Saturday, April 4, 2026

GOD BLESSES WHEN YOU UNITE IN PRAYER

 

 GOD BLESSES WHEN YOU UNITE IN PRAYER


Dr. Wesley L. Duewel: Perhaps we should distinguish between being united in prayer and being in united prayer.

When a call for prayer is issued, people can join in praying for the same need or request wherever they are. All whose hearts cry to God are thus united in prayer. 

Thank God, we can unite with others in prayer whatever our circumstances. Here are examples of how this has been done:


1. Make the Lord's Day a time of prayer. Even if circumstances prevent us from joining in public worship, we can and should be uniting with God's people by our prayer on the Lord's day.

His day should always, as far as humanly possible, be a day when extra time is set apart for prayer.

Those imprisoned for Christ's sake, though very alone, have reported being specially blessed as they prayed on the Lord's Day, knowing that millions of God's children were praying around the world.

(Rev. 1:9-10 tells us of John's experience on the Lord's day)

2. Make available a prayer list or prayer requests to as many Christians as possible. Then all can join in daily prayer or prayer at set times for the needs listed.

During World War II, Christians throughout South Africa stopped wherever they were, in streets or stores, for a moment of silent prayer at noon.

3. Make prayer chains. A congregation can organize one or more prayer chains among its members. Each person in a prayer chain can inform the next person on the list. Thus in a short time the church can all be uniting in prayer for the same urgent request. Most prayer chains are done entirely by phone.

4. Pray around the clock. People can pledge to pray for half an hour or an hour and be assigned particular times of prayer so that prayer continues for an urgent need all night or even twenty-four hours around the clock.

It is reported that the Moravian Pentecost that God gave in a prayer meeting at Herrnhut in 1731 resulted in unbroken payer day and night for a hundred years and was part of the key to God's tremendous blessing upon the Moravians as they scattered the message of Christ around the world.
 
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana  (With Jean's impressions added)


Mighty Prevailing Prayer
#75 God Blesses When You Unite in Prayer 
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 124 -126) Zondervan

 

Let's pray-

    Father, help us distinguish between being united in prayer and being in united prayer. 
 When a call for prayer is issued, help us join in praying for the need or request wherever they are. May our hearts unite with them in prayer.
   Even if circumstances prevent us from joining in public worship, help us unite with You and Your people by prayer, especially on the Lord's day, or when we've set aside extra time for prayer. Help us also make a prayer list of our friends and loved ones, and then pray for them daily.
   When specific needs come up, help us to pray for Your involvement!
   We ask this in the name of Jesus, that You will be glorified! Amen. 


My weekly advice from the book,  Praise the Lord and Pass the Chemo by Elaine W. Miller: (p.3)  

"In the early days of dealing with my diagnosis, I wrote in my journal, 'Why me? Because God trusts me to glorify Him in this.'  No other explanation made sense. God was honoring me with His trust that through my cancer I and others would see Jesus, be encouraged, receive hope, and learn to live and love more like Jesus."
 

#132 Quote-   A. W. Tozer From The Root of The 
Righteous

   "Undoubtedly the redemption in Christ Jesus has sufficient moral power to enable us to live in a state of purity and love where our whole life will be a prayer. Individual acts of prayer that spring out of that kind of total living will have about them a wondrous 
power not known to the careless or the worldly Christian."


1806-1810 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted- 
 
1806- Ez. 11:19a "And I will give them one heart."
1807- Ez. 21:7c "Behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass', saith the Lord God."
1808- Is. 41:2a  "Who raised up the righteous man."
1809- Pro. 11:31a "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth."
1810- Pro. 30:12a "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes."


 #132 Hymn-  Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus 

   Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England in 1863, into the home of a Wesleyan minister who immigrated to America, when Helen was a child. She loved music, and her parents provided the best vocal teachers they could find. Eventually Helen returned to Europe to study vocal music in Germany. In time, she married a wealthy European, but he left her when she became blind, and Helen struggled with multiple heartaches during midlife.
   At age 55, Helen heard a statement that deeply impressed her: "So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness."
   "I stood still," Helen later said, "and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme, or note to note to make melody. The verses were written the same week, after the usual manner of composition, but nonetheless dictated by the Holy Spirit."
   Helen had no way of writing the hymns down, so she called a friend at all hours and he'd rush down and record them before she forgot the words. "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" was among them.
  Helen Lemmel, who wrote nearly 500 hymns during her lifetime, died in Seattle in 1961, thirteen days before her 98th birthday."

   The information about this song, is taken from the book by Robert J. MorganTHEN SINGS MY SOUL   (pg. 283)


 Some encouraging words-

   "Do you wish you had a new house to call home? Give thanks for how God is your True Shelter and thank Him for providing the home you currently have. You can trust the character of God with contentment and pray for growth and change. And when you do, the way you speak of your right-now circumstances begins to change."

 (Great book, Jean highly recommends it!)


Church Notes:    WE HAVE A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

As senior citizens, God has plans for this age.
Younger generations do not know what we do.
Times of rest, yes, but we're to continue to embrace changes, trusting God to help.
We're not to have a critical spirit or to worry.
We'll need to down size so we can still be bearing fruit for the Kingdom.
We're to put into action our desire to obey God, and to do His will.
Some temptations are just our personal distractions.
As Jesus had a mind to go to Jerusalem, we must have a mind to do God's will.
Our job is to obey our calling and endure hardships.
God puts in our hearts our individual destinations.
We're not to lose track of where we're going, but follow through with what He directs.



3 Steps to Focus on Jesus and the Resurrection 

Karen Girl Friday- (1.) Insert your name in John 3:16 (read it out loud). For God so loved ____________, that He gave his only Son, that if I believe in him, I will not perish but have eternal life. (ESV) 

 (2.) Remember all of God’s benefits and bless the Lord (Psalm 103:1-5). Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not ALL his benefits, who forgives ALL MY iniquity, who heals ALL MY diseases, who REDEEMS MY LIFE from the pit, who CROWNS ME with steadfast love and mercy, who SATISFIES ME with good so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Emphasis mine, ESV)

“And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay.’” Matthew 28: 2, 5, 6 (ESV)

(3.) Proclaim your redemption story.

My name is ____________ and this is my redemption story. I was lost, now I’m found. I was blind, but now I see. Jesus rescued me from myself, other gods, sin, spiritual death, and the enemy.

The blood of Christ covers me. God saved me. I’m redeemed. The heavenly Father gave me eternal and everlasting life. I’m a new creation. I walk in freedom and victory over the power of darkness.

Abundant life is mine. Jesus is mine. The Holy Spirit lives in me. There’s an empty tomb and a risen Savior center stage in my story. Because Jesus is alive and well, it is well with my soul.

Jesus Rose From the Dead: What This Means:

  • The triune God canceled our eternal punishment and death. The resurrection gave us everlasting life.
  • Jesus’ blood canceled our sin debt. The resurrection gave us grace.
  • God canceled our former life. The resurrection gave us new life.
  • Our Father canceled the enemy’s bondage. The resurrection gave us freedom.

Upcoming posts:

4/11-   NO MORE DEBT- Jennifer Shuldt
18th-   JOINED BY JESUS- XOCHITL  Dixon
28th-  A HOME YET TO COME- Judy Potgeter


The North Country Christian Fellowship Center Churches,

located in the St. Lawrence county of NY,

broadcast their Sunday services at 10 or 10:15

You can view past services too.

Sermon listing:https://www.cfconline.org/sermon-library 

Saturday, March 28, 2026

ONWARD AND UPWARD

 

 ONWARD AND UPWARD        

By Diana Derringer  

"Our family loves to visit Yellowstone National Park. We always watch the Old Faithful geyser erupt. Several times a day, Old Faithful moves onward and upward.

This wonder of nature reminds us of the importance of our own faithfulness.

Onward and upward means to keep moving forward.

We work toward:

  • Improvement
  • Progress
  • Success

      Onward and upward often means steady rather than sudden growth.

Old Faithful begins with a sputter but then grows higher and higher. We don’t have to start fast either. However, we do want to keep going and growing.

      Onward and upward encourages us not to give up.

We all face difficulties and disappointments. Yet, we advance one step at a time. Failure teaches us what does not work. To reach our goals, we keep on keeping on.

      This challenge applies to every age and circumstance.

  • Youth graduating from school
  • Adults seeking the right job
  • Retirees beginning a new stage in life

As long as we live, we have meaning and purpose. May we always seek to find and fulfill them to the best of our abilities.

     Our greatest advancement occurs when we step from this life into the next.

If we follow Jesus’ plan for our lives, we find the best now and through eternity. Let’s keep moving onward and upward.

“In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13 NIV).

Thanks to Joy S. Taylor for the suggestion.

The post Onward and Upward appeared first on Diana Derringer.

 My weekly advice from the book,  Praise the Lord and Pass the Chemo by Elaine W. Miller: (pg/2)

   "Instead of "why me," perhaps we should ask, what now? If this [cancer] is God's plan set apart for His purpose, how then shall we live the remaining years, months, days, and hours of our lives to know and fulfill that purpose? Being angry at God, bitter at the world, wallowing in self sorrow, worrying about the future does no one any good, especially the cancer patient."        
    

Let's pray- 

   Father, help us keep moving forward by the improvements we make, the progress and the success we achieve in our personal spiritual lives. In the process, we're encouraged to not give up, but face difficulties and disappointments, regardless of any failures along the way that didn't work.

   This challenge applies to every age and circumstance; for the youth graduating from school, adults seeking the right job or retirees beginning a new stage in life. As long as we live, help our lives have meaning and purpose. May we seek You daily, to find and fulfill Your will for us, and how to use our abilities best.

   The greatest advancement happens when we step from this life into eternity. Jesus has a plan for our individual lives, to find the best now and then. Help us keep moving onward and upward in Jesus' name. Amen.


#131 Testimony- Billy Graham's digital resource on prayer
 
1801-1805 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted- 
 
1801- Matt. 26:13a "This gospel shall be preached in the whole world."
1802- Pro. 25:21 "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he 
          be thirsty, give him water to drink."
1803- Zech, 13:9b "They shall call on my name, and I will hear them." 
1804- Jer. 26:5a "Hearken to the words of my servants the prophets."
1805- Jer. 5:5b "They have known the way of the LORD."


 #131 Hymn-  There Is a Balm In Gilead

 

   The first Africans on American shores arrived in chains. Their hellish voyage aboard slave ships was only the beginning of their sorrows. The oppression of bondage, the whips and shackles, their loss of dignity. . . . it all combined to kill both body and spirit.
   But the souls of the slaves found release through singing, and a unique form of music evolved called the "Negro Spiritual." Often the slaves were allowed to sing while working. If, for example, they were hauling a fallen tree, they would combine muscles and voices, using the musical rhythms for a 'heave-ho" effect. With swaying bodies, they would stand, eyes half-closed, singing, "Go Down, Moses," "Roll, Jordan, Roll," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," and the classic "There Is a Balm in Gilead" based on Jeremiah 8:22.


 Some encouraging words-

"The God who created you is the same God who is a covenant-keeping and promise-filling God. Just as the Lord showed Himself faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He is more than able to bring about His plan for your life You can trust Him to keep His Word to you." (Quote from pg. 69 of THE STUDY BIBLE FOR WOMEN).

Church Notes:      FAN THE FLAME

We're to be worshippers, filled with the Holy Ghost!
God's plan is for spontaneous worship with personal songs of His goodness.
We're to praise Him, regardless of what's taking place, trusting Him to guide us.
We have purpose, as we're to be God's hands.
Tears change everything when we're given prophetic words that encourage us with new energy and vision.
The Word of the Lord gives us breakthrough! 
God wants to break the chains that hold us back from doing His will.
There may be generational chains that have bound us. He can liberate us from them!
The end result is a breaking out into new territory to advance Christ's Kingdom!
The changes begin within our bellies. 
We're to get out of our settled places and take the first step and obey what the Lord directs.

   There are moments in history when the people of God are called to more than quiet faith. Moments when heaven is inviting us to rise, stand firm, and advance into the promises God has already declared.

Upcoming posts:

4/4-    GOD BLESSES WHEN YOU UNITE IN PRAYER- Wesley L. Duewel
11thNO MORE DEBT- Jennifer Benson Schuldt
18th-  JOINED BY JESUS- XOCHITL Dixon


The North Country Christian Fellowship Center Churches,

located in the St. Lawrence county of NY,

broadcast their Sunday services at 10 or 10:15

You can view past services too.

Sermon listing:https://www.cfconline.org/sermon-library 

Saturday, March 21, 2026

THE SECRET OF HOLY LIVING

 


   THE SECRET OF HOLY LIVING

Melvin H. Snyder-  Among devotional writers, Paul and David are without peers.

How often we seem to intuitively turn to the Psalms of
David or the letters of Paul for our devotional reading. Both take us into their strictest confidence and bare their deepest heart secrets. Neither is a theorist. Their writings spring from a personal relationship with God. Both use the personal pronouns with amazing dexterity — never with offense, always with heart-warming nearness to the devout reader. Our texts are examples. (King David)

   Hear David, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple" (Ps. 27:4).

   Hear Paul, "But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ . . . . Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:7, 13-14).

Three things characterize their spiritual lives:

            Singleness of Purpose-    Both were committed to "one thing."  Having discovered the "unsearchable riches of Christ," they turned from all other considerations and pursuits. Having beheld His glory and beauty, from the point on, nothing else really counted.

           Singleness of Pursuit-   Second, their lives were characterized by the singleness of pursuit. Both declared, "One thing I do," "One thing I seek after." Not content to be passive, their souls reached out in hot pursuit of the One to whom they have been attracted. Every activity must tend toward one goal, and that goal was a Person — the Lord Jesus Christ.

         Singleness of Love-   Third, their lives were characterized by the singleness of love. Both were completely enamored by one Person. David's interest in the temple lay in the fact that it was the Lord's temple. There he could "behold the beauty of the Lord." And so it was with Paul — a constraining love held him to the path of duty.

   Without hesitation Paul declares, "I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Phil. 3:8). A real paraphrase of Paul's love for Christ could be: "Jesus only; nothing more; nothing less; nothing else."

   To love the Savior is to love the things that He loves; it is to do the things that He does; and it is to suffer the things that He suffers. In a word, it is to be like Him. "But we all, " says Paul, "with open face beholding as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). That, my friends, is the secret of all holy living! (p. 5 of Sep/Oct issue of  Herald of His Coming newspaper).

My weekly advice from my book, "We All Married IDIOTS, by Elaine W. Miller: (p. 124)

 "Turn to Christ, and ask Him to reveal areas where you need to change. Surrender your life and surrender your marriage to the One Who died so you wouldn't be a fool. Jesus was buried and He rose from the dead. God has the resurrection power to take a dead marriage and make it alive again. I know. He did it to mine and He can do it to yours."

Let's pray-

    Father, devotional writers intuitively turned to the Psalms, where Paul and David both take us into their strictest confidence and bare their deepest heart secrets. Their writings spring from personal relationships with God. They never speak with offense, but always with heart-warming nearness to the reader.

   David wanted only to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

Paul counted everything a loss, forgetting the past, and reaching forth to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

   May we have this singleness of purpose, pursuit and the Love of God to share with others. Let our desire be to love what Christ loves and to become like Him, changing into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord Himself! This is the secret of all holy living!

   We're asking this in Jesus' name, for His honor and for our good. Amen. 

  #130 Testimony- A friend who has been reading "We All Married Idiots."

  "I just want to thank you for this book, it is such an encouragement and blessing to me! God has put my husband and me together. He's holding our hands, holding us together. It reminded me of my grandson holding my hand for security. It made me feel that with childlike faith, God holds us securely. That spoke to me!" 


1796-1800 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted- 

 

1796- Is. 37:4b "Wherefore lift up thy prayer."

1797- Is. 14:31b "None shall be alone in His appointed times."

1798- Ps. 22:8a "He trusted in the LORD that He would deliver him."

1799- Pro. 2:20 "That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep 

          the paths of the righteous."

1800- Jer. 13:11b "That they might be unto me for a people, and for a name,

and for praise."


 #130 Hymn-  Under His Wings

 

   Ps. 91:4; Ruth 2:12; Psalm 17:8; And in Ps. 57, David cried, "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by."

   A thousand years later, David's great descendant, Jesus of Nazareth, said to the people of Jerusalem, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings . . ."

   All these comforting word-pictures were woven together in the hymn, "Under His Wings," written by William Orcutt Cushing. After losing his wife and severe problems with his voice, it forced him out of the pastorate. In near despair, he asked God to give him something to do for the kingdom. It came into his heart to begin writing hymns, and in subsequent years, he produced more than 300 of them, including "Ring the Bells of Heaven", "When He Cometh", "Down in the Valley" and "Under His wings." The information about this song,  is taken from the book by Robert J. Morgan, THEN SINGS MY SOUL   (pg. 241)


 Some encouraging words-


“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (ESV)

   When we truly live the crucified life, — Jesus living in and through us — the Spirit wins over our flesh more and more often. He sees individuals He loves so much, He thought each one was worth dying for.

   When that's what we see - individuals cherished by God, may it be very hard to harden our hearts to them, because He loves them.



Church Notes:      THE WORDS WE SPEAK MATTER!


They can tear down or build up someone.

 Lying lips are an abomination to God! 

 It's the language of hell, as it's what Satan speaks.

   We're to request Truth.

    Smooth talk is from the evil one.

     Evil spirits want to manipulate our decisions.

      We're not to repeat a matter that's not our business.

       We're to guard our tongues and let others speak.

        We're to aim to keep our mouths out of trouble.

         Repent, when we know we've sinned and failed. 

          A word given in season builds up.


The North Country Christian Fellowship Center Churches,

located in the St. Lawrence county of NY,

broadcast their Sunday services at 10 or 10:15

You can view past services too.

Sermon listing:https://www.cfconline.org/sermon-library