Derek looks at the importance of being appreciative, showing appreciation in everyday life and its effects. One of the marks of being filled with the Holy Spirit is that you will be a thankful person; thankful to God for all He has done and is doing in your life, and thankful to other people.

When you are in the midst of people who are tired and discouraged and defeated, you are there to lift them up. This is Derek’s commentary on how our attitude as Christians should be wherever we go. We are to be encouragers, not discouragers. See the good and God’s ability in every situation.

Today Derek stresses the need for us to learn to be servants, putting the needs of others before ours. The decline of our country is in part because the nation has forsaken this attitude for a “me” mentality. We must be willing to follow Jesus’ example of serving and doing what we can to help and lift others up.

Derek begins looking at some practical applications of being a patriot and today talks about what he has has coined as being relatable; the kind of person that others can relate to and can relate to others. In speaking of our country and its Constitution, we are a covenant nation and need to understand what covenant means.

Derek begins this two week study into what a patriot is by defining it, but looks more at the implications scripturally of the patriot’s role in life. You are not just a single entity here living for your own self. Your life affects others whether you realize it or not. A patriot is one who fulfills his allotted role in the nation in which God has placed him.

Derek finishes this week discussing how our will must be submitted to God’s will—even before we know just what that is. As we commit ourselves to this, God will unfold His will and it will be our place to walk it out, as Jesus did, and thus glorify God in our lives.

Today Derek looks at how Jesus resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem where He knew His crucifixion awaited. He knew this was His Father’s will and that suffering and death were to be the way. But through it all, redemption for mankind would be accomplished. Jesus knew what He had to do, and did not turn from it.

To illustrate Jesus’ commitment to God’s will a little further, Derek points to His willingness to set aside His own will —no matter what that may have been —and do His father’s will instead. This death to self brings life to others. Jesus always looked to the end of something, the finished work He saw set before Him.

Today we look at some events in the life of Jesus where He practically worked out His commitment to do God’s will, and the results that followed. Jesus experienced physical restoration and a proper vision of the situation in his encounter with the woman at the well. His judgment was just because He sought God’s will first and so received discernment.

This week Derek asks us if we know what God has planned as our objective for living. He looks at the supreme example of Jesus—what motivated Him to fulfill God’s plan, that which was written about Him in Scripture. Derek then shows how our motivation should be the same, to find and do God’s will for us.