Did you turn your clocks ahead? Have you sprung ahead? Well we may not have that spring in our steps just yet, but worship starts soon--10 AM live and on Zoom. May we have a spring in our step as we enter into His presence in worship and praise . Then take a nap after church!
Good Morning Peace-filled Servants! Amen! Peace like a River is a song I sing over my dogs before leaving the house. They are nervous Nellie's. Shalom shalom--perfect peace is available to us--a peace beyond understanding. PTL! Check out and meditate upon and pray through the Connection blog and our devos below. What's God saying to you? we will study 2 Peter 1. Prepare your hearts for worship and enter His presence with and an open mind to hear Him speak. Then prepare to be a doer of His Word. I'm praying for you and us and for God top speak through me . Shalom shalom! The Lord is our Shepherd! Still waters and green pastures of rest and peace are all around. Follow Him! He loves you and will care for you! Amen
Connection Blog:
- Be Found at Peace
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:14)
I’m convinced that one of the distinguishing marks of the End-Times Church will be peace. In Peter’s second epistle he speaks of those who scoff at biblical prophecy regarding the Lord’s return. Then Peter moves into a harrowing description of what will happen: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10).
These are all things that should bring great fear to those who read and believe. Yet followers of Jesus should be those who actually “look forward to the day of God” and live in peace even in the midst of chaos and confusion. It is a peace that Jesus provides for us that is not based on circumstances around us or even feelings within us. It is a peace that comes from his presence in our lives. It is a peace that allows us to walk through even extremely difficult circumstances because he is with us.
I remember my dad telling me how the troop ship he was in during World War 2, while on its way to England in a convoy, was attacked by German U-boats. Obviously there was not a thing that soldiers on a troop ship could do to defend against submarine attack. So Dad and some of his friends did the only thing they knew to do . . . they prayed. Down in the bunk rooms of the ship, they gathered on the bunks to pray and ask God’s protection. Dad said that was the only sense of peace they felt on the whole trip. Not a ship was lost and they made it safely to England.
Your fears may not be about the end-times, and likely do not deal with submarine attacks, but we all face fear and anxiety of some sort. It may be relationships in your family, it might be financial problems, or even generalized anxiety over life itself. I want you to know that Jesus is willing and ready to walk with you through your shadows and bring you to his light in peace. It doesn’t always mean that your circumstances change, but it does mean you face them from a whole different perspective. It’s the peaceful presence of Christ that makes all the difference.
Lord, I am so grateful for your presence that brings peace. It is so easy for me to fall back into my own fears, insecurities and anxieties, while all along you were there, waiting for me to turn to you. Forgive me for forgetting your readiness and love. I turn to you now for the peace that I desperately need in my walk through this world.
Reflect on Jn. 8:44. Pray against the influence of Satan—”the father of lies”—as he attempts to subvert the spread of the gospel throughout the earth. Ask that his lies will be exposed in every arena of life.
Praise the Rock—the one whose works are perfect and whose ways are just (Deut. 32:4).
Thank him for being the God of truth. Confess any times that you have believed the lies of Satan and acted accordingly.
Commit yourself to speaking only the truth in every situation (Eph. 4:25).
Ask God to help you be a truthful person in whom he would delight (Ps. 12:2).
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.
The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. - Psalm 23:1 (CEB)
My late grandmother endured a difficult life. She married a man who never truly learned how to love. Yet she devoted her life to supporting her family and lived solely for their needs. There were many times when she was abandoned by her husband and needed someone by her side, but no one was there — not even her children.
Still she persevered in faith. In times of hardship she prayed to God, and in times of blessing she gave thanks for the daily bread God provided. She never gave up on her faith, and in the end, her perseverance bore fruit: her husband changed, and one of her children became a pastor. , her descendants number over 30, and we all know God.
When she finally lay at rest in her coffin, a white cloth inscribed with the words The Lord Was My Salvation was draped over her. She triumphed over every hardship, faithfully walking the path to salvation, and at last she was able to see God.
My grandmother’s faith has inspired my own. May all the people around the world persevere in faith to the end and, like my grandmother, meet God at the finish line.
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's Prayer
Faithful God, give us the strength and ability to endure and overcome our challenges as we walk the path of faith. Amen.
ODB:
God’s Loving Deeds
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
They sit side by side on Ball Street in my city—the Grand Ideas Garden and the county jail. My friend Joann loved both places. She loved to sit in the garden, thinking about the goodness of God and her love for Him because of what He’d done in her life. She also loved to share with the women in the jail and tell her story of God redeeming her life after many bad choices and wandering far from Him. Often, she would tell me of her passion: her dream that all the women there would someday understand and experience the love of God for them personally.
The psalmist told his fellow Israelites to “tell their story” of how God redeemed them from their enemies (Psalm 107:2). They had “wandered in desert wastelands,” “they were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away” (vv. 4-5). At times they rebelled against God, and He disciplined them (vv. 10-12). Yet every time “they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, . . . he delivered them from their distress” (v. 6). They had much to give God thanks for and to talk about with others. As the Israelites learned, and we can learn also, He has a love that will never let us go.
We too can take opportunities to “ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” toward us (v. 43), give thanks to Him, and tell our own story of His rescue.
By Anne Cetas
REFLECT & PRAY
What has God done for you to transform your life? Who can you share your story with?
You are so good, and what You’ve done for me is worth telling others about, dear God. Please give me the words and open my mouth to speak about You.
The book of Psalms is divided into five books or subsections. Psalm 107 is in Book 5 and celebrates Israel’s salvation history. Much of it is a reminder of the ways that God had delivered Israel time and again in her history. Some have speculated that this psalm may have been written after the Babylonian captivity upon Israel’s return to the land of promise they’d received so many years before. As such, it’s fitting to say, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (vv. 8-9). But gratitude isn’t reserved for Israel alone, for God has done loving deeds for all people. , as we reflect on His loving deeds to us, we can share our story with others.
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