He Reigns!

Praise God I am back safe in San Antonio! I did have a major lost luggage mishap, but God be praised, after 13 hours I am home! Please pray for all of the brethren I met in North Carolina! I welcome them to the "His Way, His Will, His Word" family as they will now be joining us in this weekly journey! Prayers and greetings to our brothers Lawrence and Marcus and sisters Melissa and Tonya and so many more! Thank you all for your hospitality and may God bless you all!

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Devotional of the Week: Psalm 47:8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.

In these days of uncertainty, with global economic crises and suffering caused by tragic storms and hurricanes, fuel prices rising out of control and wars raging it is easy for many to give in to despair. Our hope as Christians lies in one immutable truth. God is sovereign. Webster's Dictionary defines sovereign as "supreme and highest in power, superior to all others". Does this not adequately define our God? When chaos seems to reign, we know and believe that God does not budge from His throne, that he is not moved nor shaken by any event that causes most to fear and tremble. He is the Author of all things, the Creator and Sustainer of life, and he is a mighty King who rules over all. For that we rejoice, and for that we praise!

Prayer: Father God, Sovereign ruler of the universe, Creator of all, we praise you and honor you for you are worthy to be praised! We lift You up Lord and we adore you. May we have peace knowing that in any circumstance we encounter, You have already been there, and may we trust that the outcome of any situation we struggle with is already known to You and thus Your perfect plan will prevail in our lives. Praise you Lord and may You reign in our lives forever! We pray this in Jesus MIGHTY name, Amen!

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Mini-Study of the Week: Read 1 Samuel 2:12-21

As we continue or look at 1 Samuel we encounter what appears to be a random description of events. Following Hannah's powerful prayer we come upon the sons of Eli. They are descendants of Aaron and thus are Levitical priests. We learn quickly though that they are corrupt in that they take more than what is allotted for them from the sacrifices meant for God.

They mocked the Lord in that they not only took the better portions of the sacrifice, but more shockingly they took them before the sacrifice was even made. What stunning blasphemy from men who were supposed to be the worship leaders of their day. The words of verse 12 sum it up best when they say "Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord." They served as priests yet they did not know God. What a heartbreaking thing to know that even today there are those who work to serve the Lord, but yet they do not know Him in their hearts.

Verses 12-17 stand in stark contrast to Verses 18-21 where again we see a young Samuel. In a beautiful bookend to the story of the wickedness of Eli's sons we once again see Hannah and the love she has for God's gift to her. We see her love in the little robe she makes for him every year, bringing it to him knowing that she could only visit him on rare occasions. We see at the conclusion of these verses that like so many times in our Christian lives, God more than answers our prayers!

Eli prayed that the Lord would bless Hannah and Elkanah with more descendants "from this woman for the loan that was given to the Lord." Despite His anger toward the sons of Eli, the Lord answers Eli's prayer and we learn that Hannah gave birth to 3 more sons and two daughters. What a long way she has come from the mocking she suffered at the hands of Peninnah for being barren, to now having a large family! God is great!

At the end of this section we see that Samuel continues to serve the Lord and that he grew with His guidance. His path was now set and both he and his family accepted that his life was now the Lord's and soon enough we will see great things from Samuel as a result!

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Video of the Week:

"You Reign" - MercyMe

Revelation 19:6 - "And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!"

He is sovereign, He is holy and He is worthy to be praised!



Love each other, share His love and share His gospel...

See you next week!

In His Service,
Sergio