Tag Archives: Prayer

Summer is here!

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Summer is here! And i know what you are thinking! Beach, Ice cream, Sun, Friends, Rest, and Fun Fun Fun!  Certainly those are things im looking foward to too! But how would a Summer surrendered to the Lord look like?? :) I found wonderful quotes in setapartgirl.com that i think apply too all of us!!
I pray that both you and I, would have a wonderful three months being pleasing to Him!

1. Thinking of others

“Spending the summer months in a worthy manner is easily achievable and does not necessarily mean radical elimination of pool-time. Turning outward is simply the Christ-driven, purposeful act of shifting our gaze from ourselves to those around us..” Maybe is just helping out in your home of helping your neighbors but seeking for ways to minister to others is an opportunity to follow Christ’s example and show His love! Because Jesus poured out His life for us!!

2. Being Purposeful

“For many of us vacation is a time to sleep-in every day, eat whatever we want, and do whatever sounds like fun.But if we have given our life to Christ, every aspect of our lives belongs to Him. Even during a break from school, we must choose to put God first…keeping a consistent routine with sleeping, eating and excercise is a discipline that needs to be maintained- even in the summer.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies). I know its easy to put pour guards down but if we are called to obey the Lord , we should obey, no matter the season or the weather!

3 Spending time in the Word.

With all this extra time, one of the best things we can do is spend extra time reading and learning about our God!

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

*All quotes above can be found in  setapartgirl.com issue for this month and belong to Leslie Ludy and her faithful writing team.*

Verses of the Day- In Secret

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“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:1-24 (ESV)

Pray for Chardon Highschool

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This Sunday, please join Tri-County as we pray for Chardon Highschool, the students, and their families.  The prayer service will be held at 2946 Burns Rd. in Madison, OH (right behind Madison Highschool).

Let Biblical Love Be the True Mark of Maturity- By: Mafe Quijano

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“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have LOVE, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, BUT DO NOT HAVE LOVE, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; for now I see in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13
Our Bible is so perfect, and our God is so good in showing us various ways where we could learn from people in the Bible! Let’s consider the Pharisees of Jesus’ time.  They were very zealous for God; they claimed spirituality; and most of them knew their Law VERY well, yet they lacked saving faith. Can we sometimes in our Christian walk be like them? Do we rely on our Bible knowledge as a mark of how mature we are?? The truth is that we only know what we know about the Bible because the Holy Spirit is working in us. 1 Corinthians 13 says that what matters is LOVE – not knowledge or sacrifice.  One of Jesus’ greatest attributes is His love.  Apart from Christ, we cannot love the way the Bible says we should love.  Love for God and others is the proof that you are a follower of Jesus.  And the more you are molded into His image the more you are going to show true love. Love doesn’t “brag”, and love won’t feel “superior” because of Bible knowledge.  

(Progressively)True maturity is not how much Bible you know; rather reading and learning more SHOULD affect the way you love others. Then LOVE shows true maturity.  The Bible defines a  mature Christian as a Christian who walks in the Spirit because he/she abides in Christ and in His word. So I’m not saying “Don’t read” or “Don’t learn;” I’m saying “Application truly matters,” and applying God’s Word shows maturity.

  1. Christians are told to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25 “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”)
  2. Love is a fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…”)
  3. What does this love looks like? (See 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

“No matter how extensive one’s scriptural knowledge, or how amazing one’s memory, it is self-deception if that is all there is. True knowledge is the prelude to action, and it is the obedience to the word that counts in the end”- Peter Davis

 Lord, I’m sorry that I think my Bible knowledge makes me a mature Christian. I know you care about application not just knowledge. Lord, Your love is the greatest, deepest love that has ever existed. Thank you for loving me. Please help me today to not only “love as you love others,” but to be filled with your love. Help me to walk in obedience with such a Joy that true love, in actions, will just flow naturally out of my life for the sake of Your glory. Amen

See related posts- http://livesharp.org/2011/08/24/power-and-wisdom/

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Reaching Out to Those in our Country Could Be Hard- By: Mafe Quijano

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“America might be the hardest missions field..”- Mike Hixson.

In the High School I attend, I have talked with many teenagers who dress nicely and are polite.  They might play a sport, make great school grades, have tons of friends, have good jobs, and even might enjoy going to church (once in a while). They seem very confident with themselves and their lives.

Now, I’m not saying all these things are bad, because these things are actually really good!  If you are saved and have friends, this is a blessing! And if you glorify God with working hard at sports and school, this is great! The problem is that these things give the unsaved a false security. Most people in our very prosperous country believe they don’t need Christ. If you present to them the gospel, they might say, “Yeah, that sounds sweet, but I don’t think I need Christ…Really I have everything I could wish for…”. How can we reach out to people like this and not be discouraged? Here are some things that we  can remember.

They are still sinners and are in need of a Savior.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”             — Romans 3:23

Things on earth are temporal. Christ gives eternal life.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; ..”  — Matthew 6:19

Though they might look for security in everything they do, they are still empty, fallen and without Jesus they have no eternal hope.

 “Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” –Ephesians 2:1

If you encounter people like this and share the gospel with them and nothing seems to happen, don’t get discouraged. Remember  that only God can change people’s hearts. Though they might look like they have everything they need, in the eyes of God they are poor, blinded, and in desperate need of redemption. Just keep praying and praying and showing Christ-likeness to them. Love them and remember you were once without hope. Don’t give up on praying for their salvation. They might never accept Jesus for Lord and Savior, or they might even ask you to pray with them, but regardless of the outcome, know that if you proclaim Christ to them, you have obeyed God and that is exactly what He wanted you to do.

Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’”

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Quote of the day – Prayer

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“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. . . . I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God, and to meditation on it. . . . After a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.” -George Muller

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A Revelation about Prayer

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The way we pray can reveal what type of person we really are.

  • Selfish people generally pray very little.
  • Selfish people will pray for things that affect only themselves.

But:

  • Grateful people will regularly go to the Lord in prayer.
  • Grateful people thank God for all the blessings he gives to them.
  • Grateful people consistently pray for other people and their needs.

-Mitchell Silvius, Administrator

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