​Dear Heavenly Father, We give thanks for Your steadfast love and Your generosity in spite of our sinfulness. Your compassion for us, and the sacrifice of Your only Son upon the cross is an ever-present reminder of Your love and our sinfulness. We give thanks for Your constant care, for the food that we eat and the air that we breathe. Especially do we praise You for the spiritual life You have breathed in us when we clothed ourselves with Christ. We offer our thanksgiving for the faithful who have gone before us and those who will come after. Thank you for allowing us to enter the year 2020. As believers we ask you to help us develop an even greater intimacy with You at the helm of our lives. Help us to let go of any grudges we might have against anyone so our personal service and worship to You will be pure and You will receive the glory You deserve. We pray that if any of us are holding on to stuff that hinders our spiritual walk that we will be willing to drop whatever it is, whether it is an action or an attitude that is not in line with the Spirit of Christ. We thank you for your mercy and grace you extend to us through Christ Jesus. We pray that a spirit of forgiveness will prevail in our lives and any wounds from our sins or the sins of others will be forgiven as we seek to forgive, as you forgive us. We also ask You to raise people up in our fellowship to serve in ways they were unable or perhaps unwilling to serve in previous years. Help us spur one another on toward love and good works.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. 

Clark Tatum

For most businesses, this year typically follows the pattern of last year. And with most individuals, today nearly always bears a striking resemblance to yesterday. The majority of businesses, ministries and lives are carried by momentum. This works for you or against you. It all depends. It's the principle of the greased tracks: in whichever direction you consistently move, you tend to pick up speed. Each new day becomes a magnified version of the one before. When you’re headed in the right direction, this is a good thing. When you’re headed nowhere, it is frustrating and will stunt your spiritual growth.
 
If you have stalled out in your daily walk with the Lord or you have gotten off path you need to change direction and create a new momentum. We often save it for another day, not today, falling back on our favorite excuse: What’s the use? One day can’t make a difference. There is a little bit of truth to that. A solitary day of eating right, working right, talking right, thinking right, living right won’t make a lot difference all by itself. But do it today and do it a few times more and get some grease on the tracks and gain some velocity and build some momentum and your day-to-day efforts will give the future a whole new look. Go with God today and you will see every day with God does make a difference after all.

Clark Tatum