PRAYER REQUEST DAY

Hey everybody, lay those concerns and praises of your heart here at the 'Detoured' Blog! I think we all can say that we have seen some amazing results in prayer and praise lately with all the situations we have been going through. God is Amazing!

Let me know your requests and praises so we can pray and rejoice together.

Here are some of mine:

1. My boss Jenny met with me yesterday and I really needed that. God moved in a way I did not expect and I am so thankful to Him for knowing my heart and knowing what I can and cannot handle and bringing me peace when I feel overwhelmed!

2. Much healing is going on in the Carder and Hogue families. Please praise God for this and please pray for the road ahead that God will be their Rock and Solid Foundation. Pray for the guarding of all their hearts that they will be kept in perfece peace.

3. Our VBS is next week at church and I am sure, like myself, a lot of people are in 'crazy mode' right now getting ready for it. Please pray for all those working that we will be lifted up on wings like eagles. That we will commit ourselves wholly unto the Lord for His service during this week. Pray for all who attend, that their hearts will understand that the Lord longs for them to be His children and that they will FULLY understand the Gospel and will be impacted to make a decision for Him. Pray for those who will come away from this not making a decision, pray that they will have been impacted and that, that seed will grow into their making a decision one day for Christ.

How can we be praying for you this weekend?

Have a great weekend and God bless you all,
Susan Luka

Revelation Rocks

This morning as I did my normal 'walk' study through the Bible, I came across a cross-reference Scripture that has nothing to do with walking, but really Wowed me. I wanted to share it with you all because I hope it blesses and challenges you as much as it has done me this morning.

REVELATION 21:1-8

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."
5And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new " And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."
6Then He said to me, "It is done I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.
7"He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
8"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."


Of course these verses are future tense, but I look so forward to it. The older I have become the more my heart longs for my home country. This place is not my home. I am merely a sojourner in this land, to be used by God to bring Him glory and to be used to reach others for the cause of Christ.

I was Wowwed by the end of v.6 where it says, "I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost." WITHOUT COST. I tell you, that principle of Salvation is often too great to take in sometimes. I read that today and like usual it just takes my breath away the generosity of our God. The unmerited favor He lavishes upon us. I am just a woman thankful!

Second, I was challenged by v.7, "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be His God and he will be my son." I WANT TO BE AN OVERCOMER. And you know what, I don't even want to be an overcome just because I will inherit these things. I want to overcome because I want to please the Father. I desire more than anything in this world to stand before Him and to those lips of His say to me, his child, "Well done good and faithful servant.". Wooh, I just long for that day. And of course I will want to give him the biggest hug ever! To look in those gracious eyes to touch his nailed scarred hands, wow, that will be the day! Oh Glorious thought! I am challenged as ususal, to be serious about my walk in Christ. To lean on Him for all things. To cry out to Him. To continually call upon His name. To continually thank and praise Him for all things. To be led by His Spirit and to obey. Being wise rather than unwise. And...will I still make mistakes. Unfortunately, yes. I am not preaching a salvation of perfection. Instead, I am teaching a salvation of allegiance to a God who deserves our all, knowing first hand, that we alone cannot be perfect. We have to rely on Christ for our righteousness and ask forgviness and repent when we do wrong. It's all about being authentic, real to ourselves, to our God and to those around us.

I pray that these verses blessed you today. Let me hear your thoughts.

Walking daily in His grace,
Susan Luka

Refills made me think..

Yesterday at work I sampled some nuggets and also did refills of drinks. Well, the girl I kept taking the drinks to was really cool and filled them up to the brim which was totally great. But, I noticed for me, it made me have to walk very carefully so that I would not spill anything. I felt like it was God's way of giving me a reminder about my challenge, to walk carefully. I love how God providentially plans things like that so that we will remember and grow.

I am so thankful for grace! I am so thankful that I get to walk in grace daily. The fact that I serve a God who sent His son to lay down his life for me, is so humbling and calls strongly for my allegiance to Him. We are new creations in Him and that is awesome. I hate the fact that we still have to keep our old nature, but you know what, without that struggle I wouldn't lean on God as much as I have to. I am just so thankful for God today! I am thankful for His plan for our lives, His continual provision of our needs, His blessing of our ministry to youth.

What are you thankful for today? How is that walking going??

Have a great day!

NChrist, Susan

Walk Challenge for the week

My challenge to myself and to my readers is this: During this week, be aware of your walk with Christ. Are we walking carefully, with the Spirit of God leading our actions and reactions? Are we walking in Love, just as Christ loved us? Are we walking with God, is that relationship between us and Him being fostered? Are we walking in grace, knowing that our salvation was won by Him and Him alone and that no works of our own increase that salvation? Are we walking aware that our walks will be tested by God to see whether or not we remain faithful to Him? Are we walking in His Word, in His Ways?

I challenge you this week to ask yourself those questions and to spend this week walking with God and His Word. To spend each day making wise decisions that align yourself with the will of God. To ask for forgiveness and repent when we do something wrong. To look for the open doors that God would have us go through in order to bring Him glory and to reach the lost for Christ.

On Friday I would like to hear your stories of what God did in your life concerning your walk this week. I hope there are a lot of stories.

'Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise..'

Ephesians 5:15

NChrist,

Susan Luka

Walking took me to an interesting place today

Todays walk through Scripture took me to a unlikely place. A set of verses in Psalm 48 revealed some really cool things. I looked at this verse in my concordance and thought to myself, 'well, those are a'ight, so I will just scribble them on my paper and move on to some cooler verses.' But, when I read the set of verses after it, it really made the 'walking' part of this verse come alive. Here are the verses:

PSALM 48:12-14

12 Walk about Zion, go around her,count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels,that you may tell of them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

The first word in v. 12 is 'walk'. Walk about what? WALK about Zion, Gods Holy Land. Walk around counting her towers; consider how strong this land is and whose God protects them. Walk and consider her ramparts or bulwarks; otherwise known as armies, defenses and realize the strenghth and might of them. Walk and view her citadels, how beautiful they are. When we walk or Michelle in your case, run. We pass by many things as we do so. How often do we take in their beauty, grandeur, strength, might, God's creation, the thought of our God with us and his protection over us. The walk above is definitely a verb, but it wants us doing more than walking. It wants us walking and looking around. Taking in what is around us. Commentaries describe the towers, the bulwarks, the citadels as the beauty, grandeur and might of doctrine, our beliefs. The Psalmist desired that enemies look at these things in Zion and be in awe and would tremble at the might of their God and his blessing in letting them have such strong towers, mighty defenses and beautiful citadels. Today our churches, our lives, our sacred families should be those towers and bulwarks and citadels that people can look at and awe over and see the might of Jesus in.

And why did the Psalmist want people walking around looking at these things? v.13b says, 'that you may tell of them to the next generation.' Notice it does not say, 'that you MIGHT tell'. We are told to tell of these wonderful things to our children, to the future generations. I love how Origen puts it, 'In a spiritual sense the towers and bulwarks of Zion are those doctrines of the true faith, which are the strength and glory of the church, which are to be maintained in their soundness and stability against the assaults of heretical teachers so that they may be transmitted unimpaired to the following generations-' Wow, I love that quote. We need to keep the history of our faith in tact, doctrines and all. For its those things that we must pass down to the next generation. Walking in faith. Walking in the word of God ensure that our steps are firm and our doctrines true so that those behind us would follow our example. Charles Spurgeon puts it well, ' An excellent reason for studious observation. We have received and we must transmit. We must be students that we may be teachers. The debt we owe to the past we must endeavor to repay by handing down the truth to the future.' Wow, these old guys just know how to put it! I think this is why Michael and I love youth ministry. It is our unfailing desire to transmit truth to the generation behind us. It was adults in our past who invested truth into us, and it is our desire to do that to this generation. May God raise up a godly generation who desire nothing more than to invest truth into one another and into the lives of future generations that we might be sons and daughters of the Most High King, for now and forevermore. Amen.

NChrist, Susan