By Emily Agee

“My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments; for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.” (Proverbs 3:1–13)

Thought for the week: ‘Daily Prayers Dissolve Your Cares’

“We all have cares and problems we cannot solve alone, but if we go to God in prayer, we are never on our own, and if we try to stand alone, we are weak and we will fall, for God is always greatest when we’re helpless, lost and small … and no day is unmeetable if on rising, our first thought is to thank God for the blessings that his loving care has brought, so meet him in the morning and go with him through the day and thank him for his guidance each evening when you pray – and if you follow faithfully this daily way to pray, you will never in your lifetime face another hopeless day … for like a soaring eagle, you, too, can rise above the storms of life around you on the wings of prayer and love.”

Announcements

The 14th Annual Praise and Worship Outreach Ministry Explosion will be held Saturday, Aug. 10 at 10 a.m. at Friendship Baptist Church, located at 205 Friendship Road in Clanton. The theme is “Restoring the Family Back into the Purpose and Promises of God!” Galatians 5:22 and 6:9. This explosion is a blessing sponsored by Evangelist Diana and Bro. Eddie Pryor. Everyone is invited.

Great Commission Christian Center and “You Know You Are from West End” are sponsoring a Fishers of Men Outreach Service/Back to School drive Saturday, Aug. 10 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. next to 120 Martin Luther King Drive in Clanton. For more information, call, Angela Deamues at (205) 755-7591 or e-mail her at angiedmus@gmail.com. School supplies will be given away.

The worship service theme was “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)

If you are going to lean on something, the first thing you want to do is to make certain it can hold you up.

The greater the risk, the more certain you want to be.

You may not test the strength of every chair you’re considering sitting on, but it’s fairly certain that you will test the integrity of a bungee cord before attaching it to your feet and leaping off a bridge.

Your trust in the strength and reliability of the bungee cord allows you to lean on its ability to save you.

It still may take a lot of courage to go ahead and jump, however. Believing in God is all about risk and trust.

It tells you to turn away from what you’re accustomed to relying on, your own strategies for making life work, and instead to trust God implicitly, even when what he’s asking you to do may not make sense from a human’s perspective.

Think about what God asked of Moses at the Red Sea or of Daniel in the lions’ den. Moses and Daniel were able to rely on God instead of on their own understanding because past experience had shown them he was wholly trustworthy.

Every past experience was once a present choice. God challenges you to choose wisely today.

You can lean on your own understanding and abilities or on a God of unlimited power and love. Only one choice can take you where you really want to go.

I would like to wish a special happy birthday to: Antionette (Wanda) Agee Wilson of Maplesville. I hope she has many more blessed and wonderful birthdays.

On our sick list this week, we ask you to remember in your prayers: James Singleterry, Martha Binion, Sam and Vivian Hicks, Dorothy Sims, Harold Frazier, Mary Taylor, Lee Anna Worthey and Robertha Lee.

May God heal, strengthen and keep them in his care is our prayer.

—Emily Agee is a religion columnist for The Clanton Advertiser. Her column appears each Thursday.