Good Morning Restored, Focused on Jesus, Praying Friends. Amen! This salutation flows from our devotionals and blogs for . Check them out below and abide as you pray and receive . What's God say to you. What do you need to release and leave behind? Where is His moving forward activity that He is inviting you to join? What are you going through that needs deliverance, forgiveness, healing and trust? Who are you partnering with to travel and pray as you seek first His Kingdom, open the door He is knocking on, and invite Him in to the situation and then work together to follow Him better focused. You are created for such a time as this. He is inviting you and calling you by name. Open the door. Sit with Him a spell and then move forward recharged and ready. Put on His easy yoke as you repent, trust, receive and follow well . I'm praying for you and God is for you and with you always! Choose joy and follow well. And know His perfect peace! Shalom!
Are you hungering and thirsting like the dear? God is our refreshment and He brings Living Water and wants to dispense it through us. Amen!
Connection Blogs
- Prayerless Churches
In Ephesians 5:16, Paul writes, “Making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”
We live in one of the most exciting generations. There are more people living than in any previous generation. The opportunities to impact our world for Christ have never been greater. We have the resources. But there is one disturbing question. Where are the workers? There is a ripe harvest, but there is a shortage of workers.
Jesus said that the solution to the problem of workers is found in prayer (Matthew 9:37–38). But that presents another problem. Where are the men and women of prayer? Too many of us have become so busy that we have little time for God. Our lives have become obsessed with climbing the ladder of success and resting in the easy chair of entertainment. A prayerless church exists in this generation. We cannot get people to prayer meetings, but we have no problem amassing large crowds for Christian entertainment. Our church schedules are filled with events oriented toward entertainment, and we have no time left to seek God. We have become like the Laodicean church. Jesus is on the outside knocking, wanting to come in and have fellowship with us. The need exists for men and women who mean business with God, who will give God priority in their lives, schedules, and churches.
Lord, my heart is grieved that the Church You love and called into being has neglected to seek Your face. We fill our buildings for concerts and other activities, but ignore the call to prayer. The harvest is ripe but Your people are not praying for workers to be sent into the fields, nor are we responding to Your call to be those workers. Forgive me, Lord, for getting more excited about things that have nothing to do with Your kingdom rather than being obedient to Your Word. Help me to be a praying person who makes the most of my time in these evil days!
--Adapted from The Prayer Factor by Sammy Tippit.
Prayer Points
Give praise to God as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of knowledge (Isa. 11:2).
Thank God for freely giving wisdom to all who ask and who trust him to answer (Jas. 1:5).
Confess those times in the past week or month when you have relied on human wisdom rather than seeking God’s wisdom.
Commit yourself to seeking God’s wisdom at all costs (Prov. 2:1-6).
Ask God to show you how his wisdom is different from the world’s (Jas. 3:13-18).
Pray that your church’s leaders will be filled with wisdom as they make both public and private decisions, so that their whole lives will glorify God.
Prayer Pointer
“Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue.” —Adam Clarke
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.
My heart sank. My mind started to swirl. A friend who’d been helping set up my new laptop accidentally deleted all the photos and videos I’d transferred to it. Years of precious memories with family and friends were all gone in an instant. Panic set in. I’d never be able to recreate those cherished moments from past holidays, travels, and special occasions. Before sentimental me could have a complete meltdown, my friend said he was hopeful he could recover my files. Thankfully, a few agonizing hours later I was overjoyed to see my special media files reappear.
I waited anxiously for only a few hours, but the fear was real. Loss can be scary and painful. In Joel 2, the prophet called the people of Judah to repentance after devastation by a horde of locusts that destroyed the grain fields, vineyards, gardens, and trees. The prophet had warned the people of the impending consequences of their rebellion against God. But God hadn’t abandoned them. He would help and bring restoration if they placed their trust in God: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (2:25).
God restored Judah when they turned to Him. God wants to restore you as well.
Whatever circumstances you’re in, you can turn to God and trust Him—knowing that He’s “the Lord your God, and that there is no other” (v. 27). He is faithful to help you recover from what was lost and bring you into a relationship with Him.
By Nancy Gavilanes
REFLECT & PRAY
How has God helped you during loss? How can you turn to God in your current situation?
Dear God, thank You for restoring me.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
For believers in Jesus, perhaps the greatest impact of Joel 2 comes when Peter quotes a portion of it during his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:17-21) and rightly shows the timeless nature of God’s plan for the rescue and restoration of His lost creation (Joel 2:28-32). Yet, while Peter used Joel 2 to help explain the divine purpose behind the events of those recent days in Jerusalem (Acts 2:22-24), some of the things Joel prophesied would reach even further into the future: “I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below . . . . The will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord” (Acts 2:19-20; see Joel 2:30-31). The events preceding Pentecost fulfilled one part of these prophecies, and Christ’s return will fulfill the rest! His faithful ways allow us to experience a relationship with Him and a bright future in His presence.
Bill Crowder
UR: The Former Things
The Lord says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” - Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
I once went to an orchestra concert where the program included A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. The baritone solo at the beginning of the third movement was sung by
a Grammy Award-winning opera singer who had been singing professionally for 26 years.
The soloist made his entrance at the right time but on the wrong note. The conductor calmly signaled a stop, then restarted the movement from the beginning. The second time the soloist’s entrance was correct and the musicians successfully completed that segment of the requiem.
In the scripture above, God admonished the Israelites who were captive in Babylon to forget the past because God was going to do a new thing! When we make mistakes, God gives us the opportunity for a fresh start, just as it happened in the concert.
The season of Lent is a good time to surrender our former things to God. They might consist of a wrong action which hurt another person, a relationship that has deteriorated, a bad habit, or a failure to act faithfully when the opportunity came to do good. We need only look to God for help in releasing that which dwells in our past, then moving on to a new and better future.
's Prayer
Gracious God, aid us in discerning what we need to release. Lead us to follow you in making all things new. Amen.
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