Thought for the day...

Jeff, thank you for posting things like this. I've just started going to men's prayer meeting on saturday evening. Its GREAT, these guys vary in age from mid 70's down to guys in their mid 20's. There's normally about 15 to maybe 18 of us, i'd venture to say, every one there, is really dedicated to praying for our President, our country, our state, our church members, etc. And, they all start off by thanking GOD, for every thing we have been blessed with. This is my first time ever participating in a mens prayer meeting. I can honestly say, i look forward to it each saturday evening, and, i'm blessed so much by being there, with these very devoted men.

 

Glad you found a great group of guys to join. Yes, we all need prayer. The devil is always attacking.
Thank you for the encouraging words.
I enjoy posting these devotions.

 

January 31, 2020
Verse of the Day
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV

 

What are my gifts?
By Pastor Mark Jeske
You may have noticed that God doesn’t whisk you safely up to heaven as soon as you are converted to faith. You’re still here! That can mean only one thing: your work here is not completed. You’re not just killing time here until death or judgment day ends it all. You are part of God’s mission team to make a spiritual difference in other people’s lives.

You are called to be distributors of God’s Word and God’s love. You have been given a place and a set of relationships by God. The only question that remains is the particular role that he needs you to play. For that you need to take a personal gifts inventory of your life. “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).

Q: So how do you know what those gifts are? A: What are you good at? Where does your spiritual passion lie? What kinds of work and service do you care about? What do other people compliment you on? Do people tell you that you are good at teaching and explaining? singing? playing a musical instrument? creating a spreadsheet? growing and arranging flowers? telling stories? writing? graphic design? caring for buildings? creating great meals? caring for children? designing websites? curating a church Facebook page? organizing care for seniors?

Using God’s gifts satisfies your soul.

 

February 1, 2020
Verse of the Day
I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalms 16:8 NIV

 

What do you have?
By Pastor Dave Scharf
A man was visiting a Texas landowner. After dinner the landowner took the man out on the front porch to show him the view. Waving his arm toward the horizon, he said, “Everything you see belongs to me. Those oil wells on the horizon—they’re mine. That grain on the hills—that’s mine. Those cattle in the valley—mine. Twenty-five years ago when I came out here, I had nothing. But now I own everything you see.”

The host waited for words of praise. But the visitor waved his arm toward the heavens and said, “And what do you own up there?”

Do you find yourself focused on what you have or don’t have here on earth? Do you let it affect whether you’re in a good mood or a bad mood? If so, chances are that you are too focused on the “down here” stuff and not focused enough on the “up there” stuff.

Sometime today, look up and realize what you have: a God who scooped you up in his arms at your baptism and said, “You are mine and I am yours.” A God who loved you to death on a cross. A God who says, “Be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

What do you have? Turns out you have a lot

 

Loving Like Jesus IS Loving Jesus

When my family started fostering, we attended a Christmas party for foster families given by a church we'd never visited in a denomination we didn’t belong to. I ended up spending the whole two hours choking back tears and trying to keep myself composed. Everywhere I looked I just kept catching glimpses of the face of Jesus in the crowd.

Before we even walked in with our kids, we ran into the friend who invited us in the parking lot. There He was on her arm all snugged up in an infant carrier as a little girl born addicted to meth, cocaine, Xanax, and some other drug I can't recall. He was there again just inside the door—a whole swarm of volunteers warmly greeting us and scrambling to offer us full stockings and name tags instead of using their Saturday before Christmas to shop and run errands. Then He was there behind us. A mom, a dad, and no I'm not kidding, six school-aged foster kids. Most with thick glasses or leg braces on and all with clean clothes and contented smiles. He was a redhead who proudly showed me the Lego set he was given by some nameless, un-thanked church member. And He was both the dad who gingerly wiped saliva off of a wheelchair-bound boy, and the boy who could only respond by turning His newly dried face to look into the dad’s eyes. And He was the chatty woman with a big, healthy baby on her hip and He was also the toddler dangling from her legs. And an older woman signing to two little boys with cochlear implants over one ear. And a sweet grandpa with a Santa hat who led a carol sing-along with Rudolph and Jingle Bells thrown in to put the kids at ease. And driving home with my trunk full of donated groceries and presents, I realized He was the two little sisters who returned home with us that night. He was even my family too. We were being Jesus and loving Jesus all at the same time. Jesus was just everywhere I looked. In the loving and the loved.

In today’s passage, Paul beckons the Church to live in a way that this party exemplified. That there be equality. That we’re all in this together. Not just His hands and feet, but sometimes His face. His tangible, observable body. But unless we allow ourselves to get chin-deep in the sorrow, and need, and pain, and poverty, and brokenness, and loneliness, we won't feel it. And things like the kids in your community spending Christmas without a family won't even break your heart because you won't know any of their names. And until you look into their eyes, you'll never know the joy of seeing Jesus Christ face to face on this side of heaven.

It's worth it though. He is unimaginably, breathtakingly beautiful. He is awesome and majestic and glorious and radiant. And it's more than enough reason to love like Jesus—with everything in us.

Kendra Golden
Life.Church Creative Media Team


Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
II Corinthians 7:2‭-‬11 NKJV

 

February 2, 2020
Verse of the Day
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
Job 19:25 NIV

 

Undeserved thankfulness
By Pastor Matt Ewart
Genuine thankfulness is the byproduct of a heart that is properly aligned with God. When your thankfulness begins to slip, that’s the first warning sign that something in your heart needs attention. So even though it is nowhere close to Thanksgiving, here’s a simple exercise to see how thankful you are. Ready?

For the next 24 hours, be mindful of all the things you have and all the relationships you have. And as you force yourself to be aware of those things, be thankful only for that which you don’t deserve.

Once you make a list of all the things you deserve, think twice about them. These are the things that are putting your heart out of alignment. Truth be told, this world doesn’t owe you a thing, and neither does God.

The good news is that God does not give us what we deserve. Jesus took what you deserve, and it cost him his life. But here’s what’s amazing: God did not stop when he took care of your eternity; he takes care of you every day until you enter eternity.

Are there things that your heart thinks it deserves? Pay attention to those things today. Let Jesus take control of them to bring your heart back into the right focus with the result of genuine thankfulness.

“Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19,20).

 

February 3, 2020
Verse of the Day
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV

 

February 4, 2020
Verse of the Day
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 NIV

 

Wrestling with the devil
By Jason Nelson
“Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 GW).

We expect Satan to come at us like a roaring lion. We expect him to be scary, noisy, and conspicuous. But he’s a sneaky, sneaky lion. And he is a snake in the grass—our grass. Satan rarely comes at us with a frontal assault. He rarely makes mischief in our lives by rushing at us head-on to maul us. He doesn’t want us to see it coming. He lies in the weeds and watches so he can see which way we are heading. He’s a savvy wrestler. He notices how we’re leaning and uses our own body weight against us. Our own momentum does us in. He slips alongside and pushes us too far in the direction we are inclined to go so he can roll us over. Then he flops on top of us and pins us down.

Satan nibbles away at us to go for just one more: one more drink, one more bet, one more flirtation with the pretty person at work, one riskier pursuit of some guilty pleasure. The first move in wrestling with Satan is pulling ourselves back. The first move in wrestling with Satan is being clearheaded and alert to the things that tempt us so that we can pull ourselves back. Then we can regain our moral balance and be faithful to our Lord.

 

One of my favorite verses...thank you T.Jeff Veal

 

The GOOD LORD gives us what we need, when we need it...thank you, brother......