Sunday 2/3 ~ So, the Son of God did it

The scripture for today, February 3 (2/3), is Philippians 2:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Thumbnail“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

This is probably among the top ten hardest-to-keep commands in the Bible. It’s right up there near loving our enemies.

Do we consider people who stand and speak in front of an audience superior to the listeners? Even though the one up front may be all talk and no show? Even though someone in the audience prays for others more than the “leader”? Even though someone in the audience is often awake all night caring for someone who needs him? Even though someone in the audience goes down to the seedy part of town wearing rags and tells about the love of Christ to people in the cellar of life?

But we give in to it. We praise the one standing before an audience and envy all their attention and their title.  Oh, my friend, who is the true leader ~ the audience or someone standing up front? Can we judge ourselves and each other as God does? Can we act as God does?

Jesus was always a server, helping others to be better. The last time he ate with his apostles before his death, he put on an apron and went around washing their feet. Apparently, none of them felt they should stoop so low as to do it. So, the Son of God did it.

Image result for "Buy the book"STEPHEN: UNLIKELY MARTYR had everything going for him. A wife, children, a position as a deacon in the mighty church in Jerusalem who everyone admired.  He willingly gave it all up so Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus cross, could escape and live to tell of his experience with Jesus. To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2Bowxf8

sign click here for all my books

#martyrdom, #ego, #importance, #showoff, #leader, #performer, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

 

 

Saturday 2/2 ~ Christmas carols

The scripture for today, February 2 (2/2), is Matthew 2:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Matthew's Life of Christ-Cover-thumbnail“[the Magi/Wisemen] asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

There are people who believe the “star of Bethlehem” was in the east. But the star wasn’t in the east; the wise men (Magi) were.

The Christmas carol says the star led the wise men the whole way. But Matthew 2:9 & 10 says, “After they had heard the king [Herod], they went on their way, and the star they HAD seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

They rejoiced when they saw the star again, not because it had been with them the whole time, but because it had reappeared.

The Christmas carol also speaks of them as “We Three Kings.” First, there were three gifts but could have been an entourage of ten or twenty or more. Second, they were not kings.  It wasn’t until 600 AD that someone named them as the King of Arabia, King of India and King of Persia. The original language calls them Magi which is a tribe of astrologers and priests in Babylon and Parthia, not kings.

By the way, the manger scenes show the wise men there with the shepherds on the night Jesus was born.  Jesus was around two years old by the time the wise men figured out the meaning of the star and traveled over 1000 miles to get there, following which boy babies age two and under were killed. Then there are the carols that say the angels sang are wrong. Angels do not sing. Christians do, but angels do not. Check it out.

There are so many things about the Bible that we have heard all our lives and just assume are true. Here’s an idea: Investigate things for yourself! Why take a teaching about the Bible for granted? You’re smart. You can do it. Will you?

Image result for "Buy the book"EASY BIBLE WORKBOOKS: MATTHEW’S LIFE OF CHRIST simply goes through Matthew verse by verse and the student just fills in the blanks.  Easy peasy.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2GgNFnM

 

sign click here for all my books

#ChristmasCarols, #WeThreeKings, “AngelsWeHaveHeardOnHigh”, #gullibility, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

Friday 2/1 ~ When he is in your heart, is he home?

The scripture for today, February 1 (2/1), is Mark 2:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-thumbnail-new“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.”

Just think of it. Jesus coming home. The place where his family lives. The familiar places he’d seen walking around town in earlier years. The familiar faces. Hearing a voice in a crowd and recognizing it and automatically knowing s/he is a neighbor. Being able to walk through a market almost blindfolded because the same shops are in their same places selling their same goods.

Has Jesus come home to your heart? Is it familiar to him? Does he recognize you? When he hears your prayers, does he automatically know who you are? Can he walk beside you as you walk through life, knowing the places you will be visiting? Does he live with you?

When he is in your heart, is he home?

Image result for "Buy the book"THEY MET JESUS: FOLK HERO (book 4) lived in Capernaum where his family had moved to when they left Nazareth. Capernaum was now home.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2SiDVA6

 

sign click here for all my books

#home, #family, #heart, #JesusChrist, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

Thursday 1/31 ~ Ah, special us

The scripture for today, January 31 (1/31), is Genesis 1:31 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-New“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning ~ the sixth day.”

Oh, how God loves to spoil us! He didn’t create a barren earth and then order us to get to work and plant something. He got everything just right. And then….  And then….  Then his crowning glory ~ he created us! Special us!

However, as perfect as he made earth, he left some joyful things for us to create ourselves, for he made us like him ~ creative. He left the jewels unmined, the buildings unbuilt, the songs unwritten, the paintings unpainted, the ships unmade, the sculptures uncarved….

Here we are surrounded by everything we need to imitate one special part of God ~ his creative part. Today, create something!

Image result for "Buy the book"This HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS may just come in handy for ideas when you want to create something.  Have fun and be blessed.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2GdGP2l

 

sign click here for all my books

#creation, #create, #handicraft, #goodworks, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

 

Wednesday 1/30 ~ I am awed into silence

The scripture for today, January 30 (1/30), is 1st Corinthians 1:30 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us “wisdom” from God ~ that is, our…

…righteousness,

          …holiness and,

                    …redemption.”

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-ThumbnailMe? Sinful me? Considered right and holy?  But I’m not right and holy. How can that be?

Let’s look at these words of reassurance backward. When we are redeemed (bought back from Satan, our accuser and punisher), we gain God’s holiness and God’s rightness. But I am not holy and right.  God, don’t you understand this?

“Yes, my child,” God answers. “But My Son knew how, and so became sinless for you.”

I cannot let what He did for me drift by. Jesus traded.  He took my sinfulness and gave me his sinlessness.  He took my punishment and gave me redemption. Now, at least in the eyes of God, I am holy.

I think on this and the more I do, the more amazed I become.  Me, Lord? Unworthy, sinful me? I am awed into silence and worship.

Image result for "Buy the book"Just as our spirit keep our body alive, THE HOLY SPIRIT keeps our soul alive and holy.  Read all 592 verses in the Bible explaining the Holy Spirit. Stop guessing.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2FVFFtj

 

sign click here for all my books

#HolySpirit, #SpiritOfGod, #eternity, #heaven, #hell, #pure, #sinless, #saved, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

 

 

Tuesday 1/29 ~ That powerful energy

The scripture for today, January 29 (1/29), is Colossians 1:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-“To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy which so powerfully works in me.”

Wow! Hyperactive Paul, Paul who preached even while in jail, Paul who went back to preaching after he’d been beaten and told not to, Paul with the “A-type personality” said he got all that energy from Jesus Christ (see verse 28).

Who provides your energy? It depends on what you are being driven to do. It depends on what consumes you. It depends on what you’re spending your time doing and what is on your mind all the time.

Think about it today.

On what things do you use the energy of Jesus?

Image result for "Buy the book"PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE was stubborn.  Even in the midst of being beaten and lashed those many times, he always cried out, “Jesus, this is for you!”.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2G8ynBw

sign click here for all my books

#determination, #stubbornness, #loyalty, #energy, #power, #victory, #obsessivecomplsive, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

 

Monday 1/28 ~ Keep Hope Alive

The scripture for today, January 28 (1/28), is 1st Chronicles 1:28  s found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

04-Isaac&Jacob-KindleThumbnail“The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.”

Are you a parent with a grown or nearly-grown child who is going in the wrong direction? Have you tried everything you can think of, and nothing is working? Do you know in your heart that you have been a good example and things shouldn’t have turned out like they have?

Abraham has been called the Father of the Faithful. Yet he had one son who followed Jehovah ~ Isaac ~ and one son who followed idols ~ Ishmael. Certainly, Abraham tried everything he could to “talk some sense” into Ishmael. Certainly, he prayed earnestly for Ishmael. So, what went wrong?

Just as God has given each of us free will, our children also have free will. Just as God will never force us to follow him, we cannot force our children to follow God. You did not refrain from having your children because they may have difficulties in their life, and neither did God. And when our children rebel and break our hearts, imagine what God goes through when we rebel and break his heart.

Who knows? Perhaps your child will return to God someday in your old age, or even after you have died. If your child deep down has a good heart, that is enough for God to work with.

Keep hope alive.

Image result for "Buy the book"Abraham had two sons: one good (Isaac) and one bad (Ishmael).  Isaac had two sons: one good (Jacob) and one bad (Esau).  A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES: ISAAC & JACOB tells the story of a naughty boy turning good.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2FT5eLq

sign click here for all my books

#family, #sons, #daughters, #delinquents, #juveniles, #disfunctional, #divisions, #hopeless, #hope, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

Sunday 1/27 ~ My perfect life

The scripture for today, January 27 (1/27), is James 1:27 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-New“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

A lot of people never lie, never cheat, never steal, never murder.  Wow!  That person deserves to go to heaven!  Not!  The greatest sin of most people who are “good” is the sin of omission.  We are basically “good for nothing”.  We don’t do the good things we should be doing.

Do you hear of someone whose relative just died? Do you call them?  What about the person who is home sick: Do you send them a card? What about the person who needs a ride to the doctor: Do you give them a ride?  What about the mother who sits in church with wiggly children and finally just leaves during the service out of embarrassment: Do you move over and sit with her? What about that children’s home where the “orphans” would love a card, a gift certificate, a gift?

Oh, Lord God.  I never thought.  I have been heedless to their silent cries. I have traveled on the other side of the road from them so my perfect life is not interrupted.  Lord, open my blind eyes, open my deaf ears, open my hard heart.

 

Image result for "Buy the book"Neglecting your good works? Are you good for nothing? Here is APPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS step-by-step suggestions to get you started. To buy now, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2FTkVlA

 

sign click here for all my books

#help, #rescue, #GoodWorks, #Charity, #Welfare, blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

Saturday 1/26 ~ Notice them. Claim them.

The scripture for today, January 26 (1/26), is 1st Samuel 1:26f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

02-samuel-thumbnailcover“And she said to him, ‘As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.’ “

Wow!  Hannah prayed for a baby and God gave her a son!  Then she told everyone. How often do you tell someone God has answered your prayer, big or little?

Or do you wander aimlessly from prayer request to prayer request, and let the answers drift away from you unnoticed? Or worse, do you ask others to pray for something, but after once or twice you stop praying for that thing yourself? A year later, someone tells you they are still praying for your something and you have completely forgotten it.

Begin today to keep a list of your prayer requests. Write down the date you first began to pray for each. If your requests are all about yourself, expand. Begin including your neighbors, your co-workers, people you attend church with, your relatives, schools, people in the newspaper.

Then begin a second list of your answers and the dates. You will be amazed how fast your Prayers Answered list grows. Do not let the answers drift away from you unnoticed.

Notice them.

          Claim them.

                    Tell others.

And spend the rest of your life telling others and thanking God over and over and…

 

Image result for "Buy the book"A CHILD’S BIBLE KIDS: SAMUEL is a storybook about what it must have been like for Samuel to adjust to a new “daddy” ~ the high priest ~ while growing up after his mother dedicated him to the temple at age two.  To BUY NOW, click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2G05VBY

sign click here for all my books

#prayer, #thanks, #blessings, #answers, #lists, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth

 

Friday 1/25 ~ Give up your freedom?

The scripture for today, January 25 (1/25), is James 1:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Titus-Cover-Lg Thumb“But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it ~ he will be blessed in what he does.”

A lot of people do not understand that there was the Law of Moses with over 600 commands in the Old Testament, and the Law of Jesus with very few commands in the New Testament. Religious leaders use the Law of Moses to justify adding fancy or fun things to worship or a separate priesthood or tithing, or whatever they like. 

But they leave out stoning for adultery or disobeying your parents, killing someone who killed your relative, knocking the eye out of someone who knocked your eye out, giving a third of your income (not just a tenth), killing animals to sacrifice, etc.  It’s all part of the same Law!

Romans 7:4-7 says Christians have been released from the Law. Hebrews 8:13 & all of chapter 9 say the first covenant (testament/law) of Moses had regulations for worship but is obsolete in favor of the new covenant (testament/law). James 2:10 says if you try to live by the old Law but fail in just one point, you are guilty of all of it.

But how are you to know what was in the Old Law of Moses besides the fancy or fun things today’s religious leaders like?  There is only one possible answer:  Read it.  Plow through Leviticus and all those minute codes. Then you will understand.

Let us truly let loose of the old Law of Moses and cling to the “perfect Law that gives freedom” in Christ.

Image result for "Buy the book"TITUS: THE ARISTOCRAT is a successful arbitrator. Paul converts him and sends him to congregations with problems. it is amazing how he calms everyone down and makes both sides think they won.  To BUY NOW click a picture or paste this:  https://amzn.to/2FZi0qR

 

sign click here for all my books

#arguing, #disputing, #ego, #humility, #harmony, #blog, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth