The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Responding to Unrest

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Do you feel the weight of anxiety or uncertainty when you watch the news these days? How should we respond to unrest? Is there a biblical way to respond to unrest? In today’s episode, Jeff Cavins points to different examples in scripture and reminds us that the Bible is rich in ideas and rich in responses when it comes to living in difficult times. Snippet from the Show The same God that split the Red Sea, the same God that defeated Goliath and the Philistines with Samson, the same God that David served, is the one that we serve. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kavens show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is episode 373, responding to unrest. Thanks for joining me again this week. I'm Jeff Kavans, and if you're new to the show, this is where we talk about everything, Bible and discipleship and serving the Lord. Today we're going to talk about how to respond to unrest, as if there is any in the world, right? Yeah, that's what I was thinking about earlier. Actually, over the last couple of days, I kept praying about what do I want to share with you this week

as we have the weekly get together and talk about hopefully practical things that you can put into your life and things that we're facing on a daily basis. And I went through kind of a, I don't know, a wall earlier today. I was doing a whole bunch of work and recording some things and writing. And then I took a break and I was watching a little bit of the news. And I caught some of the unrest. You know, some of the colleges around the town over the Gaza issue and the anti-Semitism that is rising up in our country.

That's an ugly thing, say the least. and thinking about some of the other things that my friends have been talking about and I've been getting text, you know, about what do you think about the southern border and what do you think about the fentanyl problem and what do you think about this and what do you think about that and so many, so many difficult things going on in the world today. But as I was watching earlier looking at what was going on at Columbia, I was thinking to myself, man, what do people do who feel the world? weight of all these things and they don't know what to do they don't have anybody to turn to they really don't have a game plan on how you go about it and i know that i know that some of you have children at home and maybe teens maybe maybe you even have some college students around the country and they're writing home about what's happening in their school and you're you're really looking for answers what do i say to people like that what do i do in my own life how do i

respond to all of this and so i took a walk emily and i took a walk emily and i took a walk and I just thought for about an hour and I concluded that what I'm going to share with you is what the Lord wanted me to share with you today. So I hope it's of some help and I hope that it is of some encouragement. And everything, of course, that I'm saying here is really not entertainment at all. It is meant to be put into practice and starting with myself. And so as I was, you know, walking around earlier today and thinking about this unrest in our country. I thought, Lord, what do you want me to do? And lo and behold, this came up, and it's something that I have been teaching on for years, how to respond to difficult times. And I can't tell you the number of

times I've been speaking at a conference and someone comes up to me and tells me their difficult situation. And I'll tell them something similar to what I want to share with you here today. By the way, I do have scripture verses in some catechism citations, if you would like them. And You're on a walk right now trying to figure things out. All you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, one word, Jeff, no space, Kavins. And you can text it to the number 3-3-777. That's 3-7-7. All right.

Shall we pray? Let's do that before we get into it today because I really do feel that there are people around the country, perhaps you, that are feeling the weight of uncertainty. you're feeling the weight of a sense that who's in charge here? What's going on? I've never felt this before. I feel scared. I feel trapped.

Maybe that describes the way you feel right now. Well, let's address it. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, we lift you up and we praise you and we give you thanks today. You are on the throne and we thank you, Lord, for bringing peace to our lives. You are the Prince of Peace. Lord, we are facing so many difficult things in the world right now. We're really facing difficulties in the southern border.

We're facing difficulties in the uprisings around the country, the whole issue of anti-Semitism and what our Jewish brothers and sisters are going through right now. And, Lord, we're facing challenges even within our own souls, the unrest in our own souls. And so we come to you and ask you, Lord, to teach us, to challenge us, to really give you everything and to depend upon you with all of our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father's Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Okay, as I said, I do have some scriptures for you today. And if you do want them, go ahead and text me. And by the way, if you're not getting the notes for some reason and they dropped off, do it again. Sign up, we'll take care of that. Technology always gets better, you know. So what about your battles? Let's start there. What about the battles going on in your life?

the discussions at the kitchen table, the things you think about when you're alone in the car, questions that your kids are asking you, how do you respond to unrest? Is there a biblical way to respond to unrest? Is there a quote-unquote Christian way to respond to unrest in the world? Well, I got to tell you this. If you're a student of the Bible as I am, and you've gone through the Great Adventure Bible study, then you know that a good portion of the entire narrative, of salvation history is responding to difficult times. It's difficult times, facing the difficult times. What do you do? What do you say? How does God come into the middle of all of that? That's really what the whole story of salvation history is about. And that means that the Bible is

rich in ideas and rich in responses. It's rich in how to proceed in a time where everything is is up in the air. So what about your battles? Does God still stand with his people? Does he stand with you and me? Does he still move mightily? Well, I think the answer is yes, he does. He does. He doesn't always look like it, but he does. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, the same God that split the Red Sea, the same God that defeated Goliath and the Philistines with Samson. The same God that David served is the one that we serve. He has not changed at all. And I love what the prophet Zachariah said in Zachariah 4-6. He said, and this is good to think about as you're facing difficulties. Not by our own might, Zechariah said, not by our own might or by our own power, but by my spirit,

says the Lord. And so I want to start off by saying this. The solution to what is going on in our country right now, at least the response of what's going on, our country right now, the response doesn't have to do with your physical power or your cleverness. None of us that are on this show right now are that powerful and that clever. But we have a source of power that is available to us and that is the power of the Holy Spirit. God is not all tied up right now in knots and looking for someone else to tell him what to do. I mean, he's all right. He's on the throne. And so it's not something that you can do, but Zechariah says, it's by my spirit, says the Lord. And that's truly where the answer is going to come is in the spirit.

It's going to be something that God does in our lives, starting in our lives individually. But if there's going to be some kind of revival or some kind of movement around the country that kind of turns everything around, well, that's going to be the Holy Spirit, I think, as well. But let me say this. And it might not sound like comfort, but it is comfort when you think. think about it, and that is this. Your happiness, your peace, your sense of well-being is not dependent on there being peace at Columbia University. Your peace and your sense of well-being does not depend ultimately on the southern border or any political issues, what's going on as far as gender identity and family and everything else. That is not dependent. That piece is

not dependent upon all these things lining up and going back to where you liked them. And if we think that it is, we're going to be so disappointed. We really are. We're going to be so disappointed because that's not the source of peace and that's not how we measure peace. You can have peace and the people of God can have peace even in the most tumultuous times. I know this. I know it for a fact. Scripture consistently shows that when faced with difficulty, what do the people of God do? Well, they can either blow up, you know, run, or they can do what they're supposed to do, and that is they can look to God with all of their heart. They can look to God.

And that's the challenge before you and me today. Maybe you remember that story in Judges Chapter 7. By the way, Judges is a good book to read right now because it's filled with questions like this. Who do we turn to? what do we do and you may recall in judges seven how a young guy called gideon gideon was the weakest guy and the weakest tribe and he was about to take on the midianites and the amalekites and other eastern peoples and he was going to take him on and he felt like such a loser he felt like he really didn't he really didn't have what it took to to become victorious in a situation like that and then god

goes and calls him, Gideon, man of valor. Me, me. I mean, imagine God calling you man of valor, woman of valor, and the way you feel today. Well, wouldn't make sense, would it now? Well, he had 32,000 men that he could use to go against the Midianites and the Amalekites. But what did God say? I love it. God didn't say, Gideon, come on, dude. Dude is Hebrew for man. You need to get about double that, 64,000, before we can even think about entering into this kind of a problem. But what did God say? After Gideon says, I got 32,000 men, he said, that's too many.

So then it went down to 20,000 men. Still too many. God says, that's too many. What? Say what, God? And then 300, 300 left. 300 left. And I love it.

Verse 7 tells us about it. It was with 300 men and not the cleverness of Gideon, but the cleverness of God that Gideon was victorious. God loves to fight battles for us. And he loves to get the credit for the victory. When the battle in your life is over, the dust settles. and the nations, or your neighborhood, look on in curiosity. He loves it when we proclaim, he is God, he is my banner, he is the one who fights for me, he's the one that brought about this victory in our lives.

I think we need to fight, my friend, in such a way that there's no way we can get the praise. We need to fight as a people in this country, as Catholics in this country. We need to fight in such a way that no man, no great, group, no organization gets the credit. But God gets the credit. We know one thing for sure. There will be battles in life and there will be difficult situations. Now, the question is, how can God get in on our difficult situation or battle? How can he get in on it? Well, there's only one way he can get in on it, and that is for you to invite him in. God doesn't push his way into people's lives. He did for David, Gideon, and the children of Israel. How can I see God move mightily

in my life on behalf of me and my battles? How do we face battles not by our own might or our own power but by his spirit? Did you know that there was someone in the Bible, actually several in the Bible who asked that very same question, that question being, what do we do when we're facing these difficult times. In fact, staying with the book of judges, we find that in chapter one and chapter 20, the same question goes up in judges. Now, you got to remember the context of judges. They have, they came out of Egypt 40 years in the wilderness. Under Joshua, they came into the promised land. It was divided up among tribes, and then Joshua died, leaving no central leadership. And that brought Israel into a period of kind of a mess, kind of chaos, where

there was no central government, no central leader. And everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That's what it says. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And so they ended up in this terrible cycle. And that cycle started out with sin. They forsooketh the Lord and they got into sin. Sin led to servitude. They became servants of the neighboring nations like the Midianites and others. And that led to supplication, which is a cry out to God. We're in trouble, Lord. We're in trouble. And then the Lord brings salvation. He raises up a judge and leads them to victory. Then we have a period of silence after that. Notice all the S's. Sin, servitude, supplication, salvation, silence. And it goes around and around seven times in the book of judges.

then here's the question that's asked twice, who will go first, who will go up first in battle? Who will go up first in battle? In other words, if we're reading that from more of a moral perspective, as church would put it, that is how does it apply to me? We'd have to say, what's going to go first in the battle that I'm in right now? What am I going to do first in this time of discouragement if you are? And the answer to both of those in Judges 1 and Judges 20 was Judah. Now, Judah's not the first tribe. That's Rubin.

And Judah is the fourth. And Judah, I think, was the answer for several reasons. One, of course, Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. That's the tribe he's going to come from. It's also the biggest tribe, and it's centrally located. but I think that the answer comes in the meaning of the name Judah. Judah, Yehuda, means praise. It's Hebrew for praise, to praise God.

So they're asking a very important question. Who are we going to turn to in a tough time? And that is, we are going to turn to God. Judah means praise, Yehuda. And it comes from the root word Yada, Yada, Y, D-A-D-A. I'll probably put that in the notes for you, so you don't need to write that down as you're jogging. So it comes from the root word Yadda, meaning to throw or to cast. And when used in the biblical text, it takes on the meaning of to confess and to declare.

And the two go hand in hand, you know, when we talk about confessing and declaring as part of praising. We are declaring who God is, and certainly we are confessing who He is. But this idea of confessing our sins was oftentimes linked to the idea of declaring who God is. So if you're going through difficult time, then dealing with the sin in your life is also something that we need to deal with. In fact, let me look at this here for just a second, okay? Let me look at Psalm 79 and listen to how the two go together. I'll read this to you. Oh, God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance.

they have defiled thy holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of the servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of thy servants to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them.

We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those round about us. How long, O Lord, will you? thou be angry forever? Will thy jealous wrath burn like fire? Pour out thy anger on the nations that do not know thee and on the kingdoms that do not call on thy name. And then listen to this now. Versus seven and eight, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Do you remember, do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers. Let thy compassion come speedily to meet us for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of

thy name, deliver us and forgive our sins for thy namesake. So there we get into this idea of they are beginning to call upon the Lord, but at the same, they're declaring who the Lord is, but at the same time they are confessing their sin, forgive us, Lord, in the midst of it. And that reminds me, you know, of what Hebrews says. Hebrews talks about to deal with the sins that so heavily weigh us down, you know, be free from those. And you can fight a better battle that way. Very, very important. So now there's another thing that I want to share with you here, and that is from paragraph 236 of the Catechism.

In paragraph 236 of the Catechism, it talks about two very very very, very important things to know in the midst of your difficulties. And I'm not going to take a long time on this because I want to get to the point where we're talking about what's the direct response in terms of praise and how do we do that. Okay. But let me slip this in before the break. Paragraph 236, it talks about two very important words for us here today. It talks about a word called oikonomia, which is economy, and talks about theology. And so the paragraph says, the fathers of the church distinguish between theology and economy, theologia and oikonamia.

So we've got these two words, they sound big. Theology speaks of the mystery of gods in most life within the blessed Trinity. So when we talk about the theology, we talk about the mystery of the Trinity. Break it down even more. We're talking about the heart of our father. We're talking about our father in heaven. Now, I'm mentioning this because these are two things that you need to know if you're facing a big trial. Number one, you need to know the heart of your father.

Number two, oikonomia, the economy, economy back in Jesus' day, wasn't talking about the Dow Jones Industrial Average or NASDAQ or national debt or anything like that. But what it was talking about when you heard the word economy, it was talking about a father's household plan. And so if you remember, the very first paragraph of the catechism mentions that God has a plan of sheer goodness. So these two things are important. You've got the heart of your father and you have the plan of your father.

Both of them can be discovered in the Word of God, both of them. If you're going to withstand the pressures of a changing world, I would recommend that you really focus on getting to know the heart of your Heavenly Father and getting to know the plan, the household plan of your Heavenly Father. You can find this in the Bible for sure. You can find more of it in the Catechism. Now, why do I recommend that? Because if you know the heart of your heavenly father,

staring at the southern border, if you look at the heart and the plan of your heavenly father watching the evening news, then you have a foundation on which to live and stand and to live in victory. It's true. We're going to take a break when we come back. I want to talk about what one character in the Bible did when he was surrounded by not one, Not two, but three powerful armies. And it looked like it was going to be lights out.

But he did something and the light was turned back on right then. So this is the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. I wanted to let you know about an exciting announcement that could revolutionize the way you listen to the Bible in the air and the catechism in the air. Ascension has released a new Bible and Catechism app called the Ascension app. No, here's what you get. In this app, you get the entire.

text of the Great Adventure Bible. Just incredible. You also get the entire text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as long with the Catechism in your podcast and the Bible into your podcast and transcripts for each episode. If you're like, I'm tired of listening to that guy. I just want to read it. There's complete transcripts from each and every episode. One thing that makes this app incredibly unique is that it includes special features that make connections between the Bible and the Catechism so crystal clear through color-coded references and all these links. The hyperlinks are amazing. I tried it out and I'm like, oh my gosh, it kind of has changed the way I read through the Catechism, kind of changed the way I read through the Bible. These features will

help you navigate the Bible and Catechism even more seamlessly so you can get more out of your experience. Also, the app provides almost 1,000 answers to Bible questions. The people who listen to the Bible in the year, they wrote in with their questions. Almost a thousand answers, and those answers come in the form of audio clips, video clips, as well as resources excerpted from some of Ascension's published works. If you want to download this app, for free. Super simple. Just go to the app store in search for Ascension app. I am telling you, if learning about the Bible and the catechism is important to you, then this app will change your life. Thanks for coming back. I mentioned before the break that we have one guy in Second Chronicles

20, Jahashafat, King Jahashafat, he was the king in Judah in the south. And he had a situation where there was an alliance of not one, two, but three powerful armies. And these three powerful armies all converged on this little kingdom of Judah. Isn't it interesting how the more times change, the more things stay the same? An alliance of three powerful armies had converged on this little kingdom of Judah. When news of the attack reached King Jahashafat, you know what he did? Well, the first thing he did was he trembled. He trembled with fear.

And then in desperation, he did something different. He turned his attention not to Fox or CNN, not to MSNBC or anything else. Not the Wall Street Journal, not popular podcasts or YouTube channels, not social pundits or social messiah. He turned his attention to God and prayed for deliverance, saturating his prayer with praise.

And he began extolling God as exalted and invincible. That's Second Chronicles 20 and verse 6. And then he added further praise, get this, for past victories that God had wrought and for promises he had given. You see, one of the things that we do when we praise God, I mentioned to you that this word praise. It comes from Yada. And Yada speaks of confessing who God is and what he has done. It's kind of parallel with knowing the heart of our father, who he is, and his plan what he has done, what he'll do and what he has done, even in the past. And here, Jehazhefat, you know, some people might say, I don't have anything to praise God over right now. And I don't think I'm going to in the future.

you're here well all right then let's do what joshaphat did let's go back to the past he added further praise for past victories and then he admits something in verse 12 of second chronicles 20 he said all right i'm admitting i'm admitting i'm powerless he said we are powerless i'm quoting now surrounded by three powerful armies he said we are powerless but our eyes are on thee Isn't that beautiful? Let me ask you a question. Where's your eyes right now? Where have they been this last week?

Where are they going to be come news time tonight? How about before you go to bed? Are your eyes on him or are they on the Tonight Show? Given the situation that you're in and the way that you feel about the way the world is going, it might be time to change some of our habits. it might be time for us to and I'm speaking about myself too get serious. So what did

Jahashafat do? Well the next day by faith in God and his promises Jehashafat's army marched to the battlefield in a very unusual battle formation. You know what it was? The choir. I'm not kidding you. Look it up. The choir, robes and all. And they led the attack.

And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord guess what happened? Oh wow. You know, any day you wake up, God can do anything. You're not bound by your abilities or bound by history. God can do anything. And when they brought the choir and the robes out and they led the attack with a song, when they began to sing and to praise God, the Lord caused the three enemies to fight among themselves until they annihilated each other. And no one army soldiers survived. Job well done, God. Isn't that something? You see, when we praise God in our lives, he can do amazing things. He really can. When we praise him, you know what we're doing? I'm reminded of what Isaiah 61-3 says, and I'll put that in the show notes for you. I love what

Isaiah 61-3 says. And it talks about, it really, it's, I like it. I like it. Because it's Isaiah talking about God, and he says, he said, oh, this is so good. He says, God has given us, God has given us a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isn't that beautiful? God has given us a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. So as you are watching the news and as you're following what's happening around the country and the South and politics and the anti-Semitism that's taking place, which I think is demonic, I think it's diabolical.

And as all of that's happening, you have a choice today, so do I, to put on a spirit of of despair. Oh, it's me. This always happens. I can't believe it. Things are not working out. I was looking forward to the spring. You know, you can put on a spirit of despair. He can talk like a person who has a garment like that on. You can surround yourself with people that are talking about nothing but despair. Or you can do what Isaiah recommends here. A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. You got a choice, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. So that's the choice that we have in our lives. And we have to make this a sacrifice of praise to the Lord, as Hebrews 13 says. How do we make this a sacrifice of praise to the Lord? We do it. We do it.

with our mouth. We praise God. We lift our hands. We give him glory. And if you're going to praise the Lord, this is not a time to just simply repeat praise words like praise God, praise God, hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Glory to God. Maranatha. Let's see. I'll do all that again. Those are good words. Don't get me wrong. But they do, they do, they do stay, you know, they're kind of in that area of the beginner. You know, they're just kind of repeating that. But as you get older in the Lord, your vocabulary improves. And it becomes, it becomes, it becomes, more vast, and you begin to go back into the Bible and back into your life, and you see the times when God demonstrated himself strong, and that's what you draw from. Oh, God, you did stand with David

when he took on Goliath. Lord, and I know that you will stand with me today, and I will not fight with the normal things that men fight with, but I'll fight with your word. I'll fight by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Mother, the Rosary. You have given us sacramentals that are good for battle. Thank you, Jesus. And I love this because you have the ability given to you by baptism and confirmation to be courageous and you have the power to walk in this victory that we're talking about. I love that. Now, the best place for God to be in your life in the midst of the things you're going through right now, the best place for the king to be is where? The king is on the throne.

He is on the throne. The king belongs on the throne. And he reigns from the throne. And I love what David said. David was a king. And he knows this, Psalm 22, 3. He said, God is enthroned upon the praises of Israel. How is God enthroned?

He's enthroned upon the praises of Israel. When you begin to praise God by declaring who he is, what he has done, on how unique he is, entrusting everything to him, you are enthroning God upon the praises of yourself. Lord, be king, be Lord, I'm going to praise you, be enthroned upon my praise to you. And so this is the answer right now. I'm here today.

I've got a lot of other things I can talk about. I'm looking at it. They're all on my desk. I got books. I got Bibles. I got all kinds of notes that I've been making lately. studies and insights and all of that, all of that's to the side. And I just felt like I was supposed to tell you, do not to spare. Take back control. And you do that by giving glory to God and praising

God. You do have something to do in the midst of all of this mess, and that is to praise God and to give him glory and ask him to move on our behalf because it's too big for us. And it is. it's too big for me at least, way outside of my wheelhouse. And the only thing I can do is search for the Lord and praise him. And when I do that, you know what? Peace. Peace comes. Because if God can't handle this, then we all need to pack it in.

But you know as well as I do, God is on the throne. And listen, this is a big lesson. Sometimes, and we see this in salvation history, sometimes God uses our enemies. to chastise us and if we're going through a chastisement right now in a country then we are so we are okay but we still have to respond to god and give him praise in the midst of it you say well i don't deserve this i didn't do anything to be chastised like this i know but you see the wicked are punished with the righteous and we're part of this we're a country and we all feel the pain just like we all feel the victories at times, except we don't respond the way the world responds to tough times.

No, we respond differently. And may our response be a witness to not only our kids, our family, our neighbors, but to those who are watching us at work as well, we will not be shaken. We will not be taken down. For we are walking with the Lord, and our security is in the Lord. is in the Lord, and even if everything fell apart, we know who we are, and we know who the king is, and that's where we need to stay. Do not get outside of those bounds into the area of despair and hopelessness. Maybe the world looks at everything and says hopeless, but we have one more

thing to look at than the world, and that's called God. And that's what makes us so different. I heard a guy back in Bible college years ago. He said this little line, and I've used it so many times, but I want to remind you of it today. There's something you can take with you to talk to your kids or talk to your spouse or a friend. And that is this. When we face these difficult times so often, people are discouraged, and you know what they do? They keep rehearsing it. They keep rehearsing all of the problems.

Oh, the southern border and thousands and millions in these colleges over in Israel. You know, we just had our trip. Father Mike Schmitz and I, we just had our trip postponed because of it. Nothing I can do, but I can complain or I can say, praise God. Lord, you know what you're doing, and that's what we're doing. But you can rehearse it. You can go over and over and over where you get sick of it. You can rehearse it or you can curse it.

That is right. That's what Peter did when he got caught, the charcoal fire after Jesus was arrested, start cursing. You can curse it, you know, blanket. blank and this and then yeah that's going to battle move mountains for sure so you don't want to rehearse it over and over you don't want to curse it you don't want to nurse it and that is to keep feeding these rotten feelings feeding yourself with the bad news cut the news off if it's bothering you that much don't nurse it so it's an easy thing to remember and you can tell it to your kids. Don't rehearse it. Don't curse it and don't nurse it. Enter into a life of praise and

put that garment on today. Put it on today. Don't, don't resist. Don't delay. Don't delay. Put it on. And if anything, if you don't know how to just praise God, raise your hands up and just to say from your heart, thank you, Jesus. I put my trust in you for the situation that I'm in right now. It's so difficult. And listen, I'm talking about southern border. I'm talking about. Southern border. I'm talk about Columbia. I'm talking about all the unrest in the world right now. That's on top of what you're going through. You might think what you're going through far exceeds what I'm talking about nationally. And it may be, but for the same reason, raise your hands and give praise to God today and give him glory. Do something to express your praise to God you've never done before.

Maybe you want to go up to church for adoration and do it late at night. Take one at the morning when no one else is there, you know, you're signing up for someone else and lay down before the Lord and just lay down before the Lord and say, I am yours, I give you everything. I give you everything, Lord. What a beautiful time you can have with the Lord. All right. Like I said, if you want the notes for this show, text my name, Jeff Kavins, to the number 3377. Let me just lift you up in prayer right now. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, oh Lord Jesus, I thank you for my friend. thank you that we can spend this time together every week. And I know that life is difficult right now and there's so much happening around the world. Oh, Lord, we need you. We know that we can't do

anything ourselves. But our eyes are upon you and our hearts are directed toward you. Our minds are focused on you completely. We raise our hands to you and say, you are the king. To you be all the glory to you be all the praise we entrust ourselves to you today lord we we have faith we believe and we entrust ourselves our finances our physical health our family dynamics our well-being our jobs our country we pray for our politicians in this country as we've been called to do by paul and we pray lord that you will have your way and your will would be done in our country do what is impossible by working with the people that we have. I pray, Lord, that the innocent will be spared. The children will be protected. Innocence will be protected. I thank you,

Lord, for protecting our priests and our bishops during these times. And I pray that through all of this, you will be glorified, that your name will be lifted up and more people will be drawn to you than ever before because of our faithfulness to display your loving kindness and your power. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you. I love you. Pray for me.

I'll continue to pray for you.