Good evening, brethren. 1. Our evening prayer focuses on "Understanding God’s Word." 2. Do you know gravity of gratitude? 3. Do you know the power to obey? 4. Do you strengthen & encourage other? To know more, read the message below: 1. Evening Prayer The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. ⏤ Psalm 119:130 He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day. ⏤ John Bunyan O God, who alone can give the hearing ear and the understanding heart—open our minds so that we may truly understand the word we’ve read. Make Your truth clear to us. Save us from twisting Your word to suit our own purposes. Help us always to find in it what Your Spirit intends for us. Grant us the grace to diligently search the Scriptures and to find in them Your holy will, the revelation of Your truth, and the unveiling of Jesus, along with Your precepts to guide our lives. May Your word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. May it show us the footprints of our Master, who has gone before us, so we can walk in His steps. We thank You for everything the Bible means to us—for the words that assure us of Your love and point us toward our heavenly home. We’re grateful for the wonderful promises in the Bible that cover every moment of life, every need, and every trial or danger. We thank You for the comfort Your word provides, that in our sorrow, we can always find consolation. Teach us Your ways, O Lord. Remove any veils that keep us from understanding Your word. May its truths enter our souls, transform our lives, and make us shine with Your holiness. May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Bless Your word throughout the world. Wherever it is taught or preached, may its divine light break through and brighten the world. Help us do our part to spread Your truth. To the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen. https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/47/evening #taptapstudio #youdevotion. 2. The Gravity of Gratitude. But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful . . . (2 Timothy 3:1–2) Notice how ingratitude goes with pride, abuse, and insubordination. In another place Paul says, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking . . . but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4). So, it seems that gratitude, thankfulness, is the opposite of ugliness and violence. The reason this is so is that the feeling of gratitude is a humble feeling, not a proud one. It is other-exalting, not self-exalting. And it is glad-hearted, not angry or bitter. Bitter thankfulness is a contradiction in terms. The key to unlocking a heart of thankfulness and overcoming bitterness and ugliness and disrespect and violence is a strong belief in God, the Creator and Sustainer and Provider and Hope-giver. If we do not believe we are deeply indebted to God for all we have and hope to have, then the very spring of gratitude has gone dry. So, I conclude that the rise of violence and sacrilege and ugliness and insubordination in the last times is a God-issue. The basic issue is a failure to feel gratitude at the upper levels of our dependence. When the high spring of gratitude to God fails at the top of the mountain, soon all the pools of thankfulness begin to dry up further down the mountain. And when gratitude goes, the sovereignty of the self condones more and more corruption for its pleasure. Pray for a great awakening of humble gratitude. 3. Power to Obey : https://todaydevotional.com/devotions/power-to-obey?embedded. 4. Strength and Encouragement Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might - Ephesians 6:10 You have perhaps had someone at one time or another seek to comfort or encourage you in the midst of a personal trial by slapping you on the back and telling you to "be strong." The counsel was well-meant but not too helpful. If you could just make yourself "be strong" then you wouldn't need encouragement to begin with. But Paul is here providing much more than a simple pat on the back and optimistic slogan. He is reminding us of exactly where all true and lasting strength comes from. He is saying to you, "Turn your eyes away from your problems and place them on the Almighty." Perhaps you do not have the strength to tackle the huge challenges that are facing you now, but God does. He can give you the strength to go through them, or the ability to overcome them. Stop relying on your own solutions, your own efforts, your own wisdom; instead, look to the wisdom of God's Word and the strength of God's Spirit to energize and direct your daily life. Confess your weakness and your helplessness to him, and throw your burdens on him. Only God can give you the power you need in order to successfully battle with sin, with sickness, with selfishness, and with Satan. But God can and does give that power to those who turn to him and rely on him. http://www.baptistbiblehour.org/resources/devotional/strength-and-encouragement-9/.