Tag: prayer

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PWTE Daily Devotion

He is the Way

By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Trust in the Lord…

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 English Standard Version

Have you ever been confronted with a life changing, scary, confusing piece of news?  The news can take many different forms: Cancer, heart attack, war, crash, betrayal, violence, pain, murder, bankruptcy, hospice, death.  The announcement of what has just happened rocks you to your very core.  The reality of the crisis can leave you feeling numb or paralyzed or full of aching sadness and indescribable hurt and grief.

Many years ago a dear friend and Christian teacher was diagnosed with severe, advance cancer.  In the midst of the shock and trauma, Betty did what she had learned to do in every difficult situation – pray.  At the same time she heard the news and began praying, her dear mother began praying for her.

When the two women contacted each other the next day, the Lord had given them both the same Bible verse, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”    Over the next days and weeks and months these two women again and again actively trusted in the Lord, not trying to understand why this cancer had happened, but leaning on God’s mercy and peace in Jesus Christ.  Many were encouraged to pray these two verses and trust in the Lord.

When Betty died some months later, many of us wore T-shirts inscribed with these Bible verses.  We had all lived through this situation by trusting in the Lord’s wisdom and comfort.  We took the attitude of children, not questioning the circumstances, but leaning on Jesus.

Are you in a terrible, terrifying crisis?  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  No matter where the path of life may take you, trust in Jesus.  For Jesus not only is directing our way, he is our way.  We trust in his unfailing love no matter what the outcome may be.  Amen.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Poison Ivy

By Katy Mariotti

Do Not Be Afraid

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7, English Standard Version

Lately there has been a commercial on tv showing a man with poison ivy itching at his painful blisters.  Upon seeing this commercial my husband commented on how awful it was when he got poison ivy once.  These two things combined made my young son very curious about poison ivy and poison oak, and I taught him the saying “leaves of three, let it be.”  Well, I underestimated how many plants that are NOT poison ivy have sets of three leaves.  He came to me in tears, convinced that he had found poison ivy growing in our back yard. Since I was busy in the kitchen, I had him go take a picture so we could try to identify the plant.

At his impressionable age, scary thoughts and images stick with him a lot.  They’re especially bad at night, when he’s trying to fall asleep and the negative thoughts swim in his head: an image he saw on the news, or fear of natural disasters.  I can blame his age, but don’t we adults do the same?  We could spend our whole lives worrying about all the scary things there are.  Illness, loss of loved ones, car accidents, tragedy, war, drugs, poverty… it’s a never-ending list.

God knows this.  There are SO many verses in the Bible that say “do not be afraid.”  I like this one from Philippians, though, because it gives us something to do with our fear: pray.  Make our requests known the the Lord.  And the next verse is my favorite: let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds.  God wants us to come to Him and tell Him our fears, and at the same time He promises to guard our hearts and minds with His peace.  I especially like the part that says “surpasses all understanding.”  With all there is to be scared of in the world, we can still have peace.  We don’t have to understand why bad things happen and we don’t have to understand how we can still feel peace despite that.  What a precious gift that is!

I pray God’s peace for all of us today!

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Everyday is like Sunday

by Pastor Mark Moreno

Each Day Is a Gift from God

You may be surprised to hear that Sunday is the first day of the week. It’s true! Look at your calendar and you will find the first column is always Sunday. I suspect that the way the world has operated for the last century is to treat Monday as the first day of the week, because typically that is when folks get back to work and the weekend draws to a close.

I remember as a kid, I always looked forward to Friday because it means freedom from having to go to school for a couple of days. If I had known what being an adult was like, maybe I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to grow up!

This little bit of trivia also demonstrates why many Christians choose to worship Sunday mornings. The idea is that the very first day of the week, at the earliest part of the day, we want to start it all with praise and worship to our God!

In Psalm 118:24 we read,

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

And sure enough, we can apply that to Sundays. Well, EVERY day! There are some Christians that worship on other days, but let us not judge them harshly. Paul writes in Romans 14:5, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind”.

Here is a great truth: Everyday we can find ways to worship and praise the Lord. My hope for you is that you make it a regular habit! I pray that you can find a church home and get into a weekly rhythm in your walk with God where you gather together with other believers and worship God.

Also, I want to encourage you to start EACH day with the Lord in a word of prayer, going into His Word, and even inviting others, like your family, to join you in this habit. It has been an incredible blessing to me and I know it reminds me that God is with me everyday!

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado