Please join me this week in praying for all of the awesome blessings that God bestows on us. Pray for any blessings that someone close to you needs. And finally, let's pray that the Father uses us to be the blessing in someone else's life.
I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I started yesterday by making a turkey and a few side dishes (my husband helped, thankfully) and did all of the last-minute clean-up/straighten up chores that come with hosting a meal like this. My husband's family came over and I was able to enjoy their company for a few hours before heading over to my mom's for Thanksgiving meal #2. That's when the real work began.
My mom has lost a lot of strength in her arms and hands since taking the chemo pill, but she still tries to do everything. I get there, and she's having trouble holding the electric knife to cut the turkey so I jumped in to help. She watched me closely, instructing me where to cut, what to do, etc. eventually hovering right behind me until she said, "Just let me do it." It was a lot of stuff like that which I won't bore you with, but let's just say, by the end of the night I was exhausted and quietly cursing my choice of shoes.
Now that we've all sufficiently given thanks, it's time to begin 3-1/2 weeks of intensive preparations for Christmas. There's shopping and decorating and baking and visiting and holiday parties. There's Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. It's expensive and hectic and crazy and unfortunately, I believe, it distracts us from the reason for the season. So, before we begin this Thanksgiving aftermath, this Pre-Christmas frenzy, let's meditate on our blessings some more.
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law* of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law* day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 NIV
*The law is simply: ...“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ...‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37 & 39
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Please join me this week in praying for all of the awesome blessings that God bestows on us. Pray for any blessings that someone close to you needs. And finally, let's pray that the Father uses us to be the blessing in someone else's life.
Happy Thanksgiving! I am so blessed to have all of you join me each day as we pray and worship together. I love hearing from you when a particular prayer, bible verse, or story speaks to you and what you're going through. God reveals Himself to us when He answers our prayers, yet, each time I'm still amazed. Who am I that God listens to my small voice and answers? What an amazing God He is. What a blessing He gives us each and every day that we wake up and are given the opportunity to reveal Him to others. God is so good. I am so blessed.
Blessings sung by Laura Story
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things
(Chorus)
'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
Chorus
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
Chorus
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise
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Please join me this week in praying for all of the awesome blessings that God bestows on us. Pray for any blessings that someone close to you needs. And finally, let's pray that the Father uses us to be the blessing in someone else's life.
I want to be like this tree, don't you? I want to have this much trust in the Lord that I'll never worry, never fear. I want to bear fruit continuously for Him. The reason we don't trust so completely is because we doubt, or are just plain impatient. But He is always there for us and provides for us. He doesn't want us to go it alone. We need to learn to just enjoy the blessing of being a child of God.
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Please join me this week in praying for all of the awesome blessings that God bestows on us. Pray for any blessings that someone close to you needs. And finally, let's pray that the Father uses us to be the blessing in someone else's life.
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV
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Please join me this week in praying for all of the awesome blessings that God bestows on us. Pray for any blessings that someone close to you needs. And finally, let's pray that the Father uses us to be the blessing in someone else's life.
I'd like to take some time before the rush of Christmas gets into full-swing to reflect on the blessings God has given us. I try to remember to thank the Lord for the many blessings He gives me throughout the day, but I forget to thank Him for the greatest blessings He gave to me and all His children: His Son, salvation, and eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:16-18 NIV
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 NIV
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Please join me this week in praying for all of the awesome blessings that God bestows on us. Pray for any blessings that someone close to you needs. And finally, let's pray that the Father uses us to be the blessing in someone else's life.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:4-7 NIV
(emphasis mine)
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
A child receives your box Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3
They hear the gospel and attend a 12-week study.
Upon graduation, they receive a bible in their own language, and they go out into the world and spread the Good News. They may share it with their family, friends, and even their entire village. Those people may then share the gospel with others they meet.
Once everyone has heard the Gospel, Jesus will come again! Hallelujah!
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
I stumbled onto "Revival Outside the Walls Ministry" website and was absolutely blown away by what I read there. I'm sharing just four of the statistics (see below) as they relate to what we're praying for this week, but I hope you'll take some time to go check out their website in more depth. We need to be in prayer daily for our youth because it sounds as if the principles and doctrines in the Bible are not being shared even in the church.
A woman in one of our bible study groups posed the question (regarding sharing our faith): What are we afraid of? We aren't persecuted here in the U.S. as those in other countries are. We can speak freely without the risk of being thrown in jail or killed (there are exceptions to this, of course); yet those people living where it's illegal to believe in Christ do share the gospel. They put their life on the line to spread God's word. Here, we have nothing to lose, but we seem to be more afraid and therefore don't share it. It doesn't make any sense.
Possible answers/responses:
afraid of rejection
afraid of being asked questions we don't know the answers to
afraid we're pushing our beliefs on others
afraid of making others angry or uncomfortable
These are legitimate responses, but none of them are life-threatening. We need to do whatever we can to get past these fears. As for myself, I've been in prayer about it and God has given me opportunities to share in ways that I'm more comfortable with which helps me build up the confidence to do more along those lines. So, whatever your fear is, please pray about it and listen when God responds.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones.
For I tell you that in heaven
their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 18:10 ESV
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
I came to faith as a child (15 years old) and apparently, that happens far more often than someone being saved as an adult. The statistics in the above photo make it clear just how important children's ministries are. 43% of believers came to Christ as children under the age of 12 and 29% listed children's ministry as a factor. The children need us to invest in them; not just financially, but also by volunteering our time, sharing our God stories with them, and praying for them. What does your church do to minister to its youngest members? How can it draw in more young people and teach them the gospel? How can it prepare this generation to hold onto their faith as they grow up? I don't have the answers, only questions, and concerns.
Timothy's (Paul's protege) grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice started teaching him from the Old Testament at a very young age. This prepared him to accept Christ as the Messiah as soon as he heard Paul preach the gospel.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,
knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood
you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 ESV
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
Veronica's story shows how one shoebox can impact many, many lives.
A child receives only one shoebox during their lifetime. Before they open the box, they are given a book and are told the gospel. They attend a 12-week bible study and upon graduation, receive a bible in their own language. After receiving her box, Veronica wanted to do something to make a difference, so at 13 years old, she started a soup kitchen and, using the materials she was taught with, shared what she had learned with the 270 children she met. So, in this amazing instance,
1 box = 271 people reached
We don't know how many of those children then shared the gospel with their family, friends, people they met over the course of their life, but I am confident than it multiplied exponentially.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights
with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17 ESV
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"
This seems like a daunting task until we witness the inspirational ministry of Operation Christmas Child. You've probably heard of "The Christmas Shoeboxes" but until you see the incredible journey these little packages take and the works they perform in glorifying God and spreading the Good News, you will not be able to appreciate what a service this is.
This is National Collection Week (November 18-25) for Operation Christmas Child where Samaritan's Purse Shoeboxes are being gathered all over the world. Take a minute to view: The Journey of a Shoebox
Our church is a drop-off point for our area and I have the blessed opportunity to serve as the prayer lead for this location. Since I can't be there everyday, I'll be sharing prayer, bible verses and inspirational stories on my blog this week for all children's ministries in general and for this most important week of the OCC ministry in particular. I hope you'll join me in praying for the blessing these boxes provide not only for the children and villages who receive them, but for those who package them.
Our Heavenly Father, ...Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14 ESV) We pray that the children who receive an Operation Christmas Child box this year be transformed by the love that went into the packaging of each box and especially by hearing the gospel. May they take the gift of the Good News and share it with everyone they meet so that it will be spread throughout the world. In Jesus precious name we pray, Amen.
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Please join me this week in praying for children's ministries, for their effectiveness and potential to multiply and spread the Good News to all nations.
I can't even imagine our Lord and Savior kneeling on the floor washing my feet. The disciples must have been completely humbled by His actions. I know it humbles me. If Jesus can do this, I should be able to do anything and everything He calls me to do. There is no task beneath me.
So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them,
“Do you know what I have done to you?
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:12-14
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
Words aren't coming to me this week which is why I'm only posting the Bible Verses, but it just hit me that this is why. How we serve Christ and others is a personal matter between us, individually, and Him. We put ourselves last, serving all of those before us. In doing this, we can be among the first within the Kingdom of Heaven. It's a complicated lesson, to me at least, but the part about what we're doing here on Earth is very clear.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said,
“Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Mark 9:35 NIV
I guess God gave me some words to write after all. :D
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:18 NKJV
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this,
that you must support the weak.
And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘
It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Acts 20:35
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
Did you know that God gave you a gift chosen just for you? He gives each of His children a spiritual gift*, that allows us to spread the Good News and minister to others. I was so excited to learn this because I thought we were all supposed to be able (and comfortable with) going up to strangers and asking "Do you know Jesus?" (some people are able to do that - I am not). I felt like I was letting Jesus down; after all, look at what His disciples went through to spread the word.
The parable of the talents finally made sense to me! (Matthew 25:14-30 and similarly Luke 19:11-27) Discover your gift and use it. If you ignore it (or bury it in the dirt) it's wasted. I'm sure there are tests online you can take to discover your gift, or you can pray for God to disclose it to you.**
Last evening I gave my testimony on video in preparation for being baptized by immersion (I was previously baptized as a newborn and at the age of 16 by being sprinkled in the Methodist Church). I couldn't sleep all night worrying about how I came across (because I worry about sounding prideful), but I get really excited about what God has done in my life lately, and there's so much more I wanted to say but forgot. I must've talked for over 30 minutes as it was and Pastor Brian will somehow chop that down to 3-5 minutes, so what I forgot to say doesn't matter, but my point is it is so exciting to discover the ways that God has equipped me to serve others and I want to share that with everyone who'll listen! I just encourage you to find your gift and run with it. It will change your life!
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:10-11
* For a list of spiritual gifts, check 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4. **I recommend reading: Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style by Mike Bechtle
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
I used to resist the idea of "serving" or "submitting" to others. I thought everyone should be strong and be able to take care of themselves and I expected the same of myself, but then I met this incredible woman, we'll call her Kitty. I said something about not liking where the bible tells us to submit to our husbands (Ephesians 5:22-23) or to anyone for that matter. She looked at me with disbelief. She said, "I consider it an honor and a privilege to serve Jesus." That cut me to the quick.
In Ephesians, we're told to submit to (or honor or respect) our husbands and they are to love us because neither of these traits are fundamentally inherent in us. When we do this then, we are honoring Christ and the men are loving Christ.
Jesus tells us flat out that when we care for someone, we're caring for Him (Matthew 25:31-40) and we will ultimately be judged for that.
Kitty serves Jesus with everything she does. She is kind and loving and giving. With her one comment, she completely changed my attitude and my heart. It made me realize that my attitude was not only selfish, but a missed opportunity to serve the Lord and to spread His lovingkindness. Thank you, Kitty.
Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.
Ephesians 6:5-8 ESV
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
These brave and selfless veterans defended our country with a servant's heart. They did this for you and me, risking their lives for us.
The video refers to Matthew 20:28:
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (NKJV)
Galatians 5:13 ESV says:
For you were called to freedom, brothers.
Only do not use your freedom as an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love
serve one another.
Join me in thanking our veterans and letting them know that they are appreciated.
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This week we are praying for a servant's heart. I'll personally be asking God to quash my pride and fill me with the desire and opportunity to serve others. (Like I wrote previously if you pray for this be prepared for God to give you someone fairly quickly).
This wraps up this year's reading plan. I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm trying to think of something different to do starting in January, but haven't figured it out, yet. If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments below.
May God bless you and keep you.
A woman in one of my bible study groups said that during her adult life, she sat with three different people as they died and pointed out that when the time came, the only thing they took with them was the spirit they had chosen.
I thought that was so profound and a wonderful illustration of what is truly most important in this temporary life. Do God's work while you're here and profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Your eternal inheritance will be more magnificent than anything you could possibly store up on Earth.
“Then the King will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
Matthew 25:34 NIV
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Please join me this week in praying for the poor. Ask God what you can do to help and to make a difference in the life of someone in need.
For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Luke 6:38 ESV
You can test God on this...not to sound like the for-profit "ministers" who preach "prosperity gospel" on television, though.* God isn't rewarding us but rather He gives back to those who give so that we can and will give even more. I believe He wants us to be active in taking care of His children in need.
*Honestly, these people scare me. They twist the gospel and extort money from those who don't have it to lose. Beware of these types of so-called Pastors. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says: For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. Doesn't that just send chills down your spine?! That's exactly what's happening! We're here to build relationships, help one another, spread the Gospel, and to bring glory to the Lord. 1. Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. 2. Love your neighbor as you love yourself/do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (paraphrasing).
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Please join me this week in praying for the poor. Ask God what you can do to help and to make a difference in the life of someone in need.
