discipline

SoulSearching Sunday~The Language of Heaven

12:00 AM

Sunday, December 23, 2018



Week Fifty-two...

Welcome!  We pray that you have all had a precious time worshipping the Lord this morning!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

 I personally want to thank you for your commitment to all the reading, studying, and journalling you have done this year! To God be the Glory!

Our reading this week was Revelation 1 - 22 (22 will be read on December 31)

 1. Examine your heart today. How welcome is Christ in every part of your life? He wants to be central in your thoughts. He wants to be your closest friend. Are you letting Him? Today in worship, invite Him into the areas you have been guarding behind closed doors.

 Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends. (Revelation 3:20)

 2. How can you develop the discipline of communing with the LORD moment by moment? Make it your practice to mix prayer with a life sacrificed to the glory of God.

 Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people, to be offered on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. (Revelation 8:3-4)

 3. What is your favorite hymn or praise song? What makes it so meaningful to you? Write a few lines of praise that you could sing to God.

 This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. And no one could learn this song except those 144,000 who had bee redeemed from the earth. (Revelations 14:3)

Becky Austin

Prayers and Praise (Revelation 8-11)

11:53 PM


Do our prayers have power? Do they really matter to God? And what about our praises? Just how important in the end times will Prayers and Praises to God really be?
In the end times, God will pass judgement on the wickedness of the Earth. Interestingly, the collective voice of those who believe in God and desire for His will to prevail will factor into those judgements.  The Bible emphasizes the importance of our prayers and often pairs them with references to incense. 
“Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” Psalms 141:2 

Prayer is important to God. He cares about what His people have to say.  Our prayers are like a sweet aroma that rises before Him. 
“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.  Revelation 8:1-4

Before the judgements of the 7th seal are put into motion, God considers the prayers of His people and those prayers become empowered by Him. “More potent, more powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth.” (Torrance)

The judgements that come will seem harsh and terrible but they serve a purpose and they do not come without warning. As Mattew Henry says, 
“Where the gospel comes to a people, and is but coldly received, and has not its proper effects upon their hearts and lives, it is usually followed with dreadful judgments. God gives warning to men of his judgments before he sends them; he sounds an alarm by the written word, by ministers, by men’s own consciences, and by the signs of the times; so that, if a people be surprised, it is their own fault. The anger of God against a people makes dreadful work among them; it embitters all their comforts, and makes even life itself bitter and burdensome. God does not in this world stir up all his wrath, but sets bounds to the most terrible judgments.”

Initially, the world will be severely shaken but not all will be destroyed. Sadly, even though these trials are meant to get the attention of the wicked and give them the opportunity to change, the truly wicked hearts will remain hardened and unrelenting. 
“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”Revelation 9:20-21

God has given mankind much grace, and undeserved opportunity to choose righteousness over wickedness. Every man to walk the Earth will choose a ruler of his heart. He will either choose the Lord God or he will choose to worship Satan and the powers of darkness and corruption. But, thankfully, there will come an end to the reign of Satan. The spirit of antichrist will be dethroned.  God will then reign eternal and heaven will be filled with His praises. 

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”” Revelation 11:15-18

So, yes, our prayers and our praises really do matter...today and for eternity.


answers

Scripture Saturday ~ He hears!

12:00 AM

Saturday, May 26, 2018



Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

This coming week's memory verses are Psalm 116:1,2...

 I love the LORD because He hears and answers my prayers. Because He bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath! (NLT)

 Have a blessed and precious day and week everyone!

answers

When God Bends Down {Psalm 85-89}

12:00 AM



Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help.  Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord for I give myself to you. O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble, and you will answer me.” –Psalm 86:1-7

Can you imagine this scene: The LORD bends down and listens…; the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe bends down from His throne above to hear the prayers you whisper to Him… Almighty God, the King of Glory leans in to listen to the words you speak?

  The truth is that your prayer will always reach God’s ear.

He knows your heart and recognizes your voice; He hears each plea, and petition.  He listens so carefully to each prayer of thanksgiving and supplication.  Not only does He hear our prayers, but He promises to answers them. Not always exactly how we think they should be answered, but He answers them according to what’s best for each of us! Isn’t that amazing? We know for certain that our prayers are being considered because God has said so in His Word (1 John 5:14–15; Jeremiah 29:11–12)! We can be as confident as David when we pray.

No other god is like you, O Lord. None can do what you do! All the nations you made will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your holy name. For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God.” – Psalm 86:8-10

Through His word we’ve learned that He alone created the world (John 1), and all mankind will bow down to Him one day (Phil 2:10-11). Because of His loving kindness, God makes room for people of every nation who are willing to turn from their selfish, sinful ways to follow Him. And it’s through His Word that we learn how to follow God correctly. For He is LORD, (Yahweh) and we need to treat Him as such. Notice:

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death.” – Psalm 86: 11-13

Here’s the truth David offers us through his prayer:
·         If you are lonely, God is there waiting.  
·         If you are discouraged, God leans in and is attentive to your cares.
·         If you are worried, He's ready to listen.  
·         If you are afraid, God hears your pleas for help and is here to offer His protection.  
·         If you are heartbroken, God is a God rich of mercy, compassion and grace towards His own.

He is always close enough to bend down and rescue you!

 Blessings!
sue