I'm home and healthy! PTL!!! Thanks for all your prayers! Hope to see you soon as I ease back in. And please note I will be easing back and following Jesus to work His best, as I am and as best as I can, according to His plans for me and for you. Thanks for giving me some time to reset and get more right this time!
Praise God for Sarah, the Board and teams that have covered for me! Pray they refresh too! And pray for Larry Paul who is bringing the Word tomorrow.
Good Morning Imitators of God! We strive for that and like to think we do pretty well. We want to do the things Jesus did and is doing in healthy ways like Jesus chose. Life in Christ lived well and life as residents of the Kingdom on earth lived well is always a balancing act. We have so much nose and pressure from the world to live in the flesh or up to their standards and expectations and even work requirements that take priority. And then we have our own pressures and many pressures of some "church people" pushing us to really live for Christ and forget all the other stuff that "doesn't really matter." Christ alone! OHH RAH! If we don't meet either expectation we feel guilt and shame and like a failure. We have freedom in Christ to choose and often those choices lead to angst and stress. What is the most excellent way? Choosing healthy balance. We are in this world with responsibilities and not of this world with often clashing responsibilities. HELP!!!! Jesus, while He walked the earth, chose to live in a healthy rhythm that honored God and allowed Him to live well and healthy in this world and to complete His mission. We are created for His mission, activated to do so and placed here to be able to do so. For that to happen, healthy choices are paramount! And quite often we need the nudge of an accountability partner to help us to refocus and choose well and healthy as we seek to live and love like Jesus in this world. And sometimes God has to take matters into His hands to get our attention and cooperation. Please help us choose well Lord! Amen!
As always for me, I evaluate why and how God sets me down and in the hospital. It has happened enough times to think I would learn and choose well. HA! Choosing the healthiest life in Christ and rhythms in this world is hard work and truly a balancing act that has life long health, mental, spiritual and even financial implications. Who do you have to help you process, choose well, pray for and with you, walk with you and encourage you? We all need at least one and more are helpful for us to stay on the Jesus track and plans healthily.
So recently I have found myself so driven to push and grow the Kingdom and Church and at pushing you all to more as well and even myself that I lost my focus on Jesus and what His plans are. BUT GOD! He set me down and spoke to my heart through several of you and has led me out of captivity (from the hospital and my foolish ways) to be moving more focused on Him and what He is doing as we move toward the Promised Land. Now the trick is to find and choose the balance to be living right in both worlds and doing what I am created to do. For that, I give you permission to speak correction and/or encouragement when needed. Jesus' easy yoke is not a burden and we should be able to love God and people while we enjoy life. (And not make life a burden or unenjoyable for others) That's the choice I need to work on as I learn to keep focused Jesus and on His pace. may we all choose that and continue to grow as His healthy church--together and with Him! Amen!
I have some devos below. The first one is from someone who is driven as well and I question what he is saying about needing to be more driven and focused on God. Yes, we need earnest focus and walking with Him but never at the sacrifice of health, family and sanity. God knows us. He made us and calls us beloved and His masterpiece and He has activated us to become our best selves while representing Him on earth. Choose well by choosing to be who you are in Christ and walking closely beside Him. He will lead you as you go do your purposes. The UR reminds us to be imitators of God. We are not God and should not strive to do all He does. As we learn to become more like Him and incarnate Him and His love to the world, the healthy choice is to allow Him to use us as we are and for us to use what we have been given for His glory. That is an easy yoke of just being you and working at living and loving like Jesus, as you go. ODB reminds us of the Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared!" We always need to be prepared to join God at what He has for us and is doing and we need to be ready to face Him without guilt and shame on that Great Day of the Lord. And we can! IF! If we hold more loosely, choose well and healthy and just hang out and walk with Jesus and like-minded friends. That s the good life, my friends, and we get to choose to live it! PTL and choose well. Amen! And shalom shalom--know His perfect peace!
As you move toward the devotionals to ponder and meditate upon, check out this partial list of things to try to learn to become more like Jesus and to act in ways like Him. This part of the list is all about slowing down, savoring Christ and choosing to work from rest and abiding, refreshed! Try some!
Maybe we should stop with that!
The next devo is one I question as one of those "Christian influencers" that push us to more. It's part of what made me more driven! Remember Garbage In--Garbage Out! What's God leading you to, as you are? Choose that!!!
I to WE
UR: Imitators of God
Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Ephesians 5:1-2 (NRSVUE)
“
Socks behaves like a dog,” I was told about the resident red fox named Socks at the nature and science museum where I was a wildlife volunteer. The first day I entered his outdoor fenced-in habitat, he came running toward me wagging his fluffy orange tail. The wildlife staff explained that Socks was found and raised by a family who thought he was a puppy. By the time they realized he was a wild animal, Socks had spent too much time around humans and dogs to survive in the wild, so he was brought to the museum. Having been raised around dogs, Socks imitated the behavior he had observed.
Christians are called to be “imitators of God.” We are to live our lives in a way that distinguishes us from the world and not to “imitate what is evil” (3 Jn. 1:11). As a new believer in 1996, I learned that imitating God requires spending time with God in prayer, studying scripture, and spending time with other believers who model Christian living.
Socks didn’t suddenly imitate a dog, nor did I suddenly imitate God. Imitating God is an ongoing process assisted by scripture and the community of Christians.
Today's Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and for other Christians who show us how to be more like you. In the name of Christ. Amen.
ODB
Grandma’s Last Night
The wise [virgins] . . . took oil in jars along with their lamps. Matthew 25:4
My grandmother had a routine on Saturday nights. Before she went to bed, she laid out all her clothing, including the shoes she planned to wear to church the next morning. She always attended the early service and wanted to be ready to get up and go the next morning without any delay. One Saturday night, she was suddenly hospitalized. Later, Jesus called her name, and she died. When my grandfather returned home from the hospital, he found her clothes laid out. She’d been prepared to go to church as well as to meet her God.
My grandmother’s ritual reminds me of the wisdom of the bridesmaids in the parable in Matthew 25. In the story, Christ tells His disciples to be ready for His coming: “Keep watch,” He said. No one knows “the day or the hour” He’ll return (v. 13), so it’s wise for us to be prepared. If we wait until the last minute to prepare, we could be like “the foolish ones” (v. 3). They ran out of oil because they hadn’t prepared well, and just after they left their posts to refill their lamps with oil, the bridegroom came.
We may not need to lay out our clothes like my grandmother, but her ritual demonstrated her desire to be ready for church as well as for her Savior. May we use her wisdom to be ready for the most important things in life, serving Jesus as He leads us and being ready for His return.
By Katara Patton
REFLECT & PRAY
How can you prepare for Christ’s coming? What wise choices can you make in serving Him today?
Dear Jesus, please show me how to be wise as I serve You and prepare for Your return.
The scene in Matthew 25:1-13 is of a bridal wedding party. Traditionally, the bride with her bridesmaids would wait at her parents’ home for the groom, who’d typically arrive after dark to begin a celebratory procession to the wedding at his parents’ home. Because the timing could vary significantly, the bridal party needed to be prepared for an indefinite amount of time. In Jesus’ parable, the groom arrives even later than usual, and some bridesmaids didn’t bring enough oil for their lamps. The wise, prepared bridesmaids couldn’t share their oil reserves without risking also running out and ruining the wedding procession. This scene offered an ideal example of the need for believers in Christ to have a posture of constant faithfulness and readiness both to meet Jesus and to serve Him, even in unpredictable times.
Let's start with the usually TGIF Fri. praises...we do really have so much to be thankful about and especially God's mercy and grace and our forgiveness. Just start there and then flow into the tie in to our independence and all the nuances of that. We have freedom in Christ. We have independence from the law, which we could never keep anyway. We are blessed to live in this land f the free because of the brave. Really we could just stop there and allow you to meditate and praise from there. And so we shall!
Except for me there is one more thing! God is so good a answered so many prayers. Thank your praying! I was literally crying out to Him this morning and He delivered me! And so tomorrow I gain my independence from this place! PTL! Now there are lots of restrictions and adjustments to come, BUT GOD! He is so awesome! Our salvation! Our Freedom! Our deliverance! May God continue to bless America and you and may America bless God always! Amen!
Happy Independence Day and TGIF FRI! Enjoy the day that flows from your praise today!
Hi all! I really am loosing track of days with the lovely extended vacation! (or something like that!) There is the sayin that the church should be like a hospital and not a country club. Think about that. All are welcome and all are treated equally in a hospital. I think I've met most of the staff on my floor. They all care and do what they can to help and make us comfortable. It is a lot like our church. We care. We welcome all. And we do what we can to help others. I keep bragging you up here. If I ever get out of here (maybe this weekend???) things won't be the same for me, or a least at first out of necessity. Unless the Bible verse about God giving us new hearts comes true for me. We all have new spiritual hearts but I sure could us a mending of my physical heart. One of my issues is that my heart is very weak ad doesn't pump very well. BUT GOD! He is able to repair and restore and if not He will carry me until He calls me home. PTL! As Job said, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Praise be the Lord!" So that's the brief update on me. Keep praying. I'd love to be home for the 4th. The other update is that God chose to call Karen's dad home today. He was ready and is fully restored now. Just wish I could be there for Karen. Unfortunately I'm grounded right now. Keep her and her family in your prayers. Her brother, Dave was on his way to New Hampshire with the family for vacation when the call came. This sure has been a bizarre few weeks! Praying for any of you suffering flooding and water damage.
I'm going to try to sleep for a bit before the next awakening at 3. But as I prepare I keep thinking about Eph. 2:10. We are God's craftmanship, masterpieces, works of art at our creation. We are created with all this beauty to God and potential to bless Him and many others. Then something miraculous happens when we get saved...that potential becomes activated as the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and with spiritual gifts and other helps. And these are to help us to fulfill our created purposes. How cool. I just keep going there and trying to wrap my head around God's ways and love! And here's one thing I am being reminded of and learning during this hiatus...It's a natural transition from what was, to what is and what can be. It doesn't involve forcing things. Just being who you are created to be doing what you are created to do. That's all God expects. be you doing what you can with what you've been give! COOL! AMEN! So be you. Love God and others and enjoy this masterpiece life in Christ! Amen! I'm praying for you! Maybe process this with some friends. I know I need accountability to stop forcing things and once in awhile to get moving too! God does have great plans just for you! Discover them!
I've been informed that I will be in the hospital until at least
. when if I am dried out enough they will attempt he cardio version again to get my heart back in rhythm. Before that I am being infused three times a day with Lasik IV's to drain me. Needless to say between that and tests and blood draws, I am sleeping very little. Besides being exhausted, I often have upset stomach and lots of knee and ankle pain because my pains meds have been halted. I appreciate your prayers and my privacy. Thank you!
So, I am going to take the next few days off from blogging and trying to rest and be ready to be healed and released. Thanks for understanding! It's kinda weird anyway doing
's blog at 11PM and before all the devos drop on line.
Hope you all have a great weekend and hope to see you soon! Shalom!
Thank God I'm Forgiven! I've used that more often than I'd like to as I need forgiveness all the time! We all do and God is gracious and will forgive us repentant humble followers. Thanks Lord! This week in the hospital I have had several opportunities to remind people of God's patient loving forgiveness. Have you had the opportunity to share that truth with someone lately? We all often need the reminder that we are and can be forgiven and repeatedly! Thanks Lord! Thank God I'm forgiven and working on not needing that forgiveness as often as I learn and want to walk more like Jesus. Amen! Now with that comes a new command from Jesus love others as I have loved you which actually includes forgiving as we've been forgiven. WELL Thank God I forgiven because that's a hard command to keep. But one we can keep working at. And the Holy Spirit will help us too! PTL!
Thank God I'm Forgiven
opens the door for all kinds of meditations and thanksgivings! What's the Spirit saying to you? What will you do about it?
Good Evening/Morning Forgiven and Forgiving Friends--Jesus in the Flesh! That's you! PTL! So I am writing
blog at 10:30
evening. Why? Well the docs decided to double dose me with diuretics at 4:40 and then after I went to bed at 9. That means I'll be spending the evening purging fluids. They really want to dry me out and I seem to be retaining fluids yet. So, I am writing this before all our devos post online. That's OK as you will have time to spend yourself with God and them in the morning while I hope to be sleeping. They plan some tests etc around 3 am and sleep will follow, Lord willing.
I started contemplating purging, cleansing, repenting and even dying to self. (Lifestyle change is in process already for me!) Loving and forgiving as Jesus has for us requires those as well and taking up cross to be ready to follow Him and live and love more like Him. Jesus address the crowds expecting a conquering king that would overthrow Rome with a different kind of thinking. He washed the feet of the disciples who were jockeying to be first in the kingdom and said He gave an example to follow. Have we embraced that and the new thinking Jesus imparted about what the Kingdom is really like and are we choosing to live it? Jesus said, "If anyone wants to be my disciple he must deny himself, take up His cross daily and follow the Jesus way." That means forgiving, loving, serving and maybe even dying like Him. Thank God I'm forgiven!!!
Really pray into this and ask God to reveal ways we can spur each other on to really love like Jesus. May we earnestly pursue becoming the church the loves like Jesus as we bless God and many others and lead them to this amazing love, grace, mercy and forgiveness! Help us Lord! Amen!
Thank you all for loving so well and your patient love with me! We are love and love lives in us and is coming alive through us! Amen! keep it up! I'm praying for you and me and thanking God we are forgiven too! Shalom!
6-26-25 (Noonish): Plan is to get me home and on track soon and maybe before
. I have AFib that didn't respond to cardio version
. I am now in the cardiac floor at Lehigh. Great team of docs and others from cardiology and other needed docs. Plan is to get me dried out (I've been over load with fluid--congestive heart failure) and trying some new affordable ad more effective meds and send me home to heal and get ready for the future cardio version or oblation. Mentally I am doing well and being patient. PTL! I am also sleeping again. Pray that continues. With the weak heart I am sleeping a lot more and need to. If possible we will be at the brunch but if not, knw we are praying for you all and anxious to get back it!
Good Morning Purposeful Pursuers of God and His Plans! Amen! Is that really you? I know for many of us that gather at St. Matts, we want to know and pursue God and His purposes that He created us to do. He does have great plans and purposes for us to discover, put on and walk around with as His vessels of light, love, hope, and help. We are custom made for custom purposes. There are the big over-arching purposes to achieve over your whole life (like being a pastor for me). There are also little age and circumstance daily or weekly or monthly purposes too. Most of life is paying attention daily to God and walking with Him to His plans for you for that day and that will build to your lifelong purposes. Check out the ODB devo below relating to this as it all begins with keeping Christ our priority, putting on His easy yoke and walking with Him daily. Sometimes those daily plans and purposes are simple and easy but very important as well. Things like holding a door, praying, encouraging, smiling at someone--easy stuff. Sometimes the purposes are more heavy like opening the Bible with someone or some serving caring ministry. No matter because they all matter and are part of God's plans for you and maybe part of us together. The main thing is keeping Christ first and following Him daily and that may (usually does) require dying to self and taking up cross daily and then following Him. That's being a Purposeful Pursuers of God and His Plans. Amen. Help us with that Lord!
Now, God has some adjustments for us along the way! Have you experienced that ever?
I have and am in one of those adjustment periods where God is reminding me to hold looser, trust more, die to self, crucify some things and allow Him to mold and lead. He does have perfect plans that I have been assuming upon a bit and maybe even forcing some things according to my plans. And He said, "Whoa down Donald!" Rest. Abide. Listen. Follow. Hold loose. And do what you can with what you've been given. That's all I expect. That's His easy joyful yoke! Amen
So again, as in the past God gets my attention with hospital visits. I usually come out obeying but in short order end up back where I was. Thick-headed just like the disciples and wanting to do my things my ways. We are called to be followers of the WAY not people forcing my way. Think we'd learn! Thank God for patient love, mercy, grace and forgiveness! And for new starts. I am beginning again to allow Him to lead me to His plans and purposes at His pace--doing what I can with what I've been given for such a time as this. Pray into that with me! Maybe some of you need some adjustments too? I'm praying for you and would love to chat and plan some time soon! His plans are best and easy and a joy. When you start getting bogged down, angry, forcing things--stop! Be still, abide, find joy and peace and follow His Way well. That's life abundant we are promised. And man it is really good when we find that sweet spot! After meditating on this check out the Upper Room talking about our life long friend, Jesus, who promises to be with us always! PTL! Focus on Him and allow Him to lead and things will go smoothly and really be a joy! And He is our healer, deliverer and restorer too! Amen!
So thoughts to pursue with God and some friends
are to be: Purposeful Pursuers of God and His Plans where Christ is our priority and walking with Him at His pace for such a time as this is first on our agendas! And we will need each other to do that well! Come Jesus lead us and unite us with likeminded and those You have for us
. Thanks! Amen!
ODB
Christ Our Priority
Jesus replied, “ . . . That is why I have come.” Mark 1:38
“May we invite you to be the main speaker in our nationwide church leadership conference?” After Jose read the invitation from the renowned organization, he replied, “Please let me pray about it first.” Later, when he turned down the offer, he told a friend, “I knew God was calling me to editorial work on a mission’s project, and the speaking engagement would take time and energy away from that. I said no so I can do what God wants me to do.”
What God wants me to do—that was Jose’s priority and what determined his decision. Jesus also made God’s purpose His priority. The morning after healing many in Capernaum who were sick and demon-possessed, Jesus went to a solitary place to pray (Mark 1:32-35). The disciples came, saying, “Everyone is looking for you!” (v. 37). Some of those seeking Him were likely requesting healing. Christ, however, didn’t allow urgency or His sudden popularity to determine what He’d do next. “Let us go . . . to the nearby villages,” He said, “so I can preach there also. That is why I have come” (v. 38). Jesus followed His priority—a ministry that covered the rest of Galilee, and one that included preaching (v. 39).
How may we know God’s purpose for us? We can approach Him in prayer, be led by His wisdom found in the Scriptures, and seek counsel from people who uphold His ways. Let’s spend our life doing what God wants us to do.
By Karen Huang
REFLECT & PRAY
How can you be intentional about asking God to lead you? How have you seen God help you live with His purpose?
Dear God, please show me what You want me to do.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Mark 1:38 declares that Jesus’ mission is to preach the gospel. On a few occasions in the Gospels, Christ reveals in a deep and intimate way that He understands His mission. In Luke 4:18-19, He quotes the prophet Isaiah (61:1-2) to reveal to those listening in the synagogue who He is. Christ’s ministry included both the preaching of forgiveness and spiritual freedom as well as freeing those who were bound by various physical infirmities. During the years of His ministry, He never veered from that dedication. And He also entrusted that ministry to His disciples. He empowered them to preach the kingdom and heal the sick. They even drove out demons (see Matthew 10; Luke 10). Before Christ returned to the Father, He entrusted His mission to all His followers (see Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). God continues to show us what He wants us to do and how He wants to use us to share the gospel with others.
J.R. Hudberg
UR: Life Long Friend
Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:20 (NRSVUE)
I never had a best friend growing up. I was a child of a career military officer, and my family moved 10 times by the time I was 13 years old. It seemed that as soon as I made a friend, my father would get orders to a new duty station, sometimes thousands of miles away. I vividly remember the hugs and tears during several partings with childhood friends. When my family settled in an area for several years when I was a teenager, I had a difficult time keeping friends. I held them at arm’s length, refusing to get too close emotionally. The hurt from all those childhood good-byes truly impacted my life.
When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior as an adult, I found him to be the lifelong friend I had never had. He is always with me, guiding, rescuing, helping, protecting, listening, and loving me. Jesus provides all of us with everlasting joy, hope, and peace. He has promised never to leave or forsake us. We can get to know Jesus by reading his words, following his example, and praising his name. Whatever life throws at us, we know we have Jesus, our friend who is just a prayer away.
's PrayerDear Jesus, thank you for your presence with us. Help us to stay conscious of you in all circumstances. Amen.
Hi all! Thanks for you prayers! My cardio version did not work
. It will be attempted in the future as new meds take effect. I will be in the hospital until at least
. I will be very tied up and ask for no visitors please! Thanks for understanding! They told me that I will be "living in the bathroom the next few days."
I am getting massive doses of Lasik/diuretics and some new meds they are experimenting with. They say my heart is weak and my body is flooded with fluids. They are working on improving that and getting me ready to try to fix the A Fib. So we know some more and have some more to discover--much like our journey with Christ! My journey now is to slow down, listen, learn and adjust lifestyle. Oh yeah, that's like following Jesus as well! Good and healthy things of God do carry over into everyday life!
There is still much to learn, discern and apply for me and for us as a church! God does have great plans for us that come alive as we surrender, receive and step out in faith! Can't wait to see where this all leads! I'm praying for you all and I know you are praying for me and I fell it! Let us keep choosing well and healthy in Christ and life! Amen!
I'll update you sometime as more becomes visible. Until them keep trusting the Holy Spirit to help you to go live and love like Jesus! And keep praying and sharing your stories!
Good evening friends. Thanks for praying, encouraging and being there and flexible! Keep praying and trusting God to lead me and us to His perfect plans . He does have good plans for us even when it may seem anything like it.
Update: God is in the process of turning my heart of stone to one of flesh. He's renewing my thinking and helping me to make much better health, life and leadership choices. It's like I've been given a second opportunity to get it right with health choices and trusting God choices too. Thanks Lord. May I not be so slow the next time to catch on and correct! And may I choose much more wisely moving forward.
I have cardio version to fix AFib. Then a whole bunch of follow up and new specialists appointments ahead. I will be recovering at home next few weeks. We will restart things after
. In the meantime ask God how you can bless Him, each other and those He is drawing. Step into your anointing!
God is teaching me a lot and working on my heart and bringing all things together for good. My job is to turn off the noise and focus on Him and follow well. It's gonna be much more of doing less...really just doing with what I've been given as I follow Jesus at His pace. So maybe there will be blogs and maybe not for awhile. Just know I am seeking, listening and following Him as I travel through this journey. And know I'm praying for you all too. God loves us, is with us always and has great plans to discover. Amen
Thank you all for your prayers and support!!! God is for us! Amen
Good Morning Spirit-Filled Worshipers! What a joy it is to sing, dance, celebrate and worship our amazing God!!! Have you told Him lately how much you love and appreciate Him? Have you lifted a song of praise or danced before our Lord. That's your assignment for
: worship, celebrate sing and dance before our King! When's the last time you just dwelt in His loving presence worshiping? What joy we know and get to share as we abide and he inhabits our praise! Check out the Sarah Young devo below that led me to this thinking
. I need to just worship and allow Him to lead be beside the still waters, sink my roots deep in Him and be restored! Joy does (or it can, if you choose) come in the morning! Yes Rejoice! He is enough and will supply all our needs! PTL! He is working all things together for good! PTL! he is with us always! PTL! He has unique plans for unique you! PTL! How about lifting some psalms
?
Psalm 16:5-11
New Living Translation
5 Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.
You guard all that is mine.
6 The land you have given me is a pleasant land.
What a wonderful inheritance!
7 I will bless the Lord who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I know the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
9 No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.[a]
My body rests in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul among the dead[b]
or allow your holy one[c] to rot in the grave.
11 You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.[d]
Good Morning Worshipers! Prepare your hearts to worship
and pray that we worship in Spirit and truth and enter His courts with
! Amen! There is so much we have to worship about! Let us prepare to lift a sacrifice of praise!
Sometimes like these sleepless, wondering early mornings, it can truly be a sacrifice to lift praise. Why Lord needs to be replaced with OK Lord, You've got this! Hallelujah! Another visit to the ER
for a fluttering heart answered no more questions than five weeks ago. So, causes have yet to be discovered, BUT GOD! He knows, cares, loves me and is working all things together for good! PTL! I have been preparing my heart since midnight to enter His courts with praise and to allow Him to lead and use me. And maybe I can get an hour or two nap in yet! PTL! God's got a perfect plan and has allowed this all for a reason...PTL! Maybe it's to slow me down and to spend some time abiding in the Vine for a season? PTL! PTL for all the servants and patient friends at St. Matts as they step in and fill gaps in my absence to heal. Yes PTL!
Ok enough of that. Check out our devos for
that really tie to my life right now. Start with TWFYT's reminder to not be afraid of aging. I'm not afraid but coming to the reality that I cannot do as much as I used to or for the same periods of time. It's a season to abide, discern and only do what he has for me
. And that's enough and an act of worship...doing what I can with what I've been given according to His plans and timing. Amen! And Sarah Young's devo flows right from this. Be thankful always. Lift those sacrifice of praise and receive a better attitude! The UR is all about what I strive for...hearing well done from God some day as I complete my race well. Guess what, that takes adjusting as we go to age, circumstances, provisions, etc. Yet God is still pleased as we do what we can with what we got! PTL! And ODB wraps things up with the reminder to leave it all with God and trust Him. He is able! he is Jireh! he knows and cares! PTL! He is our Rock and sure Foundation! Amen! Turn off the noise and focus on Him and His perfect plans for you
...
has enough of it's own worries. Put on that easy custom made yoke and walk with Jesus as you worship
and everyday ahead at His pace for you. And keep worshiping as we aim towards completing our races well! Yes PTL!
What's God saying to you as you process these devos and/or open your Bibles? he is speaking and He does have a word and plan for you. Seek Him with all your heart and process with some friends as you team up to finish the race. And keep praising--even in the storms!
TWFYT
Sarah Young
UR: Living in Mercy and Hope
His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” - Matthew 25:23 (NIV)
I like sitting quietly in the pew in our small church before the worship service. The sunlight filters through the beautiful stained-glass windows, depicting stories from the Gospels. Long ago, such artwork helped people who may not have known how to read learn and remember the stories of Jesus. They continue to prompt me to reflect on their messages for my life
.
On a recent
I was sitting in my usual spot between the windows illustrating the parables of the prodigal son and the good and faithful servant. I observed that in both stories the main characters are welcomed and embraced. One is forgiven for his past errors while the other is affirmed for his correct choices.
I thought about how living to serve Jesus is often a struggle. We have to start afresh each day in gratitude for God’s mercy and seek God’s help through the Spirit to love God and one another. It isn’t always easy.
Oh, how much I hope to hear those words from Jesus: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” But I am grateful for the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness that I see in the story of the prodigal son. I can seek to serve the Lord by also extending mercy and forgiveness to others in my life.
's PrayerMerciful God, help us to extend mercy and forgiveness to others as we remember the mercy and forgiveness you have given us. Amen.
ODB:
Leave It with God
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. Psalm 18:2
Perched high on the climbing wall, Sarah could feel panic rising as her weakening fingers began losing grip on the handholds. Just how hard will I hit the ground? she wondered.
But the instructor kept calling out assurances from below. As the “belayer” tethered to the other end of the rope tied to Sarah’s harness through a pulley, his weight would hold her if she fell. “I’m much heavier than you!” he yelled. “Just let go.”
So she did—and simply swung away from the wall to dangle safely in the air.
The incident gave Sarah a new perspective of the picture of God in Psalm 18:2: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock . . . my stronghold.” Sarah observed, “God is so much heavier than all my problems. I can let go of my worries and fears, and He’ll catch me.”
King David sang the words of Psalm 18 after God rescued him from “deep waters”—these were his “powerful [enemies]” looking to bring about his “day of . . . disaster” (vv. 16-18). Even if his troubles didn’t disappear, he knew he could trust his all-powerful Savior and that God was holding on to him tightly.
By Leslie Koh
REFLECT & PRAY
What does it mean, in practical terms, to “let go” of a worry and leave it with God? How can you learn to surrender your fears to Him?
Dear Father, thank You that I can let go of all my worries, fears, and anxieties, knowing that You’re in complete control of my life and will keep me from falling.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In the superscription to Psalm 18, we read that David wrote this psalm and sang it to God “when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” David was on the run from King Saul for more than a decade. Some estimate he was pursued for fifteen years. After David returned from killing Goliath and the Philistine army was destroyed, the women came to greet him and sang this song: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). This so aroused Saul’s anger and jealousy that “from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David” (v. 9). In Psalm 18, David’s love for and trust in God is immediately evident in his names for Him. He calls God his strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn of salvation, and stronghold (vv. 1-2). This same God can be trusted to help us as we leave our fears and worries with Him.
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