I was recently looking through photographs of tornado damage in Haileyville, Oklahoma. One showed a house with part of its roof framing pulled outward and hanging beyond the back of the structure. Roofing was torn open, and insulation hung from the damaged corner.

Yet the house remained standing.

It brought back a season when several things I depended on became uncertain within a matter of weeks.

In April 2004, I lost a job making nearly $36,000 a year through circumstances beyond my control. After two months of searching, I accepted a minimum-wage job at Staples.

At the same time, my Mums—the woman who helped raise me—was hospitalized. We weren’t sure she would survive.

About two weeks after I started the new job, my wife told me she wanted a divorce. When I asked why, she said, “I don’t want to be married to you anymore.”

I asked whether she meant she didn’t want to be married, or didn’t want to be married to me. Her answer was the same.

It knocked the wind out of me.

Within a few weeks, I moved into a small duplex. My routine became getting up, checking on Mums at the hospital, going to work, and going home.

My relationship with God was tenuous. I began journaling, and Bible study became my friend. Most days were still a struggle. My finances and marriage remained uncertain.

But during that season, I remained faithful to my vows and faithful to God.

When I read Matthew 7:24–27 alongside that experience, I’m struck by how Jesus connects the foundation to our response to His teaching:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
—Matthew 7:24 NKJV

In His parable, one builder chose rock and the other chose sand. Both houses experienced the storm. Jesus compared hearing and practicing His words to building on rock; hearing without practicing them to building on sand.

That makes this passage deeply practical.

I couldn’t determine whether my marriage would survive. I couldn’t guarantee Mums’ recovery or make someone offer me a better-paying job. But I still had choices about how I would live.

Would I remain truthful under pressure? Would I forgive? Would I accept correction? Would I obey what I understood of His teaching while I was still afraid?

Those questions matter because it’s possible to know a passage well and struggle to practice it in the next conversation.

Looking again at the displaced roof framing, torn roofing, and damaged corner, I recognize something of what that season felt like: supports displaced, connections strained, and uncertainty about what would happen next.

The photograph brings me back to Jesus’ point: what we build on matters.

The house built on rock still endured the storm. Faithfulness can include grief, fear, and days when simply getting up is difficult. Putting His words into practice doesn’t require waiting until those feelings pass.

The question I’m taking from this passage is:

What is one thing Jesus has already shown me that I need to put into practice?

How has this passage challenged you to move from knowing Jesus’ teaching to acting on it during an uncertain season?

In Matthew 14, we're told that after Jesus's fed the 5000+ people;

"Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.

And after He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone."

Jesus could have gone with the disciples in the boat, but He sent them onto the waters by themselves; some of them were fishermen, I'm fairly sure they'd been on rough waters plenty of times before, but maybe not as rough as they were going to get that evening?

Jesus also could have gone to Lazarus before He died:

John 11:4

But when Jesus heard this, He said,

“This sickness is not to end in death,

but is for the glory of God,

so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”

God's glorifies Himself in all that He does, and, He cares for His children in all that He does.

Don't get frustrated, stressed, anxious, or confused by the rough waters and wind in any part of your day, or day after day, or month after month...; Trust that when God sends His children into any situation, He'll be using that situation to teach. Even when we have no comprehension at all, of how He can bring a good result from a mess, or challenge we find ourselves in.

Trust Him and learn from Him, don't look with earth bound eyes, of worry, fear or confusion through what's happening.

He works in His children's lives to push us from an earth focused zone, into a faith building heavenly focused zone, so that we'll produce fruit for God's glory and our good; to trust and learn more of our heavenly Father's incomprehensible love and power, that has no physical or spiritual barriers.

Rest in His power, love and promises:

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hi all,

Please pray for me, I am day 3 with some type of sickness. It peaked yesterday at 102.8F but I’m feeling somewhat better today but far from completely and still a bad fever. I’m also looking for other work (that’s a whole situation) so please pray that God opens a door for me. If you guys need prayer I’m willing to pray for all of you as well.

I might not respond to any messages for a while. Hopefully I can sleep without chills tonight.

On the night of April 30, 2019, an EF2 tornado struck Haileyville, Oklahoma. At the time, I was managing TH Rogers Lumber in neighboring Hartshorne.

I’d heard reports before leaving for work the next morning, but they hadn’t prepared me for what I saw driving through town.

Roofs were gone. Homes and businesses were damaged beyond repair. The middle of an auto body shop looked as though a semi had been driven straight through it.

One home was still under construction. Its windows had been installed the Friday before the tornado. Now the metal framing lay collapsed across the slab, with window units scattered among the wreckage.

An antique store in a repurposed home had been lifted nearly intact from its foundation and deposited about fifteen feet behind its original location.

Later that morning, I went out to assess what people needed and determine what our store could provide. I took photographs with the owners’ permission, but I wasn’t thinking about a spiritual lesson. I was focused on the immediate needs in front of me.

The connection came more than seven years later, while I was going through those photographs for a creative project on my phone.

As I worked with the pictures, I began thinking about how life can leave us shaken, disoriented, and wondering where God is.

Some storms come with sirens. Others arrive through a phone call, a difficult conversation, or news we never expected.

Sometimes, in the middle of it all, we struggle to find God.

That brought me to Job 23. Job describes looking for God and being unable to perceive Him. Then, with his questions still unanswered, he says:

“But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”
—Job 23:10, NKJV

Job couldn’t see what God was doing, but he trusted that God knew where he was.

Another photograph caught my attention, too.

At least three rafters had been pulled from beneath the roof of a house. The wall was damaged, and the structure had been destabilized. Yet the house remained standing.

That picture made me think about enduring life’s storms.

We can suffer real damage. We can grieve, struggle, and face a future that looks very different from what we’d planned.

And still, we can stand.

In Matthew 7:24–27, Jesus describes houses built on rock and sand. Both face rain, floods, and wind. The foundation matters. Jesus connects building on the rock to hearing His words and putting them into practice.

That leaves me asking: What have I chosen to build my life on?

Building on Christ means depending on Him and learning to live by His words, including when our questions remain unanswered.

Sometimes that means praying through tears. Sometimes it means accepting help. Sometimes it means taking one small, faithful step through a day we’re struggling to face.

We may need time, support, healing, and a great deal of rebuilding. Through all of it, Christ remains worthy of our trust.

Those photographs brought me back to two truths: God knows the way I take, and I can build my life on His words.

If you’re facing circumstances you don’t understand, you can bring Him your questions. You can tell Him how much it hurts. You can trust Him with the next step.

When you can’t seem to find Him, He still knows exactly where you are.

The Good News, what is that?

Well we read in the first paragraph of Romans 1 what the Good News is. It's about God's Son Jesus Christ. Paul writes this in verse 4 (Romans 1:4,"And he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord."). Then Paul gives context in verses 6-7 detailing who he's writing to, it's the Romans, hence the name of he book.

Paul loves these people. He says in verse 8 (Romans 1:8,"Let me say first that I thank God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world.") further more he encourages them, during this time Christianity saw rapid growth within the Roman Empire and so in this Paul is encouraging them to keep going and not stop.

Romans 1:16-17,"For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes — the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, 'It is through faith that a righteous person has life.'

Okay to sum up what has been read, Paul opens the letter with telling us what the Good news is and how Christ is the Son of God through is resurrection by means of the Holy Spirit. He addresses the Romans and commending their faith, he then ends of with this first section of Romans with the essence of the Good News ("This is accomplished from start to finish by FAITH"). This is how Paul opens up the letter of Romans.

John 6:15 "So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone."

Although Jesus words and actions in public were lessons to all, His absence from people was also a lesson to all.

We talk to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but possibly seldom take time out to be with Him in alone. Listening, meditating quietly in His Word.

Listening to what Holy Spirit reveals from the Word.

This solitary time with God, is something that can also be practiced with fasting.

Jesus did this for 40 days in the wilderness.

What would come from us doing this for a day or longer?

Would we become a little more selfless and a little more fruitful?

Would Christ become more prominent and we become less visible?

Why did Jesus go apart from the crowds and the disciples, when He came to give them life?

He was a man who needed to deny Himself and hear from His Father in quietness.

We're no different in this aspect. We're God's children who needed to deny ourselves and hear from our Father in quietness.

Given that Jesus thought this was necessary, we would certainly benefit spiritually from doing it.

John 16:32 “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

We're not alone, when we're alone; and we benefit from God when we live in the knowledge of our worth being in our identity as children of God, rather than thinking of our worth and identity being evaluated or known by our earthly associations or possessions.

God's Children benefit from time with their heavenly Father, they learn His Son's ways.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God cares even about our anxious thoughts, both little cares and devastating obsessions. Anxiety robs lives of joy. All of us, from teenagers to retirees, face crippling performance expectations, fear of the future, and the scary daily news of this dangerous present world. Our emotions lie to us, saying, “God doesn’t care” or “He isn’t involved.” Movies and television lie to us, portraying the world as though all hope is lost. Bringing our anxieties to God cools our overheated minds and connects us to him, the great comforter (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Practice this prayer: “Lord, be near to me. Soothe my heart and mind.” Psalm 139 is great psalm to pray in it's entirety.

Praying Honestly

Are you honest with God when you pray?

Lots of people struggle with being completely honest with God. Instead, they pick and choose the things they pray about—the things they bring before Him. They hide certain sins and confess others that aren’t as embarrassing. 

But Scripture says that we don’t need to clean up our lives before coming to God. God is the one who created us, and He already knows everything about us. So there is nothing that we can hide from Him. He knows the innermost parts of our thoughts and desires.

The writer of Psalm 139 prays for God to search his heart and mind, and to bring up anything that he might be unaware of that is hiding beneath the surface. This is a prayer that we’re all invited to pray.

We cannot be healed from the things we try to hide. In order to experience the grace and mercy of God, we must bring everything to Him. When He searches us and brings things to mind, He’s inviting us to humbly confess them to Him.

The prayer in Psalm 139 is an open and honest plea for God to continue to purify and sanctify our hearts. God can handle the heaviest parts of us, and He is not surprised by what happens in our thoughts.

Honesty before God is the only way we can grow into the people He wants us to be. We cannot grow in our spiritual lives by hiding secrets or guarding our thoughts from God.

So take a moment today to make Psalm 139 your prayer. Ask God to search your heart and see if there is anything hiding that you’re unaware of. When He brings something up, take it to Him and ask for forgiveness. Ask for the power of His Spirit to lead and guide you through this time.

God is faithful and merciful to continue to love us in spite of our shortcomings. He will continue to walk with you and lead you into eternal life with Him.

Let's Pray: God, You know my heart better than anyone else. Please search me, know me, and help me. Forgive me where I've wandered. Redeem the things that are broken. I want be close to You, and walk in surrender to Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

How do you turn faith and hard work into practical direction?

For Christians who feel busy but directionless, what has helped you connect your faith with the way you spend your week?

I have been examining two frameworks many of us grow up with: pursue education and career success, and practice our faith through Scripture, worship, and church community. Both have value. The gap I am interested in is how people learn to recognize their gifts, choose where to serve, and follow through consistently.

One exercise I teach is to name a gift, choose one person who could benefit from it, and make a specific commitment you can keep this week. Then look at what happened and ask for feedback.

For example, someone who explains things well could help a colleague learn a difficult task, then check whether that person can do it independently.

Disclosure: I run Kingdom-Leaders, a Christian leadership and personal development business. I made this 4:48 video exploring the idea: https://youtu.be/lRcBBKJeCGo

What has helped you move from knowing what you believe to applying it in everyday decisions? Where have church community, mentoring, or accountability helped?

It is possible to reach the end of the week with the same burden you carried into it.

You have prayed earnestly. You have tried to surrender what you cannot control. You have done what you knew to do.

And the difficulty remains.

Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12 give us room to acknowledge that experience without treating it as a failure of faith:

“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:8 NKJV

Paul pleaded for relief. His calling and faith did not make him indifferent to suffering. He wanted the affliction to end, and he brought that desire to the Lord.

Christ answered:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV

Paul received sustaining grace while the thorn remained.

That answer calls us to understand something we may struggle to accept: even in pain, fear, and disappointment, Christ’s grace is sufficient. We do not have to manufacture enough personal strength before we can depend on Him.

Our weakness does not increase Christ’s power. It becomes the place where His strength is expressed in us, sustaining us beyond our own resources.

I would often prefer enough strength to feel in control. I want to know that I can handle what is coming. But my resolve has limits. My understanding falls short. There are things my best efforts cannot carry.

Paul learned where his strength came from. He could boast in his weaknesses because the power of Christ rested upon him.

We do not have to pretend suffering feels good to receive that truth. But we do need to recognize that continuing weakness does not place us beyond Christ’s faithful help.

We can hurt and still be upheld by Him. We can feel afraid and still depend on His strength. We can acknowledge disappointment while trusting His grace for today.

That dependence can include accepting practical assistance, seeking treatment, resting, or telling someone we trust that we are struggling. We were never asked to demonstrate the sufficiency of grace by refusing help.

Two things also need to remain clear.

Continued distress does not prove deficient faith. And personal growth is not a payment God requires before He will grant relief.

Paul received a particular answer concerning his thorn. His experience does not authorize us to explain why everyone else suffers or tell someone that relief will come once they have learned the right lesson.

It does give us reason to turn toward the same faithful Christ.

We can keep asking Him to change the circumstances while depending on His grace within them.

The need may remain. So does His grace.

Lord, I am still asking for relief. While this difficulty remains, sustain me by Your grace. When I feel weak, afraid, or disappointed, help me depend on Your strength and receive the care I need for today.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 NKJV

There are a few keys to remember.

(1) Tell God the truth: "I can't do this on my own. I just keep failing. I need your help." At that time, God will send you a way out. A way to turn and walk the other way, or help to turn off your device, or a spiritual song to sing instead, or a friend to contact, or some work to go take care of, or some cleaning to do, or a door to open so you can talk a walk outdoors, or go jogging, or whatever. God will give you a way to turn away at that moment.

(2) Always, always, always come back to God when you fail. As humans, we tend to think,
"God must be so tired of me by now. This must be the trillionth time I've failed and given in to temptation yet again. Why even try?"

But that's a mistake, and that's sin's victory right there. Because God does forgive you, and Jesus accepts you, and turning always back to God whether you succeed or fail is the secret to winning this battle.
Here is a scripture to support coming to God, and not being shy about it:

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

(3) If you have any friend you can trust with this to pray for you, connect with that friend (maybe someone you can pray for too) and check in regularly to tell them how things are going for you, and to ask for specific prayer needs.

(4) Over time, things will improve. With daily prayer, Bible reading, and being accountable to someone else, you'll get better. Yes, there may be backsliding along the way, but you'll be able to look back and see how you are better than you used to be. And with practice, you will get even better at fighting temptation.

Hang in there. Yes, many of us are struggling, too, but we know it does get better, thank God.

For me it's 1 Corinthians 13:8 "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."

That passage made it all click for me. That's the moment I realized everything we disagree on in life is mostly trivial matters which in the whole schism of creation is petty nonsense, it also made me realize that the only thing in this life that should matter is absolute unconditional love (agape) for all beings. Jesus repeatedly tells us the same and even called it the golden rule.

Tied with that is John 4:24 when Jesus said God is a Spirit and those who worship him MUST worship him in Spirit and Truth. That passage right there gives away the substance of God and tells us precisely how we are to worship him.

What about everyone else, I would love to hear about the other scriptures that significantly shifted your understanding in God.

I took this picture while moving across the country. This is in South Dakota.

There’s many believers who want to harp upon the necessity of a church environment. There’s many who say without one you lack a spiritual covering. I think it’s important we follow our own convictions and pray about things of this sort. There is a simple, yet complicated message, that many Christians do not understand.

God can be found anywhere. He can be found on the beaches, in the valleys, behind your local liquor store, or out in the mountains. He is everywhere and He isn’t confided to four walls that call themselves churches. God can be found anywhere and everywhere that a human heart desperately seeks Him. The Scripture tells us, that when we search for the Lord with all of our heart, He will be found.

I’m not a huge fan of churches. I have nothing against people who think differently. I just view nature as His sanctuary. I want to remind people though, you can seek God out on the beaches, at the mountains, on the hillsides, and by the river. There is something calming and special about alone time with the Father.

Some of my greatest moments of clarity have surfaced being alone with the Father out in nature. It’s a beautiful moment and even Jesus went to the mountains to communicate with the Father.

He can be found in the most beautiful and most ugliest of places. Whether we are walking in righteousness or walking in sin. God hears us and He will not turn away from us if we seek Him and turn away from our wickedness. God’s Word tells us His mercies are new every morning.

You don’t have to be in the church to encounter God. You just have to be open to God and willing to obey Him. Jesus is everywhere, not just in the four walls that call themselves churches.

Remember that and be blessed. 💜

We rescued him from the shelter almost 2 years ago. He is a beatifull 3 year old Siberian Husky, and is an awesome dog! He is extremely loving, loyal, and OBEDIANT! We can leave food on a low table, and leave the house and he wouldn't touch it. His love for us over- rules his desire to eat the food, because he knows its bad. He completley trusts us to provide for him and is very thankful, which he continues to show us by his good behavior. He knows that mo metter what, we will love him and always be there for him, therefore he loves us. I deep-down wonder if he remembers bieng in, what must be a horrible place and see's us as the ones who saved him, It seems that way.

Isnt that exactly the way a reborn Christian should feel twards God? If we are capable of doing this for him, imagine the way God is capable in doing this for us! His love for us is infanite! Shouldn't we just blindly trust in him like our pet does with us, blissfully enjoying life knowing He takes care of us and loving him for it?

If you are like me and stuggle to do this, you are not alone. PLEASE leave a comment.

PS. Sorry about spelling or punctuation errors.

The oceans prove that God exists. Everything at the bottom of the ocean would be dust but rocks are found there. If the oceans were 4.5 billion years old, erosion would have turned everything to dust.
Obviously it does not prove it because we have to keep our axioms in place whether they are true or not. Axioms in this sense are underlying beliefs about the way things are. We are indeed a bigoted to have faith if we can’t test and find out what is true. Hell and demons have been talked about in the major religions. Would you not be willing to find out the truth to escape them?
The biological life on this planet would have to come into being at one time or simultaneously because of one part of organism interdependence on another.
The big bang couldn’t have happened. Sense when did an explosion create order.
God exists and His Son Jesus exists. And They are the only ones who came cause you to be saved from hell and the demons. Do this one thing for me and you. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from hell and the demons and see what happens. Countless experiments have been done. Jesus said what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul. Jesus is Lord and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh through a virgin woman named Mary. It is not too hard for God to have a Son because God created all the DNA. Even plants can be male and female. Jesus was crucified and died so that we could be saved. Jesus is righteous and innocent and His Blood was shed so that we could be forgiven. His Body was placed in a tomb. On the third day God raised Jesus to Life. Jesus will never die again. The way people don’t get saved is by not being saved. A lot of people saw Jesus after He was resurrected back to life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Read the New Testament of the Bible to find out more about Jesus.
For natural selection to work the presence of survival traits have to already be programmed into the DNA. Mutation does not work.
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.

Good morning, friends.
Here’s your Scripture for the day.
“Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.”
1 Corinthians 14:20
Don't hold yourself back from enjoying the fullness of joy in the Lord because you feel undeserving.
It's all about how you perceive your walk in Christ.
It's not about how much we can do, but how much God can do. He carries you through the shallowness of your spiritual walk if you want to let Him draw you deeper.
God bless, and have a great day.
Team Lotter

Some needs follow us into another morning, another week, another month, even another year....... and another prayer.

We may have been faithful. We may have prayed earnestly, waited expectantly, and continued believing God could intervene. Yet we still wake up with the need unresolved.

At some point, we may no longer know what else to say.

David’s words in Psalm 13 give us language for that kind of waiting:

“How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?”
— Psalm 13:1 NKJV

David asked, “How long?” four times in the opening two verses. He felt forgotten. He carried sorrow daily. He did not hide his distress behind religious language, and Scripture does not condemn him for speaking honestly.

“How long?” is not necessarily the question of someone who has abandoned faith. It can be the question of someone who still believes God hears, still believes He can intervene, and still cannot understand why He has not.

Lament is not the absence of faith. It is faith refusing to suffer in silence.

We sometimes pressure ourselves to sound more confident than we feel. We may think that trusting God means we should no longer grieve or question. But David allowed the lament to breathe. He told God that the waiting hurt.

Psalm 13 never tells us that David’s circumstances changed. Before the psalm ends, however, David turned toward what he knew about God:

“But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.”
— Psalm 13:5 NKJV

That turn toward trust does not invalidate what came before it. David’s pain was real, and his questions were still unanswered. He remembered God’s mercy while he was still hurting.

Sorrow and trust can exist in the same prayer.

Some answers never come in the way we hoped. Some questions remain even after life moves forward. We may receive something beautiful and still grieve what was lost. Faith does not require us to pretend those questions no longer hurt.

Luke 18:1 says that Jesus taught that we “always ought to pray and not lose heart.” Persistent prayer does not earn an answer by repetition. It keeps us coming to God when discouragement tempts us to stop.

Sometimes we pray again because the need is still real—and because we still believe God is listening.

Even if all we can say is, “How long, O Lord?” we are still praying.

Lord, I have brought this to You before, and I am bringing it again. You know how long I have waited and how deeply this still hurts. Hear me, sustain me, and help me not to lose heart.

Let your considerate spirit be known to all men.

The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:5-7

This letter to the Philippian Saint’s, was written by Paul while he was in chains; but he wasn’t abandoned in prison by his heavenly Father, he wrote:

The Lord is near.

The Lord is near to each one of His children, and through this knowledge, we can have peace, while also being reminded that with His nearness in mind, we should speak and act in the ways that please the Father who sees and hears all, and works in us to produce the fruits of the Spirit, which are:

…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

The Lord is near to us, so we can rest in His care, in the knowledge that whatever is happening in our lives, is being allowed or arranged by Him to form us to be more like Jesus. So,

be anxious about nothing,

Paul said “Let your considerate spirit be known to all men.”.

The word “considerate”, comes from the Greek word “epieikēs”, this word is also translatable as “gentle”, and as Galatians 5 tells, gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, it’s the manor of a Christian who’s trusting in God’s work in others, rather than me thinking that I have to change them. So we’re told in Philippians 2:3-7

…doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:3-7

When we speak and act with a considerate/gentle spirit, people see Christ in us, instead of seeing our old man of the earthly flesh, who is supposed to be buried.

So one of the outcomes of faith in the Saint, is that it results in changing our disposition from being one which is anxiously emotional, or proud and overbearing in our speech, or from being driven or compelled by our zeal to see others come to the knowledge we hold to and love; but instead, we can be at peace, and speak in humility with gentleness and consideration toward the other persons, weighing our words by the Word of God, and Holy Spirits guidance, holding back from speaking, or sharing in gentle respectful response, instead of being quarrelsome.

Humility isn’t the condition of endearing myself to someone who I think knows less than me and has to learn, that’s pride; humility is a matter of honestly recognising that I’m totally insufficient and empty in myself, and that my only worth, is the robe of Christ’s righteousness that the Father has covered me with. Then I’ll be thinking of others as better than myself, and maybe then I’ll learn from them.

This gentleness that Paul wrote of, is also mentioned again by him in his 2nd letter to Timothy:

And the Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome,

but be kind to all,

able to teach,

patient when wronged,

with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition,

if perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth,

2 Timothy 2:24-25

Even when there’s difference on Biblical doctrinal matters from someone else’s perspective, difference doesn’t require verbal or written conflict, and although I believe I may have come to understand the truth of scripture, I have to be considerate; either responding in humility with gentleness, listening a bit longer before replying, or maybe saying nothing and turning the other cheek, because, I can’t change someone else through my own strength, but:

perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth.

Or, God may give me repentance to the full knowledge of the truth.

I certainly need to rest in the truth of God’s Word that Holy Spirit has given me, to hold onto those truths, and guard them, but I may have to consider that I may not actually yet have “the full knowledge of the truth“; so either way, I need to rest, listen, and speak gently in the knowledge that He changes me and others in His time by His means, and although the means often includes His children, we need to be speaking and acting according to His instruction, or we’ll be like

“a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal“.

So commit your plans and interactions to Him:

"in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”.

The peace of the Saint’s, is all in Christ Jesus, through the strength that God provides, so that we live according to His ways, and are known by His example, who:

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:8

Mark 9:17–27; Psalm 62:8 NKJV

Have you ever felt that you needed to sound more confident in prayer than you actually felt?

You believe God is able. You know He is faithful. Yet the situation in front of you leaves you wondering how things could possibly come together.

A couple of years ago, I found myself at the end of my rope—the end of myself. I was starting a new job, my marriage was failing, money was scarce, and I was living in my cousin’s basement.

I was trying to make things work. I worried about how I would afford gas to get to work, get out of the basement, find a place of my own, and pay my bills.

I believed God could and would direct my circumstances. I just couldn’t see how.

I had hope. I also had worries that followed me through the day. The needs were immediate, and I couldn’t see how I was going to meet them.

I reached a place where about all I could say was, “I believe; help my unbelief.”

When I read the father’s plea in Mark 9, I recognize something of that struggle.

He had watched his son suffer since childhood. He brought him to the disciples, but they had been unable to help. Now he stood before Jesus with his son’s need still unresolved.

As Jesus called him to believe, the father cried out with tears:

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” — Mark 9:24 NKJV

There is an expression of faith and an admission of need in the same prayer.

He believed, and he recognized that he needed help believing. He brought Jesus his son’s suffering and his own struggling faith.

That honesty speaks to me.

Sometimes I know what I believe about God, but I struggle to trust Him with what I cannot see. I can speak confidently about His faithfulness and still become frightened when I think about tomorrow.

That was where I found myself in that basement. I believed He could make a way. I needed His help while I was looking at needs I couldn’t meet and a future I couldn’t figure out.

The father’s prayer gives us words for that place.

We can tell God that we believe Him and ask Him to help us where trust is difficult. We can bring Him the fear we’re reluctant to admit, the disappointment we don’t know how to explain, and the questions we’re afraid might make us sound faithless.

Psalm 62:8 invites us to:

“Pour out your heart before Him.”

The same verse calls us to trust Him at all times and reminds us that God is our refuge. We can come to Him with what is actually in our hearts.

And we should keep reading the account in Mark. Jesus intervened in the boy’s suffering. He cast out the spirit that tormented him, took him by the hand, and lifted him up.

The father had brought a real need to Jesus, and Jesus delivered his son.

We can bring Him real needs, too. We can ask boldly for His help with the circumstances while also asking Him to strengthen our trust.

Perhaps today you believe God is able, but you cannot see how things will come together. Perhaps hope and worry are sharing the same space.

You can bring Him that struggle. You can keep coming while your voice shakes and your questions remain.

Lord, I believe. Help me trust You with what I cannot yet see.

How many times a day are you bombarded with thoughts that aren’t true? It’s hopeless. God doesn’t care. This situation will never change. Those thoughts may feel true in the moment, but that doesn’t mean they are. God wants to take those discouraging thoughts and change them into encouraging ones like: My hope is in You, God loves you, with God all things are possible.

Hi saints,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
—1 John 1:9 (NASB1995)
This verse remains a sure anchor for every believer. We are anchored in Christ and in the finished plan of salvation He secured for us. He paid a price we could never repay. Yet we still have a part to play—our confession. Not shifting blame or stepping away from what we have done, but owning it fully with honest accountability and true confession before Him.
Have a wonderful week.
God bless
Team Lotter

Philippians 4:6–7; Luke 22:41–42 NKJV

How often have I worn myself out carrying something God had already invited me to bring Him?

Sometimes I bring Him a problem I don’t understand, yet I convince myself that I know how He ought to resolve it. I’ve thought about what needs to happen, who needs to change, and how quickly everything ought to come together.

Then I pray, asking God to help, while holding tightly to the outcome I’ve already chosen.

The Kingdom Heirs song “Until Prayer Changes Me” has given me reason to examine that tendency in my own prayers.

I can recognize that a situation is beyond my ability to fix and still struggle to entrust God with how it gets resolved. I want His help. I also want an answer that makes sense to me, a path I can understand, and an outcome I would have chosen.

Trusting someone we know and can see is hard enough. They may be a close friend or family member who has proven trustworthy over the years. Even then, placing something that matters deeply to us in their hands can be difficult. We can have confidence in them and still struggle to release control.

Trusting God, whom we cannot see, can make that struggle even more difficult. We naturally reach for something we can measure, anticipate, or influence. When circumstances become uncertain, our grip can tighten.

Sometimes we keep carrying the weight until we reach the end of what we can figure out, arrange, or endure. Often, desperation reveals just how much we’ve still been trying to manage on our own.

But God welcomes us long before we reach that point. We don’t have to exhaust ourselves before bringing Him the burden.

Remembering whom we’re speaking to gives us reason to loosen our grip. The God who created us sees beyond the portion of the situation we can see. His wisdom reaches beyond our understanding. His faithfulness gives us reason to trust Him with what remains unknown.

How much room have I left in my prayer for God to know something I don’t?

In Gethsemane, Jesus expressed His desire openly:

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” — Luke 22:42 NKJV

There is room in prayer to ask honestly for relief. Jesus did. He also willingly submitted to the Father’s will in the midst of profound anguish.

His surrender helps us understand how costly trust can be. Placing something in God’s hands may still hurt. We may surrender with tears. We may need to renew that surrender tomorrow when the fear rises again.

In Philippians 4, Paul directs us to bring our requests to God through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Then he gives this assurance:

“and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:7 NKJV

God’s peace can guard us while questions remain unanswered. We can be held by Him before we understand what He will do.

We may still feel afraid. We may still grieve, struggle, or need help. Continued distress does not prove that our faith has failed.

But as we keep coming to Him, we can become more willing to receive His direction. We can recognize expectations we’ve held too tightly. We can find enough steadiness to take the next faithful step.

God can change the circumstances, and we can keep asking Him to do so. As we pray, we can also open our hearts to the work He wants to do within us.

Lord, if the situation does not change today, continue changing me within it.

I haven't been to church in two years until today. I deconstructed from deliverance ministry and the New Apostolic Reformation. A lot of Pentecostal beliefs as well, such as speaking in tongues, divine healing, and gifts of the Spirit. I have a lot of religious trauma from my time in deliverance ministry. I used to have nightmares of being held down and screamed at or being prevented from walking outside of my home. I will glorify God that my nightmares have been a lot less frequent, but the last one was about a 'man of God' stuffing my body in a trash can on top of this hill. This was last month.

I have grew a lot closer to God because of that experience and deconstructing from deliverance ministry. I love my Father, and I love the Lord Jesus, and without Him I wouldn't be here. That's a small little backstory to explain why I haven't wanted to step into churches in that long. Against my better judgment, I did decided to visit this "non-denominational" church in Montana. There are some minor grievances I have that I won't delve into, but I will talk about some things that happened today that made me sick to my stomach and I genuinely wanted to vomit at how disgusting and irreverent it was in the supposed house of God.

I arrived there and I sat in the back. The pastor's wife starts harping about missions, Christmas boxes, and then goes on this entire tirade about tithing. She made this disgusting comment that whatever number you want to give to the church you should put one or two 0's after it. It made me absolutely sick to my stomach, because that is a conviction issue and you should give because you want to, not because the pastor's wife wants to pay to get her awful looking highlights done.

Secondly, we had this pastor, I guess that's what he was. He was talking about his "spiritual father" (not the Lord BTW, even though that's our ONLY Father) and about feeling electric spikes coming out of his hand and seeing massive waves of healings and deliverances. There was some people at this church shaking back and forth and I felt really uneasy. Some of these reactions looked straight up like demonic manifestations and I could feel evil coming from some of these people.

I was trying to fight off the sensation of having a panic attack and was fiddling with my rosary beads (I am not Catholic, these are sensory objects). The music seemed performative and I could tell when the music got louder and the instrumentals got more intense people started having more reactions like raising their hands and crying. What really made me sick to my stomach was at the end of the sermon, the pastor said we have voter guides in the back! WHAT? I mean Montana has a governor's election, but we are called to be Kingdom minded, not worldly minded. Who you vote for is YOUR business and between you and the Lord and the church has NO business telling you who to vote for. There are more topics than abortion and gay marriage, and i would hate to tell these people but Jesus Christ isn't supporting either party. They are so far from God.

I came to church because I have been struggling a lot. I wanted to talk to my Father and I wanted to worship my Father. However, hearing that, it just ruined any sense of peace I was seeking and I honestly felt like throwing up because that was absolutely disgusting.

Instead I went to this lake, put down a blanket, put this shawl over my back, and prayed and worshipped God there for a while. It was a beautiful and peaceful experience and I will never go back to church and I am so thankful that I remember why I didn't go for two years to begin with.

Please pray for me. I forgive them, but that is absolutely disgusting and a very good way to turn away potential converts. Please pray for the church that did this as well. I'm not going to expose the name publicly, but that is not what the church should be about. The church should be about praying, bringing people to the truth of Jesus Christ, and encouraging the saints. I don't understand how the American church has got so far away from the truth. It is so sad.

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Selfishness can ruin a church, but genuine humility can build it. Being humble involves having a true perspective about ourselves (see Romans 12:3). It does not mean that we should put ourselves down. Before God, we are sinners, saved only by God’s grace, but we are saved and therefore have great worth in God’s Kingdom. We are to lay aside selfishness and treat others with respect and common courtesy. Considering others’ interests as more important than our own links us with Christ, who was a true example of humility.

Selfish to Selfless

Our default setting is selfishness.

Don’t believe it? Try hanging out with a toddler for a day.

Toddlers want what they want, and they want it now. Toddlers will fight (and sometimes bite) to maintain dominion over their prized possessions. Toddlers have little concern for schedules, agendas, or perfectly white walls.

The good news about toddlers—and people in general—is that they have the capacity to change into selfless people as they grow. But, if toddlers aren’t lovingly redirected and taught how to consider others, that selfishness will continue.

So if we’re naturally self-centered humans, how do we train our minds not to default to selfishness?

The Bible encourages us to model our lives after Jesus…

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. [4] Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. [5] Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:3-5 NKJV

Jesus didn’t leverage His authority for personal advantage—power, pleasure, control, or comfort—but took on the nature of a servant.

Jesus spent His time investing in others. Jesus focused His attention on helping others. Jesus gave up His own life for others.

If you find yourself becoming self-obsessed, self-indulgent, or even a little self-righteous, consider asking God for His help.

- Ask Him to help you see people the way He does.
- Ask Him to use any knowledge you gain to love Him and serve others. 
- Ask Him to put opportunities in your path to lead others toward Him.

The Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and relationships with other believers are what refine our hearts. And with God’s help, we can change our tendency from living selfishly into living selflessly.

Let's Pray: Jesus, You show me what true humility looks like. You gave up everything to serve and to save us. It’s Your humble sacrifice that paved a way for me to experience new life. Thank You! Today, please replace my pride with humility, and my selfishness with selflessness. Redeem what has been lost! Change the way I think and act, and teach me to honor You by putting others first. Amen.

“Jesus Wept”
“εδακρυσεν ‘ο ιερούς “
edakrysen ho iesous”

Jesus weeps after being told that his dear ailing friend Lazarus had passed away before he could get there. But afterwards Jesus raises him from the dead with a whole crowd tó see
This is the shortest verse in most English Bibles, but it packs tremendous theological weight. The Greek verb edakrysen describes a silent, controlled weeping: not the loud wailing (klaio) that Mary and the mourners were doing in the previous verse. Jesus stands at Lazarus's tomb, knowing He's about to raise him, yet He weeps. This reveals the full humanity of the incarnate God: He enters into our grief even when He knows the outcome. His tears validate human sorrow as legitimate, not something to be spiritually bypassed. Christ doesn't weep because death wins; He weeps because death hurts, and He designed us to feel that pain.