Laura

I'm a Somebody 'cos God don't make no junk!

[Laura @AbesVan]

@iamrjknight Oh Lord, thank you for your loving, amazing mercy to me, a sinner!

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

Before I ever took my first breath, the Lord saw the whole story of my life with perfect clarity.

He saw every failure, every sinful thought, every season of wandering, every hidden weakness, every foolish choice, and every moment where I would grieve Him. Nothing about me surprised Him. Nothing appeared later that He had not already known from eternity.

“Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all” (Psalm 139:4).

And yet, in mercy beyond all understanding, He set His love upon me in Christ. Not because He saw strength in me. Not because He saw future worthiness in me. Not because I would prove myself faithful. He loved because He chose to love, and His grace was rooted in His own eternal purpose.

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

This is what breaks pride. God did not wait until I became clean before He showed mercy. He knew the depth of my sin before I knew it myself, and still Christ came for me, bled for me, bore wrath for me, and brought me to Himself.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

How can the soul remain proud before such mercy? He knew me fully, and still did not cast me away. He saw the worst in me, and still gave the best of heaven for me.

That kind of love does not make a man casual. It brings him low. It makes him worship. It makes him tremble with gratitude before the God whose mercy was never blind, never weak, and never uncertain.

“We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

[Melissa A. McLaughlin @MMcLaughlinsong]

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Psalm 150:6

[Laura @AbesVan]

@NiallHarbison Beautiful Sienna, may your life going forward be pure enjoyment and happiness.

[Laura @AbesVan]

@TevinMacharia Amen. And forgive them Lord as You did on the cross ... they don't know what they are doing. Forgive me too Lord for anything that I knowingly or unknowingly did to cause this.

[Tevin Macharia Mukabana @TevinMacharia]

Father… I cry for Your mercy.

When men left me, I still stand before You.

When I was rejected by those I stood with, I still call on Your name.

When those I supported turned away from me, I still lift my eyes to You.

Lord, have mercy on me.

Where I was forgotten, remember me.

Where I was forsaken, surround me.

Where I was overlooked, cover me with Your grace.

Men may have failed me, but You have not abandoned me.

I lay down every disappointment before You, every wound, every silence, every betrayal.

Heal my heart, Lord.

Restore my strength, Lord.

Lift me from the place of sorrow and set my feet again.

Even in this loneliness, I will not lose hope.

Even in this pain, I will not turn away from You.

Have mercy on me, O God.

Let Your mercy speak where men were silent.

Let Your favor speak where rejection was loud.

Let Your presence fill every empty place in my life.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

Imagine losing an entire book of the Bible. That’s essentially what happened in 2 Kings 22, which we read today in Bible in One Year.

The high priest found a scroll of the Torah in the temple, likely Deuteronomy. When it was read to Josiah, the young king realized how far the nation had strayed from the path of Yahweh. The result was reformation, a revitalization of faithful worship in Judah, all sparked by the rediscovery of God’s Word.

That raises a question for us. What will revitalize the church today? Clever marketing? Entertainment-driven worship? A more culturally comfortable version of church? No.

Reformations may seem to arise because people grow sick of the church’s theological trash stinking to high heaven and decide to wheel it to the curb. They abhor the cancers of corruption worming their way through the soul of the ecclesial hierarchy. They are dismayed over closeted creeds mildewing, muscular singing atrophying into the blubber of emotionalism, and want to vomit every time they catch a whiff from a pulpit exhaling the bad breath of moralism, legalism, or self-helpism.

But in the end, reformation does not happen because people react. It happens because God acts.

He sees his starving people and ends the famine of the Word. He sends the rain of the Gospel so that we feast on Christ and his gifts.

Moral reform fades as quickly as a sandcastle before the tide. Political reform is like tidying the house while the roof burns. But Gospel reform endures, because it is nothing less than the life of God in Christ given to the dead.

Only the Gospel gives life because it alone gives us Jesus. Not Jesus plus our agendas, not Jesus plus self-improvement, but Jesus alone.

When that Word is preached, taught, read, and studied, the Spirit is at work. The church is drawn again into the life of Christ. Worship is enlivened. Preachers proclaim Christ crucified and risen. Hungry people are fed with something real.

That is how reformation comes. The church is nailed again to the crucified and risen Lord, sharing in his death and life. And so, once more, she becomes a living witness in the world, a place where mercy flows, and life is given through the Word.

[Adam | Faithful Messenger @Adam_FaithfulM]

A Prayer of Faith & Trust

Lord God,

I come before You today with a burning conviction in my heart, a faith that will not be silenced, a trust that will not be shaken, and a confidence in You that no circumstance, no setback, and no voice of doubt can extinguish!

I declare today that I believe not just in my mind, but deep in the core of my being that You are who You say You are. You are faithful. You are mighty. You are in complete control of every detail of my life, and not one thing has escaped Your notice or slipped from Your hands. I stake everything on that truth!

I will not bow to fear. I will not be held captive by uncertainty. I will not allow the storms around me to define what I believe about You because I have seen Your faithfulness, I have experienced Your grace, and I know beyond any shadow of doubt that You have never once failed me. Not once!

Stir up this faith within me even more, Lord. Let it burn brighter and grow stronger with every passing day. When the enemy comes to plant seeds of doubt, let my trust in You rise up like a mighty shield and drive every lie far from me. Your Word is true. Your promises are yes and amen. And I will hold on to them with everything I have.

I trust You with my past, my present, and my future, all of it, without reservation, without hesitation.

You are enough. You have always been enough.

I believe it. I declare it. I will live it.

Amen.

[Laura @AbesVan]

@iamrjknight Help me to see myself as You see me, Lord. I am nothing outside of Christ, my Saviour, my Righteousness, my Lord.

[Laura @AbesVan]

@JoshuaBarzon Thank you Lord Jesus!

[Gmiller @Myprayersforu]

Dear Lord, Gracious Father, on this beautiful morning, we bow our heads and hearts to You and pray. Lord, we thank You for all Your love and Your endless blessings, especially for Your gift of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Thank You for blessing us with Your Holy Spirit, to teach us and bring to our remembrance all things that You have spoken. We thank You for the abundance of food on our table and remember the hungry; for good health and remember the sick; for a roof over our head and clothes on our backs and remember all those living in poverty; for freedom to be able to pray these words and remember the enslaved; and to be able to live in peace while others suffer with fear death and despair. Most of all we thank You for the salvation and eternal life You granted us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. In Jesus name we pray, Amen 🙏✝️

Romans 11: 36
“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

The holiest men still have many blemishes and defects when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. The nearer a man walks with God, the more clearly he sees the sin that still clings to him.

True holiness does not make a man boast in himself. It makes him grieve what remains in him and cling harder to Christ.

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18).

The Christian life is a continual warfare against sin, the world, and the devil. The believer is not a man who has no battle. He is a man who has been brought into the battle by grace. The flesh still resists. The world still tempts. The enemy still accuses. But the Spirit of God teaches the believer to fight.

“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17).

Sometimes we will see even godly men not overcoming, but overcome. They may stumble, weep, confess, and feel the weight of their weakness. But they do not make peace with sin. They rise again by mercy and return to Christ.

“The righteous falls seven times and rises again” (Proverbs 24:16).

So do not measure holiness by sinless perfection in this life. Measure it by war against sin, grief over sin, hatred of sin, confession of sin, and continual dependence upon Christ.

The holiest saints are still needy saints. Their hope is not that they have no blemish, but that they have a perfect Saviour.

[Laura @AbesVan]

@w_bitterman Hi Pastor Rich, I am a 79 yr old Methodist minister's widow from South Africa. I share my pension with my sister. Buried 2 sons and lots of family. But I have a hope, a blessesd, happy life because of His daily mercies, one of which is your Biblical messages! You encourage me!

[Laura @AbesVan]

@MMcLaughlinsong @WendyWatson222 The heavens declare the Glory of the Lord.

[Serus @serus_ai]

Just a reminder. Your data is still exposed. Still being sold. Still out there.

You looked into it once, now finish the job.

Serus removes it for you. Start today.

[Laura @AbesVan]

@ednitagz @WatchChad I am in agreement woth you!

[Laura @AbesVan]

@iamrjknight Yes! Yes! Yes!

[Laura @AbesVan]

@ChristineBrejc1 I am grateful to God too for all He is and all He does for me in Christ!

[Scott Roberts @ScottRoberts]

A proud man cannot learn because he already assumes he knows. A humble man keeps growing because he understands how much he still needs to learn.

Stay teachable, stay correctable, and stay in the Scriptures. God gives grace to the humble.

[Adam | Faithful Messenger @Adam_FaithfulM]

A Prayer of Humility & Surrender

Most High God,

I come before You today not in my own strength, nor in the confidence of my own understanding, but in the quiet recognition that You are God and I am not. And in that truth, I find not shame, but profound relief.

I confess, O Lord, that I have at times sought to govern my own path, to lean upon my own counsel, to trust in my own abilities, and to place upon my own shoulders burdens that were never mine to carry alone. Forgive me for the pride that has, in subtle ways, kept me from fully yielding to Your sovereign hand.

Today I lay it all down. My plans, my ambitions, my need to be right, my desire to be in control, I surrender them to You, one by one, as an offering of trust. Not because I am defeated, but because I have come to understand that surrender to You is not weakness. It is the highest form of wisdom.

Clothe me, Lord, in true humility, the kind that does not think less of itself, but thinks of itself less. Let me decrease that you may increase. Let my words be measured, my actions be others-centered, and my heart be ever inclined toward Your will above my own.

Take my life, O God, and order it according to Your purposes. I release my grip. I open my hands. I bow my will before Yours.

Have Your way in me. I am Yours entirely.

Amen.