1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord,
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
7 No one who practices deceit
8 Morning by morning I will destroy
Reading Scripture helps us know God's Love. Every Bible verse is written for you. Jesus Christ is all mankind's Light. John 1!
Elijah received real care from FatherGod in a time of need. Today, my oldest son was travelling home from Houston on I-45. It hasn't rained in a long, long time, we are in a stage 4 drought. At about 10 a.m. he slid, on new tires, across 4 lanes of traffic with cars all around him. During the slide his car rotated 540'. He narrowly missed a concrete barrier. When he came to a halt, he was facing oncoming traffic. All the cars and all the objects had been missed and he was not harmed. Thank God for His mercy.
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Today, we had a discussion about Christian Fiction Books. I've read about 6 years of Christian Fiction Books, at book club, and I found them, at first, a little alarming. Wow, what better Christians and more saintly than I. Then interesting, wow, I thought I can learn. Then I decided, comfortably, it was dull. Okay, some I've remembered and treasured.
I read about a child who was learning about the Bible and was reading Genesis. She was asked by her priest what she thought. She said they seem to be a lot of friends and she liked that part. Friends, the priest asked? Yes, she explained, everyone 'knew' everyone else.
This ties together the point I'm trying to make. The Bible isn't Pollyana - sweetness, it's about real difficulties, real selfishness, real sin, inadvertant sin and incredible love and forgiveness. The Scriptures are about the power of love being squashed down " by trouble, persecution, the cares, the pleasures, the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things."
One of the greatest love stories in my life is my paternal grandmother. This isn't a Hallmark card or movie. One of my favorite movies has a scene, the main character goes back 20 years to high school, the most meaningful scene, she goes to see her living grandparents. Tears me up, tears me up. What a priviledge.
My grandmother has 4 great-grandchildren. 3 are named after her. My husband loves to recall my Mississippi Grandmother and her beautiful, gentle voice and aristocratic talk and ways. Such a gentle woman, believing life should be accomplished with a lot of Christian ethics. Her penmanship going back to being educated in small town, where penmanship was important. Having wonderful supportive, loving parents. Her love for her house - being one of the few not burned down "in the War of Northern Aggression." The Waaaaaarrrr of Noooorthrn Aggggresssionnnn, say it with me, there is no twang in this.
Grandmother was born in the Mississippi Delta, in the era of Eudora Weldy, and she never belonged to or joined the popular racist club. She adored Veelma, her maid, for over 30 years. Grandmother's old antebellum house looked a lot like Miss Haversham's, minus the wedding cake.
Her perfect childhood, her grandmothers she loved - living with her parents, her father's affluence, her loved remembered, discussed childhood home, her brothers she loved, her sister who annoyed her, her father saving from her from her mother's wrath when she ruined the car bumper and Pop secretly paid for the $16 ruined bumper. Falling in love with her brother's roomate from College; meeting the most handsome man in the world and marrying the man you can't live without. He was from a family with another fine house. He writes his aunt Hattie to say he is giving up alcohol to marry her.
Alcoholism can take many years to sink you down. Alcoholism and alcoholic families have several courses; beat it, join it, enable it or leave it. Grandmother, being the gentle soul she was, joined it. We had a Thanksgiving one year, she became angered - this from the most dignified, gentle loving woman in the world - and took off her wig and threw it on the table & thundered about her new marriage (my grandfather had been dead for 15 years) to her new husband, an Episcopal priest. Robin Williams would say we were pretty Episcopalian.
So.
This being said. When the great Chapter of Love is read or said, I never forget my Grandmother. When I grow old, I want to be the example of love she was to us. She found in us, absolute delight. Every time we saw her, she made sure to say, "I love you and I am so proud of you." Sincerity rang out. Sometimes she did without, to make sure we had something she wanted to give us. Grandmother knew we were parented, so she didn't parent us; she asked us what we thought and she would honestly discuss it. Grandmother wanted to know what interested us and she never encouraged us to be lawyers or doctors. Grandmother was interested in friendships and boyfriends. Her message was to forgive unkindness and to always remember the people the people who have been kind and loving to you and never to push them down. My Grandmother paid for my college education when my father scorned it. Grandmother was always astonished I had a job and flew all over the country. We grinned about it a lot.
At our Rehearsal Dinner, my Grandmother began her blessing of my marriage by saying she was "as old as God". But really, Grandmother's love was a dress rehearsal for God's love.
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Jeremiah 10 (Revised Standard Version)
[1]
Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
[2] Thus says the LORD: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,
[3] for the customs of the peoples are false. A tree from the forest is cut down,and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
[4] Men deck it with silver and gold;they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.[5] Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,and they cannot speak; they have to be carried,for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil,neither is it in them to do good."
[6] There is none like thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
[7] Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations?For this is thy due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like thee.
[8] They are both stupid and foolish;the instruction of idols is but wood!
[9] Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.[10] But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King.At his wrath the earth quakes,and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
[11]
Thus shall you say to them: "The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens."
[12] It is he who made the earth by his power,who established the world by his wisdom,and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
[13] When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain,and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
[14] Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his images are false,and there is no breath in them.
[15] They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.[16] Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,for he is the one who formed all things,and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
[17] Gather up your bundle from the ground,O you who dwell under siege!
[18] For thus says the LORD:"Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time,and I will bring distress on them,that they may feel it."
[19] Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction,and I must bear it."
[20] My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me,and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again, and to set up my curtains.
[21] For the shepherds are stupid, and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
[22] Hark, a rumor! Behold, it comes! --a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.
[23] I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
[24] Correct me, O LORD, but in just measure; not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.[25] Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the peoples that call not on thy name;for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him,and have laid waste his habitation.
~nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them
The Teton Mountain photo indicates a storm is coming, not the apocalypse many newspapers shout about. When is it time for the Father to end this world, it will be time.
My husband was reading to me what the normal times & expectations were in 1908 in the United States: average life expectancy – 47 years. The typical wage was $0.22, the total amount of paved roads in the U.S -144 miles, average house cost $1,800. After the First World War, people began to buy clothes already made for the first time. Major fortunes changed & education increased overall. A major flu epidemic. Then a major Depression. Something pondered in great detail today.
When the details of last century’s Great Depression are poured over and examined, don’t we all have grandparents and parents who not only survived the depression, but ‘lived’ through it? I’ve heard history, not only of Survival, but of Compassion. Gratitude. Change. Prosperity.
One thing is certain in life: God loves you.
Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.
Psalm 138:
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes,
with your right hand you save me.
8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.
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Acts 16:1-21 (Today's New International Version)
1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
Paul's Vision of the Man of Macedonia 6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
Two separate spirits are spoken of in Acts 16. The Spirit of Jesus didn't let Paul and his companions enter Bythnia, where they were headed, where they were trying to go with the best intensions. The Spirit of Jesus didn't let them go forward to preach the Good News. Then Paul stopped another spirit proclaiming Paul and the others as bringing the way to salvation from the Most High God. It seems to contradict, doesn't it? The Spirit of Jesus stopped them from spreading the Good News in Bythnia and then they stopped a spirit proclaiming in Macedonia.
Father God's wisdom is greater than our own. Jesus knew they were needed in Macedonia and He redirected them. Paul became annoyed by the constant shouting, the repeating banter of the spirit. It wasn't helpful, just causing chaos instead of order.
That's opposite what Paul learned about Timothy from the believers, Paul didn't hear proclamation's repeated over and over, he learned more about Timothy.
Galatians 5:19-25
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
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Walls of Heaven