A Church United

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. –Ephesians 4:2-4

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. -Ephesians 6:18  

The world is so divided around us. In this time of uncertainty in our nation, it’s so important that we come together as followers of Jesus to pray for unity and reconciliation in our own community and in the world. There is a power that can only be accessed by the Holy Spirit when the church unites. As members of Christ’s body, we are called to unify our hearts, set aside our differences, take a posture of humility and other-centeredness, and seek to understand each other’s pain. If we are honest, we are all feeling unnerved and upset in one way or another right now. We must pray in the Spirit, asking Jesus to unify our hearts with His. 

The enemy is lurking about, looking for ways to set us out of joint with one another so that the work of the kingdom will have little effect. Yet our vigilance to resist the enemy, walk by the Spirit, and manifest the Spirit’s fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control will allow the enemy no point of access.

In fact, this current struggle can become the very place of our next victory as we allow the light of Jesus to pierce the darkness around us; sending forth fresh waves of the Father’s love to heal our hearts, and awaken new hope for the broken and vulnerable to be set free. 

Church, this the time to stand together in prayer, be humble and united, and keep in step with the Spirit at all times, so that the power of God will be released in our day. 

Our God Hears,
AJ Picard

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Delighting in the Word

“Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yield its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

“When I discovered Your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear Your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.” Jeremiah 15:16 (NLT)

God sent the Word and, through Him, all the families of the earth were blessed. Jesus modeled being anchored in Scripture by using it powerfully. (Luke 4:1-13) When we choose to feast on His Word, we gain insight into the heart and mind of Jesus. Embracing the hidden place of sweet communion with our Savior, we’re not only filled with joy, but we also learn to discern His Word.

Isn’t it fascinating how the same verse from a morning quiet time will cascade throughout the day? When the Holy Spirit illuminates a word, we want more. The more we abide in the Word with steadfast devotion, the more confidently we take up the Sword of the Spirit to intercede for others. Often, the Lord brings a word to mind that ministers His hope and reassurance to encourage someone. Are you waiting for a word from the Lord? Keep looking to the Word and keep listening. You don’t want to miss it!

When the truths of the Living Word are written deeply on our hearts, then we will thrive like trees with roots reaching deeply into the Living Water. No matter what life’s seasons bring us, we will remain hopeful and confident, standing on the truth of Scripture. By continually producing fruit by His Spirit working in and through us, we’ll impact lives for His Kingdom. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

-Barb Wibling

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Time with a Friend

"The Lord is a friend to those who fear Him. He teaches them His covenant." (Psalm 25:14 NLT)

"For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:10-11 NLT)

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves because a master does not confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask, using my name. This is my command: Love each other." (John 15:13-17 NLT)

We read about many of the patriarchs who experienced friendships with God. Adam and Eve were in the garden where God walked. Enoch walked with God. Job stated, "God's friendship was felt in my home." (Job 29:4) "Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous ... He was even called a friend of God." (James 2:23) Moses was one He trusted and spoke "to him face to face, clearly and not in riddles!" (Numbers 12:8) Jesus befriended Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He called His disciples friends. Jesus had closer friendships with Peter, James and John. He extended friendship to Zacchaeus the tax collector when He went to his house. Jesus made special appearances after His resurrection to his friends, Mary Magdalene and Thomas.

Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we can be a friend of God. What an overwhelming privilege to be chosen and called a friend of God. We have a friend who is willing to lay down His life and "sticks closer than a brother." Like all friendships, our friendship with God requires our time. There are limitless advantages and promises that can be accessed through this relationship, but we need to spend time with Him praying, reading His Word and listening to His voice to receive them. He also wants us to love and spend time fellowshipping with His other friends and fellow believers.

God is ready to give us whatever we ask for in Jesus' name. He wants to give us a rich and satisfying life following His perfect plan. God wants to lavish us with an abundance of delights, grace, power and supply of all we need. We already possess "a priceless inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in Heaven" for us as God's friend.

So let us open our hearts and prioritize our time in order to spend time with a friend who has such extravagant love for us.

Our God Hears!

-Nonna Neal

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Is God Really Sovereign?

“One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the accuser, satan, came with them. ‘All right, you may test him,’ the Lord said to satan. ‘Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.’ So satan left the Lord’s presence.” (Job 1:6, 12)

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20)

I believe the question of God’s sovereignty is one of the most important issues we need to wrestle with and come to a conclusion on as Christians. If we don’t, then we’ll be tossed to and fro by the ups and downs of life. (James 1:6)

Recently, I was encouraged by a pastor to wrestle this question through for myself. I had just been involved in a life-altering accident in which God spared my life. I’m a horse trainer by trade. This spring, as I was training a young horse on the ground in long reins, she suddenly darted off in a full gallop catching my right foot in the reins and whisking me into the air like a para-sailor. As I flew horizontally through the air, I peered at the wall of the indoor arena fast approaching, and my life flashed before my eyes. In that instant, I prepared for my transfer to Heaven. However, at the very last moment before hitting the wall, I fell out of the air and hit the ground, suffering a serious spiral fracture to my femur that required complicated surgery and a subsequent long road to recovery. 

Did I believe God had allowed this to happen to me? (Job 1:6-12) (Let me be clear, I’m saying allowed not caused.) “Yes I did.” Was I going to focus on what the enemy meant for harm? (Genesis 50:20) “No.” 

I knew that, if God had allowed it, then He had a purpose for me in this. (Romans 5:3-5; 1 Peter 1:6-7) And I believe that purpose was to make me more like Jesus. Making me more like Jesus causes me to know my God more intimately and to know how He sees me as His daughter. 

If we can approach the circumstances and trials in our lives with this posture — remaining focused on God and His purpose for us — then it will frustrate the enemy. Why? First, because it takes the attention off our enemy and the negative circumstance. Second, it totally shifts our perspective, influencing the way we pray for the situations we find ourselves in, as well as how we pray for others in the trials of their lives. 

This is the posture I’m attempting to remain in — “declaring God’s sovereignty, and walking in the victory of Jesus!”

Do you want to join me?

Karen Sergey

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Jesus is the Life Gate

“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.” Psalm118:19-21 (NKJV)

“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” John 10:9 (NLT)

Jesus came to liberate us by providing the way for us to come to the Father. We have freedom to come in and go out so that we “may have life, and have it until it overflows.” (John 10:10) 

Is your heart burning with love for Him for all He has done?

As we enjoy His holy presence, God’s deepest things are revealed to us by His Spirit. We are empowered to pray confidently, approaching His throne of grace boldly (Hebrews 4:16). But are we willing to invest our time and tears in sacrificial prayer? When we prevail in prayer to discover His will, are we willing to obey whatever He tells us?

During the planning of a 1954 evangelist crusade in London, England, Billy Graham’s team faced giant opposition. Instead of succumbing to discouragement, Billy Graham fought the battle on his knees. Written by one of New England’s prolific hymn writers, Fanny Crosby, “To God Be the Glory” was suggested for the event. This hymn, describing Jesus as the “life gate,” became the crusade’s theme song. The Lord answered the prayers of His people by extending the crusade for three months, sparking a revival-like reaction in England. 

May our thankful hearts unite in adoration for Jesus the life gate, as we joyfully sing the hymn’s refrain: “… O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He has done.”

Barb Wibling

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Mirror, Mirror

“But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the Word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. — James 1:22-25

God has been challenging me lately from this passage in James. As I read His Word, do I really believe what it says? Do I live like I believe His words are true?

I love to read passages of Scripture from different versions of the Bible. This often gives me a fresh outlook on a familiar passage. Recently, I looked at Ephesians 1 from The Message version. As I did, I sensed the Lord encouraging me, “Personalize it, read it out loud to yourself, and then declare it over those you are praying for.” Here’s a sample of what this sounded like:

God is the Father of [my] Master, Jesus Christ, and He takes [me] to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had [me] in mind, had settled on [me] as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt [me] into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted [me] to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of His beloved Son. — Ephesians 1:3-6 MSG (personalized)

After going through this exercise, I sensed the Lord steering me back to the passage in James and asking me, “Can you look in the mirror and read these verses from Ephesians to yourself? Can you receive what I’m saying about you?” I realize that part of obedience is receiving in my own heart the identity bestowed upon me by my heavenly Father, and then living like a child who knows she is the focus of her Father's love.

How often I forget who I am – and I bet I’m not alone.

Will you take the mirror challenge with me?

Karen Sergey

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Keep Watch With Me

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9

This statement was originally given to King Asa as part of a rebuke for compromising his reliance on God. I am using it out of the context it was given in 2 Chronicles 16. With this disclaimer out of the way, I believe God is speaking to me through this verse. 

We often view intercession as warring against evil, working through prayer to change a situation, or pleading with God to bring about justice or mercy to the earth. As I pondered this line from Scripture, I felt drawn to view intercession as the marriage of our hearts to God’s, with our hearts resting in His and our prayers giving expression to the longings of His heart. As with any marriage, the bond of unity can be undermined by infidelity. Wounds and sin can produce shame and tempt us to close part of ourselves to God. The worries of life draw our attention away from prayer. These situations can be distractions from living in Jesus. Or we can use them as reminders that, in our weakest moments, we are fully loved by God, completely accepted in the Beloved, and turn our hearts more fully to the one who saves us. 

Paul’s words to the Philippians can provide guidance to us in fixing our eyes on Jesus and growing in our love and fidelity toward Him:

“Not that I have already attained it but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14 (NASB)

May each of us grow in love and fidelity for our God, and may our petitions be echoes of the desires of His heart.

Joe Halpin

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Our Morning Call to Prayer

“... let’s rise early and listen to birdsong.” Song of Solomon 7:11 MSG

When I was in Jerusalem, I heard the Muslim call to prayer. The call sent out over a loudspeaker from the local mosque started at dawn and was loud enough that no one would miss. As Christians, we do not have an audible reminder every day coming from our churches; however, in the spring, we do have the sound of birds singing His praises. What if we considered birdsong our morning call to prayer? The stresses of the winter season are now over and the sound of birds singing can bring joy to our hearts.

Often, trials and tribulations follow us into each season. Listening to the birdsong reminds me that I have made it through another season with His help. Each morning, when I answer His call to prayer, I take a break from those worries. I want to encourage you to respond to His call in Song of Solomon, 

“My beloved said to me, ‘Get up, my true love, my beautiful one, and come with me. Look! The winter is past. The rain is over and gone. Blossoms appear in the land. The time of the songbird has arrived. The cooing of the mourning dove is heard in our land. The green figs ripen. The grapevines bloom and give off a fragrance. Get up, my true love, my beautiful one, and come with me.’” Song of Solomon 2:11-13 (Names of God translation) 

Let's rise early, open the windows in our homes and in our hearts, and listen to the birds praising. 

Linda Cochrane

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