Focusing On Jesus When Everything Seems Negative

Sometimes it seems all too easy for us to become negative and critical with the direction our nation is going and even our world.  Watching the news or listening to a political debate doesn't seem to make us very positive or hopeful.  There is a lot of darkness in our world these days and there is also a lot of division.

Sadly, it would seem that even well meaning Christians have hopped on the negativity train and have forgotten the God we believers serve.  The type of negativity that I speaking of is the kind that exhibits a lack of faith in the Lord our God and His ability to work in our lives in a powerful way.  We should be concerned with the way things are in our world today, but we shouldn't lose hope.  We definitely shouldn't lose sight of who God is.

The Lord is the Creator of all things seen and unseen.  He works in ways we can not see.  God is Amazing and He loves you so very deeply.  God is faithful and trustworthy.  God always keeps His promises.  We can learn more about Him by reading and studying His Word, the Bible.

Some days we can feel rather discouraged and all alone especially if we are facing a trial and suffering is involved.  We don't like to feel alone and we really don't like suffering through anything, but unfortunately as long as we are in this sinful lost world we must go through suffering.

I am thankful that when times of loneliness comes and sometimes suffering I will never have to go it alone because the Lord Jesus has promised me that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  When we go through a dark moment of some kind we can know that the Lord is with us each step of the way.  We may not sense His presence at that moment, but we can trust that He is there with us even in the darkest and loneliness valley that we must pass through.

We must continue to set our focus on the Lord Jesus and run to Him in our times of need.  I need Jesus each and every moment of each and everyday.  I am thankful for the Lord Jesus and His mercy and His grace.


Lord,
Thank You for Your love and amazing grace.
Help us to remain focused on You and not on troubling things around us.
Help us not to harden our hearts with negativity.
Lead us and empower us to live for You by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Worshiping The Lord Our Creator

Through out the autumn season I have been out with my trusty camera taking pictures of the beautiful leaves that have changed from the normal green color of summer time to a myriad of colors ranging from yellow, orange, and vibrant reds.  The leaves have been very beautiful this time of the year here in Northern Maine where I live.

Sadly the leaves have started to fall off the trees and onto the ground.  The trees now are becoming bare with all of their branches exposed.  The weather will continue to become cooler as we head towards winter and more leaves will fall to the ground below.

I have often viewed the trees without their leaves as something almost unattractive.  It just makes the landscape look rather dead when the trees have no leaves on them.  Who wants to see a bunch of trees without leaves.  No one hops on a tour bus and drive for hours to go, "branch peeping".  People do hop on tour buses believe it or not to go, "leaf peeping".  People drive from all over to look at the beautiful colors of the leaves and there are many who take pictures of them.  I have taken many pictures of the wonderful colorful leaves throughout the fall and now they are almost gone from the trees.

The other day I went out side and took more pictures of trees and what was left for leaves.  I looked at the trees more closely.  I saw their branches stretched out with no leaves on them.  The more I looked the more in awe I was for something struck me deep within my heart.  The trees were stretching their branches upwards as if they were reaching for something or out to someone.

The more I looked at all of the trees with their branches reaching up Heavenward the more I wanted to lift my hands up and worship my God and my Creator.  Something stirred up within myself and it was my need to worship the Lord.

It is almost like the Lord made trees to point their branches Heavenward to remind us that He is the One we should be worshipping.  God is worthy of all of our praise and worship.  We should lift up our hands in worship to Him for He is our God and Maker.  There is none other like Him.  There is only One true living God.

The Lord gives us the beauty of His Creation to remind us of His loving care and His tender mercies.  God is Awesome and worthy of our devotion to Him.  He is worthy of our praise and our worship.
There is none of us that is worthy of God's love of His mercy.  We are saved by placing our faith in the finished work that Jesus accomplished on the Cross when He bled and died for our sins.

When we look at all that the Lord has made and the beauty of it may it remind us how great our God is.  The God who created everything seen and unseen loves us with a great and unconditional love.  He is mighty and all powerful.  He is full of mercy and rich in grace.  God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on an old rugged cross for our sins.  God raised Jesus from the dead and one day He will return.  Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on the Cross for each of us will be saved.  I am thankful Jesus saved a sinful man as me by His grace.  That makes my want to lift my hands in praise to Him and thank Him for what He has done for me.

Lord, Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the beauty of Your creation.
Thank You for Your amazing love and amazing grace.
I lift my hands in worship and I humble my heart.
Thank You for Your Holy Word.
Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

The Workers Are Few

I remember watching a news program several years ago that talked about very large strawberry farm that supplies many grocery stores throughout the U.S.A. with strawberries and other fruits.  This supplier was willing to pay twenty-five dollars an hour for people to pick strawberries.  The days would be long and you would have to pick them by hand in the scorching California sunshine.  The news program said that this company couldn't find anyone local who were willing to work for them.  They had to truck people in from somewhere else that were willing and able to work out in the fields.

Hearing about this company reminds me of a time that I read about in Matthew 9:35-38 which says,

"35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 
                                                                                                       

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ we are saved for our sins.  We trust in His finished work on the Cross.  Then we are to go out and tell others what Christ has done for us.  Jesus tells us to go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel and make disciples.  Sometimes for one reason or another people don't share the good news of salvation and Jesus love with others.

The workers are indeed few.  There are a few that actually step out of their comfort zone and tell others about Jesus Christ.  We are urged to pray that God would send more workers out into the world as workers in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a dying world that so badly and desperately needs to hear it.  

We believers must also be willing to step out in faith wherever the Lord calls us to serve.  There are many opportunities to serve Christ while serving others.  We need to pray that the Lord would open our eyes to opportunities all around us and then take a step and lead a hand to those who need to experience the love of Jesus in their lives.

Lord, Heavenly Father,

We pray that You would send out workers into Your harvest field to proclaim the truth about Jesus.

Help us to answer the call that You have placed on our lives.

Forgive us when we fail to be obedient to You.

Help us to love one another as You love us.

Grant us courage to tell someone about Jesus today.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

                                                                              

               

Trusting The Lord Through Our Troubles

Life is filled with twist and turns.  There will be ups and downs.  There will be times of great joy and times of terrible heart wrenching painful sorrow.  There will be times of great rejoicing and times of bitter despair.  I like the good moments of life where everything seems to go well and smoothly, but I also know that in this world we all have to go through troubles.  I don't like trouble.  None of us like trouble, but it hunts us all down eventually in some form or another.

There will be storms that come against us in this world.  The Lord Jesus told His disciples and us that in this world we would have trouble, but He also tells us that we should take heart and know that He has overcome the world.  When we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we know that whatever storms and troubles come against us , we will never be alone through our trials.  We can also know that the Lord will teach us somethings about Himself on the way through the trial if we pay attention.
The Lord will often times allow us to go through a certain trial so that we can use our experience to minister to someone else in the future who is encountering a similar difficulty.  We can witness to them about how the Lord led us through our time of trouble and testify about His faithfulness and love for us through our trial.

We all go through times of trial and times of suffering.  The Lord loves us very deeply and He cares for us.  The Lord will see us through our trials if we just trust Him.  Sometimes it seems very hard to trust especially when we can't see the whole picture before us.  Thankfully we know that God sees the entire picture and He knows exactly what piece goes where and what connections need to be made.  God can be trusted.  We just need to believe and follow Him wherever He leads us.

Lord,

Thank You that You can use our troubles to minister to others of Your faithfulness and comfort.
Help us to share those moments where You helped us with others.
Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Salvation

There are many people in our world today that think they can do good deeds and make it to Heaven someday.  I recently heard a Billionaire tell a news reporter that he was going to Heaven because he gave a away a lot of money and helped people.  There are some people that think that if they perform some kind of ritual that they will be allowed into Heaven.

The Bible is pretty clear that we are all sinners and there are no amount of good works or rituals we can perform in order for us to be allowed entrance into Heaven.  There is not one of us that is good enough on our own to get into Heaven.

We were all born with a sin nature.  That is we were born bent away from God.  We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's high standards.  We were born spiritually dead and we are all deserving of being eternally separated from God and placed in a literal hell.

Thankfully, God made a way for us when there seemed to be no way at all.  God demonstrated His great love to all human kind by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to live a perfect and sinless life.  Jesus went obediently to the Cross where He shed His blood for our sins and not just ours, but for the whole world.  Jesus took the punishment that you and I deserve.

God didn't stop there, but on the third day Jesus rose from the dead and He ascended into Heaven where He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father.  One Day Jesus will return and bring the Kingdom of God to the earth in full completion.

So then, how are we saved?  We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  We must receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We can't earn salvation.  We can't perform some ritual, such as baptism, communion, or church attendance, in order to have a place in Heaven.  There is only one way into Heaven and that is by placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on our behalf on the Cross.

Ephesians 2:1-10

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^a and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

We must come to the conclusion that we are not good enough on our own on order to get into Heaven.  We must realize that we need a Savior and there is only One who saves.  There is only One name under Heaven in which people must be saved by and that is the name that is above all names, Jesus Christ.

We live in very dark times and trouble seems to be rising up all over the world.  We don't know what tomorrow will bring.  It is important to know where we will spend eternity.  We have a choice.  We can accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and know that we are Heaven bound because He paid the price for us by shedding His blood or we can reject His offer of forgiveness and forfeit Heaven and spend all eternity in a literal hell separated from the Living God.

There is no other way into Heaven.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes the Father except by Him.  Do you know where you will spend eternity?  Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His finished work that He accomplished on the Cross for each one of us.

(Here is a link to my Pastor's (Dennis Ashley)  audio only sermon from Sunday morning at the First Baptist Church in Houlton, Maine:  https://soundcloud.com/dcashley/this-i-believe-part-5?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook  )        

(Here  is a link to the First Baptist Church of Houlton's Facebook page where you can find the video to yesterday's service as well as well as other information.: 

https://www.facebook.com/FirstBaptistChurchHoulton/?hc_ref=ARSLnYGoyOYTMPyedrrofPC2RRP1u_H9lhkX0prX_73NqncFzcREm_as3zkbTP8io9U )

Lord,

We praise Your Name.

Thank You Lord Jesus for saving us by Your shed blood.

Thank You for Your mercy and grace.

Lead us and guide us by Your Spirit.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

Dealing With Discouragement

Sometimes we feel discouraged.  Maybe we try our hardest to accomplish a task and it just isn't good enough in someone else's eyes.  I have run across this many times throughout my life when I have done my best, but certain people pick out the one thing that I didn't do.  We all have had that experience once in a while.

I recently heard a story about a man who came home from college and cleaned and organized his father's basement.  The father went down and looked at all the hard work the young man did and went back up stair and say to him, "You forgot to turn the light off in the basement."  There were no words of thanks or even a little praise.  There was a criticism that stuck with that young man for years I would imagine.

If criticism is all we here from people then it is no wonder we feel discouraged.  It is pretty interesting when you think about it.  We could get 99 people tell us that we did a good job, but that one person that gives us that criticism seems to stick out in our mind.  Sometimes I find those remarks from a critical person just seem to play over and over in my head.  The more it plays over in my head the more hurt I feel.  Then bitterness takes root in my heart.  Then anger starts to emerge.  Then I realize that feeling this way isn't helping and getting angry over some narrow minded jerk that doesn't know any better won't fix anything.  They will probably never change their ways, but I am not responsible for how they act.  I am responsible how I respond and act.

I am responsible to live for the Lord and walk in the Holy Spirit.  The Lord wants us to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls.  He also wants us to love others as He so greatly loves us.  We must be very willing to forgive those people who think it is their mission in life to point out our mistakes or our not singing good enough in the choir.  It will be hard at times.  It isn't always easy to forgive some people.  Especially if they continue being difficult and have treated us badly for a long time.  We must turn them over to the Lord and forgive them.

We may need to ask the Lord for help in forgiving those who hurt us.  The Lord knows the pain and anger that we sometimes feel.  He knows our hurts and those things that bother us.  He knows that our discouragement can make us feel isolated and all alone.  We may feel like we are just not good enough for anybody.  I sometimes feel that way and it is not a good feeling to have.

We must remember that Jesus loves us and HE cares for us even when it appears that no one likes us or understands us.  God cares.  When we do our best for Him and His glory He is pleased even when it is not perfect.

I am not good enough to earn God's love or His forgiveness.  I am thankful that I am saved by the grace of Jesus Christ through placing my faith in Him and His finished work on the Cross.

Lord,
Sometimes criticism hurts.
Help us forgive those who criticize and attack our work.
Forgive us when we are the ones that do the criticizing.
Lead us closer to You O Lord.
Come soon Lord Jesus.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

The Struggle Within

We are living in very difficult times as we all know.  It is growing especially difficult for believers and followers of Jesus Christ.  There is a war going on against Christianity and the validity of the Bible.  We believers in Jesus Christ must stand firm on the truth of the Bible for it is the Word of the true living God.

It is hard for believers in Christ to live in this increasingly godless age where immoral behavior is on the steady increase and traditional morals seem to have been shunned and cast aside.  Sometimes we believers in Christ fail to take a stand for what is right and go with the flow, but we must not do that.  We need to take a stand for what is right and honoring to God.

Sometimes we fail to speak up because we don't want to make other people not like us.  We must not be people pleasers, but we should do what is pleasing to God.  Sometimes we know the right things that we should do, but we end up doing those things which we know we ought not to do.

We have a sinful nature that wants to gratify the flesh, but we believers in Jesus have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to help us walk in a way that honors the Lord.  There is a war within every believer in Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul explains this battle in Romans 7:14-25,

"14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 
                                                                                                       

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^a For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

I want to do good and do things that honor the Lord, but sometimes I don't do the things that I know I should do.  There is a rebelliousness deep within my heart that I know is there and I don't like it.  There is a struggle within me and in every believer in Jesus Christ.  We want to honor the Lord and do the things that He wants us to do.  

We must submit to the lead of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We must confess to the Lord our sin and repent of any know sin.  We know that Jesus Christ bore the penalty for all of our sins on the Cross and we are saved by His shed blood on the Cross.  We are saved by grace through faith in His finished work on the Cross.  Everyone who come to faith in Christ receives the Holy Spirit to indwell them.

We can't live the Christian life on our own.  We are too weak in our own power.  The Holy Spirit is working within us to make us more like Jesus.  Sometimes we may feel like we are on a roller coaster with all of the ups and downs, but the Holy Spirit is still at work.  We must submit to His lead and His direction.  We must walk in the Spirit and no longer obey the flesh.  There are times when that seems rather difficult, but the Lord will help us if we just ask Him.

Lord,

We are weak, but You are strong.

Forgive us our wrongs.

Empower us to do what is right.

Help us to fix our sights on You.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

Living A God Honoring Life

Sometimes it all too easy for us to become bitter about something.  Maybe someone has wronged us or something happened years ago that hurt us deeply.  We have all been hurt by someone at some point in our lives.  It can been very hard to forgive people especially when our hearts bear the deep scars from those wounds someone inflicted upon us.

The Lord calls us to forgive those who hurt us.  When we forgive someone that doesn't mean we say what they did was right.  It doesn't mean that at all.  When we truly forgive someone we are releasing them into God's hands.  When we hold onto anger and resentment we are only truly hurting ourselves, but when we forgive them we give them into the Lord's hands and pray that the Lord can reach that person in a way that only He can accomplish.

Sometimes when we allow bitterness to take deep root in our lives we try to stir the pot sort of speak and tell others about out bitterness in hopes of getting people to agree with our point of view.  Unfortunately there are times when certain people in churches like to spread gossip and false things to cause trouble.

Ephesians 4:17-32

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 
                                                                                                       

18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned

21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

26 “In your anger do not sin”^a : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

27 and do not give the devil a foothold.

28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 

32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.                            

The devil likes to use bitter church goers to spread dissension and there are some people who buy into that unfortunately.  We as believers in Jesus Christ must put off bitterness and anything that causes division in the church body.  We must cast off the old way of thinking before we knew Christ and put on our new self that is empowered by the Holy Spirit after we have come to faith in Christ Jesus.  

Let us no longer grieve the Holy Spirit by stirring up trouble within the church body by spreading our bitterness in hurtful and unproductive ways.  Instead let's love one another as the Lord Jesus so greatly loves us.  

Let's be kind to one another and full of compassion towards each other, forgiving each other, just as Jesus Christ forgave us.

It is easy to grumble and complain about people in our churches.  It is all too easy to complain about he church leadership because we think they should be doing more.  Maybe such people need to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and what HE would have them to do and do it rather than judging someone else's servant.  

May we focus on what the Lord wants us to do for Him and do it for His Glory, Honor, and Praise.

Lord,

We praise You.

You are Holy!

Forgive us for any bitterness that is in our hearts.

Help us not to be fault finders, but help us to be kind to each other.

Help us to be forgiving as You Lord Jesus have forgiven us.

Lead us and guide us by Your Spirit.

I pray for Pastors and people in church leadership positions who are experiencing attacks from the devil.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

                                                                              

Giving Praise To God

The Lord is deserving of all of our praise and adoration.  God is so amazing and He is always with us wherever we go.  There is no place we could possible go where God is not present.  When we come to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we have the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.  The Holy Spirit indwells everyone that has placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross.

The Lord is still at work in our lives and in the world this very day.  God sees all the things going on and He knows the troubles and trials that we face, but we can trust the Lord to see us through any trouble that comes our way.  We can rejoice in the Lord that we are known by Him and that He loves us so dearly.

We must remember to praise the Lord for who He is.  We can sing praises to Him by singing songs of worship.  We can praise Him with our words and telling Him how great He is.  We can also thank Him for all that He has done for us.  God is good and we can trust Him always.  We can also tell others about His goodness toward us.

Psalm 148

1 Praise the LORD.^aPraise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. 
                                                                                                       

2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

3 Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.

5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for at his command they were created,

6 and he established them for ever and ever— he issued a decree that will never pass away.

7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,

9 you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,

10 wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,

11 kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,

12 young men and women, old men and children.

13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

14 And he has raised up for his people a horn,^bthe praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the LORD.                           

We should pray to the Lord everyday.  We should also thank Him everyday.  We should always remember to praise Him for He is worthy of all of our praise.  The Lord watches over us and He cares for us.  He loves us so greatly and dearly.  

May our hearts by filled with love towards our God and may our lips utter praise unto Him.

Lord, Heavenly Father,

We praise Your Name.

Help us to have an attitude of gratitude.

Help us to rejoice in who You are.

May Your praise be always upon our lips.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen. 

The Lord's Love Endures Forever

When we look all around our world these days we see a whole lot of anger.  There doesn't seem to be very much love in our world nowadays.  There is arguing going on everywhere we look.  There is a lot if unkindness, but not much talk about love.  I am not even sure if most people truly know what love is.

The world's version of love is not real love in most cases.  Sometimes the love that the world describes is perversion or some kind of shallow self centered version of love.  True love is giving of one's self.  True love goes beyond warm and fuzzy feelings, although they do play a part at times.

In order for us to understand what rue love is we must first look to the Lord our God.  It was because God loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into this world on a rescue mission to save people from their sins.  We all remember John 3:16 which says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

We can read I Corinthians 13, which we know as the love chapter, to get a better grip on the true meaning of love.  Love is patient and it is kind.  Love doesn't delight in wrong things or even in evil things.  Love protects.  Love rejoices in the truth.  Love never keeps records of wrongs.  Love perseveres.  Love never fails.

When we think of love our minds should go to a hill just outside of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified on a cruel Roman Cross.  God showed each one of us His great love by sending Jesus to die for our sins and not just our sins, but the sins of the entire world.  We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's standards.  God demonstrated His love toward us by sending Jesus Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

God raised Jesus from the dead and He is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us in prayer.  One day the Lord Jesus will return and fully establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth.  We must come to faith in Jesus Christ in order for us to be saved.  We are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, but we must receive Him as our Lord and Savior by placing our faith in His finished work on the Cross.

If you don't know or never heard let me tell you that God loves you and He is crazy about you.  He knows you better that you know yourself and despite all of that He loves you deeply.  I am thankful that the Lord loves me even though there are perhaps many times when I am just hard to love for one reason or another.

I am reminded of Psalm 136 which says,

"1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. 
                                                                                                       

2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.

4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.

5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.

6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.

7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever.

8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.

9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.

10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.

11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.

12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.

13 to him who divided the Red Sea^a asunder His love endures forever.

14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.

15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.

16 to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever.

17 to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.

18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever.

19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.

20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever.

21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.

22 an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever.

23 He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.

24 and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever.

25 He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.

26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever." 

When we look and see all of the anger all around us we must remind ourselves about our Awesome God.  He has done great things for us.  He is still doing great things for us each and every moment of each and everyday.  God is so very good to us, but sometimes we fail to see what exactly He is doing.  

We need to be more thankful for all the Lord is doing for us and know that His love for us endures forever.  He loves us and wants to have a deep relationship with us.  The good news is we can experience this relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.  We can have reconciliation to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  

Let us be thankful for the Lord's love toward us and let us love each other as He loves us.  Let's love our neighbors as ourselves and tell them about love that God has for them by telling them about Jesus.

Lord,

Thank You for showing us what love is.

Help us to love You more and help us to love others as You so greatly love us.

Help us not to be bitter and anger, but help us to put on love for Your glory.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

Trusting Jesus In A Ever Darkening World

We are living in difficult times.  There seems to be trouble brewing everywhere we look.  There is also a darkness that seems to have fallen upon our world and things do seem to be getting darker day by day.  Many people try to find a way to escape from the void that they feel in their hearts by turning to drugs, alcohol, or other things to try to kill the pain they feel deep inside themselves.

Those things may make a person feel better for a very short period of time, but eventually the high wears off and they find themselves feeling worse then they did before and perhaps with less money.  I have said it many times before, but I will say it again, there is so much anger in people's hearts these days and it is not a pretty sight.

I work with the public and sometimes people just don't act right.  I have seen people yell at their kids over relatively small things.  I say one young boy ask his mother for a lemon and she yelled, "No! You can't have a lemon!"  Then the boy said, "Can I have an apple?  I will share it with you, Mom."  She did allow him to have the apple at least.  It just makes me wonder if people act like this in public, how do they act at home?

Sometimes we believers and followers of Jesus Christ feel helpless.  We feel like we should be doing more.  We start pointing fingers and placing blame for all the problems that the world has.  Some people even go so far as to blame the Church.  There is plenty of blame to go around and sometimes there is some truth in the blame, but the blame is found in each person's heart.

We have all failed to do things that we ought to do.  We are all weak and powerless on our own against the powers of darkness.  We all have sinned and we all have fallen short of God's high standards.  We are all deserving of spending eternity in a literal hell and out side the presence of a Holy God.

There is none of us that is good enough on our own to enter into Heaven.  There are no amount of good works that we can accomplish to earn our way into Heaven.  Our prestige won't get us in.  Our wealth won't.  Our celebrity status won't either.  There is only one name under Heaven in which people must be saved by and that is the name that is above all names, Jesus Christ.

God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to earth on a rescue mission to save us from our sins.  Jesus came into the world to live a perfect and sinless life.  Jesus went and died on the Cross for our sins.  It is by the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we are saved from our sins and have eternal life in Heaven we die.  God make a way through the darkness.  We can be set free from the darkness through Jesus Christ.  We must come humbly to the Lord and confess that we are a sinner and we can't save ourselves.  Then we must receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We are saved by grace through our faith in the finished work that Jesus Christ accomplished upon the Cross.  We must take a stand for the truth of who God is.  We must continue to read the Bible and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those all around us.  People need to be set free from their darkness and Jesus can do just that.

We believers in Jesus must continue to trust Him.  We must surrender ourselves to the lead of the Holy Spirit and we must love the Lord and each other.  Things are dark, but we have great everlasting hope in Jesus Christ and we must never forget that.

Trust. Surrender. Love.

Lord,
We praise Your Name.
Help us to trust You above everything else.
Help us to surrender ourselves to Your care.
Help us to love You with our entire being.
Lead us and guide our steps by Your Holy Spirit.
Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Help us to love each other.
May Your will be done.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Letting Our Conversation Be With Grace

There seems to be a lot of anger and turmoil in our world today.  It seems to be every where we look.  It has spread into our governments, into our work places, our schools, our churches and in every corner of society.  People get angry over many things.  Some things are relatively small and other things are bigger issues.

We all get angry once in a while.  We get angry over injustice.  We get angry when we see a parent in the grocery store yell at her child for wanting, of all things, a lemon.  Sometimes we keep our anger within our selves and sometimes it spills out in our actions or our words.  When we are angry our demeanor changes from peaceful to an almost war like mentality.

There are legitimate things to get angry about in our world, but our anger always comes at a cost.  We pay with our reputation or even our witness for Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we may be over tired and frustrated with the people we work with or people whom we love.  There are times when hurtful words flow all to easily from our lips and we just can't seem to reel them back in as hard as we try.  We try to apologize, sometimes, but the damage has already been done once the words have been said.

Our words are powerful especially as a follower of Jesus Christ.  Our words can build people up and encourage, but our words can tear people down and destroy them as well.  Whether we are posting something on social media or speaking with someone in person we should always be graceful with our words and use our words wisely in such a way as to honor the Lord.

Colossians 4:6

Let your conversation be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer everyone.

We need to ask the Lord in prayer to help us guard our lips and guide us into what to say to people to draw them to Him.  We need to stand up for what is right and true, but we must do it with gentleness and love.  Sometimes this is easier said than done.  We need the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us the words to say in those times when we want to lash out at certain people in our lives.  

We should also be willing to show grace and mercy to others as we have been shown great mercy from Jesus Christ our Lord.  May we guard our lips and think before we speak and honor the Lord by proclaiming the truth of His Word.

Lord,

Sometimes it is easy to lash out and be angry.

Forgive us for those times when we do get angry.

Help us to use our words to honor You and to direct others to You.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

Placing Our Hope In Jesus And Not In Politics

The world seems to be plunging deeper into spiritual darkness as it tries to distance itself from the living God.  There is a lot of immorality in our world today.  There is a lot of greed and corruption in every level of society especially in politics.  Many people are tired of politics and all the bickering that goes on within it.

Many people are concerned with all the divisive rhetoric that is going on within our governments and within society at a whole.  There is a lot of division even among families and friends.  It almost seems it is very hard for people to agree on anything.

There seems to be a lot of negative things going on in our world these days and it seems to be getting worse.  Thankfully there is hope for us and for the world.  There is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.   Even when things seems so bleak we can take heart that the Lord is still on the throne and He sees what is going on in our world today.  He is also still at work in our world today and He is working on people's hearts as well to draw them to Himself.

We know that we have all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.  We are all deserving of eternal separation from God and placed into a literal hell.  God doesn't want anyone to perish, but His desire is that people would repent of their sins and come to Him to be reconciled.  God demonstrated His great love toward each one of us by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to live a perfect and sinless life.  Jesus went obediently to the Cross where He shed His blood and died for our sins.

God raised Jesus to life on the third day and one day He will return to this earth and bring the Kingdom of God to full completion upon the earth.  Currently Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

We are called to repent of our sins and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior in order to receive forgiveness of our sins and have an eternal Home in Heaven when we die.  The Lord didn't leave us as orphans to fend for ourselves until the Day Jesus returns, but He gives the Holy Spirit to indwell everyone that has placed his or her trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

God is good and He is always good.  We can trust Him in every circumstance.  We have hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must cling to Him during these difficult and negative days.  The Lord is our true living hope.  We need to continue to feed upon the Word, the Bible, and we must continue to stand for what is right in the eyes of God.

We must continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and we must worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth.

Lord,
We praise Your Name.
You are Holy.
I pray for a Spirit of cooperation to flow through this land.
I pray that people will repent of their sins and be reconciled back to You through Jesus Christ.
I pray for a revival in the Body of Christ throughout this Nation and throughout the world.
Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Jesus, Our Light In The Darkness

Sometimes we take electricity for granted.  We always expect that when we flip the light switch that the lights would just come on.  We don't even think much about it.  We expect it and most of us depend upon it, but sometimes the power goes out without warning and we are left in the dark.

When I arrived home tonight from work the power went off and it didn't come back on for over an hour.  The power was out all over the County where I live and no one exactly know why as of the time that I am writing this blog posting.  The power is on now and everything is back to "normal".

Even though for that period of time with no lights I was still able to have some pork chops to eat and a big baked potato.  My mom and I listened to the battery powered radio that we have.  I read the Bible to my mother just like I do every night with a special light that I had placed on my head.  It was a funny sight to see, but it did work.  We also prayed that the power would be restored and that the men and women who were working so hard on the power would be safe.

Thankfully it wasn't terribly dark when the lights went out since that sun had just set about a half hour or so into the power outage, but it got me thinking about something.  Our world seems to be an increasingly dark place.  There is a moral slide that seems to be going on everywhere we look and there is a pull away from the true living God.

John 8:12 says,

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”          

Even though there may be no electric power where we live we can know that the Lord Jesus is still with us each and everyday and that He loves us so very dearly.  Sometimes we depend too much on electricity and not enough on the Lord our God.  

We also have the assurance in that even though the world is getting to be a spiritual dark place we can be thankful that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, if we have placed our faith and trust in Him, and that in Him there is no darkness at all.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one can come to the Father unless they go through Jesus.

May we walk in the light by following the Lord Jesus and trust Him wherever He leads us.  May we continue to read His Holy Word, the Bible, and be led by His Holy Spirit.  May the Holy Spirit shine the light of Christ through us into the ever darkening world in which we live and hopefully draw them into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Lord, Heavenly Father,
Thank You for restoring our electricity that was only out for a relatively short time.
I pray for those in our world today that do not have electricity where they live.
I pray that You would comfort them and point them to the Lord Jesus, who is the true light of the world.
I pray for those who are living in a spiritually dark place to be delivered from that darkness and brought into the light of Christ and the truth of who He is.
Thank You Lord for Your love and Your care for each one of us.
In Jesus Mighty Name we pray,
Amen.        

Refreshed By The Holy Spirit

It has been rather dry here in Northern Maine over the past several months with our lack of rain.  Thankfully it has rained some over the past few day and it was a very welcomed rain.  Rain is necessary for plants and crops to grow.  We need rain to fill our wells so we have water to drink.  Rain helps keep the threat of a wildfire very low.

The rain also seems so very refreshing in other ways as well.  Call me weird, but I like getting caught in a nice gentle rain.  It energizes me a little bit during those warm days that we have in the summer.   When its cold outside I don't like it as much.

I have seen how dry things have been where I live.  I have been taking pictures around town of  the fall leaves and I noticed how awfully low the river that flows through town is.  I don't think I have ever seen it so very low.  It is a very sad sight to behold and very concerning.  There are many other bodies of water all around the surrounding areas that have the same problem of being low because of the lack of rain.

It is easy to tell when there is a lack of rain for we can see signs of it all around us by looking at the water ways and how low they look to us.  I was thinking about how dry things have been looking all around me and then I starting thinking in a Spiritual sense.  Do we often notice when things are getting Spiritual dry in our own lives and in the lives of those around us?

When believers in Jesus Christ become known to those around them as, "the chosen frozen", because of their lack of getting involved in the things that Jesus would have them to do, isn't that a cause for concern?  I think it is, but I also know that I can't point fingers at other believers and condemn them for being Spiritually dry because I notice a dryness in myself as well.

We believers recognize that there is indeed a problem.  We know that there seems to be something missing and that there is something more to the Christian life and following Jesus than just sitting in a pew on Sunday morning.  We believers in Christ have be bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit.  We believers in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to be our helper in accomplishing God's will for our lives.

Just as the land needs fresh rain to revitalize it we believers in Jesus Christ need a "fresh rain" of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We have quenched the Holy Spirit's fire for far too long and know we as seeing the results.  We have been trying to get people to come to our churches by introducing new programs and music styles, but they aren't coming.  We have tried inviting people to come, but they still don't come.  There are many believers in Christ that are frustrated and burned out from trying to do things in their own power and in their own strength,

We need the Lord to grant us a fresh faith in Him and in His ability.  We need a fresh pouring out of His Spirit into our lives.  We need the Holy Spirit to take complete control of our lives and our Churches.  What we need most is to surrender ourselves completely to the Lord Jesus Christ and His will.  We must humble ourselves and come boldly to His throne of grace.

We need the Lord to set our souls on fire.  Let's humble ourselves before the Lord and raise our hands and voices in worship to the Lord our God, our King.  We need to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit and continue to seek the Lord's will and direction for our lives.

Lord,
We praise Your Name.
We need Your help O Lord.
We have become dry and we have tried doing things in our own power.
Forgive us for quenching the Holy Spirit within us.
Set our souls on fire for You O Lord.
Ignite a fresh faith and a fresh power deep within everyone that has placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Help us to have courage and strength as we step out in faith wherever You would call us.
Come quickly O Lord.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Serving The Lord By Serving Others

Sometimes it seems all too easy to get distracted.  There are so many things that try to get our attention.  We live in busy times.  Everyone is running from one thing to the next.  It is hard to keep up with everything.  The more we rush to get things done the more stressed we become.  The more stressed we are the less we actually accomplish.

Sometimes we find our attention is on the wrong things.  Sometimes we take our focus off of the Lord and we start serving other things.  We may place other things or people above the Lord and that never turns out well.  The Lord wants us to have our focus on Him and He wants us to serve Him.  We do that by serving in our local church body in some way.  

The things that we are focused on may not be wrong exactly, but they may not be the very best that the Lord has for us.  The Lord has things for us to do and accomplish.  We only have a short number of years on the earth and the Lord wants us to accomplish the things that He has planned for us to do.

Sometimes finding out what God's will is for our lives is a challenge and sometimes it requires patience and waiting.  We don't like to wait nowadays.  We live in a culture where we are used to getting the things we want rather quickly.  We must learn that waiting on the Lord is always best.  His timing is always good.  We sometimes think that God moves too slowly, but the Lord isn't slow at all.  He is working out all things for our good.  The Lord is continuing to work on our hearts as well through the Holy Spirit.

We must continue to read the Bible and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  We must also continue to serve the Lord right where we are by serving others.  There are many things that need to be done in our local churches, but sometimes we don't feel qualified for them.  Sometimes that is our excuse.  The Lord will enable us to do whatever it is that He wants us to do and He will provide a way for us to do it.  All we have to do is show up and be willing to serve the Lord whether it is handing out bowls of soup to the homeless or praying in front of the congregation on Sunday morning.  We may not be perfect at what we do, but if we are doing it for the Lord then we can know that He will receive all the honor and praise.

We believers in Jesus Christ must refocus our hearts upon Him.  We need a revival in our very hearts.  I know I need a fresh empowering of the Holy Spirit in my life and a fresh faith.  We know God is good and He is good all the time.  Our God is all powerful and all knowing.  There is nothing impossible with God.

Let's step out in faith and serve the Lord wherever He places us.

 Lord,
Forgive us for taking our focus off of You.
Help us to serve You where You have placed us.
Lead us and guide us by Your Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Trusting The Lord Jesus In Troubling Times

We have all had those times when we feel alone and afraid.  We are living in anxious times to say the least.  We are bombarded by a multitude of news stories on our televisions, our smart phones, and all the other devices that we have.  We can know what is going on in our world in a matter of minutes if not seconds.  There seems to be a lot of bad news in our world these days and things seem to be getting worse.

There are a lot of things that can cause us to worry and to be anxious.  Sometimes we have this uneasiness within us that we just can't explain.  We get so bombarded by bad news that we wonder what will happen next.   We are living in fearful and perilous times.

The good news is that no matter what troubles come to our world we believers in Jesus Christ can have confidence that He will be with us each step of the way on our journey with Him.  God hasn't left us to fend for ourselves.  When we come to faith in Christ the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us so we are never truly alone.

There will be times when we get lonely and scared.  There will be times when we will wonder if anyone cares.  There will be times when loved ones will be far away from us for one reason or another.  We can take comfort in that the Lord will always remain by our side.  God loves us and He cares for us.  The Lord Jesus sticks closer to us than a brother.

The Lord is crazy about us and His love lasts forever.  The grace of our Lord Jesus is greater than our sin.  We are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no other Name under Heaven in which we must be saved by and that Name is Jesus Christ.

There is no greater friend we can know than Jesus.  The Lord will lead us and guide us by His Spirit.  The Lord will protect us and comfort us in the most difficult and trying times of life.  There is a lot of turmoil in our world these days, but we who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can be confident that we are on the winning side.  At the very end of all things we know that God wins.  We can take comfort in that if we belong to Him.  We can belong to Him by placing our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross.

We must not allow fear to control us.  It is easy for us to be afraid and worried.  It is easy to be anxious and lose faith.  It is all to easy to hide away and try to avoid danger.  What we need is a deeper trust in the Lord our God.

I am still learning to trust the Lord in many areas of my life.  I have learned that one way that the Lord helps us to trust Him is that He makes us wait and at the same time we learn patience as well.  The more the Lord teaches me the more I realize my absolute need for Him in all areas of my life.

When times get tough and worry and fear try to destroy us we need to call out to the Lord and trust that He is there with us.  God hasn't abandoned us.  We are His and nothing can change that if we have received Christ as Savior.

The Lord will be with us no matter where we go.  We can trust Him to be there with us each step of the way.  When we feel alone and we feel like nobody cares for us we can trust that Jesus cares.

Lord,
Thank You that You care for us.
Thank You for loving us.
Thank You for Your grace Lord Jesus.
Help us to trust You more and help us to be patient.
Lead us and guide us by the Holy Spirit and Your Holy Word.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Loving Jesus And Loving Each Other

There is a lot of evil and wickedness in our world these days.  Evil and wickedness has plagued mankind since Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree in the garden of Eden.  The devil stirred up trouble back then and he is still at work stirring up trouble nowadays as well.  The devil is working harder now causing more and more trouble because he knows his time is running short.

It is all too easy for us to be led astray by the devil's schemes and lies.  We believers in Jesus Christ must continue to be anchored in the truth of God's Word, the Bible, and the truth of who the Lord our God is.  We must remember who God is and that He is always with us no matter where we may find ourselves.

The devil is even stirring up trouble within the Body of Christ.  We must realize that we believers in Jesus Christ are in a Spiritual war and we are under attack by our advisory, the devil and his demons.  We must place upon ourselves the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).  We also must remember to put on love.  The thing that is missing mostly in this world of ours is love.  There is a lot of anger and hatred, but love seems hard to find.

It is in the midst of tragic moments that we see love acted out by people who show up to help total strangers.  Some of these total strangers risk their own lives to help and save others.  The greatest display of love that mankind has every experienced was displayed in a horribly tragic moment about two thousand years ago on a hill far away.  God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on a Cross for the sins of the entire world.  It was a painful and tragic moment and yet this act of love is still changing lives to this very day.

God sent Jesus Christ in a rescue mission to save sinners such as myself and you and the whole world.  We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's standards.  God made a way for us to have forgiveness of our sins and an eternal Home in Heaven when we die and that is only available through Jesus Christ.

I John 4:7-21

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 
                                                                                                       

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.                            

We must remember the great love that God demonstrated towards us at the Cross of Christ.  We are commanded to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, bodies, and our entire being.  We are also to love each other as He loves us.  

It is time for us to love the Lord with our all and to love each other as He loves us.  We must stand for the truth of His Word and the truth about who God is.  Let us love one another and draw near to the Lord Jesus each and everyday.

Lord,

Forgive us for the lack of love we show at times.

The Church has a heart problem. 

Help us to always remember that love You have showed to each one of us at the Cross.

Thank You Lord Jesus for bearing our sins on the Cross to reconcile us back to the Father.

Thank You Holy Spirit for indwelling everyone who has received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Help us to love each other with an authentic love.

Empower us to do that O Lord.

Lead us and revive us.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.