November 28, 2023

PRAYING AND SINGING

Acts 16:25

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Encouraging Words

One of the precious gifts that God promises to give us when we choose to give our lives to Him is joy. We can embrace that joy and let it permeate our lives or we can take it for granted and let the burdens of life overtake us. Paul and Silas are great examples of holding on to the joy that God gave them to the point that they were able to pray and sing hymns to their God from the depths of prison. We too can choose God in our lives. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 27, 2023

PRAISE GOD

Psalms 63:3 (62:4)

Because Your mercy is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.

Encouraging Words

God's mercy is truly beyond anything that we can comprehend. He is our everything and He covers us with His mercy all the time. Our every breath, beat of our heart, thought of our mind are covered in His mercy and love. So, what should our response be? Praise! Glory be to God!

November 26, 2023

RUNNING FOR JESUS

Acts 8:30-31

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

Personal Challenge

Have you ever had God ask you to do something for Him? Before you answer, "No!", take some time and look back on your life and I bet you will see many times that the Holy Spirit has tried to nudge you to do something, something for God. Sometimes it is that fleeting thought to perform a simple act of kindness to someone. A thought that was suppressed because of the busyness of life or the discomfort of the action. God does ask us regularly to do His work. We are His hands and feet in this world. We should be like Phillip and run into the task that we are being asked to do. We will see God's hand at work in our lives through us. Glory be to God!

November 25, 2023

Saint of the Week

St. John Chrysostom

November 21, 2023

THIRSTING FOR GOD

Psalms 63:1 (62:2)

O God, my God, I rise early to be with You;
My soul thirsts for You.
How often my flesh thirsts for You
In a desolate, impassable, and waterless land.

Personal Challenge

This temporal world is a desolate, impassable, and waterless land compared to the glorious kingdom that awaits us. If we are striving to live our lives for Christ, we will have within us an incredible thirst for Him, a thirst that only He can quench. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 20, 2023

FULL OF FAITH AND POWER

Acts 6:8

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Encouraging Words

We are all called, as followers of Jesus Christ, to live our lives full of faith and power. If we do that, then we too can see great wonders and signs happening in our lives. In today's day of enlightenment and scholasticism, we put more stock, and therefore our faith, in the things and workings of the temporal. By doing this hinder ourselves from being full of God's faith and power. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 19, 2023

HOPE IN HIM

Psalms 62:8 (61:9)

Hope in Him, all you congregation of people;
Pour out your hearts before Him;
God is our helper. (Pause)

Personal Challenge

God is our helper. There is no denying that if we strive to live our lives for our God, loving Him and loving our neighbor, we will see His mighty hand at work in our lives. Unfortunately, it often becomes easy to lose sight of this and to start putting hope in the things of this world. Ourselves. Our jobs, Our wealth. Our politicians. Our priests and pastors. Everything but God. This is always a significant error. Our hope should only be in God, Glory be to God, and God alone.

November 18, 2023

Saint of the Week

St. Gregory the Theologian

November 17, 2023

REJOICING

Acts 5:40-42

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Personal Challenge

Once again, we see an example of how God's economy, His way of doing things, is so much different than the ways of the world. Usually when we get beaten down in life, whether deserved or not, we recoil and find a safe place to heal our wounds. Peter and the other apostles were just beaten by the authorities of the synagogue for preaching Christ. Upon their release, they immediately went right back to the temple and starting teaching and preaching about Jesus again. They were operating in God's economy because they knew that He would take care of them. Do I love my Lord that much? Do I trust Him entirely with my life? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 16, 2023

MY GOD

Psalms 62:6-7 (61:7-8)

For He is my God and my savior,
My protector; I shall never be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory;
He is the God of my help, and my hope is in God.

Encouraging Words

Who, or what, is my God? He is my Savior. Savior from what? Death and damnation. He is my Protector. Protector from what? Every large or small thing, in this earthly realm that is being thrown at me by the enemy, the accuser. In Him I will never be moved. Moved by what? Every wave from the storms of life that try to drive me away from my destination. He is my glory. What glory? Every aspect of my life that brings me recognition, joy, or comfort is my glory and all comes from Him. He is my help in all of this, and my hope is in Him. Praise be to God!

November 14, 2023

OBEY GOD

Acts 5:29

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.

Personal Challenge

To whom do we give our obedience? Ourselves? Our employer? Our peers? Our politicians? If we are truly trying to live righteous and Christlike lives, then we can only be choosing to obey God and not men. God is our source of all life and since we appreciate that so much, we choose to give all of our obedience to Him rather than anyone or anything in this world. This is a choice that we must make every moment of life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 13, 2023

BE SUBMISSIVE

Psalms 62:5 (61:6)

However, be submissive to God, O my soul,
For my patient endurance is from Him.

Personal Challenge

The ultimate goal for us in living our life for Christ is total submission to Him and the Father. This is the essential act of humility before the Creator and Sustainer of all. This is also the most difficult thing for us to do because it means yielding our free will to God and embracing His will. But He does not expect us to do this on our own. He fills us with His Holy Spirit and His love and mercy to give us that patient endurance that we need to be obedient and submissive. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 12, 2023

WHAT IS RIGHT

Acts 4:19-20

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

Personal Challenge

The world we live in is at odds with the living God. It is still fallen and broken. Because of this, if we strive to live our lives for Jesus, speaking up for Him, then those of this world will try to shut us down. We can choose to submit to that or press on, knowing that we cannot help but proclaim the truth that we know. Glory be to God!

November 11, 2023

Saint of the Week

St. John Chrysostom

November 10, 2023

SUBMISSIVE

Psalms 62:1-2 (61:2-3)

Shall not my soul be submissive to God?
For from Him is my salvation.
For He is my God and my savior,
My protector; I shall be shaken no more.

Encouraging Words

Our God is our salvation from death that is the result of our sin. He is our God, our all, and our provider of all. He is our protector against all that life might throw at us, including the final battle of physical death. All of this is why we choose to submit to Him and receive all that He has in store for us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 9, 2023

BOLDNESS

Acts 4:13

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Personal Challenge

As followers of Jesus Christ are we living lives full of boldness? We have the almighty God on our side in all that we do. He is there with us. We do not need to be educated or trained in order to be bold for our God. He has promised to give us what we need to speak out for Him. We just need to be willing to trust Him. Glory be to God!

November 8, 2023

SING PRAISE

Psalms 61:8 (60:9)

So I will sing praise to Your name unto ages of ages,
That I may pay my vows day to day.

Personal Challenge

Life can be busy. Many times, that busyness is of our own making. Distractions keep our eyes on everything but God. As followers of Christ, we need to develop the discipline to abandon the busyness and distractions and focus on God. By doing this we can learn to sing praise to our God all day long. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 7, 2023

BLOTTED OUT

Acts 3:19

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Encouraging Words

When we choose to follow Christ, to be converted from a person of the world to a person of the kingdom of God, and repent of our sins, we are embraced by God as His children. Our sins are blotted out and we are refreshed in his presence. We are also blessed by God's grace and mercy to be able to run to Him every time that we sin and be able to repent again and be forgiven again. Our God loves us completely. Glory be to God!

November 6, 2023

HEAR MY SUPPLICATION

Psalms 61:1-4 (60:2-5)

Hear my supplication, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I cried out to You
When my heart was discouraged;
You lifted me high on a rock.
You guided me, for You became my hope,
A tower of strength from the face of the enemy.
I will dwell in Your tabernacle unto the ages;
I will be covered with the shelter of Your wings. (Pause)

Encouraging Words

Our God hears our prayers because He is real, alive, and ever present. He cares about us and is always there to guide us through the rapids in our journey of life. He does attend to our prayers. He lifts us up out of the flood waters of life and sets us up on the High Rock. He is our tower of strength the, our tabernacle, and our protector. Glory be to God!

November 4, 2023

Saint of the Week

St. Isaac the Syrian

November 3, 2023

FAITH IN HIM

Acts 3:16

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Personal Challenge

We, the followers of Christ, often pray for strength to deal with the issues and challenges. Where does that strength come from? It comes from Christ, channeled to us through our faith in Him. He works in us, and through us, synergistically, as we put our faith in Him. That faith comes from Him, but we must hold on to it and exercise it. Glory be to God!

November 2, 2023

O MY GOD

Psalms 59:16-17 (58:17-18)

But I will sing of Your power,
And greatly rejoice in Your mercy in the morning;
For You are my protector,
And my refuge in the day of my affliction.
You are my helper; I will sing to You;
For You, O God, are my protector;
You are my mercy, O my God.

Encouraging Words

Look at the words in these two verses that describe who our God is in our lives. Power. Mercy. Protector. Refuge. Helper. God is all this and so much more. He is this in the life of every person who puts their hope in Him. He is not some historical figure or teacher from the past. He is now, always has been, and always will be, the I AM. And He is my Lord, and I am His child. Glory to God!

November 1, 2023

REPENT

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Personal Challenge

Repentance is our first step in our lifelong journey with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That journey does not stop there. We continue our process of transitioning from being a person of the world to a citizen of heaven by submitting our lives to Jesus and demonstrating that by our baptism. He equips us with the Holy Spirit to guide us through our journey. The act of repentance becomes one of the most critical acts in our lives because we need it every time that we turn our backs on God and commit sin. We must continually repent and return to Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner!