2020 | From the Desk of the Pastor

We are still in the midst of this storm in our life.

We are still in the midst of this storm in our life. Just to follow up, our worship services are temporarily cancelled as we abide by the policies of the State and local authorities Stay at Home Order to not congregate with more than 10 people through April 19th.

I am working on doing a service that will be taped at the church and perhaps be placed on the website before next Sunday. I will have to work out the logistics of making this possible with limited people in the sanctuary.

There are also Sunday Live Stream services at Atherton Baptist Church 8am & Christ Second Baptist Long Beach at 9:30am. This an opportunity to view local services on the computer. I have placed a Christ Second Baptist service on our website.

We are also considering a “drive through communion” on Easter Sunday April 12th. Also based on the crisis we will be switching to the prefilled communion cups and bread. Yes we will have to survive the foam bread but for health purposes it is clearly the way to move at this time. I will provide details on how this will work.

Here is a link to a youtube video that shows how we should handle groceries that have been purchased. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjDuwc9KBps

Finally what can we do as a body of Christ during this time that we are experiencing this physical distancing from each other.

· Continue Reaching Out to One Another – Calls, Emails, texting messages

· Continue praying for one another

· Certainly an Opportune Time to Read Scripture and Christian literature

·

Feel free to reach out to me: (323) 493-2066 or at holylightmbc@gmail.com

MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS YOU!! BE SAFE! BE WELL

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please see below a text and message (Lessons from Storms in Your Life) that will be of some comfort in this time.

Matthew 8:23-27 King James Version (KJV) 23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

"Lessons from Storms in your Life"

Matthew 8:23-27 Theme: This passage teaches seven principles about trusting our sovereign Lord while we're in the midst of the storms of life.

Have you ever noticed how the stories of God's great acts mercy in the Bible often involved His people being in a boat that was caught in a storm at sea?

There's a good reason for this. There is nothing more out-of-human-control than a storm at sea; and likewise, there is nothing more helpless than a boat being tossed by the waves in a storm. It's a vivid picture of being completely subject to grave circumstances that are utterly outside our control. And so, it's a perfect illustration of being suddenly caught at the mercy of trying, or difficult, or even dangerous circumstances - circumstances in which we are helpless to do anything but cry out to God.

There are storm incidents in the Bible that draw are attention. There is incident of Jonah in the Old Testament. There is another storm incident in Acts 27 when Paul was being transported to Rome and they were caught in a storm at sea. Paul had given them warning and they wouldn’t listen. It ended with the prayers of Paul and all on board being spared. God gets our attention when storms enter our life!

All the usual elements of a storm are encountered in this text in Matthew, the sudden and unexpected storm; the boat helplessly being tossed; and the passengers who were terrified and who feared for their lives. The good news is that Jesus was on the ship and as usual he makes all the difference.

Well of course, if you take the context of this morning's story seriously, you already know that it wasn't just a matter of good timing. And that highlights the basic point this story is seeking to make. The Man who ordered the wind and the waves to cease - and who brought about a great calm in its place - is none other than the Son of God, and who therefore had them under His sovereign control. He has authority over everything on this earth - including the most unpredictable and uncontrollable things, such as storms at sea and the Corona virus.

And that basic point leads us to the practical importance of this morning's story. This same Jesus who exercised complete authority over that storm on the Sea of Galilee also has authority over the storms of life that strike us. He may, in His wisdom and love, allow us to experience them; but they are never outside of His control. With nothing more than a word, He is able to bring the storm to an end, and replace it with a great calm. I believe that Jesus can do the same today that he was yesterday.

There are some principles of storms Christians should always keep in mind

PRINCIPLE #1: EVEN WHEN WE FOLLOW JESUS FAITHFULLY, 'UNEXPECTED' STORMS WILL COME (vv. 23-24).

Matthew begins by telling us; "Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him" (v. 23). That word "follow" connects this passage with the one that just preceded it. In that previous passage, two men had sought to follow Jesus; but they were made to stop first and count the cost of following. You will see from those verses there is a cost to following Jesus.

One man had said, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go"; but Jesus let the man know that He didn't even have a place to lay His own head (vv. 19-20). The other man offered to follow; and asked to be excused first, saying, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But Jesus let the man know that He demanded to have an even greater priority in the man's life than his own father (vv. 21-22). Both men had to confront the difficult challenges that come with "following" Jesus.

To be a "disciple" of Jesus means to be a "follower" of Him. It means to go where He says to go, do what He says to do, and believe as He says to believe. Not everyone, after they count the cost, is willing to accept the challenge of following Jesus. But the men who entered the boat with Jesus apparently did. When He got into the boat to cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they "followed" Him. And that's what identified them as "disciples". Disciples "follow" Jesus wherever He goes!

But then, look what happened to these men who followed Jesus. The storm strikes! "And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves" (v. 24).

And here's perhaps the most remarkable thing about this storm: it came when they were in the course of simply following Jesus! They were doing the right thing. They were obeying the Son of God! And yet, this violent and life-threatening storm fell upon them anyway.

There's a great spiritual lesson for us in this. We shouldn't ever think that, just because we're following Jesus, we have a right to expect to be exempt from the storms of life. Those storms may come - even though we are following Jesus very faithfully. Jesus could have prevented the storm from coming at all, if He had seen fit to do so. But His disciples were following Him; and He led them right into a storm!

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

PRINCIPLE #2: THE LORD IS CALM' DURING THE STORM, HE STILL IS IN CONTROL (v. 24).

How can Jesus sleep at a time like that? Well; for one very obvious reason, it was because He was tired! But for another, much more profound reason, it was because He wasn't in a panic over the circumstances - like we so often are. He was at perfect peace in the midst of the storm; because He knew that the storm was under His control at all times. He was in His Father's will; and He knew that no matter what else happened around Him, His Father's will would still be fulfilled in Him. He had no reason to be afraid - vividly illustrated by the fact that He was asleep in the midst of the storm. And so long as He was in the boat, the disciples had no reason to be afraid either.

Now; when you and I go through a storm, it may seem as if the Lord isn't aware of it. It may seem as if He was "asleep". But we can be sure that He isn't. He never sleeps on us; and if it appears that He does, it's only meant to test our faith in Him. As Psalm 121 says, "He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:3-4). When you are in the midst of the storm, just remember: Jesus is there too - in the midst of the storm with you. His apparent "silence" is to see if you will trust Him and have confidence in Him.

We can be confident that Jesus - who experienced perfect peace in the midst of the storm - is always with us in the storms of life that we encounter. And He offers us His own perfect peace in our storm . . . if we will just accept it.

PRINCIPLE #3: WE DO THE BEST THING WE CAN DO DURING A STORM WHEN WE CRY OUT TO JESUS (v. 25).

The disciples certainly did the best thing they could do. In fact, they did the only thing they could do. They cried out to Jesus, and woke Him from His sleep. Matthew tells us, "Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"

By the way; what a fantastic prayer that is! Analyze it carefully. In the word "Lord", we see that they knew who to go to; and also in what manner of reverence they should approach Him. In that first word, they recognized and admitted His authority and power. Remember in the model prayer that is known as the Lord’s prayer it begins with “OUR Father” “To call Him "Lord", in this case, was to confess His deity. In the second word, "Save!", we see that they knew what they needed. They needed Him to rescue them. They laid out their need before Him. And in the third word, translated "We perish!", they rightly stated their situation; and rightly understood how helpless they were unless He did what they asked. If He didn't help them, they were lost.

That's a a great "sinner's prayer" if ever there was one! "Lord, save me! I perish!" You can't be saved unless you admit your need, cry out to Him as "Lord", and plead with Him to save you.

And when He has our hearts - expressed in our crying out to Him in prayer in a time of trial - He responds. As it says in Psalm 50:15; "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

* * * * * * * * * *

This leads us on to the fourth principle we find in this passage:

PRINCIPLE #4: BEFORE JESUS REBUKES THE STORM, HE MAY FIRST WISH TO REBUKE OUR LACK OF FAITH (v. 26).

Matthew tells us that Jesus awoke in response to their cry. But he tells us that, before He rebuked the wind and the waves, He rebuked His disciples. "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"

Look at what Jesus says about their condition. Jesus says that they're "fearful". But the Greek word that is used is(deilos) means "timid" or "cowardly". It suggests a kind of fearfulness that is unbecoming and inappropriate - even sinful.

And look at what Jesus says about the cause of their sinful condition. He calls them, "O you of little faith". Their real problem was being shown up by the storm; and that real problem was their lack of faith in Him! All that they had seen of Him hadn't sunk down into heart-level with them yet. They didn't yet really understand who He was; and how, because of who He was, and because of the fact that He was with them, they had absolutely no reason to be afraid.

Now I would never want to be misunderstood as being flippant about the trials of life that we may go through. The storms that we go through are very real, and - at times - very terrible. But each storm is allowed by our Lord to encourage us to place our trust in something about Himself that we've already been taught.

He has already shown us what He can do and the storms force us to go back to that thing we've learned about Him, and trust in Him a new way in the current circumstance.

I wonder if, in the storms of life, the Lord doesn't often wish to rebuke us for our terrible lack of faith in Him before He rebukes the storm. I wonder if He doesn't often have to ask us, "Don't you think I know there's a storm? Why in the world are you being so cowardly?" We should learn to trust more in the promise of Philippians 4:6-7:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).

* * * * * * * * * *

PRINCIPLE #5: JESUS IS ABLE TO CHANGE A 'GREAT STORM' INTO 'GREAT CALM' WITH JUST A WORD (v. 26).

The Bible tells us, "Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea . . ." Now, just imagine that! He actually "scolded" the weather and the water! Ordinarily, that would seem crazy - to personalize wind and waves and talk to them! But the results speak for themselves; because we're told, "and there was a great calm." In fact, Luke tells us that the wind and the raging of the water "ceased". There wasn't even a mere "lessening" of the wind, and a gradual "decline" in the waves. They ceased altogether; and it went from "great tempest" to "great calm", in a moment's time, at the word of Jesus!

He proved this when He was in the storm with His disciples. He is able to do the same for us in the midst of the storms we experience in life. The storm is always under His control; and He is able, if He so commands, to turn it from a great tempest into a great calm.

The disciple's own interpretation should be enough for us: the wind and the sea "obeyed" Him! Even wind! Even the sea!

PRINCIPLE #6: JESUS PROVES - THROUGH THE STORMS - THAT HE IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL AREAS OF OUR LIFE (v. 27)!

And the implication for us is that He is able to command far lesser things than wind and sea; and they too will obey Him. If He can command wind and waves, He can command everything else that may come into our lives. His call to us, in the midst of the storm, is that we trust Him to have absolute control over all that comes our way, and to lean on Him as our strong and all-sufficient Help.

And when the psalmist writes all this, he then calls for the only proper response: worship! He writes,

Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, And praise Him in the company of the elders (vv. 31-32).

PRINCIPLE #7: WHEN JESUS RISES TO OUR RESCUE IN THE STORM, THE RESULT SHOULD BE THAT WE WORSHIP HIM (v. 27).

We're told by Matthew that the disciples "marveled" at what had just happened. When we look at the other Gospels, we find that it's even more profound. We find that, according to Mark, they "feared exceedingly" (Mark 4:41); and that, according to Luke, "they were afraid" (Luke 8:25).

When we trust Jesus to see us through the storms of life, He takes us through to the other side and shows us more of who He really is. And as a result - if we truly learn what He seeks to teach us through the storms of life - we come a way more in love with Him, and more in awe of Him, and more surrendered to Him.

"Worship" occurs when we see our great God for who He really is, and respond to what we see in an appropriate and heart-felt way. And its in the storms of life that we get to see who Jesus really is. And so, when we go through the storms with Jesus - and if we're trained by it as we should be - we'll come out of the other side worshiping Him!

We are being thrown about in the midst of a storm right now - circumstances that are frightening and outside of our control? Then learn the lessons from this story. Let’s remember that everything including this pandemic is in God’s hands.

2020 | March

from the desk of the Pastor Rev. William “Bill” Dandridge

"In times like these we need a Saviour, In times like these we need an anchor. We need to grip the Solid Rock. His name is Jesus, Yes, he’s the only one. Be very sure that your anchor holds and you grip the Solid rock. In times like these we need the Bible. Since due to the times like these there will be no worship service, no devotion this morning, no songs of Zion, no altar call for prayer and no Word of God preached from the pulpit, I needed to share this with you. If I had preached this morning this would have been the text so please take a look and be blessed in times like these. Love and prayers with you all during this time! God bless!"

Jeremiah 32

IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD

The book of Jeremiah was written against the backdrop of supreme evil. The people of God have walked away from God and they have embraced the gods of the pagan nations around them. Their character can be seen in Jer. 32:28-35. Because of their sin, God is bringing His judgment upon the people. It was a time of pain, sorrow, death and judgment. It was into this atmosphere that Jeremiah was sent to preach the Word of the Lord. Jeremiah was sent to a people who would not hear his message. He was sent to a people who would turn a deaf ear to all his pleas for repentance. He was sent to a people who were so given over to their sins that they had no desire to hear anything God or God’s man had to say. Jeremiah preached in this climate for 50 years and there is not record that he had even a single convert. It was a tragic time for the nation of Israel. Jeremiah was sent to them to preach a message of judgment. He was sent to the people to let them know that they had angered God and they were about to be judged. Jeremiah was commanded to tell them that their nation would be invaded. He was sent to tell them that they would be taken away captive. He was sent to deliver a message of final judgment to their king. As a result, Jeremiah was not the most popular man in his nation. In fact, he was arrested and thrown into prison by king Zedekiah for preaching the truth, Jer. 32:1-5. (By the way, those days are not far away in America.) Thus, Jeremiah wrote the passage we have read today while he was sitting in prison. Out of that tragic and difficult time comes a ray of hope for all those who know the Lord. While Jeremiah languished in that prison, the Lord came to him with a word of hope, blessing and promise. The words of Jeremiah offer the same comfort to our hearts today. As everyone here knows, we are living in tough times. Times are rough spiritually. Times are tough economically. Times are tough for the church. Times are tough for the family. Times are tough on individuals. Times are tough right now. I want you to know that the same God Who spoke peace to Jeremiah in that prison cell is the same God Who knows where you are today. He was The God Of The Impossible then, and He is still The God Of The Impossible now. Jeremiah 32:17 says there is nothing too hard for God. In the midst of all this confusion we need to remember nothing is too hard for God to deal with.

32:17-22  JEREMIAH’S CONFIDENCE

In this great prayer of hope, Jeremiah presents the evidence he has collected about God that shows Him to be The God Of The Impossible. Jeremiah found hope in a desperate time by considering the nature of His God. Since God does not change, Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8, we can rest in the same hope today. Remember the song hold to God’s unchanging hands. Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s Unchanging Hands. 32:17  God’s Creation - When Jeremiah considers the work of God hands, he understands that he is serving a God with Whom nothing shall be impossible. The heavens above us and the world around us declare the power and Person of God. His creation declares Him to be The God Of The Impossible. Genesis 1:1 is perhaps the greatest commentary on God’s power. Regardless of what lies in your path today remember that, if you are His, you belong to the God Who made it all. If He can make everything out of nothing, then He can be trusted to take care of you. 32:18-20  God’s Character - The language Jeremiah uses to describe God in the verses serves to remind us of Who He is. He is the God of grace, love, mercy, and provision. He is the God of miracles and power. He is the God Who moves heaven and earth, and suspends the very laws of nature, if necessary to meet the needs of His children.  Hello, Elijah, the 3 Hebrew boys, Daniel, more than 5,000 who were fed,  the disciples in the storm, Lazarus, the woman with the issue of blood and on and on.  Beloved, He has not changed! He is the same God now that He was then. He still knows what it takes and possesses what it takes to see you through whatever you may face in this life. 32:21-22  God’s Conversion - Jeremiah also finds confidence from the Lord’s power as it was displayed in Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. He recounts how the Lord moved to deliver them from Egypt. He remembers how God brought them into the land of Canaan. He writes of how the Lord demonstrated His power to save His people. That thought gives him confidence. It should do the same for us. When I think of God making the world, and everything that is a part of it, I marvel. When I think of Him creating light with a word, I am amazed. When I think of the vastness of the universe and how He created the stars, moons and planets just by speaking them into existence, I am speechless. But, when I think that a holy, eternal, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, God would condescend to love the likes of sinners like us, I am brought to my knees in worship. When I contemplate His love, I realize that if He can take a black heart, wash it is the red blood of His Son, and make it whiter than snow, He can do anything! That gives me confidence!

32:23-25  JEREMIAH’S CRISIS

32:23-24 The Problems He Faced - While the people of God have been blessed, they have refused to walk in the will of the Lord. As a result, they are experiencing His judgment on their nation. Seeing the wrath of God being poured out firsthand causes Jeremiah some inner disturbance of the soul. He is perplexed by what he sees happening around him. It brings him to a time of crisis in his life, and yet, he knows this is what the Lord said would happen, v. 24. So, you have a holy man living in the midst of an unholy people. They are suffering for their sins, and he is suffering right along with them. I don’t care how strong, or how well grounded you are, that would cause anyone problems. It bothers us too, doesn’t it? We have somehow gotten the idea that knowing the Lord somehow guarantees us freedom from the problems of life. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, serving the Lord in a wicked hour like the one in which we live will guarantee us that we will face problems in our day just like Jeremiah did.   God is judging our nation, and the people of God will suffer right along with it. As our economy suffers, we will suffer too. As morality and wickedness grow, that will affect us as well. Add to that the fact that Satan will see to it that God’s children are hated, attacked and persecuted, 2 Tim. 3:12, and you have a recipe for spiritual crisis. If a person is not well grounded, there is always the potential that they will fall by the wayside when trouble comes their way. 32:25  The Plan He Followed - After Jeremiah is thrown into prison, he is commanded by the Lord to purchase a piece of property from his cousin, 32:6-12. This transaction caused Jeremiah some serious moments of doubt. Think about it, he is preaching to the people that judgment is coming. He is telling them that their nation is about to be destroyed and all the people are about to be taken away to Babylon as slaves. Yet, God tells Jeremiah to buy a piece of property. Why do you buy property in the first place? Most people buy it because they have plans for the future. Maybe they are going to build a home, start a business, make an investment in the future, or just have something to pass along to the next generation. Jeremiah is buying a piece of property he will probably never see, much less use. This transaction brought Jeremiah to a moment of crisis in his life. The fact is, when the Lord works in ways that we do not understand, it leaves us perplexed as well. I confess to you there are many things I do not understand why we are dealing with this crisis right now. I don’t understand why the deaths, all the cases and the confusion this virus has caused. I don’t understand why individuals are out of work, why we have to cut down our contact with people and why for the sake of the health of the people I have to cancel church services.  There are many things I don’t understand, but if I focus on those things, I will have a moment of crisis as well. I must learn to look past the things I cannot fathom to seer the face of the God who controls all things. Psalms 121 – I will look mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord who maketh heaven and earth. 32:25  The Predicament He Feared - I think part of Jeremiah’s crisis came from the fact that he didn’t want to look like a fool. Here he was, in prison, buying a piece of land, when the nation was on the brink of destruction. Surely he thought the people around him would think he had lost his mind. Isn’t that a part of our problem sometimes? We know what the Lord wants us to do, and sometimes we even do it, but it often seems so unnatural and so strange to us, that we worry about what the rest of the world thinks about our actions. Nobody wants to look foolish to other people, but sometimes God’s commands just don’t make sense. Think about it:

• Moses was commanded to hold a stick over an ocean when the people of God were under attack - Ex. 14.

• Moses was commanded to cut down a tree and throw it into a pool of water to make it drinkable - Ex. 15.

• Moses was commanded to strike a rock so that the people of God could have water to drink - Ex. 17.

• The people of Israel were commanded to look at a snake on a pole to be healed of snakebite - Num. 21.

• Isaiah was commanded to walk around naked as an object lesson to the king of Israel - Isa. 20.

None of those things make sense to us, but they were all the will of God. So it is with us, the Lord’s will does not always make sense to our minds, but the secret to contentment in the service of the Lord is absolute obedience, even when we do not understand what He is up to. The fact is, we will never understand the Lord or His ways, Isa. 55:8-9. Our duty is to trust Him in spite of what we do not know, or what we cannot see!.  On last Sunday at Shiloh in Trenton, Dr Cleophus Larue brought us a message that God sees things differently. How true that is!

The GOOD NEWS IS THAT NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD!!

III.  32:26-33:3  JEREMIAH’S COMFORT

The Lord speaks to Jeremiah to bring him comfort in the hour of his crisis. What God says to Jeremiah in these verses surely comforted his heart. These words can also comfort ours. 32:26-35  He Was Comforted By God’s Power - God tells Jeremiah that He will indeed bring judgment upon the people of Israel because of their sins. Everything He has promised to do, He is able to bring to pass. God reminds Jeremiah that He is “the God of all flesh,” v. 27. God will judge Israel, and He will use the lost pagans of Babylon to do it. Go declares His power by asking Jeremiah a very simple, straightforward question: “Is anything too hard for the Lord.” The word “hard” means “to be beyond one’s power; to be difficult to do.” God is simply saying that nothing is beyond His power and that nothing is too difficult for Him to do. May that truth encourage us today. God is still the God Who possesses “all power in Heaven and in earth,” Matt. 28:18. He is still the God “who is able to exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think,” Eph. 3:20. He is still the God Who “works all things after the counsel of His Own will,” Eph. 1:11. He is still God and that should comfort our hearts today. 32:36-44  He Was Comforted By God’s Promises - God tells Jeremiah that the people of Israel will fall and they will go away into Babylonian captivity. He also tells the prophets that He will bring them home again. He will gather them to Himself and they will serve Him. He will be their God and they will be His people. In other words, the judgment they face will serve to purify them and they will return to Him, and to the place of His blessing. So it is with us. The Lord uses the crisis in our lives to mold us, grow us and develop us. He uses pain, hardship, suffering and the trials of life to make us more like Jesus, Rom. 8:28-29. He is The God Of The Impossible. He can take that situation you see as being so impossible and He can transform it into a time of blessing for you and glory for Him. Let the comfort of God’s promises give you peace and encouragement regardless of what you face in this life. He will stand them all, and not a single one will ever fail.

• “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name,” Psa. 138:2.

• “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled,” Matt. 5:18.

• “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,” Matt. 24:35.

33:1-3  He Was Comforted By God Proclamation - The very God Who made the world and all that is within it, come to the prophet in his prison and makes one of the greatest prayer promises in the Bible. He is promised that if he will call on the Lord, the Lord will hear him and He will answer him. Think about where Jeremiah is when this promise is made. He is in prison. He is living in the middle of a wicked people. He is living in a nation that is experiencing the awful judgment of Almighty God. Yet, the Lord wants Jeremiah to know that God cares about Jeremiah and about what the prophet is facing in his life. What a comfort! It does not matter where you are today, He will hear you too. It does not matter what you are up against He will hear you. Not only will He hear you, He will answer your prayers as well. he may not answer them the way you want Him to all the time, but He will always answer them correctly and in a way that brings glory to His name.

• “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Matt 7:7-11

• “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him,” 1 John 5:14-15.

• Just remember in the midst of it all it’s a blessing. Think about the lyrics from this song. Just being alive in the eyes of Jesus is a blessing for you and me. Just being alive in the eyes of Jesus. I’m grateful, he takes care of me. Through my joy and my pain I’m the center of his will. In the midst of it all it’s a blessing. I know for myself that he loves me, When trials come they only make me strong. He protects me. In the midst of it all it’s a blessing. Through sunshine and rain it’s a blessing, Through sickness and pain, it’s a blessing. Just to be in your holy will it’s a blessing. In the midst of it all it’s a blessing. Be blessed! Be Prayerful Be Safe!  Continue to hold to God’s Unchanging Hands! 1Peter 5:7 Casting all your care on him for he careth for you. Nothing is too hard for God!