Image from biblia.com
Hear the Devotional here: https://bit.ly/3jWBPQQ
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. 9 For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming. (1 Thessalonians 1 NRSV)
Happy Tuesday, dear Friend! I pray this finds you well and on your way to having a great week! As we pray, I invite us to pray for Mr. Larry Ehrig, Ms. Connie Avant, and Ms. Deannie Ploeger, who were hospitalized last week. I do not know their status as of this writing, but we pray they are better and out of the hospital soon. Also, we are saddened by the death of Mr. Garrett Miller, who died yesterday, Monday, 10/12, and we ask prayers of comfort and peace for his widow, Layne. His graveside will be on Wednesday afternoon. Please pray for one another and for yourselves. Look at the model set by Paul in his writings above, verse 2: We ALWAYS give thanks to God for ALL of YOU and MENTION you in our PRAYERS, CONSTANTLY remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. And as the nervous, new preacher preached at his first sermon, "Let us go and do likewise! Amen!"
It is very important at different points of our lives to imitate someone. Who did you imitate as a child? I had a couple of role models that I thought I should be like; my Dad for he was the real, true superhero in my life, and Zorro, who dressed really cool, or so I thought. I didn't quite have the cool round hat he used, nor the mask, not the tight-fitting pants, well at that age and given my eating habits, all of my pants were tight, nor the shirt; but what I did have was a towel that worked great as a cape! And with a wooden stick I had found I had my sword. And so I could be Zorro! And was, until that one day my Mom dropped me off at Primera Iglesia Bautista (First Baptist Church) where I was enrolled in Kindergarten with Miss Moreno. As we're driving up to the church, right across the street from the church was a kid in his backyard, dressed EXACTLY like Zorro! I mean, his mom and dad must have been super rich to have bought him the real costume. I mean, he had the mask, the hat, the real cape, and the plastic sword that might as well have been British Sterling Silver; I was crushed. Kingsville was not big enough for two Zorros. I would be like my Dad.
Now, as Paul and his two amigos did, I try to imitate Jesus as best I can. One of my short thought prayers as I dress is to say, "Lord, let me love as You love," and realize that is asking a lot, but I want a lot of love to be able to love all people. And as Paul and Silvanus and Timothy did, they lived a life just like Jesus and so it was easy for others, especially those among whom they ministered and worked, to want to live like them. Imagine, this was a difficult thing for these people of Thessalonica to understand; yet they saw the actions, heard the words, but felt the heart of love in these three servants of the Lord Jesus; they were contagious (in a good way; don't think Covid!) and they caught the joy and felt the zeal of serving God in this new way. And this during a season such as this, it is very necessary to see kindness and tenderness towards all people; for this is who we are! What reports would your fellow believers share about you? What reports would you share about them?
PRAYER: Loving Father, fill us with Your mercy and love! Help us be the models others would want to imitate, not repudiate. Help us to model ourselves as Your Son, Jesus. May our words, and more importantly, our actions give You away! Bless those for whom we are praying; we pray in His Holy Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Send someone a card today who might need cheering up or a blessing. May I suggest Mr. James Dorff, former bishop of this area? His address is 10031 Apple Creek, Dallas, TX 75243.
Receive my blessings of joy and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
Another installment of my YourBestDayEver podcast is here! Choose to Rejoice! Choose to Dance! https://bit.ly/36Wwo0B
