Friday Reflection
September 25, 2020

These Three Things

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
Colossians 3:16 NRSV
https://bible.com/bible/2016/col.3.16.NRSV

Good morning Friends, happyyyyyyy Friday!!!
I trust you are all keeping well and safe as we continue to grapple with the Covid 19 pandemic. If you are reading this reflection today , September 25, 2020, you are blessed. Many have died this year, many have been hospitalized and many are still alive. We are fortunate to have made it to this day. Therefore, I encourage you to ensure you remain in these three things:

1. The word of Christ: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It is easy , especially in times of crisis to forget and withdraw from the word of God. He says , “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Therefore, take heart friends and continue to be guided by his words as you journey through the rest of 2020 and beyond.
2. Teaching one another: Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. This my friends is very important. Especially in these times, we must be careful to approach our brothers and sisters with some level of wisdom. Often times we teach or advice persons to do something and we do so without any thought on how it might affect the person. It’s important to teach and advice one another in all wisdom.
3. Gratitude is a must: And with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. Having made it to September of this year, wi affi gi tanks to almighty God! It is indeed a privilege to be alive. Today, show your gratitude to God, by singing hymns and spiritual song to him. Songs of thanksgiving.

Remember these three things, let the word of Christ dwell in you, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom and have a heart of gratitude!

Until next, stay safe, stay true and stay blessed!

Shaneka Raymore Euphfa

Thursday Reflection September 24, 2020 What is in your heart?

“Each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:44-45

Good day friends!

I want to begin this reflection with a series of questions for self-examination. When you gather at the workplace and join with friends to negatively and maliciously speak about others what type of spiritual fruit are you producing? When you refuse to speak to a brother or sister at church and completely avoid the person what fruit are you producing? When you tell lies on others, especially to save your own self, what kind of fruit are you producing? When you commit fornication, adultery and sexual immorality what kind of fruit are you producing? When you ignore the word of God and the teachings of the Bible what kind of fruit are you producing?

Jesus was teaching a large crowd on a mountain. This is the same mountain that he gave the Beatitudes. This was a series of teaching by Jesus which covered many aspects of life. In his teaching in chapter 6 of Luke, he taught about the fruit in people’s lives. A tree is identified by the fruit that it produces and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. Jesus gave the following illustration, “Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.” So in other words a fig tree will produce figs and grape vines will produce grape. They will not produce fruit such as thorns or brambles. So a good person will NOT produce sexual immorality, quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, malicious conversations, lustful pleasures, division and envy (Galatians 6:19-21) . Instead a good person WILL produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 6: 22-23). So the good person will produce that which is good and the bad person that which is bad.

As Jesus continued teaching the multitude about the fruit that one produces, He got to the heart of the matter which is the heart. Hear Jesus, “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil”. Your heart determines what type of fruit you will produce. If you are producing bad fruit that mean your heart is at a bad place and if you are producing good fruit your heart is in a good place and all of this is reflected by our speech. The New Living Translation commentary Bible puts it this way, “Jesus reminds us that our speech and actions reveal our true underlying beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. The good impressions we try to make cannot last if we are being deceptive. What is in your heart will come out in your speech and behavior.”

You cannot hide your true nature. You can pretend to produce good fruit, but the bad will come out, because of what is truly in your heart. EXAMINE YOUR HEART TODAY and determine what is in your heart. Don’t just assume it is good, because you do not kill or rob. No examine how you treat people and how you treat God.

Shalom

Christopher Euphfa

Wednesday Reflection, September 23, 2020

He will swallow up death forever. Isaiah 25:8

Victory in Death

Greetings friends, what troubling times we are living in. Many among us and the world over are longing to die, others don’t want to die meanwhile some will tell you that they’d rather die than endure or accept certain things.

This way of thinking ought not to be so for the believer. In Isaiah 25, the chapter opens with the prophet exalting, praising and declaring that all the Lord has said is righteous and true. This was his response to God’s final judgement of the world.

Imagine that, instead of becoming preoccupied with worry Isaiah began to offer praise and worship. Each time he recalled another blessing, another victory, another promise from God he praised evenmore.

He spoke about the Lord destroying cities and strangers who attempted to destroy His people by speaking ill of them. Then he mentions the preparations God has made for those who serve Him. Promises of feasts and no worry or pain. Somewhere where there will be no drama or heartache and definitely no defamation of character.

In today’s watchword, “He will swallow up death forever” Isaiah 25:8 stands as a reminder, a promise, blessed assurance to every believer that God’s plans and purpose for us His children must not be taken lightly. His promises still stand and in His time and in His dwelling place, we shall experience the fullfillment of the promise in the resurrection of believers.

Since this promise was given to them that seek and knock, we must not wait for the gifts of God to fall from heaven into idle hands; we must plough the earth, cultivate the garden, pasture the flocks. -John Amos Comenius

Until next week, continue to hold fast to God’s unwavering promises.

Amen

Kerone Lamoth

Tuesday Reflection – September 22, 2020
How Long, O Lord?

One of the most frequent questions being asked these days is ‘how long’ or ‘how much longer?’ How much longer will we have to endure this virus and the effects? How much longer until we can go back to church? How long will we have to do school from home for I am already tired of it? How long until there is a vaccine? How long until I can work again? How long until we go back to being normal? The question of how long is timeless and often used. Not only is it a quest for information but the response has the potential to settle the mind. In today’s Watchword it is David who asks the ‘how long’ question of God. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13: 1

There’s no certainty as to what was happening in David’s life at the writing of this Psalm, but we note that he was feeling neglected and abandoned by God. It somehow felt as if God had withdrawn from him and was no longer keeping his promise and covenant. David felt as if the lovingkindness of God which we read of in Psalm 63 was no longer there. This feeling of abandonment by God that David was experiencing was not a good one and he needed to have the assurance from God that it would not be forever. He knew that he could not make it for much longer, could not survive, without God’s presence. Thus he pleads with God, how long, O Lord? Four times he asks this question in the Psalm. How long will you forget me? How long will you stay away from me? How long will I be led by a sorrowful heart? How long will my enemies have the upper hand? This, friends is the cry of a lonely suffering soul. In Revelations 6: 10, following the opening of the fifth seal, John saw the souls of the martyrs under the altar of heaven. Their cry is the same question of pain and anguish. How long O Lord? How long until this comes to an end? How long will evil continue to overpower us? How long until you establish your holy kingdom and reign? When the soul is in anguish, it longs for the establishment of the rule of God for when God takes full control, evil will be destroyed.

Since the beginning of 2020, many of us have silently breathed the question: How long, O Lord? Others have tearfully questioned, how many more, how long, O Lord? Still others have screamed, how long, O Lord, how long? Dear friends, God always has an answer for our how long questions. You see in our timing we want God to act in the here and now but it suits us to remember that God does not see as we do nor does he act according to our desires. In 2 Peter 3: 9 we are reminded that: The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.We need to realize that God has a plan and He is working it out for our good. David concludes the Psalm with such a realization. He decides to wait and to trust God. ‘But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.’ In David’s despair he remembered God’s mercy and it gave him peace for the present as well as hope for the future. My prayer for us today is that even as we lament, we will remember the goodness and mercies of God and be assured that He has not forgotten nor abandoned us. He is in the midst of our storm and he gently guides our vessel to safety. Amen.

Bevon White