Cast your cares

Psalm 55:22

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

Have you ever had a time in your life where you just weren’t sure where God was leading you?  Maybe it was in searching for a spouse.  Maybe it was trying to find the right job.  It may have even been looking for the right church. 

It is during times like these that we are instructed to cast our cares on the Lord.  While we have free will, the Lord does have a plan for our lives.  He knows exactly how our life will play out and he will never let you be shaken as long as you are following him.

Today, my prayer is that you will turn to the Lord in all aspects of your life.

Thursday Devotional - Prayer for You

While my sister and I were running together one Monday night, my sister mentioned what an encouragement John 17 is.  Jesus first prays for God to be glorified through His life and death, then He prays for His disciples, and then He prays for all believers!  

Did you know Jesus prayed for YOU 2,000 years ago???  In fact, He took the time to pray for you and me just hours before his arrest (see John 18:1-14).  Jesus’ prayer was that we would be one in unity. 

John 17:20-23      ²⁰"My prayer is not for them [the disciples] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The disunity among believers, in churches, and between denominations certainly hurts our witness to the rest of the world.  It is so easy to get caught up in our own opinions and ideas and lose sight of our purpose – to bring glory to God.  

Being part of different ministries, it’s also easy for me to get caught up in the details. I definitely pray about the details, and desire to reflect God well by performing my leadership responsibilities with excellence. However, Jesus’ prayer reminded me of my need to regularly pray for the unity among our leadership in addition to direction for all the practical details. If we are well organized, but not unified or relational, then we won’t be as effective at reflecting God.    

How about you? Do you spend more time praying for direction regarding practical details? Or do you pray for your relationships and unity in Christ?

You and I can pray as Jesus prayed for us, that we would live in unity with those furthering God’s kingdom, so that He is glorified through our actions and activities.

Alice

Tues Devo: Act on it

Matthew 8:5-11 “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” (NASB)

Hello,

Talk is cheap (especially on social media…) – we have heard this many times in our lives. We think about it when it comes to people bragging and boasting about what they can do, or have done. We want to see if there is proof – can things be backed up? I think we need to ask that of ourselves when it comes to our faith. We believe in the power of God – but do we back that up? We say that our relationship with Him is the most important – but do we back that up with how we spend our time?

The centurion showed what is was like to act on his faith – and Jesus called that out to everyone around.

How is your faith? Where is your trust? Are you acting on it?

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill