Thursday: Family

"My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to family day on the Carry The Light Ministries prayer and message line. Thursday is the day we pray for families on this line. Please pray for the Saylor family today, and welcome Sharon Saylor to the line as a prayer warrior. Sharon, a Navy Veteran, recently retired from Navy Depot in Mechanicsburg Pa. Please pray for their Uncle John also.

"Family": I did not plan this message for family day on the line, God just worked it out that way.

Luke 8: 21 Jesus replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." (NIV)

You who have been on the line with me for a long time know that I refer to you as my brothers and sisters. Why? Because we are brothers and sisters if we indeed believe in God and put what we hear about Him into practice. It matters not to me what your race or color is, or where you go to church, it matters to me that you are saved and working for Jesus. In fact, one of the real beauties of this line is I have no idea what most of you look like, but I do know this, you must be beautiful, for you, like me, are made in the image of God, and He did not make anyone ugly. So let me ask you today, are you a brother or sister to Jesus? Are you a son or daughter of God The Father? Jesus does not ask much of us, He wants us to live a life repenting of our sins, He wants us to share our blessings and love all people, and He wants us to love Him above all others and above all else. And He wants us to tell others The Good News of Jesus. And yes, He wants us to pull our weight here on earth, meaning working to help all others, working to earn a living, doing our share.

For this, He feeds us, He supplies our clothes, doing this through the hands of others. He supplies the air we breath, He provides us housing, He really takes care of us. He really does, He really wants us to be family. Come on brothers and sisters, He just wants us to love Him enough to listen to His word and His messages and put them to work. I know many people who are faithful at going to church, yes, they give God an hour or an hour and a half on Sunday and do nothing else. And they share their blessings like this ...

One fine day at the mint (where the presses are flying right now) a 20 dollar bill was sitting on the line ready to go out into the world. Beside the 20 was a 1 dollar bill. They got to be friends. It was some ten years later they were sitting on the shredding line, and it went like this ... Hey, 20, how are you, how are you? I am fine, one, it is good to see you. Hey 20, said one, where have you been? Wow, said 20, I have been to Atlantic City, Ocean City, I have been to the West Coast, to Hollywood, I have been to Vegas, and I have been on boat cruises, I have been all over the world and exchanged and sent back. What about you, one, where have you been? And the One said ... church, church, church, church ...

Folks, while the joke is just that, a joke, how many people go to church, put in a buck, maybe sing a song, raise a hand, sleep during the message, and then go home and forget about Jesus till the next week? A lot more people than you would think. Folk,s again I ask you to think about some things like this ... take your Bible to work and on a break, read it, maybe a good time to get together with a few work brothers and sisters and do a daily devotion thing. Oh, and yes ,you may use this, you can even blog if you wish. What I am getting at is we need to really get nearer and nearer to Jesus and we need to hook up with our "brothers and sisters" in Christ. Again, listen to these words:

Jesus said: "My mother and brothers (sisters) are those who hear God's word and PUT IT INTO PRACTICE. (NIV)

Dear Father in Heaven, I pray for my brothers and sisters today, I pray for not just my blood family, I pray for all my family, for we are covered with the blood of Jesus. Lord, please keep Your healing hand on the Saylor family, each one of them, and give Sharon the nerve to step out. Lord, thanks for another day of life, and thanks for saving us. Most of all, Lord, help us to walk each day with You. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Go forth now, my dear brothers and sisters, sharing your blessings with others ... love ya, dan.

Please note ... I will be changing from Verizon DSL to Comcast in two weeks. All should go smoothly and they have promised me that I can keep the same email address and the same phone number. The last time I changed servers, it was a nightmare. So pray for this change-over for me. We are doing the Comcast triple to save some dollars and to speed up the work. Thanks ...