WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE WORRIED: 30/6/2020

Philippians 4:6-7 – Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Martin Luther once wrote in a letter to his wife, “Pray, and let God worry.”

God isn’t going to worry, of course. But we still need to pray, because we worry about a lot of things. And sometimes we even will elevate worry as a virtue, saying things like, “I worry because I care.”

But is worry actually a virtue? I don’t think so. In fact, I think worry can be a sin. I’m not saying that all worry is a sin, but I am saying that it can be.

I’ve unnecessarily worried about things. I’ve fretted and have been filled with anxiety. So why is it potentially a sin? Because it’s a lack of trust in God. When we worry, we’re essentially saying, “God isn’t in control. He isn’t taking care of me in this situation. I’m not trusting in the providence of God.”

But if you are a Christian and believe the Bible, then you will know that God is in control of all circumstances that surround your life, and there are no so-called accidents in the life of a believer.

That is an important thing to remember, because worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength.

Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

TAKE AWAY
Turn your worries into prayers. The next time you are gripped by fear and worry, turn it into a prayer like this one: “Lord, I don’t know what to do, but I trust You. You are in control, and I commit this to You right now.”

Look to the Lord, and let Him give you His peace.

We Can All Live

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION: 29/6/2020

Mathew 6:13 – And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The phrase, “Lead us not into temptation,” maybe confusing. After all, the Bible is clear that God does not tempt us. So why would Jesus teach us to say, “Lead us not into temptation?”

1. First of all, Christ is reminding us that we need to call on God’s help in the face of temptation. We’re calling on God’s help for strength through the trials of life and asking God for the strength to resist temptation.

2. But it’s also a plea for God to help us make the wise decisions that keep us out of vulnerable situations and to ask for the wisdom to develop a lifestyle that limits temptations.

3. “Evil” in this verse actually means “the evil one.” When we rely on our own wisdom and strength, the evil one is smarter and stronger than us, but he can never be smarter and stronger than God.

So, we need to call on God to give us the power to resist temptation and deliver us from the evil one. He wants to destroy our lives, but God wants us to live and live life to the fullest. It just makes sense to trust God and resist temptation and believe God will deliver us from evil

THE PROMISE
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

THY KINGDOM COME: 28/6/2020

Mathew 6:10 – Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

There is so much poetry in the scriptures. Perhaps one of the most beautiful is the Lord’s Prayer. The wordings are so superb that we often read and enjoy it, but skip over the meaning.

Consider the phrase “Thy kingdom come.” What is the “kingdom?” And exactly where are we asking it to come? The kingdom of God is wherever Jesus reigns. If Christ is the King of your life, the kingdom of God is there. If Christ reigns in your church, the kingdom of God is there. If Christ reigns in your family, the kingdom of God is there.

This phrase is also a prayer of intercession. We are interceding for others and asking God to build up His kingdom. We are praying for those that are lost, that they will enter the kingdom of God. And it means we pray for kingdom matters, that God’s kingdom will be built up here on earth.

But that’s not all. When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are praying for Jesus’ return. We pray not only Thy kingdom come, but Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. His will cannot be realised in perfection until Christ comes again.

TAKE AWAY
So every time we pray for His kingdom to come about, we are saying, “Christ, come again! We long for You to come again to bring justice and peace here on this earth!” The question now is, “how ready are you for Christ return?”

How Solid Is Your Purpose

PROBLEMS FORCE US TO GOD DRAW CLOSER TO GOD: 27/6/2020

1 Peter 4:12 – Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Jesus warned us that we would have problems in life. No one is immune from pain or insulated from suffering, and no one gets to skate through life problem-free.

But the Apostle Peter assures us that problems are normal. God uses these problems to draw you closer to Himself. The Bible says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship likely will be in your darkest days: when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great — and when you turn to God alone. It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heart-felt, honest-to-God prayers. When in pain, we don’t have the energy for superficial prayers.

Joni Eareckson Tada notes, “When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating Him and quoting Him and speaking of Him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.” We learn things about God in suffering that we can’t learn any other way.

God could have kept Joseph out of jail, kept Daniel out of the lion’s den, kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit, kept Paul from being shipwrecked three times, and kept the three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing furnace, but He didn’t. He let those problems happen, and each of those people was drawn closer to God as a result.

TAKE AWAY
Problems force us to look to God and depend on Him instead of ourselves. Paul testified to this benefit: “We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us” (2 Corinthians 1:9). You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.

Pray For Your Leaders : 26/6/2020

1 Samuel 12:14 – “If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good!”

Our Leaders Need Our Prayers.

There is a story in the Bible where King David had committed a horrible succession of sins. When Nathan confronted David with his sins, David finally confessed and sought the Lord’s forgiveness. God did forgive him, but serious consequences remained. The enemies of Israel would now be making fun of God.

David’s actions were so alien to the Lord’s teachings that he was causing God to be ridiculed. “After all,” they would say, “if this man of God who is supposed to be a good man that is your king, if he acts like this…guilty of adultery, murdering the woman’s husband, and then marrying the woman…hmmm – you are no different from us!”

All of us have been around ministries when a spiritual leader falls into sin, and we know the disillusionment within the church. But we also know the mocking outside the body of Christ. “He’s supposed to be a man of God! He’s no different from me or anybody else!” And that is yet another negative consequence for sin in our lives.

Pray for your spiritual leaders. Pray for your government leaders. Pray for those in authority over you, because their sins have terrible repercussions for the lives of many. Pray that they will do right and spare us all the disillusionment.

When you step into the gap for another person with God the Father, you may sometimes be going on a major rescue and deliverance mission depending on exactly what you may be praying for.

PRAYERS:
Loving Father, Your Word says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. God, help us to be a nation that fears You, a nation that is not afraid to acknowledge that You are the true living God. Help us to stop looking at worldly solutions and to focus on You. It is only through worshipping You in spirit and in truth that we will be able to have knowledge and understanding about the issues of life that are affecting our nation. In Jesus’ name, I believe and pray, Amen.

Celebrating Apostle Joshua Selman Today

Please patiently watch to the end. You will be greatly blessed

Worship Medley

CHECK YOUR MOTIVES: 25/6/2020

James 4:3 – When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

What is your motivation for prayer?

How do you handle it when you are disappointed in the results of prayer? Everyone has had some disappointing outcome even with the most fervent or faith-filled prayer. Sometimes we try to slide those disappointments under the rug and not talk about them.

The truth is that God is always faithful and His Word is 100% accurate all the time. Psalm 33:4 reminds us; “For the word of the Lord is upright; and all His work is done in faithfulness.” We, therefore, are dumbfounded in those times where our experience does not seem to match that truth.

You’ll find little argument from people about the importance of prayer. Most people pray. Everyone needs it. But the reality is, prayer is often disappointing to us. We don’t get the results we desire. Let me share with you why: It’s found in the Bible, in the book of James, as shown above. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.”

Prayer is not so much about asking God for what we want. It’s about discovering what He wants for us and finding the strength to do it. Selfish prayers disappoint. Prayers to get to know God, to find strength and to do His will, bring tremendous results – sometimes even supernatural results. This kind of praying is powerful, because you get plugged into the ultimate power source – the God of the universe.

REFLECTION
How is your prayer life? Is it fulfilling or disappointing? Remember to check your motives, for your heart is the key. Why don’t you take a moment right now and talk with God, just for the purpose of seeking His will. You’ll find your prayer life to be more fulfilling and powerful.