Psalm 6 ~ we rise

Psalm 6 

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;

he will answer him from his holy heaven

with the saving might of his right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

8 They collapse and fall,

but we rise and stand upright.

Sometimes, you just do not want to comment. It just Hurts to see Love portrayed so horribly and so courageously.

This is the Bible in your hand. Today.

This is what people did for Scripture to exist for 400 hundred years beginning just 16 years after Jesus willingly opened His arms to Save the World.

God Loves His People and Wants Salvation through redeemed hearts open to His Love.

The brave faces of men condemned for loving Jesus. Unwilling to lie.

These men were conceived in God's Plan. Their parents were pleased when the baby began to move and kick inside their mother's womb. They had Grandparents who smiled for a year at their Creation and Blessed God. These men grew to Love Jesus enough - not to disregard His Love. These men knew something not behind a black mask - The Light of Jesus Christ is in mankind.  Life is from God and will be reclaimed.

These faces remind me of the young girl killed in Columbine High School. Has anyone forgotten. No. Reminding me of the Dallas family I know who took Bibles into China for 25 years and their small, underground Christian Church did not grow until Bird Flu. When the Bible bringers told their friends, they wouldn't take ex-patriot status to flee Bird Flu - instead they would stay with the people who had no where to go. The Church grew to 2,500 people. Because this is where Christianity Started. Prayer and Trust in God in adverse circumstances.


This has been an unusual week with the high number of comments on the Blog. Which is mostly appreciated. A kind lady commented on the need for prayer in all of our Churches sweeping the nation to pray.

Our Healing Class spoke about Isis and their extreme position on ending the planet. Bringing God Forth in human ideas of victory. Just Like Judas. Betrayal of a Human believing in God - for personal glory.

March the 2nd is a National Day to Pray to end Persecution of Christians.

Psalm 90
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

We have one first and best defense. Every Day.
And people have come to Jesus to ask Him how to do this effectively, for selfish reasons - James and John went to Jesus and virtually demanded to pray well. We have all kinds of books and ideas of Prayer. Jesus made that pretty simple.

Luke 11
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread,
4and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

5And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me.."

Jesus is so real!

yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs!

Ask, Seek, Knock... David said, "Let me fall into the merciful hands of Father God!"

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

Now, Jesus walks on water. Heals All the sick. The Blind see. The Deaf hear. The lame walk. The Poor have Good News preached to them. Jesus as God, did not say - He won't say, "No." Or, "Wait." Jesus is so necessary - that the Dead Sea Scrolls contain this paragraph. Jesus is the Word of God. Full of Grace and Truth. The Truth, the Way, The Life.

Not our personal waiter. Son of God. He sits on the Mercy seat.

Father among you

Children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Yes, Jesus told us not to heap up empty phrases. Let's look at the meaning when we add on to Jesus' prayer and say,

Deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory.
Forever and Ever. Amen.

And I add - In the Name of Jesus, we pray, Amen. Because Jesus told us to ask in His name.


 

What are we asking Jesus, when we pray this -

Father - we are in adoption - Your family covered in the Name of Jesus. Beloved.

Your Kingdom come - is Great! For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. We are agreeing, we expect GOOD from the One who is good.

Give us the Day! Today. Today is an important concept for the God of Creation of Time. Today we make the Day with God and giving Him the one thing, the only thing we can freely give God not given to us by Father God - Gratitude. Expectation and Thanks of Mercies Renewed.

Our Daily Bread. God is Living Bread of Life. Sufficient. Finding Good.

Forgive us our Sins. When we swing the Law like a club or beacon to ourselves - we will fall short. We will sin, we will covet, we will envy, we will imply, we will be prideful. We will sulk, we will swirl in guilt and soak and fail to improve. We will fail to grasp the Glory of God's Gift of Forgiveness, Inclusion. The full weight we can never, ever touch the Provision God has made for us. For you alone, personally. In Salvation. Jesus perfection paid your debt.

When we say forgive our sins - remember Isaiah told us - He heals our sins and bears our iniquities - this is all healing. God knows what we need before we ask. Ask anyway - like the Blind man Jesus waited to hear from.

As we forgive those who sin against us. We need help to do this. And this will kill and remove the root of bitterness. This makes a new path. This causes Hope to Build. Faith to Soar. Love to Heal All. We need His Grace to even touch the hem of this Robe. The one Robe too perfect to be torn, instead was tossed by rough hands as a prize at the foot of Love. One. Seamless with God. Jesus.

Lead us not into temptation. God wants to know if we think He will drop us on our heads. Do we Trust God. Do we honor what He tells us. Do we think we are more special and deserve a sin? Jesus knows Abba. He says, Forgive them, they know not what they do. Jesus as He died - mediates for us. Jesus knows God at His tether. Jerusalem ended in 70 A.D. - the natural life span of - God's Son. Jesus said, "Father forgive them. They are sheep almost without a Shepherd, have compassion on them. Feed them." Like He told Peter. Jesus IS LOVE.

Deliver us from evil. Well, we had to add those Words in to God's Perfect Word. Because from ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggie beasties, Good Lord Deliver us. I'm completely comfortable adding these words in. I'm for protection. But ya'll seriously. Jesus is the Word of God - there is not much we are big and mortal and tenacious enough to deal with in the Real Spiritual Realm. This is indeed God's Battle. His Word Created the Universe. Nothing we have - no device - is large enough to deal with what only God can do. His Name. Jesus. Is Lord.

For we REJOICE that the Kingdom, the Power and the GLORY are Jesus. This alignment is the one that is going to be Our Blessing.

With continued Prayer. What will happen to this? This horror. This travesty of the God who tells us yesterday, today and tomorrow HE is unchanging. Merciful. Slow to Anger. Rich in Mercy. And someone tell these hidden face murderers that the end of the world is the Son. The Sun. Read the Scriptures. We have no collapsing gravity. No moon falling. No red sky. Instead if you look on the internet - You see Vast Resources for Prayer. Hope. Faith. Love.

For years people tried to beat God down gullets. Fear. God Is Love. Love is important.

What can we do to ask God for a Reawakening of His Holy Spirit? Pray. Pray like CONVERSATION. Just start with the Lord's Prayer. God is chatty. That Bible is not a small Book. He wants Your love and Your thanks and Your conversation. God is interesting, Scripture fits all different situations.

Feel Discouraged in the world news? Read John 17. Today is God's Day. Millions of Years is one Day to God. Today John 17 - Jesus prays for you. Yes, He does.

Thank, Jesus. Amen.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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Isaiah 55:10-11 ~ My Word be that goes out from My Mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.


Our Father God has a very long something to say in that Sentence. How difficult it would be to put a snow storm back in the cloud. Rather pointless to try.

God puts us on paths and not all of them lead, even in Careers, to happiness and joy.

However, if you do something you were asked to do - like President Reagan was asked to end a communist system that took the Faith of the people away from them. A God Plan - like Noah building a ship. Like Abram leaving his father's country to go where God called him - then you know the journey was correct and the twists and turns are part of Life.

You can even look back and say, "I learned. And I'm stronger today."

What God is teaching us if we let Him -

Ephesians 4
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ

God asks us to Search For Wisdom. We see this as Moses goes further into the Exodus. And Joshua has learned from Moses. What Elijah taught Elisha.

Today is the Feast of Polycarp. He is regarded as the disciple of the Apostle John. He lived to be 86 years old and died in 177 A.D. Shines a light on how the generations are always 14 in Biblical times, doesn't it?

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

We are not all handed a great life and asked to do well. Some of us went this way or that. We joined Churches, moved, had jobs, new neighborhoods and changes. But I cannot say that I would do this differently.

Polycarp said as he died, "Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong." God intends us to get stronger as we get older. God tells us to plant a seed like a mustard and the birds of the forest will land and have shelter there. You know what has a tiny, little seed and grows?

And this 360 foot tree arrives from an insignificant seed. The Sequoia arrives at a huge height in about fifty years and is magnificent in about a hundred and fifty years.

1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

Remember with me, Heaven has old people in Heaven who watch children.

Zechariah 8
3"Thus says the LORD, 'I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.' 4"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. 5'And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.'

Proverbs 16
Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
21 The wise of heart is called discerning,
and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
22 Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.

23 The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

31 Gray hair is a crown of glory;
it is gained in a righteous life.
32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
33 The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.


Jeremiah 31:13
Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

What are we practicing for? In this Life. The Kingdom where the King is called Love.

This is to the standard we are establishing.

1 Corinthians 13
have not love, I gain nothing.

Ephesians 3
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.


Father God, Creator of Weather - today we have a return of winter across many parts of the country.  For many spirits lag. Unless you are my son Cal, and you are traveling in a Colorado snow storm for the first time - with prayers for safety. We pray knowing that in You - we will go Forth. A new wind is coming. Spring nearby. Daily You renew us. Daily we Trust in You.

Thank You for giving us mercy and grace to the heights of the Heavens. Your Forgiveness. Let us do the work this day that is pleasing to Your sight. May the Words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart - be pleasing to You. You Are My Rock and My Redeemer. In Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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Exodus 3:1-12 ~ And He said, "Here I am."

Exodus 3:1-12

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 

3 And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!"

And he said, "Here I am." 

5 Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 

6 And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." 

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" 

12 He said, "But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."





~ the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire

People react differently to the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus recognized the awe, amazement and worship from the followers who understood His Abba,  and Jesus said:

Matthew 13:16
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

Moses recognized how large the challenge and how small he was. Isaiah saw it differently. We all see the Vastness of God differently:

Isaiah 6:5
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

And Isaiah 6:8
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

No matter what the reaction, the Lord’s Plan is put into place!

Father God uses fire in the New Testament as well:

Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit

Just as Moses could not believe because of the enormity of the accomplishment, or like the analogy of the burning fragile bush, he wondered for his own safety. Jesus provides for the fragile.

John 20:29
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Acts 13:36-42
"For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

" 'Look, you scoffers,
wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would never believe,
even if someone told you.

God is doing something between Moses in 1600 B.C. and in the First Century A.D. and Today. God takes us just where we dwell with Him - in all different lives and conditions - reaches to us - to our souls and makes relationship within us to Father God. Pappa is working with people who have the fire of youth, energy and moxie. God reaches to people fragile and in need. Father God is like Fire - there is no stopping Fire. And Father God is like Living Water - there is no escaping where Living Water will go. God makes us His.

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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Matthew 6:16-18 ~ received their reward in full

In John 6:35, Jesus tells us that He is the Bread of Life. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t suggest to us that we should fast, He says 'when' we fast.

Matthew 6:16-18
16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you

Why would we seek each day to please Father God?

Revelation 22
12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Joel tells us we all enter Heaven. We present ourselves to Father God.  In this Life we easily reserve for ourselves, in discernment, who will surround us. God also discerns who will be called into His Heaven. His Kingdom was bought with a price. Heaven was Sheol, a place of the dead. Jesus took what was wrong, impaired, flawed and deliberate sin upon Himself. He bought us with taking the curse of sin and death upon Him. Father God saw life has unusual twist, turns, requirements and injustices.



Isaiah 53
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

Jesus steps up for us and says He has cancelled all debts that could be held against us. If someone provided for us all our lives, surely we would want to do what was right for them. This is why we don't lightly misbehave knowing what Jesus has done for us. God considers our souls so deep and so complicated, He tells us our soul is known to God. When we see this Great Love God has for us, we want to have honored God and considered this Love. Hannah could tell God her troubles. Proverbs tells us Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy. Except Abba, Father.

The Bread of Life:

Matthew 26:26
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Jesus as Bread of Life says this in John Chapter 6:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

Jesus has brought us new Life. To worship God in Spirit and Truth.

Romans 7
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Father God is not far away and unknowable. God says He will dwell in us. Which sounds like Bob Uker could say, "Just a bit outside." John, having walked with Jesus, understood this and commented how we bring God to the people He gives us.

1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

Romans 13
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Romans 14
1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

This week I was on my way to Church and as the Policeman said, "In a twinkling of an eye, it can all change." And I heard a terrific crash and large impact as a car ran a red light into me, traveling well into a green light. My first thought as I gripped the steering wheel and, found out later, my childhood monkey type feet gripped the brake - was - "This is the end. Here I come Father God!" I don't think I even had time to say a word. And I realized, if I go home today - I'm okay. What I have prayed for is to go on Home to God without suffering. And I was shaken. It was a large, large jolt twice and I felt mostly euphoric to realize - I've presented myself before God daily and when I see God, I'm fully in faith Jesus covers me. And the event is now just sore muscles with more comfort God is there for us when we believe God is who He says He is. Hope is that His Promises are for me. Faith - we can believer He means this for me. Love - all there ever was covers me.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.


Thank You, Father God. In Jesus. Always. His Name covers me.  Cover the people I love and care for this day and always. You alone are God. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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Psalm 84 ~ making our souls a place for God to want to praise us for our dwelling being lovely

 It's in His time and within His plan. Let us make the most of our day, each day

With God, we always have a great opportunity..... look UP!

Father God, how wonderful to be able to move past wearisome thoughts. To think of You, the Eternal.  God is One. The Glory of God. Your storehouse of blessings does not run empty. Give us eyes of gratitude to see the blessings.

Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Father God, one of the reasons You are our refuge - the world finds perfection is always the goal. And sometimes we work with the imperfect because this is the real condition of life. In careers, in medicine, in schooling, in relationships, in marriage, in our children's attitudes. John 21 states clearly Jesus worked with the imperfect in His Perfection.

There seems to always be a way we could have done something better. Someone has a comment. Someone has an opinion. From what they can see. In what they need. From their concern. From their view. Like cleaning a house - this exists like putting a bead on a cord that is un-knotted. Rarely do we see the complete view of even the person next to us. We only discern. God made us transparent to Him. In His Wisdom. Proverbs tells us the heart knows its own joys and sorrows. God alone knows souls and hearts He fashions. Are we underprivileged if we acknowledge this? This would be incorrect. The phrase, "Lonely at the Top" would fit the people who run the organizations. Someone wants their job and would do just about anything to get that. And if you complain, you appear weakened. People need to express themselves or they fester.

Scriptures work not just drawing vast millenniums - Scripture is telling us of Jacob trying to feed his family 3 millenniums ago. Or David in the perpetual hot seat - this explains the widening gap between the societal structure of force, work, jut, strain, bruise yourself forward and the necessity of tying needs tighter and tighter.

God is telling us Heaven isn't for the people who dressed in robes, riches or green thrift store adventures. God is saying He makes a nest for all who need Him. All who want Love. All who want Joy.

And in the quiet moments we can converse with God. We find Father God welcomes us with all His Love.

Assuring us - We are Loved. There is an Amazing Plan from God who fashioned a water molecule to be ice and warm to vapor, steam, liquid, mist, rain, streams, rivers, lakes, oceans. We can stand at the beach and See. God is so vast, He is the Universe. The waves pour forth and rush back. There is a breeze making Wind. God makes Wind and Clouds His Ministers. Psalm 104.

Psalm 131
A song of ascents. Of David.

1 My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.

3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.


Father God in the Perfect Grace of Jesus would draw us under His Wing. God would have us look further into His Vast Wisdom and call that nesting, resting place - His Pinion. God would say Life is going to give us fiery tests. And in Hope, Faith and Love we can call that Walking in Faith unseen, Adventure, Journey - God would say what we are doing is seeking the Narrow Path leading to Love - God. Eternity. And the quest is to explain this Eternal Love to the people God would bring to us. Making Heaven like Ephesians 3 - the place where families dwell.

Prayer is not the cultivation of a God who would add another tilt to the scale of what to do in life. Prayer is a lot about visualizing what healing would look like. A balm. A soul exists in each of us. A Light. Love people as you pray for them. People grow when others see what is true in them. 

God is  Love. 

Jesus is the Way, Truth, Life.

Father God, In You we rest. And trust. You are Faithful. This is where have our being. Thank You, God, for Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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Psalm 81 ~ Shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

Psalm 81

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule [just decree] of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over [against] the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your [his; also next line] shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah [quarreling]. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you [Israel; Hebrew him] with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Is the glass 1/2 full or empty? In this Psalm we are given a statute, a rule, a just decree and seemingly just the hope to just open our mouths to God's blessings. It is both a Psalm of hope and an appeal to us to have more faith in our souls and actions.

God's storehouse is famed for His willingness to Bless. Always Un-empty. Abundant. Sometimes called His Treasuries. These store unusual items. Name some of your's.

The Scriptures are neither and never 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. 
They are the Word of the Lord. 
An every day statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Except in the Scriptures - it is much more vital, living and important! The law isn't just the 10 Commandments, this is every Word coming from His mouth:

Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.


More important than empty or full.
The LORD who doesn't change. Even in Deuteronomy - Christians don't find very exciting,  and yet importantly Deuteronomy 5 is about Father God wanting to willingly bless. Just like this Psalm.

Prayer isn't the dry need to cultivate a needy Deity. Prayer is alive and we reach by love into the hearts of the people we love.

What we usually pray to God is not that His will be done, but that He approves ours.
~Helga Bergold Gross

Prayer is about opening ourselves to the willingness of God. Just as the LORD tested the Children of Israel at Meribah.

As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. Prayer is a conversation!

What is the factor of variation seeming to exist in this Psalm? It is within your soul and my soul. It is the expectation God hears our prayer conversations. That this life is meaningful and the works and words accomplished in them matter to Him. Greatly.

Psalm 126  tells us of great blessings to come and the desire for more blessings. And ends with:

He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.


This week I was so fortunate to meet a young woman who told me she had never been prayed for and had never seen anyone pray. She was radiant with her fiance after we prayed this together:

Father God, We know John walked with Jesus. John told us and described You as this: God is Love. In John 1, we learn You are the Light that shines in all of mankind. You are the giver and bringer of Life.

Your path is the one we want. Telling us how to be most abundantly the people you created us to be. Remembering and Acknowledging the Gifts You have put in us to be exactly the person You created us to be. We ask you to guide us on this path. Forgive us in Jesus when we are flawed or sin. Protect us. Rejoicing with You in the Life You give us and create. Be in us and let us be glad to have You Live in us. Amen in Jesus.

That shining face then invited Jesus to bless and live in her siblings she named with abundant Love. Her face shone with the Joy God puts in Love. Let's all be the Place God would want to Dwell.

What a Blessing to be there, to see this.  Thank You God.

Shouts of joy are required!

Father God, each day help us to cultivate the garden you've given us for our lives. Help us to work in Your Light. Help us to weed out what is not holy in Your eyes, even when we cherish that weed. Help us to see, diligently, Your blessings even when it is rain. Let us be children of Light even when we work with fertilizer. And in the reading of Your Word, help us also to be do-ers, let our lives reflect Your work in our garden. Bless our garden, like a mustard seed, which we took and planted in the garden You've give us. Let it grow and became a tree, so the birds of the air perched in its branches may sing to Your glory. Help us not to cultivate the garden for our use alone, but to be blessings to others with a generous heart.

Father God, the letter I wrote Edward's client urging them not to fire their sales force a year ago. Saying a farmer must work the ground given to him and put the seeds in the ground. Father God, next in our concerns, what we want most is that all our loved ones come to Heaven with You. We plant seeds, and yet only You give the Call. We ask you to Call for all of the people we love and tenderly care for.

Father God, teach us to let our words, our time, our talent be the meditation of the heart You hope for. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. In the holiest name of Jesus Christ we pray for Mercy and Your Will.  Thanks Be to God! Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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Ephesians 4 ~ the way you learned Christ

Ephesians 4

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? [the lower parts of the earth?] 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [pastors] and teachers, [the shepherd-teachers] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, [to a full-grown man] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.


17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 


29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.


Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He didn't slap hands away and tell them to leave Him alone for a moment to think. He did not put a noose of truth around someone and tell them it was for their own good. Jesus never did learn how to lasso.

Om. I know that I do these things.

He calls us to be part of His One Body.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

What am I called to do?

2 Peter 3:18
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.


Jesus attributes in this passage for us to prepare for Lent:
~ humility 
~ gentleness, 
~ with patience, 
~ bearing with one another in love, 
~ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit
Bringing to the World a  ~ bond of peace.  Jesus calls people to live in peace to the best of their ability.

Romans 12:18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Why?
~ for building up the body of Christ

Tell people when they do the right things. Thank them. Be glad for when good news occurs. Apologize with Heart. When Given Scripture to Read - Stay there and find all the Glory in that Scripture. Be diligent.

~ attain to the unity of the faith
Church is not all about me. One Scripture suits one's needs - another is read for someone else. Scripture IS for all. Emotion is to be thought about and held in self-control. Not repressed, not unexpressed, not to overwhelm.

~ Speak the truth - in Love. Brutal truth isn't necessarily the way for peace. We have to go easier on each other.

What happens to the spoken truthfully encouraged Body of Christ? The honest truth given with Love....

His ~  body grows so that it builds itself up in love. That is Good News. Jesus spoke truthfully to Nicodemus. Gamaliel stood up to boldly say work on God's path. Jesus was known to speak Honestly and Forthrightly.


~ The truth is in Jesus. We should want to honor Love so much, we work there with Joy. We hold up God's Goodness and want to build our framework there. His standards, His family He gives us, His truthful healing and His Honest conversation. His prayer daily in John 17.

Allow Jesus to renew us each day. In Prayer. In the Scripture. In Hope. In Faith. In Love.

God never made little clones. The Disciples are all different from each other. Andrew was quick to see Jesus as the Messiah. However, Peter was the one God picked for living with his mother-in-law. God saw endurance and tenacity. God encourages marriage in Genesis' beginning. In Matthew's beginning. We need to encourage our families to Peace. Because the Path God brings us - is the only one we want to be on. This is where God blesses us to know completely - God Loves Me. And you are not surprised to find God's Love- in seeking God's will for your life. In Scripture. In Truth. In Mercy. This is where we connect to how much God is Love.

Jesus was good to His Brothers. God is vastly Good. Jesus gave us the example - when His Brothers egged Him on to be a "Show." Jesus just let them play monkeys in a barrel. And did the Will of His Father. When His Brothers did indeed love and get very worried for Jesus - Jesus told them - He was going to do the Will of His Father.

When His Brothers went out to Proclaim a Risen, Victorious Jesus. They took their wives. Jesus saw that as His Father's Will. God is for building up the Body of Christ.

The Scriptures are very real. If you were to sit down and write the Scriptures out by hand to send to a friend, you might want to edit parts. Instead God let us see all of the emotions. All of the flaws. So that we can deeply grasp how much WORK -  HE has called us to do to Love one another.

In the last chapter of John - Jesus knew the apostles would still be arm wrestling each other - Jesus still made them breakfast on the beach. Jesus wasn't surprised and still - breakfast welcomed the men who had failed Jesus.

God was honest about how flawed all of us are - All have Sinned - All Have Fallen. So we understand that Innocent, Good, Loving, Healing Perfection came to us. Jesus said, "I will Heal them all." That is Love. Worth knowing, worth honoring. Worth respecting.

The Scriptures - were written for you. That every Chapter warms you to the Love that John did see in God. God the Creator, God the Father, God the Pappa, God the Warrior, God the All Knowing. God is Good. God is One. This is the God to give us Life and to Worship with all we have. Give us the day.


Father God, we Abide in You when we want to please You. Thank You for Your mercy and Your atonement for me. Only because of Your righteousness - do we Abide in Jesus. We bring to You in prayerful Love and expectation the Ones we Love knowing You Love far greater. Thank You God. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

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