Pastor Odie Kennedy's Pearls

I give honor to God today. I thank him for my life, health, and strength.  I thank him for the activities of my limbs,   I thank him for bringing me over the dangerous highways. I thank him for  keeping me from dangers seen and unseen. I'm saved, sanctified,  and filled with the precious Holy Ghost, and that with a mighty burning fire. And I do speak in tongues as the spirit gives utterance!  As a young girl growing up, I thought that was a cute little speech that you had to say when you stood before the people in church.  I used to think it was a rehearsed cliché that the mothers testified to each other.  Looking back now, it seems like every Sunday we went to altar and "got saved"! It was just something the young people did- either on our own, because our friends went, or because Mama said so.   When I got saved for real, the Lord did a good job! He showed me a better way to live and offered me his love. As I served him with my whole hear

I'm so happy to have an opportunity to encourage the discouraged.  Who are the discouraged? Is it the person on the corner with his sign out? Is it the person in the unemployment line? Or is it the person sitting in the pews next to me? Discouragement hits us all! Yes, even those in suits on Sunday morning, sitting right in the pews and praising God. We pray and fast, but the truth is, we still get discouraged.  Understanding the complexities of the trials we face and the pain we suffer can be a daunting task.  There are times that we feel as if the problems of our personal world is more than we can handle, but that is when it is most important to trust God.  That is when we should expect God to move. The heartbreaking story of Mephibosheth begins in 2 Samuel 4:4. At the age of 5, news came that his father Jonathon, and grandfather King Saul were both killed in war.  In a panic and attempt to keep him safe, Mephibosheth's nurse picked him up and ran.  Unfortunately, she