Good Morning Chosen, Loved, Prudent Disciples and Apostles of Jesus! What love God has lavished on us, His chosen and very loved learners and sent ones! We gather today to worship, praise, pray, receive, and prepare to go forth in His love!
Prepare your hearts to worship as we gather at 10 in person and on Zoom to worship, listen and prepare to go forth in love. Pray that we would worship in Spirit and Truth this morning and for God to send some to join us. Pray for Mike as he leads children's church and for kids and all who come to see and be drawn to Christ. Pray for God to come inhabit our praise.
So God did it again this morning! Did you see the thread between all our devotionals? Check them out below as you still yourself and receive God's Word for you today. He sees and knows you and loves you as you are and sends you to go love like Him. Our journey may be hard and fraught with danger. We may shrink back and hide that we love Jesus or just try to blend in with this world. BUT God! He knows and still loves us and always forgives and keeps preparing us to go love well. Die to self, take up cross daily and allow Jesus to love through you. Be a world changer! Fulfill your created purposes, good and faithful servants! God has great plans for you today! Listen and follow well as we go love like Jesus and make disciples! Amen!
Did you sense the importance of partnering with others on this journey? We need to go forth with others, encourage each other, and help each other to discern well and be accountable to do what Jesus has planned. Pray for us to partner up and go forth in love well! Amen!
May God bless you abundantly today and you bless Him and others as you live out life as an act of worship! Amen! Shalom friends!
Charles Stanley:
Our Daily Bread:
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In 1892, a resident with cholera accidentally transmitted the disease via the Elbe River to Hamburg, Germany’s entire water supply. Within weeks, ten thousand citizens died. Eight years earlier, German microbiologist Robert Koch had made a discovery: cholera was waterborne. Koch’s revelation prodded officials in large European cities to invest in filtration systems to protect their water. Hamburg authorities, however, had done nothing. Citing costs and alleging dubious science, they’d ignored clear warnings while their city careened toward catastrophe.
The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about those of us who see trouble yet refuse to act. “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions” (27:12 nlt). When God helps us see danger ahead, it’s common sense to take action to address the danger. We wisely change course. Or we ready ourselves with appropriate precautions that He provides. But we do something. To do nothing is sheer lunacy. We can all fail to miss the warning signs, however, and careen toward disaster. “The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences” (v. 12 nlt).
In Scripture and in the life of Jesus, God shows us the path to follow and warns us of trouble we’ll surely face. If we’re foolish, we’ll barrel ahead, headlong into danger. Instead, as He leads us by His grace, may we heed His wisdom and change course.
By Winn Collier
REFLECT & PRAY
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When have you refused God’s wisdom? How can you better learn to respond to His warnings?
Dear God, please help me listen to You and turn away from danger.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In Proverbs 1, Solomon gives the purpose for this book, which includes receiving “instruction in prudent behavior” and giving “prudence to those who are simple [or gullible]” (vv. 3–4). To be prudent is to act with or show care for the future; to be wise in practical affairs. In the Old Testament, the word prudent appears nineteen times (seventeen in the book of Proverbs). The prudent “hold their tongues” (10:19), “overlook an insult” (12:16), “keep their knowledge to themselves” (v. 23), and “act with knowledge” (13:16). By contrast, fools “show their annoyance at once” (12:16) and blurt out (v. 23) and “expose their folly” (13:16). Moreover, the prudent “give thought to their steps” (14:15) and “are crowned with knowledge” (v. 18), while the simple “believe anything” (v. 15) and “inherit folly” (v. 18). Clearly, the path of prudence is the way of wisdom.
Alyson Kieda |
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Upper Room: Deny Me Not
After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.” - Mark 8:34 (CEB)
Preparing to meet my former boyfriend Mike’s friends for the first time, he advised me to hide my cross tattoo adorned with “Christ is King.” His friends, he warned, were atheists and welcomed opportunities to confront and mock people of faith. While I would love to say that I did not follow Mike’s recommendation, I did. Bundling up in the July heat, I ensured my tattoo was concealed. And when the subject of God came up, not only did I refrain from voicing my conviction and proclaiming how Christ changed my life, I remained silent altogether. Although I didn’t hear a rooster crow as Peter did, I felt sick. Through my embarrassed silence, I denied Christ.
Jesus advised that following him would not be easy, that we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, follow him, and be prepared to be criticized, hated, and persecuted because of him.
As we encounter those who may doubt, hate, or criticize us for our beliefs, let us never be ashamed of Jesus. Instead, may we remain steadfast, seizing every opportunity to share our faith and the love and forgiveness of Christ with a world hungry for hope.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear Jesus, help us to courageously profess and embody your message of hope, forgiveness, and love. Amen.The Word for You Today:
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