Tricia McNair: Noble Life Ministries

This past Sunday, I taught in my Sunday School Class on Effective Prayer that we should be merciful and humble. Our Lesson continued from Luke 18:1-14. We saw how Jesus connected justice and mercy. The widow was persistent in her prayers and she was asking for the unjust judge to have mercy on her and avenge her. Jesus tells us that we ought to always pray and not lose heart, and God shall avenge us, His own elect who cry out day and night to Him. Then Jesus in our text connects justice with mercy. He tells us not to trust in ourselves and not to think that God will answer just because we declare ourselves to be so righteous and persistent, but believe instead that God is a just and merciful God. We should humble ourselves before Him. It is by His grace that we receive anything. Jesus tells the story of 2 men in the temple. The Pharisee trusts in himself as being righteous ( claiming that he is not like other men) and believes he deserves to have his prayers answered because of hi...

I recently told one of my children who was going through a tough time that, "Success is not measured by the things you have, but by the character of your heart." I believe that was straight from God. There are so many times that we compare ourselves to one another, but the Bible teaches us that we should not compare ourselves to each other. "Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else." 3 Ways to be successful: 1 ) Stop comparing yourself to someone else . Focus on your strengths. Write down the key strengths you have and focus on those. As we say in business, play to your strength. Then write down your weakness or things you need to improve. Work to make your weakness play with your strength, by working to improve them based on what you need not what someone else needs from you or what someone else has that you may admire. You have to love you be...