is the day the Lord has made and we get to gather, fellowship and worship in it! PTL! May we worship in Spirit and Truth and enter His courts with praise and His gates with ! Amen!
Good Morning Worshipers! Amen! we will begin four week study of the book of Jonah. May we run to God always and follow ASAP as He leads. May our lives be a sweet aroma to Him and those He is drawing. May we pronounce His Word to a world in need of forgiveness and restoration and may our lives always point to Him. Amen!
Check out and pray through the Connection blogs and our devotionals . May we seek first His Kingdom and follow His provision and peace. Amen! PTL! He has great plans for you and us ! Amen!
Connection Blogs:
- Desperate Faith
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (Luke 18:35-43).
Here we find the account of a desperate pray-er—a blind beggar. When he heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out for mercy. When other people tried to silence him, he "cried out all the more.”
His desperation made him shameless. He must have thought Jesus was his only hope. He must have believed that Jesus could actually change his life. And, he must have known that his opportunity was fleeting.
Jesus hears cries like this, and he described the blind man’s desperate cry with one word: faith. When faced with external pressure to quit praying, this man’s belief in Jesus caused him to increase his cry.
An African pastor once said to one of my friends, “In our country, we did not cry out to God until there came destruction. I wonder when the American church will turn and cry out to God? Will it be at the point of desperation or destruction?”
God is looking for people of persistent, desperate faith. Faith is the key that unlocks the door and makes room for God. And faith expresses itself in desperate cries.
Prayer that will never give up. Prayer that cries out all the more.
God who hears and answers prayer, You are the only One with the power to heal and to change the lives of desperate and damaged people! Please grow my faith so that I will come to You consistently and persistently in prayer! I also lift up my nation, Lord! May Your people cry out to You day and night and never give up! Please don’t allow us to become discouraged or deterred! Help us to get past our focus on self and make space for Your power to be demonstrated in our midst!
God sends his teaching like rain and his words like the dew (Deut. 32:2).
Praise God for being your teacher (Ps. 71:17).
Thank God for the privilege of receiving his instruction through his Word.
Confess any lack of attention you’ve paid to God’s teaching.
Commit yourself to listening closely to what God has to say to you.
Ask God to reveal himself more clearly through his Word each day.
Ask that God will shower the blessings of salvation on unsaved people in your community as they learn of Christ.
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.
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. - Habakkuk 3:18 (NIV)
In her first week of life my daughter had seizures, but the doctors could not find a cause. My husband and I were filled with anxiety as we contemplated her uncertain future. One day we both wept and prayed, “Lord Jesus, she is your child. We know you love her more than we possibly can. We will accept whatever outcome you decide.” My husband and I were terrified that our child would have a poor outcome. And yet we prayed and relinquished her to God’s care, knowing that, whatever the outcome, God would be with us.
Habakkuk was a prophet at a difficult period in Jewish history. The king was wicked, and the people worshiped false gods. They were facing an economic crisis and attacks by Babylonian soldiers. Habakkuk was in despair, yet he prayed, proclaiming that God was in control. Even if the crops failed and livestock died, he would rejoice in God’s strength and salvation. In the end, Habakkuk was convinced that he could trust God’s care, no matter how bleak the circumstances appeared.
My family also faced difficult and confusing circumstances following our daughter’s birth. And yet, like Habakkuk, we prayed a prayer of humble submission, trusting our daughter to God. Ultimately our daughter recovered with medication. Thanks be to God!
's Prayer
Dear Lord, we accept whatever challenges arise because we know that your strength is with us. Amen.
“We wave until they’re out of sight. It’s a way of showing that we love them.” Those words from my mother when I was a boy explained a habit she and my father had when a family member left our home after a visit. Mom and Dad stood outside and waved to the ones leaving until they disappeared in the distance. Sometimes they stood there for a long time, but that didn’t matter. When I left home myself, I understood why.
Seeing them waving in the rearview mirror touched my heart, and I felt loved and cared for. I still say goodbye to our family visitors that way to show love for them. It’s a habit I hope my children will continue.
Another way we can express love for our families is to communicate God’s love shared in Scripture. As the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan into the promised land, God taught them with these instructions for life: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds. . . . Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19).
These are words that would one day find fulfillment in the perfect love of Jesus, who promised, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). As we share His truth and kindness, we can trust that His love is able to overcome every distance.
By James Banks
REFLECT & PRAY
Whom can you encourage with God’s wisdom and truth ? In what ways will you show them His love?
Please help me, dear Father, to share Your love and truth with others so they may believe and walk with You always.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Deuteronomy derives from the Greek word deuteronomion, which means “second law.” Most of the book of Deuteronomy repeats the law of Moses given to Israel on Mount Sinai forty years earlier. The generation that had agreed to that law (Exodus 24:7) decades earlier, however, had died in the wilderness. Now, the law needed to be rehearsed for a new generation preparing to enter the promised land. The law instructed them not only how to relate to God but also to one another. , as we study the Scriptures, we also learn how to share His love and truth with others.
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