This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. As the world and many children celebrate Halloween, today’s meal deals with a real serious question. Be real with yourself as you consume it.
Today’s Prayer
Father, I believe every human desires respect, in fact, deep within the hearts of everyone is a desire for respect and love. I pray that I, and all my Christian family members as well, will live a life that earns respect. I pray that our actions, our words, and even our thoughts will be worthy of respect. We want to love and respect others, and above all, we want to show our love and respect of You, Almighty God and Father. Thank You for watching over us and guiding us. Please forgive us when we have not lived up to our calling as believers, when we have not lived so as to deserve respect and bring honor to Your name. This day, we determine to live with integrity, a good attitude, and gratitude for all You are to us and all You have done for us and all we know You plan for us. Father, please bless us, and bless our families through us, and bless those around us as we look to You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Going Without Jesus
I have a question for all of you. Have you ever gone into a situation in which you just totally left Jesus out of the picture? You know, you go to a place and all of a sudden you’re doing things that are just out of character for you but you do it to fit in? You know, letting your hair down for a while.
…they were unaware of it. – Luke 2:43
The bible tells us that Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. Jesus was 12 years old. They were evidently very distracted by the excitement and business of the Feast. In fact, Mary and Joseph began their return trip to Nazareth only to realize well into the trip that Jesus was not with them. It would be three days before they would be reunited with their 12-year-old son. It caused quite a scare in Mary and Joseph, and they reprimanded Jesus for “wandering” off.
As a parent, I find this story truly amazing. How can parents of the Son of God not know their son is not in their presence? Yet this story illustrates how each of us can become so busy that we continue to operate not realizing that Jesus is no longer with us. Obviously, there was very little fellowship taking place between Jesus and His parents during the trip.
Are you experiencing daily fellowship with Jesus?
If not, you will wake up one day and realize Jesus is not with you in your activities. It may, like Mary and Joseph, create a certain fear in you that you may have lost a very important relationship. Doing anything without Jesus’ presence leaves us powerless and prone to live in fear. Jesus said He would never leave or forsake us. However, we can walk away from His fellowship by refusing to be with Him. Don’t let this happen to you. He longs to have daily fellowship with you because He loves you.
Quote of the Day
If we can, by God’s grace, turn ourselves entirely to Him, and put aside everything else in order to speak with Him and worship Him, this does not mean that we can always imagine Him or feel His presence. Neither imagination nor feelings are required for a full conversion of our whole being to God. Nor is intense concentration on an idea of God especially desirable. Hard as it is to convey in human language, there is a very real and very recognizable (but almost entirely indefinable) Presence of God, in which we confront Him in prayer knowing Him by Whom we are known, aware of Him Who is aware of us, loving Him by Whom we know ourselves to be loved. ~Thomas Merton~
WITH HOPE AND FAITH
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY