I had to go into Division 1 of the Cook County jail to visit someone that was recently incarcerated the other day. After going through intense screening and security I was allowed to walk through this sprawling detention center campus on my way to the division 1 building. Not knowing my way around I had to find a Correctional Officer that could help direct me to the correct building. He pointed at a narrow sidewalk that had a fence on each side and barbed wire over head. He told that I had to walk between the fences to the building that was ahead. As I was walking on this sidewalk I couldn’t help but realize that I was walking a narrow pathway between bondage and freedom. On one side was the detention center with all the guards and thick iron doors. On the other side was a parking lot with people getting in their cars and heading in all sorts of directions. On side was imprisoned the other was free!
It hit me at that point that point that in life we all walk between the fences of eternity. In this life we will choose which side of the fence we will spend eternity on.
Joshua 24:14-15: 14 “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
Which side of the fence are we on today? As for me and my family we will serve the Lord and choose the side of eternal freedom!
What an incredible day! We had just under 900 registered job seekers come through today for the Job Fair that we hosted along with the Village of South Holland. I was really amazed and very humbled by what I saw today. I was amazed at how many cars we really could squeeze into the parking lot, while at the same time I was humbled by the great need that is all around us. My heart goes out to all who are unemployed as you try to stand out in this crowded job market. Today I am making a FIRM commitment to pray for jobs to open up all over the South Suburbs!
This was definately a ver busy weekend, yet it was totally incredible!
Friday, we were blessed by the start of another year of Night of Worship with Atmosphere of Heaven! The group came ready to worship the Lord and they truly ushered the atmosphere of heaven, which the bible clearly says is an atmosphere of praise and worship, to earth! I have already heard testimonies about how the Lord really helped put things in perspective during that time of complete abandonment and total dedication to Lord. I simply cannot wait until the next one!
Saturday…Well, what can I say other than THANK YOU! Our leaders and volunteers came out for a time of fellowship and encouragement from our Assistant Superintendent. The evening was great as we share lots of laughter and some really great food and heard an inspiring message from Rev. Gary Blanchard. I have said it before and I will say it again, we really have the best group of volunteers here making things happen on a weekly basis all so that the glory of the Lord can shine in this place! Thank you for serving the in this ministry as you serve the Lord!
Sunday…Two words: BABY DEDICATION! My girls were dedicated along with 5 other babies! What an incredible charge we have been given by God. We are charged with the Christian training and education of our children so that when they are of age to make decisions they will be able to know and accept Christ in their lives for themselves. All of the babies are just so adorable and we are blessed to continually have so many new ones being added to the family here at the ROCC!
I am simply overwhelmed at the quality of teachers and leaders that we have here at the ROCC. For the last couple of months I have had the privilage of simply walking around and observing the various groups on Wednesday nights. First off there is so many groups and activities on Wednesday nights that it blows my mind to think back to the days when we only had 15 people in the building on those week night meetings. Now we have at least 9 different groups of people meeting in various areasof the building! So just the unbelievable growth on Wednesday nights is enough to send my mind spinning at what God is doing in this place. Aside from all the groups and people that we have coming together to celebrate the Lord we have some really awesome teaching happening. The thing that gets me the most is that in each room and each group there is so much energy that this building is just flowing with the great power of God. I am blown away at the intensity of every area whether I am in one of the various children rooms or in the youth gathering an even in the adults there is a tremendous excitement that comes from those leading the various groups.
Well, that’s it I have just had all that on my heart and had to get it out! Leaders here at the ROCC are the best that I have ever seen! Tell someone you know that this is the place to be on Wednesday nights!
What a WEEK! It is such a huge privilege and blessing to be able to serve the community that God has placed us in. This past week we worked with the Village of South Holland to provide a safe and fun filled week of activities for Spring Break. I can safely say that this week proved to be all that and then some. We had over 115 students each day and even had to turn parents and students away because we had intended to cap the participation at 100 students. Each day we had over 100 junior high and high school students enjoying activities here at our church! Can you imagine a church where we literally had that many young people pressing to get in the doors early each day! I can admit that the week was not geared to be a time to proselytize, yet it is good knowing that these young people are now familiar with the building and our hopes and prayer is that they will come visit and bring their families to a worship service here.
The week ended with our church hosting the Youth Hip Hop night from Spirit of God Fellowship. This combination allowed us to have a youth event that could speak into these young hearts. I did see a few of the youth that had been here through the week in attendance. My hope and prayer now is that after the week of fun and games and the night of spoken word, rap and a heart wrenching message from Dexter, that these young hearts might be impacted with the love of Jesus. While I am physically exhausted from all that has taken place I can yet sit back and enjoy the incredible opportunities that God continues to provide for us to do His work here on earth.
All in all I have to say…This was a good day!
It is so hard to get any work done these days. It seems all I want to do is sit and look at the pictures of the wonderful little angles that my wife has carried the last nine months. I realize that as I stare at the two amazing gifts God has given us that I am even more blessed because God has also allowed me to be married to the greatest wife ever! Yea, I may be bragging but this is my blog so I guess I can brag if I want to. Anyway, I am not sure if it is bragging if I am simply stating the obvious truth! I can honestly say that I am truly blown away by the whole birth and pregnancy experience and am simply amazed at how awesome our God is. God prepared the womans body for this miracle and then the body just begin the process of readjusting to a new normal. AMAZING!
So let me end by sharing this picture and thanking God for His tremendous BLESSINGS! Have a blessed day and remember to thank God for all He is doing!
Day 5
Adoration
The Lord my God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:17–18)
My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
For the Mighty One has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
His mercy is on those who fear Him,
From generation to generation. (Luke 1:46–47, 49–50)
Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.
Confession
God’s eyes are on the ways of a man,
And He sees all his steps.
There is no darkness or deep shadow
Where the workers of iniquity can hide.
He does not need to examine a man further,
That he should go before God in judgment. (Job 34:21–23)
Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Renewal
May I flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)
May I not set my heart on evil things, or be an idolater, or commit sexual immorality. (1 Corinthians 10:6–8)
Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.
Petition
Let me hear Your unfailing love in the morning,
For I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should walk,
For to You I lift up my soul. (Psalm 143:8)
Faithfulness as a Steward
Of time
Of talents
Of treasure
Of truth
Of relationships
My activities for this day
Special concerns
Intercession
May I honor all people, love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, and honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17)
Government
Spiritual revival
Local government
State government
National government
Current events and concerns
Affirmation
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)
We have the prophetic word made more certain, to which I will do well to pay attention, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in my heart. (2 Peter 1:19)
Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.
Thanksgiving
The Lord my God is the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9)
I will tell of the lovingkindnesses of the Lord,
The praises of the Lord,
According to all the Lord has done for us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,
And according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. (Isaiah 63:7)
Pause to offer your own expressions of thanksgiving.
Closing Prayer
I know that my Redeemer lives
And that in the end He will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
Yet in my flesh I will see God;
Whom I myself will see
And behold with my own eyes and not another.
How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25–27)
God is exalted beyond our understanding;
The number of His years is unsearchable. (Job 36:26)
Boa, K. (1997, c1993). Handbook to prayer : Praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
Day 4
Adoration
The Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and joy are in His place.
I will ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
I will ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name
And worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Tremble before him, all the earth.
The world is firmly established, it will not be moved. (1 Chronicles 16:25–30)
You are the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac. (Genesis 31:42)
Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.
Confession
Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth will declare Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or I would bring it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart,
O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:14–17)
Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Renewal
May I remove the places of idolatry from my life, and like Asa, let my heart be fully committed to God all my days. (2 Chronicles 15:17)
May I trust in the Lord and do good; may I dwell in the land and feed on Your faithfulness. When I delight myself in the Lord, You will give me the desires of my heart. I will commit my way to the Lord and trust in You, and You will bring it to pass. You will bring forth my righteousness like the light, and my justice like the noonday. May I rest in the Lord and wait patiently for You; I will not fret because of him who prospers in his way, with the man who practices evil schemes. (Psalm 37:3–7)
Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.
Petition
May I not pervert justice, show partiality, or accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. (Deuteronomy 16:19)
Relationships with Others
Greater love and compassion for others
Loved ones
Those who do not know Christ
Those in need
My activities for this day
Special concerns
Intercession
We are the fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death; to the other, an aroma from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:15–16)
Evangelism
Friends
Relatives
Neighbors
Coworkers
Special opportunities
Affirmation
There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Your sake and the gospel’s, who will not receive a hundred times as much in this present age—houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. (Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29–30)
If anyone comes to You and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be Your disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow You cannot be Your disciple. (Luke 14:26–27)
Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.
Thanksgiving
You have loved me with an everlasting love;
You have drawn me with lovingkindness. (Jeremiah 31:3)
You led Your people with cords of human kindness,
With bands of love;
You lifted the yoke from their neck
And bent down to feed them. (Hosea 11:4)
Pause to offer your own expressions of thanksgiving.
Closing Prayer
You are the Lord, the God of our fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is your name forever, the name by which you are to be remembered from generation to generation. (Exodus 3:15)
I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise Him,
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. (Exodus 15:1–2)
Boa, K. (1997, c1993). Handbook to prayer : Praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
Day 3
Adoration
The Lord Most High is awesome,
The great King over all the earth!
God is the King of all the earth,
And I will sing His praise.
God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on His holy throne. (Psalm 47:2, 7–8)
You must be treated as holy by those who come near You, and before all people, You will be honored. (Leviticus 10:3)
Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.
Confession
Lord, I have heard of Your fame, and I stand in awe of Your deeds.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In our time make them known;
In wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)
Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Renewal
May I not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all my heart. May I not turn aside to go after worthless things which do not profit or deliver, because they are useless. (1 Samuel 12:20–21)
The works of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:19–23)
Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.
Petition
When I ask, it will be given to me; when I seek, I will find; when I knock, the door will be opened to me. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7–8; Luke 11:9–10)
Spiritual Insight
Understanding and insight into the word
Understanding my identity in Christ
Who I am
Where I came from
Where I am going
Understanding God’s purpose for my life
My activities for this day
Special concerns
Intercession
For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you in my prayers. (Romans 1:9)
Believers
Personal friends
Those in ministry
Those who are oppressed and in need
Special concerns
Affirmation
The Lord is a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him, but showing lovingkindness to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. (Exodus 20:5–6; Deuteronomy 5:9–10)
God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change his mind. Has He spoken and not done it? Has He promised and not fulfilled it? (Numbers 23:19)
Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.
Thanksgiving
I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely, I will remember Your wonders of long ago.
I will meditate on all Your works
And consider all Your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
You have revealed Your strength among the peoples.
You redeemed Your people with Your power,
The descendants of Jacob and Joseph. (Psalm 77:11–15)
Pause to offer your own expressions of thanksgiving.
Closing Prayer
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout for joy to Him with psalms. (Psalm 95:1–2)
O sing to the Lord a new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation day after day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His marvelous works among all people. (Psalm 96:1–3)
Boa, K. (1997, c1993). Handbook to prayer : Praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
Day 2
Adoration
How great are Your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep.
The senseless man does not know;
Fools do not understand
That when the wicked spring up like grass
And all the evildoers flourish,
They will be destroyed forever.
But You, O Lord, are exalted forever. (Psalm 92:5–8)
You are the Lord, that is Your name.
You will not give Your glory to another,
Or Your praise to idols. (Isaiah 42:8)
Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.
Confession
I will endure discipline, for God is treating me as a son. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If I am without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then I am an illegitimate child and not a true son. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them; how much more should I be subjected to the Father of spirits and live? (Hebrews 12:7–9)
Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Renewal
Christ must increase; I must decrease. (John 3:30)
You are the true vine, and Your Father is the vinedresser. He cuts off every branch in You that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. May I abide in You, and You in me. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can I, unless I abide in You. (John 15:1–2, 4)
Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.
Petition
May I follow Abraham’s example of willingness to offer all that I have to You, holding nothing back and trusting in Your character and in Your promises. (Genesis 22:2–12, 16)
Growth in Wisdom
Developing an eternal perspective
Renewing my mind with truth
Greater skill in each area of life
My activities for this day
Special concerns
Intercession
May we rejoice, become complete, be of good comfort, be of one mind, and live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with us. (2 Corinthians 13:11)
Family
My immediate family
My relatives
Spiritual concerns
Emotional and physical concerns
Other concerns
Affirmation
When I give, it will be given to me; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into my lap. For with the measure I use, it will be measured back to me. (Luke 6:38)
He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one should give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to us, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, we may abound in every good work. As it is written: “He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”
Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase our seed and will increase the fruits of our righteousness. (2 Corinthians 9:6–10)
Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.
Thanksgiving
We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. (Revelation 11:17)
There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the new Jerusalem, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no night there; they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:3–5)
Pause to offer your own expressions of thanksgiving.
Closing Prayer
Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
He changes the times and the seasons;
He raises up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him. (Daniel 2:20–22)
Boa, K. (1997, c1993). Handbook to prayer : Praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
