In times such as these, you may be wondering what you can do. I have three words for you, just keep praying. Prayer is the most powerful tool that we have in our arsenal. Prayer changes things! Hannah cried out to God after years of being barren and God gave her Samuel (1 Samuel 1). Hezekiah called out to God from his death bed and had fifteen years added to his life. Prayer is powerful.
Haven’t you ever wondered why every time you start to pray your mind starts to wander, the phone starts to ring, and it seems like every distraction pops up? That happens because Satan desires to take you away from that powerful time of prayer with our Heavenly Father. I know having a consistent prayer life can be difficult, but there is nothing more valuable in this world than having fellowship with the King of Kings. Now more than ever, we need to be people of prayer.
For the King,
Pastor Daniel Batistelli
In the opening section of Paul’s letter to the church of Colosse, he talks about what he is thankful for. One of the last things is Paul’s thankfulness for where their hope lies. While there are many things to have hope in here on earth, there is nothing more certain than what waits for us in heaven. Imagine the consistent joy we can have as Christians if our hope was always fully resting upon what lies ahead for us in heaven, where rust or moth cannot eat away at what the Lord has for us; where we get to worship our Lord forever.
May your hope be fully rested upon what lies ahead as you seek to be faithful and love the saints.
Resting in Him,
Pastor Sean Boehm
Have you ever walked up to someone and asked them how they are doing and they answer with the standard, “I’m doing great.” But you think to yourself, “Then someone needs to tell your face because it obviously didn’t get the message.” When we truly walk in the “joy of our salvation” and a vibrant day-to-day relationship with Jesus, it will show on our countenance. It doesn’t mean we won’t have bad days and sorrow in our hearts but we can choose joy even in the midst of the most difficult times, because our eternal destiny hasn’t changed.
We will be with Jesus one day and our hearts will be merry for eternity.
Happy with His promises,
Pastor Gerard Deleeuw
This verse is one of the most loved in the Bible as it outlines God’s forgiveness for our sins. David kept his sin hidden for a year while his life was falling apart, but when he finally confessed it, the Lord forgave him and said he wouldn’t be killed, which was the law for murder and adultery, both of which David committed.
You might say, well, yes, but he still lost his newborn son. That’s true, because forgiveness of sins doesn’t mean the consequences of sin are going to be wiped out. It’s why we shouldn’t use this prayer as a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, but use it as a chance to comfort ourselves in the Lord’s forgiveness and pursue God’s best for our lives going forward.
Blessed by His cleansing of my sins,
Pastor Ron Kitchell
The concept of joy needs to be biblically understood for it to be fully enjoyed. As a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is first and foremost the consequence of a born-again life in fellowship with God. Additionally, by definition, “happiness” is dependent upon circumstance (happenstance) while biblical “joy” finds its source with God and His promises despite the circumstances. As such we can have great joy in the Lord even in the midst of great difficulty. How? By doing what we read poetically in our verse: drawing water from the well of salvation.
We must reach out and draw forth all that He has provided. It is His water, His well, His rope, and His bucket given to us. He is the reason we rejoice. He is our joy!
Finding my daily joy in Him,
Pastor Jack Abeelen
We live in a world that is filled with despair. It’s deep-seated and it’s everywhere—even within the body of Christ. The devil will scream in our ears, “You’re no good” or “Your situation is hopeless.” It’s hard to live in victory when we believe the lies.
There is a shocking reality regarding despair and suicide that we cannot ignore. There are over 35,000 suicides in America every year, and the suicide rate is the same among Christians and non-Christians. This is alarming. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
We overcome despair and are transformed by changing how we think and by the renewing of our mind. We need to know what God is like, who we are in Christ (Romans 5), and what we believe.
We are called to enjoy our relationship with Jesus fully. Learn to say no to Satan’s lies. Don’t agree with him – because he is the father of lies (John 8:44). Meditate on Psalm 139 and pray it out loud to the Lord.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Pastor Del Casale
The apostle Paul lists here some of the spiritual gifts of the Lord, and in Ephesians 4:12-16, he lays out the purposes of those gifts. We are all probably very familiar with the purpose of “edifying [or building up] of the body of Christ.” We attend church in order to worship God with the expectation that God will speak to us through His word and edify us as He works on our hearts. We are a work in process and God is continually working on us (Philippians 1:6).
However, we may not all be aware that another of God’s purposes is that we all are to be equipped for the work of the ministry. God not only calls the pastors to do the work of the church, He calls all of us to work alongside of them. We each have a calling (Ephesians 4:1), and if you are not yet serving in a ministry, pray that the Lord would reveal to you where He would have you serve, then step out in faith and see the Lord work through you. Lord, may we each have a walk worthy of the calling to which we were called.
Jeff Mericle
It is almost impossible for us to comprehend what it is like to be outside of time in an eternal present, where a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. But although we cannot understand, we can stand in awe of Him who chose us before we chose Him and loved us before we loved Him. Undeserving as we are, He chose us before time began for a destiny so wonderful we can scarcely grasp it in this fallen world.
Before He created the world He saw you, knew you, and loved you. And He chose you for a reason: that you should be holy and blameless before Him: set apart, forgiven, and in His presence. When David saw how the Lord had blessed Him, and gave him an inheritance vastly beyond what he deserved, he responded, “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices… In your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” That is how the Spirit revealed to David what it would be like to be “before Him.”
If we would but have a glimpse of what the joy of His presence will be like—fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore—the things of this world that so beguile and enamor us would instead be almost meaningless. To be holy and without any blame or guilt before Him, nothing on earth can compare.
What resolve this should inspire within us to pursue Him in this life! His presence is what our hearts are actually longing for the most. He fills the void in my heart and satisfies the longing of my soul.
Tom Day
God, through the prophet Isaiah, is rebuking His people for constantly planning and making decisions without seeking Him. Let this rebuke to Israel be a rebuke to us as well when we devise plans and seek counsel from others yet do not seek counsel from God’s Word and spend serious time in prayer seeking the will of God.
When we don’t seek God and we move forward in whatever brilliant plan we came up with, odds are, it’s wasn’t God’s plan and that brilliant plan of ours leads down a path that leads to further bad choices. It thereby causes a snowball effect of painful consequences that take us further from God’s will. There is an easy to solution to prevent this… seek counsel from our God first and foremost. That doesn’t mean we can’t consult others, but at the end of the day, we must let God direct us and our plans.
Pastor Jason Witt
From verses 2:14-26, James is saying faith without works is dead. He gives an example of living out our faith in the above verses. If you have a brother or sister around you and you say be filled and be warmed but you do nothing about it, what profit is there? In other words, actions speak louder than words.
I’ve been reading and seeing all over Facebook and Instagram and Twitter the words “They need Jesus!” or “The answer is found in Jesus.” Yes, those statements are true but, my question to you is “So what are you doing about it?” Are you simply praying that someone else could come along and feed them? Or are you putting action to your faith? I know I have the tendency of standing around praying but now its time for the next step — go out and do. Go out and invest in the lives of those who need it the most.
Josh Navarro
