Do you realize that God allows situations in your life and mine to remind us of how awesome he is? Thank you, Lord, for the situations that brings me to you in prayer, you have my undivided attention, so I will be still in your presence and wait for you to act. When I wrote this prayer in my book (PFEL) I was faced with a situation in my life where I tried to handle it in my own strength, and it kept getting worse, and it brought me to my knees in prayer before God, and when I opened my mouth to pray, it was not to ask God to relieve me of this situation, it was to thank Him for the situation which brought me to my knees in prayer before Him. I realized then, that there was no problem, situation, or circumstance, greater than God, and that when I allowed myself to be humble, to kneel in prayer before Him, He strengthened my weak knees, so that I was able to stand up, and be strong, in the face of my situation. I am encouraging you this morning, to never allow your situation, problem, or circumstance, to play a greater role in your life than God, when they arise, fall on your knees before God and acknowledge Him, give Him your undivided attention, be still in His presence and wait for Him to act, and watch him fix it for you. He did it for me and he will do the same for you, trust Him.

“While the world looks upon me as I struggle along, they say I have nothing, but they are so wrong, in my heart I am rejoicing, and I wish they could see, but I thank you, Lord, for your blessings on me, There’s a roof up above me and a good place to sleep, there is food on my table and shoes on my feet, you gave me your love Lord, and a fine family, and I thank you, Lord, for your blessings on me. Though I am not wealthy, these clothes are not new, I don’t have much money but, Lord I have you, and to me that’s all that matters, though the world may not see, thank you Lord, for your blessings on me.”

Lord, I am thankful for each new day, for health, for strength, and for your unending mercies. I am especially thankful for my peace of mind, I am learning to be content in any situation; I am surrounded by people who love and care for me. Lord, I did not understand where you were leading me and I was rebellious at times because of lack of wisdom, I wanted to followed my own desires, forgive me dear Lord, because I can see clearly now where you brought me from, you have washed me, you have molded me, and you recreated me, and I can say with confidence, that I don’t know about tomorrow, I won’t worry about tomorrow, I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know you hold tomorrow, and I know you are holding my hand. Thank you Lord!

We read in Genesis 35:2, “Jacob said to his household and all who were with him “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you and purify yourselves and change your clothes.” Then we are reminded in the book of Joshua chapter 24, ”But, if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve others Gods.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, the choice is ours, to fear the LORD and to serve Him, and Him only, in sincerity and truth; let us pledge today to put away from us all foreign gods, anything that we put before God, anything that separates us from his love, to purify ourselves and change our clothing, and serve the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Praise the Lord!

Look around you this morning and instead of focusing on the troubles of yesterday, thank God for the blessings of today. When I awoke this morning, I felt a peace, a sweet peace, it was so calm, so quiet, and I stood at the window and looked out on God’s beautiful creation and I just said, Thank you Lord! I don’t know what this day will bring forth, but I will ask God to let his peace surround me this day and no matter what face me today, I believe his calm assurance will see me through. My brothers and sisters in Christ may you also be blessed with God’s peace today and let it surround you like a shield. Praise the Lord!

Do you believe this morning that God works in mysterious ways? Indeed he does! Many times when we are on the brink, when we think all is lost, God plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storms in our lives. Many of us this morning have been praying to God for one thing or the other for a long time, and we are close to giving up, but I am here to remind you this morning, and to reassure myself, that the God we serve is a mysterious God, he moves in mysterious ways, and I am confident, that our God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or deserve, all we need to do is to have faith in God. So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are fearful this morning, fresh courage take, for the clouds that you so much dread, are big with mercy, and will break with blessings on your head. Amen!

“Lord, lift me up and let me stand, by faith on Heaven’s table land, a higher plain than I have found Lord, plant me feet on higher ground. My heart has no desire to stay, where doubts arise and fears dismay, though some may dwell where these abound, my prayer, my aim, is higher ground. I want to scale the utmost heights, and catch a gleam of glory bright, but still, I’ll pray’til Heaven I’ve found, Lord, lead me on to higher ground.” My brothers and sisters in  Christ, let us press on the upward way, still praying as we are upward bound, and watch the Lord, plant our feet on higher ground. Thank you Lord!

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and spiritual ruin. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves with many sorrows; but you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life to which you were called, and having confessed a good confession in the presence of many witnesses, I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, that you keep his commandments without spot and blameless, until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.” My brothers and sisters in Christ we brought nothing into this world and we will carry nothing out, so, let us be content with what we have, let us store up for ourselves a foundation of godliness, which will lead to eternal life, and withdraw ourselves from all foolish and harmful lusts which will ensnare us, which will allow us to fall into temptation, and cause us to stray from the faith and bring us much sorrow. Help us Lord!

My brothers and sisters in Christ we must hold each other accountable, in that, if we see one who is of the faith acting unfaithful we are obligated to call them out; for Scripture reminds that we should, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men might be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love and in patience, and that the older women likewise may be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, but teachers of good things; and in all things show ourselves to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine, show integrity, reverence and incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of us. My brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are to win souls to God, we have to ensure that our character, conduct, and conversation are edifying. Our character represents who we claim to be, our conduction represents what we do, and our conversation represents what we say. Those who believe in God should be careful to maintain good works that are profitable to others, to meet urgent needs, that they might not be unfruitful. Dear Lord, guard our hearts, our minds, our lips, and our hands and feet this day, in Jesus name we pray. Amen!

There are many who are ashamed of where they have been, and what they have done before being saved by God. But, we should not be ashamed, we should allow these to be testimonies to others who have done what we did, and are now where we were; to show them that with God, all things are possible to those who believe. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not present ourselves as perfect Christians because we are not. We should not be quick to condemn others knowing where we ourselves have been, we should not speak evil of others, for, if we forget, Scripture reminds us in Titus chapter 2, how evil we once were; how we were also foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving others lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another, to name a few. But, when the kindness and love of God our Savior towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to God’s mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit which he poured out on us abundantly, that having been justified by His grace, we could become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Praise the Lord!