SEPTEMBER 21
Hey friend,
Welcome back! Thank you for continuing to pray and invest your life into knowing Jesus more. I am praying for you today, that you would encounter His peace and joy in supernatural ways.
Today, we are going to continue our journey of praying through Scripture. If you are looking for a good book of the Bible to read this week, maybe you could try 1 Thessalonians. I know one pastor who called it “An End Times Manual.” Paul reminds us in this book that eventually, Jesus will come back.
While there are so many questions about Jesus’ return, one thing we can hang onto: He will come back!
Paul focuses his instructions on preparation: how to live in light of Jesus’ return. Stacie and I were having a conversation about this recently. What would we change if we knew Jesus were coming back some time over the next couple of years?
To be honest, we wouldn’t change much… maybe just to live with a greater sense of urgency about the gospel!!
Listen to these instructions from Paul…
1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (NLT)
“So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.”
I love these verses. They kind of remind me of how I fall asleep during movies. It used to drive Stacie nuts. Now she kind of just puts up with it. I think that is how so many of us live our lives. We are asleep when it counts the most.
Now is a time for us to be alert spiritually! We need our minds to be engaged. We need to be in the Word of God. We need to stand strong in faith and tender in love.
Praying through these verses can help us in this. Go ahead and read the verses 2-3 more times and pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to truth today.
You might pray something like this…
“Father, open my eyes. Give me a clear mind today. Help me be clear-headed. Help me put the right things in my mind. I put on the helmet of salvation. Give me confidence in you and your return.
Please help me live on mission for you today. Please help the people of Echo walk in confidence before you. Help us be a source of hope to the watching world around us. Help us be prepared for the return of Jesus.
In His name we pray, Amen.”
I am praying that God gives you a clear mind and a soft heart today.
With love,
Pastor Andy
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“I have a message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
In their own eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate their sin.
The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
they fail to act wisely or do good.
Even on their beds they plot evil;
they commit themselves to a sinful course
and do not reject what is wrong.
Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.
May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!
— Psalm 36: 1-12
Such an important word… So many of us just go about our lives without a sense of urgency and getting distracted by things that don’t matter most. Jesus, help us become people who love you and love others with a firey passion, and help us not to be afraid of living our lives with urgency, because we never know when could be our last day!!
Thank you Pastor Andy for the reminder that we need to pleasing God instead of pleasing people, and yes, we need to be clear-headed as there’s so many voices from the world trying to distract us from God. Thank you so much for the daily powerful devotion and prayer guide, it’s so helpful!