Dear Friends,

This morning I walked into our Worship Center to love on one of our church families and facilitate a funeral service for their loved one, Sue. It is always an honor to be asked to do a service and I am always blessed as I meet with the family and hear stories of the loved one’s life and the significant person that they were. This family has really opened their hearts to me and allowed me, in one sense, to become a part of their family. As I have been preparing for this service I reflected back upon the message from last Sunday out of Genesis. So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them, 1:27. Did you catch that, each of us has been created in the very image of God, and as I shared with you, since God is a Spirit we don’t reflect a physical characteristic of Him but instead, we reflect His attributes. What an honor it is to know that as we live out our lives daily, others can see aspects of our heavenly Father in us. That is not only a blessing but a great responsibility.

Getting back to the service, this Sunday I will share three characteristics of God that Sue exhibited in her life, His LOVE, SACRIFICE, and COMMITMENT. Pretty special attributes that now become a part of her legacy for her family. They were blessed by her, and now it’s their turn to reflect God’s attributes and bless others. I have a question for you. Have you identified God’s attributes in your life, and are you reflecting them to your world? If not, now’s the best time to begin. Reflect so others will see the very image of our heavenly Father shining in your life and blessing others.

I have been sharing my approach to personal prayer. To pray with a grateful heart, a humble spirit, in anticipation of what God is going to do, with bold faith, Kingdom courage, greater influence, personal strength, and His pure wisdom.

This week, I add, pray with a heart full of GRACE and MERCY. What wonderful gifts from the Lord up above…through His GRACE we do not receive what we deserve and through His MERCY we receive what we do not deserve. For it is by GRACE you have been saved, Ephesians 2:8;  Be merciful to those who doubt;  save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear, Jude 22-23. I want others to experience what I have, the power of God’s GRACE and MERCY. Will you join me in praying for others?

O Lord, help me see others as You do, and then pray that they will receive Your GRACE and MERCY and be transformed by Your touch. May our prayer list grow longer and longer with the names of those who have yet to experience the power of Your LifeChange. Strengthen us in our walk with You so that others will see Your GRACE and MERCY in action in our lives. AMEN & AMEN!

I’ll be looking for you Sunday!

Pastor Mark