“Cry out to the Most High God for it is He who accomplishes all things for us. May he equip you with all you need for doing His will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to him forever and ever!” Amen.

What is the gift that God has given you that you are yet to begin using, or are you still trying to figure it out, or are you using the gift for selfish gains? If you are still unsure of your gift or how to use it, you need to be spending more time with God. We get our directions from God and many times we misuse our gifts because we do not spend enough time with Him, to seek him out, to understand what he requires of us. My brothers and sisters in Christ, God needs our undivided attention in order that we may know what his plans are for us and the directions we must take in order to please him.

Because, nothing and no one comes, anywhere close to my God; with a cry of praise my heart will proclaim, You are good You are good, in joys or pains, sun or rain, my life celebrates, You are good, You are good Lord! Thank You! We must learn to give God thanks and praise for all the many blessings of this life, especially the small and troublesome blessings.

Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.

Thus says the Lord, “In a favorable time I have answered You and in a day of salvation I have helped You; and I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people.” Our timing is not God’s timing, but He is always on time.

When my daughter was just a little girl, she was chosen to recite this poem “Time to Pray,” at one of our Harvest Cantata and it has stuck with me all these years. I am hoping that if this is the first time you are learning of this poem that it will have a lasting effect on you too.

TIME TO PRAY!

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day; I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. “Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered. He answered, “You didn’t ask.”

I wanted to see joy and beauty,  but the day toiled on, gray and bleak; I wondered why God didn’t show me. He said, “But you didn’t seek.”

I tried to come into God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, “My child, you didn’t knock.”

I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day; I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.

We are reminded in Proverbs chapter 27, that, we should not boast about tomorrow, for we do not know what tomorrow will bring forth. In Matthew chapter 6 we are reminded that we should not worry about tomorrow or what we should eat or what we should drink, or what we should wear, because our Heavenly Father has already taken care of that. He says, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, worrying or boasting will not bring us any good. God has all of our needs and concerns in the palm of His hands, all we have to do is to trust Him.

Are you the unreliable messenger or the reliable messenger? Too many of us are listening to unreliable messengers, they are causing us to lose our way; but Lord, this morning we are calling on you for redirection, we are calling on you to help us, to listen only to the messengers you send to speak to us and give us the understanding to know the difference. Lord, so many of us are hurting, send us messengers that will bring healing. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Lord, please guard our hearts and our minds, so that our thoughts and our actions may be right in your sight. Lord, we can do nothing in our own strength, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Hear our prayer Lord, and help us to depart from evil and cling to all that is good, so that we may abide with you forever. All this we ask in your holy name. Amen!

Too often we are quick to see the speck in others eyes when there is a beam in ours. We must learn to only be judges for ourselves, to consider our thoughts and our actions. Scripture reminds us, “Do not judge, or you will be judged! For you will be treated as you treat others and the standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”