(CLICK THE TITLE) Good morning everyone and praise the Lord for another day and another chance. Let me start off by saying that today’s message is for me. It may help some of you but it’s aimed at me so I’m ready for this.
Today’s Prayer
(Make this personal)
Dear Heavenly Father, People can be so mean to one another through their thoughtless words. It has happened to me, and at times I may have caused pain on others through words I’ve uttered. Please help me to think before I speak. I pray that I will always think of others and their needs, their hurts, their circumstances, even their personalities in the way I speak and respond. I pray that every brother and sister in Christ would speak words of encouragement, exhortation, and the truth in love. If there is a need for confrontation, may it be through following biblical principles that the name of Jesus is lifted up and that you will be glorified through it all. May I never be rude or uncaring and may I never say words that leave that impression. Thank you for helping me and for blessing me. In the name of Jesus I come to you, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Learning to Receive
“In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat – for he grants sleep to those he loves” (Ps 127:2).
One of the paradigm shifts every believer must learn once they make Jesus lord of their lives is how to move from receiving by sweating and toiling to receiving by trusting and obeying. In the scripture, Egypt represented sweat and toil and bondage. The Promised Land represents a land of milk and honey received by trust and obedience. We learn in Joshua 24:13 that our obedience will allow us to receive things we would never receive out of sweat and toil. “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”
I learned this principle when God began to transition me from owning and operating electronics and consulting businesses to primarily ministry. Many times I couldn’t see how provision to do my work would result because it was not based upon a contract-for-services model. I was once invited to speak to a small group of people at a internet conference. I knew it would require three days of my time and I’d receive very little compensation. The Lord instructed me to go anyway. Just as I thought, I didn’t receive a corresponding income for the time invested for the three days. (This is often the way we think in business).
However, I left some books behind and they began to be distributed to other internet user groups. A few businessmen received the books and they invited me to speak at a conference for their groups later that year. One man was touched by my teaching. In January of the next year, I received a check for the amount of income I lost doing the first speaking engagement from this man. I pondered the sequence of events that led to receiving this provision. It was because of my obedience to the small things that God was able to “give me a land on which I did not toil.” Be faithful to the small things and God will always honor your obedience.
Quote of the Day
To give God the service of the body and not of the soul – is hypocrisy. To give God the service of the soul and not of the body is sacrilege. To give God neither is atheism and to give God both is worship.
Anonymous
WITH HOPE AND FAITH
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY