We are holding in sanctuary and Zoom worship . PLEASE Stay home and Zoom in if you have issues with extreme cold! See you at 10 in person or on Zoom!
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This week: Zoom Huddle at 10
Bread Donut Day 10-12/6- Dinner Huddle and Study
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Good Morning Overflowing with Love Servants! That is us! LOVE Church! People of Love who are saved by Love and loving like Jesus! Amen! Check our Our Daily Bread about Love showing us. What's God saying to you as you engage with Him and the questions? What will you do about it?
The Upper Room discusses rest and abiding rest and eternal rest. Choosing rest as described is good self-care. Rest in the Lord. Rest and reload like Jesus before going to love others. Together resting in the Lord and loving like Him is part of your purposes and our mission as His Body. Resting comes to life when we serve and rest together. So, who are your teammates? How well are you resting and recharging and connecting to God and others BEFORE going to live and love like Jesus. Our God is a God of balance and order and He rested and gives us the gift and ability to choose rest. He is Love and fill us with Love to go love with Him and others, working from rest. Are you choosing well? Maybe rest or serving with Jesus are words to work on this year? Talk to God about that as you abide and prepare to follow well.
may be a great day to chill at home, rest in the Lord and worship with us from home as you prepare for the week ahead. Turn off the noise! Rest. Be ready. God has perfect plans for you, recharged servant of Love. Ask the Father to help you choose well and to be His healthy vessel of Love.
ODB
When Love Shows Up
Give generously to [the needy] . . . and do so without a grudging heart. Deuteronomy 15:10
“Why are you crying?” The question was asked by a volunteer for a Christian relief ministry helping those whose homes had been destroyed by Hurricane Helene. The woman (who had burst into tears in the previous moment) replied, “I’m not crying because I lost everything. I’m crying because love just showed up.”
God’s heart shows itself in His desire that we help those in need. When Moses gave the people of Israel God’s instructions before they entered the land He’d promised them, he told them, “Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted” toward the poor. “Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8). Their hearts toward the poor were to reflect God’s own: “Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart” (15:10).
Whether in disastrous situations or everyday life, when we give to those in need out of the blessings God has kindly given us, we make evident the love of His Son, who came “to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). In fact, God promises He “will bless” those who share His unselfishness with others (Deuteronomy 15:10), both in this life and the next (see Luke 14:14). We can’t see God yet, but others may catch a glimpse of Him when we emulate His compassion for them. May His love show up as kindness through us .
By James Banks
REFLECT & PRAY
How has God shown you kindness when you were in need? How might you show Jesus’ love to someone in need ?
Merciful, generous Father, please help me give to others with an open heart, so that they may see Your love in me.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
As the Israelites prepared to enter the promised land, they were to demonstrate God’s love by giving “generously to [the needy]” (Deuteronomy 15:10). , believers in Jesus also have the honor of making God and His love visible to the world by loving others. “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us” (1 John 4:12 nlt). God demonstrated His love for us in the person and work of Christ: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (3:16). But loving others has a price tag. It may involve giving time, money, or material goods. The key word is giving: “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10). And as we do, others can see God’s love and compassion through us.
Arthur Jackson
UR: Rest
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. - Luke 5:16 (NIV)
Recently, I had the opportunity to spend time with a dear friend who is experiencing a health challenge. As we discussed treatment and doctors’ recommendations, I noticed that there was an emphasis on rest. We often equate rest with sleep. Sleep is a necessity, but rest isn’t necessarily. We talked about what resting might look like during this time. We prayed together for a better understanding of rest and God’s work in our lives.
Rest can be difficult for those of us who schedule every minute of the day. But our bodies, minds, and souls thirst for rest. It is essential and fulfilling. Jesus understood and valued the concept of rest. He took time away from his ministry to be refreshed.
When we allow God to do the work of rest in us, it brings value to our daily tasks and makes our worship more meaningful. Rest is an invitation to fall into God’s loving arms, letting our Creator heal, nourish, and hold us as we soak in God’s beautiful presence.
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's Prayer
Dear Father God, thank you for the gift of rest that allows us to grow closer to you. Amen.
Connection Blogs
- The Prayer Offered in Faith
“And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven” (James 5:15).
When doctors see patients get well, even those patients with incurable cancer, they usually explain it as a wrong diagnosis, or a cause that they missed in their original diagnosis. Even if they said their diagnosis was correct, they explain the healing as a result of an unexplainable cause, most are never willing to admit that the unexplainable cause might be God.
A few doctors may say that prayers make people feel better. And since hope has therapeutic value for medicinal causes (and psychological causes), then prayer gives people hope and makes them better. When the whole psychological and physical systems of the individual are “up,” then the body works better, and heals itself.
However, there are Bible promises that God heals in answer to prayer, i.e., “The prayer of faith shall save the sick” (Jas. 5:15). God will answer prayers for healing when we approach Him properly. Yes, there are laws that govern the universe, but first let’s define law, i.e., law is the extension of God’s nature and power that He uses to govern the universe. Since law comes from God, cannot God create a higher power/higher law to override the existing ones? Can’t God do anything within His will that He desires to do? And can’t God govern His spiritual world by spiritual laws? The answer is YES!
God, You are able to do above and beyond all we can think or imagine! I bow my heart to the Divine Mystery who uses the weak and insignificant people to do great and glorious things for Your kingdom! Your creative power governs the universe to save and to heal. I believe that You and You alone have the power to heal hearts, circumstances, relationships and physical bodies. As my faith is set in You, I yield myself to be used as an instrument of healing for the sake of Your kingdom.
Praise the Maker of heaven and earth for the marvels of creation in this world.
Thank the Lord that he never slumbers or sleeps and that he constantly watches over you.
Confess those times in which you refuse God’s help and resent his watching over you.
Commit yourself to trusting fully in the Maker of heaven and earth.
Ask that God himself will make you strong, firm, and steadfast (1 Pet. 4:13).
Pray that marriages in danger of breaking up will be healed and the pain of divorce avoided.
Prayer Pointer
“The first purpose of prayer is to know God.” —Charles L. Allen
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.
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