Psalm 90
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Our Posts are picked by selection before the Scripture is known. Caesar used to say, "Let the Dice Fly." Acts 1 casts lots to determine Matthias is the new disciple. Forest Gumps mother used to say, "Life is a Box of Chocolates and you never know what you will get."
A Psalm of ... Moses.
Imagine Moses would pray for "Happiness." Rejoicing and being glad all our days would be from - - - Moses. Which is extremely heartening considering Moses knew our Father God right well.
In fact, God said you would see this in people who believe - they would want and cultivate - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
And another man said Joy is this life. Jesus Christ.
Roll over El Greco. Jesus went on to say be Salt and be Light.
So. Forget the times all the people have said to you, "I want child/parent/spouse/boss to be saved. God alone knows what HORRIBLE THING HE will HAVE to do to them to be saved. Sigh."
In fact, usually to deeply believe is euphoria.
And then ... da daaaahm... life says in various forms "Are you kidding me? Believe?"
If we decide to say life is a river voyage - what we are saying is it isn't the rocks or the white water - ....sometimes it's the doldrums. Or an opinion of someone dear to you. In fact, I could tell you the story of a Youth Minister who had a very respected and dear friend and this dear friend would sit for hours and dispense advice. And one day the dear and respected friend assured the Youth Minister all his background was bad and he needed to swing. His friend hurt him, this was really an experiment of two new friends, trying to find out their ability to influence.
When the world turns upside down, we have to look upward and not always inward!!!
C.S. Lewis might have called the Friend - Dear Friend Wormwood.
Will faith hurt us then? No. Remaining with all our options open because we are faithful to God is the place to be. A friend who leads down a shaky path - is usually not there for the duration. The Youth Minister's friends got tired of him first. And this was actually after the Youth Minister tried to pacify them. It was a game of influence. And I am happy to say - that influence - FAILED.
The Bible calls this "resist the devil and he will flee". Politely, with conversations and rebuff. Funny, that was not an overnight thing - and yet - the flee did happen. Be grateful for the - 'flees'.
Is God going to provide a lifetime of Joy for not doing the advice - YOU BET.
There is a celebratory song - Kelly Clarkson - "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" !
What to do when you have 18 things break at Christmas time. I.E. even the phone in your hand and your electrical transformer blew up as you looked out the window. Creating a fix that took out your sprinklers.
Or having young children and suddenly a job reverses. Treasure becomes a Treasure hunt! The best thing to do is actually tell family and see if consideration will happen for help. This is how Christmas is repaired. Christ's Mass. And with Giving Trees from Churches.
For the many who do not have a reliable fairy Godmother - this is why Christmas is tucked away a little at a time over the year. But in the doldrums of - Bam - seek assistance. Tell your minister. Tell the local Christian Radio. Today's need - is - tomorrow's solution. I have to give thanks for things like Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House" books being honest and writing of one Christmas they were just grateful Pa had survived the Blizzard.
We all have a Blizzard or two in life.
Creating the Christmas we did help others. Or Christmases where we will help others. When i was doing volunteer work - we marveled at the Client - who made sure every Christmas - regardless of her circumstance - she was going to help someone else. She was known to have disaster after disaster, so many, and being strong enough to feed others. Her Giving Spirit enabled her to overcome so many things. With a glad heart.
This woman, was really pretty poor. Her children were proud of her willingness to share what she had to help others and she recruited her children. Later as they got older, they realized she had taught them to be enabled, empowered and strengthened to give.
The people who had helped her for years said she had empowered the next generation. She had taught them the ability to give.
My great-grandparents actually did the same thing. In their wealth - they made sure their children had Christmas money to buy presents considered to be good gifts. Teaching them the joy of giving. My grandmother Bit did the same thing. I learned the gift of giving is taught and when we were able, in later years, to bless our children to learn to give - this was a blessing for them.
Sometimes we have ill health and Christmas seems not joyful at all and this is a surprise. Life is not always going to call us to reach for what we can't give. However sometimes, in giving with a little energy and a little task and a little give - each day - a lot gets accomplished and in the giving - look - life and health seep in.
And as that giving leads to good health - we realize - in the strength of Christ - I can do all things with Christ - we have overcome - Again. Creating a pattern of overcoming. With Jesus' help giving is actually going to have health benefits!
Romans 5:3
And not only so, but also we glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.
Ephesians 6:18 says perseverance will make us more alert. More Life.
What is worse than divorce? When Love decides to leave by choice. Leaving victims. Stunned survivors without the comfort of the framework many years gave. Tradition - reliable and sure - it's like going camping and in the middle of the night finding there suddenly is no tent. And will there be new traditions? Will we go forth to better years? What will age bring? Will the heart find the happiness Moses says we can be sure to ask for? The Happiness Jesus says Life has given Him, even if He had to die for me and for you. We can expect God's Help.
Don't give up on Happiness. Moses says this is a justifiable prayer. Jesus says this is an Answerable Prayer.
The Woman in Luke 8:43–48. ... And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She was considered impure. Not touchable. Outside the camp. Do not touch to avoid becoming impure. She reached for Jesus for - Healing - for Happiness. And in seeing that others could reach to Jesus and be healed. So could she. To the appreciation of JESUS. This is surely, really and truly the story of healing and miracles - placed before God asking Him to change His plans.
Going forth.
Romans 5:4-10
4 and endurance
produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Children worry for the lost parent. Comfort them all.
When the Lord lost Eden. He grieved. The Lord's Creation of beauty caused our Father to experience anger and hurt.
Genesis 3
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
When we are weakened...
Romans 8:23
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Groaning is allowed as hope is expected. Sincerity - truth. These nourish us in God. The Prodigal Son is actually a truth of time taken in all the stages of the Prodigal Son. Forgiveness is given and taken and given and discussed and lived.
Zephaniah 1
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.”
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
The devastation of death. When the heart will not make merry. Loss of beloved parent. Child. Spouse. Friend. What could honor love more than we grieve? To grieve love is honorable. Profound. Necessary. Healthy. And as we know our loved one is with Jesus - we can allow life to arrange our patterns and new emotions into a new joy in life. Remembering. Like a beautiful oriental rug repeating as we see echoes in family. As we see God uses our memories and our hopes of the reunion in His Kingdom as Joy.
Zechariah 14
Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost.b 7And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
God provides life to wake us from grief.
Samuel grieved the death of Judges, grieved God would have to suffer from His children wanting a king. Samuel grieved Saul and David's anointing. Samuel was given a house to care for. God intrudes on grief to give life work. God brings chores and tasks to make us enjoy His blessings.
Jeremiah was given a home in the middle of Judah being stripped as a Nation. Jeremiah witnessed life being crushed out. It was God's way of saying Jeremiah had a Hope and a Future. God makes chores to root us again to life. To make diligence and make life rise up to be able to cope and give to other people.
God and faith will allow Hope to return. Love. Faith.
Our Abba,
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
according to the riches of Your glory
We may be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in our inner being,
That Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith.
When we, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to
know
the love of Christ surpasses knowledge,
we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Glory to Jesus, to Our God, Our Father, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.
To Christ Jesus the Savior, and His Father with the Holy Spirit be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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