“Search me O God, and try this heart of mine, search me and prove if indeed I am thine, test by thy word, that will never change, my strength of hope and faith in thee.”
Lord, this morning, I surrender all thee, all of my secret faults, and all of my weaknesses. Subdue every vain desire that threatens my love for you, and instill in my heart a deeper love for you, O God, so that no earthly joy can lure me away from you. Lord, I will look to thee with steadfast hope, and draw closer to you. Lord, I want to continually experience the fullness of your love, so guide my thoughts, my ways, my tongue and my heart, so that all I do and say may be pleasing to you. Lord, I gladly surrender all to you this day and put my trust in you, and I pray that your word will always be a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path, as I travel along the pilgrim way. Thank you Lord!
Most assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now, you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23-24
It sounds so easy, yet, we find it so hard to do – Ask. “Whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.” Many of us ask, but like we read in the book of John, we ask, but we ask amiss, we ask, but we do not ask the Father in Jesus’s name, we ask and we do not believe, so we do not receive. Jesus said unto them, “Have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, whatever things you ask for when you pray, ask of the Father, in the name of Jesus, and believe that you receive them, and you will have them, and your joy will be full. Lord, teach us how to pray aright!
We give you thanks, O God, we give you thanks, calling upon your name, and declaring all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 75:1
Father, we thank you for this morning for life and love. We thank you for your innumerable blessings which you will pour upon us this day. They are not earned or deserved, but we know that you are a father who loves his children, and no matter what we have done or where we have been, you are still there. Show us how to love you, show us how to honor you so that our days may be long, so that, our cups will be full and running over, so that, our ways may be pleasing to you. Lord, we will continually call upon your name and give you thanks, and declare to the world all your wonderful deeds. Thank you Lord!
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new.” If we are born again Christians, we should be reconciled totally to God.
When we are reconciled to God our minds have been renewed, our ways have been channeled in the ways of the Lord, and therefore, we should walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called. We should not receive God’s grace in vain; we should not touch what is unclean; we should daily cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God. All of us who have been born again were borne out of sorrow, but godly sorrow, we are here because in the accepted time God heard our cries and in the day of salvation he helped us, so that we could give him the honor and glory for our godly sorrows which produced repentance in us and led us to salvation. Thank you, Lord, for new birth, thank you for mercifully accepting us as joint heirs with you, help us to never look back, but to look ahead, beholding the all things that have become new to us in Christ. Praise the Lord!
A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure, three times I prayed to the Lord that it might depart from me, but the Lord said, “My GRACE is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12
Just like Paul’s experiences, Satan sends messengers to stop our blessings, but we only see the trouble, and not the blessing in it, sometimes the burdens we bear seems intolerable, and we ask the Lord to deliver us, but, the burden is not lifted, it is increased. Why? Because God is saying to us, “My GRACE is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” So I am encouraging those who are weak this morning, to shout out, “I am strong in the Lord, for his strength will perfect my weakness.” Help us, Lord, to take pleasure in our infirmities, in our reproaches, in our needs,, in persecutions and in our distresses; help us to persevere knowing that the discomfort is only for little while; that God is perfecting us, that God is increasing our faith; therefore, be of good courage and know that God will strengthen your heart for any problem that you will face; boast in your infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon you. Praise the Lord!
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the power of God. 1Timothy 1:7-8
God has called each of us not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ before time began. Therefore, if we have been called to his purpose we must serve Him without fear or shame, we must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, we must be confident in whom we believe, and be persuaded, that the God whom we serve is able to make us fit for any task he has set before us and see it to completion. Therefore, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” Are we just empty vessels, or are we vessels filled with love for God and each other?
Scripture reminds us that now abideth faith, hope and love, but that the greatest of these is love. Many of us profess to be faithful, and hopeful, but are we lovely? Faithfulness is between you and God, so is hope, but to be lovely involves loving ourselves and others. It is easier to love from the lip than from the heart, because loving from the heart makes us vulnerable and open to being hurt and deceived, but God says without love we are nothing. It’s no wonder that scripture encourages us to be kind to strangers, for if we are kind to strangers we expect nothing in return, and our reward will be greater in heaven, but many are reluctant to love or be kind to strangers because there is no earthly reward, but know that when we give from the heart to those we know and love, we expect to have it returned to us and we are most times disappointed. Why? Because true love is not puffed up, does not parade itself, nor seeks its own, and therefore, if loves is puffed up, paraded or self-seeking, it becomes nothing more than a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Let us then pursue the things that make for peace and love and build up the common life. Amen!
Have you been persistently unfaithful to God? When we are persistently unfaithful to God we keep idols in our hearts and continuously follow the desires of our hearts that causes us to stumble. But, God is merciful.
Lord, we come to you this morning, and we lay before you all the idols that we keep in our hearts which makes us estranged from you, we lay down all the evil desires of our hearts which causes us to stumble, we will no more profane your name, we will instead do good works which will bring honor and glory to your name. Lord, we are blessed, in that though we have sinned you will mercy and pardon us. Lord, this day, we come to you with repentant hearts, we will turn away from our idols, turn away from all abominations which grieves your Holy Spirit and call upon you, and you promised that you will answer us and cause us to no more stray away from you, that we will no longer be persistently unfaithful to you, that we will be your people and you our God forever. Amen!
Let us give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and for his mercy which endures forever. Let us pause for a moment to reflect on the goodness of the Lord, for he daily loads us with benefits.
Open our eyes Lord to behold your goodness.Every day we are faced with new challenges, but how many of us are able to thank God for those challenges? We focus so much on the challenge that we miss the blessing in it. Today we will not allow the challenge we face to discourage us, we will not break under its yoke, we will instead go through it valiantly, for trouble don’t last always and this too shall pass; but, we must go through it, in order to see the blessing in it and give thanks to the Lord who will indeed sustain us through it all. The Lord is good and his mercy endures forever. Let’s just praise the Lord!
Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. Psalm 15:1-2
Lord, your word is a light unto our feet and lamp unto our path, your word teaches us the way, shows us the truth and leads us in the light. Lord, we want to abide in your tabernacle, we want to dwell in your holy hill, so help us to walk uprightly, to do righteous works, to speak truth from our hearts, to keep our tongues from backbiting, keep us far from doing evil to our neighbors, or take up reproach against our friends. Lord, you have assured us in your word that if we keep ourselves from all these things that we will then be able to abide in your tabernacle and dwell in your holy hill, so we pray thee therefore Father, to keep us in your way, so that we may abide with you always. Amen!