Have you ever felt like this…

Me: (sobbing my heart out, eyes swollen, nose red) -

"I can’t see you anymore… I am not going to let you hurt me like this again!"

My Personal Trainer: "It was a sit up. You did one sit up!"

Thanks to Linda

-pastor mike

LET'S PRAY TOGETHER Lord, let our souls rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.  Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for faithfully accomplishing all You have promised. Help me to have eyes to see and ears to hear Break my heart for what breaks Yours Teach me to pray Your will today. May the peace of the Lord Christ go with us: wherever He may send us; may You guide us through the wilderness: protect us through the storm; may You bring us home rejoicing: at the wonders You have shown us; may You bring us home rejoicing once again into our doors. Amen

MEDITATION May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify(cleanse) you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Thessalonians 5:23-24 NIV Below is the November 10th meditation from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, that further delves into the mysteries and challenges of sanctification. (I have made a few adaptations to add greater clarity) -nicole “After sanctification (being set apart for God’s purposes and cleansed), it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If we go after great things for ourselves thinking, ‘God has called me for this and for that,’ we barricade God from using us. As long as (we cling blindly) to own personal interests and ambitions, we cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by (being willing to lay down any) of our personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take us directly into His purpose for the world… I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. If (I say), ‘Lord, this causes me such heartache. Make this go away.’ I become my own stumbling block. (However), when I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy ‘world within the world,’ (I block God from moving me) from it because of my fear of being ‘frost-bitten.’” Oswald Chambers sets the challenge before us; will we trust God, will we lay down our own demands, will we allow Him to move us out of our comfort zones?

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING

Our daily scripture reading comes from the following link… http://listenersbible.com/devotionals/biy/ If you have any insights into our daily readings, please feel free to share them with me. I would encourage you to visit https://bibleproject.com/explore/1-2-kings/ for an overview of the book of 1st and 2nd Kings and https://bibleproject.com/explore/acts/ for an overview of the book of Acts. These videos will help with the “big picture” and the main themes. 2 Kings 18:1-19:13 We finally have a king who will do right in the eyes of the Lord. Hezekiah, unlike any other king, will “remove the high places, smash the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.” We are told that the Lord was with him in all he did. The king of Assyria, after conquering Israel will set his sight upon Judah. He had deported Israel to Assyria. (18:11) Enter Isaiah son of Amoz. This is the Isaiah we read about in the book of Isaiah. What will Isaiah say to Hezekiah? (19:6-7) Acts 27:13-44 Now that’s a journey. This is the kind of story that comes out of Hollywood. Paul would have had every right to be anxious, but he wasn’t. Paul will talk about the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding” in his letter to the church of Philippi. Our story today, is an example of Paul dwelling in God's peace. The journey wasn’t easy.  When our journeys get difficult, God will give us this same peace, if place our trust in him. The anxiety we have, we must remember, that anxiety comes from ourselves.  Psalm 82:1-8 Asaph is longing for God to do what? To rise up and… (3-4)  The church is God’s representative throughout the world today, and it is our responsibility, through the power of God’s Spirit to do the same. Think about this, throughout scripture, when God’s people cry out to him, what does He do? (Consider exodus 2:23-25) What will God do for Israel after she had become enslaved in Egypt?