A PRAYING MOTHER

Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 4:18-5:27, Acts 15:1-35, Psalm 141:1-10, & Proverbs 17:23

2 Kings 4:18-22

¹⁸ One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters. ¹⁹ Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”

His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”

²⁰ So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died. ²¹ She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there. ²² She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”

What a heartbreak this was for this mom. She had waited her whole life for a son. She finally got the answer to her prayer. After having the joy of a son for a short few years, it suddenly takes a turn for the worse & ends in tragedy.

Every parent knows the pain that comes with raising children. Some people experience this pain in different ways & in different measures, but we all experience it. We can learn a lot from this humble woman in her response to the pain that she experienced in her life.

Maybe your child has:

1.     Walked away from God.

2.     Fallen into addiction.

3.     Chosen a destructive lifestyle.

4.     Entered a sinful relationship.

5.     Has broken fellowship with you.

he answer to these is the same that it was for the woman in her day. She knew that she had to stand the gap for her son. She knew that prayer was the answer. She used the man of God to get God’s attention. We have an even better way than that.

You & I don’t have to chase down the man of God like they did in OT times. We have direct access to the Father through the Son. We can approach God through Jesus!

Ephesians 3:12

¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

You have direct access to God. You stand in Jesus. You are in Christ. When you pray, God hears you. It may seem like your prayers aren’t working BUT THEY ARE!!! Don’t stop praying for your children. Don’t stop putting before God’s throne of grace. 

I remind you of a story Jesus told to illustrate this principal.

Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Persistent faith is what we need. Don’t stop praying. Don’t let up in this area. I am where I am today as the result of someone praying for me. A praying mother makes great thing happen for her children. Never under estimate the power of your prayers.  Pray them & leave the results up to a faithful God.


Pastor Richard Schlotter

Faith

Today’s readings are 2 Kings 3:1-4:17, Acts 14:8-28, Psalm 140:1-13, and Proverbs 17:22

Acts 14:8-10

⁸ While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting ⁹ and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed. ¹⁰ So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.

 All things are possible to those that believe. When we have faith, that precious gift of God, we shall be delivered from the spiritual helplessness that we were born into, and from the dominion of sinful  habits we have formed; we will be made able to stand tall and walk happily in the ways of the Lord.

Build up your faith in the Lord today and be transformed.

Kelly Schlotter

Search me God

Today’s readings are 2 Kings 1:1-2:25, Acts 13:42-14:7, Psalm 139:1-24, and Proverbs 17-19-21

Psalm 139:23-24

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

There are so many really good scriptures in the readings today, but this one touched my spirit.  This is something that I pray often.  I am not perfect and need to be searched regularly so that when I am offensive to God and so  he can correct me.

The Lord knows us fully, and we are strangers to ourselves sometimes, we should desire and pray to be searched.  If there is any wicked in me, let me see it and help remove it from my life. Being Godly is pleasing to him, and very good for us.  All Christians should want to be led this way so we will not miss out on the goodness God has for our lives. 

If we are living lives that are offensive to God we cannot walk in all he has for us.  We can become so consumed by anxious thoughts and the offense that we forget about our walk with God.  Then we can start to fail in our walk with him.

This scripture really just says to check in with God ask him if there is anything offensive in you.  He will always tell us the truth. He will always give us the answer we need.  Sometimes we just don’t want to listen.

Kelly Schlotter

INTEGRITY MATTERS

Today’s Bible readings are 1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalm 138:1-8, & Proverbs 17:17-18

 

1 Kings 22:13-14

¹³ Meanwhile, the messenger who went to get Micaiah said to him, “Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success.”

¹⁴ But Micaiah replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say.”

I recently preached a series in our Sunday morning services on honor. I have been prompted to stress the importance of honor to our people. Honor is being forgotten in culture today. There is another topic that needs to be revived in the church today. That topic is integrity.

Much like honor, integrity is being forgotten. People have lost sight of the value in being a person of integrity. I love our reading for today for the book of 1 Kings. We see a great prophet of God. He was great for many reasons, but the one thing that stands out about him to me is that he was a man of integrity.

I also believe that it was because of his integrity that he was such a powerful prophet of God. Integrity lead to him being used by God in ways that others were not.

What is integrity? The Hebrew word literally means:

the condition of being without blemish, completeness, perfection, sincerity, soundness, uprightness, wholeness.

A man of integrity is a man who in whole. He is not lacking anything. His character is in impeccable. His word is his bond. It matters to him do what he says. Honoring God is still the number 1 thing to uphold. He treats his family the same each day. He handles his wife with great respect & love.

Integrity is doing what is right even when nobody is looking. So many times we do the right thing only when there are eyes on us. What we fail to realize is that even when eyes aren’t on us that God’s eyes are on us. Men of integrity believe that.

How many times have people said things only to please another? How many times have people been dishonest only for the approval of another? How many times have people been dishonest about things because they knew that they could get away with it. How many times have people made a commitment that they never took serious & never fulfilled? Integrity does none of the above.

Integrity:

1.      Handles money right.

2.      Practices self-control.

3.      Never takes what isn’t theirs, even if it was let lying around.

4.      Practices sexual purity.

5.      Tells the truth even if it costs you.

6.      Holds other & themselves accountable for their actions.

Here are some things that God has to say about integrity.

Proverbs 10:9

⁹ People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.

 

Proverbs 28:6

⁶ Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

 

Proverbs 11:3

³ The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

 

Proverbs 20:7

⁷ The righteous who walks in his integrity—blessed are his children after him!

Integrity matters to God. It should matter to each of us. It is something that we can all improve on if we will ask God for grace in this area. All areas of our lives will be better as we reach for a higher level of integrity. Let’s work on this together so that we can make a greater difference in our families, churches, & our world!

 

Pastor Richard Schlotter