Tag Archives: Jesu

Christian Living, Prayer Requests

Good (Message)

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Friday morning, Friends. It’s a sunshiny day in lower Alabama!

So! Happy plans for the weekend anyone?

I’m about blank of anything to write this morning, So, I again went to my JOURNEY magazine. Revolt or Respect? It read.
Good message in our political climate.
Good message in a work environment.
Good message in family dynamics.
Good Message.

It talked of a school principal having made a decision his teachers did not understand, nor did they agree was good and reasonable. Short tempers flared. Words were flung. Conspiracies for dissensions were devised as the teachers began to file from the room.  Except for one.

Listen in with me (again) as our heroine is described:

“Amidst the arguing and accusations, I began to hear the voice of the HOLY SPIRIT beckoning me to show Mr. Tate respect and honor, even if I didn’t agree with his position. By the time the meeting had adjourned and other teachers began to exit in small groups, huddling together and murmuring about their plans of dissension, I had determined to steer clear of the angry talk. If I needed to address Mr. Tate about his decision it would only be later after I’d prayed about things and could speak with gentleness, self-control, and respect.”

I know of NO relationship wherein this is not the proper action!  And in this very moment, the precious HOLY SPIRIT brings to mind a verse of Scripture for us. Excuse me while I go find the reference to copy and paste it for us here. 

Oh my! Verse 19 is where He starts us —

James 1: 19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
via James 1 NASB – Testing Your Faith – James, a – Bible Gateway.

Who does not want to be blessed in what she (he) does?
For sure, for sure the HOLY SPIRIT is saying to us today if we want to be blessed, we must be quick to hear and slow to speak.  And that’s only the beginning.

JOURNEY concluded with a poignant question and counsel. 

“Is the LORD asking you to act contrary to the way of the crowd?
Yield to Him and He will strengthen you.”

The Word stings, ABBA, but it’s a good sting to me. Good as a scalpel that cuts away what is harmful. HOLY SPIRIT, do Your perfect work here in us with Your Word.  Indeed You are asking, commanding, us to act differently than the crowd and You have promised to strengthen us. We accept Your command and Your strength to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry, quick to hear and do as You have written, to look intently at Your perfect law of liberty and receive Your blessings.  Thank You, ABBA. Thank You. 

And, ABBA, thank You. We see Your hand in this and we wait to see Your glory revealed in this. I am mindful in this moment of another trial of another sort, it’s a cancer of another kind, the kind that eats a person’s soul and hurts others; You know the parties in mind and even others I do not know and I pray You will lead them all, guide them to proper counsel, legal and Christian, to process this.  I pray for restoration.  For all the suffering(s) that has been brought here, HOLY SPIRIT, we pray for Your intervention and Your glory. Amen and . . . .   .

We have the God-given Right to do right in this wrong World,
Kathie 

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I have not written a word until just now since yesterday and since my beloved read something so good to me from Guidepost this morning, even though it is last year’s reading, I thought you would not mind if I shared it with you for our time at the screen this morning.

The writer is Mary Lou Carney. And she said:

I like gardens–not gardening. I am good at planting, usually in a rush of adrenaline brought on by seed catalogs with blossoms bursting off the page. But when the blush of the moment fades, I tend to forget about my flowers. And as time goes by, weeds grow and my garden begins to look, well . . . ragged.

My friend, Desila, on the other hand, likes gardening. Her beds are beautiful, her blossoms huge and richly colored. So I had to laugh the other day when she showed up with something for my flowerbed–a flat, gray stone that read ‘MY GARDEN WAS AT ITS BEST LAST WEEK, SORRY YOU MISSED IT.

I think the rock was meant to motivate me to take better care of my flowers. But it’s done more than that. It’s made me think about the way people perceive my actions, too. That moment when I’m short-tempered with a waitress, the times my driving gets too aggressive, the laugh I have at the expense of someone else. These things don’t occur often–but when they do, I want to say, “Wait, I looked better last week when I was doing church volunteer work. When I was letting that hassled mother go ahead of me in the grocery store line. You should have seen me when . . .”

My well-placed stone reminds me that life, like gardens, requires ongoing care. And you never know who’s looking to see just how well you’re blooming.

Master Gardener, weed from my life all that is ugly and selfish. Let me grow strong and tall in the beauty of Your love.  —- Mary Lou Carney.

I can and do amen that prayer! How about you?

Thank you for your prayers and expressed concerns for Sheila. The nausea is controlled now and she was able to take in some liquids – chicken broth and jello yesterday. We rejoiced!

1 Peter 2:23-25 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
via 1 Peter 2:23-25 NASB – and while being reviled, He did not – Bible Gateway.

We have the God-given Right to do right in this wrong World,
Praying (PFT)!

Assurance - Promise, You Tubes

Quiet

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can be good.

At the reading of this I hope all of you have rested well; at the writing of this I am fading fast, looking forward to sleep. It has been a quiet Resurrection Sunday for us, albeit a long one. Sunrise service at 6:30; Sunday School, praise and message, lunch, a leisurely ride and a stop at the store for oranges before getting home a bit ago. And through it all has been the sense of His love and presence.  JESUS! Oh what a Savior!!

Psalm 68:
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah.

35 O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!
via Psalm 68 NASB – The God of Sinai and of the Sanctuary. – Bible Gateway

Go forth into this new week trusting Him and receiving His strength through it all.

Thank You, ABBA. You are forever faithful to us. It has been a beautiful day; thank You. And now I pray for all who come here to read and pray that each will receive Your strength for every challenge. Amen and . . .   .

We have the God-given Right to do right in this wrong World,
Praying (PFT)!

Celebrations, Passion Week

Resurrection Sunday!

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Some time before dawn the stone was rolled away! Not so JESUS could get out but so we could see that He had!!

Matthew 28:2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
via Matthew 28:2 NASB – And behold, a severe earthquake had – Bible Gateway.

And so the Women who loved Him so much went to the tomb while it was still dark.  Would anything  but a powerful love send a woman to a cemetery in the dark? 

John 20:1 New American Standard Bible (NASB) The Empty Tomb
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene *came early to the tomb, while it *was still dark, and *saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
via John 20:1 NASB – The Empty Tomb – Now on the first day – Bible Gateway.

See Matthew 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-8; John 20:1 for the details of the women’s visit to the tomb.

See Luke 24:9-12; John 20:2-10 as Mary Magdalene reported to the Disciples that JESUS’ body was missing from the tomb. Peter and John immediately ran to the tomb to see for themselves. 

There were a lot of going(s) to the tomb that Resurrection Morning and it was Mary who was first privileged to encounter JESUS after His resurrection.

Mark 16:9-11 specifically identified this Mary but it is John’s account in Chapter 20 that is my favored account. It’s the one I identify well with.

John 20:11-18 New Century Version (NCV)
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she bent down and looked inside the tomb.
12 She saw two angels dressed in white, sitting where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
She answered, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 When Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.
15 Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Did you take him away, sir? Tell me where you put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”Mary turned toward Jesus and said in the Hebrew language, “Rabboni.” (This means “Teacher.”)
17 Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
18 Mary Magdalene went and said to the followers, “I saw the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.
via John 20:11-18 NCV – But Mary stood outside the tomb, – Bible Gateway.

As surely as Mary heard JESUS speak her name, I have heard Him speak mine.  To be sure Mary heard His audible voice with physical ears and I have not (yet). But just as assuredly the ears of my heart heard Him call, ‘Kathie’, and I answered! There have been many great days in my life but no day (so far) compares to that one!But there is a day coming that will far exceed that lovely day in November 1975! Verily, verily without this Resurrection Sunday we are remembering today there would be no great days for any of us.

JESUS also appeared to the other women: Matthew 28:9-10.  And to the two men on the Emmaus Road: Mark 16:12-13; Luke 24:13-32. And in the evening, He ‘popped in’ on the Disciples :) : Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:25. And for 40 days JESUS at various times and places met with His disciples teaching and preparing them for His Ascension to Heaven and His Commission to them and us to carry on His work: Acts 1:3; Matthew 28:19-20.

Many passages, many happenings we have read this week, ABBA, every Word true and faithful. Thank You, LORD. Thank You, LORD, for Your mercy, Your grace and patience as You wait for souls to believe. Thank You, HOLY SPIRIT, that we are not left on our own to believe; that You call us, help us and empower us to believe You. Thank You. For without You we surely never would.  You know I am thinking particularly of one near and dear to me, You know the diagnosis, it scares us and we cling to You for peace and ask You to heal her. And there are others, many others with illness and diseases; and as scary and hard and life altering as these things are You defeated death and hell so we proclaim what our brother Paul said, “we are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; struck down, but not destroyed by these things; we trust You and we desire first and foremost that You be glorified in us. HOLY SPIRIT, pour out upon us as we gather to worship, anoint Your Messengers in worship centers and Sunday School classrooms, exalt JESUS and draw men, women, boys and girls to worship HIM. Amen and . . .   .

We have the God-given Right to do right in this wrong World,
Praying (PFT)!