Monday 5/14 ~ Perfect love

The scripture for today, May 14 (5/14), is 2nd Corinthians 5:14a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“For Christ’s love compels us….”

On a distant hill a very long time ago, something unbelievable happened.

Jesus died both physically and spiritually in our place! (Remember when he said God had forsaken him?) He knew we couldn’t come back from either kind of death on our own, so he did it for us. Such terrible things he went through for us!

Love is powerful! It causes us to do things for someone we love that we never wanted to do and never dreamed we could do.

How powerful is your love for Christ? Do you share the love of Christ with others? 1st John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

You must reach out to people who think Jesus will ruin their fun, or has too many rules, or could never forgive them, or wouldn’t stop a tragedy from happening to them. If not in person, tell them in a note, a phone call, email, even a song. There are ways. Reach out. You can and you will if you let Christ’s love compel you.

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Thursday 4/12 ~ Fast-food prayers

The scripture for today, April 12, is Colossians 4:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Bk3-HeartsAfire-COVER-Kindle.thumbnail-new“He is always wrestling in prayer for you.”

Do you have fast-food prayers? Drive in, ask for something for yourself, and drive out two minutes later?

How about trying gourmet prayers ~ where you gather many ingredients, not just one? They take longer but are very special and rewarding.

Your menu is your prayer list. People on your list don’t even have to be people you know personally. They can be from the newspaper, teachers at a local school, government officials, your neighbors, your congregation. List people by name. Pray for them by name.

Then tell these people you are praying for them. You may think you’ll get some strange looks, but mostly, even from the unreligious, you will get a smile and a whispered thank you. Some will actually reply, “No one before has ever told me they were praying for me.” After a while, you will begin receiving word from some of them, “I am praying for you too.”

Prayer is wonderful. It is most wonderful when it centers, not on yourself, but on struggling in prayer for others.

One by one you will begin seeing amazing answers in the lives of those you pray for. And that’s a promise!

Tuesday 3/27 ~ What if God…

The scripture for today, March 27 (3/27), is Proverbs 3:27f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

000-COVER-KINDLE-Thumbnail“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow’ ~ when you now have it with you.”

Christians generally are good people. They stay out of trouble at work and in the neighborhood. They obey the laws. They don’t use profanity, they don’t lie, they don’t cheat, they don’t steal, they don’t commit adultery, they don’t murder. These are bad things Christians don’t do ~ sins of commission.

But what about good things Christians do not do? Too busy to stop and look around you for someone needing help? Too busy to drive someone to the doctor, or watch a child when a parent is sick, or fix a meal when a family is bereaved, or send a card for someone’s birthday, or call someone who is lonely? Too shy to say something to someone in distress? Too afraid to bring up heaven and hell to a lost one? These are sins! Sins of omission and they are just as serious.

Today, look around you. Who needs you? Not needs your neighbor, or a relative, or someone else at work, or one of the other members of your congregation, but you? You! When do they need you? Not tomorrow or next month or next year, but today!

Get out of your comfort zone. Quit committing sins of omission. Make a point to do something for someone else. When? Today. Too busy?  What if God made as much time for you and you do for others?

Scripture for Saturday, July 29 (7/29)

The scripture for today, July 29 (7/29), is Ecclesiastes 7:29 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-CHILD'SCartoonMetJesusCOVER-Medium“This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.”

We begin our lives upright ~ sinless. But as we grow out of innocent childhood, we begin to want recognition, power, money, beauty. And we tend to scheme to get them.

True, God does not want to deprive us if we can obtain these things. But Solomon (who wrote this), with all his worldwide fame, power, wealth, and beauty, still felt empty. Actually, we can even read the Bible and go to worship and still feel empty. Why? Because we need to think of someone else besides ourselves. We need to add good works to our faith (James 2) ~ helping others with the same enthusiasm we pursue our own recognition, power, money, and beauty.

Sometimes to fill our emptiness, we need to just return to our early childhood when we saw life through innocent eyes. Through simple eyes. Through eyes that believe so easily in God, and so easily love everyone.

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Scripture for Saturday, June 10 (6/10)

The scripture for today, June 10 (6/10), is Proverbs 6:10f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:00-cover-kindle-medium-new

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest ~ and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”

Oh! This scripture really comes to the point, doesn’t it? Perhaps during difficult economic times for some people, this can be a gentle reminder. If you can’t work for money, you can work for free. There is always work to do as a volunteer either in an organization or just by yourself. All it takes is for you to look around.

Well, if you’re already in the clutches of poverty, what will volunteering do to help the situation? People will notice you. They will notice your work ethic, and your cheerfulness, and your thoughtfulness. They just might tell people looking for someone to hire. And in the process, you are helping others. That in itself can make you feel rich ~ even if you’re not.

 

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Scripture for Friday, May 26 (5/26)

The scripture for today, May 26 (5/26), is 1st Thessalonians 5:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 6-PromiseKeeper-Cover-medium-new-kindle“Brothers, pray for us.”

Do you have a prayer list? There are many people we can pray for besides ourselves. Often prayers get bogged down and short because the only person we “remember” in prayer is ourselves. Well, and maybe a relative or two.

There are many people who need your prayers: Your family is obvious. How about your neighbors? If you don’t know their names, pray for them by house or apartment number. What about the newspaper? Every one of those bad-news stories is crying out for prayer. The school near you needs your prayers ~ students, teachers, administrators, janitors. It doesn’t matter whether you have a child in that school; pray for them anyway. Who are your local government officials? Not liking them doesn’t make any difference, for Jesus said we are to pray for our enemies too. And that leads to the list of your enemies; do you have any at your workplace? Include them too. It’s pretty hard to resent someone you pray for.

One other thing you might try doing in addition to having a prayer list: Have an answered-prayer list. Write down when you pray for someone, then when it is answered. Keep it as a reminder when you are down and don’t think He’s ever going to answer your requests. God does care after all.

And speaking of requests, by the time you’re done praying for all the other people on your prayer list, you won’t have a lot of time to pray for yourself. And that is okay too, for others are praying for you!

 

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Scripture for Friday, April 21 (4/21)

The scripture for today, April 21, is Mark 4:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-cover-kindle-medium-new“Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?”

Jesus said something similar in Matthew 5:14f, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Do you spend your energy on yourself and family? That is good, but try going further. Do something for someone else. But who? It requires looking around. Looking around your neighborhood, your school, your job, your club, your community.

Always keep looking around. Keep searching for little nooks and crannies in the lives of others where you can bring the light of a good deed to someone’s world.

And God will be praised.

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Scripture for Wednesday, March 1 (3/1)

The scripture for today, March 1, is 1st Thessalonians 3:1,5 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens….For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.”

In Thessalonica, there had been a riot, and the man who had given Paul and his helpers a place to live was hauled into court. Paul just couldn’t put his host through that so “when we could stand it no longer” he left the city and went off by himself so he wouldn’t jeopardize anyone else.

Still the great Apostle Paul ~ who went everywhere preaching non-stop for decades; who stood up under beatings, stonings, hunger, and ship wrecks; who explained to church leaders how to lead their congregation; whose letters were prophecy and became scripture ~ the powerful Apostle Paul still felt very tenderly toward his fellow Christians. He worried about how they were getting along spiritually. And when he “could stand it no longer” he wrote back to Thessalonica to find out how they were doing.

Tender love is a powerful love. A strong love. A love that will never, ever let go. Do you feel this way about the spiritual well-being of other people?

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Scripture for Sunday, January 29 (1/29)

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

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

Wow! Hyper-active Paul, Paul who preached even while in jail, Paul who always 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. It depends on what is on your mind all the time.

Think about it today. On what things do you use the energy of Jesus?

#Energy, #Power, #Selfishness, #ATypePersonality, #Selfishness, #GoodWorks, #Souls, #Others

Scripture for Friday, December 23 (12/23)

The scripture for today, December 23, is 1st Samuel 12:23 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:


HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good
 and right.”

It’s a sin not to pray for others!

Do your prayers get bogged down in the mire of me’s? Do you wonder why you can’t pray for more than a couple minutes ~ five on a good day? Satan gets you to do this; he is the enemy of prayer because he knows how powerful it is.

Who is on your prayer list? Pray for people by name. Your neighbors. People you work with. Your government officials ~ both good and bad. People in a nursing home. People in your congregation. People in the military. People being persecuted, imprisoned and even killed because they are Christians. Missionaries. Children in an orphan home. Sales people at the store. Local school teachers.

Pray for 15 minutes a day. Half an hour. An hour. It’s oh so easy when we stop praying only for self and pray for others.

Pray for them by name. And tell them that you do. Some people have never been told, “I am praying for you”.

Let us not sin by praying only for “me”.

#Prayer, #Selfishness, #GoodWill, #Love, #Power