No Longer Afraid

The weekend has come to an end and we are jump-starting a New Week already in the second week of November lets take this words of wisdom to heart and lets encourage one another no matter what we face in life let's continue to TRUST God and know that he is our protector with They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid. Zephaniah 3:13 Today's Scripture & Insight: Zephaniah 3:9–17 When the Ethiopian police found her a week after her abduction, three black-maned lions surrounded her, guarding her as though she were their own. Seven men had kidnapped the twelve-year-old girl, carried her into the woods and beaten her. Miraculously, however, a small pride of lions heard the girl’s cries, came running and chased off the attackers. “[The lions] stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,” police Sergeant Wondimu told one reporter. There are days when violence and evil, like that inflicted on this young girl, overpower us, leaving us without hope and terrified. In ancient times, the people of Judah experienced this. They were overrun by ferocious armies and unable to imagine any possibility of escape. Fear consumed them. However, God always renewed His unrelenting presence with His people: “The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm” (Zephaniah 3:15). Even when our catastrophes result from our own rebellion, God still comes to our rescue. “The Lord your God is with you,” we hear, “the Mighty Warrior who saves” (v. 17). Whatever troubles overtake us, whatever evils, Jesus—the Lion of Judah—is with us (Revelation 5:5). No matter how alone we feel, our strong Savior is with us. No matter what fears ravage us, our God assures us that He is by our side. By: Winn Collier Reflect & Pray What is your greatest fear right now? How does God’s promise to be with you encourage you? Mighty Warrior God, I need You. I need a Mighty Warrior to stand with me and overwhelm my fears. I’m choosing to trust You.

The Door of Reconciliation

We have ended the week by entering into the eleventh month of the New Year YES! Welcome to the month of November BOY! time is moving with only a month left in 2019 we really need to take a look at these words of wisdom and let it sink down into our very core of our being and continue to be Ambassador for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18 READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14–21 Inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, there’s a door that tells a five-century-old tale. In 1492 two families, the Butlers and the FitzGeralds, began fighting over a high-level position in the region. The fight escalated, and the Butlers took refuge in the cathedral. When the FitzGeralds came to ask for a truce, the Butlers were afraid to open the door. So the FitzGeralds cut a hole in it, and their leader offered his hand in peace. The two families then reconciled, and adversaries became friends. God has a door of reconciliation that the apostle Paul wrote passionately about in his letter to the church in Corinth. At His initiative and because of His infinite love, God exchanged the broken relationship with humans for a restored relationship through Christ’s death on the cross. We were far away from God, but in His mercy He didn’t leave us there. He offers us restoration with Himself—“not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Justice was fulfilled when “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us,” so that in Him we could be at peace with God (v. 21). Once we accept God’s hand in peace, we’re given the important task of bringing that message to others. We represent the amazing, loving God who offers complete forgiveness and restoration to everyone who believes. By Estera Pirosca Escobar God, thank You for not leaving me in a place of no hope, separated from You forever. Thank You that the sacrifice of Your beloved Son, Jesus, has provided the way for me to come to You. To learn more about forgiveness, see bit.ly/2F5wVhT. What does God’s offer of reconciliation mean to you? How will you extend His offer to those who need to hear it today? SCRIPTURE INSIGHT A key element of this important text is found in verse 20: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines an ambassador as a “messenger or envoy officially representing a higher authority.” It explains that an ambassador in the Old Testament was “a messenger, envoy, or negotiator sent on a special, temporary mission as an official representative of the king, government, or authority who sent him.” This description gives us a valuable backdrop to the challenge to Paul (and to us) to be God’s ambassadors to our world. Our mission is to officially represent the highest of all possible authorities—the Creator of the universe—and to present His message to those we encounter in His name. Bill Crowder