I want us to think about what might be on God's mind as we celebrate the 4th of July, the birth of this nation and what God did -- the "but God" moments that God did to birth this nation for us to remember Him and the purpose of this nation. 

God instructs us today to remember Him.

On the 4th of July, one thing we want to remember is what God did and what He went through to move through the heart of men and to move through circumstances to birth this nation. And then we celebrate God, celebrate the birth of this nation, and we celebrate our freedom, celebrate our religious freedom.

What was it that God was doing when He had America on His mind before He ever birthed it? It was to bring forth a nation, a people that knew God, lived for God, feared God, and would help spread the Gospel throughout the four corners of the earth. There was also, at that time, a plot of the enemy -- a plan for the people to forget God and for the people to be silenced that we would not share God, we would...

Jo: Sabrenia introduce yourself to our audience. 

Sabrenia: I've known Jo for ten plus years. I'm married, retired. I have 9 grandchildren and 3 children. 

Jo: You have a business that keeps you active; it's your calling. You flow through your business. 

Sabrenia: We have a little farmer's market. My husband and I enjoy it. 

Jo: I want you to share your testimony -- how God has transformed your life through the years and made you who you are today, using you.

What was the most life-changing event that caused you to be all-in for God?

Sabrenia: I was saved in my youth and rocked along through my youth, my life as a young adult, young wife, young mother. I just did not have a relationship, but I was going to church. I was doing the things that I was supposed to do as a Christian. But, what I didn't realize was there was no relationship.

In my 40s, my husband and I, we hit a major bump in the road. It was a financial bump. When I saw we were taken to rock bottom, that's where we we...

Recently, I was catching up on the news online and I was truly disturbed by the number of stories that I was reading talking about Teen Takeovers. I was astounded that this was a mass thing happening throughout our nation. 

Let me warn all of us: We need to open our eyes and see what is really happening. 

What is happening in broad daylight is that teenagers are taking over city streets. They're not protesting, but they are being destructive. They're rampaging, smashing windows, hitting bystanders, shutting down intersections, mobs in the streets, looting stores -- all destructive behavior. And they appear to be loving it, having a good time. This is not just happening in one place -- north, south, east and west throughout the United States. (Orlando, Detroit, Washington D.C., Los Angeles) The people telling these [news] stories are saying the children are marginalized, being traumatized at home, just expressing themselves to find their identities. 

You know, as a Christian parent, ...

Jo: We have a special guest Tiffany Lyght. You've worked with families at your church and you have your own family. We want to talk about big issues that families today are struggling with: how to say no and being busy. God wants us, in each family, to achieve a certain purpose. Find out: What does God desire for my family? What is my household to look like that brings honor and glory to God? And then setting those boundaries, knowing that we've got to say no and watch for the busyness. How can we help our audience be victorious?

Tiffany: I am delighted to discuss this because the culture pushes us to more activity, more events, more commitments, more achievements, more noise. Get back to value our family, value time with our family. Our families don't need perfection. They need our presence, attention, love, peace. That is what we need to model. We have to be intentional. 

Jo: Model is a key word. Who are we modeling? Christ, what the Bible says or what the culture says? What is my ...

As Christians, there are times and it may be current times that we are standing on a promise -- something know that God has promised us, a promise from the Word of God. Currently, you may be standing on a promise, waiting for God to fulfill that promise and you become hopeless in the midst of it. Or you become doubting in the midst of it and things begin to spin out of control. 

What is a promise? A promise is a declaration. It's something that's spoken to you. When God speaks a promise to you from the Word (His Spirit speaking to your spirit), it binds God to bring it about. Many times, there's a problem with the promise: and that's when we try to help God. We got the promise. We understand it, believe it, and we are on the mountaintop. We try to naturally bring about that promise. And when we start to help God, we mess it up, many times. 

Sometimes the problem in the midst of a promise is that we miss a lot of blessings while God is bringing about the promise. I want to recall a pr...

Jo: I've watched how God has gripped your heart -- not just to grip your heart, to fall more in love with Him, but how you've been so obedient to the Word that's been poured into you, the Word that God's spoken to you but also to take that Word and order your home. 

The home is so out of order. I truly believe that God is trying to fix it and it's by getting the home back in order because that's the foundation of everything. 

Sara: I've been passionate about our one and our family, being a wife. This is a huge part of my heart. This is my main ministry the Lord has called me to. Going through God of Order Discipleship Class was so meaningful to me and has made a huge impact on our family. There are a lot of different ways that it has transformed our family and has helped us just turn towards the Lord. Before this class, I had some things in practice, but it showed me the order and the why behind what I was doing. 

Jo: Tell us what that means -- the why and the order. 

Sara: Just in...

Jo: In preparation for the Montgomery Prayer Breakfast, God really revealed some things to you. God found you where you were listening to His voice, and He showed you what He was doing, and I want you to share that. 

Tracey: You have said, "Pay attention to what is going on in the physical because it can often by a sign of what's going on in the spiritual." That is exactly where the Lord found me. And He showed me that this rain -- it was a picture of cleansing, preparation, prayers being heard. For years, as the Watchmen have gathered and prayed across Alabama for an awakening in the state, in the capital for repentance, righteousness, restoring of a godly foundation in our homes because that's where it's got to start, in our schools, churches, communities. I watched and realized that those waters rushing through the streets were more. The Lord whispered, "See, I'm doing a new thing," which instantly took me to the Scripture -- Isaiah 43:18-19. That question hit me like a ton of bric...

Jo: People could see how God sees us (as the Shepherd and His sheep) how near God is to us.

Sydney: We are, in fact, weak little sheep -- to embrace that, there's freedom and also [it's] convicting, challenging. Picturing our identity as sheep, how can we take that into the summer?

Give thought to the season ahead. How can we make our seasons meaningful, purposeful to the Lord? Lord, I don't want to waste it doing meaningless things, for the wrong reasons. 

Jo: You don't want to miss what God has for you in this season. Stop and bring God into the matter because He may have a thought or idea that's really going to trigger something exciting -- excite your heart, your family and you don't want to miss that. 

Sydney: He is working all around us, and I don't want to miss that. Enjoying the Lord... How do we get there? How can we stay anchored this summer?

Jo: Even as a grandmother, there are all kind of scheduling for grandchildren. You do get stretched thin, making sure that's on yo...

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 ...