Thursday is the National Day of Prayer and it is a sacred day and it's a day that has been set apart for all the people of the nation, particularly Christians to lift our voices together before the throne of God. 

Before that day arrives, let's prepare our hearts. It's so much more than another date. It's a gift, privilege, responsibility, a calling. 

In 1775, the Continental Congress opened their meeting with prayer. They understood that we cannot afford to forget one central thought: a nation cannot stand on its own wisdom, on the wisdom of man. It needed more. It was up to the people of the nation to pray. 

"It's impossible to rightly govern the world without God and your Bible." (attributed to George Washington)

The freedoms that you and I enjoy today -- to open our Bible, to walk the streets and pray aloud to gather in our churches, to declare the name of Jesus -- were prayed into being by men and women who refused to let go of God. Today, we refuse to let go of God. 

In 1952...

Tiffany: I'm so thankful for God and for His presence and I can honestly say that He has walked with me all of my life. And I am so very thankful for that. 

Jo: How firm your faith was planted in you during your early years in your home -- how the impact of your godly parents had on you...

Tiffany: I'm so thankful. I couldn't even express enough the gratitude that I have for my parents. I couldn't have prayed for better parents. Both of my parents are no longer here with us on earth but they live on through me and my brothers. And the one thing that was so vital was Christ in our home and a relationship with God. And they always stressed the importance of "studying to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." They stressed the foundation of the Word, of knowing the Word for myself, of spending time with God, of walking our life of faith out, of exemplifying faith so it's just been extremely foundational in who I am ...

Celebrating with you about what our recent legislature has done in Alabama in protecting some of our God-given rights

* It will be for null and naught unless we implement what they have legislated. 

What did they do? Three main acts of legislation that went through the Alabama Legislature. 

(1) The first one deals with the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments would be placed back in the public schools -- acknowledging that it was a foundational roll of our Christian moral principles and how they really played an important part in developing our Western civilization and really the American legal system. 

In all history classes, from grades 5 to 12, the Ten Commandments would be displayed as well as some public areas such as the libraries. They are not merely religious documents intended for persona convictions or direction, but they are historical artifacts and they shaped our common law, that is the underlying development of this country. 

This effort of trying to make a neutral...

Who does God say we are?

Psalm 23 in a self-reliant lens. We want to lift that burden today. Shift our eyes to the Shepherd. 

Sydney: I have a strong desire for God's people to feel the comfort and guidance and the covering of the Shepherd. Lean into our identity of being a sheep. 

Jo: Get your eyes off of your burden -- of the weight, the thing that's got you downtrodden and put your eyes on the Shepherd. Purpose that you're not just going to tack Him on your burden.

Sydney: Of all the animals that we could be compared to, it's the sheep.

1. Sheep are not load-bearing animals. They are only valuable for their wool, milk -- nothing that they could do. We're not meant to carry the weight.

Jo: He shows us how to handle those burdens -- pray into them, invite Him into, for Him to carry the burden.

Sydney: When we've hooked up with Jesus, He's our guide. We can follow Him with peace. That is available.

Jo: When we get our eyes off the Shepherd, we get our eyes on "me" and we try t...

Continuing the theme with the situation of our home 

Think about, search the Truth, pray earnestly as if your life depended upon it. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you, and implement it for your home. 

We are in a world where darkness has gained much temporary victory. The light in our home has been dimmed. 

God wants us to restore joy in our lives. 

Institutions like the President, Congress, political parties, economy are false hope. I believe the one institution that God is waiting to revive, to restore, to get back in order is the home. That's God's order. It was intended to be the place of peace and rest. 

If you're in the Word of God with the intent to hear the Holy Spirit -- the direction, the teaching, the guiding of the Holy Spirit -- you won't get lost in the darkness. 

The home is the institution that God wants us to get back to the foundation that everything will spring out of and that we will operate here on earth. Our goal is really to establish in our hearts with the ...

I have righteous indignation in my heart. I see on the horizon where the enemy has gotten a foothold inside of our homes. 

In the midst of the recent Spring Breaks, I saw something that really was alarming to me.

Spring Break and teenagers out of control at the beaches is not our problem. I saw a news article where a Sheriff in Florida was crying out for help because the beaches were being overrun by intruders/gangsters coming from other states to create havoc and chaos, destruction, violence on the beaches among the teenagers who were there wanting to have a good time. The look on his face was desperation. It's not the out-of-control Spring Break that's the problem. Then, I look at articles that are bombarding us in the State of Alabama that sports betting among teenagers is out of control. Sports betting is not our problem. And then, the lack of discipline among our children in the schools is out of hand. Teachers can't control it. That's not the problem. The lack of school discipl...

Benitha: My husband went home to be with the Lord Thanksgiving Day 2024. We were married for 39 years and looking forward to 40 years. He had been selected as a Hall of Fame inductee for basketball as a coach. He was excited! 

Jo: You did everything together. But God knew this moment. And you've learned to trust God in that moment and know that all of it was to bring Him glory. It takes time going through grieving. 

As you look back, over the year, how do you see some things that God had aligned for your life to prepare you for the moment to begin to walk through the grief that you would suffer -- to get through it and closer to God?

Benitha: My niece Tiffany invited me to the Transformed Brunch. What am I going to do? I no longer have my husband with me. 

Jo: How faithful God was at the timing, to meet you at your point of need. 

What was the first thing that you remember getting into the Word together with other godly women that was like a WOW moment for you? It was like God met...

I'll be looking at the biblical perspective and what it's all about and how we will be the victors

1. We get to know the facts -- the physical facts so we know how to pray -- that's a challenge

We have to guard what we hear, guard what is being said, lean into the Holy Spirit (Would you bring to me the knowledge that I need to know. Why? So that we know how to pray specifically)

Pray Specifically:

- for all those in position of authority whether you agree with those in authority or not: they need wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; they need the Spirit of the living God to fall on them

- for the troops: they need a hedge of protection over them and wisdom -- divine sheet of protection over them

- for a war plan that lines up with the heart of God 

2. Put the Word on those facts

3. Plead the blood of Jesus over every situation

- We have to come against an antichrist spirit that is determined to destroy God's people, to take God's land and take ownership and possession. Why? t...

When we serve the Lord, what does that mean? And how do we flow in it so that it brings honor and glory to God?

Sydney: What does it mean to serve the Lord? And also we have to know who we are, whose we are, that we are His people, we are the sheep of His pasture. We are to be led by Him. If we know that is our identity, I believe that serving the Lord with gladness will come a lot more natural. 

Jo: Why sheep? I'm a person! 

Sydney: Sheep are used so much because they need guidance.

Think about the word serve. Do I need to go on a trip? Or serve at church more? Where, God, do You have me? Service is anything we put our hands to -- our everyday toil.

Jo: The world may tell you: That's not meaningful or has value. That's not the way God thinks. He's got a plan and purpose for us. Sometimes what we call mundane may be the preparation for a greater purpose down the road.

Sydney: If you're not following Him (in His Word), it can feel useless. We've got to hear from Him to know, not t...

The words that are spoken in every day conversation -- cursing words

Parents in public. Preachers in the pulpit. Politicians. What has happened? Could it be we have so watered down the truth from the Word of God? From Christians, this language has become accepted. We see no wrong. "It's just the way I am." Is it a sinful nature that we have glorified? We don't call it sin anymore. 

- This podcast is to help all of us that are called by His name to exemplify His life that others might see Christ in us. 

- Our desire is to put on that "new person."

If we don't control the tongue in the home, it will set on fire a culture that could destroy a community, a society because, in the home, if we don't get it right as Christians, it'll spill over into the church. 

As Christians, we start with our own selves: 

Father, I need the power of the Holy Spirit to check my own heart, to check my own thoughts before I speak words that are not edifying. 

What would be the words of Christ? 

You may...