Thank God I'm Forgiven! Begin there as you share your heart overflowing with to God.
Sarah Update Below (Note: we received word Ross Stuart passed New Years Eve. Please kepp his family in your prayers. He is now rejoicing anf fully healed as His faith hhas become sight!)
Good Morning Spirit Filled Followers of Jesus and His Ways! Check out the Connection blogs below and abide before thriving . Seek first His Kingdom! Don't lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and he will lead you to His perfect plans for you --everyday! Amen and shalom!
Connection blogs
- The Holy Spirit Counsels
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).
The Father never wanted us to try and live the Christian life alone. He gave us the Holy Spirit as our ever-present Helper. The word Helper is sometimes translated as Advocate or Counselor. The Holy Spirit is the One who gives us the wisdom and counsel we need. He fights for us and holds us up, coming to our aid at our every moment of need. And we never have to wonder if He is with us. Jesus promised that the Spirit would always be with us and would dwell in us.
Thank You, Father, for giving the gift of the Holy Spirit to Counsel Your people! May we continually remember to seek His wisdom whenever we aren’t sure what to do or say. Since the Holy Spirit knows what is on Your mind and heart, He can be trusted to give us Your best guidance – if we will humbly ask. May Your Spirit dwell with me and with my church in supernatural ways in this new year!
--Adapted with permission from The Summit Church (thesummitchurch.org) we are inviting you into 21 days of prayer and fasting at the beginning of this new year! Each day will focus on a different biblical attribute of the Holy Spirit.
The founding pastor of Summit Church is Bill Elliff, who is now the pastor Emeritus and serves on the Executive Leadership Team of OneCry (onecry.com). You can find one of Bill’s books, The Essential Presence at prayerleader.com.
Prayer Points
Praise the prayer-hearing God that his ear is attentive to your prayers.
Give thanks for the privilege of coming into God’s presence and conversing with him through prayer.
Confess any personal failure in your prayer life that you are aware of.
Commit yourself to being a faithful intercessor.
Ask that God will strengthen your prayer life and help you to pray in the Spirit with all kinds of prayer, on all occasions, for all God’s people (Eph. 6:18).
Pray that your church’s leaders—pastors, elders, deacons, and others— may be filled with the Spirit and be effective in the ministries to which they are called.
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.
Whether or not you saw the ball or hockey puck or the red M&M or the Yellow Peep drop, the year 2026 has arrived!!! So what does that mean for you? Are you EXCITED to see and experience what God has in store for you and our church family? As I shared on , it's time for us to SOAR in 2026!!! Isaiah 40:31, "Those who wait (HOPE) in the Lord get (renew) fresh strength. They spread their wings and SOAR like eagles....."
And that is my verse this year, that I will be praying over each of you and our church family! That we will continue to HOPE in our Lord, and listen, watch, and react to what He is showing us.....and that we will RENEW, gain FRESH STRENGTH in the Lord as we renew and spend time daily getting to know our Lord better.....and then we will SOAR spreading the Word of our Lord; sharing the LOVE of Christ; passing His peace to all that need to experience it.
Let me ask you this....do you live your life as though God has written your name in the Book of Life with a pencil? One day you're in but the next you blow it and your name is erased ?
Listen My friend, when God writes your name in the Book of Life, He doesn't write it with pencil. He writes it in with the indelible blood of Jesus, who promised that those who TRUST in Him "shall never perish" (John 10:28). So, you know what that means.....NO ONE can snatch you from His Hand.
Paul got tremendous JOY as he wrote to the Philippians from prison....He wanted them to experience the same unquenchable JOY that he was experiencing! (and I want that for each of you this year) Paul pointed the Philippians to the source of the JOY, it's JESUS CHRIST......and He said, "He who began a good work in YOU will Carry it on to completion." (Philippians 1:6)
Hey did you know that your salvation and joy are a package deal!!! Salvation brings JOY because.....we know (or you need to remember) that NOTHING can separate you from the LOVE of GOD in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:38-39)
So church family, are you ready to SOAR this year with Jesus? Every day for the next 365 days, I challenge you to REST in Christ's redeeming blood that He shed on the cross for you.....experience the overwhelming, incomprehensible, glorious JOY of the Lord.
Father, WE Praise YOU for Your GRACE. We take JOY in our SALVATION that is secured through the perfect blood of Christ. May this JOY permeate every aspect of our lives, personally, and as a church family, in the name of Jesus, (and all God's children said.....) AMEN!!!!
Have a great day....(how many of you are eating pork and sauerkraut - Yum! I am going to fill my plate now! Can't wait!)
