Hi everyone hope you've had an awesome week. I pray that these devotions have helped you this week. I ask you to keep my siblings and I in prayers tomorrow as we deal with the second anniversary of our fathers death. R.I.P dad in know you can't hear but we miss you.

Look Within

"Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind." Excerpt from Psalm 12

It's so easy to develop a negative mindset about other people. Turn on the TV news at night and receive a rundown of that day's crimes. The newspaper gives details of a terrorist attack on humanitarian workers in Afghanistan. A politician is caught in a web of lies. Once you start looking for it, you can find ample evidence of people embroiled in all kinds of terrible behavior.

I heard Tony Campolo speak during the time that he was advising President Clinton. Someone asked Campolo, "How can you work with someone who disgraced both the country and his family?" His response moved me. He said, "I don't believe that the line between good and evil is found in the space between me and another person. I believe that the line between good and evil runs smack down the middle of each one of us."

Remember Paul saying that ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Instead of focusing on the mistakes of others and feeling discouraged about all of humanity, I try to remember to look honestly at my own life and change what I can for the better, one day at a time.

Father I confess, that I would rather complain about the sins of others than make changes in my own life. Help me to do better. Amen.

Today’s Promise

"The Lord will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121:7, 8

1. West Coast Prayerline - 712-451-6000. Access code 281432#. Meeting times daily@ 6am Mon – Sun and 9pm Mon – Fri. (Facilitated by Elder Michael Blue & Elder Wanda Flowers.)

2. East Coast Prayerline - 605-990-0700. Access code 503942#. Meeting times @ 6am and 9pm weekdays and 6:30am weekends. (Facilitated by Chris Brooks). You can also visit www.gracefam.org.

3. San Francisco Prayerline - 641 297 4600. Access code is 7792#. Meeting times daily @ 6:30am Mon – Sun (Facilitated by Sis. Grant and Elder Wanda Flowers)

4. CPR Prayerline - - 218 862 1000. Access

code is 259188#. Meeting times @ 9pm Sunday to Friday (Times are EST: Facilitated by Yvette Stoute.)

5. Urgent Prayer Request +0208 202 4863(London number) or text +7940443879

6. Emergency Prayer -1 888 820 8627 or visit www.pray4meinc.com .

RAY OF HOPE 4 U

61 Selborne gardens

London NW4 4SH

England, UK

+447940443879 (London)

rayofhope4u@hotmail.com

www.rayofhope4u.co.uk

http://rayofhope4u.blogspot.com

http://www.squidoo.com/rayofhope4u

http://www.mission2zimbabwe2010.vpweb.co.uk

prayerline +44208 202 4863 or text +447940443879

God Help Us Today

God Help Us Today

Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing, Who say, "When's my next paycheck coming so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time?" Who give little and take much, and never do an honest day's work. You exploit the poor, using them—and then, when they're used up, you discard them. God swears against the arrogance of Jacob: "I'm keeping track of their every last sin." (Excerpt from Amos 8:4-7The Message Bible)

If you are like me, I like an encouraging devotional to start my day. This is not the one.

Amos was prophet in a time like ours...In our own time, some people did well financially, others became worse off. The gap between rich and poor widened. Religious leaders said nothing for fear of impacting collections. The poor were continually in debt, borrowing at high interest rates just to keep cars and homes from repossession. CEO's and managers, seeing the first signs of economic recovery, continued exporting work to foreign call centers, factories and fields where people made less than a living wage, in order to boost profits, bonuses, and returns for stockholders rather than bring back even just a few more workers. Retirees in religious groups didn't want to know where their pension profits were made either; “just keep my returns high," they said. People voted for politicians who talked tough on undocumented workers, conveniently forgetting the undocumented workers caring for their children, homes, and gardens, forgetting their once foreign language-speaking great-grandparents who made it possible for them to get a college education after landing a union job and a tax-funded loan for housing. Taxes were cut to squeeze out a few more dollars for vacation and millions more for the top 2 percent despite crumbling infrastructure, education and healthcare systems for the poor - all built with their great grandparents' taxes and charity from those who had less money but a greater sense of community. People drove wasteful cars rather than encounter the poor on public transportation. Checking their locks, they drove through poor neighborhoods, laughing all the way to work, listening to NPR/BBC, congratulating themselves on their progressive politics, celebrating gay marriages while increasing numbers of both gay and straight couples could not afford to get married.

Shame on us! Our inattentiveness and tolerance of such inequities even among avid capitalists is sin. What's worse is that it's doubling back and hurting our economy, crippling our infrastructure, and destroying our environment. God is already judging us; the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Shall we turn around before it's too late

Oh God, Have mercy on us. Open our eyes. Send leaders with courage, creativity, and a heart for all the people. Help us each make economic decisions that bring about justice in the marketplace and in our environment. Amen.

Today’s Promise

" I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them, I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16

RAY OF HOPE 4 U

61 Selborne gardens

London NW4 4SH

England, UK

+447940443879 (London)

rayapatrick@hotmail.com

www.rayofhope4u.co.uk

http://www.mission2zimbabwe2010.vpweb.co.uk

http://rayofhope4u.blogspot.com

prayerline +44208 202 4863 or text +447940443879

Emergency Prayer USA -1 888 820 8627 or visit www.pray4meinc.com .