Devotionals

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; 3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; 7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; 8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.

There is a time for every thing some things seem to have shorter times and some tend to have longer times especially the ones where God is teaching us, training us, sanding us, sharpening us, changing our hearts and growing us. When we are in a difficult season of our life it seems to be going in slow motion and then when that season and a few other seasons have passed as we are looking back over the seasons we are saying to ourselves where did all the seasons go. It is like a blip on the radar screen of life…

I remember a kind of old song that says; “Time is on our side” nothing could be further from the truth. Our time here is short and as you get older, it does seem to go by faster. I believe we start to appreciate the time God has given us and created for us more as we age and somewhere along the line, we realize we are getting closer to the finish line. Previously we never thought too much about it but it starts to creep into your mind more and more as you get older. Be not discouraged Bros. After our time here on earth we will have eternity in heaven to look forward to for our final destination to spend with Jesus. For now, until then we are called to walk in Him and with Him as a witness to the dying world around us.

In addition, knowing that we do not know the day the Lord will take us home. Where will we be in our lives? What will we be doing when that times comes? Will we be strong in Him, tending to our Fathers business that we have inherited as believers? On the other hand, are we locked into the affairs of this world? Our time is indeed short and the Bible tells us to “redeem the time, because the days are evil.” We are as a vapor here on earth, but God is forever eternally God, our God.

Walk in Wisdom

Ephesians 5:15-16 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

“MY NAME IS TIME”

“I haven’t always been and I won’t always be. But right now I’m on the move measuring out life. Men wait for me, they submit to me, they fear me, but nobody can stop me except God. He is in control. And He say’s I’m running out. Most men couldn’t care less. They think I’m on the move forever; but I’m not. When I stop, eternity will keep right on moving; and it will be too late. Too late for repentance, too late for faith, too late for getting right with God through Jesus Christ His Son. Just forever left with tears and anguish. Now is the day for redemption. Will it be that day for you? Remember; my name is Time. I’m nearing the end and I am taking you with me, into eternity.”   

We cannot stop it or slow it down it just keeps changing and getting shorter until it has gone or gets used up…

Bros lets be about our Fathers business today and use this time right now for His Glory and Honor. Using the time, He gives us soaking up His Word and living by every Word that proceeds out of His mouth. (Matthew 4:4) May we not boast about tomorrow or what we will do, but what He will do in our lives if we let Him have His way and choose to be obedient to all His ways. If God is our life then let us live our life in Him and for Him. He is forever. We are but a moment only a vapor and will vanish away. Let us walk, talk and breathe in Him in all our actions and thoughts. We can make a choice to let the world reign in our hearts today, or let the enemy reign in our hearts, or let our flesh reign in our hearts or let Jesus reign in our hearts. The choice is yours to make. Moreover, if we choose Jesus every day, every hour, every moment, every second, and every choice is Jesus that is Gods will for our time to live here on earth and in eternity.

We will live the Life God gave us more fully in Christ and with Christ when we are, Christ centered all the time. Bros keep your eyes and heart fixed on Jesus Full Time, no room for part time- anytime!

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow *we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

We are but a moment as a vapor. God is forever.

In a few weeks, we will celebrate July 4th with lots of fireworks and all of us have seen fireworks shows and we always look forward to the Grand Finale. The best is always last! We will have lots of BBQ’s and after we eat all those burgers, hot dogs, ribs, steak and chicken, then what? We look forward to the Dessert. The best is always last! So to, is the best for last when we leave this earth to go be with Jesus for eternity? So if you are into linear things know that time is short just like that Grand Finale and the sweetness of that Dessert but when we go to Heaven to be with Jesus it is forever eternity… That is Sweet… saving the best for last this is one “Grand Finale” that will happen in the twinkling of an eye and you will not want to miss… So be saved, be grounded and be rooted in Him until “That Day”.

Brothers in Christ, this monthly email is sent to be an encouragement to all and to build up and edify in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord put this on my heart to send out a monthly Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-ay'} to build up and encourage the men who love and follow Jesus Christ.

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night racked with fear, either from a dream or from nightmare? You wake up so panicked and full of fear that your heart is racing at a few thousand pumps per second and you are so tense and stressed out and maybe in a sweat. Whatever happened to you or whatever you were doing in your dream seems so real that you think it happened. Your head is going in all different directions with fearful thoughts. The fears are constant and a continuous stream, almost like a popcorn machine popping kernels one after the other... You are out of breath as you lay there. You begin to realize that it was not real and did not happen. So now, you to begin to praise the Lord and thank Him it was only a nightmare. I know most of us rarely have these types of dreams, me too! However, when you do the fear is over whelming.

Sometimes in our daily lives, we have this same kind of over whelming fear, which shatters our peace right down to the core of our very being. It sends shock waves of panic and mayhem throughout our soul. It is instantaneous and shakes our tree to try to make the fruit fall off. It could be spiritual warfare or fears that we are dealing with in our lives. Some struggles we have not dealt with in our lives that keep cropping up. Sometimes if we have a background of being delivered from drugs or alcohol in our former BC (Before Christ) days. Our lives might have consisted of medicating ourselves so much that we missed a lot of life experience. You know the kind of everyday things folks generally go through in life, bad day at work, loss of a loved one, financial troubles, children hardships, divorce, marriage and family issues and the like...

Well when you are going through these things and many more things we go through you may be asking yourself today why is this so hard on me to go through and why do I have all this fear. I mean after all I have been through these kinds of things before. You begin to ask God why this is so difficult. He begins to show you that yes, you have been through some of these types of life experiences before and you dealt with them your way and never really felt anything in your heart about these matters because of hardness of your heart. Could be that you were either drunk or drugged in the old days. In other words your heart was at one time rock hard and maybe it wasn't drugs or booze, maybe it was being a workaholic or just so absorbed in yourself, you know sort of full of yourself. You did not have the ability to feel or to care for anything or anybody or even want to, unknowingly blocking out the feelings that come with life’s trials and heartaches. Maybe you were besieged by your sin and not facing the realities of life. I may not be painting your life picture but I think you get the idea.

So now, here you are in the present day and you have accepted Christ into your life and you are going through one of life's many everyday challenges and you go into panic over load, and you start to think you should be able to handle this experience. Now fear, panic and mayhem start tearing at you and it just rips you to pieces. Your head is running in every direction in total Chaos. It is almost as if your head is running in fear so fast you cannot catch it. Like the fishing reel that has been cast way out it just keeps going and going. You become so over whelmed there is nothing left to cast, you cannot even pray and think OK I have been through this one before and I got through it or did I...  

However, you never felt it like this before because God has softened your heart and given you a greater sensitivity to Him, family, friends, and people and for those everyday life challenges. He has given you the ability to have feelings and a greater love for your family, people and those folks who used to weigh oh so heavy on us that we blocked them out of our hearts in times past. More than likely, we went through many of these things numb and never really felt them with our emotions. Sometimes now, when problems come, we hit the deck running with fear and panic. Because in reality, we are experiencing, many of these things with our new heart for the first time. So it seems like they are hard to deal with, but we do not have to rely on ourselves anymore to deal with life’s bumpy and often curved roads. We forget about when we received Jesus in our hearts on that day of salvation. His blood has cleansed our hearts, He is with us in our hearts, and now our mind still wants to handle things in the old way.  Well today, He wants to reel your head in so He can get you through this, except He wants you to seek Him first. To make Him your first source and only source, you see we always try to deal with everything on our own terms in our own way. God says He is with us and not to be dismayed, He is our God and will help us and strengthen us. He is not the author of confusion. He is with us so we do not have to fear.

 Hebrews 13:5-6 "I will never leave you nor forsake you."*  So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"*

You have been through so much tragedy in your life and hardships beyond comprehension and have the worst life imaginable and then you begin realize and to praise the Lord and say thank you Lord that most of the tragedy in my life has been right between my ears. It is that kind of fear, that makes you think everything is harder than it is and the worst of the worst. Our minds can do a good job of convincing us of this... To be honest we never had it so good! Amen!

We have been living in our own perception of life and dealing with fear in our own way and God has already done the work. He says love has been perfected among us and that perfect love cast out fear. He loves us, His love is perfect, and we are perfected in that love. Maybe we are not all the way there yet but He is doing a work in us and through us as we seek Him. Therefore, we can have boldness and do not have to fear the judgment seat of God because we are in Christ and that is our security- there is no fear in Christ.

Therefore, whatever happens to us we can know He is doing a work in us and whatever he allows to happen to us we can trust and know that He is in control and loves us. When we do things in our own power, we walk consumed in fear. When..., we let God have His way we can have His peace and confidence that His perfect love is going to deliver us and we can accept whatever He allows to happen to us knowing that He loves us more than we love ourselves. My prayer is that the following scriptures will minister to you in a special way today and that whatever fear would try to come on you today you would put your trust in our God to deliver you.

1 John 4:17-19 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love *Him because He first loved us.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

Isaiah 41:13 For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'

Galatians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

Philippians 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 14:33   For God is not the author of confusion but of peace,

Let God write out how we respond to life’s daily challenges. He says He is holding our right hand. Therefore, if our Daddy has our hand He is not going to let go so we must not let go either. He will help us. We can trust in Him and we can rest in Him and we can have complete confidence in Him and if that be so, then He doesn't need our help. Because when we help or respond in the spirit of fear, we bring fear and the Lord responds in His perfect love, which cast out fear.  We need His perfect love for us and His perfect peace, - that surpasses ALL understanding. He is the author of peace and we need His peace. So why not let Him write that peace in our hearts and life and ask Him to help us to write the fear out of our hearts and lives that comes when we try to do things our way, so that we will always seek His perfect way and walk in His perfected love for us. That we may respond in His perfected love and not our fear. Moreover, accept the Grace He has given each one of us today. "We Love Him because He first loved us".

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers in Christ, this monthly email is meant to be an encouragement to all and to build up and edify in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord has been put this on my heart to send out a monthly Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-ay'} to build up and encourage the men who love and follow Jesus Christ in their walk with Him.

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make  for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

1Peter 1:7  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The Lord knows what we need. Even though we don't quite know what we need. Sometimes He allows us to go through a fire to show us what He wants to change in us or He may show us a fire someone else is going through to lead us in the direction He wants us to go and grow.

Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

I don't think once we have gone through a trial and He has brought about changes in our hearts. As we look back and can see those changes. We would have guessed a trial like the one we went through would produce that type of change in us. But God knows the end result. He knows just the right amount of heat to allow to accomplish His desired results. Sometimes we think we are going to fry and we cry.....out and now God has our attention and we are looking and evaluating our lives and seeing what could God possibly be showing us.

I mean after all we are near perfect...., then bam! Where is this coming from is this the Lord or are these circumstances that I find myself in because of bad stewardship, bad timing, wrong place and the wrong time..... Reaping what I have sown or is this the Lord showing me, teaching me, calling me, asking me to hear Him, asking if I can see what He wants me to see or feel the things He is trying to do to soften my heart. Seeing if I am sensitive to the leading of His Holy Spirit.

Waiting for me to ask Him to please show me and teach me what He wants me to see, hear, feel and know. Crying out Lord teach me so I won't burn inward, so I won't suffer so much. I want to learn what you want me to learn so I won't get burned in this fiery trial. Lord make my heart to know and receive Your Will and pattern my mind after You so that my thoughts are dwelling on whatever is pure and lovely in your courts.

If we want a soft boiled egg we know we have to place it in boiling water for exactly three minutes. If we cook it any longer it becomes a hard boiled egg. And when we are in a fiery trial I don't believe the Lord wants us to become a hard boiled egg! He knows just the right amount of time and temperature to get the results for a "good egg" not one that becomes hard.

So you see when you feel the heat as you are walking with the Lord, know that the results are His desire. When you find yourself in the midst of a fire or in a pan of hot boiling water, ask the Lord to show you what He is trying to teach you and where He wants you to grow and how He wants you to handle this situation or what to do in this area of my life. Praise Him for doing the work He is doing in your life right now, painful as it might be the results will be His when you come through the fire. Knowing that He loves you and His results are being produced. Ask Him to accomplish all He desires to do in your heart. He will purify you and do things you never imagined and make you a mighty man of God by His fire, His testing, His trial, His way and His results, be cause results matter to Him, God is  into results. Our prayer ought to be for the results that remind us, reproof us, rewire us, reprogram us, renew us, revitalize us, re grow us, reground us, refresh us, reintroduce us, recharge us, revive us, rejuvenate us, resuscitate us and restore us as we cry out "Abba,  Father"

Bros don't give up, whatever the trial, you may be only three shovels away from the gold, but .....

that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1Peter 1:7 

And remember there were three who went through a fiery trial before us and the Lord was with them and they came out unburned, you see God  "delivered His servants who trusted in Him". Daniel 3:28

James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

What profit can we have from trials, what good results come from trials? Whatever He wants to accomplish and this is where this saying must have originated "It's All Good" if it's His results. In Jesus' trial here on earth, He was rejected by the people, refused a fair trial, rebuffed beyond our understanding, He was a repulse to those (you & me) who crucified Him because of their (our) sin, which He repeatedly lays down His life for. But Gods Results were when He went obediently to the cross and died for you and me, That's Love!. He was resurrected  for us so we could live and be forgiven, that's love. Do you see and know the profit from our Lord going through a trial that would be greater than anything we could ever imagine, in His trial He died for us, That's Love!. In His trial it was to save us, that's Grace and in our trial it's to draw us closer to Him, That's Love.That's why God allows some trials for us to be able to repent so we won't keep repeating what sent our Lord to the cross to die for, our sin, because we could never repay Jesus for what He did, that's love. So we could live eternally with Him our Redeeming, Reigning and Righteous King Jesus Christ. Teach us Lord, show us Lord, so we can be near you Lord, for you are pure and holy and we want to praise, honor and glorify you Jesus our Savior.

1Peter 1:7  that the genuineness of your faith, being  much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make  for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you. 2 Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Lord come look in my heart and see if it is for you Lord, see if I need to make more room for you Lord. See if your Word is written on the tablets of my heart. Lord I want my heart to be filled with Your Word, so that all I do and say is breathed and seasoned with Your Word. So my heart can see and know Your beautiful Love, Mercy and Grace. So that I can experience and live in the power of Your Word and the life changing and the heart changing that comes through receiving Your commands and keeping my eyes fixed on Your ways as the center piece of my focus.

Lord my heart is as a storage space filled with boxes, some boxes are filled with Your promises and Your Word yet to be written on my heart. But the boxes that are crowding my heart are filled with things and stuff that stand in the way blocking You Lord from writing Your Word on the  tablet of my heart. Lord they are a stumbling block to me, please come and remove these boxes. I have allowed them to stack and pile up in my heart leaving no room for You. These boxes filled with fear, bitterness, envy, strife, hatred, jealousy, covetousness and the like.... (you name it, whatever fills your boxes) and every ugly colored human frailty (otherwise known as sin) taking up an enormous amount of space. Even the smallest of any or all of these is too much space to allow to be taken from my Lord.

Romans 7:21-25 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Lord I want my heart to be for You alone and I want to make room for more of You and less of me and my ways. Lord I want Your etched Word mirrored and reflected from the walls of my heart but these boxes of death are stacked everywhere and blocking the reflection of Your Word. I want Your Word to have permanent residency in and on the walls of my heart, not stored in boxes but written there on the tablets of every layer of my heart. I want You to move in fully and completely. I am tired of you Lord Jesus getting so little of the space of my heart. My heart aches for you Lord to dwell totally and fully in every area of my heart, my heart is pained at the very though of being separated from you Lord.

Bros. if this could be you and me today. We are missing out on what God wants to do in our hearts and lives when we let Him have full occupancy. Let Him unpack the boxes of His blessings and gifts He has for you and me when He lives in our hearts. Let Jesus come in today and decorate your heart and life with His unchanging and His uncompromising Word and be free of your own design and decorations. Anything we design and decorate is temporary and sin ugly. His design is pure and last forever. He wants to fill your heart with His ever lasting Word. If you are tired of just letting Jesus live out of boxes in your heart, then invite Him and let Him fully move in today. He'll put His name on the mailbox of your heart if you'll let Him take up residence in your heart and you will get special deliveries 24/7 and in just the right time and believe me He will "Deliver" >>> you....

"The Lord Is Faithful"

2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make  for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

The idea that Jesus would knock and wait for us to open the door is amazing. I mean here's the King of kings, the Lord of lords waiting for us. He is powerful and awesome, clothed in righteousness, all powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent, and He waits for us- that is love from above as only He can love. In this present day how many of us would wait for anybody for anything and yet He waits. This day when its get out of my way, move it, you are costing me time. Jesus waits for us to hear His voice, when we don't even have time to listen to our own families, He waits for us to hear and let Him in. He comes where He is invited, He wants to dine with us, sup with us, and become one with us. Can you imagine the Lord wants to dine with you and me, how awesome that God wants to be with us, that He loves us and he waits for us to hear His voice and open the door, He will come in and dine with us and us with Him.

How many times do we have the opportunity to answer the door and open the door of our heart and invite Him in, if we could just hear His voice in this noisy world in which we dwell. If we just had the time to open the door of our heart with all the places we have to be and all the things that need to be done right now, if we could find or make the time, if we could just .... He would come and sit at our table with us, He would dwell in us and with us if we take the time to hear His voice.

Guys so many times we don't even make the time to dine with our own families and friends and then there's Jesus too, He wants to be with us and dine with us.  Jesus standing on the outside of our hearts, hear His voice and open up and let Him inside our heart and have that intimate relationship that He desires and we so desperately need. So many times Jesus is being asked not to come and He is removed from all the family happenings. I mean we don't set out to do this on purpose it just happens. Bros lets invite Him first and take the door off the hinges so it won't get closed ever, when we let Him stay in our heart it's much easier to hear Him, than through a closed door it's always hard to hear. You see we installed the door and closed the door Jesus never installed it or closed it. You may say I don't have a stone heart, praise the Lord its only wood, it's much softer than stone. So if this may have happened to you, get on your knees and ask Jesus to help you remove the door... Hopefully it just takes a screwdriver instead of a hammer and chisel, but in any case He is able, you see our Lord is a "Builder"and He knows just the right tools to get the job done. So trust Him to help uninstall any doors that may have been installed over time. He will help you with the restoration He desires for you to have "Direct Access/ Direct Relationship" always through an open heart to Him.

 Ephesians 5:16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. May Jesus help us to redeem the time. To follow His example. May we invite Him into our hearts and along with us when we dine with our family and friends and may they see Jesus sitting at that table with us! And may they hear His voice and want to answer the door and open the door of their heart and let Jesus come in and dine with them. If only they could hear His voice through our conversations when we dine with them, maybe they could come to dine with Him and He with them.... I pray that a door wouldn't keep anyone from receiving Christ, especially a door that is not locked and always ready to be opened, maybe the Lord will use you today to show them how to open that door so that they can hear, see and invite Jesus in today, so they can dine with Him for eternity. Jesus always has the time for us, we say how can that be, He says love is how it can be.

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make  for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

David was strengthen by Jonathan in the strongholds in the wilderness as Saul sought him everyday, the Bible says in 1Samuel 23:16 Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. So may this letter strengthen you as you may be in the woods or a place that God has His hand on you. Sometimes we don't have all the answers and we don't always understand what God is doing. In times such as these we may be in a wilderness area of our walk with the Lord and it seems dark and the path is hard. The trial or trail may be hard to stay on and dimly lit (that glimmer of hope), but there is Light along the path and at the end of the path as we keep our focus upward vertically and not horizontally on the things in front of us but on the main thing as we fix our gaze upwardly to Jesus Christ. May the Lord illuminate the path He has chosen for you today and send a Jonathan to strengthen your hand in Him. So whatever we are faced with or might be running from or being chased by we can rest assured that the Lord will deliver us as we seek Him and walk in His perfect Will He will not allow us to be taken off the path He has chosen for us to follow.

Maybe your Jonathan is a scripture the Lord has revealed to your heart or a word of encouragement from another believer or the prayers of a brother in the Lord or the promises of God, Hebrews 13:5-6 For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."* 6 So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.What can man do to me?"* Whatever you may  be going through right now may seem impossible, but when it does seem impossible that is when God alone will be glorified and honored when He strengthens you with a Jonathan and delivers you by His Grace, Love, Mercy, Power and Strength.