Matthew 1:20-23 ~ he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream

Praying Continually

Matthew 1:20-23

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).




Psalm 4:8
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.


When people speak of being healed by the Lord God our Father, continual prayer is spoken of.

Joseph is in thought. Our thoughts are not private from God. God acts to answer Joseph in his sleep. There are three dreams of great importance during Jesus being saved from power and pleasant lives. Joseph has two dreams, the Magi have a dream.


God was laughed at by Sarah. And when she was taken by King Abimelek, God gave a powerful dream to save her.

God gave Joseph dreams about his future upsetting his brothers and then Pharoah's dream set Joseph free. Apparently, for Joseph - he was done in by all of his brothers and his employers in Egypt. Dreams led Joseph as he was reunited with his brothers.

Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.

Jesus tells us to pray believing God will hear us. Pray Believing in the Mercy of God.

Colossians 3:14
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Matthew 18:19
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.


Father God,

This is a true statement and worthy of all of mankind to be received.
Jesus Christ Died to Save Sinners.

May You give us the Joy of knowing Jesus Loves us and hears us and heals us.

May the Glory of God be what I strive for. May the Love of Christ be the Strength of my Joy. May the Mercy of Jesus be the only righteousness I know to be mine. May the Words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing and acceptable, to You, Lord Father God.

Jesus, the Rock and Salvation I hope for the world and for those I love so dearly.

We ask in the Name of Jesus, Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

Psalm 55 ~ Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

Pilgrimage, hiking Ziklag, part of the Negev desert and semi-desert region of southern Israel. Archaeological explorations reveal some of the earliest presence in Ziklag is early Israel. This is actually David's home.

David, warrior and mercenary, lived in a trench. His family was all stolen, kidnapped, in 1 Samuel 30. David understood personal war.

Psalm 55

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskila of David.

1 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
3 because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.

6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

8 I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”




It's highly doubtful David believed he would be singing about his worst part of personal war.

The Church has always gone forth with those who are putting Perish on the line. And as the men of God looked back with faith, they have believed very strongly God has saved souls as the battle is raging. God does not abandon the prayer in complete fear.

Mark 9
When Jesus came down from the Transfiguration, Jesus was greeted by failing and complaining Disciples and a father in total fear over his son. The father cried out for healing if it was possible. Jesus responded with fortitude, " And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

The father says so very earnestly, "I do have faith, help me to have More Faith!"

If we read Mark 9 again, we find Jesus always, always intended to heal the son. He has already, very quickly, started teaching the Disciples how to do this better next time.

Father God always intends to be Father God. Jesus is not giving the Basketball Dunk Lesson on Self Fulfillment. God is God. He has even told us we are flowers in the field without Jesus.

Many times, Messengers of God say as instructed... "FEAR NOT!"

The Ten Talent Child and Servant of Father God would say, "Of course, God is Father." The Lesson on 'fear not' is to relax our mind. To not cling to worry. To find Life has Joy as Jesus instructs the week Jesus Gives us His Life Forever.

Psalm 55 is the absolute terror of personal war. With the memory David would later sing to God for His Deliverance. David had his crisis leading others in crisis, with mutiny. A Personal Crisis with barbed wire. Later, David would praise God for His Help to find his family, to save a nation, to complete the Tribe of Judah and fulfill Destiny - God's Plan.

God is God of all. God of those in crisis. God of the fearful. God of the hopeful. God of those expecting to help others. God of those surrounded by a rough crowd. (David's mercenary followers were not crumpets and tea.)

Joy

Maybe David could think past dealing with a crowd of mutinous thugs to regain his family, because he had some faith. Maybe this faith kept his mind clear enough. Jesus said several times to Rise. Believing God is God, we can see past the stone wall to the Faith God is never going to leave. Hope. Help. Helper. Solutions.

David writes so well of terror. He proclaims his fear. God is not ashamed to call Himself a Father to David. We can create a memory of David living in a trench in fear and being the plan for Jesus Christ. David was uncomfortable living in a trench - see the stones - David believed God and the Rock of Jesus Christ is his foundation.

With faith, we are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ.

 We have this example to hold on to.

A rational thought on fear:

We believe God sees us as we are. God knows our heart, mind and soul. Our past, present and future. We sincerely hate to show God fear. We believe to show God fear is to secretly insult God. Fear does not offend a Father. God tells us He wants to live with us and give us His Helper - God's Holy Spirit.


God is our Helper.

Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.




Psalm 132

Remember, O Lord, in David's favor,
all the hardships he endured

2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool!”

8 Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:

“One of the sons of your body
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall sit on your throne.”

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on Him
His crown will shine.”


The Helper of God gives us this!


Psalm 133

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!


Peace


3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

Fear

Mt Herman feeds Israel and the Jordan River

After Jesus gave His Life for us,

Jesus Lived the Word of God,

Returned Triumphant over Death.

And found His Disciples 

to make them Breakfast.

John 21

Abba, Our Father God, Our Father,

Feels like a song that never stops
Feels like it's never gonna

Gotta get that fire, fire, back in my bones
Before my heart, heart, turns into stone

So somebody please pass the megaphone
I'll shout it on the count of three
One, two, three

Oh, hear my prayer tonight, I'm singing to the sky...
Give me strength
...to raise my voice, let me testify
Oh, hear my prayer tonight, 'cause this is do or die

The time has come to make a choice
And I choose JESUS
Let it move you, let it move you, let it move you
Yeah, I choose The Lord!

For me and my house - we chose the Lord God.
Counting on Jesus for His Amazing and Wonderous Works of healing, eternal life, thriving, prosperity, Love, Peace and Joy.

Thank YOU for Giving me These Blessings!
Jesus is God. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

Acts 3 ~ walking and praising God, and recognized Him

Acts 3

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.


11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Isaiah 2:4
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Two million people showed up in Times Square to celebrate May 8, 1945 - the end of World War II. Josephus tells us in Antiquities of the Jews - 2 million showed up when Multitudes are seen in High Holy Days of Jerusalem. This would be the multitudes of Acts when Believers filled the Temple and Jerusalem knowing Jesus had been Resurrected.

How shall we remember - with our best efforts - the Bravery shown in this Nation, 

in Scripture and History?

The Battle of Verdun in 1916 killed so many fine men, the advancing World War II was held in utter and complete horror. Today Verdun, France has many no man zones due to the horrific number of land mines - still in waiting from World War I. World War II was horrible, but in many details from both sides, atrocities were omitted in World War II.

We honor bravery by finding a true peace. Remembering how hard fought the Peace is.

This weekend we spent time watching Ken Burn's "Civil War." The Lessons were well learned.

Jesus, the Gospels tell us, "Healed them all." And Father God forgave them all, even Good Friday.





Abba,

We seek to live Your Willing Blessings. Filled with Life, Faith and Health.

Jesus chose Capernaum and in His Blessings, Capernaum stood for close to 1,400 years in peace.

We would ask like John 17, Jesus would pray with us. Seeking You as the Centurion did.

We remember Your Word is Law. And Your Word is always filled.

Father God, we plead with You earnestly, as the people who knew the Capernaum Centurion in Luke 7 knew, we Love Your Children and know You work even today and work with Jesus still working. Building up the Body of Jesus Christ.

Because Your Word is Law, we know distance is not important. Your Word upholds the Universe.

Say the Word and our earnest prayer requests are held by You and are under Your authority. What ever You heal, remains healed.

Speak the Word of Healing and Peace, please. We will find wellness.

Bring Your Merciful Word to the ones we Love. The Children You have placed in our lives. Let Your Mercy cover the Nation. And the Nations who want to Live in the Brightness of Your Glory.

In the Name of Jesus, we are Blessed. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

Wisdom 10:15-21 ~ speak clearly

Cloud by Day, Pillar of Fire by Night

St. Catherine's Monastery is on the Bucket List of many people. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, this library contains many first century fragments of the Gospel. With 3,500 Manuscripts of Scripture of Antiquity and 1,500 Scrolls - this Library is considered second in the world after the Vatican. This is considered to be the Mountain of Moses, God and the Commandments.

Wisdom 10:15-21

A holy people and blameless race wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors. 

She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs. She gave to holy people the reward of their labors; she guided them along a marvelous way and became a shelter to them by day and a starry flame through the night. She brought them over the Red Sea and led them through deep waters, but she drowned their enemies and cast them up from the depths of the sea. Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly; they sang hymns, O Lord, to your holy name and praised with one accord your defending hand.

For wisdom opened the mouths for those who were mute and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.


Memorial Day. Yesterday we read Genesis 2 and God is providing water for the earth in abundance where the Holy Spirit is hovering. Jesus is Living Water. Another example of God never leaves or forsakes us. This is, of course, is about the creation and creation of mankind. Surprising me, the earth in Genesis is said to be tiny saplings, seedlings and not even a small bush has grown up enough. I must have missed that for all the times I've read Genesis. The bald top of the rocky mountains is actually the Genesis story. Amazing.

Thinking of Memorial Day, as I was listening to Guns and Roses 'Sweet Child of Mine', I thought of the courage of the military and the beginning of bravery in childhood for the forces fighting for Justice. To want to place lives on the line to perish - begins far before the event. Given what is recorded about military opinions - I'd say the Bible is not unfamiliar.


The Book of Wisdom is the Apocrypha. Generally not part of the Protestant Bible. Ok, fine. One is not required to love the Apocrypha to discuss this.

The earliest known copy of Wisdom would be 285–246 BC (Ptolemaic dynasty). The pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, and is repeated by Philo of Alexandria, Josephus (in Antiquities of the Jews) and by various later sources, including St. Augustine. The story is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud:

King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one's room and said: "Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher". God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did.

What the Scholars could repeat, King Ptolemy considered Sacred.

The Difficulty of the Apocrypha
The Apocrypha was written during the four hundred silent years between Malachi and Matthew. Jewish sources agree divinely inspired prophetic utterance was rarely occurring during this time.

There are various opinions of Heaven, the communion of saints and works.

Bravely Recording History
The Apocrypha records and does not ignore the history of miraculous surrounding what is now Hanukkah , a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid.  This leads into explaining how the Herods came to power.

When the First Nicaean Council (St. Nicholas of Turkey is St. Pere Noel and Santa Claus) decided the Holy Spirit would reach souls with the Apocrypha. It's actually far out. However, this is ignoring Barnabas went straight to India to explain Jesus. And the Apocrypha would appeal to other cultures and the explanation of God's Power.


The Wind of the Holy Spirit is not contained from The American Revolution to Afghanistan. We include ideas of many men seeking the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ and why not read the Apocrypha even if just for discussion. Even if it is to compare and contrast.

Proverbs 3:13-18
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

To fight for Justice. To obtain Freedom. To liberate the captives. To face our horizons bravely.

The Book of Genesis contains two chapters with differences in the Creation story of mankind. Why. I don't know I"m rusty at this. And yet without researching this, I know mankind in the image of Father God is both Father and Mother. To emphasize the tenderness of God. Wouldn't we need to know this to understand the Nature of God? Yes. God tender and nurturing encouraging us to celebrate our God-given gifts. Not war without reason, but wisdom in finding the hard-won peace.

To understand God moves gently and with Love. As well as the Power of God's Word is Law. Every Word of God is filled.


Why wouldn't Solomon refer to wisdom as a woman? Solomon truly found Wisdom seemed to leave his life. Solomon begged God to speak to him again as he married 700 women and declared a good woman is hard to find. Solomon is interesting. Not platitudes, but living Word of God to consider as we journey in life.

The Apocrypha appeals to those in different cultures and in seeking wisdom. How will we include this with the New Testament and feel the continuity? Each generation and all of mankind is looking for God and wisdom.

James, the New Testament version of the Book of Proverbs. James is wondering about wisdom (like Solomon left wisdom and James left Jesus during his living years) Proverbs message of wisdom coming from God.

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

James 3:17
The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

The Mission of God is to save the world. Cultures the Scriptures are concerned to bless. God to Hold in His Love and Change Hearts. We could consider the ancient Greeks and the Romans considered wisdom to be an important virtue, personified as the goddesses. Today, we might consider Hindu as the same. The Plagues found Motherless children and tried to improve Mary. Jesus told us more blessed are those doing the will of God. And God had given us His Story of Parenting with Love.

Words like Restoring Balance. Finding the Center. We have Love to bring forth in Jesus Christ.

We find the Copper Age meets the Bronze Age to the Baby Boomers and Generation X, Y and Z.

Each Generation considers itself blessed in Wisdom. And even Copper Age mankind thinks and processes include recognizing the limits of one’s own knowledge, acknowledging uncertainty and change, attention to context and the bigger picture, and using different perspectives of a situation.

Cognitive scientists believe wisdom requires coordinating such reasoning processes, as they may provide insightful solutions for managing one’s life. I reddit. If we remember Vietnam, Korea and World War II and wonder about Afghanistan  - to college costs and increasing military for education, we should consider what the day to day reading is going to think about.

We have all kinds of Memorial Day fireworks, but isn't the Exodus and Numbers where the wonder of Lights in the sky began?

Abba,

We live considering our lives, deeds and words. Your Scriptures provide us to think upon the Larger Picture.

Each generation considers itself wise; as we consider our own decisions, we do the same. Your tender loving care tells us 12 Gates of Heaven are open for us all the time. You hear our prayers as lovingly held as incense. Beautiful to You.

The Blessing of Long Life and Health.
We lift up our most tender concerns and our own ideas of wisdom. Bless us as we explain to you, the merits of the cares of the heart. Thank You for Your Word, telling us of Your tender Love.

You are God seeking to bless all the world. Thank You. Thank You for the bravery of the lives serving to find Freedom and Justice. Blessings of Mercy told and lived.

We ask for ourselves, the Children of God everywhere, more Heaven on earth.

In Jesus Christ. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

Genesis 2 ~ These are the generations

Genesis 2

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.


4 These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 

12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 

19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. 

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.


We always think about Let there be Light. Jesus is Living Water and He arrives as the Helper upon the waters. God is proving from the beginning He never leaves or forsakes us.

The Blessing of God in all of His Word. Providing His Help.

Abba,

Welcome Father God, know all of me. Know the words of my mouth and my meditation.

We believe You are always with us to the ends of the earth.

We give You our cares and know You desire more of Heaven on earth. We rejoice to know our cares are held dearly by You.

We will rest in Your Good Will knowing You will bring us a Hope and Future.

For all the earth, You want to save in Jesus Christ.

Covered in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †