Have you seen the sunrises and sunsets lately? They have been spectacular! I was able to capture one sunrise recently. The colors were so stunning I had to stop what I was doing at 6:30am (coffee!), grab my phone and capture the moment. Of course a picture does not do the real thing justice by any means, but wow! The heavens proclaim the glory of God. Reflecting on the beauty in the skies lately and on these verses, I am amazed at how God shows us himself wordlessly through His creation. In amazing ways! The skies shout His praises with the colors they display. Then my thoughts turn inward. If I am made uniquely different from creation, in God's image (Genesis 1), how much MORE should I be able to display His craftsmanship and proclaim His glory?! It sounds so easy, but my sinful self fights against it. Once again, I am reminded of my need for Jesus. I invite Him in to help me and fill me. He happily, joyfully, rises up in me and covers over my sin so my Father can see His glory in me. "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Galatians 2:20
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At our last gathering, we talked about the conclusion of Ephesians where Paul is encouraging the church at Ephesus (and us) to "be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people" (Ephesians 6:18). We had a great discussion about making time for the Lord and barriers that sometimes hold us up. God tells us in Scripture that He wants us to pray to Him. He gives us story after story both in His Word and in the testimonies of prayer warriors around us, that He is faithful in His promises. And yet, do we truly believe in and participate in prayer? If we want to draw on the power of God, it is worth considering the current state of our personal prayer lives. I recognize that there are times when I become complacent and only "talk to God" in between "life". This means my prayers sound more like a laundry list than a conversation. Am I doing all the talking or am I leaving room to listen? And if I am being honest, I still experience doubt that God actually wants to answer my prayers. My little prayers?! Doesn't He have better things to do? But, the reality is that He uses every little bit of prayer both to increase our faith and to give glory to God. When we pray, He gets to answer. What a testimony! John 15: 7-8 says, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." It WILL be done for us and it is to the Father's glory! Am I praying with a submissive trust to God's will expecting that He will respond? I'll leave you with this parable that Jesus told his disciples "that they should always pray and never give up" (Luke 18:1). We are praying boldly for all of you and our community and can't wait to gather again. One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” It was so good to see many of you at our Gathering last week as we read and discussed Ephesians and talked about the power of prayer. We can't wait for our next Monthly Gathering on November 6. Our Gatherings during the school year are every first Wednesday of the month at 6:30pm. Join us! At our Gathering last week we introduced our next group study that starts TODAY. We will be reading a devotion plan on Isaiah using the free First 5 App. This study on Isaiah starts today, so download it and get started with us! To become a part of our group on the app so we can share comments and questions with each other, use the group code 7502 (Abide - Isaiah). Did you know that Isaiah is full of prophecy about the Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled all of these prophecies in perfect order? We can't wait to learn more about Isaiah and how it points us to true life in Jesus Christ. Below is a verse from Isaiah that has been speaking to our Abide leaders in a significant way over the last few months. For I am about to do something new. Join us as we continue to encourage each other in abiding in Christ daily.
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Kaylee & HeatherWe were just two moms who started abiding in Christ and praying together weekly. Find out more about Our Story. Archives
September 2020
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