On Monday of this week, April 23, 2007 The United States Senate met and was called to order by the Honorable Jim Webb, a Senator from the State of Virginia. The first order of business is always prayer usually led by the Chaplain of the Senate, Barry Black. On this day a guest Chaplain, Sunday Adelaja, pastor of the largest evangelical church in European history prayed the following prayer published in the Congressional Record, Volume 153, No. 65.
“The PRESIDING OFFICER. Today’s prayer will be offered by the guest Chaplain, Pastor Sunday Adelaja from Kiev, Ukraine.
“PRAYER
“The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
“O, Lord of creation, we acknowledge Your lordship today, Your sovereignty, love, and power. We ask that You will bless the United States of America in these days of great uncertainties. Bless the leaders of this great Nation with the wisdom needed to lead the Nation in the right direction.
“As leaders, we realize there are some things we want but do not need and some things we need but do not want. You have promised to meet our needs but not satisfy our greed. Help us to realize our decisions have a destiny, our choices have consequences, our path has a purpose, our faith has a foundation, our home has a hope, and this country has a cause.
“Acknowledging that as America goes, so goes our world, I ask for a sweeping, weeping, and reaping revival throughout this great Nation. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in America as it is in heaven. Help us to remember that America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, it will cease to be great. God of heaven, please help America to continue to be good.
“In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
Pastor Sunday, we all say “Amen!” and are in agreement with your prayer for our great nation. America is great, and there are those who would, in the name of religion, destroy it, but may we “in the name of Jesus” (the only name whereby any are saved) hold up our leaders and troops as they fight for the values and the freedom to practice our faith without inhibition by the government.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Are You a Good Worrier?
Perhaps one of the greatest drains on our energy and ability to perform our jobs or be successful in life is worry. Worry has been described as "interest paid on trouble before it comes due."
Zig Ziglar writes in his monthly newsletter, “One of America's worst enemies is worry. Worry is like a rocking chair; it requires a lot of energy, and it gets you nowhere. Leo Buscaglia said, ‘Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.’
“Americans take more pills to forget more worries about more things than ever before and more than people in any other nation in history. That's bad. According to Dr. Charles Mayo, ‘Worry affects the circulation and the whole nervous system. I've never known a man who died from overwork, but I've known many who have died from doubt.’ Doubt always creates worry, and in most cases, lack of information raises the doubt.
“Life is much like Christmas. You're more apt to get what you expect than what you want.”
One thing that will reduce your worry is simply don’t worry about what you can't change. Here’s an example. When I am stuck in traffic I tend to get irritated (like most of you reading this), but I am working on realizing that I can’t change anything about that situation. I can’t make the cars sitting or barely moving all around me do anything different. It is out of my control. The only thing not out of my control is my mind, what I think about, and how I let it affect my attitude. I can focus my attention on the problem that I can’t change at the moment or I can choose to listen to a constructive message on the CD or the radio or just stop to meditate on the Word of God. I can either fume over the delay or use the delay to do some problem solving on the challenge at work, or developing that new plan I’ve been talking about. It is a mental discipline.
In Matthew chapter six Jesus uses the word “worry” five times telling not to worry. The word is worry in the NIV, but in the King James instead of “worry” the word is “take thought.” That’s really what worry is. It is thinking about, dwelling on something that I cannot change.
Read this and insert “take thought” or “think about” for the word “worry.”
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
In Matthew 12 Jesus gives the parable of the sower. Some of the seeds planted He says fall among thorns and this is the “man who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”
It’s very simple. You can hear the word of God, the promises of God’s Word. You can memorize them and listen to them every week at church, but if you worry then worry will choke out the words and destroy your faith to believe them. So, the simple conclusion is “stop worrying” about the things we can’t change. If we can change something stop worrying about it and change it. We just need to remove worry from our lives because it is choking out the seed of God’s word making it unfruitful in our lives. It is a simple choice of changing my thoughts from worry to thoughts of God’s blessing and promises. You can do it!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive me for the sin of worrying. Forgive me for spending more time and energy worrying than I do praying, listening to You, and being a doer of the Word You give me. Today, I make the choice not to worry about what I can’t change and to stop fretting over those things that I can change by just doing it. I love You, Lord, and I love it that I know You love me. AMEN.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
Zig Ziglar writes in his monthly newsletter, “One of America's worst enemies is worry. Worry is like a rocking chair; it requires a lot of energy, and it gets you nowhere. Leo Buscaglia said, ‘Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.’
“Americans take more pills to forget more worries about more things than ever before and more than people in any other nation in history. That's bad. According to Dr. Charles Mayo, ‘Worry affects the circulation and the whole nervous system. I've never known a man who died from overwork, but I've known many who have died from doubt.’ Doubt always creates worry, and in most cases, lack of information raises the doubt.
“Life is much like Christmas. You're more apt to get what you expect than what you want.”
One thing that will reduce your worry is simply don’t worry about what you can't change. Here’s an example. When I am stuck in traffic I tend to get irritated (like most of you reading this), but I am working on realizing that I can’t change anything about that situation. I can’t make the cars sitting or barely moving all around me do anything different. It is out of my control. The only thing not out of my control is my mind, what I think about, and how I let it affect my attitude. I can focus my attention on the problem that I can’t change at the moment or I can choose to listen to a constructive message on the CD or the radio or just stop to meditate on the Word of God. I can either fume over the delay or use the delay to do some problem solving on the challenge at work, or developing that new plan I’ve been talking about. It is a mental discipline.
In Matthew chapter six Jesus uses the word “worry” five times telling not to worry. The word is worry in the NIV, but in the King James instead of “worry” the word is “take thought.” That’s really what worry is. It is thinking about, dwelling on something that I cannot change.
Read this and insert “take thought” or “think about” for the word “worry.”
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
In Matthew 12 Jesus gives the parable of the sower. Some of the seeds planted He says fall among thorns and this is the “man who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”
It’s very simple. You can hear the word of God, the promises of God’s Word. You can memorize them and listen to them every week at church, but if you worry then worry will choke out the words and destroy your faith to believe them. So, the simple conclusion is “stop worrying” about the things we can’t change. If we can change something stop worrying about it and change it. We just need to remove worry from our lives because it is choking out the seed of God’s word making it unfruitful in our lives. It is a simple choice of changing my thoughts from worry to thoughts of God’s blessing and promises. You can do it!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive me for the sin of worrying. Forgive me for spending more time and energy worrying than I do praying, listening to You, and being a doer of the Word You give me. Today, I make the choice not to worry about what I can’t change and to stop fretting over those things that I can change by just doing it. I love You, Lord, and I love it that I know You love me. AMEN.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Producing and Blessing
What God created He intended to be productive. In Genesis 1 He commanded even the waters to “bring forth abundantly.” Then He created all the living creatures of the sea and the birds of the air. Then He “blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on earth.” Then He said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kind.”
Then He said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule” over the creation. In Genesis 1:28 God said about man what He’d said about the rest of creation... “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
God created everything to be fruitful, to be productive. In fact, in verse 29 He tells us, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” There was always more than they needed for themselves. It is not God’s desire or will then for any of us to be so poor that we do not have what we need. In fact, He wants us to have more than we need so that we have some to give away.
Are you productive for your company, your business, your church, your family? God has created us to subdue through our fruitfulness. We don’t really need to subdue many animals today, but there are animals, challenges in life, on the job, in our families, in our churches, etc. that must be subdued. That is part of productivity, the result of fruitfulness. One of the questions you will find on job applications very often will have to do with “problem solving.” How good are you at problem solving? Then if they give you an aptitude test for the job it will almost always have problems for you to solve. A huge part of training in school is problem solving.
There is a reason for that. It’s what God created us to do. Be productive, fill the earth, and solve its problems. That’s why people invent things that help us get the job done. That’s why people have ideas to overcome obstacles and increase productivity. That’s the way God created us. So, if your productivity is low it is because you have forgotten who you are and why you were created. Get out there and start living like the blessed, fruitful creation of God that you are!
Prayer: Father God, thank You for accomplishment today, thank You for using me today to make a difference in the world I live in, in the family You have given me, in the workplace where You have positioned me, through the vocation You have placed me and cause me to be fruitful. Out of Your blessing on my life will flow ideas, resources, and fruit to sustain my life and help and bless others. AMEN.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
Then He said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule” over the creation. In Genesis 1:28 God said about man what He’d said about the rest of creation... “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
God created everything to be fruitful, to be productive. In fact, in verse 29 He tells us, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” There was always more than they needed for themselves. It is not God’s desire or will then for any of us to be so poor that we do not have what we need. In fact, He wants us to have more than we need so that we have some to give away.
Are you productive for your company, your business, your church, your family? God has created us to subdue through our fruitfulness. We don’t really need to subdue many animals today, but there are animals, challenges in life, on the job, in our families, in our churches, etc. that must be subdued. That is part of productivity, the result of fruitfulness. One of the questions you will find on job applications very often will have to do with “problem solving.” How good are you at problem solving? Then if they give you an aptitude test for the job it will almost always have problems for you to solve. A huge part of training in school is problem solving.
There is a reason for that. It’s what God created us to do. Be productive, fill the earth, and solve its problems. That’s why people invent things that help us get the job done. That’s why people have ideas to overcome obstacles and increase productivity. That’s the way God created us. So, if your productivity is low it is because you have forgotten who you are and why you were created. Get out there and start living like the blessed, fruitful creation of God that you are!
Prayer: Father God, thank You for accomplishment today, thank You for using me today to make a difference in the world I live in, in the family You have given me, in the workplace where You have positioned me, through the vocation You have placed me and cause me to be fruitful. Out of Your blessing on my life will flow ideas, resources, and fruit to sustain my life and help and bless others. AMEN.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
Monday, April 23, 2007
Where is I AM?
Many people spend their lives regretting the past and fearing the future because of the pain of the past. But think about what God said to Moses when he was standing at the burning bush. Remember what He said? It’s in Exodus 3. Moses asked, “Who will I tell them sent me?” God said, “Tell them ‘I am’ has sent you, and I am that ‘I am.’”
When you live in the past with it’s pain and regret it is difficult because God is not there. His name is “I AM” not “I WAS.” When you spend all your time thinking about the future and fearing its challenges and problems it is difficult for you because His name is “I AM” not “I WILL BE.”
Moses needed to know then and there who was going with Him. We often talk about taking one day at a time, living one day at a time. This I know, God, I AM, has been with me in the past and will be with me in the future, and He will be whatever I need Him to be at any given moment. But where I need Him most is RIGHT NOW, today, this moment.
When we call on human help we often get “in a minute” or “later” or “tomorrow” or “when I get the time.” But our God is “a very present help in time of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)
He is there with you right now. Don’t miss Him by looking so much for “I WAS” or “I WILL BE” that you miss “I AM.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are with me right now. You know every thought and hear every cry of my heart. I will be blessed and will do great this day because You are the I AM. AMEN.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
When you live in the past with it’s pain and regret it is difficult because God is not there. His name is “I AM” not “I WAS.” When you spend all your time thinking about the future and fearing its challenges and problems it is difficult for you because His name is “I AM” not “I WILL BE.”
Moses needed to know then and there who was going with Him. We often talk about taking one day at a time, living one day at a time. This I know, God, I AM, has been with me in the past and will be with me in the future, and He will be whatever I need Him to be at any given moment. But where I need Him most is RIGHT NOW, today, this moment.
When we call on human help we often get “in a minute” or “later” or “tomorrow” or “when I get the time.” But our God is “a very present help in time of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)
He is there with you right now. Don’t miss Him by looking so much for “I WAS” or “I WILL BE” that you miss “I AM.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are with me right now. You know every thought and hear every cry of my heart. I will be blessed and will do great this day because You are the I AM. AMEN.
Blessings!
Pastor Roger
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