2026-03-06 Lent - Day 17 Lent Third Friday of Lent Hello! I was swamped yesterday and didn’t get a chance to post the Friday Lent dedication. My apologies, but we are going to look at one of the most mysterious and in my opinion, coolest pieces of scripture! Genesis 14:18-21 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High,�Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High,�Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. 21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” Who is this mysterious king named Melchizedek??? First, let’s understand Abram had just won a major battle. Directly following this victory, seemingly out of nowhere, here comes King Melchizedek bringing bread and wine to celebrate! Why? Remember, Jesus’ hasn’t been born! This is centuries before “Holy Communion” at the Last Supper, yet here comes Melchizedek with bread and wine! This seems to be the first Holy Communion served by an unknown King! In the Old Testament, names ALWAYS have significance. The word “Salem” literally means “Peace”. So, Melchizedek was the King of Peace! The name Melchizedek is a Hebrew name meaning My Righteous King . He was also called the priest of God! Verse 18 reads; “he was the priest of God Most High”. The New Testament calls Jesus the High Priest! Hebrews 4:14 reads; 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. In addition to Holy Communion, Abram gives Melchizedek a tithe! Why would he do that! Somehow Abram knew who He was. He obviously knew Him because of the actions taken when Melchizedek arrived. Abram had a unique relationship with God. Unlike any other person at that time. I am convinced this was the preincarnate Jesus, the Messiah. It’s important to note that Melchizedek shows up after a victory. How does all of this relate to us? We too need to strive to have a strong relationship with God. When we have victories in our lives, we should celebrate and give thanks to God immediately. Another factor in my view on this subject. Sometimes, God shows up in our lives to lead us to a victory and WE are the only ones that recognize Him. It doesn’t have to be big, it many times is very subtle, but recognizing it is vital to our spiritual growth in our relationship with God. Always give thanks, even for the small victories, because the truth is, EVERY VICTORY IS HUGE when God is involved. Blessings,

2026-03-05 Lent - Day 16 Lent Third Thursday of Lent Good morning! I hope you are enjoying Lent and growing in Spirit with God. Today we look at the love of money. This scripture is Jesus telling of the dangers that can come from a greedy heart. Luke 16:13 13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” In today’s world people are often judged by their possessions or their financial worth. Possessions are temporary. Our spirit is eternal. First of all, we should never judge anyone. You will never look into the eyes of anyone that God does not love. It’s important to know that Jesus is not condemning money, He is condemning turning it into an idol! Idol worship is as much of an issue today as it was in biblical times. Our devotion must be to God, not the world. As discussed in some of our earlier devotions, charity is a key component of Lent. If we put our selfish greed before a charitable heart, we are serving the greed of the world and not the righteousness of God. With that said, we should never give a handout simply for the sake of giving. We should be good stewards and give a hand up! Where ever God leads us to serve with our hands and feet or support with our finances, we should follow the path the Holy Spirit illuminates for us. Love of money is a path to destruction. A charitable heart is a pathway to building God’s Kingdom. In doing so, we are feeding His sheep. Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your path by the Light of Christ and give generously with a cheerful heart. Blessings,

2026-03-04 Lent - Day 15 Lent Second Wed of Lent Hello! My apologies. I am a day late with this one. Today we continue to look at Abram. It is a very sad scripture of both cowardliness and deceit. Let’s look at Genesis 12:10-20. 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had. The Holy Bible is a collection of books that tell a love story that unfolded with God and His people. However, it also tells the ugliness of human nature. As soon as Abram hits some challenges, he immediately tries to take things into his own hands rather than trust in God. Don’t we all? Even though Abram lied and deceived the Egyptians, God saved Sarai and kept His end of the covenant. This proves that we fail miserably over and over, but God loves us unconditionally and keeps His word to us. Remember, Abram is the father of Judaism, Islamic, and Christian religions. He is the one that God chose to reveal Himself through and even he made huge mistakes. He even was willing to hand his wife over because of both fear and greed, but God kept His word despite Abram’s flaws. If God will work through Abram’s sins, He will work through our sins too! Blessings,

2026-03-03 Lent - Day 14 Second Tuesday of Lent Genesis 12:1-4 12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;�I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;�and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. Hello! I hope you are still enjoying your Lenten journey and growing closer with Christ. Lent is about repentance, prayer, and charity. But for our spiritual growth, we should also educate ourselves. Today we will look at God calling Abram, who of course later God changed his name to Abraham. The name Abram in the Hebrew language means “exalted father”. We have all heard at some point that the Jews are God’s chosen people. Well, here is where God chooses Abram and begins the Covenant with him. Before we get too far, I must say there are three prolific Abramic religions. Jewish, Muslim, and Christianity all have Abramic roots. God has a plan for all of us, we just have to be patient. In the first verse, we see that God is separating Abram from everyone else. He wants Abram to have a clean new beginning. This is a pivotal time in our history. God uses Abram to begin moving from idol worship into grace through Christ. God promises Abram his new home will be a land that will become very rich in resources, which it did. He also promises Abram that he will be protected. It’s important to note that Abram has no children at this time. That will be a key factor as we move through his story. The ultimate goal is not just to prosper Abraham, but to use his family as a conduit for global blessing, reversing the curses of humanity in Genesis 1-11. With no children, how can that be possible? 😬. You will have to come back and see, but another question is “Why is Lot with Abram? He is specifically mentioned. Why? In my humble opinion, this is an example of how we as people, disobey God on a regular basis, but we always have an excuse. God plainly told Abram not to take any family with him, but he disobeyed and took Lot anyway. Probably because Lot was the son of Abram’s dead brother and Abram still felt responsible to his brother. Well intended, but still disobedient. Abram’s disobedience is a fabulous illustration how we disobey God, because we think we know what’s best. We have to remain in control. Why didn’t Abram trust God to care for Lot? Excellent question and we don’t know the answer, but we do know that truly trusting in God is the hardest thing we will ever do. We will see later that Abram is good at making excuses and trying to out his spin on why God wants rather than being patient and waiting on Gods plan to work itself out. As we go further in our study of Abram over the next few days, we will see the greed of Lot. As we pray through this Lent, ask that God’s will be done, not the will of our own. Learn to trust God with everything and continually pray for wisdom. Blessings,

2026-03-02 Lent - Day 13 Lent The second Monday of Lent Below is Psalm 22. As we read this Psalm, we must recognize that it was written 1000 years before the crucifixion of Jesus. As we read it, we should visualize the suffering Jesus was subjected to on the cross. Amazingly, this Psalm was Written by David and describes the event more than 1000 years before it actually occurred. 22 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? 2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. 3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. 4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. 5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. 10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. 11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. 13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. 19 But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! 20 Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. 21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me. 22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. 25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. 26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! 27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. 30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, 31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.

2026-02-28 Lent - Day 11 Lent - Second Saturday of Lent Good Morning! My prayer is that you are spiritually growing this Lenten Season. Today we are going to look at why spiritual growth is important. Let’s look at part of a conversation between Jesus and one of the Jewish leaders, Nicodemus. The subject being “born again”. 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. This conversation is in the Gospel of John in the third chapter. Let’s break down for today the flesh, the soul, and the Spirit. We are all born biologically through our mother. That is of course the physical birth. Biblically speaking, we are all born into sin. The water Jesus is referring to represents the cleansing of our spirit. The early Greeks were a very wise and profound people and culture. They broke the human being down into three distinct parts. The body- This is our physical being, made up of tissue, bone, blood, etc that makes up the human body. The ashes on Ash Wednesday represent the fact that from dust we came and to dust we shall return. The Soul- The soul is the second component described by the Greeks and is the life component. The soul connects us with every living thing. The animals for example. They are born, live for a time, then they die. The soul is the battery if you will, that gives life to all living creatures. The Spirit- The Spirit is eternal. It is the component that gives us a direct kinship to God. The Spirit gives us wisdom, intellect, the ability to distinguish right from wrong, etc. No matter how you believe life began, whether that be God scooping up the clay from the earth and breathing into it creating Adam in Garden of Eden; or the theory of evolution, or the Big Bang theory, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is God is the Creator. We could argue til the cows come home how God did it, but we must first believe that GOD DID DO IT. Jeremiah 31:33 reads; "I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people". When we are born again, the Holy Spirit that lives in all of us is ignited. We have a desire to love from our heart and are no longer driven by the flesh. We grow in compassion, empathy, and we see things differently. When we begin to see things through the eyes of God, especially early in our “rebirth” it is very common to get very emotional. To even cry when we clearly see for the first time the pain in the world. For the first time, the darkness in the world. For the first time to recognize that people can be very cruel, cold and greedy. When you have a heart of God you feel pity for those people. We pray for those people. Sometimes in Lent, we sadly recognize those traits in ourselves as well. That is when repentance becomes our best weapon. Give God praise today and ask for forgiveness for the pieces that are found in all of us that are impure and not clearly connected with the Holy Spirit. Blessings,

2026-02-27 Lent - Day 9 Lent- Second Friday Good Morning! I hope you are growing in your relationship with Christ in this Lenten Season. Matthew 6:34 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdomand his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is turning into a very difficult Lent for me! I am fasting differently than in years past. I’m fasting “worry”. That’s right! I have written down a list of things I worry about. It’s a very lengthy list too! AND ITS GROWING! 🤣. Anytime a worry of some kind creeps into my head, I immediately push it out and say a prayer confirming my faith in God and asking Christ to carry my worries for me. Believe me it is the hardest fast I’ve ever done. I truly didn’t know that I worried as much as I do! I’m finding out that I worry about things that I 💯 have ZERO control over! Little by little, I am feeling my stress level lower. It is really hard to release control too! We always think that we can fix things. Well, the fact is many times, as hard as we try, we can’t. Learn to trust in God and leave your burdens at the cross. That’s where they belong. Blessings,

2026-02-26 Lent - Day 9 Lent Second Thursday of Lent We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people. In this second week of Lent, you may begin to truly identify your weaknesses and your flaws. It’s okay! God doesn’t expect perfection from you, only your love. Let’s look at Psalm 121:1-4 I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.3 He will not let your foot slip he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. In my prayer time yesterday I had a bit of an epiphany. I suddenly realized that no matter what I am doing, even if it is something that has absolutely nothing to do with God or anything church related, I still feel the presence of God. Even in my sin, God is with me. That is very comforting to me! We may stumble and make mistakes, even some big ones, but we are still loved! Think about that for a moment. We are completely connected to God every moment of every day. We have a kinship established with God because He created us. When we read the Holy Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the words in the Bible, those words come to life in our hearts. When we do that, the connection grows stronger. God loves us in spite of our flaws. In fact, as we become aware of our flaws we learn from them. That’s simply how God works with His imperfect children. Blessings,

2026-02-25 Lent - Day 8 Lent The first full week of Lent Luke 4:1-2 4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. Good morning! We have now completed the first full first week of Lent and I hope you are receiving blessings from the experience. The Gospels of Luke and Matthew tell the same story, but from different prospective. The unique piece of this experience and the temptations that Jesus encountered had to have come from Jesus Himself. He was the only one in the wilderness, so only He could have shared what happened. The scripture today describes Jesus’ experience right after He was Baptized by John in the Jordan River. The first line is perhaps the most important. JESUS,FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT….. Our prayer should always be that God fill us with the Holy Spirit as well. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we see things differently. We listen differently and as a result, our actions are different as well. For example, we see that He was led into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days. He was isolated. All alone so there were no distractions. He abstained from food, so the only nutrition He received was the spiritual food of the Holy Spirit. Pretty intense for sure! Now let’s look at what our spiritual ears and our spiritual mind can take from this. How can we learn from His experience in the wilderness. He shared them with us, but why? Consider the fact that He has invited us to join Him in His walk. What were His experiences as it relates to us and our world. He was isolated. In today’s world, loneliness is consuming many people, especially the elderly. What can we do to combat this prolific problem in our part of the world? We can’t change the world, but we can change our part of it. What can you do in your walk with Christ to relieve someone’s loneliness? Is there a loved one that you can call or visit that is battling loneliness? Have you really taken the time to think if there is anyone you know that is lonely? If not, that is the first step. Recognizing a problem is always step one. Once you recognize it, you can take action the fix it. Jesus was hungry. After 40 days abstaining from food, He had to have suffered the hardship the human body would suffer from going without food. Hunger is a major issue in our state. In Oklahoma, 17% of our population experience food insecurity. That means 1 in 5 people in our state don’t know where their next meal is coming from. In Oklahoma 25% of children experience food insecurity every single day! That is 1 in 4 children are facing malnutrition. What can you do to help? Remember, Lent is a time of self-examination, but it isn’t a time to just identify flaws in our character. It is also a time to examine what we can change. In our walk with Christ, we have to open our eyes and see things that need attention. We need to listen for cries for help that the world ignores. We can do this by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us. When we identify the flaws of the world around us, we then can take action. I remember reading a piece that struck very deep in my soul. It read, “I screamed out to God for the starving child! Then I suddenly recognized the starving child was God screaming out to me”. In your prayer time, ask God to lead you and give you wisdom to fight against the darkness of the world. Ask how you can bring the light and love of Christ into a very dark and troubled world. Blessings,

2026-02-24 Lent - Day 7 Lent- 1st Tuesday of Lent Good Morning! I hope you are enjoying this Lenten Season and having a productive self examination of your spiritual life. Today I am going to throw a bit of a twist into our scripture. I am going to show how Christ symbolized that He took our sins on Himself. Let’s first look at Genesis 3:17-18 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you. This of course is where God confronts Adam for his sin. Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent (Satan) and immediately started making excuses. God doesn’t like excuses. With that said, I’m going to throw a bit of a twist into this scripture. Apparently, in the beginning the earth provided plenty of food without working. No planting, no harvest, just walk out and eat. After their sin, God made it clear they would have to work to survive. God cursed the ground and as a result, life got very hard. Notice God says in verse 18 thorns and thistles will corrupt the crops. Figuratively, thorns and thistles represent sin introduced into what was once perfect soil. The serpent (Satan) introduced sin into the world by deceiving Adam and Eve. Now let’s look at Matthew 27:27-29 27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. Let’s break this down. They stripped Him naked. Adam and Eve were naked in the garden and didn’t know they were introduced to sin. Most people don’t realize that Jesus was crucified naked. Hollywood put a loin cloth on Him, but the fact is the Romans not only inflicted pain, but humiliation on their crucified victims. The scarlet robe they put on Him was mocking His Divinity. Scarlet, being the same color as blood. His blood would soon be shed as He became the sacrifice to pay for sin. The crown of thorns represent the thorns and thistles that God cursed the ground with as a punishment for Adam and Eve. All of these things symbolize Jesus becoming the living sacrifice for us. As we self examine ourselves, keep in mind, we are no different than Adam and Eve. We too sin and then try and find excuses. The sacrifice of Jesus paid the price for all! Blessings,

2026-02-23 Lent - Day 6 Lent 1st Monday of Lent Good morning! We have a beautiful scripture today! Matthew 25:40 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ This is a scripture that describes Jesus separating the sheep from the goats. He basically He is telling the greedy that they have no place in the Kingdom of God. Scary thought! But he tells the flock that lived their lives with a Servant’s heart that they will receive their just reward in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is also a deep scripture about love. Who are we supposed to love? How do we put our love into action? We are commanded to love EVERYONE!!! When I first began my training to be a pastor, I was given an assignment by the Holy Spirit. Long story, but I’ll save it for another time. Basically, I was instructed to find something that would help a group of people described in the scripture above. “What you did for the least of these, you did also to Me”. This is where the Circle of Faith Ministry began. It has been many years ago that I kicked this off, but it developed into a wonderful GED program. I’m not smart enough to teach the class, but I knew a lot of people smarter than me that could help me implement the ministry. Smarter than me? I know, the bar was low! LOL! But it first began in Chandler with Ben Imel. Ben has since passed away and is now receiving his reward, but he developed a GED ministry that was phenomenal! We advertised and Ben started teaching people and preparing them for the GED almost immediately after we implemented the ministry . Many of these folks were struggling and Ben was the perfect fit. The key to the success of the ministry was simple. Show these people they are valued and loved! A lot of them had been beaten down their whole life. Their confidence and self esteem were non existent. Ben began to instill confidence in them and TELL them they CAN do all things through Christ! Guess what? Ben did it!!! He had dozens of folks go through the GED ministry and tons of them got their GED! Several went on to college! That kicked off in 2012 and I have no clue how many since then have gotten their GED, but it’s a lot! It has since moved to the Luther FCC, but it’s still going strong! A Christ/love based ministry will always succeed! Love the poor! Love the sick! Love the homeless! Love the prisoner! Love everyone as Christ did and YOU will be blessed more than you can fathom! Blessings,

2026-02-21 Lent - Day 4 Lent- 1st Saturday Good morning! I hope you are enjoying this season of Lent and growing closer to God. Today, let’s look at a wisdom building scriptures taken from 1 Chronicles 16:11 in the Old Testament. "Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!" During Lent, this is exactly what we do. We seek the strength of God and use that strength in our everyday life. I realize that I am probably a bit different than most of you, but I tend to think I can handle anything. Fact is, I can’t. This scripture implores us to build a continuous relationship with God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. Of course we do that through prayer. "Seeking his face" means desiring an intimate, personal relationship with God, not just asking for blessings. Doing this "continually" means making the pursuit of God a lifelong, habitual, and non-stop journey, regardless of life's circumstances. Lent is a time of reflection, prayer, and raw confession. Part of that is to come to the unique understanding that everything we see, touch, feel, smell, etc is all a part of God’s creation. We CANNOT exist without God. Acknowledging that is the first step to inner peace that we all desire. Let your prayer today be in humility and find the strength of the cross through love, servitude, and faith. Blessings,

2026-02-20 Lent - Day 3 Lent - First Friday of Lent Good morning! Today’s reading is taken from Matthew, chapter 9. This is one of the deepest scriptures in the New Testament in my opinion. Let’s take a look at it. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is a great scripture for a multitude of reasons! This is Jesus having dinner with a bunch of sinners, or as I would call them, “nary do-gooders”. 🤣 When I give thanks before a meal it sometimes crosses my mind to say; “THANK YOU JESUS for having dinner with a sinner”. I like to think she smiles at that. I love the fact that Jesus is meeting people where they are and doesn’t require them to go and meet Him. That’s how Jesus works, even today. If you invite Him, He will come. And of course the religious leaders can’t understand why He would do such a thing. We need to think about this for a minute. Jesus calls Himself a healer. He is “The Great Physician”, but it’s important to understand it correctly. Yes, Jesus still heals the sick, but His main mission is to heal the spirit and soul. Our body is only temporary, but our spirit is eternal. That’s what is truly important. Many of us are broken inside. We have experiences that are hurtful or perhaps we have done harm to someone else. Whatever the case, repentance leads to forgiveness. And for us to fully receive a blessing from Christ, we must forgive all of those that have hurt us. Not for them, but for us. Having a heart for Jesus helps with that process. Forgiving others brings peace to the soul. Pray from your heart, repent, forgive others, and be healed. It’s as simple as that. 😊🙏🏻 Blessings,

2026-02-19 Lent - Day 2 Lent Day 2 Good Morning! Today is the first Thursday of Lent. Today we turn our attention to prayer. Matthew 7:7-11 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him. I love this scripture! But let’s take pause and understand that God is not a Genie in a bottle! We can’t simply make a wish and expect it to be handed to us. That is not a humble prayer, but a prayer of greed and self righteousness. Prayer is a state of submission and humility to our Creator. We should always remember to ask for God’s will to be done, not the will of our own. Let’s break it down. “Ask” is an admission of need. We constantly need the presence of God in our lives whether we know it or not. “Seek” is the confirmation we are actively seeking God. Seeking God simply means to ask God to be involved in all things pertaining to our lives. If our search for God is humble and consistent, the Holy Spirit will gently speak to our heart. Some would call it our conscience, but it is really the Holy Spirit that lives in all of us. If we feed it, the Spirit intensifies. If we starve it, the Spirit shrinks. It’s just that simple. God isn’t a Dictator and won’t just barge in where He isn’t welcome. When we do something wrong or that is not instep with goodness and righteousness, we feel a small tug in our heart. When we begin to train our spirit to listen for that small tug, it becomes very easy to understand God’s will for us. “Knocking” is another way of saying we are seeking God and asking God to open doors for us. In doing so, we are in a sense asking God to keep the doors closed that open up to darkness, or evil. There are lots of snares in the world that we can easily fall into that can bring harm to our inner peace. Remember the piece of scripture in the Lord’s Prayer where He says, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”? BINGO! That is exactly what Jesus is referring back to in this scripture. A prayer of humility and heartfelt requests of goodness and righteousness are answered. Perhaps not in the way we think they should be, but if we ask for “God’s will” to be done, we are asking for God to perfect our prayer. God’s will finds a way to bring peace, even inside the darkest storms. Each one of us, at one time or another, has shopped for the perfect gift for a child, grandchild, spouse, or a close friend. Each time we find that perfect gift, our hearts are filled with joy. To be honest, that’s a result of us just looking through an Amazon list or looking through the shelves of Walmart! LOL! If that is good, think about how perfect God’s wonderful gifts for us can be enjoyed! And to take it to yet another level, how much those gifts we receive can be shared to bring joy to others. Something to think about. Blessings,

2026-02-18 Lent - Day 1 Lent - Ash Wednesday Good Morning! Welcome to the Season of Lent! Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is the 40 days, not counting Sundays, leading up to Easter. It is a time of prayer, fasting, and charity. Some people give up something during this time of year. Perhaps soda, or tv time, or something else that can help connect to God. Many find deeds of charity. Whatever it is, the goal is to strengthen our spirit. If you do give up something, spend that time in prayer. It helps to make a list of things to pray for so when you are in your prayer time, it will have substance. Most importantly, it is a time of reflection. A time to come to grips with our mortality and understand our weakness in body and spirit. We learn in Genesis 3:19 when God spoke to Adam and Eve after their sin: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return". C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite old time gospel preachers. He had a quote that I have used many times. He said "You don't have a soul. You are a Soul!!! You have a body". When we think of our mortality, Rev. Lewis had it right. We seem to be focused on our bodies all the time. For example, our body can get sick or as in my case, body aches! LOL! Old age certainly has its drawbacks! Because we feel the physical discomfort when we are sick or sore, that is what gets our attention. But we should be more concerned about our spiritual illnesses. We know when our soul aches because we can feel that as well, but we often don’t know what to do about it. The answer is simple. Reconnect with God. Humble ourselves before our Creator. Lay our troubles at the cross and recognize that God loves us more than we could ever imagine. There will be many Ash Wednesday services all around the world today. We will have ours at Luther FCC at 6:30 this evening. I hope you will join us. And remember the scripture today that reads, “Be still and know I’m God”.