Good Morning people of our BIG God! There's a kids song of old that reminds us that God is bigger than the Boogie Man! Amen! Believe it! What's your "Boogie Man" today that needs to meet your BIG God? Check out our devos below and pray through and meditate on the God we can trust always, the God we worship, the God that has invited us to spend eternity with Him, the God of assurance and promise, the God that goes before us and makes a way, the God who holds us in His strong right hand, shelters us under His wings and promises comfort to those who mourn. His loving, helping presence with us always. AMEN! PTL! Trust Him always! He is faithful!
Today many denominations celebrate All Saints Day remembering those who have stepped into Jesus' arms this past year. Maybe it's because we are getting older, but it seems like so many people we know or know of are dying. And then the tragic news of an Emmaus High School student perishing in an accident after school yesterday. People may ask, "Where's your God now?" How do we answer and bring God's comfort? Well, unless the person passing is a person of faith, it's very hard to bring that comfort of God. But for those that know Him, we can still celebrate their homecoming and find peace and choose the joy of trusting for a heavenly reunion someday. Pray for all of those who are mourning today to find peace and hope in Christ. Ask how God may want you to be His vessel for that. And ask Him to give you His passion to reach the lost.
I have the privilege of being called upon today to do that at the funeral of a very well know and loved man who tragically passed suddenly. (Please pray for me to bring healing and peace and Christ's love alive). It will be a bit awkward as a pastor from one of those "All Saints" churches is in charge and counting on baptism alone for salvation and bringing a basic Sunday service for comfort. My role is to share Randy's story and oversee the time of sharing. May Christ come alive and bring comfort and hope to all there. What are you counting on for your eternal destination? Randy believed and is with Jesus now.
I'm also trying to minister to someone on hospice that really has no time for the Lord nor does he know Him. I want to bring hope to the hopeless and keep praying for an opportunity during his last few days to meet with and lead Him to our Lord and Savior. I think he's of the mindset that heaven is boring and not fun and all his partying friends will be in Hell. We know better. Jesus reminds us that some do and will reject Him, blinded by the darkness and so choose Hell. All we can do is pray, hope, and be available for the survivors. God can use us to help them in their time of grief. Please Lord! And bring breakthrough for those who are hard hearted and blinded by the darkness.
God often allows us to go through some very hard things to test our faith and/or to help us to grow in depending on and trusting Him. He prepares us to use us to comfort and help others too. Be still. Know that He is God and always with you. Stand firm on His promises and be available for Him to grow and to use you. He has great plans for you until the day He calls you home and then the plans get better! Amen!
May God draw you close and bless you today with His overflowing love. May He give you directions and words of peace, comfort and joy to share. May He inform your prayers and direct your steps as you trust Him. Don't lean on your own understanding. God is at work bringing to life immeasurably more than we can imagine. He is our BIG God who knows everything, even you and He is bigger than any Boogie Man we have haunting us today. Amen! Choose to dwell in His shalom today. Then choose to go bring it to others for such a time as this. Amen!
Upper Room: Talking to God
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. - Psalm 56:3 (NRSVUE)
When I was young and alone in my dark bedroom at night, I would imagine the frightening scenes from my dreams like a movie playing out on my closet door. I would repeat Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you,” until I fell asleep. I didn’t know what it meant to trust God, but for me it was enough to take refuge in those words.
Over 50 years later, I’ve expanded my list of scriptures that reassure me of God’s presence and provision. But the truth is that I still sometimes wake up in the dark fearing the “what ifs.” And when I do, I pray the same verse I memorized as a child.
The psalmist teaches us that trust is the antidote to fear. When I trust in God, I don’t have to figure things out, solve those what-ifs, or know the unknowns. I do not know how things will turn out. But when I trust, I can rest in God’s presence, even if it is just for a few minutes at a time. I don’t have to be afraid because God is always near.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, when we are afraid, we can rest in your presence and know that you will always be with us. Amen.Our Daily Bread:
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Ronit came from a religious but non-Christian family. Their discussions about spiritual matters were dry and academic. “I kept praying all the prayers,” she said, “but I wasn’t hearing [from God].”
She began to study the Bible. Slowly, steadily, she inched toward faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Ronit describes the defining moment: “I heard a clear voice in my heart saying, ‘You’ve heard enough. You’ve seen enough. It’s time to just believe.’ ” But Ronit faced a problem: her father. “My dad responded as if Mount Vesuvius erupted,” she recalls.
When Jesus walked this earth, crowds followed Him (Luke 14:25). We don’t know exactly what they were looking for, but He was looking for disciples. And that comes with a cost. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple,” Jesus said (v. 26). He told a story about building a tower. “Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost . . . ?” He asked (v. 28). Jesus’ point wasn’t that we’re to literally hate family; rather, it’s that we must choose Him over everything else. He said, “You who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (v. 33).
Ronit loves her family deeply, yet she concluded, “Whatever the cost, I figured it’s worth it.” What might you need to give up to follow Jesus as He guides you?
By Tim Gustafson
REFLECT & PRAY
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What’s your story of the moment Jesus became real to you? What has it cost you to follow Him?
Father, please help me choose Your Son over everything this world has to offer.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
We can miss the strength of Jesus’ words and the shock the crowd would have felt when Christ said, “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). You only carried a cross for one reason—to be crucified on it—and that was the most terrifying death imaginable. As you read these words, imagine the crowd physically recoiling in horror at the thought that somehow following Jesus would be required to bear a personal cross. This is at least the second time Luke has recorded Christ using this disturbing imagery (see 9:23). These words are understood in the context of Jesus Himself bearing a literal Roman cross.
Bill Crowder |
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The Word for You Today:
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