Today We Pray

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for this beautiful world we live in. But at the same time, we anticipate greatly the new world You have in store for us. We praise You for Your love for us, revealed in Your amazing plans for our future.

Please help us to remember that anything that frightens us comes with an invitation to find the strength of knowing and trusting You. Let me give something that shall aid my kind – a word of courage, or a thought of health. Show me that I need to remember those who are: sick, imprisoned, lonely, confused, in need of a friend, dying, hungry, spiritually lost in their lives — wandering aimlessly through life. 

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. Equip me with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in me what is pleasing to him. Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen

The Daily Grace - Sweet Rest

Try as we might - tossing, turning, fluffing the pillow, pounding the pillow - sometimes we just can't fall asleep. After offering some good suggestions on how to get a better night's sleep, a news article concluded that there really is no "right way" to sleep. There are numerous reasons why sleep eludes us, many of which we can't do much about. But sometimes unwanted wakefulness is caused by anxious thoughts, worry or guilt.

It's then that the example of David in Psalm 4 can help. He called out to God, asking for mercy and for God to hear his prayer (v. 1). He also reminded himself that the Lord does hear him when he calls on Him (v. 3). David encourages us: Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still (v. 4). Focusing our minds on the goodness, mercy and love of God for His word, our loved ones, and ourselves can aid us in trusting the Lord (v. 5).

The Lord desires to help us set aside our worries about finding solutions to our problems and place our trust in Him to work things out. He can "put gladness" in our hearts (v. 7). So that, we might "lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make us dwell in safety" (v. 8). Even we cannot sleep, God can give us rest.

Today We Pray

Dear Lord, take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore You, a heart to delight in You, to follow and to enjoy You, for Christ's sake.

Give me a spirit of peace amidst the storms and the tempests that roll. Let me find rest and quiet within a calm buried deep in my soul. Take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of your Holy Spirit.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, this day and evermore.

Amen

Today's Godly Reminder - Psalm 4:7

God will always put joy in our hearts. This feeling of joy is more than like a farmer waiting for his crops yield abundantly. He will also bless us abundantly with that joy. You are more than enough when you have God in your life.

Rejoice and be glad. Receive that joy in your hearts today. A joy that will never stop and will never leave you. Praise Him with gladness, for He is good.

The Daily Grace - God Will Bless Our Church

In April 1937, Mussolini's invading armies forced all the missionaries serving in the Wallamo region to flee Ethiopia. They left behind just 48 Christian converts, who had little more than the gospel of Mark to feed their growth. Few even knew how to read. But when the missionaries returned 4 years later, the church had not just survived; it numbered 10, 000!

When the apostle Paul was forced to leave Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-10), he yearned to learn about the survival of the small band of Christians he left behind (1 Thess. 2:17). But when Timothy visited the Thessalonian church later, he brought word to Paul in Athens about their "faith and love" (3:6). They had become "examples" to the believers in the surrounding regions in Macedonia and Achaia (1:8).

Paul never claimed credit for any numerical increase in his ministry. Nor did he attribute it to anyone else. Rather, he gave credited to God. He wrote, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase" (1 Cor. 3:6). Difficult circumstances may thwart even our best intentions, separating friends from each other for a season. But God is growing His church through every difficulty, we need only be faithful and leave the results to Him.

Today We Pray

Dear Lord, thank You for another day that You have given to us. Thank You for the gift of life. Glory and praise to You for filling me with life to live another day.

I will spend this day in Your presence filled with Your joy and energy. Help me to accomplish Your will, Lord. Let me do what I can to deserve the joys of the day.

Make me an instrument of Your grace. Bless me and those who pray with me now, that although we cannot see or hear one another, we may be bonded in your Holy Spirit. Let us be as bricks in a great lighthouse to guide the entire world to You, to Your love and Your forgiveness.

Amen.

Today's Godly Reminder - Ecclesiastes 4:10

If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.

Two is better than one. We are better when we have people who backs us up. No man is an island. We are really made to help one another.

Pray for someone who can help you. Someone that you can trust. Ask God for it. He will also give you persons that you can be an accompaniment throughout your life.