafson
UR: Divine Wisdom
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. - Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)
Our church community was trying to decide on a project to address the increasing environmental pollution in our area. I placed the issue before the Lord in my daily prayers until one day, I felt the Lord asking me, “Why not consider the welfare of those who are already taking care of my creation?” With the Lord’s guidance, we all agreed to conduct a medical fair for the garbage collectors of the city, a forgotten community that renders an invaluable service to our society.
One of the biggest challenges we faced was finding the necessary funds. We approached prospective donors and asked volunteers for support. With the Lord’s help, donations flowed in, and doctors and opticians volunteered their time. The city council authorities extended their full cooperation. Mobile medical testing vehicles were available to conduct health screenings. We were even able to provide attendees with a meal and with safety gear to use while working.
This project enabled us to share the love of God and to care for those who labor to keep God’s creation clean. Tasks that are too big for us to accomplish on our own become possible through the grace and guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
's Prayer
Dear Lord, we praise and thank you for giving us the guidance and wisdom to execute the plans you have for us. Thank you for opportunities to bear witness to your love and care. Amen.
TWFYT
Connections:
Prayer Points
Praise God for his indescribable love.
Thank God for loving you so much that he would sacrifice his own son.
Confess ways you have not been generous with your love in response.
Commit to offering even your very body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1).
Ask him to help you not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (12:2).
Pray for believers being persecuted for righteousness. Ask God to help them remember the heavenly reward, enabling all to rejoice and be glad even in the face of insults and false accusations for the sake of Christ (Mt. 5:10-12).
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
Everyday: Everyday: Pray for us to come alive in ’25. Pray we become a dynamic movement of God led by pastors and laity who have a burning passion for God and missionary zeal to reach the lost. Thank God for this! Ask Him to come lead us!
: Prepare your hearts to worship and come enter His courts with ! Pray that we worship in Spirit and Truth and that the Holy Spirit brings God’s Word alive so that we would be more than hearers but doers of His Word. Thank God for inhabiting our praise and leading us!
: Pray that we would become a people of prayer and a House of Prayer for the Nations. Pray for our pastors and church leaders to always seek and follow God. Ask God to bring dreams and vision to us for His plans and servants.
: Thank God for the Holy Spirit in us and for His spiritual gifts sent to bless others and grow His Church. Pray we would discover and grow in our giftedness. Thank God for the Fruit of the Spirit He is bringing alive. Come Holy Spirit!
: Thank God for our servants! Pray that our Bread Clothing, Brunch, and Mid-Week Ministries would bless and connect to our neighbors. Ask God to draw many. Pray for donut day the 10th and night restart the 17th.
: Pray for our missionaries. Ask for us to become His missionary Good News Delivery Company to our neighborhoods. Pray for provision and protection and good stewardship. Ask God what your part is and for help to do it.
: Thank God for all He and is doing to grow His Kingdom through us. Thank God for leading and using us all!
: Pray for new opportunities to connect to outsiders and for them to experience the love of Jesus in us and be drawn to Him. Pray for 30 new attendees this year. Thank God for the harvest!
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