Strangely Dim… I’m not talking JUST about peanut butter M&M’s…..
One of the most true lyrics from a Jesus-inspired praise song is: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus…. and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Everything grows dim, not just the old favorites of life. Everything.
The Joy of Jesus – that amplifies my joy of life.
The Joy of Jesus also can become a quieter delight, a deeper joy of peace in chaos.
The Joy of Jesus is hope in holding onto hope eternal…
Jesus is better than the most wonderful things on earth, in addition to being a better focus for us as direction in disaster, focus during the toughest times.
And, readjusting our joy of silly things too – good and bad…
Not just peanut butter M&M’s that truly aren’t so good as I remembered….
Halloween each year is nice but not spectacular anymore, not like when I was a kid or had little kids, but should I be worried about that? No, not at all… The things of earth will grow strangely dim…. Halloween is different, my kids are grown, my tastebuds don’t like the overly sweet stuff as much now, having changed to healthier eating, and the decorations are not so important… The silly faces are ok, the gore is too fake for me to worry about, I’m not into any type of devil worshipping stuff at all – or those bitter aspects of Halloween. I mentally threw them away – those fluffy aspects of Halloween are fading away for me also, and that’s OK.
Just like my tastebuds now savor tastier treats than those blah treats of my youth, my joy-tastebuds savor truer joys… “and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”
Yes, on Halloween, I mostly enjoy seeing the joy of the people celebrating with each other. Sharing and witnessing fun joy with friends and family. With my beloved neighbors, I enjoy warm weather and a bonfire. With my solitude, I enjoyed times of focused prayer. In my thankfulness, I mostly enjoy that I was given an opportunity to enjoy the day.
Seeing the cutest little costumed kids that parents doted upon, a joy.
Seeing the levity and gratitude of work folks also in costume, fun…
Being able to find JOY IN THE JOURNEY of life is priceless…
If all good things are from God, then moments of peaceful fun are sprinkled on the cake of life… as long as we attribute this cake itself to God Himself.
Joy, who are we to mess with that…
Strangely dim is how both frivolity and fright fades in the focus of God’s grace – the hope of eternal future clears up our current path of life…
It’s Halloween, so let me rush in Christmas now – Joy to the world, the Lord has come, the Savior reigns – lyrics mesh us into Xmas, because, the truth is that Jesus does reign all the time…
Who is better than all today’s earthly troubles? Jesus.
Who is better than all earthly glitter? Jesus.
Worship not the world but Worship Jesus in Spirit and Truth.
These song lyrics are on point: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
I marvel every year how bendable strong our Jujube tree is – it gets so heavy-laden with lots and lots of little fruits. But it stretches feet lower instead of breaking. Normally you can walk under the branches, not in fruiting season.
Amazing.
I also marvel at how in a quick summer, a whole flowering to fruiting mission runs it’s course. With so little rain this year, spring and summer seasons still get the job done. Fall is fruit-fall for harvesting. Winter is perseverance and eating what preservation established. Sharing what you are saving. With this Jujube tree yearly excess in fruit, it may take a while!
Amazing.
These tree branches nearly touch the ground, but not in spring, they are inconspicuous overhead and you would never know the big job ahead. Now the fruits like shriveled apple dates will start falling and groundhogs and squirrels could sell the excess if they had the ability to cart this food around (imagine wheelbarrows instead of cheek pouches to transport). God gives in excess and what doesn’t get eaten melt back into compost naturally. God provides for all his creatures.
Amazing.
I’m too afraid to eat these jujube, but I probably should try.
Fruits of the Spirit are like that too, sometimes we are afraid to use them, but God makes them totally available. God hangs them on us after He makes us strong and flexible. We must bend so that we don’t break. The fruits may be few and huge or many and tiny.
In a good season, the bounty probably is enough to touch many lives. We must share the wealth otherwise the fruit will fall at our feet and rot. Or sometimes we can run around shedding fruit, and creatures unknown to us will pick up the fruits which are still good. Sometimes we can take charge of the wheelbarrow and spread the wealth. Sometimes the people come to us. Sometimes it feels lonely that we have so much to give and who even wants any… Well, people are hungry for what they don’t know. Share anyway and grab a wheelbarrow and go to them, instead of waiting for others to come to you.
We have an opportunity to share what it means to share. We can reach where we can stretch, so stay flexible. REACH.
Galatians 5:22-23 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
These sharings are huge difference makers in themselves, but perhaps fruit hung by God on you in small doses just like the jujube tree, so you don’t worry about delivering massive watermelons of blessings if you are simply asked to give small but meaningful doses of blessings. “No gift is too small.” And let the Holy Spirit be your guide. He knows how and where to share. He knows how you work in God’s Plan. Remember the tree does not make the fruit for its own consumption. God changes your season and will change your vision. Fruits of the Spirit are for blessing all.
Be open to the seasons of Spirit and seasons of life. Get ready to use each of them for God’s Glory. Springing flowers show up, Summering flowers get to work, Harvest Fruits make for a Free-for-all Fall, Persevere and Preserve in Winter to help you start again. Seasons of life. Build up your muscles for each. Always be willing to SHARE. If God gave it to you, it is God’s gift for you to share. All good things come from God.
This tree is but one tree. It has been provided by God. So have you. Fruit is not heavy to break you, just God being an opportunist thru you. Amen —
A Tree and Its Fruit
Jesus taught: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:43-45
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Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. James 1:9-10
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:22-25
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Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16 (of David)
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Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 2:2-6
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“Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:14-15
Years ago, I was singing one particular version of Amazing Grace from a praise band service – a beautiful rendition by an amazing soprano whom I always tried to copy in vocals… I was repeating this song over and over and found myself in a situation where I was called to act to try to wake up a swerving gas tanker truck driver – I can’t say that I knew God wanted me to act – to intervene – but I think I would have acted anyway because I had to try something to wake up the driver!!!… and I honked and honked to the tune of Amazing Grace for about three to four miles and then finally – FINALLY – he pulled over to the side of the road – finally he woke up from his erratic way…
I had to sit and digest this for an hour before getting out of my car that day, praising and thanking God… But what really sealed the deal for me – in knowing it WAS God Himself in this intervention – was because on the NEXT day I was driving on that EXACT same stretch of highway and “by chance” the same Amazing Grace song randomly came up on the shuffle of the CD – I smiled because I knew – I knew this was God giving me a glimpse of HOW He and His Angels work in a Hidden Army – of how He uses me (and all of us) as His tools … and how He comforts me in a whisper to know that He was the one keeping me safe… Yes, to know God is to be thankful of His thoughts of us and us being thankful for the Grace He gives…
So – each day let us KNOW God IS in control and to trust in the Lord…
Another God sighting – I “randomly” put in the same CD when I left the house an hour prior – and when I hit that same stretch of highway and that same version of Amazing Grace came on – well, yeah the memory flooded back into me!!! I gave smiles to God for such sweet a sound… Today, this God sighting had no swerving trucks or crisis – but I was praying a prayer of discernment at that very moment – I was running thru potential scenarios with God for a particular convoluted and sticky problem – I was talking to God by praising and praying, thanking and singing – just focusing on the blessings He has given me so far.
I believe that it’s God and God alone who can just answer our sticky questions – and even if I can’t even vocalize my issues well enough, God knows that sometimes we ONLY have wordless groans (Romans 8:26) and understands anyway… So while I was singing Amazing Grace on that stretch of road, I thought “what are my options here God” – and God answered – from LEFT FIELD – His answer came by pulling a random thought to try to address my problem – wow wow wow – out of the blue? Out of the Grace of God. Even if this answer won’t fix everything – at least He answered because I asked. He showed me support to say “I’ve got this”.
He knew I needed an answer and a direction and the assurance that He DOES answer. He gave me an option – He was just opening my mind and He found that random tidbit of info and put it into the forefront of my thinking… Brilliant!!! Brilliant God!!!… You made me smile – You essentially knew I needed You to light my path… You found me in that special highway spot with that special song. So I smiled in Joy.
Thanks Lord for bringing me “safe thus far”…
“Through many dangers, toils and snares… I have already come. Tis Grace has brought me safe thus far… and Grace will lead us home.”
Thanks God – THANKS for the support – THANKS for the Grace
Football is a team sport – offense and defense and special teams are unique lines, but BASEBALL uses everyone on both “offense” and “defense” (pinch-hitters aside). Baseball is a team sport of individuals and requires coordination of single plays. The team, with different pitchers and lineups, even mid-season trades, could be a different team each game but they are aTEAM right in that moment.
A TEAM. God’s crew is me and you. We are on God’s Team!
Life games and life GAINS. God wants us on His Team. God wants to be with us. God already picked us for His team, but sadly some trade themselves away to be devoted to other games. God picked us to be called up for the life-forever-league and places us on these current teams to make a difference as workers in the field. With a priceless payment of Jesus’s blood, God paid our way to secure the best team too. He chose us before we chose Him! God only has us on the scoring side, on the offense, in the line that gains ground. God is ALREADY our best defense, we only need to hide under His wings.
Jesus was able to tell His disciples (72 sent out as workers) about the benefits of living under all Godly authority, and even having an opportunity in seeing evil demons submit. Jesus, having seen Satan fall from the sky, said the disciples (and we) should rejoice MORE that their/our names were WRITTEN IN HEAVEN (see Luke 10). When we come to a saving faith in Jesus, we now have an “open door that no one can shut”. (See Revelation 3)
We are on earthly teams, and sometimes they win and sometimes they lose. But FOREVER we are on God’s Team – and He already won, so we just need to play through…
He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame.
He won us! He picked us! We ARE God’s Team!!!
Amen
Jesus sent out 72 disciples in pairs to share the Word (Luke 10:16-21): “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”
Revelation 3:1-6 – “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 3:7-13 – “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 17:14 – “They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Ephesians 1:3-7 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace…
Don’t get pulled offsides, we know this in football, but real life we also need to see the schemers and detractors, the potholes of life… but instead we need to KEEP ON TRACK…
STRENGTHEN, pray the Lord to strengthen you against loosing your cool. Strengthen the hold on our tongues when we want to snap at someone. Keep our resolve to LISTEN and obey and look beyond the fray of today… Don’t get pulled offsides.
Nehemiah (rebuilder of the walls and gates of Jerusalem after the exile) had detractors who nipped at his toes, angered his foes, and made stinky lies right under his nose. Nehemiah resisted and kept on working. God told him to do the work to bring back the city of Jerusalem and God’s Hand was on them…. Why should he stop? Why should he let the bad guy get the best of him when God Himself had given him a job to do. These enemies wanted to lure him to where they could hurt him, but worse hurt his reputation and cause him to sin.
Nehemiah saw the smoke screen which IS the devil’s scheme… smoke but no fire… a blinding predicament, but we are to focus above…
We all need to remember to keep our cool and not retaliate for it causes us to sin. Turn the other cheek. Put yourself into your work. Nehemiah finished the wall in 52 days. Imagine what God can do with just one day of you listening and working thru issues…
Whether you are building a wall, reaching God’s people, or quiety winning a war of words, let God fight your battle. When it is “realized that this work had been done with the help of our God”, who can stand against God?!!!! No one.
Lord I pray, strengthen my resolve, hold onto my tongue, and strengthen my hands to complete my work FOR You.
Amen
Amen
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Nehemiah 6:1-16
When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”
But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
A famous weatherman slipped into a trap a few years ago… some organized crime-run situation, plied him with alcohol, drugged him and ran up his credit accounts like crazy $100,000 over a weekend. Devious! Devil’s play…
Sometimes the devil pulls us across lines sometimes… And if there is a willing partner or player whose own devil is working hard at pulling them past their lines, well you can get that “snowball effect”… or maybe call it dancing with fire… Either way, you are apt to get burned… BUT God would take you back in a heartbeat, God would forgive if you repented… And we are to look to Jesus as our Gatekeeper.
Solomon speaks to this reality, urging God to hear the repenting cries, in 1st Kings 8:46-50:
“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them … … Then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy…“
A book my pastor gave me was my flight companion, a really good read… In Chapter 4 of Rob Fuquay’s book “The God We Can Know” he writes about knowing God’s care… Jesus is the gatekeeper for the sheep. the gate represents security. Sheep would go out through the gate for daily living – the gate led to joy. The sheep came in through the gate at night at the dark times for security. Who was in charge of the gate? Jesus.
Jesus, the shepherd, our shepherd, our LIGHT of the world, would let the sheep go in and out (just like us)… but when it’s time to stay in for security at night, the shepherd sleeps against the door to keep the sheep in his fold. Jesus is our gatekeeper… The scripture is John 10: 7-9 “So again Jesus said to them: ‘Very truly I tell you I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture’.”
So yes, as we, HIS sheep, look for Jesus as our gatekeeper. We are really supposed to be looking for that gate, that boundary line. Jesus will hold us in with His body, hold us as one of His own. And if we are lost, Jesus will still come find us and shine HIS LIGHT on our dark path. His real shepherd flesh and blood saves us… So that we are not deviled away by our enemies or by ourselves. Yes God will take us back, but it’s safer and it’s less painful if we stay away from crossing the line in the first place.
We will all approach boundary lines again and again! A church friend once encouraged me to draw lines and keep them – I can see as he motions like a baseball player drawing a line in the dirt with his foot. Yeah draw your own line, hold your line, and get ready for the next pitch.
I was about to finish this essay in my head as I put my son to bed. He told me how he told his friend that night that God does not want us to be afraid. Truth from the mouths of babes, he is a spirit-led boy! He’s right, God does not want us to be afraid… God wants us to prepare ourselves for life… God says “I AM with you always”!!!
I pray God’s grace always to keep my and everyone’s eyes open, and our boundary lines clear… I pray for others seeing the LIGHT of Jesus that God sheds on my lines so I may plainly see them. Thanks God for security, for Jesus, and for the opportunity to step up to the plate. Batter up!
Grateful that I got to share a blessed opportunity to talk about spiritual gifts and spiritual skillsets and callings and Fruits of the Spirit. This was for “Pledge Sunday” – where we make a commitment to the church financially for the year. I also shared the Children’s Message – for which I had paper bags filled with a few items – from the words of the Fruits of the Spirit – to coins for the offering – to pumpkin seeds to share – to sunflower seeds to plant – explaining that we share our gifts and talents to show people and encourage them to pray and know their gifts from God too. – some seeds were big and small – and unique – we are all unique in our skills and how we fit together as the body of the church. I also included little scripture cards, explaining that it was most important to share the Word, as God IS the ultimate WHY!
Here is the sermon (and as I spoke I added reminders to the items I had shown in the children’s message)
Good morning – what a BLESSED morning to share a BLESSED subject – what great weather and prayers for a Holy Spirit filled day! I am going to start from a part of Psalm 1
Psalm 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.
I used to sing this song in a praise band with my friends – “I will delight in the Law of the Lord – I will meditate day and night – Then like a tree firmly planted I’ll be – Grounded in Your Word.” Love that song – I actually have the lyrics posted on my wall. “Bless-ed is the one who follows the Way of the Lord – bless-ed is the one.”
I love the imagery and understanding of growth and planting and harvest and especially being grounded – secured – stable – as well as watered, nourished and filled with the holy spirit to do good works – to share our knowledge of Jesus. Harvest – this is the season of harvest in life and people – (we ARE ever closer to end times) – and what a great calling we have in setting good fruit for the future generations.
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The scriptures are full of Trees / Vines / Fruit – Jesus even introduced in the Old Testament with this imagery of Trees – A BIG prophesy from Isaiah, the prophet who found himself sharing God’s direction and Hope in a divided set of kingdoms – he spoke looking toward to promised times of Jesus coming out of the stump of the tree of Jesse through the house of David.
Jesus Himself said “I am the vine – you are the branches – Our Father is the Vinedresser” – What a great amazing ability to be the fruit-bearing tree from Jesus’s Line! I think of God’s fruit as not being TOO HEAVY – when Jesus is holding us up – we can share these fruits of HIS LABOR.
Another great scripture speaks of our Fruitful Growth in the Faith – which Mike shared – adding one attribute to another – interlocking them – building upon them – These are told by Peter, who learned a thing or two about His faith and His maturity by His interactions with Jesus as God directly on earth and the Holy Spirit understanding after He rose. We are all a bit like Peter – what a great example God gives us for a flawed but “perfecting saint” in Peter – the rash and emotional one – he got scared so much that he denied his Lord and Savior to whom He swore he would fight the world for – JESUS FORGAVE – Peter who learned a lot about the nature of Christ – about his gentleness as well as firmness… Peter said we are to learn these “skillsets” so that we won’t be un-fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter urges us to make our call and election sure – for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In Romans 12, Paul asked all of us – reminding us – we are many parts in His Body of Believers – we are all part of God’s puzzle. A friend once showed that to me – at a retreat – imagine each of us a puzzle piece God has made.
Paul would write: in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Galatians – the FRUITS of the SPIRIT – I have this great brochure, loved this as soon as I got my hands on it. – the scriptures and imagery – the lessons. I thought of some observations and questions for ourselves from these fruits – remember God hangs these fruits on us for HIS GLORY to be known
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. JOY is different from happiness. Can we be JOYFUL FOR the Lord’s benefit? Bear fruit on our branch for nourishing His future harvest? Can we be JOYFUL for the benefit of His people? – No one likes a Grumpy Gus – yeah we laugh at the Oscar the grouches but some people actually have to deal with them – perhaps they need our reminders of JOY. If we have known Joy – in the Lord – from KNOWING that He has everything under control – long term – from Knowing our salvation and His Love – can we be JOYFUL????
Yes. JOY
Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we share PEACE? Look for inner PEACE branching from that special place inside us? How many times – even at work – people look to a church faith filled person for that peace – NOT necessarily that we are stepped over or on by our easygoingness but that we are steadfast – but that we offer ourselves and our attitudes in peace.
Yes. PEACE
Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we be PATIENT as His branches grow in us? Taking their time each growing season to work and each winter season to rest? Will you demonstrate listening to the Lord before you act? BE STILL
Yes. PATIENCE
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we branch off His Vine of being KIND? Will we be KIND even if others are not kind to you?
Yes. KINDNESS
Generosity is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we find an opportunity to share the means that were/are truly is gifted by the Lord? Including His generous Spirit? Will we give from not just our excesses but willingly extend our branch so His Vine can bless others? (this is a great attribute for pledge Sunday) – and this is NOT JUST MONEY – this is of our time and our talents – service the Lord by not becoming that ineffective dead branch – because you know that the Lord throws those into the fire!!!
Yes. GENEROSITY
Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we FAITHFULLY trust and then FAITHFULLY act? Will you let the Lord grow your branch stronger? Will you step out a little further in faith because He makes you strong?
Yes. FAITHFULNESS
Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we flow His gentle touch to those who need compassion and help? Will you prepare the fruit of your vine to bite-sized pieces? Make it more shareable with all?
Yes. GENTLENESS
Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we calmly show His strength without overbearance or flaunting? Can we take a step back to listen before charging forward blindly, even if “for Him”? Will we be an example of self-control?
Yes. SELF-CONTROL
Love is a fruit of the Spirit. Can we SHINE JESUS LOVE? Will you both LOVE until it hurts and LOVE until it helps? Will you Love because Jesus loves? Will we recognize Love even in correction by God? Jesus reminds us: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.YES LOVE
And people don’t always know to use the gifts – or maybe they do and we don’t notice, but yes, sadly we notice when people don’t use their gifts – nor look to God to help them be productive – it is just sad – and Jesus even says: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Luke 6:43
He said: If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. …..This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
And that brings us to the ultimate WHY – why do we have these gifts??? – as we all do have gifts – and we are all unique – SO we are to share them – Why share these gifts? – we show ourselves to be disciples – we help create new disciples and we share the Word
The ULTIMATE WHY IS ALWAYS FOR GOD’S GLORY –
Our stewardship of gifts, our fruit of the Spirit given by God – onto our Branch of His Vine Jesus – our ability to be sharers of His Fruit. Kindness and Generosity hand in hand. Yes, stewardship of finances and also ALL of our gifts from God, to share – and our spirit WILL look for opportunities to share – IF WE DECIDE TO HELP THE VINEDRESSER AND HELP THE VINE JESUS FLOW THROUGH OUR VEINS.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
It also says the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. – but we do know them and therefore we need to share these things to help other people know about God – know that He is generous and know that they can pray like we can pray and talk to God.
So many of us grew up in a building like this. A church filled with church people who love God. But more and more these days, people don’t come into buildings like previous times. And they don’t get to hear the things that we are hearing. And they may not know anything in this Bible about God let alone Jesus. So that’s why we’re going to share our talents, our food, and some of our money as well.
Most important thing is for them to know God better. Tap into endless Spirit
Yes, we like a nice church, sure, but we have to remember it is not always about us – hardly ever should it be – and You and I ARE BLESSED, we Holy Spirit landed in this little church with a big impact. But we know we do need to NOT keep all this for ourselves. It needs to be a springboard to the week, a trampoline… to spread the Word of God out to those people who are lost. We invite people to have opportunities to hear the heart changing Word – the Salvation assurance – the HOPE of JESUS – that is the ultimate why.
And with that let me leave you with this one scripture and then we will have our pledge message.
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.
What was a POTENTIALLY scary or uncomfortable experience became probably the BEST conversion I’ve had in weeks, months, years…
A wandering walking person motioned to me as I was getting gas in my car, listening to a work meeting, eating my breakfast. Yes, I multitask while I get full service gas at this particular pump, and my window was closed, I couldn’t understand what the gentleman was saying, making a circle image with his hands. I continued to set up my pump station assistant, through the open passenger window, a gas guy whom I’ve been working with for 5 plus years, and then figured I should open my window to the motioning grey hair gentleman. I never felt in danger, but I was already wondering if I had cash or coins to give. His eyes were so kind and I really thought he was going to ask for money and yet his smile was priceless. He even said later: “I bet you thought I was going to ask for money” – he never did.
As I opened the window to the conversation, I was filled with the Spirit pouring in. This man saw my round bumper sticker magnet that said: “JESUS IS COMING”, “everybody look busy”). He wanted to tell me: ‘YES, Jesus is coming back soon! He talked about rapture. How this world is only temporary.’ And to his SURPRISE, I was able to complete most all his sentences and verse recitations. He was just as Spirit appreciative as me to talk Jesus.
Talk Jesus with compassion and Corrective Vision towards this world. These are not rose-colored glasses that all on earth is hunkydory, these are lenses that focus on scratches in society, broken frames od living, smudges of truth. We see what Jesus sees, sadly, and wonder what where and when… Jesus WILL come back to get us, coming again with us as His army. We do need to get ready, not just looking busy but being into His business here on earth.
I really don’t know if this man at the gas station was homeless, his name is Mike. I know another homeless man Mike around the corner from there who is super awesome to talk with. I wonder if this man simply looked like homeless (I think maybe I often do with all the stuff piled in my car) – and we are all perceived to the physical eye to conform or not to “normal “. Well, it IS special in NOT conforming to this world. See, with corrective vision (seeing the world through Jesus eyes) and being seen by Jesus, that we are to be doing our FATHER’S work by the Spiritual gifts GIFTED. We are also to be seeing life with a lens of forgiveness. We also are to come to the Lord in a broken spirit for His repair, not come with a sacrifice we duct-taped together like a bumper held up on a car – but with a full need for an engine overhall – or at least our windows cleaned.
I did want to get back on the road, I’m glad that I was wrong to worry, we ARE jaded these days. The world is worldly and we blend in to that. I AM glad I opened my window – my car window and my heart window. I remembered thinking “is there any catch to this?” – even my gas station guy looked at me knowingly as he handed me my receipt. No – just a good faith conversation – and maybe even the gas station guy listened in – maybe. I DO thank the Lord for this pit stop to gas up my car and my spirit – a fresh filling – a refreshing experience. I WILL TAKE ENCOURAGEMENT ANY DAY.
Window not washed by human hands but sparkling clear by Jesus.
That my friends is Corrective Vision.
Amen
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A psalm scripture from David who realized that he needed repentance and a clean heart. He realized that the Lord gives repentance. We should all ask for clean hearts and corrective conviction no matter what worldly ways we have. Come with a broken spirit – looking for a clean up – a carry on encouragement.
Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
I love that scripture sentiment – that saying sincerity – that simple scolding – just because others are going down bad roads doesn’t give you the right to – don’t pay evil with evil – don’t neglect the Lord wants us to take the high road…
If you are wronged – you can wait until God makes it right. Might not be now or even in your lifetime – but just wait on the Lord.
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
One of the things that stands in my memory is when my dad spoke about a person who wronged both him and wronged a community and wronged a business and did everything that he was supposedly against. When someone touts a Godly life, one would hope they would live it too. But people ARE fallible. People get wrapped up in greed and going overboard. People forget to be JesusGod-like in serving and in humbleness and in giving away things and instead try to be GodAlmighty-like in that majesty and power. People (we too) forget that God didn’t earn that power or get authority to authorize it – He just IS God – He didn’t become God – HE IS – HE WAS – HE WILL ALWAYS BE GOD.
My dad was fine – burned him a lot internally and externally – but he was exonerated when this one person who was going down, tried to take my dad down too… My dad always remembered – saw a BIG example – and so do we – bad things can happen when they/we aren’t watching our self-control. Evil can work thru human nature like burping up pieces of that apple that Adam and Eve bit – we as a human race are permeated with evil. All sin is equal to the Lord – we are not more righteous than others – we are supposed to only be compared to the righteousness of the Lord. We need Him to help us run a good race and not stop at every fake rest stop – only stop to rest in HIM. Then keep running.
If you were in a situation like the one my dad was in – and like to think of revenge – DON’T. Just think about people getting their just do – just let God handle it. King David wrote a whole Psalm 37 about that – about the path of evil and how God will prevail – and how we are to cling to what is good. Once God has us, He won’t let go.
Also – don’t conform to the world – cling to God – that is why Paul was writing the Galatians – to not think like the old order people who demanded xyz, think and act like NEW Christians – alive and reborn in Christ. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. – Not for freedom of xyz – but for freedom of committing ourselves to the Lord and be righted by His righteousness…
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
We got no right to wrong the wrong – just keep walking forward into the Light.
AMEN
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Psalm 37 of David. (NIV)
Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.
The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.
Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
But the wicked will perish:Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.
The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously; those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be destroyed.
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.
Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,and their tongues speak what is just. The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.
The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, intent on putting them to death; but the Lord will not leave them in the power of the wicked or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
Hope in the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.
I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found.
Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked.
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
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Galatians 5:7-8, 13-17
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
….
Life by the Spirit You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
I finished my big report! Now, all these little things I can do. Because it was like a giant log that was stuck and it passed, and now the rest of the water can flow, LOTS of little stick projects.
I prayed and prayed, not sure why this was that tough, but when I relied on God it was MUCH better. Jesus looked at me and essentially said: With your cluttered brain flow it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible. Put me first!… Yup!
I sort of sorted my priorities better and God found me the time to focus. I even found a rock in a jacket pocket that said “Focus” exactly when I needed it, to focus on Him to sharpen my focus on time and projects and life.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, put the big thing in first, like the rock order in that life organizing video lesson.
Plus I’m getting ready for a big plans and so there’s LOT’S of things I want to finish up. (We all do). And I can enjoy doing them even though it’s a ton of work. So if we can do this for life, why can’t we do this for death as well? Why can’t we see the big log as passed and focused on all the little things and some of those other big logs too, get them moving down stream. I mean, if we know that our salvation is set, by the blood of Jesus, then can’t we live our lives in JOY and just get stuff done for the Lord?
LEAVE THE STREAMS OF STRESS. FOLLOW JESUS.
I had a new insight re-reading a great old scripture story. I KNOW we KNOW Jesus said: FOLLOW ME. He also said how hard it is for people to trust Him and how hard it is for people to follow Him over TRUSTING and following their wealth and their plans and all those things they imagined for their life. They can’t flow because they are too busy stacking wood and never using it, sorting gravel and not the big rocks. We can’t get life in order if we don’t trust Him Whom orders it.
JESUS said GIVE and you will get 100-fold more. Jesus said TRUST and we do know through experience how much peace that gives. Jesus said and says FOLLOW and we do know He knows where we are going.
If we get our comfortablility with death peace piece in order, then life will probably flow better.
Jesus said the last will be first, well yeah. I bet when we get to Heaven (I’m praying for meeting you all there), we will say: “what were we so worried about on earth?! Jesus was right! ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD!”
LIKE NOW UP TO GOOD, JESUS GOOD.
AMEN
Matthew 10:17-31 NKJV
Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
With God All Things Are Possible
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who TRUST in riches to enter the kingdomof God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
Ah – that is us after a good sleep – that is my morning time with God – God is saying “Don’t neglect the real reason you are still on this earth: to help others get to know Me better.” Ah… That’s why we are here: to love God, to know God loves us, and to make Him known to a broken world. Jesus jumpstarts our journeys – let’s ride with the Lord.
“WHY CAN’T WE HAVE A REVIVAL?” – that’s what the sweet, gentle but direct statement was – by a woman recently at a public church meeting for one of my churches. I don’t know personally if people have the energy to plan one. I know agendas change in life. I’ve heard of these REVIVAL celebrations before, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never been to one. (that is something isn’t it – 50 years my age and never been to a revival tent – and yet there are concerts and great potlucks – and the like – and YES, CHURCH SERVICES and RETREAT WALKS which deliver the crucial scriptures into our lives. But what about that “revival” of old? Is it gone like the ice cream socials? melted away?
Are we as a Christian nation like Hezekiah thinking he was dying but not wanting to die (Isaiah 38:18-20: “For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness. The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.”
Why can’t we just get out there and sing and preach and fill the tent or pavilion? I don’t know, I guess we just aren’t in that mode. We need to be. God bless those who are! Hopefully we do tell our children of God’s faithfulness. Wouldn’t it be so cool if everyone did. Wouldn’t it be so cool to have a summer revival tent event? Perhaps we are to focus on those events within our means these days and yet if thousands of people can gather for a sporting event, where are we lacking ideas for revival tents? I know vacation bible school is fairly close to the celebration feeling, but not exactly what REVIVAL meetings in the old days were – but maybe…. Music festivals I have heard about, used to be a great youth camping and support system experience, before the pandemic, but not active now. A Tent Meeting REVIVAL was a big thing of the past 200 years, I’ve seen one precious “permanent” one near the shore, but I guess people aren’t campers much anymore. Oh how we really should simply camp out with the Lord in our own closed bedrooms and listen. Oh how we should get out there to His people after that…
We need a REVIVAL – That is also what God says, and He’s got one planned post the RAPTURE, maybe before, so I wonder if we aren’t planning one now ourselves, HOW CAN WE HELP WITH HIS? – God’s Heavens are our tent for revival:“He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”
I have a couple ideas for a Rapture-Remnant-REVIVAL-Recipe, to prepare ahead of time, because we caught up in the sky won’t be able to start the oven. But we can leave the ingredients in the fridge with instructions. Here’s a sample recipe: One, buy bibles and leave them in multiple places. Two: mark passages in the bibles for direct passages to help people understand what happened, mark passages for them to have Jesus at their fingertips. I even have an idea for sticky note tape flags preprinted that we open these bibles and flag exact spots with notes. I would love someone or a Christian Publishing company to run with that. We could make our own too. Here’s a couple for the REVIVAL-Remnant-Recipe (please let me know more in replying for some others and perhaps we can make that list):
Matthew 10:16 – Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Ah… That IS a great verse – that’s like what I heard from that sweet woman asking “Why can’t we have a revival?!” That was Holy Spirit itching and scratching in her. She spoke innocently like a Dove. Yet, she showed both sheep-following to our Lord, but spoke shrewd truth – ‘why can’t we have a REVIVAL?’ Let’s not be wolves of our own time on earth. The Lord will renew our strength – let us look to HIM.
Lord, help us help you. AMEN!
Where are my sticky notes?
Amen!
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Isaiah 36-39 is great storyline of God and Hezekiah and Isaiah
Isaiah 40 is strength for Jerusalem and for us all. – BIG STICKY NOTE GOING HERE!
Comfort for God’s People Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him? As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
I had a disappearing dream, I rolled over and ignored it, picking a good and better mental storyline to focus on for getting extra sleep. That moment with God, giving me a good devotion writing idea, truly slipped away from me because I really didn’t feel like getting up, I said “just a bit more sleep please Lord”, then that devotion-writing time was gone, only with the remembrance of the theme I was supposed to write: LIVE IN THE MOMENT.
I was sleeping in the moment and not necessarily listening – but that is us every day – we really miss SO MUCH of what the Lord is saying to us, showing us.
I did remember tidbits of thoughts – I remember wanting to write about the previous day’s beautiful sunrise. The cat actually beckoned me awake, I saw it, intense reds, and then it was gone. That beautiful sunrise lasted only a moment, and that means all our moments last but a short time. We are a mist, God is forever.
I think that red beautiful sunrise before the rain set in was a warning of a storm to come that day (and it came). And woe on us when we don’t heed every sunrise as a moment to embrace the new day.
I am thankful for the good nights sleep, I am MORE thankful to let God reveal Himself in this day today.
Amen
James 4:13-17 – Boasting About Tomorrow
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Don’t they say “Living well is the best revenge !” !?! Well, it’s not necessarily quoting scripture because God is to revenge, not us, but indirectly it IS good to absorb that thought in a personal way as a stepping stone out of anger – of a good motivation to move past struggling with our current, past and future circumstances or even enemies. And this means that we essentially leave our past in the dust – even the past that we inflicted on ourselves – plus we leave our enemies’ influence behind us. We can live on better than best, because we realize that we are OK (don’t sweat the small stuff). Is it revenge? WELL, maybe that is not what we need to say is our motivation because revenge entails a jealousy in ourselves to be in a better spot. Let’s just say we want to LIVE WELL and GROW from our current circumstances.
Scripture actually says a lot about enemies including: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” – Wow, Roman’s 12 says SO MUCH – really worth a read (see below). Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. – This IS an ENCOURAGEMENT TO GROW – applying Jesus forgiveness into our lives.
Isaiah, the prophet of the Old Testament times (in a divided set of kingdoms of Israel and Judah who were both fighting with various enemies left behind because they didn’t completely settle the Promised Land exactly like God asked them too) was looking towards promised times in the future – getting the people of the day to repent from their wicked ways (a theme throughout the Old Testament) and move forward – AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO GROW. Isaiah spoke of Jesus foretold, a Savior coming out of the stump of the tree of Jesse through the house of David and His Love (and corrections) stretching out the front door into the rest of the world. Isaiah learned and prophesied about Jesus coming from what God told him to write – and Isaiah learned that only the redeemed would be able to re-joined into this Divine Vine. Jesus Himself said “I am the Vine – you are the branches – Our Father is the Vinedresser”. Jesus redeems us.
GROW. We have a great amazing ability to be the fruit-bearing tree from Jesus’s Line. We have encouragement to Grow – and this also includes forgiving our enemies and moving forward. This also is us bearing fruit for the world to see that God is active in our lives.
Ah this truth is like the praise band song that we used to sing from Psalm 1 – “I will delight in the Law of the Lord – I will meditate day and night – Then like a tree firmly planted I’ll be – Grounded in Your Word.” I LOVE that song – I have the lyrics posted on my wall. “Bless-ed is the one who follows the Way of the Lord – Bless-ed is the one.”
Following in the Way of the Lord is really our best way – loving our enemies is so tough but that is how we GROW – take the command of forgiveness and perhaps try to apply sadness of their lostness – or self-correction of our self-centeredness. And if we have trouble with that forgiveness, even of forgiving ourselves, perhaps we best simply ask Jesus to apply forgiveness for us – and to rescue us from the tough dormant state of not growing more.
Instead of saying: “Living well is the best revenge” – they should say: “Forgiveness is the best amend”. We are to know that forgiveness really is free-ing. That IS the Way God works – we get closest to God by being forgiven of our humanness. We are “saints-becoming” (as a friend would say) because of our “grounded-ness” in the Word and springing of Jesus inside us Grows us in that restored state of God’s lineage Line and His Vine.
Let us let Jesus flow thru us and replenish the parched spots in our souls with the Living Water of the Lord. ENCOURAGEMENT TO GROW.
Amen
(and please read these 4 scripture passages – amazing how they “GROW” WELL together)
Psalm 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
—
Isaiah 35: Joy of the Redeemed The desert and the parched land will be glad;the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts,“Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
—-
Romans 12
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Humble Service in the Body of Christ – For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Love in Action – Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
—
John 15:1-17 – The Vine and the Branches “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Friday the 13th does not scare me! End times? That’s a different story.
But oh, what a wonderful resource to listen to and read very scholarly pastors talking about end times, especially the RAPTURE and the SECOND COMING OF JESUS.
COOL…
Now you do have to check everything you hear and read against the Bible itself. But there’s no shame in “cheating off the smart kid” who has put together the scriptures.
Of course I won’t understand all/any/much of this end times till I see it, but I do believe it, I believe it without seeing it. I Believe that we will see Jesus (one way or the other) sooner than later, because I DO believe in Jesus.
1Thessalonians 4:17 – Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:52 – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
So here’s a set of snapshots of the magazine article I am reading, Friday the 13th has no luck (bad or good) compared to Jesus. As the pastor author (Chuck Smith) writes: “You don’t want to be here when the great tribulation occurs, you want to be among the saints who come with him when He returns. Put your Faith in Jesus Christ today. Glorious days are ahead, look up, it’s getting close.
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. ” Matthew 25:13
Be ready for Jesus! Lord and Savior and Blessed Redeemer.
The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
A friend and I spoke of how we are quite sheltered from the world’s hot spots – the news of Israel, even Ukraine, let alone the inner city issues in other areas. These are heard about IF we listen. We are sheltered and yet things happen here too. If we didn’t watch the news we barely would even know, right? Or even with the news, real stories are quickly buried under fluffy celebrity news. And I’ve seen it many times, local playoffs are lead story lines in local news, and yet who can blame us for clinging to joy and hopeful things.
National news we do hear more snippets when we seek out info, we actually could get blow by blow blogging for war’s atrocities at our fingertips, and even get ‘too much’ wrapped into things, while we luxuriate in our easy chairs. Then again, one friend said: “I can’t fix it, so I ignore it.” Hmmmm… that doesn’t seem right either.
So BIG picture, do we really try to understand the world or do we try to understand how we got to where we are? The news said this was “uncharted territory”, yes and no. True BIG picture, can we see it? Not usually. We can’t make out blow by blow (would we want to?). Remember BIG BIG picture, as in God BIG, we have to tap into God’s Plan through His Prophecies to even try to understand. And if we can’t, we simply need to just TRUST GOD that all things will work out – if not in this world than in the next. We will and should tap into His Spirit to trust Him more.
Prophecies, studying Old Testament Isaiah is crucial to our BIG BIG picture focus. Isaiah wrote as the God-revelation for the day for correction and for Hope. God ALSO intended it as the newsletter to the future. We do have source material, and a prophet sent from God. So let’s read it. And if you simply need the movie cliffnotes, there’s great videos too – don’t shy away from trying to understand. For example, see this great Bible Story version:
Isaiah chapters in the 30’s, we learn of Jerusalem, the seat of Israel’s worship, God’s focus, and how it continued to go off kilter, as well as be at war with certain nations, Assyria and then later Babylon. Isaiah had witnessed kings and split kingdoms (see 2nd Kings), and was instructed by God to warn. Prophecies from Isaiah chapters 32, 33, 34 kept rolling out the warnings, out the door like a printing press. Their HOPE got included in the news as well. BIG HOPE. A SAVIOR AND A NEW JERUSALEM. This is news we should not bury in the back pages of our hearts.
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
So, hopefully HOPE is not lost in this moment of monumental turmoil. Help make ‘awareness’ not ‘a-war-ness’ our mission.
There IS something we CAN do: keep living in hope, keep sharing the Good News: Jesus came and He is ever so much closer to coming again. If we think we don’t know how it will all work out, God does – Trust HIM!
Amen
—
Here’s chapters 32 to 34, excepts:
The Kingdom of Righteousness
See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
…
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
…
No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water. Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand.
…
The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
…
Distress and Help
Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, betrayer, you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.
…
Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter. Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
…
“Now will I arise,” says the Lord. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you. The peoples will be burned to ashes; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”
…
You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power! The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil— they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.
…
Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
…
Judgment Against the Nations
Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
…
All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed.
Hmmm, I started thinking of Adam and Eve and how their pain was so significant after the bite of the forbidden fruit and their eyes were too wide for that knowledge that they were being shielded from. It’s not just a knowledge tree, it’s a buffer to God’s pain knowledge. Then pain of separation walking freely with God. They hid. God went looking. Well, they and we now share the pain of having knowledge too much, and see the evil that Satan brought into the world, unless we turn a blind eye.
We see and God could say: welcome to my pain. Instead Jesus said: Let me cover this with my blood over all of theirs.
We often think of Jesus’s pain, earthly pain, as we are human too. Imagine His mental sorrow over the continued loss of souls who don’t reconnect with Him. Well, eyes open now see darkness where there should be light. Instead let us pray for all to have the eyes of their hearts opening.
Eyes too wide,
Evil is snide.
Hearts opening wide,
God sees all inside.
Light has come into the world.
Darkness has no where to hide.
Shining the Light from inside,
Spirit lead me in Your Strong Stride.
Jesus crush the evil that bubbles from brokenness inside.
Let us forgive all, as You forgive our pride.
Jesus, please SHINE from inside.
Amen
—
In the beginning… Genesis 2:4-17
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 3:14-15
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
I am reminded by the Lord to keep reading and writing out of Isaiah… to keep moving, sharing and reminding folks that GOD MEANS BUSINESS in His Plan… and He in Himself is all we need to have direction in our lives. We all need to call out and listen to Him. And reading that Jesus Calling entry also reminds us to live fully in the present and depending upon the Lord… If we try to depend upon ourselves too much we are neglecting the greatest resource as well as the ONE who can make anything happen or not…
Isaiah 30-31: I appreciate how the text leaps off the page, like the sound of a crashing wall description for a wayward people: this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.
Or the description of Merciful Instruction: Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
God is warning against the dependent nature of His people onto other peoples like those in Egypt. We all need to heed this. GOD IS FIRST. He previously warned his people (through Samuel) against putting any government over listening to Him directly. of course this is not surprising knowing how when Moses was away the people started to look for another god-idol figure. Yeah well, we are human aren’t we….
These times in the news are terrible human tragedies and things that seem unfathomable and yet not unexpected – especially knowing the regions in turmoil are famous for turmoil. How to interpret it all? Know that we don’t know and won’t know peace until God brings it – and keep an eye to the sky because God will activate and work His Plan moment by moment.
In other words, rely on God.
Woe to those who don’t – and to others they go… woe woe woe, to others don’t go.
Go to God.
Amen
Isaiah Ch30
Woe to the Obstinate Nation
“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace. Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace.”
A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation, to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness. For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.”
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee!You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.”
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck.He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray. And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail. The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down. Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm. Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Ch31
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen,but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those who help evildoers. But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together.
This is what the Lord says to me: “As a lion growls, a great lion over its prey—
and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it,
it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor—
so the Lord Almighty will come downto do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
Like birds hovering overhead,the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem;
he will shield it and deliver it,he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”
Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made. “Assyria will fall by no human sword; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor. Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,” declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
I’m really going to focus on Isaiah reading in my devoted time with Him, and as always I’m blessed to share with you all as I write out my processing as encouragements.
GOD KNOWS IT ALL – why should we think we know much of anything – let alone more about God than God knows about us. We need to seek and learn of Him – about Him – FROM HIM…
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Orshall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
There are people who think God is distant, doesn’t understand, or purposefully ignorant. These people’s souls still crave understanding (don’t we all?!) There are people who say “you need me to get to Him” – we really need Him and His Spirit directly. We need to tap into the Holy Spirit and ask for His presence, a fresh filling, and honestly a fresh mind to understand.
And yet God’s Ways ARE above ours, we can’t make God fit into our human reasoning. God says to realize He is Above all. He can also make some ignorant and asleep, so beware, and if you are one awake, then really pay attention, He is going to give wisdom to obedient ones. We don’t deserve this, we don’t, but like prodigal children, He is robing us in His Righteousness.
Isaiah does try to warn a disobedient Israel split kingdom situation, and all it’s foes too. Isaiah will switch over to speaking prophecies of Hope. If only Israel of that time could remember that Hope to come out of their lineage and pay attention to God. Endlessly God has said “pay attention” to Him over everything else, even now, they aren’t paying attention. They didn’t learn from their ancestors wandering around the desert, and they split their kingdom by ignorance, now are still not paying attention as God will allow 2nd exile before restoration. God waits. God waits for the awake to walk again with Him.
Jesus is the Hope that Isaiah will speak about in later chapters. He came to walk the earth and teach plus fulfilled the law (things told to Moses that we all fail at. Yet Jesus, by His sacrificial act, fulfilled them to be our righteous Savior). Jesus ALSO came and fulfilled the prophecies (told by Isaiah and others) and told the people the Way. Imagine that walk to Emmaus with disciples after He rose and filled them in on all the details. Jesus flipped the earthly kingdom upside down, a slave better equipped to understand than a ruker. Also now in the Kingdom, attention required from nations (for and against God) is to be individual attention. Yes, of course it is wanted for nations to yield to God, but at least we EACH have Jesus as each individual to be devoted. In a fight, hold on to not a flag but a Savior.
We must hold Hope in Jesus. Now, 2000 years after this 1st coming, and in His imminent return, any cloud now.
Keep your eyes in His Skies. Keep serving even as the world distress distracts. We must individually receive Jesus and share and SHINE Him.
Woe to Jerusalem “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add year to year; Let feasts come around. Yet I will distress Ariel; There shall be heaviness and sorrow, And it shall be to Me as Ariel. I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, And I will raise siegeworks against you. You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust. “Moreover the multitude of your foes shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, Even all who fight against her and her fortress, And distress her, Shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, And look—he eats; But he awakes, and his soul is still empty; Or as when a thirsty man dreams, And look—he drinks; But he awakes, and indeed he is faint, And his soul still craves: So the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who fight against Mount Zion.”
The Blindness of Disobedience Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.” And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.” And he says, “I am not literate.” Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?” Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Future Recovery of Wisdom Is it not yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off— Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.
Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale; But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel. These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine.”
I’m no scholar when it comes to the Old Testament, but I know God is laying out a plan in it. His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
I returned to reading Isaiah for my education – God is pulling me back to read it – we should all try to digest what we can and make it a plan. Reading our Bibles IS a blessing to understand. Reading is our first understanding – hearing explanations is our second – living it is our best.
Three parts that I see (remember, I am no scholar) in Isaiah 28: 1-Woe to Ephraim region (any region that is attacking Israel); 2-Not even priests of this time are educated enough for what’s really going down; 3- Handle your knowledge of God as His Wisdom and learn from it.
Section 1 – I know God has His own way of dealing with the communities. Section 2 – Isaiah is warning the people of the time, but we also have to hunger for maturity, knowledge, understanding. AND THERE IS A CORNERSTONE FROM WHICH WE NO LONGER HAVE TO FEAR!
Third Section: That is what peaked my interest -learning about ourselves – listening to God. I hear in here that God says we, like farmers, are educated to HANDLE FRUITS DIFFERENTLY – different prep, different planting, different harvest. Ah Yes – this “feeds into” my prep for a Fruit of the Spirit sermon. God planned and is planning unique functions for each of us. He is also knowing how to deal differently with the enemies of Israel, so we are to be aware of that history and of those passages for our time too…
A take home to expand into these days: Don’t be jealous of perceived differential treatment of spiritual gifts or knowledge either, each has a purpose, each to be shared and not squandered – learn and live it for the good of the Lord’s mission. Just work His field in your way. And always acknowledge Him as the Vinedresser. We are to tap into God’s Wisdom: For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
Yes – we are to be weaned more from the milk and get more mature… How weaned are we? I would say, including me, not very – Good thing God is God and He can handle this all – handle this life and all of the next. Go forward knowing Jesus came and will return. “Righteousness the plumb line” – so we really DO need Jesus.
Trust Him and let Him help you grow IN Him. All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.
Amen
—
Two Translations:
Isaiah 28 – King James Version
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Isaiah 28 – New International Version
Woe to the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah
Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley – to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine! See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground. That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot. That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like figs ripe before harvest – as soon as people see them and take them in hand, they swallow them. In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions. All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.
“Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there.”
Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose” – but they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there— so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured.
Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror. The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you. The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon – to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task. Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain. All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.
What a blessing of a resource of learning – a current series of sermons by Pastor Joe – all available online – which I often listen to in my commutes – the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross – with this last one this weekend – interesting to listen and blessed to learn… especially with the tremendous news of a big increase in tensions and warfare between the Gaza strip and the nation of Israel. Kidnappings and too, ugh, it was a church service that I needed to hear Pastor Joe explain it first person understanding – an expert in comparison to my basic knowledge. Oh was so important reminder to hear and to acknowledge what we are to do: Lift up our heads because our redeemer is coming AND keep busy encouraging and sharing the gospel, AND keep praying for all – all people lost and found – pray for the revival before and after the rapture. It was so important for me to hear what is going on in a country which I know very little about and yet know it IS a crucial land before now and from now – every day closer to Jesus returning, the Bible tells us the happenings to watch out for, especially Jesus to return…
No one knows the hour of Jesus’s return and therefore we need to be ready – to get everything that we need to get right with the Lord and do it with haste – make amends with people – forgive people – all that good stuff – not always easy but needed… Pastor Joe reminded us to live in the hope of the eternal point of view. “a purifying hope”…
1st service on the app – 5 minute chat at the 35 minute mark then sermon of saying #7: The Seventh Utterance from the Cross https://ccphiladelphia.subspla.sh/tjpdqdn
2nd service had a condensed chat – slightly different later version that same morning – at 20 minute mark then the sermon: https://resources.ccphilly.org/SAM1316
Now – these seven sayings of Jesus – in addition to the sermons series that you should be able to find on the website (seven links at https://resources.ccphilly.org/current.asp) There are even Wikipedia pages for these seven sayings. It’s a remarkable record of Jesus preparing the Way being very God and also Him being so very human. Jesus thought of us from beginning to end. It’s not just a Way to Forever, it’s the forgiveness Forever. I remember once a pastor saying that there is no other religion that speaks of the mercy and the forgiveness as well as the compassion that we find in Jesus. There is no Lord like our Lord, a Savior who redeems us all. Jesus.
Thank You Jesus for You. Prayers for all to find You. Thank You for seeking out me.
Thank You Jesus for saving us. Thank You Lord for knowing what to do.
Prayers for all people – in this time and in the future – forgive them Father for they know now what they do. (us too).
Amen
1) Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
2) Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
I was BLESSED by thinking of the parable of the lost son ever since yesterday. It speaks of hope and how we can return to God even after the worst life choices. The Father instilled a memory of his son even the servants having a decent life, even good. The party when he came home was better than good, it was GREAT!
The Father waited. God waits for us with mercy to give and love. We can always return. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.” God has been looking for us because He knows that He instilled the road map home in our hearts and souls. We don’t have to stay out in the cold, we can make our Way Home.
God gave His Best. He did. God as the Father and we as the children in this story said this child of mine was dead and is alive again – lost and is found. God always considered his child as HIS, never turned his back.
The other son, who jealously has a fit, revolts, and reminds us of the separation of sin and God, essentially saying you can’t return, but Jesus who tells this story says you can and I know the Way. The evil influence in our lives would say: you screwed up, you are worthless, you have no home. FALSE. The evil spirit even demands what it thinks it wants from the world, that it is better in evil eyes than what God wants to give. FALSE. Jesus told us the Truth: You ARE worth it! You ARE God’s child! You can return! (Jesus also demonstrated speaking back to the devil (who tried to tempt Jesus) by speaking the actual scriptures that knocked the devil down. Jesus said “God’s got this!”. Man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every Word of God. Don’t Test God. Worship God and serve only Him. Jesus spoke old truth into new life. So He can do that for us too. We can knock down the devil by God’s Declaration of Love: God says I’m worth it.
Let us not turn back those whom God called.
An advocate in Jesus, of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit was enough to pull that lost child back, not asking to get royal treatment but to work as a servant. God gives us more than that – we serve now to help keep the Kingdom welcoming other lost sons and daughters back home – how would they know if they never heard they could come back. We have the opportunity to SHINE JESUS. Then one day and forever in Heaven we WILL have that great feast, robed by the Righteous of Jesus who is our Mercy giver. Jesus loves us, knowing all in all about us, and just holds us upright better.
We can come home (and often we do ask to serve) regardless if the world welcomes us or not. We are welcome always in God’s Eyes and Hands by His Love. God won’t make you jump through hoops, only just come home. He will teach you the steps to recovery (from worldly ways) as well. Keep your eyes focused on Him. God is God, not an artificial no power entity, remember prophet Isaiah reminded Israel that God delivered them again and again, and for us He still will. “Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” Is43
Jesus never said we had to clean up our act to follow Him, we just needed to want Him more than the life we are in or could drift to. Jesus knows that Way Home. Follow Him.
Amen
The Parable of the Lost Son – Luke 15:11-32
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Isaiah 43 about Israel and about us:
But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
“For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed – I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”
Funny thing, when I did my kids experiments with red cabbage juice recently , I tried to also do my foaming yeast experiment and that kind of fizzled… It’s new vs old hydrogen peroxide that makes a difference. And perhaps I should give that experiment a rest for a while unless I pick up fresh stuff each time. Baking soda and vinegar is just as fun for the kids, but for me it is the living Yeast that makes the difference.
However fizzled last time, I have photos of a crucial day in my awakening… My kids and these sunday school kids are all part of God’s plan. I was fortunate to take quick photos for fun for Facebook. Which comes up in my memory events every year. So even though I can say that worldly things will often fizzle, Jesus does not change. And Jesus always is living to find His lost sheep – lost people – lost sinners. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
If we are able, we should always revisit those times when Jesus made himself known to us, when we found more faith, when we knew God was cooking up something in our lives. There is a crucial moment when we realize we need Jesus – the world needs Jesus – when Jesus Himself says “You need me”.
Lost Sheep Lost Coin Lost Son – such important teachings by Jesus. See we were all lost and then found – and Jesus won’t give up until we know that HE by Name above all Names was the One who found us. Jesus does the finding and Jesus is a catalyst that changes everything without He Himself being changed… I laid out that day 11 years ago now, an experiment that changed me by Jesus forever – with a big “OH!” – I said: “Jesus came to make the Word of God spread faster” spoke truth into my disbelief of really not knowing why Jesus existed and was He really the Son of God – that was couple years before my big awakening – Jesus found the crack in my knowledge and ignorance and He had and has the mechanism to get over my disbelief… Jesus knew that herding sheep is nothing compared to finding the lost one.
I know I sound like a broken record of my awakening days – but wow how God made me write them down – take photos – be the record that broke and I will always be grateful to know that Jesus found me broke and moved the needle to help me sing His Praises…
Thanks Lord – every memory and always…
Amen and here are the Luke 15 scriptures which inspired me to teach and also be moved by the Lord that day – oh what fun – these are mostly all adult kids now. Jesus keep tracking them please – AMEN
The Parable of the Lost Sheep Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Wow – 6 years since my 2nd shoulder surgery! Barely think about it now except for the realization that I got through it! I LEPT onto that surgery table for releasing scar tissue holding me back from 100% rotation. I appreciate now (strong memory of a distant time) of God holding me in all situations – carrying me through. Winston Churchill hill said: If you’re going through hell, KEEP GOING…
YES – DON’T DWELL.
This shoulder issue of course was a blessing in disguise, crazy to say about a shoulder injury but also it was in the recovery, a blessing to know now that God even used my pain for His gain and my gain too.
Let me explain:
Torn rotator cuff – Clean tear from terrible fall – now every loose paper on my floor is remediated. Slip hazards abound – take the time to step carefully.
Torn rotator cuff and frozen shoulder – awesome doctor – unbelievable PT- 76 freedom visits June to December- the Lord gave me endless hope and motivation. ‘Eye of the Tiger’ still my theme song. PT people my witnesses to praise – so many conversations about prayer.
Torn rotator cuff – friends friends friends – meals, rides, flowers, smiles… love hope charity joy… thanks God endlessly for all these friends. Oh, and clarity in many different public and private things in my life – blessing for clarity when you are forced to stop and let the dust settle… Yes, take “set backs” as times to ponder and let God go ahead of you, because He knows that road He wants you to travel.
Torn rotator cuff surgery – recovery time – thanks Lord for work flexibility and benefits – and friends…
Recovery – oh, time time time… Did you know that I was 200 plus devotions behind in uploading to my blog site? I had promised the Lord that I would be only a month between writing and uploading… well… Guess What? God found me the blessed time – click click click… WHEW, WHEN YOU MAKE A PROMISE TO GOD – KEEP IT!!!
Recovery – really I walked through it – really God led me – really what IS the verse of all verses for this? For anything and everything recovery? Psalm 23. Of course Psalm 23 – though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… YEAH KEEP WALKING – DON’T STOP – DON’T DWELL.
I would never choose the pain and the hard way – but I learned (and we learn) – the Lord walks WITH us.
So keep going.
Amen.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
—
Isaiah 25:1, 4
Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago…. You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.
If God doesn’t change then how does He express upsetedness of lost children. I’m thinking Jesus is Living Water and the collection of our tears because I see lots of tears here in the world and it’s going to get worse…
I specifically was reminded of how unbelievable the destruction is of the living CHILDREN of God is – by drugs, alcohol, poverty, by want, and rooted from evil. Ugh. I was driving halfway and riding the train the rest into the city. With a known path comes unknown obstacles of people and their problems, but I was not hastled nor even begged from anyone. I was safe by situation and by Grace. I was really so sad to witness half dead and half stupor asleep people – walking dead destruction of God image-bearers by themselves and by their circumstances. Sad. How often I wonder the tears of these people’s families in addition to theirs.
If God can’t change in Himself, but people can, think of HOW different God is from man. Now think of us completely healing IN HIM, and if we may hopefully realize that ONLY He can restore us to whole. Only God through HIM Jesus God, being our rescue Savior, saving in HIS Plan, so no one can boast in works, is REALLY GOD. We are not. Only God saves because we can’t – and yet He can. AND GOD WANTS TO SAVE US.
Really, our sins day to day are judged equal to each other’s sins – we ALL fall short of God. In comparison to the really sad cases, our sobriety will not get us into Heaven, only God will take us into Heaven. Our not going down destructive roads of course is best -and we will reframe our proper treatment of God’s Temple in us, and that IS what God wants to help us with – praising Him in us – raising Him and showing Him in us – best we can. Living Water Wash, Lord help us.
Perhaps reframing the Declaration of Independence is fitting here: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, [well, yes, we are equal in judgment and sin] that they are endowed by their Creator [look how Americans take these rights not always thinking of the real Creator of ‘rights’ who doesn’t give us any human right above His Righteousness] with certain unalienable Rights [yep, humans setting up human governments will see failures, just ask Samuel about God warnings], that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” [well, then also the pursuit of destruction is a right too in human laws, sad…]…
Sad tears, for Jesus picks up the tab of destruction by sin and death – Living Water washes us because we didn’t cause ourselves to be human, even though we continue to humanly be human. Thank You Lord for the ability to wash clean and the safety in Your House, for Your reach to the garden You want us in.
Amen….
And I did have a great time in the city, weather was hot! Walking was good exercise.
There is a section on the Declaration of Independence: “to provide new Guards for their future security.” – I would say day to day I am grateful for these and WE are BLESSED by God to be our ULTIMATE future – to grab onto in the here and now.
Amen Amen
—-
Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive in Christ
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
From the top section of the Declaration of Independence 1776 13 colonies separation from Great Britain: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Wow! INTIMIDATING challenge but exciting. I was raised Catholic, I got this, right??? I even know my way around ‘Little Joe’ – yes, I’ve put in my time – I might even impress them and maybe even win… I was PREPARED. Oh… hmmm… maybe NOT… OH WOW…..
SO VERY INTIMIDATING.. I’ve never done THIS much… Oh, and they went double fast too… oh, they don’t even know ‘Little Joe’ – am I sunk? No, I laughed at my inadequacy and inflated deflated ego. I focused. I got more efficient and faster. I PRAYED.
No, I’m not talking about LIFE, I’m talking about walking into the most BIGGEST fastest BINGO ever! Whoa!! 24 cards at a pop? Super fast calling? Little Joe? Nope: “Fireman’s Pig in a Pen” for the eight spaces around the free space. Same game different name – just like Catholic and other traditions to use different conventions… No inside and outside corners here, just outside corners… and yet SIMILARITIES through the ages: when someone rang the bell at ‘O66’, my heart rang in 45 plus years of Bingo memories… cool…
What a fun way to reconnect and visit with my friend, we used to teach Sunday school together with our babies 3 and 6… so long ago but our friendship is such a blessing to us. It’s not just church for church, it’s connections for God that bring us to community with communion. Jesus likes to GATHER His sheep, making it more enjoyable to hangout together… Friends are blessings.
But shhhh, quiet the chitchat, wow absorb this challenge of 24 cards!!! Yes!!!! 24 at a time! Lapboards, bingo dabbers for specials, new crazy games on top of it!!! I love how Methodist traditions do not include games of chance because God is not a God of chance, nor should we think of God randomly but deliberately, TRUE. But I was raised Catholic and this is group weekly fundraising at its most classic form. Back at Catholic school, my dad called numbers, my mom sold tickets, or sometimes flipped the switches for the lights – she was scared to mess up! High Stakes! I helped at the concessions – low stakes – and those glass bottles of soda were cool and classic. Friday nights were fun – even with the 1970s gym filled with smoke. This is how they kept the school open, crazy how we live our lives huh?, especially that smoke. And shhhh… Jackpot was $200… SO SERIOUS!!!
Jackpot here at the firehall 50 years later? $900!!!! so many of the many games were $50 to $200 in prizes like normal. Door prizes were free entries to the next nights (twice a week)… Nope I didn’t have inflated entitlement to winning anymore – I knew this IS a game of chance but fun, and I was just lucky to get a parking spot! (well there is NO lucky there is only blessed – and yeah praying for and recieving safe parking is a BONUS that God gives us)… SO, best thing was that I was and am Blessed to have spent time with my friend. It was fun. we will do it again – but not like these “regulars”… I found it more mentally challenging than any sudoku or logic game, because it was fast – and physically like PT for repaired shoulders for each of us. $20 to $30 for 3-4 hours, a bargain and a fundraiser. No smoke either.
Here’s my big “BINGO” thought – a devotion God gave me that won’t rest until I write it out: We can talk about ‘AI’ all we want, but seeing and hearing how the winner-checker worker peoples ONLY called out the serial number of the lap board or special, not the bingo numbers, was interesting… for the computerized tracker KNEW that set of number would have won… WOW… Even though the number balls air blown came up randomly, it was entered and verified by the video feed on the electronic board (no more light bulbs). Yes, the entry into the computer system verified that winning set of numbers and board with the numbers existed. WOW!!! I think the caller might have had the inclination there was a winner in the room before the winner did… and yeah the view of the ball before being called caused you to hear the people rustling ahead of time because someone close by was on the verge of winning.. Someone, not you, had it… they knew.
Who knows for you? Yeah in Life it is God Who knows all for you…
God Has Got YOUR Number!!! God makes you A WINNER!!! See, in life we think things are randomly in front of us, and surely no one knows the way the wind blows, especially those bingo ball numbers, but God does! God not only knows your number, He wrote it, He knows the way you will turn, He knows your struggles, most intimate thoughts. God provides both the numbers AND the Win but especially the times you don’t “win”… God knows and it is OK. God knows the pitfalls, intimidation, dropped opportunity, but He HAS your number, so He calls YOU! God blesses and corrects. God makes the wind flow and life go.
There are random games and adventures awaiting you in life, you might buy the extra pop-ups or skip them, life is always finding distractions and opportunities. Just be aware and let God know your cares. Don’t take on too much. Don’t let the sound of the distractions rustling (or even cooking in the amazing full menu fireman’s kitchen cooking cheesesteaks and galore!) distract you – that’s just life noise to put in the background. KEEP AN EYE ON THOSE CARDS! Oh! The “STARBURST” round? Dollar a ticket? ONLY PLAY ONE AT A TIME. Oh my, lightning-speed calling just numbers, faster than whack-a-mole, oy! One card and one card only. No time for distractions! whew… Some people skip this game just to get rest!
God? One God and One God Only to direct your ways – HIS WAY! Don’t get distracted – God Has Your Number and He’s the Only non-game in town. B1 of His devoted children. You don’t have to “keep up with God” – only have to love Him and believe in Jesus, the One He sent. Jesus already is sitting so close you you that you will be amazed when He intervenes.
I’ll take God for the WIN. Actually He took us first…
GLAD and BLESSED to B1 of His Flock.
B I N G O…
Amen
Ecclesiastes 11 from Solomon
Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle,for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.
You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.
If/when sleep HEALS us – Then awakening AWARES us…
Because sin killed us – Then Jesus-saving PREPARES us…
Because God ‘alive-d us’ – Then God wants us…
All eternity is set in our hearts…
In the time that I remember, this memory was distinct for me: I was forced to rest, from my covid booster I was sure, I felt the aching and some gut wrenches plus fever and mostly the feeling that God wanted me home to take the rest… This time I did not argue with God – often I do… I then woke up, amazed by the difference and awake and aware that I had no idea what God’s plan was in ALL in ALL – but that I should trust it… God set my reset button and then clued me in, a little bit, on why – a specific phone text – ah ha; a specific awake moment – of course; a need that was His for someone else – that WAS His Call; and in timing that I couldn’t arrange on a calendar if I tried. I love living with God making things happen: “IN HIS TIME”…
God calls the audibles into our life game – We will never be the same – God’s playing us into His Gain.
It could have been a coincidence, nope, I am sure it was God. I’m aware of His tinkering even when I can’t see Him under my hood. I’m aware of His slowdowns that help others catch up, speed up, get a wave from us… I am aware of Him not testing my attention to Him (I mean really how can we wrap our heads around everything He does) but I am aware of Him requesting it – my attention – His child. He could get all this done without us – but He likes engaging His children into helping – into life…
I like that God likes us in His Life. Let us be aware that we were prepared for good works because GOD WORKS. If He named us, made us, called us VERY GOOD, Then He WORKS us VERY WELL.
Because Jesus awakes and awares us, I’m not surprised He repairs us – prepares ALL things ,in His Time… He makes all things beautiful in His Time.
Amen
Made Alive in Christ – Paul’s letter to Ephesians 2:1-10
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-14 From Solomon
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
You could say THIS about weekends “Thank Heaven it’s Saturday” – yes! And “Thank Heaven it’s Sunday” and with more time to sit on Sunday: “Thank Heaven I’m Sitting” – resting my feet – after “Thank Heaven I’m Standing” – still mobile – plus the best resting in the Lord: “Thank Heaven I’m STILLed”…
Yes, “THIS” praise for Sunday and for Studies and Sermons because I got to be in church live plus online church too. Thank the Lord for amazing things there! THIS – Thank You Lord for the walk I took to decompress my weekend.
And thank You Lord for sitting down too, whew, because Saturday was SO BUSY! Good busy! But busy busy busy… Praise Busy Summer and Early Fall.
THIS is how I had to decompress my weekend by writing last night until I was too tired – finishing this morning – also I am aware it was a tough weekend for many – friends who lost loved ones and are facing uncertainties – mourn with those who mourn – plus pray for all those people we don’t know who are hurting. Lord forgive me as I write about my weekend – Lord grant us all Your mercy and faith to find Your Peace.:
Saturday, I drove my son down to the university culinary school and surrounding area, a beautiful campus in just a small space, indoor European-like courtyard, champagne bubble dining room, bakery and hotel concierge entry, THIS is calling out for a future visit, even Saturday brunch one time… I got to sit on a rocking chair on the porch in the middle of somewhere like nowhere I’ve been… got there 9am (city driving is best off-peak), delicious pastries and breakfast sandwich to go… and go I went! Worth driving 30 minutes to sit on the rocking chair for 5 minutes more… Savoring…
Then 11am Saturday having driven back – I got to a park festival with a loaded Subaru of fun… next to our community kids craft tent I ran a science station, fun phun with pH and red cabbage juice changing colors! Kids mesmerized, adults appreciative… and when I had a chance I said ‘adding just the little bit of acid vinegar or base baking soda could change the color that dramatically, imagine what a little prayer can do for a situation’, ‘God is amazing and can do anything’… I also got to share giving away Bible-based books in this public park event… it is a blessing to give away blessings… THIS is a favorite day for me now each year – a church setting in the park event – why don’t all churches run to these events (?)… You get more by giving than selling a craft or food – just give and just enjoy neighbors plus Music, Manageable Mayhem, More… Thank God I bring my own stool for sitting perfect kid height at the table. But also thank You, Lord, for the prayer concerns I heard from others – and that one little girl who encouraged me in her faith too – ah the blessings of being with God’s children…
And speaking of encouragement, that’s how I rolled it into my children’s message for Sunday, THIS, with leftover red purple juice – a lesson of blessing of encouragement possibilities (see the cartoon of compliments) speaking of how a little prayer changes everything – because God gives Spirit without measure, He is not stingy with it – He doesn’t hold back as Jesus was given full power as All in All, full power and authority (see John the Baptist speaking about Jesus in John 3). THIS – Thankful Heaven inthe Son!
THISSS – Thank Heaven I Scored Sixth Shot! Yeah! Sunday after church I got my updated covid booster, this will be an annual thing now I’m sure after the 2.5 years of shots, which means 3.5 years we’ve had covid conversations – I’m so glad we are on this side of the pandemic. I’ve heard of some covid cases now and OUTSIDE is STILL the best place to be – but grateful to be inside with no fear because we are always subject to human frailty and the Lord’s strength, so just keep living!!!. I’m SO grateful to be best covered with an updated vaccine because of THIS – ‘Totally Hopping IntoThe SKY… yes, FLYING soon – YES VACATION – my last week-sized chunk of time… THIS – Thank Heaven In Savoring.
Ah… I also had opportunity to chat with friends over the weekend and appreciate it was not raining, and appreciate the autumn weather while holding onto summer temps too. THIS morning: “Thank Heaven in SummerBugs” – open window and hearing them so loud in their last hurrah…
THIS – GRATEFULNESS – Lord help me bring it into this work week- help me get nose-down in progress and head-up in praise. I know that the Lord gives Spirit smiles and let me be contagious with those. I know that the Lord gives peace, and for all my hurting friends and family, please Lord, restore their spiritual strength.
May we all tap into THIS – This Heaven Invigorating Spirit – THESE GIFTS
Whoever believes in Eternal life as a gift, may they also give out the gifts God gives – give out their imbued powers of encouragement, teaching, wisdom, shepherding, administrating, leading, mercy, faith, hope and always desiring learning. May we ALL use the God Gifts He has given us for THIS moment to point back to Him as the Giver. Let us “behave like a Christian” as the author of Roman’s asks – and be real in real situations – but be better than worldly strife. BRING GOD’S BEST!
Today Is Underway! Lord – Thank You for This New Day!
Amen
—
The One who comes from above is above all;… … The one who comes from heaven is above all… … For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. From John the Baptist speaking about Jesus.. John 3 excerpts by John the Baptist speaking.
…
Romans 12 – Living Sacrifices to God
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Serve God with Spiritual Gifts – For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Behave Like a Christian – Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
If you don’t believe in Jesus, you are not alone. But we do end – one way – in death – and I pray you know ABUNDANT LIFE in Jesus. Please read a revealing truth about Jesus – that people know Him THROUGH His Spirit – sometimes before they know His name. We recognize Jesus when we are ready to open up our Spiritual Hearts to Him. God does the revealing – and God through us does the Praising.
Think of how John the Baptist had to ask Jesus if He really was the Messiah, this must have meant there really is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between God and man. HUGE.
Remember John the Baptist was Jesus’s cousin and lept in his mother’s womb at the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb. The Holy Spirit recognition. Then both were born worldly ‘born of woman’ and a worldly familiarity took over John’s view. And they probably did see each other, 2nd cousins, or at least heard of each other, and we don’t know what was discussed between them or cousin moms after birth, if anything, but Elizabeth and Mary knew both children in their wombs were God’s Chosen and had God-work to do.
John didn’t recognize the Savior in Jesus as matching all that He thought a Messiah King would be, so imagine the difficulty people, of the time and now, who never met Him personally would have. Never met Him until He introduced Himself into them, into us. He is knocking on our doors for us to open ourselves to His Glory.
So if you are a doubter of God, of Jesus, of God’s Word being Jesus, and of the law and prophecies being fulfilled by Jesus, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! The recognition of a human masks Spirit because of the fall of Adam and Eve. The recognition of the Spirit comes by Way of Spirit within us, so we must set aside our human distractions of “this is the way God is”, like John the Baptist did. We also must remember (like John the Baptist) that we are NOT abandoned by God when our faith and truth scares other people, nor are we abandoned when we are locked in prisons of self, or in a feeling of punishment we maybe don’t deserve. We are never abandoned by God – simply reach out to Him always. We simply roughly and humanly must get through this life in a broken world that won’t want to open up to this divine awakening. That doesn’t mean we can’t be open to it.
Therefore let us be open to the Divine view, be open and questioning and inspired and ready. Ready to see Jesus through all the human layers. Jesus himself said that even the lowest member of the Kingdom in Heaven is endlessly above the highest of humans – meaning God is God and we are not – but always we should be reaching towards Him. We can’t do anything without God. We should bear HIS good fruit.
We can appreciate that God’s Ways are above our human ways. His Mercy shows in His healing Grace.
John the Baptist speaking about Jesus (now understanding whom He is – both humanly and divinely): “He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” from the gospel of (yet another cousin) John 3:32-36
So, if you don’t believe in Jesus – and want to know Him more and more – start to ask Him Himself to reveal Him to you. Jesus loves knowing you – Love to know Him. We all are reaching up to His Holiness, Glory, and Grace.
AMEN AMEN AMEN
Jesus told John and the crowds:
“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”
Here are more passages about John the Baptist, Chosen by God to be a prophet, like the “Elijah of the day”.
Debbie Upper 