Monthly Archives: April 2012

Share God’s Gift Of Love

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“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Gen. 8:22) There is always someone to be fed, someone to be clothed and someone to be comforted. Through us, God provides abundantly. Our blessings and gifts great and small are intended to be shared. Find someone to share them with everyday and God’s Love is continually released in the world.

If everything we do is done for God. there is no such thing as part-time.

1 John 3:16-24 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the worlds goods, and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?  Little children, let us love not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

1 Peter 4:10-11 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Walking To Jerusalem

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Lent: Day 40 – We wait, for deliverance is nigh.

Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16

In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love. 

In our own lives, deliverance in the midst of the struggles always seem to be longer than we would like it to be. However, when it comes, it I liken it to an avalanche almost without warning because we don’t know when it is going to happen but we do know by faith that it will happen. We then realize that by God’s love we are safely guided atop the landslide and not left buried beneath it. Our lamentation and our praise does not go unnoticed. Christ’s Resurrection is our blessed assurance.

1 Peter 4:1-8 The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Walking To Jerusalem

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Isaiah 52:13-53:12 When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light;he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 

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Good Friday

Lent: Day 39 – The time is come. No journey we take is ever without some kind of sacrifice along the way. Inevitably, it happens that we must lose something physically, emotionally or intellectually before we are able to understand its true significance in our lives. But any loss, that deepens a greater understanding of direction and purpose, becomes the light that liberates and enables us to press on with a strength we didn’t have before the loss. Christ is the Passover lamb sacrificed for those who believe in the power of that light. It is the light of the spirit that is left within us by our remembrance of that life and sacrifice which protects us as it leads our own life into glory that is everlasting.

Hebrews 10:16-25 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

Walking To Jerusalem

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Lent: Day 38 –  After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them….I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  John 13:1-17, 31-35b

Holy Week  – Maundy Thursday  (Maundy – Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English maunde < Old French mande < Latin mandātum command, mandate)

Jesus’ ministry to the House of Israel and the ministry of his death and resurrection for the world began with washing. Washed by the blood of Christ, so too our journey to Jerusalem (ministry) begins and ends in service to one another. Let us understand today that we are not in competition with one another but rather the forces of this world, which seek to cover us in its darkness. But in the same way, others before us kept walking in the light of Christ ministry and love for us, so we too must keep walking. Because of this, the spiritual journey we walk together never ends and the goal of reconciliation is always at hand.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

John 13:1-7,31-35 ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 

Walking To Jerusalem

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Lent: Day 37 –  …since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…Hebrews 12:1-3

Holy Week

Competition, physical or mental can be fierce, but the passion within always has a second wind that carries the soul towards the goal that is set before it. To be of one mind as a Christian is to be of the mind of Christ. Ignore the various other voices that distract the heart for God and listen. Today we reach the pinnacle and feel the piercing light within even though the darkest hour hasyet to come. Keep walking! As we make our way through the darkness, the light we see and enter into, will be the brightest we’ll ever know.

Isaiah 50:4-9a Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backwards. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

Walking To Jerusalem

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Lent: Day 36 – “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. John 12:20-36 

Holy Week

Absolutely, no turning back! In this instance, a troubled soul is confirmation. Others want us to believe that God has forsaken us, but the enemy is a liar! For the enemy of life seeks every opportunity to attack the human nature of fear and doubt. It is then however that we can be assured that the hour of God’s glory is come. Keep walking!

John 12:20-36 Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness (fear, doubt, etc.) may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness (fear, doubt, etc.), you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light…

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…

God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Walking To Jerusalem

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Lent: Day 35 – For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! Hebrews 9:11-15

Holy Week

No longer will the sacrifice of things alone, atone for our transgressions. Nor can we sacrifice one another. Each of us must be willing to sacrifice the self, as Christ sacrificed himself and together we will enter into God’s glory unscathed.

John 12:1-11 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Psalm 36:5-11 …you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.