Colossians 3:2 (Lift Up Your Hearts)

Let's welcome God this morning by reflecting on this short Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which is based on Living Faith. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

"Think of what is above, not of what is on earth." Colossians 3:2 (full readings)

Living Faith snippets: "At every mass the priest speaks, "Lift up your hearts." The congregation replies, "We lift them up to the Lord." The real struggle in the Christian life is to continue lifting our thoughts and desires to the Lord. A hidden force, similar to gravity, keeps pulling our thoughts down to the mundane. When we mentally let loose of them, they fall. Prayer, spiritual reading and meditation are like helium-filled balloons to help us lift our hearts to the Lord...We obviously have many earthly concerns to which we must give our attention, but with uplifted hearts we can better distinquish between the essential and the trivial." by Fr. James McKarns

Faith Challenge: Let's all invite one person each week (John 14:6) to join our LIFE Group (>220 ProLife Christians).

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, American Family Association, Priests for Life
* Let's never forget the horrific reality of abortion (images)...#1 cause of death in America. Let's courageously share ProLife Truth to create social tension for exposing abortion's unjust peace...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16) and setting the unborn free!

Our Prayers: Those who pray together stay together. Fasting ideas in footnote below.
* Prayer to end abortion, abused children, chastity, peace, our enemies, our troops, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, illnesses/injuries, jobs, natural disasters, refugees, addictions, persecuted believers, Peters family (JP in hospital), Stephanie Spader (healthy pregnancy)

Feast Day: St. Peter Claver (1654)

Faith Quote: "Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible."

In Christ,
Steve
Romans 12:2

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that take our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' (Blessed Mother Teresa).
* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service (Matt 28:19).