?Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.? ? John 16:24

I ran toward my Gate at the New Orleans airport. When I arrived it was empty except for a ground attendant.
      ?Is this the gate for the 8:15 flight to Charlotte?? I inquired, breathless.
      ?Yes. That?s the plane, about to take off?. Behind her I saw the plane moving away from the tube. The clock read 8:15. The plane was on schedule!
     ?What is the next flight available?? I asked. I was worried. I would have to spend an extra night at the airport and Charlotte was just a stopover on my way to Virginia. There were no cellphones then. How could I inform my friend in Virginia I had missed my plane? I started praying.
      Before my prayer ended, I overheard a lone passenger on the other end saying, ?This is strange, the plane is coming back?. It did, and as the attendant opened the door to the tube I ran into the plane!
      When we landed, I found the reason for the plane?s turn around. One of the passengers who was supposed to get off New Orleans fell asleep, when she woke up she demanded that they return her to the terminal.
      If you asked me for an explanation I?d say, ?God put her to sleep to answer my prayer.?
      Praise God! Marc L.

REFLECTION:
Is there something you want to ask Father God? Before you ask Him, just remember, He is Father.

Ask Him, and ask for something BIG, because He is a BIG GOD!

Acts 18:23-28

There should never be any competition in preaching the Gospel except the efforts to outdo one another in showing love. At a purely human level, it is easy for a rivalry and even jealousy at the success of others to develop within a mission context. We must seek to avoid this at all costs as it is very detrimental to the spread of the Gospel. We need to learn to see and understand that one person?s success in proclaiming the Kingdom of God is something in which we should all rejoice.

23 After staying there some time, he left and traveled in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples. 24 A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way [of God] more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. After his arrival he gave great assistance to those who  had come to believe through grace. 28 He vigorously refuted the Jews in public, establishing from the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.

P S A L M

Psalm 47:2-3, 8-9, 10

R: God is King of all the earth.

1 [2] All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness, 2 [3] for the LORD, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth. (R) 7 [8] For king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise. 8 [9] God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne. (R) 9 [10] The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. For God?s are the guardians of the earth; He is supreme. (R)

G O S P E L

John 16:23-28

Jesus returns to the right hand of the Father in order to intercede for us in His presence. He becomes our advocate, pleading our cause and needs before God our Father. Jesus is the only mediator between humanity and God. It is through Him that all grace is distributed to us. When we are interceding for something, let us not forget to ask Jesus to petition His Father for whatever it is that we are asking.

23 ?On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 24 Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 25 ?I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. 27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.?

my reflections
think: There should never be any competition in preaching the Gospel except the efforts to outdo one another in showing love.

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

God?s special verse/thought for me today________________

_________________________________________________________
  
T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

_______________________________________________________

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Psalm 38-44

The late Conrad Barrs had written an eloquent book on the healing power of affirmation. His premise is that we live in a world that wounds us so much through criticisms and putdowns but very few of us have a solid core not to be devastated by it. The solid core of confidence comes from affirmation. Affirmation is not flattery but it is speaking the truth to others. We Christians call it blessing. When we bless others, we speak what we see God is doing in them, what we know God has done and what we feel God will be doing in their lives. We speak the truth of who they are and of their gifting. Blessing is not merely receiving things from God?it is receiving the revelation of who you are in God. Priscilla and Aquila had great gifts of affirmation and blessing. They had eyes touched by the Spirit to see, first of all, the sincerity of Apollos? heart. Then they were able to see the gifts of preaching and eloquence that God had bestowed Apollos. In response to this, they invested their lives in him. Scripture said that they took Apollos aside and instructed him more accurately in the precepts of the Way. They took him under his wing and called him forward by sharing their life with him. That?s how they disciple people in those days. They let the people they disciple into their lives so that they would not just know but experience Jesus and living life with Him. In the end, they let Apollos go and  released him in the call God had for his life. But they didn?t lay claim to his later popularity. They simply sent him off. We are called not to just disciples but also disciplers. A discipler is one who takes others into his or her heart and commits to stand by them, mentor and encourage them, teach them, and most of all, pray for and witness to them of the love of God. Hopefully, they too would be formed in the Christian way of life and would then be disciplers themselves. This call is for every believer. We are called to invest our lives by affirming others and helping them to run with the vision of God for their lives. Bro. Noel C.

REFLECTION QUESTION:
 
Make a list of five people who needs encouragement at work, school, church, etc. Affirm each one for a specific, concrete thing they have done. Choose two in your list whom you would share your life and faith with. Intercede regularly for them. In the coming months, find ways to build up their faith and call forth their gifts.

Spirit, open my eyes to see You working in people?s lives. Touch my lips so that I may be able to bless them and affirm them. Open up my life so I may be able to draw them to You. Amen.

St. Augustine of Canterbury, bishop confessor, pray for us.