4GIVEN

Lord, we come standing before Your throne room of grace lifting up families, relationships, communities, schools, churches, first responders, militaries, nations, and countries world wide. Lord, we need Your help, healing, and wisdom. We are struggling in a lot of areas of faith, finances, health related issues, relational issues, wisdom related issues, and just as an overall body. We need Your divine refreshment, revival, and restoration. We have tried to do it on our own for far too long. We are calling on You to do what only You can do. We ask that You would heal our bodies, minds, and spirits. We ask for deliverance from medical conditions and all types of addictions. We pray for a renewed mind in Christ. We pray for unity, peace, and forgiveness! We pray for direction and guidance! We pray for students and teachers in every school district across the country. Your word says, “That if my people, who are called by Your name, will humble ourselves and pray, seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, then You will hear from heaven, and You will forgive our sins and You will heal our land!” We come humbling ourselves before You and we lift Your name on high! Lord, we ask that You mend every fractured, beaten, and broken heart. Father, empty all of us and fill us with the fruit of Your Spirit; love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and discipline! Thank You for responding to every petition and for never not turning a blind eye or deaf ear to our requests. We ask all of this for Your glory, majesty and kingdom purpose in Jesus name! 

It’s so easy to point out other people’s flaws and mistakes partly because flaws and mistakes always look better on other people….right? Wrong! Jesus said in Matt 7:2-5, ” For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”  

KEY POINT: If you’re gonna judge someone go deeper than the offense. John 7:24 says, “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” At the end of the day, top of the morning, it’s not about who’s right because we are all in one way or another partially wrong and if you are 1% wrong you are 100% wrong….just saying! “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

Metanoia (repentance) simply means to change one’s way of life and there are four basic elements that validates true repentance. 1.Genuine sorrow for wrongdoing. 2.Overt confession for wrongdoing. 3.Accountability for wrongdoing. 4.Acceptance of the consequences for wrongdoing. Paul wrote, “I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.” (2 Cor7:8-9)  

I’ll be the first to admit that I got some issues I need to turn away from in my life and with help from God, my wife, family, and friends I’m certain, I will overcome. We all struggle with sin, iniquity, and transgression. Some more than others however, in Christ and through the work of His Spirit we possess the power to experience true metanoia.
#GOAA

Jesus said in Matt 18:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Do you remember when Peter initially refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet? Jesus responded  in John 13:8, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”Peter ‘hurried’ up and said,”Lord, wash my feet, my hands, and my head!” (v9) Peter was dead serious and he wasn’t being sarcastic. His child like response represented humility, unworldliness, simplicity, and teachableness. Like Peter, we too should possess a heart that yearns to live in obedience to Christ. As it stands, heaven is the destination but the main attraction is God’s presence!!   

SIDE BAR: The next time my wife calls me childish, my response will be…..Jesus Ok’ed it 😀

Why do certain online content go ‘viral’? Well, Jonah Berger co-authored a research paper with Katy Milkman called “What Makes Online Content Go Viral?” and in it, they shared insights that you absolutely can’t overlook. They concluded that positive content is more viral than negative, content that evoke high positive emotional arousal is more viral, and practical useful information is most likely to get shared. Jesus was the Master of setting viral wild fires. In Luke 7:12 Jesus approached a town called Nain during a certain funeral procession. He noticed the heart of the widowed mother and was moved with compassion. (v13) He then walked over to the coffin and touched it and He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” (v14) The dead young man later sat up and began to talk; Jesus later took him to his mother. (v15) The large crowd that witnessed this miracle was filled awe and the news went viral! The news spread throughout ALL of Judea and the ALL of the surrounding country. (v17) If you are reading this message and you are born again-dipped in the blood believer spread the news to everyone that you come in contact with. The blood of Jesus is the greatest viral news that has ever been shared.

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8) Now read Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” What’s the parallel? God’s awareness! God knows each and every little thing that has happened to you good, bad, or indifferent. God has a bottle and a book both for his people tears for their sins and those for their afflictions.  
God observes each of them with tender concern. So today if things aren’t going your way remember; God’s knows, He cares, and His love is enough to help you get through whatever it is that you are going through.