DREAMING GOD SIZED DREAMS: REBUILDING FAMILIES IN 53206
A Message of Hope and Faith from Pastor Walton
Dear Members and Friends of Calvary:
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11 NKJV).
We don’t like pain. We don’t like correction. We don’t like suffering. Pain is a part of life. Correction is a part of following Jesus in discipleship. Suffering is a part of both life and discipleship. God allows all three. It is accepting Christ’s death on the cross for our sin (justification and regeneration) and making the daily decision to follow Jesus (sanctification) in a life of discipleship to Him that helps us to understand that God has a purpose in all three.
God chastens (rebukes) us when He sees something that will prevent us from having a bountiful harvest in our lives. Perhaps some sin, some behavior, or some way of thinking about something that He knows is not good for us. So, he sends the pain, correction and suffering. Is He a loving God? Yes. Is He a holy God who hates sin but loves the sinner? Yes.
So, what do we need for a good harvest now and later on when our lives down here are over? We need salvation. We need John 3:16. Then, we need discipleship. We need Matthew 4:19. What do we need when we’re working to produce the spiritual harvest God intends for us? We need obedience. We need I Samuel 15:22. These are scriptural principles. We will reap what we sow.
Let’s say yes to God during this HARVEST season. His way is the BEST way. As we submit to Him, our obedience “yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Amen
Autumn Prayers for you and yours,
Reverend Dr. John Richard Walton, Jr.
The Reverend Doctor John Richard Walton, Jr. is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and has served as the senior pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church of Milwaukee for the last 22 years. Pastor Walton is well-respected and sought after as preacher, pastor to pastors, lecturer, and spiritual, biblical, and academic authority in the training and discipleship of deacons and church leadership.
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WEEKLY PRAYER DEVOTIONS:
December 2024 Focus:
The Mind of Christ Works for Christ:
Embracing and Fully Accepting the Love of God Through
the Birth of Jesus Christ
Click here for daily December scriptures.
Dear Heavenly Father,
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Open our hearts to fully understand and receive the depth of the love that You bestowed upon us out through His birth. Thank You for sending Jesus, so that we may experience Your unconditional love and be embraced by Your presence. Remind us that we have the privilege and honor of not just experiencing Your love at this time of year but everyday of our lives. Teach us how to recognize when You are showing Your love, grace, and mercy to us in large and small ways each day. Help us to let go of any doubts and fully accept the gift of Your love, allowing it to transform and renew our lives and guide our steps. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Dear Lord, Our God,
Each day, as we put on the Whole Armor of God, help us to clothe ourselves with the Belt of Truth and pray that our minds, hearts and souls are fixated in Your Word, The Truth. Help us each day to walk, talk, and live in Your Word. Please fortify us in such a strong and powerful way in Your Word that the lies, deceptions, and manipulations of Satan have no place to gain a stronghold, foothold, or toehold in our lives. Remind us each day that by planting the truth in our hearts and minds, we experience the freedom of living a resurrected life free from sin and its snares. As we are receiving all sorts of opinions and messages from those around us and from the world, lead us to remember that anything that contradicts Your Word is not the Truth. Give us the boldness to separate ourselves from anyone or anything that seeks to lead us away from the Truth. Lastly, Lord, we need Your help to speak the Truth about ourselves, others, and the world. This will allow us to grow in our Christian love for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to pray for them instead of gossip about them, and to see them as You want us to see them and not as the world sees them. In His precious name we pray, Amen.
Dear Lord, Almighty Father,
We ask You to open our hearts to receive Your perfect love. Forgive us when we choose to believe the enemy's lies and for the times we knowingly turned away from You and Your Word. Deliver us from the daily hurts and wounds that keep us from close fellowship with You. O God, You are the sole source of true, authentic love because You are love. Remind us to have a grateful heart towards You for loving us when we were dead in our sin. Thank You for Your gift of Jesus, our redeeming sacrifice, who came to Earth in the form of a baby to reconcile us to You. Help us today and every day to receive Your unconditional love in our lives and recognize how You design us to thrive in the abundance of Your Love. In the matchless name of Jesus we pray, Amen.Lord, we are amazed and in awe at Your love for us. While we were still sinners, You sent the Lord Jesus Christ to save us. He was born to die, so that in Him we might become Your children and be made righteous before You. Lord, it humbles the inner workings of our hearts and minds to fathom that despite our rebellion and sinful nature You created the intentional plan of redemption in Your heart of love, that we, guilty sinners, could be named righteous, through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, who descended from Heaven to Earth to show us the way back to You. Thank You, that in Your grace and mercy, You reached down to us, to save us from ourselves and eternal damnation. We praise and glorify Your name. We can never be repay You for love and generosity toward us. Lead and guide us through this life to wake up each day with an open heart and mind to accept the love You have to give us and embrace the life You have designed for us, Amen.
Lord, Your love is so big and powerful. It surpasses anything that we could ever think of. Your love is so wonderful and humbling. At times, our finite human minds compare the awesomeness and capacity of Your Love with our faint and fragile attempts to love You, our families, our communities, and ourselves. Our attempt to express and share Your love appears to be so far from the depth of love we desire to have for You. Help us to develop a godly love for You, that is in proportion with the love that You deserve. Thank You that You see the heart and see the efforts we make each day. Thank You for the effort You made through sending Your Son to express Your unchanging and conditional love for us. Help us more and more to come to a new and deeper understanding of what the Love of God towards us truly is and how to share that Love with others in a way that pleases and honors You. This we ask in the name of Jesus our Saviour, Amen.
Dear Abba Father,
We want and desire to truly enjoy the gift of Your all encompassing and never changing outpouring of Your love into our hearts. At times, we can listen to the thoughts and arguments in our head or from others that tell us that we don’t deserve Your love or that we are unlovable. Help us to lay down anything or argument that seeks to make us believe that we can be separated from Your love. You prove Your love to us each and everyday through small and large blessings that we are aware of and many that we are not aware of. Thank You for showering us with the ultimate expression of love by sending Your love to us through the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. We know in Your Word that Christ told His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He demonstrated this to us through his death for our redeemption. Also Christ said “ I am one of His (God’s) friends because I follow Him and keep His commandments” (John 15:14). Lastly, Lord help us to keep follow Your commandments and the leading of Your Holy Spirit so we may be counted as one of Your friends, Amen.
Lord, we rejoice at the Christmas story and all the wondrous glory that we celebrate at the manger scene in the little town of Bethlehem, and in the fields, while shepherds took care of their flocks. We celebrate and rejoice at the good news of the birth of the Messiah that was announced by the angel of the Lord. We praise Your name for the visit of the wise men from the east and we grieve at Satan’s plan that was perpetrated by king Herod on innocent children. But most of all, we humbly pray before Your throne of grace when we understand that the baby lying in a manger was crucified on the cross, so that our sins could be forgiven. Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be born so that He could die for our sins. Thank You for loving us so much and expressing that love through the beautiful act of sending Your only son to save us all, Emmanuel. In His name we pray, Amen.
