Shepastor: “Revisiting Prayers for Our Communities, Nation and World...”

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14, KJV

…For the families and loved ones of individuals killed for any reason
…For a shift from an ever increasing irreverent, insensitive and violent atmosphere to one of health, understanding, peace and love
…For our children who are confused about right and wrong in this season
…For the changing of unjust systems that continue to oppress, disenfranchise and marginalize
…For The Church to open doors for men and women to serve equally
…For national and international missionaries as they carry the good news of Jesus Christ to “the uttermost parts of the world”
…For our armed service men and women as they work hard to protect our Nation and world
…For “Black Lives” and “Blue Lives” for healing, justice and “the common good”
…For the impoverished, abused, neglected, forgotten
…For our upcoming Presidential, State and Local elections
...For Families at the border, children and parents who are being ripped apart and being treated inhumanely
...For our current president to reconsider and reverse his stance on using defenseless children as pawns to “build a wall...”

Hear our prayers Oh Lord, incline thine ear to us and grant us thy peace…

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com
Until next Wednesday,

In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org

Shepastor: "The Blessing of Refreshers..."

15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. 2nd Timothy 1: 15-18

From beverages to skin products and vacations, “refreshers” are in high demand! When people are feeling heavy (in body, mind or spirit), hot and bothered, or down, things that refresh are welcomed in. Even computers have a “refresh” mechanism to re-start or do- over the page.

Refreshments quench thirst, uplift, boost and revive. Refreshments can help to push the “re-set” button when things go awry. Refreshments enhance life. After mentioning “Phygelus and Hermongenes,” two men who apparently deserted Paul at a time when he needed them most, he goes on to talk about “Onesiphorus,” who “often refreshed” Paul and was not ashamed of his chains. Furthermore, Onesiphorus “searched hard” for Paul until he found him. He helped Paul in many ways (2nd Timothy 1: 16-18).

Many pastors have had their share of individuals who like “Phygelus and Hermogenes” have deserted them right when they were most needed. Many, however, have not experienced “Onesiphorus…” a “refresher.” Could that be why so many pastors experience burnout, depression, thoughts of leaving the ministry, poor health and family struggles?

Each pastor needs at least one refresher in the ministry where they serve…someone who pays attention to “where they are.” In other words, someone who is sensitive to their need for rest, encouragement and support. The size of the church does not matter. Whether large, mid-sized or small, the work of the pastor is a difficult task.

Don’t wait until “pastor appreciation month” to bless and encourage your pastor. Ask the Lord to help you to be a refresher…one who is sensitive to the pastor’s human condition. Pay attention to things that need to be done around the church and/or within the ministry. Don’t wait to be asked to help. Can you help clean the building? Can you call and encourage those who are sick and shut in? Can you offer to take the pastor on pastoral visits so that they don’t have to drive? Can you help out in the office by sorting files or answering the phone or offering some other kind of assistance? Does the pastor have to ask you two or more times to complete tasks that you have agreed to do? What can you do to help lighten the pastor’s load?

How can you be a refresher? Ask the Lord to use you to help and refresh your leadership today.

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com

Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org

Shepastor: “Suicide is NEVER the right option…”

5 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. II Corinthians 5:1, KJV

This week the world lost a great, creative, innovative and beautiful woman, in the person of Kate Spade. Her iconic hand bags were worn by women world-wide…classy, simple, timeless. It would appear that she had it all – fame, finances, family. We don’t know what drove her to take her own life. We just don’t know.

In light of this tragedy, it is important for us to think about the painful reality of suicide. Many are walking around filled with pain, sorrow, depression, melancholia, mental and physical maladies that press people to believe that the only way out is to leave the world. Suicide is a lie from the pit of Hell! In addition to the pain and agony that taking your life causes those who love and cherish you (yes, you are loved and cherished whether you believe it or not), the bitter irony is that the body dies, but the soul lives on. The body may die, but the soul is everlasting. The body returns to dust. The soul returns to God.

Suicide strips you of the ability to do anything. Suicide, contrary to the lies of the enemy, will not produce peace…only pain, agony and frustration for everyone involved. Suicide IS NEVER THE ANSWER, THE OPTION, THE WAY OF ESCAPE. Choose life.

May we share love, encouragement, support and prayer generously. If you think of someone, pray for them. If someone is on your heart, if possible, call them. Let people know how much they mean to you and to others. Dowse the negativity. People get enough of that daily! Accentuate the positive. Show love, give love, be love. You never know who is just one step away from stepping into the abyss…

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
“We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.” (retrieved from https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ )
1-800-273-8255

Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org

Shepastor: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road…

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. Revelations 21: 7, KJV

“Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!!!” That was the refrain chanted by Dorothy and her friends as they traveled along the famous (or infamous) yellow brick road in the 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” Having been caught up in a tornado, bumping her head and falling into a deep sleep, Dorothy awakens in the magical land of Oz. However, the beauty and enchantment of the land does not phase her. All she really wants is to get home.

You have to watch the movie for the rest of that story…Today I’d like to focus upon the proverbial “yellow brick roads” that we find ourselves on, trying to “get home,” or just trying to get somewhere in this life! The journey can be scary tiresome and tedious. Along the way we meet people who are insecure, arrogant (but inwardly cowards) and rusty. However, they too are in search of something, wondering if they will ever have what they long for.

We also encounter “lions and tigers and bears.” Sometimes in the form of adversaries, sometimes in the form of obstacles and sometimes in the form of our own internal struggles. But along the way, God places markers, encouragers, glimmers of hope, sparks of light, help from above that pushes us onward. We just have to remain on the path – not a yellow brick road, but the path of faith, the path of endurance, the path of righteousness, the path of hope, the path of Love, the path of Jesus Christ.

God will give us overcoming power if we will put our faith, hope and trust in Him. Stand upon His Word. Build yourself up on your most holy faith! Don’t allow the ugliness of others to deter you. God will lead you on the straight and narrow path. Through Christ, you will make it home!

Enjoy this song,
“He that Overcometh Shall Inherit All Things…” By the Gospel Music Workshop of America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czDHS_-t-6g

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com
Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org

Shepastor: “Rain Can Be Beautiful, Depending Upon Where You Stand…”

1The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Genesis 7:1-5, NIV

Leviticus 26:3-4, NIV
'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

When I was growing up, I can remember hearing older people talking about knowing that rain was coming because their joints would begin to ache. As the years have passed, I can now relate to what they were saying! Rain and cloudy days impact me differently now.

As a child I enjoyed seeing the oily puddles on the ground, infused with gasoline from my dad’s car and thinking that the iridescent colors were mini rainbows. I remember jumping in those puddles, making mud cakes and tossing rocks to make a big splash. Rain was fun. Rain was interesting. Rain was not a problem, except when I couldn’t go outside due to thunder and lightning! But as I have gotten older, rainy and cloudy days can bring me down. My joints ache, my energy feels zapped and I just want to stay in bed! From this “new” vantage point, I no longer see rain as fun. So imagine my surprise when my daughter bounds into the room, carefree and happy and declares, “Mommy, isn’t the rain beautiful? Sometimes, rain can be beautiful!”

As always, her innocent words carried me to another place. I began to think about rain being synonymous with blessings – except for the great flood. In Genesis, God used rain to “wipe the earth clean,” from the wickedness of the sinful. Subsequently however, doing so grieved God’s heart. He gave us the rainbow as a promise and a reminder that He would never use that method again. From that time forward, rain blessed the earth with fruitfulness, healing and new life. Yes, rain can be beautiful!

Without rain, we experience drought. Without rain, new blossoms can’t form. Without rain, clean water can’t be caught. Without rain the ground would become hard and cracked. Without rain we would die.

Though inconvenient at the time, rain is beautiful. As the “rain” falls in your life, remember that blossoms, new life, rich soil and an abundant harvest are each on the way!

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com

Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org

Shepastor: "Point Your Remote in the Right Direction..."

"I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word
and have not denied my name." Revelation 3:8, NIV

The other weekend my family and I spent the day in another city, walking through a mall, seeing sites, going to a movie and finally out to dinner. It was a beautiful day! When we came out of the movie, we walked towards our car and I pushed the "open door" button on the remote. Usually, I can hit the button from a far distance and the door will still unlock. The closer we got to the car, the more puzzled I became. The lights were not flashing and the doors were not unlocking. We have a new car and the remote should not need a battery so soon! As we approached the car, I pulled on the door and it still was locked. I was baffled! Suddenly my husband declared, "Honey, this is not our car!" It looked JUST LIKE our car. It was the same color and the same make. When I looked inside, however, the interior was different. Our car was a few cars down, lights on and doors unlocked!

Immediately, I thought about how this example relates to life. I was pointing my remote in the wrong direction. I was insisting that something was mine that was not. I was pulling on a door that did not belong to me. Yet, WHAT WAS MINE was just down the way. The lights were on and the doors were open! How often do we waste our time pointing our proverbial remote in the wrong direction? How often are we wasting time pulling on the wrong door, demanding that it open, when all along God has opened OUR door for us?

God has placed before each of us open doors. Sometimes something looks so right on the outside. It looks just like what we've been hoping for and praying for. But the closer we get, we catch a glimpse of the "inside" and realize that it is not what we thought. We can miss so many wonderful opportunities because we insist on pulling on doors that for one reason or another just won't come open. We are so focused on the exterior that we miss the fact that the inside is all wrong. There is a reason that the door is not coming open. Could it be that OUR DOOR IS OPEN just down the way...just around the corner...just up the road??? If you are frustrated, feeling daunted, discouraged, defeated because of locked doors, look up. Ask the Lord to show you YOUR OPEN DOORS. I suspect your open door is just a few doors down...

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com

Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org

Shepastor: "A Shift in the Atmosphere..."

3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3, KJV

"In the stillness of the midnight, sacred secrets will unfold..." This refrain from the hymn, "Precious Memories," conveys a powerful truth. In your "midnight," the Lord is able to show you great and mighty things! In this verse of scripture the "hearer" is encouraged to call unto the Lord, who is able to reveal "great and mighty things" that are not known. That word of truth remains relevant today.

There will be times in your life when anxiety, frustration, confusion and feelings of being overwhelmed will happen. Maybe you are experiencing those feelings right now. God's Word in Jeremiah offers hope. Things in the "natural" may appear to remain the same. However, in the "heavenly's" the Lord is causing a shift in the atmosphere! When we bow in earnest before the throne of grace, seeking the answers we need to life's dilemmas, the Lord can transform our thinking, enlighten our mind, change our outlook and show us how to process through our valley experiences! In our midnight experiences, we learn lessons that we can never learn in the bright sunlight. In our midnight, God reveals deep truths, opportunities to minister to others and a measure of strength we never realized we have!

Sometimes the answer will come through another person - a counselor, a pastor, a friend, a child, a co-worker or even an enemy! Sometimes the Lord will speak through nature - the rustling of leaves upon the ground, birds flying through the air, flowers blossoming in Springtime, a soft, cold winter snow....and sometimes, "in the stillness of the midnight," God speaks softly to our hearts and lifts us to another level - "A SHIFT IN THE ATMOSPHERE!!!"

Don't allow your natural sight to cloud the vision of victory the Lord is preparing in high places! God can and will answer when you call. Listen, watch and remain open. You WILL WIN! A change is on the way!!! The atmosphere is shifting in your favor and for God's glory!

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com

Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org