A Prayer for Recognizing God’s Answers to Our PrayersBy Meg Bucher Bible Reading"I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven." – Psalm 123:1 "Ok, God," I'll often say, "You say if it matters to me, then You care about it ...so, can you please help me (insert ask.)" Find my keys. Find my phone. Heal my sore knee. Give me patience with my daughter. I need a friend today. Stretch my minutes. Can the sun just come out ... On and on, at least I can say I make a good attempt to obey God's command to ‘pray continually' (1 Thes 5:18). Psalm 123 is a short psalm, just four verses. But the way it starts captivates me every time I read it. "I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven." Such a reminder of who God is ...and how needy I really am! I am so dependent on God for literally all of the things that fill up my daily life. "The psalm writer lifted his eyes to God, waiting and watching for God to send his mercy," the NLT Life Application Bible explains, "The more he waited, the more he cried out to God because the scoffing of the evil and proud was unrelenting and he couldn't bear it any longer." Ah, there's a part of life that reminds us of the news, doesn't it? The bad news is easy to find. In fact, it surrounds us. One year, I resolved to cater my social media feeds to good news and truth. I spent that year unfollowing things that made me anxious and following things that reminded me of Jesus. I get my news in three separate news emails – 2 are nonbiased, and one is Christ-centered. I had to take those thoughts captive, milling around on social media. Praying this Psalm rights the countenance of our hearts so we can remember that God really is in control despite the chaos. Verse 2 says: "We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal." Psalm 123:2 NLT The Message paraphrase reads, "We're watching and waiting, holding our breath, awaiting your word of mercy." When we pray to God, do we know how to interpret His answers? Do we know what to look and listen for? What to anticipate? Scripture assures us God answers our prayers, but do we look for His reply in the fabric of our everyday lives? Do we hear Him in His Word, through a friend, out in nature, or through a seeming coincidence that echoes an answer to our request? Praying this Psalm reminds us to be open to receive God's response to our prayers. Verse 3 continues:   "Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt." Psalm 123:3 NLT Contempt is the feeling of disdain or scorn for something considered mean, vile, or worthless, and can also refer to willful disobedience or disrespect towards court or legislative orders. (Dictionary.com) We are surrounded with contempt. We do not want to start blending in with the chaos around us: mean, vile, worthless, disrespectful ... no, thank you. But we all know too well how surrounding influences bleed into our persona subtly. Lastly, verse 4: "We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant." Psalm 123:4 NLT The more aware we are of who God is and who we are to Him, the more pronounced the chaos of the world feels some days. By praying the words of this Psalm, we choose to embrace the privilege of peace that comes as we walk with Christ instead. Let's pray:  Father, I lift my eyes up to you, O, God, enthroned in heaven. I keep looking to You for Your mercy, God, as a child who cannot contain their excitement to see someone they dearly love and have missed. Or the ice cream truck. That's how I feel today, God, anticipating Your answer to my prayers ...remembering that You are with me always and that You care about the smallest details in my life! Thank you so much for that, God! You are so kind and compassionate to me. Help me to see, hear, and know how You are answering my prayers. I want to feel Your presence in my life palpably! Have mercy on me, LORD! Carve any contempt out of my heart and guard me from the weight of the world and its surrounding influence. I have had my fill of it ...and it so subtly bleeds the fabric of my life, God. Protect me from people who have ill intentions for me. Protect me from the corrupt edges of my daily life, God, and things I can't even see that I am not aware of. Build my faith up, God, day by day. Replace chaos with peace.In Jesus' Name, Amen. Photo credit: ©GettyImages/fizkes Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ at megbucher.com. She is the author of "Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ," "Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity," "Glory Up, The Everyday Pursuit of Praise," "Home, Finding Our Identity in Christ," and “Sent, Faith in Motion.” Meg earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University but stepped out of the business world to stay home and raise her two daughters ...which led her to pursue her writing passion. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the editorial team at Salem Web Network. Meg loves being involved in her community and local church, leads Bible study, and serves as a youth leader for teen girls. Related Resource: Remember God’s Enduring Love for You in this Guided Meditation on Psalm 100! This guided Christian meditation from Psalm 100 will help you experience and praise God for his unending love for you. Become aware of God's presence with you, and praise God for his loyal and enduring love from the beginning of time and into the future. Listen to every episode of the So Much More Podcast on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! Visit iBelieve.com for more inspiring prayer content. The post A Prayer for Recognizing God’s Answers to Our Prayers – Your Daily Prayer – September 2 appeared first on GodUpdates.

The more aware we are of who God is and who we are to Him, the more pronounced the chaos of the world feels some days. By praying the words of this Psalm, we choose to embrace the privilege of peace that comes as we walk with Christ instead.

A kitten rescued from under a deck is determined to convince a house cat that they should be together for life. Moonpie and FireballLisaEarlier this summer, a tiny kitten was found alone, hiding under a deck. She was hungry, just skin and bones, and had an infected eye.Fortunately, she had come to the right place. The homeowner, a former volunteer for Sparkle Cat Rescue, reached out to the founder, Stephanie Grantham, for help.Stephanie immediately agreed to take the kitten and began treating her eye and putting some weight on her tiny body. Fireball was found under a deckSparkle Cat RescueThe kitten quickly discovered her purr engine when held, but more than anything, she was thrilled to have an abundance of food to devour.Stephanie planned to care for the kitten until she was well enough to move into a foster home. After two days, her eye began to clear up and heal, and her energy level surged. With the much-needed weight gain, her zoomies kicked in. Sparkle Cat Rescue"She was playful, curious, and on the road to a quick recovery," Stephanie shared. "She's a happy baby ready to conquer the world."Lisa, a foster volunteer, met the kitten and fell head over heels for her. She had always hoped for a ginger cat as a new addition to her family but wanted to know if her cat, Moonpie, would accept a little newcomer. Lisa"Her personality is a perfect match for him. She is fearless," Lisa shared on Facebook.The kitten named Fireball quickly settled into her foster home with Lisa, playing with toys and claiming every room she graced. "She's in constant motion until she crashes for a bit, and then she's on the move again." LisaAt first, Moonpie, an 11-pounder, was unsure and intimidated by the less-than-two-pound ball of energy. "But he is much calmer than I had expected."Fireball was ecstatic to have a feline friend to play with. Despite being much smaller, she encouraged Moonpie to roughhouse with her. The intrepid kitten held her own, wrestling with her buddy, who was five times her size. Fireball and MoonpieLisaShe followed Moonpie around the house, determined to convince him that they were meant to be best friends for life.After playing to their heart's content, Fireball curled up beside Moonpie, gazing up at him admiringly. In less than a week, the kitten had left paw prints on everyone's hearts, including Moonpie's. She loves her new feline brotherLisaMoonpie grew fond of the little spitfire and decided to take her under his wing.He showed her his favorite feline entertainment system by the window. Enthralled by the little critters outside, Fireball sat next to Moonpie, enjoying some quiet moments with him. They watch little critters togetherLisaMoonpie has learned to tolerate the kitten's unbridled energy and constant tussling with his bushy tail. He has grown to adore their new morning ritual, dueling over tube treats.Fireball has doubled in size since she moved into her foster home, now forever home. She's a bundle of pure energy, carrying toys around and sharing her mischief with her best friend. Lisa"She has stolen their hearts, and Moonpie enjoys playing and chasing her and having a BFF," Stephanie added.Before Fireball came into their lives, Moonpie often joined Lisa at her stained glass studio, The Glass Angel, greeting customers and doling out cuddles. LisaNow, with a new feline sister, he spends ample time running around or lounging on a cat tree with her."Sometimes, he'd rather stay home than accompany Lisa to her shop. This is indeed a happy tail." LisaShare this story with your friends. More on Sparkle Cat Rescue on Instagram and Facebook.Related story: Cat Spotted High Up on a Building, Suddenly Comes Out of Her Shell When She Realizes Life is About to Change

Children giggle as young people flash their smartphones to film robots carrying plates of freshly prepared meals on their inbuilt trays to deliver to diners in a busy eatery in Kenya's capital. Nairobi…

It is hard to overstate the massive impact of social media in today’s world, and in an election year… the only word that comes to mind is “PIVOTAL”. If you don’t know him (23 MILLION+ people…

A formative influence. The post Tony Iommi’s profound inspiration: “The Shadows were the only band that really appealed to me” first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

Critics of Vice President Kamala Harris and her counterfeit presidential campaign have failed to grasp what should have become obvious by now. The people who actually run the Democratic Party have changed their default strategy for winning major elections. After what they regarded as a disastrous 2016 defeat, they began shifting their focus from convincing voters to cast ballots for their candidates and instead concentrated on manipulating the electoral machinery of competitive states. This strategy relieves them of the need to run honest or coherent candidates. Axelrod is clearly untroubled by this because he knows the Democrats don’t expect Harris to win by convincing voters. In 2020, it allowed them to hide their presidential candidate for most of the cycle yet defeat an incumbent president who won more popular votes (74,223,975) than any sitting president in history, including Barack Obama. How did basement-bound Joe Biden manage to “win” 81,283,501 popular votes and a 306-232 Electoral College victory? Via the magic of mail-in ballots — over 58 percent of his total — and protracted post-Election Day vote counting in crucial battleground states. He also had a little help from his friends in the “shadow campaign” as Molly Ball famously described it in Time after Biden was inaugurated: This is the inside story of the conspiracy to save the 2020 election … a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information. They were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it. And they believe the public needs to understand the system’s fragility in order to ensure that democracy in America endures. In reality, of course, these creatures have nothing but contempt for democracy. They colluded with the Democratic Party to install a cipher in the White House who could be easily controlled. And it worked so well that, in 2022, they used the same strategy to elect a Senate candidate in Pennsylvania and a gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, both of whom “won” their respective races despite remaining all but invisible. Thus, it should surprise no one that Harris has been restricted to reading one canned speech from her teleprompter and a single taped interview on CNN. This is how the Democrats intend to conduct every election. (READ MORE from David Catron: Harris Will Lose Unless Her Polls Rise Sharply) The Media and the Democrats None of this would be possible, of course, without the disgraceful complicity of the corporate media. MSNBC’s Luke Russert, for example, provides a typically obsequious description of Harris’ performance during the first interview she has granted since replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket: “Kamala Harris gave lucid and coherent answers on a variety of topics over 50 minutes. That alone sets the bar for the 2024 election.” To call this dishonest would be far too generous. Here is what Harris said when Dana Bash asked if she regretted misleading the public about President Biden’s mental fitness: No, not at all. Not at all. I have served with President Biden for almost four years now. And I’ll tell ya it’s one of the greatest honors of my career, truly. He cares so deeply about the American people. He is so smart and — and loyal to the American people. And I have spent hours upon hours with him, be it in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president. The obvious follow-up question a real journalist would have asked would go something like this: “Well, if he has the intelligence, the commitment, the judgment, and disposition the American people deserve in their president, why was it necessary for you to replace him as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee?” Dana Bash simply allowed Harris to prattle on about how proud she was to serve as Biden’s vice president. Former Obama advisor David Axelrod offered the understatement of the cycle with this observation about her performance during the interview: “I don’t think she moved the ball that much forward.” Axelrod is clearly untroubled by this because he knows the Democrats don’t expect Harris to win by convincing voters. Their election strategy in 2024 is no different than their 2020 strategy. The “well-funded cabal of powerful people” who devoted themselves to “fortifying” democracy in 2020 are likely behind the removal of Joe Biden from the top of the Democratic ticket. They’re also working to “control the flow of information” to voters. Last Friday, former labor secretary Robert Reich wrote in the Guardian that global regulators should threaten Elon Musk with arrest “if he doesn’t stop disseminating lies and hate on X.” Elon Musk is rapidly transforming his enormous wealth — he’s the richest person in the world — into a huge source of unaccountable political power that’s now backing Trump and other authoritarians around the world … Musk owns X, formerly known as Twitter. He publicly endorsed Donald Trump last month. Before that, Musk helped form a pro-Trump super political action committee. Meanwhile, the former U.S. president has revived his presence on the X platform. It could hardly be more obvious that the real problem here has nothing to do with unaccountable political power or authoritarianism. The issue here is that Musk, unlike old Twitter, refuses to deplatform Trump or his supporters. Even worse, he has compounded that crime by openly supporting the Bad Orange Man politically. Reich even exhumed this old chestnut: “Evidence is mounting that Russia and other foreign agents are using X to disrupt this year’s presidential race, presumably in favor of Trump. Musk has done little to stop them.” Utterly moronic conspiracy theories, like old soldiers, evidently never die. (READ MORE: The Harris Teleprompter Is Economically Illiterate) All of which brings us back to our feckless Vice President and the people who deposed Joe Biden and promoted her to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris has almost nothing in common with her masters, but she does share one of their characteristics. There is little she won’t do to acquire power, and less that she won’t do once in possession of it. Fortunately for the nation, she doesn’t seem able to fake competence. In the end, she probably can’t hide this from the voters for 60 days. This is good news for Donald Trump. The post Hiding Candidates Is Now SOP for Democrats appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.