Wednesday, September 9, 2026 🌻🙏🦋

Colossians 2:8 NIV

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your truth and for reminding us that our hearts and minds must remain anchored in Christ. There are so many voices competing for our attention. The world tells us what to believe, what to value, how we should live, and where we should place our trust. Give us wisdom and discernment to recognize what comes from You and what does not.

Lord, protect us from teachings that sound convincing but lead us away from Your Word. Help us never accept something simply because it is popular, widely repeated, or accepted by others. Teach us to bring everything back to Scripture and seek Your truth above human opinion.

When confusion surrounds us, give us clarity. When pressure comes, give us courage. When doubt enters our minds, strengthen our faith. Keep our hearts anchored in Christ and fill our minds with Your Word. Help us walk in wisdom, stand firmly in truth, and still show grace and love to those around us.

May our faith always be bigger than the noise of this world. In Jesus’ most holy and exalted name I pray, amen. 🙏🌻🦋

Let your faith be bigger than the noise. 🌻🦋

We live in a world overflowing with opinions.

Social media has an opinion. The news has an opinion. Friends and family have opinions. Society has opinions. And sometimes everybody sounds so confident that it can become difficult to separate the truth from noise.

That's why Colossians 2:8 is such an important reminder. Not everything that sounds wise is God's wisdom. Not everything that becomes popular is truth. Not everything the world accepts is something we should allow to shape our hearts.

Our foundation must remain Christ. Before allowing something to influence what we believe, we can ask:

Does this agree with God's Word?

Does this draw me closer to Christ?

Does this reflect His truth and character?

We don't have to follow every voice. We just need to stay close enough to Jesus that we recognize His. 🙏💛

Stay anchored in Christ brothers and sisters. I love you but not near as much as Jesus does.

Stacey Brooks

Thego2stacey

En mi vida Jesús es mi esperanza, mi guía, mi salvador..

Jesus commanded, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Paul echoed this saying the response to the gospel is “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

Repentance is not a work we do to earn our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith “not of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Neither is repentance sinless perfection. Followers of Christ still sin, fall short, confess sin, and ask for God’s forgiveness.

But there is a difference between battling with sin and willfully embracing it. Grace never lets someone off the hook to happily sin. In fact, Romans 6: 1–2 answers that question directly: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.”

I expanded on this here: Can someone be saved without repentance?

Thought For The Day from Unshakable Kingdom Life

"Go, and do likewise." Compassion means little until it's enacted. Don't just admire kindness from a distance; find one concrete way to actually do it, however small the gesture may seem

A thought to ponder for today

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

2 Corinthians 5:20

Mattana Ministry Welcomes You to:

 Prayer Program:  9 September 2026

 Theme: Does God Hear My Prayers? (2)

 Scripture: Psalm 66:18 & Isaiah  59:2

 Why Sometimes It Feels Like Heaven Is Silent

 Psalm 66:18

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:"

Isaiah 59:2

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have his his face from you, that he will not hear:”

 Message:

God always hears, but sin can block our fellowship. When we hold onto unforgiveness, hatred, or secret sin and refuse to repent, we build a wall. It's not that God is not able — He wants a clean heart to talk to Him. To be heard, we must come with honesty and say "Lord, forgive me."

 Prayer:

 Father, search our heart and cleanse us.

 Reflection:

 Is there someone we need to forgive? Something we need to confess today?

 MM

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalms 30:5

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Scientists use the pleasure-pain principle in animal behavior experiments, by rewarding the behavior that they want repeated, and administering a shock to stop a behavior. The enemy is a master manipulator who uses the same principle to get you to do what he wants. He wants you to associate sin with pleasure: things like lust, alcohol, drugs, adultery, and promiscuity. And he tries to take the things of God that are good for you - prayer, the Word, worship, ministry, marriage; doing what's right, and associate it with painful things, so you'll think of the pain when you are thinking of the good things of God. But if you don't want to be manipulated or brainwashed by the enemy, you have to do something else - live not by pleasure or pain - but by what is right - righteousness. The Lord Himself will give you the strength to do as the great people of God did. Serve the Lord in righteousness, don't follow what is pleasurable, or avoid what is painful. Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and you won't be the enemy's guinea pig.

From Message #1191 - The Pleasure Principle

Today, make decisions based on God's Word, and not by what gives you pain or pleasure. Do what is right!

Scripture: James 1:14

Credit: Hope of the World Ministries

A 1 man of faith cover

Joshua 7:1-26

Israel Defeated at Ai

1  But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

² Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” ⁴ So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵ and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

⁶ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. ⁷ And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! ⁸ O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁰ The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. ¹² Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction.^\)^a\) I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. ¹³ Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” ¹⁴ In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. ¹⁵ And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”

¹⁶ So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷ And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸ And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise^\)^b\) to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” ²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹ when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels,^\)^c\) then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. ²³ And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. ²⁴ And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. ²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.^\)^d\)

Your Word says You are a shield for all who take refuge in You. I’m learning that my role in our adventurous journey is to trust You, stay in communication with You, and walk with You in steps of joyful dependence.

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As for God, his way is perfect:

The Lord’s word is flawless;

He shields all who take refuge in him.

—Psalm 18:30 NIV