Good Morning Loved, Called By Name, and Sent Followers of Jesus! Amen and PTL! We know these things and should thank God for them but do they inform your prayers and activated faith? Do you abide in and share the Love? Can you hear God calling you by name and when not still know He is calling you by name to love on you and not punish, to forgive and help repent, to empower and activate your actions? Do you know where, or even that, He is sending you? Are you following Jesus and His ways? Dep stuff to contemplate with God and process with your teammates ! Lord, thank You for Your Love, calling and sending of my church, my team and me! Come! Fill us and send us! Unite us on mission and your purposes. lead us in the paths of righteousness, for Your name's sake. Walk with us and make your self real to us in those dark valleys and even times of great joy! May we always draw close to You and know and experience that You are God. Come! Fill us and lead us and use us and for Your glory alone. Thanks! Show us the way and move our feet. bring courage and love alive. May we live and love like You always. Thanks! Your Kingdom come and will be done in, through and around me and us. Yes and we worship You with all our hearts and moving feet and joyful obedience. Amen!
Here are our devos for to begin your quiet time and for reloading and being informed before you take that first step of faith . Then Go! Live and Love like Jesus. He's lovingly calling you to go with Him! PTL! The questions is, will you? Grab your teammates and go. I'm praying for you to know God's shalom as you do. Amen!
UR: Through It All
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. - John 1:3 (NIV)
When I was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer at 27 years old, I became aware of God’s constant presence in a whole new way. God was with me during my suffering as well as my healing process and eventual remission, which I still celebrate over 20 years later. God was working through the doctors, my friends, and the other people who helped me during this major life crisis.
I used to think God was only present in the good, “holy” moments I experienced. But I discovered that God is always with me, regardless of whether I perceive God’s presence. I learned to reframe my thinking about who God is and God’s nature. Instead of thinking of God as distant, merely watching me fail as a human, I began to see God as scripture describes — everywhere and in all things.
God is always with us, and nothing can change that fact. No matter what we do or what happens in our lives, God guides and loves us through it all.
's Prayer
Dear God, thank you for being with us in sorrow and in joy. Help us to notice your presence and to trust that you are at work in our lives. Amen.
ODB:
Our Calling in Christ
Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord. Ezra 7:10
Ginnie Hislop received a standing ovation as she received her master’s degree in 2024. Why? It came eighty-four years after she’d completed her coursework! In 1941, she needed only to submit her thesis. But her then boyfriend, George, was suddenly called to serve during World War II. The two quickly married and headed to his army outpost—leaving Ginnie’s nearly realized degree behind. But after a lengthy pause, she was finally able to complete what she’d started.
Ezra was a student of Scripture—one who truly had an “advanced degree” in God’s law—who’d been waiting years to return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. “Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees” (Ezra 7:10). Zerubbabel and a group of Israelite exiles had been permitted to return from Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem decades earlier (2:1-2). And now Ezra, who had “the gracious hand of his God . . . on him” (7:9), was leading more exiles to Jerusalem. God would use him to reform and restore the proper worship of Him according to Scripture: “Ezra opened the book [of the Law]. All the people . . . bowed down and worshiped the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).
Ezra had to wait decades, but he completed his calling in God’s strength. In His power, let’s persist in finishing the work He has for us.
By Tom Felten
REFLECT & PRAY
What can you do to press on in your calling from God? How can you persist in His power and wisdom?
Dear God, please help me finish well what You’ve called me to do.
The book of Ezra records the two returns of Jewish exiles from Babylon. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David (Matthew 1:12), led the first return of fifty thousand in 538 bc (Ezra 1-6). Some eighty years later (458 bc), Ezra led another five thousand in the second return (chs. 7-10). Nehemiah, a contemporary of Ezra, led the third return in 444 bc. Ezra, a priest and a teacher well-versed in the law of Moses, faithfully taught the Scriptures to the people, leading them in two spiritual renewals (Ezra 9-10; Nehemiah 8-10). As God helped Ezra, He can help us persist in finishing the work He has for us.
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