Ezra 1:1-11 ~ the Lord stirred

Cyrus's Cylinder
1995 Dr. Bryant Wood. Cyrus's Cylinder, declaring freedom for captives in Babylon to return to Israel and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the temple.  Cyrus was amazing for his time and had incredible interest in human rights.  Ezra 1:2-4

Ezra 1:1-11

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,

...the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.

4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Jesus told us "it is written" many times. How blessed to find His Word recorded in nations and in the fullness of His earth.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Psalm 118 ~ Oh Give Thanks to the LORD, for HE is GOOD!!!

Psalm 118

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

3 Let the house of Aaron say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

4 Let those who fear the Lord say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord;

the Lord answered me and set me free.

6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

7 The Lord is on my side as my helper;

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord

than to trust in man.

9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord

than to trust in princes.

10 All nations surrounded me;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

12 They surrounded me like bees;

they went out like a fire among thorns;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,

but the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

15 Glad songs of salvation

are in the tents of the righteous:

“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,

16 the right hand of the Lord exalts,

the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”

17 I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the Lord.

18 The Lord has disciplined me severely,

but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord;

the righteous shall enter through it.

21 I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

22 The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord's doing

it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save us, we pray, O Lord!

O Lord, we pray, give us success!

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

We bless you from the house of the Lord.

27 The Lord is God,

and he has made his light to shine upon us.

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,

up to the horns of the altar!

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

you are my God; I will extol you.

29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!

Wouldn't we love it and be great if Jesus had sit down and given an interview we could all relate to in our lives just about every single day?

Actually, being Jesus Christ, Son of God, He did.

What was Jesus thinking about for this particular interview? Jesus was thinking about the times we feel life has not been just and fair and we feel 'Oppressed!'

When we think about this truthfully, there is not a day where we are not confronted - with the fact - Heaven on earth is a prayer of Hope and seen with Faith and not with all circumstances - all the time.


Jesus would want us to know - if you do "This" you will be much more content and happy. Jesus was actually about to pray for us in Chapter 17. This is completely understandable. "Do this" from Jesus Christ and then a Prayer from the Son of God. Jesus would of course, send a Helper and Comforter.

John 15 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the Vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 

17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,[b] but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

What would Jesus give us to hang on to?

The New Commandment of Jesus is to Love.

 If we place ourselves to be helpful, we have a mind set on peace. If we try to be polite and considerate, we have fewer regrets. Our mind is set on Pleasing Father God and He is pleased.

When we feel abandoned, not respected, left apart - we are able to remember where we are welcome. When we are pressed to think in paths where it would lead, we are completely open and praised to remember - with childlike faith - return to our Father. Exactly as the Word of God explains, like the Prodigal Son Greeted By His Loving, Willing, Awesome Father. Peter was given the Key to Heaven, and God smiled. Father God Loves Peter and tells us all 12 Gates of Heaven are always, always, always open by our Holy, Holy, Holy Father.





12 Open Gates.




12 Open Gates

Being from Texas, we are a little surprised finding how quickly Michigan Goers - Michigoers - are able to travel the entire state. 68 Degrees. Sixty-Eight Degrees. August. Lake Michigan has an actual Tide during storms. The flowers are simply amazing. Hydrangeas do not pout. Snowball Hydrangeas do not cease. Day-lilies are 'twice' as big. Winterberry trees make red berry Christmas all winter long. Heaven has flowers like this. (I had Blue Spruce like these, in our 4 year yard while I was in High School in Emporium, Pennsylvania.) Sixty-eight degrees. August.



Yes, we are visiting our son who is entering his 3rd Year of Law School. He has made the Dean's List every semester, but the first one. (He's bright!!!) And so, Sunday morning, we had this wonderful breakfast like I have never seen, gratis, in a hotel before. And I was waiting for my husband and son to join me. And next to my table is a cheerful group of a man and two ladies. The man is filled with Light. He speaks with Joy. He said he has been hearing from the Lord this week about being Joy bringing. We, all who believe, are part of His Garden. We are on His Fruit Tree. We are part of Him. We are on His Vine.

I was absolutely delighted. I had just finished reading John 15 from Hotel insomnia. God is So MARVELOUS. I'd told Father God, I wanted to do More of THIS last night. To be a Joy Bringer to Father God. So of course, I'm smiling and beaming and looking touched. The three turned to me. I said, "How I needed that message - today - thank You!!!"

They beamed back at me. He turned out to be a Minister here for a wedding. He was here to marry the young couple at the Hotel. The Minister said we change lives when we try to smile to be the Light of God. We went on to talk about Haggai - who was in burned out Israel. Destroyed. No food, not even fruit on the tree. And Haggai found the Joy of the Lord God to be his hope. And he found Joy. The Word of God lives in us. We find God's Temple is within us. We work on our Relationship with Father God daily.

YAY. Really Yay.

Abba, Holy, Holy, Holy Father,

We Bless Your Holy Name. Jesus, Thank You for Your Willing Blessings.

You reach out to us in life, in Your Living and Active Word.

Help us to be Joy Bringers.

Thank You, so much for our friend Elliott. He is a Joy Bringer. And like th eMinister today, a man filled with Light. Radiant Light of You. Elliott is 42 years old with 3 children and an excellent wife, Harby. Elliott went into the doctor with a hurt back and found he had cancer all over. He has gone to the hospital after an eight week journey with cancer - to the Hospital - admitted with a broken L1 spine from the cancer. He has actually had a good month. We ask You to willingly speak Jesus Healing upon our dear friend. With You all things are Possible.

Thank You for the People You give us. Blessings of family. We look to You and say Thank You. You hold us up.

More Heaven on earth is the prayer You gave us. Your Will to be Accomplished. A Blessing to ask.

In the Name of Jesus cover us. The People we Love. The People You have given us. This Nation. To Trust in You and find Your Joy. For the Nations seeking Your Brightness. And the fullness of the earth is Your's and the people praying with Love and Hope in the Name of Jesus every day and all day.

In Jesus we are Blessed, Jesus blessing on us all
Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Isaiah 49:1-13 ~ saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

Originally Posted 3/2/15


Each morning I re-read the daily Scripture for Today Blogspot, (re-reading is very, very helpful after time has gone by because what made sense when I proof read, doesn't always mean the sentence was coherent) I check on the Feedjit tool at the bottom of the page and push the Real-time view seeing what people are reading, praying, thinking and where they come from (like the wonder I feel looking at the dots appear on the spinning globe tool). Twice it has been someone from Vatican City and flying the Vatican flag. We have a very faithful friend (Scripture Partner) in New Zealand and Evansville, Indiana (hi!).

Today, before my day began, I saw Feedjit and was thinking the rest of the day. The question was this......

"i wonder what God thinks of me"

Empathy filled me at the lower case i and the desire to know, capital G God, in the question.

There are multitudes of Scripture written personally to "i" just for this reason. As many as the stars we can see in the sky. Four passages hit me that I'd like to share. The Word being living and active - these Scriptures create thoughts & emotion in us - sometimes this is why people are angry or uncomfortable reading the Scriptures. For those emotions, prayer and talking to God is needed.

As Father God sees us, He is like Isaiah, He is not fixed on today, in a cage of time. He is not seeing us as teenagers, moms/dads, married or elderly and (based on the colors described of the people in Jesus' ancestry) He doesn't really see us as a color. We are not locked in to a specific time for God, He sees us as the whole journey of our lives.

Gideon wasn't seen as a young man, or weak, or questioning - Gideon was seen as a wonderful, wonderful soul, a creation of God.

Judges 6:11-23

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

God has no trouble being in the moment, in your conversation to Him.

John 1:44-51
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Why God would be interested in a question like that. A humble question.

Matthew 19:17
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Jesus says:

John 14:1
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me

In believing God, we can read about Jesus and ourselves told to us through Isaiah:

Isaiah 49:1-13

1 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3 And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”

5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

8 Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, 9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.”

13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. +

Father God let us Love. In Jesus. Amen.


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Mark 7:24-30 ~ His Presence

According to the cuneiform from Babylon Chronicles, 597 BC, in The British Museum, Jerusalem remained blackened burned stones heaped upon each other. It was so burned, it took a century for the stones to be clean again in the ruins. Jerusalem was not going to be enjoyable for the meager remnant.

And Judea fell again when destroyed by soon to be Emperor Titus in 70 A.D., when Jesus would have died of natural causes and old age. Titus got to march in with an estimated one million Jewish slaves as part of his Royal Triumph Parade. The Colosseum was built as a spoil of war. The Temple Tools are carved on the Arch of Titus.

And the Arch of Titus was completed 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus's official deification or consecratio and the victory of Titus together with their father, Vespasian, over the Jewish rebellion in Judea.




About 1550 AD the Pope used the Arch for Oath taking and loyalty ceremonies. And the Arch began to show deterioration.

By 1700 AD it was almost abandoned and a citizen lived in the ruins.

In 1812 the Pope decided to restore this:

(This) monument, remarkable in terms of both religion and art,
had weakened from age:
Pius the Seventh, Supreme Pontiff,
by new works on the model of the ancient exemplar
ordered it reinforced and preserved.


Good idea.

1948 - The Jews had refused to walk under the Arch of Titus, believing Israel would rise from utter defeat almost 1900 years later. Correct!

What will we expect from Jesus - Living Son of God - Author of the Living Word of God?

Mark 7:24-30

24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.

25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”


28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.



Jesus was always known and IS Known as being approachable.


In our lives, we all come from

different aspects,

seasons and varying degrees of our Journey in Life with Jesus.

Jesus is not the type of Man, God, who will revile someone in their wobbles.


We were not there, we do not know if the Syrian woman approached Jesus with dogged diligence or if her whole approach was filled with trepidation.


If someone greets Jesus for many years and many paths with trepidation - this is just like the Prodigal Son being seen, far, far away. The Father had time to make sure this was his child.


The Bible is living and active, Jesus is not going to shame the Syrian Woman for having trepidation, Jesus is going to be with her and work out her worries.


We all will encounter the Living Father God in various seasons of our lives. Some days we read this as Jesus is being quite regal to a gentile. But perhaps this particular gentile expected God to speak to her in ways she found recognizable.


Can you imagine if the woman had approached Jesus and said this to Jesus and He replied, "Oh Ridiculous, your daughter has never ever had a demon. She had Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder and you, being merely at the start of the Gregorian Calendar, surely you are uninformed and stop groveling."

(Yes, I am completely sure Jesus knew of what He was speaking of in Divine Knowledge in the passage - this is an analogy.)


God being God - is going to have to approach us in our highest level of thinking. We cannot attain to filling the Heavens with our Presence. Father Francis MacNutt is a 91 year old graduate of Harvard. He has been involved in healing ministries for 40 years. Father MacNutt says that when someone is healed they want to know right away if the healing is permanent. They begin testing the permanence of the healing like a colt on new found, shaky legs. Father God does not zap them for being people of little faith and take the healed miracle back. God allows us to grow. To lean to Him. Francis MacNutt reports the Joy of the realization process of healing.


The Vast Mercy of God will agree with the Disciple John working, walking, watching, talking, living, and experiencing Jesus. Saying to us - GOD IS LOVE.

How does Father God like to be addressed in Expectation?


Hebrews 4:16
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.


Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.



God is God. Always. His own Word tells us about Father God. We use our talents and gifts to bring them to Father God, in prayer, saying, "I hope I have pleased You." Believing of Father God - He is Love and He is easily pleased with earnest hearts who Love Him.




Abba, Father God,

You have placed me in my life - just where I am. You gave me my name, you gave me my circumstances. I have days of plenty and days of want. Help me this day to place my thanksgiving, my gratitude for what has blessed this day - as a gift from You, Father God.


Help us in our circumstances we label as difficult. You, Father God may not see our difficulty as troublesome. When our boundaries do not enlarge, You ask us do we see a desert or a patch of land to garden and cultivate. Help us to be wise in our own thinking. And See You are a God in Whom Nothing is Impossible!


Let me place my heart, my talents, my gifts in front of You and ask all things work together for Good. Let every knee bow at the Highest Name of Jesus, let us kneel and worship. You are our God. We are the people of Your pasture. We place our cares in Your hands. Thank You for hearing our voice. Let us hear and understand our calling in life from You.


We bring in our hearts, the Ones we Love. Asking You for their upbuilding, to broaden hearts and to create more Heaven on this earth.  For healing for those asking Jesus to be healed. Give us every good gift we need and continually point us in the right direction. We ask this for our work, our friends, our Church, our State and Nation. Knowing to Know Your Love is to create Love, Hope, Faith, Joy and Peace. Help us be led in Upward Goodness and not as needing a bit and a bridle.


THANK YOU FATHER GOD, Your mercies RENEW each day. In Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Psalm 130 ~ With the Lord there is Steadfast Love

Psalm 130

A Song of Ascents.


Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

Genesis 28:11-13

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”




Genesis 31:12-14

12 And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’”


John 1:50-51
50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Luke 6:12
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Abba,

You began with Your Words, "Let there be Light."

And the Children of God were told to inhabit the earth and fill it. The Exodus, the Children of Israel walked down into the depths of the Red Sea, to rise to climb back onto land. A series of seasons.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the journey from Nazareth was up in elevation to Bethlehem. Jesus was buried in a tomb with a hill on top of Him. And Jesus Rose again to New Life.

We will have seasons of all kind of life. In all seasons, we have Your Love.

In the Words of Jesus to pray always with Hope, we ask more Jesus and more Holy Spirit and more of Your Joy.

We pray over our concerns and cares and we lift up the cares of those we Love. Knowing You hear us. And will tenderly care for us.

We pray for our families and those we Love with great tenderness and know Your Love is Steadfast and filled with compassion.

We pray for those in New School Beginnings. For those in steady paths of life. We lift of those who have health concerns to be made well in Jesus Christ, Son of God.

We ask for Your Love on our Nation. And the Nations seeking Jesus. We bless You remembering the many times You have healed and acted for the People we Love. And Give Great Thanks to Pray with all of Creation. More Heaven on earth and with Your Good Will.

In Jesus Christ, we have our Blessings. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Matthew 10:5-15 ~ The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand

Matthew 10:5-15

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

9 Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

St. Patrick, 5th Century A.D., returned to England after many years of cruel enslavement. And Patrick's reaction - return and toss out the snakes and bring Jesus Christ's Love. There wasn't really a manuel on this. No written advice. St. Patrick was winging it.

This Matthew 10 Passage is Jesus sending His 12 disciples out. Immediately. After making them His disciples. Later, Jesus would send out 72 disciples (who had motley faith in hard times.) Chapter 12 is when they are reunited. Jesus went on to preach and teach in other cities, evidently, without the disciples in Chapter 11.

Matthew's 10th Chapter goes on to say, as Jesus sends them out - trusting them - to be who they are and to preach the Good News in the power of the Holy Spirit, He says:


John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

This is amazing to me.

Can you imagine Jesus sent these raw recruits on their way? To do ... God's work. Jesus trusts them to go to it.

~ 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.

The very next statement is Jesus repeating twice. The healing is a gift of God. Do not seek pay. Human nature is to find advantage in every situation. Jesus says be a gift. The grace of God is a gift. He doesn't say in this passage to travel to foreign lands and be a missionary. He says God expects us, as untrained theologians, if we believe in Him to do Kingdom work and not to look for the advantage for ourselves.

Okay. The word of God is for us. Today.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Look around. This is the mission field.

Abba, Father God,

Here are my hands. Here I am. You will send opportunity, You will send Your Holy Spirit. 

It is not all up to me. Whew. You. Send me as You would like. 

You do not promise we will have miracles in all of our endeavors to bring forth Kingdom work. 

You promise You are with us through it all. You help us to shake off the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and go forward, in hope of You. 

In the name of Jesus Christ.

In the Grace upon Grace of Jesus, we rest our cares, we place our hopes. 

We fervently put our loved ones with You. We trustingly place the Nation in Your care. 

We are praying for Elliott to be healed from cancer and enjoy long life well past his early 40s into grandparenting with his beloved wife, Harby. And comfort for their 3 young children and parents.

We praise You for the prayers around the Good Creation - all asking more Heaven on earth. Your Good Will be Accomplished. For new school years and travel safety.

And with all heart, Thank You, Abba You are God and give tender mercies. And rain in August!!!

Amen, Lord Jesus!

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †