Just Us: Manna for July 24, 2009

Question for the day: If you could have just one thing, what would it be?

What can we pray for YOU about today?

Good morning,

This is just a reminder that every day, while we are studying God’s Word to add to our website, someone from our ministry, Dysmas Conduit, is holding you up before the Lord in prayer. May He greatly bless you today as you pursue His will and He is glorified through you.

God’s blessings, our love,

George & Sidney Granger

CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:

Please pray for Mike and Sandy Brommer as they spread the Lord’s Seed and witness to His glory while on the road today. Please pray also that the Lord will lead him to Kingdom-profitable loads to carry, and that He grants them safe passage from Pittsburgh to Little Rock.

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR PASTOR BOB ALLMANN

Pastor Bob is doing so well that he gave his testimony about his accident and road to recovery at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Saginaw on Wednesday evening at 7pm. He will also be preaching on Saturday at 5pm and Sunday at 8am and 10:30am! What a miracle of healing...prayers have been answered! Everyone is welcome to come and encourage him! Pray that he is upheld by the Spirit and is physically strong as he does what he loves to do!

Please continue to pray for Billy Hamburg, whose doctors found 5 tumors in his bladder. He had surgery June 29^th and the biopsy results showed a cancerous condition. He will be undergoing chemo & radiation treatments and will need the Lord’s Hand to overcome his anxiety as well as the cancer.

Please pray for little Emerson, granddaughter of Susan Booth. She has a high temp (102-103). They had her in the ER last night and they may have to take her back if the temperature does not go down.

Please lift up in prayer the family of Ed Schultz (brother to Carol Noack - Messiah Member). Ed had a heart attack this past Saturday and is in very weak condition at MidMichigan here in Midland. Pray that God would strengthen his heart and grant him healing and health. Pray for God's comfort, peace, and strength for Ed's family.

FREE FOOD

(Isa 55:1)

Today in God’s Word

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009

Please join your brothers and sisters

studying and praying with us today…

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY

July 24, 2009

What Did You Do With What I Gave You?

Luann Prater

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

Devotion:

"How can I make sure she doesn't become self-absorbed as she grows up?" a young mother asked me as we munched warm chocolate-chip cookies.

Our culture struggles with the "I wants." When children receive "things without strings" they begin a life of self-centered discontentment. Adults, in an effort to find happiness, reach for whatever they don't have, thinking that thing must be what is missing. In the United States we often convince ourselves that our wants are really needs.

I had the privilege of joining my sisters on a trip to Ecuador to visit the Compassion International projects. We came face-to-face with real poverty, real needs and real happiness. Many moments will remain etched in my memory, but two stand out as a glaring disparity to life as we know it.

First, we visited a family with three children who live in a block home, tin roof, dirt floors and have only one bed. I asked the parents if they could have just one thing what would it be. They thought about it, discussed it, then said, "We have everything we need."

Wow! Are there many in the U.S. who would say that? Furthermore, I wonder if the response in this country would be, "Only one thing?" They have the love of their family and more importantly the love of a God who fills their desires.

Second, I met Jonathan, a college student from a family of eight who is a Compassion International sponsored child. He is studying to become a math teacher. When asked why he chose that path he said, "The boys in my village drop out of school when they become freshmen so they can work and help support the family. I want them to know that if they continue on and learn math it can open many more doors in their work life. I also know that one day I will stand before God and He will ask me, 'What did you do with what I gave you?' I want to help change the reality in my own world."

Wow! This young man has been given an opportunity for a different life and now he gives back.

So, back to my conversation with my friend as we were eating cookies. My answer to this young mother was, "Go on mission trips, help the needy, sponsor a child and serve others." When we serve, the focus shifts from self to selfless. It is only then that the resemblance of Christ can be seen in our reflection.

How will we answer the question, "What did you do with what I gave you?"

Dear Lord, we are so blessed and yet we often live with impoverished hearts. Fill us with the Spirit that encourages us to go, to serve and to bind up the brokenhearted. Empty us of self so Your reflection can shine to others, in Jesus' Name, amen.

Reflections:

What self-centered thing occupies my time?

How can I increase my efforts of serving others?

Who around me needs God's love to flow through me and onto them?

Power Verses:

Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (NIV)

Mark 12:30-31, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (NIV)