If you'd like to watch, click on Pastor Squatch Musings!

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:11–13, ESV

Life is hard. Every day, we are confronted with different challenges and obstacles that can get in the way of our service to God and His people. This was no less true for Paul and the Early Church. For the Early Church, it was an empire that stood against them as they stood against the norms of the time. We are not to allow this to stop us in our care for one another and our service to our communities for the sake of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are to be a welcoming people and willing to offer assistance where we are able. It's not that God doesn’t realize the constraints of our lives, but He stretches our capacity to show us His providence. We are called to be full of the fire of our Lord in our service and look to Him, trusting in His providence when things seem insurmountable. As Christians, we are a praying people who rely on the power of our prayers to carry us through, also, and open doors that were at one time not visible. In all this, we are to know His peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.