Daniel 1:9 ~ favor and compassion †

Daniel 1:9

 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief

During the Pandemic,

we were making Jesus our Chief

and Believing Him.

We are enduring this Season

with some wear on us.

God is not enduring us.

God is delighted with our Prayers.

The Word of God assures us, God sees us

exactly as we are

and

finds us Welcome with Him

in Jesus Christ in our Hearts.

Deuteronomy 30:6 

 The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, 

so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

One thing we can say about this Unprecedented Lent. 

This highly thought about Life - Season. Not since the last true plague, and World War, has the world thought so much about God, Prayer, Freedom and Obligation.

As we ended the Pandemic quarantine, 80% of the United States said they consider their prayer life to bring them closer to knowing God loves them and answers prayers.

And like this Amazing Pandemic: Politics, Stock Market, Job Market, Longing to return to work, last December a vast number of workers quit to change jobs, Church Attendance, Vaccination acceptance and Blue Skies, we have seen change. 

Conservative News organizations are reporting people are calling in to ask, 

"Where is God?" 

The answer has certainty. God is doing His Work. 

We are in the journey.

Psalm 33:15 

 He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do. 

The Maker of hearts also knows how to remake hearts.

The answer has certainty.

John 5:17

Jesus is Still Working, and His Father With Him.

Lent isn't a World Observed Season. Preparing for Easter. 

This season we see cruel punishment and harsh circumstance and dictated governing. And suddenly the Message of the Cross during the Life of Jesus has our attention.  God understands suffering and has chosen to know Life very well and personally. Jesus, we proclaimed, as the Pandemic began, was speaking to us. Faith has to be unseen, to be faith.

What do we have in common for the Pandemic? 

Bloom where you are planted, witnessed by the housing market where we all want to stay home, even today. 

And we seem to be stuck in a rut, yet we just did agree God is at work.  So what are we planting this Lent? How are we free? What is our opportunity in this freedom?

Romans 8

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

2 For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh,

 God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, 

as an offering for sin.

We have seen an opportunity. A time when we can find questions and God answering.

The Pandemic had the world asking about EQUALITY.

Since the 60s we have been singing about Freedom.

And then the Law and Lawgivers, were not what we, as a culture, wanted.

An Answer was given to the results of No Law.

Crime. We were given the freedom to protest

and the freedom to have a truthful answer.

Pandemic is also a Vast Answer about Equality.

God has put us all in the same boat. 

And said, "Equal."

God has answered what He thinks about Equality.

This has been a time of exploring Freedom.

God is working.

What Scripture will we use?

The Prodigal Son. The Father was living what he had hoped not to. And the situation

was given to him. By those surrounding him.

Where is this

Freedom for Ukraine?

God has answered with an Opportunity of Prayer. You might say well, big deal. More of

life is about the circumstances so large, God has given the circumstances. Life rains on the Just and the unjust. The experience of the Prodigal Son prepares him for Heaven. And the Prodigal Son's Father.

Poland and others are opening their borders.

The Poland train stations have people offering 

Rooms.

Rides.

Help.

The opportunity for Ukraine to have freedom is oppressed

and the human heart is working worldwide

to try. To pray. Weep. To hope.

Offer help.

Scripture to compare?

When Jesus died on Good Friday, He had a multitude of women

to weep for Him.

Freedom? Buy you never wanted to defund the police

or see burning cities! This Pandemic thing just isn't your ideal.

If we all want the same thing, we aren't really exploring.

There is no real growth. If the Prodigal Son's Father

got what he wanted, the Prodigal Son would have

been no more than a slave.

We had the freedom of diversity

and the answer is arriving in the understanding of unity.

Truths loudly examined. Worldwide.

Scripture Verse:

Onesimus was the slave Paul fought for. And in fighting for the slave, Paul was placed in peril.

Computers operate with binary systems of 1 and 2.

Or we could call that yes and no.

If we impose the "My Cousin Vinnie" speech about

'the way all our little ol' ancestors did things',

we haven't really given everyone a seat at the same table.

In the same way, setting fire to a city isn't 

to be desired as well. Or shaming children or labeling

who should experience shame.

The Pandemic is teaching us

a God Lesson.

United, we will rise together.

Otherwise, United Airlines is going to have fist fights.

An ability to fly privately, isn't going to heal a Pandemic.

God is really teaching us

about my inclusion and your inclusion.

What better than a quote from Nelson Mandela. 

God invites us all to His Table.

1 Corinthians 11 

20 Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat. 21For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal. 

While one remains hungry, another gets drunk.

And in the imbalance of the world 

we say, "I will take yours."

Even if it is the ability to have politeness.

Ukraine is a symptom of the power struggles

we see erupting everywhere.

How have we used our Preparedness for this in

our own lives?

Relevant to pandemics: work on navigating threats, social and cultural influences on behavior, science communication, moral decision-making, leadership, and stress and coping.

Our schools have shown more upheaval at increasing measures for ....

a literal lifetime.

Our crime had been down.

Our hopes had been seen in divorce numbers. Without revealing, college educated people are 2/3rds more likely to only die and not divorce. And the national average of number of friends is "Two friends per person." And a lot of I'm fine, faking it till I make it. But I'm ok, but

you are not ok.  The increase in suicides as the National Death rate from 13 to 9.

Breast Cancer has been 2 women out of 9, if you look at people who live to be 100. 

We have not been getting the full story for some time. But we had a lot more zombie movies!

Ephesians 4:32

 

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,

forgiving one another,

 as God in Christ forgave you

We had an idea something was slipping. How will we fix the imbalance.  Only God remakes hearts. This is a work of Salvation. Yet, God has an idea for us to heal as Nations, Communities to Cities, States next to States, Cities to rural counties. Red or Blue.

Ephesians 4

ALL

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God

 and Father of us all, 

who is above all 

and through all 

and in all. 

And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and 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 the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

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 knit together by every joint 

with which it is supplied, 

when each part is working properly, 

makes bodily growth 

and upbuilds itself in 

LOVE.

We can say, "Where is God?"

Yet,  we know the answer.

If we could see how Jesus, His Mother and Brothers would do this?

James 1:27 

Pure and undefiled religion before the God and Father is this: 

to visit orphans and widows in their tribulation;

 to keep oneself unstained from the world.

We could be so far removed from the world we do ...

this...

Do this not like Beckham Brings This, instead:

Do this like... Dorcas. 

Bring Heart and Goodness to the people you have the ability to care for. The People God has Given You. The People placed in your life.

And do all the good works of fellowship and faith put together! Calling us out of Darkness

and Into His Good Light!!!!!

Why would we want to? The Strength to go on, the Hope of Try, the sheer Glory of Try with Jesus! The Belief our Prayers are heard - is the Holy Spirit within in us. We won't quit our Faith in Jesus. We will gather in Prayer and Go Forth.  Finding out how to Live "Give us This Day."

And we will be Strong with some glimpse of Joy. When we look with Gratitude.

Abba, Father,

How do we pray with such joy and expectation?

Jesus told us to Pray and always have Hope.

Father, dwell in us, please help us to found Joyful to You.

Help us to seek You first.

Bless those I love and the People You've given me

to have You dwell in us all and Help us all Seek You First.

Strong in Jesus Christ.

Father, it is in the heart, mind and soul of all of our prayers

 Your Kingdom is seen more and more on this earth.

We pray Thank You and Gratitude for the birds who were ill in 11 of the United States

to end the illness of Covid and join in this like the bird recovery.

Jesus has said to me and to you, "Pray for more of God's Good Kingdom

to be done on earth as in Heaven."

What astonishing Good Fortune!

How Blessed we are to Serve the God of Love.

Love God, Love His Creation, Ask for This Marvelous Help!

Pray with Hope, Expect You to be Pleased and Thrilled

and filled with Love at this Prayer.

And in the Power and Glory of the Highest Name of Jesus,

we will begin to look and see more of God's Heaven on this earth.

May God Bless Edward, our family,

Bless us all to Finish Well.

The Bible is being Incredibly Read These Years

Have All Hope.

Lift again tired dog path knees and straighten again

Hebrews 12:11-15

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, 

but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness 

to those who have been trained by it. 

Therefore lift 

your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 

  and make straight paths for your feet, 

so that what is lame may not be put out of joint 

but 

rather 

be healed! 

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; 

that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, 

and by it many become defiled.

Psalm 134
A Song of Ascents.

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the Lord!

3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!




Psalm 102
He looked down from His holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.





Psalm 111
2 Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
5 He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
8 they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!

Let the Love God is Strengthen us to Joy.

Our Path to be in His Plan.

In the Wonderful and the 

Highest Name of Jesus Christ.

Amen in His Joy. Amen.

♔ LORD JESUS SAVES †

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YAY

Colossians 3:12-17 ~ As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive

 

Colossians 3:12-17 ~ 

As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive

Prior: July 25, 2009

Negative comments are heard about this photo, going on a decade or more old.

 I had children who drew, like I drew. I only find this something to smile about. 

Proverbs 6:20-21 

20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 

21 Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck. 

22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; 

when you awake, they will speak to you.

 Colossians 3:12-17

New Revised Standard Version

As God's chosen ones, 

holy and beloved, 

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. 

And be thankful. 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Have you had to forgive?

Someone for causing the death of someone you love? 

1992. We, as a family, forgave a nursing home caregiver for throwing open a steel exit door in anger, not knowing Grandmother Anita, Age 94, was on the other side of the door and breaking our mother/grandmother’s shoulder.  Grandmother went out of the care facility every evening to sit and watch the twilight and sun change the sky into colors. Grandmother died from the injury, she was 94.

I watched the young caregiver, a 25-year-old woman, try. She was trying to let the Forgiveness be sincere. Was this too easy? Were we being sincere? What if we were wrong to forgive her? What if we were as guilty as she was in caring.  

The 2nd meeting was unexpected, my mother had already accepted her request and suddenly this intense discussion was on, again.  The whole conversation was going to happen again for another two hours.  And I asked, what is your idea of forgiveness?  What does your Church tell you? She said she had gone with her parents, but not now. I said, but you are a good soul, you want the meaningful part of life, to be forgiven. She said she knew she wanted to be forgiven.

The discussion now had to be about the legitimacy of what we said. Trust. I asked, do you believe we would forgive you and go home and call you terrible names? She looked at us both and laughed. No, she couldn't picture that. Then she cried and said she hadn't laughed since Grandmother Anita passed. And she cried again. 

She asked us if from now on, if she could call Grandmother, Grandmother Anita?  I said sure. My mother was very reassuring. She said she could tell I was hesitant. I said, no, I'm surprised at asking. Why, she asked me?  Is it because I'm Hispanic? Now she looked offended, and I was again surprised.  I said, no, Mother is an only child, I was an only child until I was 8, and now my family doesn't have first cousins or aunts and uncles.  The young woman who had sat in Grandmother's room so many days and evenings, by choice, said no, it would help her to feel as if Grandmother knew she was her family and her death was important to her. I said I know Grandmother enjoyed you, please do this if you feel better.

And now, the young woman really began to speak. And looking back on this, it was because Forgiveness had given her the open door to the cage of guilt and remorse over casual anger.

She said learning that mother's brother was adopted and not mentioned made her wonder if we were good people. And that made her wonder if this was all beyond our hearts to help her. We explained Jimmy was sometimes violent and angry a lot in his special needs. But Grandmother was the one who had the love  for him, she could give him completely, unconditionally. I said it's not as if we would ever introduce him as just a person, we would introduce him as Mother's brother, but due to his anger issues, we didn't see a lot of him and he didn't call our house. And she said the explanations, about boundaries, made her understand our family better and think we were more heart people. Her family had also had to overcome violence and anger issues. She understood the difference between boundaries of health and boundaries of coldness.

And the young woman became, suddenly, able to speak her concerns beyond just the simple question of Forgiveness.  Her place in accepting our forgiveness, gave her a seat at the Banquet Table God seats us in His Love. 

And then, Mother decided to change the subject and broaden the good soul we had been talking to,  awareness of Grandmother’s soul, or heart. Mother asked her if she knew Grandmother dreamed of Heaven. This nurse-in-training, had not known Grandmother Anita was widowed exactly fifty years. She knew Grandmother was a widow, and spoke about Ray, but she didn't know the many years she spent wearing a widow wedding band. My mother gave her the depth of Grandmother's joy to see Ray. And she told her some conversations she and Ray had. Mother said Grandmother came back to life, to see Ray, her joy didn't fade and she would tell about old dreams. The fruit of the Spirit. Love, Joy, Peace.

Witnessing about Jesus and Heaven can be difficult, but my mother ran this race like a Champion. Her stories were loving and they were personal. My mother and I could fill in the gaps easily, together. The young nurse teared up and said if she hadn't met us, she wouldn't have known the stories went back so many decades of Ray. Her devotion to her one love in her husband. The lady hugged us and said she was going back to Church and listen for the Love.

My mother and I spoke about this a week later, I told my mom, "Wow, hold you back Billy Graham!" My mother said that conversation went so well. This just wasn't her own doing, it was the power of Jesus explaining Love. She said she couldn't repeat that. But the time and the knowing Grandmother for years, helped the lady to know and feel God's Love.

Grandmother had an amazing, wondrous passing at the Hospital.

Full of the peace, going home with her beloved Father God. She was 94 and death is not unexpected. The caregiver wept and wept, meeting with us twice, to be forgiven. It wasn’t difficult to forgive an act of carelessness; without malice to Grandmother Anita.  The caregiver had really enjoyed Grandmother, and was her friend. She wept harder and loudly, hearing Grandmother forgave her and wasn’t angry. Grandmother dreamed many times of being reunited with family and her husband in Heaven, gone for 50 years, Grandmother didn’t spend a minute being angry.

My father’s passing was a different matter. 1993.

It’s complicated. His second wife knew a downward spiral was occurring and was, perhaps, tired of her marriage. The funeral photos looked like a christening or wedding photo, with the faces filled with the joy of the stepfamily. As I questioned family members, it became apparent with more help, his death might have been avoided. My deep sadness and grief turned into the most amazing rage. I never knew these violent emotions even could exist.

No apology would ever come from the woman (who wore a Tangerine Suit to the Funeral and waved her arms high in the air, giving the Eulogy). She, who now hailed my father, after his death, as the love of her life. She married again, for the 3rd time, within about 3, 4 months of his death.

Years before my dad died, I had attended a Bible study on forgiveness. 

The Bible doesn’t record the sons of Israel asking forgiveness for lying to Israel Jacob. Lied Joseph had died from being mauled, while actually selling him into slavery. Israel grieved for his son for many, many years. 

Forgiveness needs to occur even when an apology is not ever going to arrive.

As Israel died, after discovering the needless years of suffering and the deception of his sons, he blessed his sons, giving each the blessing appropriate and sincere to them. Israel died at peace and filled with hope. He wasn’t unrealistic in his forgiveness, but peace filled him.

I have found a willingness to forgive is the first step in forgiveness. 

Time helps to allow forgiveness to grow. I asked God in the Highest Name of Jesus to allow my rage not to conquer me.  I was gasping for God to help me.

God did help me, He answered my prayer.

I pictured living water flowing over me as I prayed. I asked for forgiveness when my forgiveness didn’t grow and placed my heart in God’s hands. 

The pictured Living Water of God was my best defense. 

In His Answered Prayer

Today, I am able to understand my dad’s responsibility and regret my dad’s wife’s choices. I am at peace. 

To be forgiven, opened the path, to feeling God's Love. To be forgiven let the freedom thinking, begin to roll in. The forgiveness covered all the range of emotions, the depth of those motions. 

I could even realize the two major aspects. I missed my father, tremendously. I wanted to talk to Daddy.  I wanted to have the opportunity to share my children and see him grow old with my family.  And the other aspect was the rage, with the upheaval of losing my father at age 30. That had grown into its own situation, how my emotions dampened my life. I wanted to be free of the ordeal. The Bible says not to grieve as the people who don't expect The Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus. I wanted to attain this in my heart and soul. Nothing seemed to help.  And not let the grief go. And I preferred not to be asked about all of it. It was my private life.  I'd only speak of this, if it was on my time.

Once I could see the overview, with the forgiveness, I could understand more. Healing began in the process and processing. The wheels began to turn, to go forth in God.

I have forgiven. Because the Lord helped me, and with His grace, I know I am forgiven. 

Thank God.

Abba, Father,

You Hear Prayer.

You Love to Save the World in Jesus Christ.

Fill us with Jesus.

We pray for the end of despots.

For Freedom.

Jesus to be evident in people

praying.

We will Pray in the Name of Jesus.

We will See Our Blessings Arrive 

Heaven upon earth

In Jesus Christ.

Amen.

♔ LORD JESUS SAVES †

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