His banner over us is love

A Dish of Ice Cream In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” “50 cents,” replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. “How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. “35 cents,” she said brusquely. The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed. When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip

How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two? Does that seem right? To the average person that means that if they have to go to a funeral, they’d be better off in the casket than giving the eulogy.” -Jerry Seinfeld When you ask people what they fear most about giving a speech, they list any number of reasons. Here are the most common reasons people list for being afraid of public speaking with suggestions for what to do to overcome that fear. 1. “I’ll be boring.” If you’re not boring in real life, there’s no reason for you to be boring as a speaker. Fear is the culprit. It makes you self-protective. When you’re afraid, you draw back into yourself. Your focus narrows to what is immediately around you, and all you can think about is survival. You lose your creativity, spontaneity, and humor. Control your nervousness, and your natural liveliness will surface. 2.

Luke 15:31 ...‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. After running a few errands for his parents, a little boy went to his father and said, “I know why you and mummy had me.” “Why?” asked his father. “So that you guys would have someone to run errands for you!” exclaimed the boy. Like the little boy, do you see God as a Father who demands obedience and service from you? Have you ever felt that unless you obey Him and keep all His commandments, you don’t have a right to be blessed by Him? Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son to show how some of us call God “Father” and yet don’t know His heart. There are two sons in this parable. We know what happened to the prodigal son, but we can also learn something about the older son. This is what he said to his father when he discovered that his father had thrown a party to celebrate the return of his irresponsible, spendthrift brother: “Lo, these many years I have been serving yo

 Hebrews 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. If you are facing a challenge right now, I want you to know that you have a standing invitation from your heavenly Father to come boldly to the throne of grace to “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”. The phrase “help in time of need” means that you get healing when you are sick, provisions when you are in lack, restoration when your relationship with a loved one breaks down, and favor when news of job cuts or bad prospects are rife. “Pastor Prince, how can I come boldly when I have been a lousy Christian?” You can come boldly because you come to God by the blood of Jesus Christ and not by how you have lived your life. So whenever you come into God’s presence, you don’t have to be afraid that your sins will be exposed because the blood of Jesus has removed every one of them. God does not see even

1 Kings 20:23 Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. In 1 Kings 20, we find the Syrians being defeated by the Israelites. Then, some of the Syrian king’s advisers gave the king what they thought was the reason for their defeat. They said that they had fought on the hills and lost because Israel’s God is the God of the hills. So if they were to fight the Israelites on the plains or in the valleys, they would win. What stupid advice! They thought that the God of Israel only helped His people up in the hills and mountains, and not down in the valleys. Now, mountains refer to our good times, and valleys, our bad times. Some people have this idea that God is the God of our good times, but He is not there when we are going through bad times. They think that He leaves us helpless in the valleys, especially when the tr

Ephesians 2:7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.                              Have you ever blown things out of proportion and gotten angry with God when you were going through a trying time? This happened to Jesus’ disciples when a storm hit them hard. In their fear of drowning, they cried out to Jesus, who was getting some much-needed sleep in the boat, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38) For accusing Him of not caring, you would think that they received a rebuke from Jesus. But it was the wind which received His rebuke, and a great calm followed. (Mark 4:39) Because of His tenderness toward His own, Jesus did not waste time taking offence. Instead, He wasted no time taking care of the problem that had caused His disciples so much anxiety and fear. This also happened to two sisters, Martha and Mary, who did not hesitate to let Jesus know how they felt when He finally show

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us…                              You may know that God cares for you and loves you, and that He demonstrated His love for you by dying on the cross for you, but do you believe it? It is one thing to know about the love that God has for you, but another thing to actually believe it in your heart. It is one thing to know that the sun shines on us during the day. But it is another thing to believe that the sun is still shining even though we don’t feel its warmth and all we see are dark clouds. Sometimes we are slow in believing God’s love for us when we are going through a tough time. But God wants you to know and believe that He loves you in the midst of the deal falling through, when that job is slow in coming, when the boss is fault-finding or when your child still refuses to come home. In the midst of the pain, He wants you to know and believe that He is wholly on your side defending and taking care of you.

We cannot take safety for granted. In an age where new strains of diseases are likely emerging as we speak, where terror attacks could strike anywhere from concerts to cafes, and where natural disasters are on the rise both in frequency and in magnitude, perhaps you have wondered: “Will I be next? Will God really protect me and my family in the year ahead?” Perhaps you have cancelled a vacation because of civil unrest. Or news of terrifying shootings have left you wondering whether it’s the last time you’ll see your kids as you drop them off at school. But my friend, God does not want your heart to be overwhelmed by fear over your or your family’s safety. Look at His assurance of His protection over you, His beloved child, in Psalm 91:1: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. God wants you so secure in this promise that like the psalmist David, you can say this of Him: “He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;