by One Church | Jan 14, 2020 | 21 Days of Prayer - January 2020
The other day, we were in staff meeting trying to find a solution to a small issue that had come up. An idea came to me, I told everyone the idea, and everyone agreed it would work! I walked away from the meeting feeling pretty proud of myself because I have an amazing team that comes up with great solutions so I was happy to be able to contribute a solution to our problem. A few weeks went by, the solution got brought up again, and someone said, “Pastor Crystal came up with this brilliant idea to fix it, isn’t it great!?” “What!? I came up with that!” I immediately responded! I couldn’t believe that for weeks my wife had been getting the credit for MY idea! If we’re really honest with ourselves, we all like getting credit for what we do.
Yet many of us don’t give credit to God for all the good things He has done in our lives.
That’s what worshiping in church is all about. Through singing songs and clapping on Sundays, we tell God and everyone around us that He alone deserves the credit for everything good in our lives. But sometimes, we even make worship about us too. We focus more on the people around us or we refuse to sing until the worship team plays our favorite song. Worship time is not a performance, though, it’s about giving God credit. It’s saying “Thank You” for everything good in my life. Next time you are in a worship service, give credit where credit is due.
Prayer: Lord I worship you. I give you all the glory and honor. Every good and perfect gift in my life has come from you. Let everything I do today be an act of worship to you.
by One Church | Jan 13, 2020 | 21 Days of Prayer - January 2020
I love sunsets! There is something about them that just grabs my attention. They signify the end of another day that God has given me, and they’re beautiful to look at. When I stop and look at God’s creation, it speaks to me. Maybe mountains are more your thing, or oceans, or animals, but when we see how majestic and how incredible God’s creations are sometimes we forget: the same God that created what we stand in awe of, created us too. I don’t know too many people that look in the mirror and stand in awe of themselves, mainly because that’s creepy. But I think to some extent we should be amazed by ourselves, not because of how awesome we are, but because of how awesome God is.
He created every one of us on purpose, and for a purpose.
That’s right, you have a purpose. You aren’t a mistake. God has a reason he put you here. Maybe you don’t know what that purpose is yet but no matter how young or old you are it’s never too late to find out.
Prayer: God, help me to realize that I am created for a purpose. Show me what my purpose is. I want to live my life for you. I want to do everything you created me to do.
by One Church | Jan 12, 2020 | 21 Days of Prayer - January 2020
I don’t know about you, but there isn’t a whole lot that makes me more angry than when someone falsely accuses me. When it gets back to me that someone has said that I said or did something I know I didn’t, my immediate response is to come out swinging! All of a sudden I become a defense lawyer and can be relentless about defending myself and trying to convince someone of the truth. Sometimes, I’m successful, but other times I’m not. The truth is: there are people that will always believe the worst about you, no matter what facts you present to prove your innocence. And although you don’t want to hear it, there are some people that won’t like you no matter what you do! Stop living your life trying to convince everyone to like you. God is your defender.
You can rely on yourself or you can rely on God to defend you.
That doesn’t mean you become a doormat. What I’m saying is that you can state your case but trust the results to God. He is the best defense you could ever have.
Prayer: Lord, I forgive every person that has spoken lies about me. I am making a choice to let it go and to give it to you. Thank you for being my defense.
by One Church | Jan 11, 2020 | 21 Days of Prayer - January 2020
“Does God still heal?” It’s a question I have been asked more times than I can count. It’s usually being asked by someone that is sick or that has a loved one that is sick. My answer is always “Yes!” I say this with confidence because firstly, it says that God heals over and over again in the bible and secondly because I have seen people healed. I’m talking legitimate miracles! My dad was one of those miracles. He had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He was fragile and every breath was a struggle. One day we were in a church service and my grandpa was in town visiting us. My grandpa said he felt like he was supposed to pray for my dad so that’s exactly what he did. My dad said he didn’t feel an immediate change but the next day he woke up and he no longer was struggling to breathe. It was awesome to have my dad back to being his old self! On the other side of that, though, I have prayed for people that haven’t been healed. I get asked the question “why?’ a lot. The truth is I don’t know the answer. I think there are some things we won’t know on this side of eternity. But I won’t let it change what I believe. What I believe is that God still heals without a doubt! Maybe you’re struggling with sickness. Maybe you are healthy physically but you aren’t healthy emotionally.
Don’t stop believing that God heals and that in a moment, he can heal and restore your body.
Prayer: God, I believe you still heal and restore because your word says that you do. My faith isn’t in these symptoms; my faith is in you. Thank you that by Jesus’ stripes I am healed physically and emotionally.
by One Church | Jan 10, 2020 | 21 Days of Prayer - January 2020
We’ve probably all heard the saying, “The early bird gets the worm”. I think this is just a saying made up by morning people! There is some truth behind it though especially when it comes to spending time with God. I have learned that if I don’t make time early in my day to spend time reading my bible and praying, most of the time, it won’t get done later. It’s not that I don’t have good intentions, it’s just that the day gets away from me. I also know this:
Whenever I spend time with God before I start my day I’m a lot more prepared for whatever the day throws at me.
Maybe you aren’t a morning person and you are barely able to get yourself and your kids out the door and to school or work on time. Let me just encourage you that you can spend time with God anywhere! Some of my best times of prayer are in the car on my way to an appointment or to work. What’s amazing is that God is always willing to meet us whenever and wherever we are.
Prayer: Lord help me to make time with you a priority in my life. Life gets busy but let me always be found in you, because you are my shield and my refuge. I give this day to you. Lead me and guide me in all that I do.
by One Church | Jan 9, 2020 | 21 Days of Prayer - January 2020
About a year ago, I tried to call my dad and the call went straight to voicemail. I figured he was busy so I didn’t think much about it. A few days later I tried calling again, and again it went straight to voicemail. This happened over and over again. The next time I saw my dad, I told him that I had been calling but every time, it went straight to voicemail. He said he hadn’t gotten any calls from me so I started examining his phone settings. It was there that I found the problem…. I had been blocked! Shunned! Of course my dad didn’t mean to block me, but I gave him a hard time about how he had disowned me for the next month or so. I think sometimes we wonder if God is hearing our prayers or if they are just going straight to voicemail. Sometimes we expect an immediate response, but it seems like nothing happens. What I’ve learned and what David knew when he wrote Psalm 4 is that God ALWAYS hears us when we call. That’s right I said ALWAYS! We think that He doesn’t hear us because we didn’t get an immediate response but know this:
God is always working, but sometimes He’s working behind the scenes.
When you ask God for something, know that He heard you and that He is working on your behalf. Start thanking Him for working on your problems even when you can’t see Him working.
Prayer: God, Thank you for always hearing me when I call. Thank you for working on everything I’ve brought to you. Even though I can’t always see you working I know that you are.
