Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday! There is such a richness in this statement that flows to much thanksgiving and praise! What are you thankful about your forgiveness! Keep building those gratitude lists and using them often! He is so worthy of all praise and glory and honor! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Amen!
Here's a couple of different songs with the same title. Great songs to start praising with:
Praise the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q-IQ3DEVSI
Praise the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dy4MzNnQsw
Good Morning Spirit-Filled, Secure, Adventurers! Check out our devotionals below from which this truthful salutation springs forth and pronounce it with anticipation, praise and much thanksgivings! Read and meditate on the Eph. 1:3-14 passage that ties to Our Daily Bread. What's God revealing to you that leads to thanksgiving as you do? Read and meditate on our John 16 reading for this week. Jesus teaches about the Holy Spirit, prayer in His name, and talks about His soon cross encounter. What lavish love He has shown to us! Yes Praise the Lord!
After Jesus' death and after His ascension to heaven the disciples felt lonely, afraid and uncertain until they received the Holy Spirit. As we follow Jesus we sometimes will encounter hard and lonely times too. But we do know God is with us and allowing things to draw us closer, stretch our faith, and prepare us for the new things He has. Check out the Upper Room and remember those new comers that are and will be joining us and go out of your way to welcome and get to know them. We know how to love each other well. Let us always do the same for those God is leading to our fellowship. And for those you already know well, you sense and know when something isn't right. Reach out in love, encouragement and prayer to those who are putting on a good face in their struggles.
The Word for You Today reminds us that we can sense and see God at work. God wants us to see and know that He is busy with and all around us and wants us to join Him. He doesn't hide from us even when we try to hide from Him. PTL! Ask God for a spiritual awakening today and pray for Him to "show you what He wants you to see, teach you what He wants you to know, lead you step-by-step in the path of His perfect will." He is pleased to answer that prayer. Keep your eye on Jesus and keep watch for God to be busy around you. have a ready and willing heart to respond as the Holy Spirit reveals. And keep growing into God's character which includes sacrificial love, compassionate help, and faithfulness. That leads to much thanksgiving.
God is leading us on a great adventure! Even refining and hard things can be an adventure as we keep putting our trust in God, keep our focus on Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to have His way with us! PTL! We are secure in Christ! We have the Holy Spirit! We know God and He calls us friend! There is enough right there to thank and praise all day! And to keep us busy being about His business. PTL! We are so blessed!
May your day be filled with much thanksgiving, joy and peace! God has some great adventures awaiting!
Here's a song to end your quiet time with praise today! Praise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raFnjGVkHe8
ODB:
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“Christianity is not for me. It’s boring. One of my values I hold on to is adventure. That’s life to me,” a young woman told me. It saddened me that she hadn’t yet learned the incredible joy and excitement that comes with following Jesus—an adventure like no other. I excitedly shared with her about Jesus and how real life is found in Him.
Mere words are inadequate to describe the adventure of knowing and walking with Jesus, God’s Son. But in Ephesians 1, the apostle Paul gives us a small but powerful glimpse of life with Him. God gives us spiritual blessings directly from heaven (v. 3), holiness and blamelessness in God’s eyes (v. 4), and adoption as His own into the King’s royal family (v. 5). He blesses us with the lavish gift of His forgiveness and grace (vv. 7–8), understanding of the mystery of His will (v. 9), and a new purpose of living “for the praise of his glory” (v. 12). The Holy Spirit comes to live in us to empower and lead us (v. 13), and He guarantees eternity in God’s presence forever (v. 14).
When Jesus Christ enters our life, we discover that getting to know Him more and following Him closely is the greatest of adventures. Seek Him now and every day for real life.
By Anne Cetas
REFLECT & PRAY
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How would you describe the life of knowing and walking with Jesus? Who might God want you to share this with?
Dear Jesus, thank You for loving me and always walking by my side. You’ve given me more than I could have imagined. I love being known and loved by You and sharing You with others.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Paul delivers Ephesians 1:3–14 in the form of a doxology—or praise—to God. Paul, a Jew, writes to gentile believers in Jesus, assuring them of their adoption (v. 5) into an unparalleled inheritance. When he says, “we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ” (v. 12), he’s speaking of the first believers, who were Jewish. Yet he’s quick to include “you,” that is, the gentiles, who also believed (v. 13). And he gives us great hope: we’re “marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (vv. 13–14).
Tim Gustafson |
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Charles Stanley:
UR: Lonely Hours
I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. - Psalm 120:1 (NIV)
I had always wanted to travel and see other places. I got my wish when I married a meteorologist whose career took us away from our families to the San Francisco Bay area of California. We didn’t know anyone except the people my husband worked with, and none of them lived nearby.
With the cost of housing so high, we had very little money, and I had to find thrifty ways to keep our young son entertained. I took him to the park where he climbed on playground equipment, and we fed ducks in the pond. We rode our bicycles to church, the library, and the grocery store. We had fun, but I struggled with our limited resources and with loneliness. Although we joined a church, the members had known each other for such a long time that it was difficult to fit in as newcomers.
During the lonely hours, I called out to God in prayer, and I became so close to the Lord that I heard God speak to my spirit. Some people have doubted me when I say that the Lord speaks to me. I don’t hear audible words, but I hear God in my heart. As my relationship with God has deepened, I have come to understand that when we reach out to God in difficult times, we may receive a blessing we never imagined.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Thank you, dear Lord, for being with us when we feel alone and for answering our prayers in ways that we could not have imagined. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.TWFYT:
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