Lord, please guard our hearts and our minds, so that our thoughts and our actions may be right in your sight. Lord, we can do nothing in our own strength, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Hear our prayer Lord, and help us to depart from evil and cling to all that is good, so that we may abide with you forever. All this we ask in your holy name. Amen!

Too often we are quick to see the speck in others eyes when there is a beam in ours. We must learn to only be judges for ourselves, to consider our thoughts and our actions. Scripture reminds us, “Do not judge, or you will be judged! For you will be treated as you treat others and the standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

Too many of us complain that the testing of the Lord could be trying; we are ready to give in at the least bit of struggle in our lives; but, hold on, endure, persevere, because, these trials will show that our faith is genuine. For, it is only when we go through the fire, it is only when we are laid out on the threshing floor that we will become refined, that our limits will be truly tested. From time to time we need to humbly come before God and ask him to search us and know our hearts, to try us and know our anxious thoughts and if he finds anything that should not be to remove it and in his own time he will bring us out into rich fulfillment.

We are known by our fruits. We cannot be living apart from God and bear any good fruit. “And, If anyone does not remain in Him, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.” We will know that we were planted by our Heavenly Father by our works and our deeds, our thoughts and our professions of faith, because they will always be made manifest. Praise the Lord!

I don’t know about you, but if I am a part of the good branch, I want to be bearing good fruit. I want to  still yield fruit in my old age; I want to be full of sap and very green, but I will only be able to continue on this way, if I am productively in the service of the Lord, if am constantly being pruned by Him. Make no mistake about this, and scripture reminds us that some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time, so we have to continue on, sometimes the going will be rough, but we have to stay the course and be fruitful for the Lord.

We are living in an unfriendly and wicked world. Each day we are in need of God’s guidance and protection, and that is why it is so important to begin the day in prayer and fellowship with God. We need to seek his direction and his guidance, so that, we do not get caught up in the ways of the world and start behaving like unbelievers do. We have to seek God’s covering for whatever will come our way and trust him to see us through and at the end of the day, give him thanks and praise.

God chooses the weak things of this world to shame the strong, God chooses the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that, no one may boast in His presence. I am convinced that, the more lowly, despised, weak, shameful and foolish we are, the more use God has for us and his timing is always on point. Praise the Lord!

Oh, we could run, but we cannot hide. I have always been a church-girl. I was christened, confirmed and saved in the Anglican church, but for many years before I was saved, I was still walking in my own willful way, so when God called me into his service, this was my thinking, “Why me, what could God want from me who was broken, battered and bruised?” My brothers and sisters in Christ, God did not save me first then call me into his service, he started to use me then saved me. My first assignment from God that I was truly knowledgeable about was in a dream that kept recurring night after night, to begin a prayer and healing group. I remember talking to my mother about this and I told her that I could not understand why God was asking me to begin a prayer group when I was not even saved and moreover, I could not even pray. But my mother said to me, “If God is calling you to do something, don’t you think he will equipped you? Who are you to say no? Step out in faith!” And I did, and the more I prayed the more I realized that I truly had a gift from God that I could no longer hide away or run away from, and the words of my grandmother kept ringing in my ears, “ You on a long rope, but when God ready for you he will jolt you back.” And she was correct! My brothers and sisters in Christ, I cannot tell you enough, that, “Prayer changes everything, that prayer has changed everything in my life.”  Many times when I read a prayer from my book, “Prayers for Everyday Living” I am still amazed, that, at that early period of walking with God and getting to know God intimately, those prayers were created. Every one of the prayers in that book was the result of a real life event, those were the same prayers that helped me through difficult and sometimes happy times and I am now convinced, that God’s gifts and his calls are irrevocable and that God always works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. Thank you Lord! Use me Lord in your service! I am ready and I know you will make me able to use the gifts you have given me.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, anything that brings us to our knees in prayer and to call out to God is good for us. Lord, continue to provide situations before us that would keep us on our knees. Because, we have heard it said before, that, he who kneels in prayer could stand up to anything. Amen! It may seem like you have been crying out to God and that he has turned a deaf ear to your cries; but, know that the God you serve, neither slumbers nor sleeps, that, when you put on your pajamas at night, God puts on his running shoes, because he has to stay ahead of you and everything that you and I will face. My brothers and sisters in Christ, hold on! Because, the hotter the battle the sweeter the victory will be, but you will never taste the victory if you give up and give in, you will never see the blessing of the Lord, if you doubt him, just know that your situation may seem to have been going on for a long time, but also know that a thousand years in your sight, is like a day to our God when it’s past. Your situation did not come to stay, it came to pass! Praise the Lord!

I am sure that the majority of us would have asked God for wealth, possessions of honor, or the death of our enemies; but, Solomon asked for wisdom and God bestowed on him much more than he had asked, because Solomon wanted to please God and he asked for wisdom to govern his people. Lord, help us to ask of you gifts that will be used to bring you honor and great glory.