Verse for today

What God Wants

When Robby was a little boy, he wanted to be a cowboy. He spent countless hours in front of the television watching reruns of Gunsmoke and Bonanza. He just knew that someday he would live on a ranch, wear a big cowboy hat, and ride the range just like all his cowboy heroes. When he was seven years old, Robby said, “Dad, I want to be a cowboy when I grow up. Will you help me be a cowboy?”

            “Sure, son,” said his dad, smiling down at his little cowpoke.

As the years went by, Robby grew into a fine young man. As you might expect, he outgrew his childhood fantasy of becoming a cowboy and turned instead to girls, sports, studying and preparing himself for a career in the business world.

            One day Robby went to his father again and said, “Dad, I want to go to college and get a good education. Will you help me?”

            His dad said, “COLLEGE? Son, you can’t go to college. When you were seven, you said you wanted to be a cowboy. So I bought you a ranch with 100 head of cattle! There’s no money to send you to college, besides, you need to take care of that ranch. It’s all yours.”

            “But DAD!” said Robby. “I was just a child when I said that! I didn’t know then what I know now! I don’t want a ranch! I want an education!”

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t answer your prayers exactly the way you want Him to? Maybe it’s because we’re like Robby, and we don’t always know what’s best for us. There may be times in life when you feel that God is not listening, that He seems to not even care. Instead of grumbling about unanswered prayers, we should be thankful God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we think He should.

God gives us promises throughout the Bible to remind us of His care for us and of His desire for us to pray to Him. God does not ignore our prayers.(Psalm 9:12) God honors persistence in praying (Matthew 7:7) God hears our prayers when they are in line with His will (1 John 5:14-15). A sincere prayer brings wonderful results (James 5:16).

God knows who you are, better than you know yourself and He also knows your needs. God knows if you are in need physically, He knows if you are distressed emotionally, He knows if you are empty spiritually, and He knows if you are struggling to understand life and all of the demands within. The promise of God in 1 Peter 5:7 is “Cast all your anxiety (cares, worries, problems) on Him because He cares for you.”

Now just maybe, you are not familiar with prayer, and you would like to learn more about prayer. Maybe you would like someone to pray with you, or you have a need that someone could pray for you about. We would love to pray with you and for you. Please  contact 250.769.5481 or email to pastor@westsidealliance.com if you would like us to pray. You are also welcome to join us every Sunday at Westside Alliance Church at 10 AM for our church service.

Thought for the Day

Our struggle with prayer is not that God doesn't answer, it's that He seldom answers in line with our plan or schedule. 

The fact that God's grace motivates His giving ensues that His gifts are best for us. 

Thought of the day

If you actually lived today like there is no tomorrow. What would change?

O Canada - Verse 4

Ruler Supreme

Who hearest humble prayer

Hold our dominion in thy loving care 

Help us to find 

O God in Thee 

A lasting rich reward

As waiting for the better day

We ever stand on guard

God keep our land

Glorious and free

O Canada we stand on guard for thee

O Canada we stand on guard for thee

Quote of the day

Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

                          - John Stuart Mills

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S

The song goes like this:

When I was but a youngster,

Christmas meant one thing,

I’d be getting lots of toys that day.

I learned a whole lot different

When mother sat me down,

And taught me to spell Christmas this way:

“C” is for the Christ child born upon this day

“H” for herald angels in the night.

“R” means our Redeemer;

“I” means Israel;

“S” is for the star that shone so bright

“T” is for three wise men, they who traveled far

“M” is for the manger where He lay

“A”’s for all He stands for

“S” means shepherds came

And that’s why there’s a Christmas day.

There are some who would like to remove all semblance of God from the festivities of the season. It really and truly doesn’t matter if someone calls the tree a holiday tree. What matters is how you choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The whole reason for the season is LOVE. God loved us enough to send us His Son as a little baby with the sole purpose of rebuilding a relationship with us. You’ve all seen the signs at sporting events emblazoned with “John 3:16.” This refers to a verse that gives us the true meaning of Christmas.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(NIV)

God wants us to have life. It is all about living and loving…. So instead of being concerned about what people are calling something or what others are doing… take the step of passing on the love you have to someone else this Christmas. You may find out that it is the best gift to receive while you give.