Solid teaching

Shout praises to the Lord! The Lord blesses everyone who worships him and gladly obeys his teachings. ~ Psalm 112:1 (CEV)

But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ~ 2 Timothy 3:14-15 (MSG)

KEY IDEA:

That which we learned from God's message to us is worth hanging onto because it will guide us into faith and salvation.

PRAYER:

Praise to you, our Lord and God! I'm so thankful for the way that you have been speaking into my life from way before I realized it. On the days when I am tired and drained -- I'm too ready to give up and forget about how your teaching has made my life better. Don't give up on me. Please continue to speak wonderful words of encouragement into my mind and heart. I'm going to stick with what I've learned and believed. Amen.

Fruitful communication

The First Sunday in the Season of Advent

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. ~ Isaiah 55:11 (NLT)

And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. ~ Mark 16:20 (NLT)

KEY IDEA:

The Lord's word always produces fruit.

PRAYER:

Lord,

THANKS: Thank you for sending your message out and for the way that it produces fruit.

REGRETS: I need to give more attention to preaching your word with my life and my words.

INTERCESSION: I pray for all those who hear me speak and preach. I pray that they would become fruitful for you and your kingdom.

PURPOSE: I'm going to focus more of my energy on preaching the good news of Jesus.

Amen.

Fruitfulness

They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves... ~ Psalm 1:3a (CEV)

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. ~ Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

KEY IDEA:

God wants to produce good fruit in my life. I need to let him.

PRAYER:

Lord, I'm not a very impressive tree. Oh, I pretend that I'm big and beautiful. But I am really short and scrawny. On my own I have very little to offer. Yet, you have replanted me to be by your living water so that my roots are well fed.  The fruit I produce is all yours. If it were not for you I would be fruitless. Please, I want to continue producing fruit -- more fruit -- even better fruit. It gives me real satisfaction. Amen.

God's doing

We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it. ~ Proverbs 16:9 (MSG)

What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” ~ James 4:15 (NLT)

KEY IDEA:

We may think we're in charge of life, but really, it depends on God making it happen.

PRAYER:

Lord:

THANKS: Thank you for all the wonderful opportunities that you have given to me.

REGRETS: I'm prideful and take too much credit for all the good things that have come my way.

INTERCESSION: Help me to recognize the many things you do on my behalf. Help me to become humble.

PURPOSE: I'm going to recognize that everything depends on your will.

Amen.