Generosity

 

Because of the generosity and support of Southern Baptists, through the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, God's word is being spread all over the globe.
     Our missionaries who have been able to stay abroad through the pandemic are especially thankful for the support they've received from the U.S. so that they can continue to share the gospel. They've come up with creative means during the past 9-10 months to keep the mission work moving forward even during times of isolation. Read their stories of thankfulness by clicking here.

Prayer requests:

PRAISE GOD for the continued work of Southern Baptists who have remained committed to reaching the lost for more than 175 years.
ASK GOD to send more individuals and churches who will be committed to the vision of reaching all nations and all peoples with the gospel.
THANK GOD for sustaining the work of missionaries through all circumstances, including the most recent global pandemic.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV

*********

Please join me for a Week of Prayer for International Missions. Check back each day for information on who we're praying for specifically and to learn more about them.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #BibleVerses #bible #intercession #petition #missionary #peoplegroup #unengaged #unreached #ministry

Jesus washed their feet

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

*********

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'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

God loves a humble servant

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

*********

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'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Love in deed

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:18 NKJV

*********

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'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Give

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

*********

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'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Find your gift

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

*********

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'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Acquiring a servant's heart

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

*********

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'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Light in the darkness

If you pour yourself out for the hungry 

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, 

then shall your light rise in the darkness 

and your gloom be as the noonday.

Isaiah 58:10 ESV

*********

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.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Share the gifts

Give, and it will be given to you. 

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, 

running over, will be put into your lap. 

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).

*********

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.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

What can I do?

We all know (hopefully) that it's better to give than to receive, so why is there so much want in the world? Are we all doing our best, giving joyfully and selflessly as Jesus taught us?
     This time of year, we maybe think about it more than we do the rest of the year, which is fine, but it's my prayer that we start a momentum that carries on into 2020.
     I really love my church. Just this past weekend, we held our annual car clinic where church members worked on cars for those in our community who maybe can't afford an oil change and are unable to take care of their vehicles themselves. We check windshield wiper fluid, tire pressure, turn signal bulbs, etc. and the youth vacuum the cars and clean the windows. While people wait for their cars they have the opportunity to find some gently used items for themselves or others. We provide food and haircuts and nail painting while the people wait on their cars. We minister to these people and talk to them, get to know them, and love on them. It's an amazing experience for everyone, those giving and those receiving.
     We're also collecting food to give the needy for a Thanksgiving meal, coats and other items for Target Dayton, filling shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We're sending out missionaries to Peru and the Dominican Republic.
     I don't say all of this to boast but rather to show that there is so much each of us can do to touch the lives of those who are less fortunate. We can't all be missionaries, but we can reach out to someone and simply listen to their story, have a cup of coffee with them, say a prayer with them. If you can't give financially, maybe you can donate items that you no longer need. If you have no time, money, or anything like that, you can become a prayer warrior for those in need. There's always something that needs to be done, someone who needs help. Look around you and see what you can do. It will warm your heart and leave a positive impact on those you touch.

In all things I have shown you that by working hard 

in this way we must help the weak and 

remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Acts 20:35 ESV

*********

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.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Give secretly

But when you do a charitable deed, 

do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 

that your charitable deed may be in secret; 

and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

Matthew 6:3-4 NKJV

I want to try something different, at least for a few days. Since my audience here is worldwide (hallelujah!) I'm going to use google translator to translate the daily bible verse into a different language each day. (I have no way of knowing if it translates accurately.) Today is Portuguese:

Mas quando você faz uma ação de caridade, não deixe sua mão esquerda saber o que sua mão direita está fazendo, que sua ação de caridade pode estar em segredo; e o teu Pai, que vê em secreto, recompensará-te abertamente.