“Before the cross of him who died, behold, I prostrate fall; let every sin be crucified, and Christ be all in all. Anoint me with thy heavenly grace, and seal me for thine own; that I may see thy glorious face, and worship near thy throne. Let every thought and work and word, to thee be ever given, my life shall be of thy service, Lord, my heart will be your home.”

“Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices; who from our mothers’ arms, has blessed us on our way, with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today. O may this bounteous God, through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts, and blessed peace to cheer us, to keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills, of this world in the next. All praise and thanks to God, the Father now be given, the Son and Spirit blest, who reign in highest heaven, the one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore; for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.”

For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7 – All that we have are gifts from God. We did not gain anything by our own strength. Give God thanks!

My brothers and sisters in Christ, what is the gift that God has given you to use to bring him honor and glory? Are you aware of the gift? Too many of us are still trying to find out what our God-given talent is. Some say that they don’t have a gift, and try to chase after someone else’s gift; but, I want to assure you if you are in doubt, that, God has given each one of us a unique gift. We may possess the same gift, but it was meant to be used in a way unique to us. We are reminded in 1 Corinthians 7, that, each one of us should lead the life that the Lord has assigned to us and to which God has called us. But, some of us get carried away with our gifts and instead of using them to bring God honor and glory, we use it for our own selfish gains. But, scripture reminds us, that, we are not superior to anyone, and all that we have received are gifts from God, and that if we receive his gifts that we should not boast in ourselves, but boast in the Lord. Our gifts should be used to encourage and uplift all those we connect with, so as to bring God honor and glory.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, “Because of the kindness that God has shown me, I ask you not to think of yourselves more highly than you should. Instead, your thoughts should lead you to use good judgment based on what God has given each of you as believers. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function; in the same way, even though we are many people, we are one body in Christ and individual parts connected to each other.” Romans 12: 3-5

Have you ever taken the time to just be still and enjoy God’s presence? There are three significant things that will take place if you just take the time to be still in God’s presence – recollection, reflection and meditation. Try it! “Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually. In God’s presence there is fullness of joy!”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we must learn to be still in God’s presence so that he could speak to us, so that we could understand his perfect will for us. When we come humble to the feet of Jesus, when we really devote ourselves to his service, we will be transported to another level of discovery, of just what God requires of us. The more engaged we are in God’s vineyard, the more in tune to him we will be and we will be able to clearly hear him speak to us. Will you be still in God’s presence so that he could speak to you?

On any given day we find that we have so much to do, but, are we doing what is most important? Are we like Martha or Mary? What is it that we are fighting to accomplish that could wait? My brothers and sisters in Christ, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. If you do one thing today, make sure that you do it all for the glory of God, for the world and all that is in it are passing away, but only what’s done for Christ will last. Let us pledge from this day forward to be totally devoted to God and his service, and to do this, we must remove the distractions out of our way, so that we could discover just want is important to God. Sit at his feet and listen.

Why do we worry when it’s more profitable to pray and trust in the abilities of the Lord? My brothers and sisters in Christ, look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6

Our God works in mysterious ways. Have you ever prayed to God for one thing and he seems to give you everything else but that one thing? God’s ways are not our ways and the things that we are convinced that we need and pray for, may not be in line with what God wants for us, or is ready to give us. Too many times we are guided in a direction which seems far from where we think we should be, we find ourselves in questionable places and situations, and most times we resist, yet, we find ourselves right back where we started. My brothers and sisters in Christ, it is not wise to walk contrary to God. He makes no mistakes, and where he positions us, he directs us. The path may not be easy, but understand, that, God is preparing you for everything that you are praying for; but, if you are rebellious, it will take longer for you to see the promises of God. Will you be led, or will you rebel? Where God is leading you, be wise and follow. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint.