Quicken Us, Lord!

Psalm 80:7-19 KJV; 19th Sunday after Pentecost; Quicken Us, Lord! Save us and we will be saved!

Enemies Surround Us!

Psalm 31:9-16 KJV: Enemies surround us. Who can save us?

Life Isn't Always Fair!

Isaiah 60:1-2 KJV; Life doesn't seem to always be fair. But, that doesn't mean we should sink deeper into the darkness. Life live in the light of Christ!

Jesus Christ Is The Light That Shines!

Matthew 5:13-16 KJV; 5th Sunday after Epiphany; also, John 8:12. What good is salt without its saltiness? What good is light that does not shine? 

No Grumbling Or Arguing!

Philippians 2:14-16; No grumbling; nor arguing so that you might shine like stars on the day of Jesus the Christ.

Love Him And Cleave To The Lord!

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 KJV: Choose life! Love the Lord and put away your false gods.

Gifts To Edify

Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. (1 Cor 14:12 KJV)

Our call is to edify the church not to destroy it. The church is the Body of Christ and according to St. Paul's letter to the church we are to help the church to grow. We are to help improve the visible church here on earth.

When we shine the spotlight on someone's particular gifts and ignore the gifts of all of God's children we are endangering the fellowship of the saints in the Body of Christ. Our mission is not to glorify ourselves or anyone else within the church because of particular gifts that we might have been given. Each and everyone of us has been given gifts by God; not for our own glorification; but, so that God is glorified through every member of the church.

God help us to excel in the edifying of the church! God help us to glorify him in all that we say and think and do!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Saved From The Deluge

Psalm 80 KJV

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

+++

I am pretty convinced that the season of Advent, as we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ, is fraught with difficulties.  I seem to spend a lot of time doing things many times; things that actually shouldn't be up to me. The couch in my office is full of projects; that is paperwork, as I wait for "professionals" to take care of what they are being paid to do. Nothing seems to be getting done. I have filed the stuff a few times the last few months only to have to take it all back out so that I can advise the "professionals." I would take it personally; but, I have a feeling that some of these "professionals" are working from home and may have a few distractions that are keeping them from focusing on their jobs during their paid working hours or maybe they have new help and that help is just inexperienced. I don't really care to hear that they don't think they should do the best they can because they don't think they get paid enough. If you accept a job then you do it. It is as simple as that.

I have to admit that there are times when I feel a bit overwhelmed with it all. So I wouldn't mind a prayer or two. But, as a retired pastor I am also aware that others are having a much more difficult time. There are multitudes of homeless in this world who don't have a couch to lay their paperwork on. They don't have enough food to eat. Others are losing their homes due to job losses or in some cases because of a snafu in paperwork that they just can't figure out how to fix. People are dying from many things including random shootings. Tornadoes have recently taken the homes and livelihoods of many. The list goes on...

What is the answer?  We keep going in the knowledge that God will cause his face to shine and we shall be saved from the deluge this world brings upon us. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

God's Blessings Upon You

Psalm 67 KJV

God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.

That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

+++

Numbers 6:24-26

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Amen!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

God Worketh In You

 

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. 

                                                                                     (Phil 2:13-16 KJV)

God has a plan for us; a good plan. He does not leave us alone to do it. He works in and through his children that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But, often we object to his plan and purpose. We rebel and complain that we should have to assist others in their time of need. We complain because we have to be responsible children of God serving Him and others.

God has a plan for us. His desire was to reconcile us to Himself even though we rebelled against Him. He sent His only begotten Son to suffer and die for our sins that we might receive forgiveness and be reconciled to Him. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) Jesus did not complain about the work he did for us on the cross. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." (Isa 53:7)

Let the world around you complain and argue with one another about what they should or should not be doing instead of doing what they ought to do or refraining from doing what they ought not do. The world tends to be overrun with too many talkers who do not know what it means to actually do. Followers of Jesus have better things to do than to complain about what they already know within themselves is good and right. We are to be the light to the people around us doing what God has called us to do; yet, it is not us who do these things, but, Christ who does all things through us. (see Gal 2:20; John 15:4,5)

Quit complaining and "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt 5:16)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Life Isn't Always Fair; Do Not Despair

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 

                                (Isa 60:1-2 KJV)

Life is just not fair. After all; was it fair that Jesus would have to be tortured and die for our sins?

Life isn't always fair. Yet, those who live in the light of the Lord have hope because they know that the darkness has been overcome.

Do not despair. The light who is Jesus the Christ has come into the world. Rise up and live life in the light of Christ!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The LIght Of Life

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 

                                                                 

                                                                               (John 8:3-12 KJV)

Advent; a season to prepare for the coming of the Lord. How shall we prepare? We began the season of Advent with John the Baptist calling people to "repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." (Matt 3:1-2) 

When the scribes and Pharisees were about to stone the woman accused of adultery, Jesus shines the light on the sins of those who are about to stone her by telling them that the person without sin ought to be the first to cast a stone against her and then stoops down to write something in the dirt. He looks up and her accusers are gone. They have been confronted with the truth and the truth is that we are all sinners living in darkness and need the light of life.

After her accusers depart he tells the woman that neither does he condemn her and that she should go and sin no more. She too has been reminded of the darkness of sin that dwells within her. 

That marvelous light, that light of life, does not shine so that we can see the sins of others around us. It shines for each of us so that we can see the darkness within ourselves. That light shines on and in us so that each of us can recognize our need for repentance; for a change; for a change of direction. It shines on us so that as individuals we can step out of the darkness to follow Jesus who is the light of life. 

Advent can be a very dark season for many of us. Not only are the hours of daylight shortened, it is a season when the world around us expects us to be celebrating; but, many are not. Many are grieving. Many are hurting. Many are hungry and homeless. Many feel less than because they do not live up to what they think the expectations of the world around them. Are we even supposed to live up to the world's expectations? Did John the Baptist live like the status quo? Did Jesus?

We cannot shine the light of Christ unto the world if we ourselves do not walk in the light. Jesus is the light of life! Live in that light and follow him! Be a light to the world.

God's Peace - Pr. J. 

Turn Us!

Psalm 80:7-18 KJV 

Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.

She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

+++

This country, this world, is in need of a lot of help. There is no president, no earthly ruler of any kind that can save us. We must turn back to God. Sadly, no matter how hard we try we cannot do that. Only God can change our hearts. We need him to turn us around. It is by his grace alone that we are saved. May he take away our hearts of stone and fill us with a new spirit. 

May we all be blessed with the same blessing that the Lord told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to bless the children of Israel. 

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

                                                                                      (Num 6:24-26)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Spending Time With The Light!

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:1 KJV)

Since retirement, I have not found a lot of reasons to encourage me to get up and out of bed early in the morning. I do, though. I don't want to fall into the habit of sleeping my days away.

Depression can lead to a lot of excess sleeping and sleeping our days away can lead to depression as when we spend all of our time sleeping we do not get to live life. We do not get to enjoy life. And, life is for living! Sleep is for resting and rejuvenating our bodies and minds so that we can get up and live the next day.

Over time, I have developed and committed myself to some coping skills that help me to get up without regrets and to live a bit. I rise early before my husband is up so I can spend some quiet time with the Lord; for devotions and to write this daily blog. I began writing this daily blog, at least in part, to discipline myself to get up and spend time in the word and with the Word before the world comes crashing in. I usually wake up before the alarm goes off. But, there have been more than a few times when the alarm has gone off, that I've thought that maybe I should skip my morning routine and go back to sleep. 

Lately, though I have been waking up with a smile. I realized that the blasting of the alarm clock is like a mother or grandmother hollering at a teenager to get out of bed. So, I found an alarm on my phone that sounds like a wind-chime. Wind-chimes, of course, remind me of the wind. The wind reminds me of the Holy Spirit. When I wake up now to the sound of wind-chimes, I wake up smiling ready to face the day and live life, knowing that the light, who is Jesus the Christ, is with me in that moment. 

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isa 60:1)

What better way is there to start the day than to spend some intentional time with the light, who is our Lord, Jesus the Christ!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The Light Shines In The Darkness

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

                                                                                 (Eph 5:8-14 KJV) 

The sun has not yet begun to shine this morning. I rose a whole lot earlier than I would have liked as at 4 am I woke up to find that we had run out of propane. I curled up under an extra blanket; but, didn't stay there long. Although we live in Florida, it can get pretty chilly at night. So, I put on my robe and went and connected the other propane tank and got the heat going again. I was up so figured I may as well start moving and do something.

It may be dark outside; but, that does not mean we should hide in the darkness. Even in the dark a light always shines. There have been many times that we lived in the darkness of the world. But, it do not have to be. We do not have to cower in the darkness. The light of Christ shines at all times and in all places. The light of Christ is with us always to show us the way; to show us the way of fruitfulness to the glory of God our Father.

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Get Up! Live Life!

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."  (Isaiah 60:1 KJV)

There are some days when the day is over and I feel as though nothing was accomplished; like an entire day has been wasted. I may be up and about; but, I feel like I may as well have been sleeping the day away. This doing nothing is a bad habit to get in to. Before we know it our days on earth will have come to an end and we will have spent them as though we were asleep.

Get up! Live life! Let the light of Christ shine on, in, and through you. Live the fleeting moments that God has given us here on earth. He gave them for a purpose and living in the darkness was not it.

Have a blessed day!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Let Your Light Shine!

 

 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

                                                                                     (Matt 5:14-16 KJV)

There are times when people will indeed hide their lit man-made lamps. When I was a teenager, I loved to read. But, my parents were just a little strict or maybe it was that they liked their evenings to be quiet and to themselves. Whatever the reason, I was to be in bed with lights out by 8 p.m.. My remedy to the situation was to move the lamp to the closet and sit on a box and read 'till sometimes past 10 o'clock! 

During World War II, England had "black outs." Lights were turned out or at least dimmed in order to make it more difficult for the enemy to find their targets by air or sea. Windows had to be covered to prevent any light from within the homes escaping into the streets.

Man-made lights may be dimmed and even turned off. They eventually burn out. But, the light of Christ that abides within us will never be extinguished. ..."let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matt 5:16 NIV)

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Light of the World

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." (Matt 5:14-16 NRSV)

Can you tell if someone is a Christian or not when you first meet them? Do you see the light shine in and through them? My guess is that it probably doesn't happen all that often. 

I have met more than a few people that I have been able to recognize almost immediately as people who truly love Jesus. There have been a few; but, not near as many as the number of those who claim to be Christians.

Jesus tell us that we are the light to the world. If that light is not shining, is it not natural to suspect that there is no light in us?

Let your light shine so that our Father in heaven might be glorified!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Shine Like A Star To Glorify God

Shine Like Stars In The World

Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2:14-16 NRSV)

Personally, I am very tired of arguing. I'm too old and have much better things to do; like proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Arguing is unproductive and a major waste of time that could be spent gathering instead of separating. 

Reasonable debating is another thing. Sitting down with someone and actually discussing something can be very productive. But, when you don't win the "argument" to then go around and murmur (gossip) about the person you disagree with is definitely not only non-productive, it is not Christ like. 

We are to shine like stars in the world, not to be like the world. The race we are to run is not against others. It is for others. We proclaim the Good News with all the fervor that the Spirit of Christ provides us with so that others might also hear and believe.

It is not about glorifying ourselves. It is not about us winning the race against others. It is about trusting the Holy Spirit to help us to run the race and let the light of Christ shine in and through us for the sake of others, to the glory of God.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Morning Sun

The Path of the Righteous is Like the Morning Sun

Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.

Proverbs 4:10-19

The narcissist says to themselves: I am the only one that counts. There is no God. In fact, they usually consider themselves somewhat of a god.

If someone gets in the way of the narcissist trying to make themselves look much better than they are; they will not rest until that person has been persecuted to the degree that the narcissist thinks they need to be punished and then a little beyond. They cannot rest unless they are making trouble for others. This they do while smiling and thinking that everyone else loves and support their evil ways. In fact, they think that they are so crafty that no one notices the darkness that surrounds them. But their wickedness; their darkness is known to God and to all who live in his light.

The narcissist can only bring trouble to those around them. But, the way of those who would follow in the path of Jesus is like the morning sun, bringing light to the world and the people around them.

But, you dear child of God, live in the light and let your light so shine!

God's Peace - Pr. J