{"id":31428,"date":"2024-05-29T22:08:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T05:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-relationship-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-05-29T22:22:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T05:22:44","slug":"2024-heavenly_helpers","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-heavenly_helpers\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavenly Helpers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">by Max Lucado<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Heavenly Helpers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31429 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/helper-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/helper-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/helper-1-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The prophet Daniel discovered how seriously God takes our prayers. Daniel was troubled. He resolved to pray. After three weeks, Daniel saw a man with a belt of gold around his waist. His face was like lightning, his eyes on fire.\u00a0Daniel was so stunned he fell to the ground. The angel said, \u201c<strong>Don\u2019t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven<\/strong>\u2026\u201d (Daniel 10:12 NLT).<\/p>\n<p>The moment Daniel began praying, the answer was issued. Demonic forces blocked the pathway of the angel, and the impasse lasted a full three weeks. Have you prayed and heard nothing? If so, I beg you, don\u2019t give up. You have been heard in heaven. Angelic armies have been dispatched.\u00a0Just keep praying. Heaven has helpers for you.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-31430 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/6f99e26ed358a468faa0ef90846126f6-221x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"221\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/6f99e26ed358a468faa0ef90846126f6-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/6f99e26ed358a468faa0ef90846126f6.jpg 312w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Our Good Giver<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201c<strong>Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, \u2018The Lord be magnified!\u2019<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 (Psalm 40:16 NKJV).<\/p>\n<p>The grateful heart is like a magnet sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. For the jam on our toast and the milk on our cereal. For the joke that delights us and the warm sun that reminds us of God\u2019s love. For the men who didn\u2019t cheat on their wives. For the wives who didn\u2019t turn from their men. For the kids who, in spite of unspeakable pressure to dishonor their parents, decided not to do so.\u00a0<em>Thank You Lord<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>To reflect on your blessings is to rehearse God\u2019s accomplishments. To rehearse God\u2019s accomplishments is to discover his heart. To discover his heart is to discover not just good gifts but the good Giver.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31431 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/helper-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/helper-2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/helper-2-218x300.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":31430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-31428","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/31428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31428"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/31428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31433,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/31428\/revisions\/31433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31428"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=31428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}