This weekend we will be studying Matthew 24 a chapter
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During these troubled times, when the COVID-19 pandemic creates anxiety, chaos, and stress, may this version of Psalm 23 remind us that God is still with us – He will lead us through this valley and we are never, ever alone.
Passion Translation:
1 The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd.
I always have more than enough.
2 He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love.
His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss.
3 That’s where he restores and revives my life.
He opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure
and leads me along in his footsteps of righteousness
so that I can bring honor to his name.
4 Lord, even when your path takes me through
the valley of deepest darkness,
fear will never conquer me, for you already have!
You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way.
Your authority is my strength and my peace.
The comfort of your love takes away my fear.
I’ll never be lonely, for you are near.
5 You become my delicious feast
even when my enemies dare to fight.
You anoint me with the fragrance of your Holy Spirit;
you give me all I can drink of you until my heart overflows.
6 So why would I fear the future?
For your goodness and love pursue me all the days of my life.
Then afterward, when my life is through,
I’ll return to your glorious presence to be forever with you!
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:33
I grew up on this verse. It was referenced in the children’s songs at Sabbath School, the Memory Verses at Pathfinders and frequently brought up throughout the week during my school’s Bible classes. I think I even heard my father quote it, which is a (very) rare occurrence.
Now, I mean to take nothing away from this verse, but I always struggled with it. Maybe it was because heaven, the Kingdom of God, was a very abstract thing to me. I couldn’t, and if I’m honest, still can’t really imagine it.
Panic-buying leading to empty supermarket shelves. Feeling jealous of other
“And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.”
1 John 5:14 NLT
Prayer and trust go hand and hand. If we trust God enough to pray to him, shouldn’t we trust him enough to believe he will answer our prayers the best way he sees fit? Remember that God sees what we cannot. If we truly think about some of the things we have prayed for over the course of our lives we should be grateful God did not say yes to everything we asked.
What does it really mean that God is with us?
Prayer and devotional life doesn’t have to be on your knees next to your bed at given times in the day. This is definitely an important habit to have but to limit prayer life to these confines could be limiting the depths to which God can reach you and change your life.
Recently I attended a women’s conference for prayer. We practiced several different and creative methods for meditating on God’s word and speaking to Him. It was illuminating, restful and invigorating to commune with God in these different avenues. I want to share some things I have picked up along my Christian sojourn.
If you had $1 million, what would you do?
What if you had more?
If you had as much money as you wanted, what would you do with that money?
When Roy and I first moved to Melbourne in 2012, we walked through the streets of Melbourne CBD and looked up at the buildings and dreamed – wouldn’t it be incredible, we said, if one day we could point to all the buildings in the CBD where we knew there was a bible study taking place, a prayer meeting being held, or a person being encouraged through our ministries?
Coronavirus. Floods. Kobe Bryant. George Calombaris. How can we navigate
I came across a very inspiring testimony by an African-American lady. She shared the story of how her grandfather grew up in America’s south under the Jim Crow laws which enforced racial segregation. He experienced having the KKK regularly harass his family by shooting bullets at their house. In spite of the adversities that took place, he chose not to hold a gripe against the white man and never taught his family to view themselves as victims because of their heritage.