Bobbie just sent me this: Thank you all so much for your prayers…..Gracin is home and doing well….only meltdown occurred when the anesthesiologist insisted that she take out her princess earrings…. :)
Meltdown or not, I tell you she is a beautiful little princess! May she grow in favor with God and man and very early become the ‘Bride of Christ’ giving Him glory all the days of her life! Amen and amen!
Ya’ll have a glorious day praising JESUS and don’t forget to PRAY AT NOON!
Holy hugs, Kat…
We all know we are not suppose to worry, right? Right. While I was reading Matthew 6: 25 -33 this morning, I wondered what is worry anyway. I mean what does worry really mean. And do I really do it. (Sounds like I was beginning to worry over worry, huh?) So I consulted my on-line dictionary and I found an interesting synonym for worry. Brood. And I must tell you I think I like the word brood. Because I don’t think I brood. Much. Here’s what it means: To focus attention on a subject persistently and moodily. To be depressed. To be deep in thought. Meditate. To hover. Enveloping. See what I mean? Now lets read the passage. Matthew 6:25 – 33
25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Now how do you feel about the passage? Have you often read this passage and felt condemned? Have you read this passage and believed that your concerns about food, clothing, water bills, mortgage, etc. etc. was worry? And it could be; but perhaps it’s not. If we go back to verse 24, we will read that Jesus told His disciples (and us) that we cannot serve God and wealth (or money) simultaneously– we trust (focus on) one or the other, but not both. And taking our definition for worry – brood – lets ask ourselves are we persistently and moodily focusing on MONEY? Do we see MONEY as the source that feeds us? Do we see MONEY as the source that clothes us? If our answers are yes, well, then we are not only brooding, worrying, we are ‘serving and bowing’ to money rather than GOD. BUT, on the other hand, if we hold a responsible concern (not depressed, not moody, not ill tempered, not grumbling and complaining, but rather) praying and believing that our Father GOD is either going to ‘rain manna from Heaven’ or somehow enable us to work and receive what we need — I’d say we are not guilty of worrying. What you say?
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
ABBA, it’s written. I pray I’m not way off here and that it will encourage and stir us to trust You rather than worry and brood over anything. We called each name, we pray for Your will for each one of them. We pray for each IDOK Soldier that You will keep each of them safe and bring them all safely home. We pray for LeGrand that You will continue to restore him. We pray for the others who are home, making adjustments, that they will find their place again. We pray too for those waiting to go, that Your Will be done. Thank You for loving us. Please bless and comfort all our IDOKS, give rest and peace, comfort, grace and a hunger for You and this I ask in Jesus Strong and Mighty Name. Amen and amen.
I am hoping to give ya’ll a little break today and be brief. I’ve been way long-winded lately with heavy stuff – can’t promise won’t be heavy though.
Hebrews 10:35Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
If you have tuned in to Wednesdays With Beth in recent weeks you have heard her minister this verse and oh did she do it well. I’ve referred back to it a few times lately. Don’t throw away our confidence – most certainly our Savior is worthy of our confidence and most certainly in Him we find confidence – the confidence that we are foolish indeed if we let anything or anyone take away from us.
And that being true a few days ago, I found a secondary message in verse 35. Let me clean up my journal a little bit and share it with you.
Do NOT throw away my confidence not only and first and foremost in Christ Jesus, my Savior, but also those mortals I love too.
Don’t start, don’t allow, and if today we wake up and see it already growing — get rid of that foothold of doubt before it becomes a stronghold of disgust or despair. What happens when the ‘new’ wears off a relationship? Often not good. And in some, the relationship – fellowship comes to a parting of ways. (That may not be all bad depending on whether or not the relationship was built on Christ Jesus — but that’s another devotion.)
I am particularly thinking of close family and friends – people that we know love us, people we have a history with – good times and tough times. Let us not entertain doubts about them — e.g. ‘And just what did she mean by that?’ ‘Did he really mean that the way it sounded?’ These fiery thoughts, if not extinguished with love and truth, will grow and fester. Soon we will question their motives, their sincerity, their ‘goodness’ in just about everything they say or do. And when that happens, we will be smack dab in the middle of disgust or despair. Disgust – I am so sick of her, I cannot stand the sight of her. Despair – he will NEVER change!
Let us not throw away our confidence in the people we love, keep on believing in them. Keep on believing their love for us is true; keep on believing they would not maliciously hurt us; keep on holding onto our confidence in them until the Holy Spirit of God SHOWS us our confidence in them is misplaced.
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
DADDY GOD, even this turned out longer than I thought, I pray You will anoint it and use it to help, to encourage and even shore up, restore and make better some relationships and fellowships.
We’ve read all the names, we’ve remembered the exact request of many, and those we have not, You know for sure and again today we entrust their well being to You. Again today we ask for peace and safety for our IDOK Troops and their families. And again we remember the cares and causes on our hearts and we bring them all in one accord in Your Name LORD JESUS. Amen and amen.
Carolyn brings these to us: Can we pray for Jerry who needs healing and salvation, and Joyce who needs salvation. Melissa who needs healing. Spencer who needs healing and asked for prayer.
Okay. Truth. I am beginning this with some trepidation. As we move along you may see why.
Some of my Scripture meditation for today is found at Isaiah 5:20-23 and it is there we shall begin reading. Commonly I do not present Scripture in this format. Before each verse I am giving you a phrase which I think is currently reflective of what I see in the verse. I wonder if you do too.
By all means this is only one of the many that could be represented here in 20a; this is just the one that first came to mind – homosexuality ….
Isaiah 5:20 a. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Abortion ….
20 b. Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Human Reasoning vs. The WORD OF GOD ….
20 c. Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Psalm 34:8 KJV 8O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.
Hollywood – Mainstream Media ….
21. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!
Capitol Hill DC and all politicians drunk on power and running in packs like rabid dogs ….
22 a. Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
Corrupt judges ….
22 b. Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
Do you see it? Now. What are we going to do to Whoa these behaviors? I’m just asking.
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
ABBA, honestly this stirs me up and I need You to rule and over rule this stirring. Because I recognize I need to be stirred up rightly. To be stirred up in demonstrative holy love and boldness; not fruitless anger and mindless emotions. There’s more than enough of that going around, isn’t there? So what do You want us to partner with You to do about these woes in the land? Clearly You are not pleased with this stuff. Clearly You want the participants to repent. Clearly You want no one to perish. Clearly You want no one to go to hell. Clearly Your patience and long suffering indicates You’d rather forgive than pour out wrath. Yet I know when Your long suffering is exhausted, You have no choice but open Heaven and pour out Your wrath. It’s getting closer every day, isn’t it? In truth, You expect me to do something about it, don’t You? I’m lazy and scared. But You are not going to let me go on this way are You? Thank You. I don’t want to either. Shall I believe that You are calling an army of saint-soldiers together to commission with detailed combat and rescue orders? If You are please confirm and sign my enlistment papers, please. Oh, You already did on November 18, 1975 and I’ve been AWOL a number of times. You’re right. Thank You for Your overwhelming mercy to me. I love You so much DADDY. I can’t explain it — it’s just You. Thank You. I have another request – I got lots of requests — but this one in particular I think I need some urgent help with — writing this here and then just being a writer and not a doer. I think I have been doing that much too long. I’d like to stop it SOON. The sooner the better, please. Don’t let me get too personal here for public consumption.
I’ve read the names of our IDOK Troops, some have been on the list for so many months I don’t know if we have them listed in the right place or not; but even if we don’t You really do know where they are. You really do know their faces and their hearts. You really do love them like no one else does. You really are taking care of them. Thank You.
And I’ve read the names and have seen the faces of many on our Prayer list. Thank You for listening and thank You for answering.
Israel comes to mind now. I pray for their peace. Is there more You have for me to do? Give me Your heart and Your will for me in this.
And there are others matters coming to mind; that Your House is to be a House of Prayer; Town Hall meetings; National Day of Prayer; Schools and teachers and students, particularly the ones right here around me; President Obama, Michelle and their daughters; the body of politicians; the oil clean up; finishing out this day well; our IDOKs and our Readers; all this I am bringing to You in these few words and somehow I KNOW You are hearing me. I love you so. Thank You. In JESUS’ Blessed Name, thank You and for now Amen and amen.
