Salem Daily Bible Study

The Firstborn of All Creation

2012-03-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

God's Creative Word
The Word Was in the Beginning
Wisdom's Part in Creation

Colossians 1:15-19

The Message

Christ Holds It All Together

^15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. ^18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

For Reflection

Look at the Son and see God. What is it about Christ that impresses you the most? In what ways have you allowed that characteristic to form your response to God?

Pray

that you will become more Christ-like each day. Pray that you will respond in Christ-like ways to your daily challenges.

Before the Foundation of the World

2012-02-29T01:00:00.000-05:00

God's Creative Word
The Word Was in the Beginning
Wisdom's Part in Creation

Ephesians 1:3-10

The Message

The God of Glory

^3-6How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. ^7-10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

For Reflection

We are part of God's grand plan for his creation. We are free to choose -- to know good and evil. In Christ we know good. In Christ we reject evil. God provides the path to righteousness and the wisdom to choose Him.

Pray

that you will choose God. Pray that you will have the wisdom to listen to the wisdom of the scriptures. Pray that you will embrace God's protection. Pray that you uplift others to God.

The Gifts of Wisdom

2012-02-28T01:00:00.000-05:00

God's Creative Word
The Word Was in the Beginning
Wisdom's Part in Creation

Proverbs 8:12-21

The Message

^12-21 "I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity;
   Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.
The Fear-of-God means hating Evil,
   whose ways I hate with a passion—
   pride and arrogance and crooked talk.
Good counsel and common sense are my characteristics;
   I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out.
With my help, leaders rule,
   and lawmakers legislate fairly;
With my help, governors govern,
   along with all in legitimate authority.
I love those who love me;
   those who look for me find me.
Wealth and Glory accompany me—
   also substantial Honor and a Good Name.
My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary;
   the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.
You can find me on Righteous Road—that's where I walk—
   at the intersection of Justice Avenue,
Handing out life to those who love me,
   filling their arms with life—armloads of life!

For Reflection

God is the source of all wisdom. His wisdom is a blessing for us. His wisdom was alive at creation. In a world of easy answers, a world of conflicting voices, a world of seductive reason, a world in demand of evidence based everything, is there room for spiritual based wisdom? We yearn for wisdom that can only be captured in one way: in the company of the scriptures, the fellowship of believers, and the Holy Spirit. God's wisdom allows us to find the truth of our existence and contribute in righteous ways.

Pray

that you will seek in all ways the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Pray that you will listen for God's gentle guidance. Pray that you will face all people in humility and bath in the truth that is Jesus Christ.

The Call of Wisdom

2012-02-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

God's Creative Word
The Word Was in the Beginning
Wisdom's Part in Creation

Proverbs 8:1-11

The Message

Lady Wisdom Calls Out

^1-11 Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling? Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice?
She's taken her stand at First and Main,
   at the busiest intersection.
Right in the city square
   where the traffic is thickest, she shouts,
"You—I'm talking to all of you,
   everyone out here on the streets!
Listen, you idiots—learn good sense!
   You blockheads—shape up!
Don't miss a word of this—I'm telling you how to live well,
   I'm telling you how to live at your best.
My mouth chews and savors and relishes truth—
   I can't stand the taste of evil!
You'll only hear true and right words from my mouth;
   not one syllable will be twisted or skewed.
You'll recognize this as true—you with open minds;
   truth-ready minds will see it at once.
Prefer my life-disciplines over chasing after money,
   and God-knowledge over a lucrative career.
For Wisdom is better than all the trappings of wealth;
   nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.

For Reflection
Words. Sometimes I wonder about our ability to use language. We are not hardwired to each other or to God. Really, all we can do is create metaphors for our realities. The word seems at times to be the essence of existence.
Plato understood when he said that the reality exists in archetypes. We only catch a glimpse and our words are only a weak substitute for the real. In Plato's day, reality was unknowable. Even by combining opinions and visions of what people thought was real, the truth of reality was impossible to discern.

John 1:1

New King James Version

The Eternal Word

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

After the Christ event, truth became knowable. What difference would it make in the way you interact with others if you believed the words you use were holy and a representation of God?

Pray

that you will treat your words as windows into God's will; listen to the words of the world with God's ear. listen to the words of scripture; listen to God's whispered wisdom.

Supporting Your Faith

2012-02-23T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Fruits of Redemption

2 Peter 1:3-8

The Message

Don't Put It Off

^3-4Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. ^5-9So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

For Reflection
It's all common sense. But, a very specialized common sense. It is a common sense given us by the transformational power of the Holy Spirit. All we need is complete trust in the Lord. It is a common sense that needs continuous development in the fellowship of believers. Grow into the lives we were promised.

Pray
that you will continue to grow into grace. Pray that you will continue to seek communion with the Holy Spirit. Pray that you will mature with Christ at your side.

Faith Working through Love

2012-02-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Fruits of Redemption

Galatians 5:2-6

The Message

^2-3I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. ^4-6I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

For Reflection

"Faith expressed in love."

My wife and I decided to have a sandwich for dinner at a local bar. We were seated next to the pool tables. The bar was a local pub where people went after work to have a beer and play a little pool. Some women and men even brought their own pool cues.

Both of us were dressed for work when business casual was not always the code. We both ordered water and hamburgers. One of the men playing pool missed a shot and expressed his disappointment vulgarly. He turned toward my wife and I and apologized. It was as though I had "PREACHER" tattooed on my forehead.

I have noticed others responding to me in an almost instant rapport. Could it be that God's grace is visible on those of faith? It doesn't always happen that way. Could it be that God needed to let his grace flow. I bet you have experienced this same sort of thing.

Pray
that you will not limit your response to life to following the rules. Confess your deviations from the rules and from expressions of love. Know that you are forgiven and God will use you life in the realization of His kingdom. Hallelujah!

Chosen to be Obedient

2012-02-21T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Fruits of Redemption

1 Peter 1:1-5

The Message

^1-2I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

A New Life

^3-5What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole,

For Reflection
I have never been one to respond blindly to authority. So, when I first encountered the concept of obedience, it disturbed me. But, the fact is that in order to be freed to become what God wished me to become I had to accept the paradox that to become free I had to become loyally obedient to God. Freedom results from obedience to God's law and his promise. It is a freedom worth the sacrifice of the only thing I possess -- my independent self. Giving up one's reliance on one's self for reliance on God's promise is a sacrifice worth making and reasserting each day.

Pray
that you will continue to reject the temptation to return to the self you had been. Pray for the courage to sacrifice your self each day so that you can live the life promised.

Renewed by the Holy Spirit

2012-02-20T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Fruits of Redemption

Titus 3:1-7

The Message

He Put Our Lives Together

^1-2Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous. ^3-8It wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.

For Reflection
You and I are living in the hollow of God's hand. Of what do we have to fear? To whom do we have to justify ourselves? We are justified by God's faith in us and our faith in God. We are free to be all that we were meant to be -- patient, kind, generous, faithful, and gentle in response to God's promise. Listen to the Holy Spirit. God will guide and protect you. This is the life we are intended to live.

Pray
praising God for his grace. Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the power of his transforming love. Pray that we will not become trapped in the drama of the moment and forget that we are children of God.

The Works of the Flesh

2012-02-17T01:00:00.001-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Fruits of Redemption

Galatians 5:16-21

The Message

^16-18My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
^19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

For Reflection
Paul calls for a life, obedient to His will for us and the role we fill in the realization of the Kingdom of God. It is not just us working toward peace and justice but it is also us, joyfully engrossed in the love and protection that is offered in God's promise. To what extent do you practice your faith?

Pray
that you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. Pray that you will give yourself over completely and without reservation to the Holy Spirit.

Until Christ is Formed in You

2012-02-17T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Heirs to the Promise

Galatians 4:12-20

The Message

^12-13My dear friends, what I would really like you to do is try to put yourselves in my shoes to the same extent that I, when I was with you, put myself in yours. You were very sensitive and kind then. You did not come down on me personally. You were well aware that the reason I ended up preaching to you was that I was physically broken, and so, prevented from continuing my journey, I was forced to stop with you. That is how I came to preach to you.
^14-16And don't you remember that even though taking in a sick guest was most troublesome for you, you chose to treat me as well as you would have treated an angel of God—as well as you would have treated Jesus himself if he had visited you? What has happened to the satisfaction you felt at that time? There were some of you then who, if possible, would have given your very eyes to me—that is how deeply you cared! And now have I suddenly become your enemy simply by telling you the truth? I can't believe it.
¹⁷Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you out of the free world of God's grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important.
^18-20It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can't you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ's life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn't be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.

For Reflection
When times are difficult, we are renewed by the memories of our encounters with the Holy Spirit. Rely on God. Let no one convince you that the right path to salvation is dependent on the approval of human egos. How do you deal with those who preach dependence on them?

Pray
thanking God for the sacrifice of the Cross. Pray that you will see all as equals in the Kingdom of God. Pray that we will move beyond the divisions that separate us. Pray that your will celebrate the differences among us as gifts of the one body of true believers.

Now That Faith Has Come

2012-02-16T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Heirs to the Promise

Galatians 3:19-29

The Message

^18-20What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.
^21-22If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.
^23-24Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
^25-27But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.

In Christ's Family

^28-29In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.

For Reflection
We are saved from the tyranny of the law. We are free to let our faith guide our obedience to God. The more mature we become as we grow in our faith, the more important the personal relationship we enjoy with God. We adhere to the law of Moses because we have faith in God. We are free to act in the grace of God when following the letter of the law is difficult. We temper the law with faith and give judgment over to God. Now that faith has come, belonging to God is like belonging to a loving, forgiving family. All of us prodigals can return and continue living righteous lives in the hollow of God's hand.

Pray
That you embrace the equality of all in the eyes of God. Pray that you will lead a righteous life free from the need to feel unique in your faith. Pray that you see all people as children of God. Pray for the humility that marks you as a follower of Christ.

The Gift of Righteousness

2012-02-15T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Heirs to the Promise

Romans 4:1-8

The Message

Trusting God

^1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own." ^4-5If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
^6-9David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man:

   Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off,
      whose sins are wiped clean from the slate.
   Fortunate the person against
      whom the Lord does not keep score.
Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? We all agree, don't we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God?

For Reflection
What a Gift! The end to guilt. The promise of infinite acceptance and forgiveness. All of this even for all those who were not brought up in the Faith. Embracing God's promise and uncompromising trust in Him is all it takes. To what extent do you trust in God?

Pray
Thank God for not keeping score. Thank God for the freedom to err. Thank God for the invitation to participate in His kingdom. Thank God for His steadfast faith in you.

The Promise Is for You

2012-02-14T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Heirs to the Promise

Acts 2:32-39

The Message

^29-36"Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—'no trip to Hades, no stench of death.' This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear. For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say,

God said to my Master, "Sit at my right hand
Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet."
"All Israel, then, know this: There's no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross."
³⁷Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?"
^38-39Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites."

For Reflection
The gift of the Holy Spirit is yours to accept. Embrace the promise of salvation. Remember the meaning of baptism. Strengthen you faith through the communion of believers.

Pray
thanking God for His invitation to His powerful, comforting presence in your life. Pray for all people who have not accepted God's grace. Pray that you will be a witness to God's promise to the world.

Ancestor to a Multitude of Nations

2012-02-13T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Heirs to the Promise

Genesis 17:1-8

The Message

^1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family." ^3-8 Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.
Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that 'I'm making you the father of many nations.' I'll make you a father of fathers—I'll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I'm giving you and your descendants this land where you're now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I'll be their God."

For Reflection
Abraham had a transformational moment. He moved from Abram, the patriarch of a troubled family to Abraham, the father of a great nation of Jews. Beyond that, the transformation gave us all a singular path to God. Through Abraham, God extends his promise to all people. From that moment on, God's faith in human-kind extended His promise to Abraham so that all may be invited to participate in The Kingdom of God.

Our transformational moment begins when we accept the grace of God's promise. We are transformed by our faith in God and God's faith in us. While our faith in God may fluctuate, God's faith in us never varies.

Pray
that you will always remember that God's promise is yours to accept. Pray that, when your faith is challenged, you will return to the scriptures and to confidence in God's promise.

What Do I Still Lack

2012-02-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
FREED FROM THE LAW THROUGH CHRIST

Matthew 19:16-26

The Message

¹⁶Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
¹⁷Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what's good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you."
^18-19The man asked, "What in particular?"
Jesus said, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself."
²⁰The young man said, "I've done all that. What's left?"
²¹"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."
²²That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let go.
^23-24As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God's kingdom? Let me tell you, it's easier to gallop a camel through a needle's eye than for the rich to enter God's kingdom."
²⁵The disciples were staggered. "Then who has any chance at all?"
²⁶Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."

For Reflection
To what do you hold on tight? To what extent does what you value inhibit your commitment to your faith?

Pray
that you will allow God to guide you beyond yourself.

Faith and Salvation

2012-02-09T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
FREED FROM THE LAW THROUGH CHRIST

Hebrews 10:32-39

The Message

^32-39Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn't touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion.

   It won't be long now, he's on the way;
      he'll show up most any minute.
   But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust;
      if he cuts and runs, I won't be very happy.
But we're not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We'll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.

For Reflection
Our faith is always on attack. It may not be as obvious as this scripture suggests. But, it may be so subtle it escapes our attention, In this way attacks on our faith may be more difficult to counter. Check your faith by reflecting on your behavior. Seal yourself against creeping doubt.

Pray
after reading scripture. Pray after reflecting on your day. Listen quietly for God's whispered advice.

The Righteous Live by Their Faith

2012-02-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
FREED FROM THE LAW THROUGH CHRIST

Habakkuk 2:1-5

The Message

¹ What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I'll wait to see what God says,
how he'll answer my complaint.

Full of Self, but Soul-Empty

^2-3And then God answered: "Write this.
   Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
   so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
   pointing to what's coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
   And it doesn't lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
   It's on its way. It will come right on time. ⁴"Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
   full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
   through loyal and steady believing
   is fully alive, really alive.
^5-6"Note well: Money deceives.
   The arrogant rich don't last.
They are more hungry for wealth
   than the grave is for cadavers.
Like death, they always want more,
   but the 'more' they get is dead bodies.
They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,
   graveyards filled with corpses.
Don't give people like this a second thought.
   Soon the whole world will be taunting them:

For Reflection

"Full of self, but soul-empty." I think that, paradoxically, it turns out that the sacrifice of self for Christ, is in the end, no sacrifice at all. It is a a full realization of God's promise for human potential. True living begins when selfishness ends.

Pray
for continuing commitment to selfless lives. Pray for the wisdom to see the difference it makes.

The Curse of Sin

2012-02-07T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
FREED FROM THE LAW THROUGH CHRIST

Deuteronomy 27:15-26

The Message

^14-26 The Levites, acting as spokesmen and speaking loudly, will address Israel:

   God's curse on anyone who carves or casts a god-image—an abomination to God made by a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who demeans a parent.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who moves his neighbor's boundary marker.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who misdirects a blind man on the road.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who interferes with justice due the foreigner, orphan, or widow.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who has sex with his father's wife; he has violated the woman who belongs to his father.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who has sex with an animal.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who kills his neighbor in secret.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.
   God's curse on whoever does not give substance to the words of this Revelation by living them.
      All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

For Reflection
Can't you just see the crowd chanting in response? The Levites could have added any taboo they wanted and the crowd would have responded, "Yes. Absolutely!"

The rules would increase in number and complexity and would soon become so massive that they would lose their power to guide God-like action. Interpreters of the rules would gain power with their special incite. The rules driven faith would ripen in abuse.

Think about the rules that govern your life. How many times have you had to ignore one rule to serve another?

Pray
thanking God for His constant protection. Pray that you will respond to God when he calls you to action. Pray so that you will hear God's will.

Keep the Law and Live

2012-02-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
FREED FROM THE LAW THROUGH CHRIST

Leviticus 18:1-5

The Message

^1-5 God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, I am God, your God. Don't live like the people of Egypt where you used to live, and don't live like the people of Canaan where I'm bringing you. Don't do what they do. Obey my laws and live by my decrees. I am your God. Keep my decrees and laws: The person who obeys them lives by them. I am God.

For Reflection
God wanted His people to live extraordinary lives as his chosen people. His strategy was command and control. If his people lived as He commanded, they would have been seen as people united and protected by God. God calls us all to live extraordinary lives apart from the social, cultural, technical and political influences of our times. How are you doing?

Pray
thanking God for his guiding hand. Thank him for his ever present protection. Ask God to use you in realizing His kingdom on Earth.

Justified by Faith in Christ

2012-02-03T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Justified by Faith in Christ

Galatians 2:15-21

The Message

^15-16We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.
^17-18Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
^19-21What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

For Reflection
God uses us warts and all. None are without sin. Our calling is not to impress God but to love and answer his call. Christ did not die to reinforce the rules, but rather, to free us from them. The guilt in sin is not that we screwed up, but that we did not accept our fault and bathe in the forgiveness of God transformed by his grace. We are justified by faith,(God's in us n we in Him.). We are sanctified by following His call.

Are you ready for the radical departure from the ways of your world?

Pray
By the power of the Holy Spirit go forth and be a blessing to others as God has blessed you.

Called Through God's Grace

2012-02-02T01:30:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Justified by Faith in Christ

Galatians 1:11-24

The Message

^10-12Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.
^13-16I'm sure that you've heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God's church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother's womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him.
^16-20Immediately after my calling—without consulting anyone around me and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was—I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus, but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter. I was there only fifteen days—but what days they were! Except for our Master's brother James, I saw no other apostles. (I'm telling you the absolute truth in this.)
^21-24Then I began my ministry in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. After all that time and activity I was still unknown by face among the Christian churches in Judea. There was only this report: "That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy." Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me!

For Reflection
Paul, like our present day ministers, speaks from authority not as an authority. In our reformed tradition, we are all priests. None of us can speak with authority, but we speak from the knowledge of the scriptures. Therefore, our imperative is to seek out the truth in Jesus Christ and allow the grace of God to flow through us.

Whether we grew up in the church or not, we all have a transformational story to tell. Tell your story, Sing what is in your heart. God will do the rest.

Pray
that you realize your justification by faith. Pray that you will strive to prepare yourself by studying the scriptures and discussions with the faithful. Pray that you will respond to God's call when ever he needs you.

Challenged by a Different Gospel

2012-02-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Justified by Faith in Christ

Galatians 1:1-10

The Message

^1-5 I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I'm God-commissioned. So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!

^6-9I can't believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed. ^10-12Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.

For Reflection
Written centuries ago, this criticism of the emerging church is as contemporary today as it was then. God's message is one of hope and peace. It is the promise of a transformational life in his protective hand.

One can not know a dog by looking at one ear. One must observe the whole animal including its behavior. So it must be with those who proclaim the gospel One must observe the whole person and must observe that his works reflect accurately the whole scripture not just selected passages.

Pray
thanking God for His constant protection. Pray that you will respond to God when he calls you to action. Pray so that you will hear God's will.

A Prayer for Mercy

2012-01-31T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Justified by Faith in Christ

Luke 18:9-14

The Message

The Story of the Tax Man and the Pharisee

^9-12He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: "Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: 'Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.' ¹³"Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, 'God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.'"
¹⁴Jesus commented, "This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

For Reflection
There is no justification for the attitude that as a Christian you are somehow more entitled than others (even other Christians). The fact of the matter is that you are just like other people, a sinner. As such, you are incapable of living a righteous life out side of God's transformational redemption.

Judging others immorality is just another way of thinking that you are incapable of similar behavior and some how better in the eyes of God for it. In fact, you exhibit immorality when you are judgmental.

The world is God's to judge. Our role is to be faithful to the transformation symbolized in baptism. We are not called to be separate from this world but to help realize God's kingdom by becoming a witness to God's promise and call to all people to reside in the Kingdom of God.

Pray
that you will be a blessing to all whom you encounter. Pray that your life will be sacrificed to God's will.

A Mighty Redemption

2012-01-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Justified by Faith in Christ

Romans 3:21-26

The Message

God Has Set Things Right

^21-24But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. ^25-26God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it's now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.

For Reflection
God works in light. He does not hide his intention for human kind in darkness and fear. Over and over again God fixes us. He has faithfully responded to our need.

God and Jesus are one. Having faith in Jesus is to have faith in God and the Holy Spirit. They are inseparable. We live in God's righteousness. We change and grow into the grace of God constantly maturing as we and God overcome obstacles to living righteous lives.

Who you are now is not who you were. Who you are now is not who you will become.

Pray
thanking God for His faith in us. Pray that you will embrace the challenges of our human existence. Pray that you will listen to God's gentle guidance. Pray that you will have patience and courage to do God's will.

An Unsurpassable God

2012-01-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Out of Egypt

Exodus 15:11-18

The Message

^10-11 You blew with all your might
      and the sea covered them.
   They sank like a lead weight
      in the majestic waters.
   Who compares with you
      among gods, O God?
   Who compares with you in power,
      in holy majesty,
   In awesome praises,
      wonder-working God?

^12-13 You stretched out your right hand
      and the Earth swallowed them up.
   But the people you redeemed,
      you led in merciful love;
   You guided them under your protection
      to your holy pasture.

^14-18 When people heard, they were scared;
      Philistines writhed and trembled;
   Yes, even the head men in Edom were shaken,
      and the big bosses in Moab.
   Everybody in Canaan
      panicked and fell faint.
   Dread and terror
      sent them reeling.
   Before your brandished right arm
      they were struck dumb like a stone,
   Until your people crossed over and entered, O God,
      until the people you made crossed over and entered.
   You brought them and planted them
      on the mountain of your heritage,
   The place where you live,
      the place you made,
   Your sanctuary, Master,
      that you established with your own hands.
   Let God rule
      forever, for eternity!

For Reflection
They had now seen an end of Pharaoh’s reign. His time is ended. But for the people of Israel, time is God's time, a time which has no end. God's reign is not subject to change. The promise is timeless. God provides comfort to all for all of eternity. There is no end to God's dominion. Why would anyone not want to be part of God's kingdom?

Pray
for the world. Pray for the realization of God's Kingdom.

A Divine Intervention

2012-01-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Out of Egypt

Exodus 15:4-10

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Out of Egypt

Exodus 15:4-10

The Message

^1-8 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God, giving voice together,

   I'm singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
      He pitched horse and rider into the sea.
   God is my strength, God is my song,
      and, yes! God is my salvation.
   This is the kind of God I have
      and I'm telling the world!
   This is the God of my father—
      I'm spreading the news far and wide!
   God is a fighter,
      pure God, through and through.
   Pharaoh's chariots and army
      he dumped in the sea,
   The elite of his officers
      he drowned in the Red Sea.
   Wild ocean waters poured over them;
      they sank like a rock in the deep blue sea.
   Your strong right hand, God, shimmers with power;
      your strong right hand shatters the enemy.
   In your mighty majesty
      you smash your upstart enemies,
   You let loose your hot anger
      and burn them to a crisp.
   At a blast from your nostrils
      the waters piled up;
   Tumbling streams dammed up,
      wild oceans curdled into a swamp.

⁹ The enemy spoke,
      "I'll pursue, I'll hunt them down,
   I'll divide up the plunder,
      I'll glut myself on them;
   I'll pull out my sword,
      my fist will send them reeling."

^10-11 You blew with all your might
      and the sea covered them.
   They sank like a lead weight
      in the majestic waters.
   Who compares with you
      among gods, O God?
   Who compares with you in power,
      in holy majesty,
   In awesome praises,
      wonder-working God?

For Reflection

"How Can I Keep from Singing"

Moses lead the the Israelites out of Egypt. They celebrated the toil of their journey and remembering their God, sang praises and expressed their joy in God's mighty power. How do you sing in remembrance of what God has done for you?

Here are three quite different versions of the Robert Wadsworth Lowry hymn. Sing joyfully for the promise of living in the hollow of God's hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leR0iJNQLFs&feature=related OR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YVnGNgdpZE&feature=related OR Appalachian immersed, John McCutcheon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWVmJdZVvKE

Pray
with songs of you own. Sing loudly of the fruits of your faith.

A Treacherous Plan

2012-01-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Out of Egypt

Exodus 1:15-22

The Message

^15-16 The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. He said, "When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the sex of the baby. If it's a boy, kill him; if it's a girl, let her live."
^17-18 But the midwives had far too much respect for God and didn't do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the boy babies live. The king of Egypt called in the midwives. "Why didn't you obey my orders? You've let those babies live!"
¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; they're vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they've already had the baby."
^20-21 God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number—a very strong people. And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own.
²² So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: "Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live."

For Reflection
We always have a choice! The consequences of choice options may differ in resulting harm or risk, but nevertheless a choice is made. Even though the midwives were familiar with the abusive power of the Pharaoh, they chose to defy him. They chose possible death over denying their God. How do you choose?

Pray
Pray for strength to make hard choices. Pray that you follow your faith fearlessly. Pray for God's protection.

A Strong People

2012-01-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Out of Egypt

Exodus 1:1-14

The Message

"A New King . . . Who Didn't Know Joseph"

^1-5 These are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob, each bringing his family members: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,    Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
   Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
   Seventy persons in all generated by Jacob's seed. Joseph was already in Egypt.
^6-7 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers—that whole generation. But the children of Israel kept on reproducing. They were very prolific—a population explosion in their own right—and the land was filled with them.^8-10 A new king came to power in Egypt who didn't know Joseph. He spoke to his people in alarm, "There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. We've got to do something: Let's devise a plan to contain them, lest if there's a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us."

^11-14 So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn't stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.

For Reflection
Life was good. Then the inevitable occurred. A new king changed everything. I suppose Jacob's descendants were fat, happy and complacent. But to stay in Egypt was not God's plan. They would never leave the land of comfort on their own. They had to have a compelling reason. What could be more compelling than to escape slavery?

Realizing the promise of God is not always easy. Faith is often challenged. What do you do when thing change for the worst?

Pray
for hope in an uncertain future. Pray that you maintain faith in your God even when His presence seems hidden. Pray that you will find comfort in God's faith in you.

A Mighty Redemption

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Out of Egypt

Psalm 77:11-20

The Message

^11-12 Once again I'll go over what God has done,
      lay out on the table the ancient wonders;
   I'll ponder all the things you've accomplished,
      and give a long, loving look at your acts.

^13-15 O God! Your way is holy!
      No god is great like God!
   You're the God who makes things happen;
      you showed everyone what you can do—
   You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble,
      rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.

^16-19 Ocean saw you in action, God,
      saw you and trembled with fear;
      Deep Ocean was scared to death.
   Clouds belched buckets of rain,
      Sky exploded with thunder,
      your arrows flashing this way and that.
   From Whirlwind came your thundering voice,
      Lightning exposed the world,
      Earth reeled and rocked.
   You strode right through Ocean,
      walked straight through roaring Ocean,
      but nobody saw you come or go.

²⁰ Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron,
   You led your people like a flock of sheep.

For Reflection
Take time today to remember what God has done for you. Remember the times when the outcome was frighteningly unknowable. Remember the times when hope sprung surprisingly out of hopelessness. Remember the times when the inconsolable was comforted.

Pray
remembering all of those times when God was by your side and thank Him, Offer yourself in debt to his abiding promise.

Abraham's Living Promise

2012-01-19T01:00:00.001-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Transmits Abraham's Promise

Genesis 50:15-26

The Message

^14-15 After burying his father, Joseph went back to Egypt. All his brothers who had come with him to bury his father returned with him. After the funeral, Joseph's brothers talked among themselves: "What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back for all the wrong we did him?"
^16-17 So they sent Joseph a message, "Before his death, your father gave this command: Tell Joseph, 'Forgive your brothers' sin—all that wrongdoing. They did treat you very badly.' Will you do it? Will you forgive the sins of the servants of your father's God?"
When Joseph received their message, he wept.
¹⁸ Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, "We'll be your slaves."
^19-21 Joseph replied, "Don't be afraid. Do I act for God? Don't you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I'll take care of you and your children." He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.
^22-23 Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family. Joseph lived 110 years. He lived to see Ephraim's sons into the third generation. The sons of Makir, Manasseh's son, were also recognized as Joseph's.
²⁴ At the end, Joseph said to his brothers, "I am ready to die. God will most certainly pay you a visit and take you out of this land and back to the land he so solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
²⁵ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, "When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here."
²⁶ Joseph died at the age of 110 years. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

For Reflection

We are all sinful. In spite of our sometimes wicked ways, God finds a way to redeem us and to use us to realize His kingdom. Be reassured, God is good and will lead us to good ends. He has faith in us. We should remain faithful in spite of what we interpret as evil. God turns it into good.

Pray
for all of Gods people. Pray that they will hold steadfast to the goodness that is God.

New Beginning

2012-01-19T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Transmits Abraham's Promise

Genesis 50:7-14

The Message (MSG)

^7-9 So Joseph left to bury his father. And all the high-ranking officials from Pharaoh's court went with him, all the dignitaries of Egypt, joining Joseph's family—his brothers and his father's family. Their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen accompanied them. It was a huge funeral procession.
¹⁰ Arriving at the Atad Threshing Floor just across the Jordan River, they stopped for a period of mourning, letting their grief out in loud and lengthy lament. For seven days, Joseph engaged in these funeral rites for his father.
¹¹ When the Canaanites who lived in that area saw the grief being poured out at the Atad Threshing Floor, they said, "Look how deeply the Egyptians are mourning." That is how the site at the Jordan got the name Abel Mizraim (Egyptian Lament).
^12-13 Jacob's sons continued to carry out his instructions to the letter. They took him on into Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite.

^14-15 After burying his father, Joseph went back to Egypt. All his brothers who had come with him to bury his father returned with him. After the funeral, Joseph's brothers talked among themselves: "What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back for all the wrong we did him?"

For Reflection
Death of the patriarch is not an ending of God's promise to Israel's family. Rather it is a beginning of new phase in God's faithfulness. Israel is buried in a way reserved for the most influential thus elevating the importance of him and his household.

Joseph's brothers, however, are still not confident in their position with him. At their father's death they fear the future. Their faith in God is tested again.

Pray
that your natural fear of the unknown consequence of change will not diminish your faith that God's plan for you is good. Pray that you will know that in all things God is trustworthy.

A Father's Final Wish

2012-01-18T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Transmits Abraham's Promise

Genesis 49:29-50:6

The Message
^29-32 Then he instructed them: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah facing Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial plot. Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there; Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried there; I also buried Leah there. The field and the cave were bought from the Hittites."

³³ Jacob finished instructing his sons, pulled his feet into bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 50

¹ Joseph threw himself on his father, wept over him, and kissed him.
^2-3 Joseph then instructed the physicians in his employ to embalm his father. The physicians embalmed Israel. The embalming took forty days, the period required for embalming. There was public mourning by the Egyptians for seventy days.
^4-5 When the period of mourning was completed, Joseph petitioned Pharaoh's court: "If you have reason to think kindly of me, present Pharaoh with my request: My father made me swear, saying, 'I am ready to die. Bury me in the grave plot that I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.' Please give me leave to go up and bury my father. Then I'll come back."
⁶ Pharaoh said, "Certainly. Go and bury your father as he made you promise under oath."

For Reflection
Why in heaven's name would Israel want to be buried so far from his family? For heaven's sake, Israel remembered God's promise to return Israel's family to the land of Canaan. His request assured that his family would remember God's promise and in the end he would surrounded again by his people.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my children wanted to visit the graves of my parents and family in Pittsburgh. I was a little surprised and very pleased that my children and grand children were all intent in finding the resting places for each of the family buried there. Each of my children told stories in remembrance of my mother, the only one that they knew. But even the grandchildren were interested in the stories mostly about the Irish side of my family whom none have ever met. The journeys of their ancestors seemed to give meaning to their own life journeys.

So it is with our Christian journeys. We must all set the stage for remembering God's promise. God's promise gives meaning to our lives, our children's lives and the lives of our children's children. Offer signs of your faith in God's promise at every chance.

Pray
prayers of thanksgiving for the faith God has in you. Pray that your faith in God's promise will be obvious in your words and deeds. pray that you faithful living will remind the next generation of the value of God's promise. Pray that others will embrace God's promise and realize the meaning in their lives.

A Joy Filled Reunion

2012-01-17T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Transmits Abraham's Promise

Genesis 46:28-47:6

The Message
^28-29 Jacob sent Judah on ahead to get directions to Goshen from Joseph. When they got to Goshen, Joseph gave orders for his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. The moment Joseph saw him, he threw himself on his neck and wept. He wept a long time.

³⁰ Israel said to Joseph, "I'm ready to die. I've looked into your face—you are indeed alive."
^31-34 Joseph then spoke to his brothers and his father's family. "I'll go and tell Pharaoh, 'My brothers and my father's family, all of whom lived in Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they've always made their living by raising livestock. And they've brought their flocks and herds with them, along with everything else they own.' When Pharaoh calls you in and asks what kind of work you do, tell him, 'Your servants have always kept livestock for as long as we can remember—we and our parents also.' That way he'll let you stay apart in the area of Goshen—for Egyptians look down on anyone who is a shepherd."

Genesis 47

¹ Joseph went to Pharaoh and told him, "My father and brothers with their flocks and herds and everything they own have come from Canaan. Right now they are in Goshen." ^2-3 He had taken five of his brothers with him and introduced them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked them, "What kind of work do you do?"
^3-4 "Your servants are shepherds, the same as our fathers were. We have come to this country to find a new place to live. There is no pasture for our flocks in Canaan. The famine has been very bad there. Please, would you let your servants settle in the region of Goshen?"
^5-6 Pharaoh looked at Joseph. "So, your father and brothers have arrived—a reunion! Egypt welcomes them. Settle your father and brothers on the choicest land—yes, give them Goshen. And if you know any among them that are especially good at their work, put them in charge of my own livestock."

For Reflection
What a joy filled reunion. This is the story of a family, reconciled to God and to each other. As is in many cases God uses the lives of ordinary people, warts and all, for extraordinary results. Joseph's instruction to Israel and his family ensures that they will grow in God's protection insulated in so far as possible from Egypt's influence.

God invites us all to live a life extraordinary in the fulfillment of his promise.

Pray

Praise God for the comfort of his promise to Israel and the world. Pray that you will be fulfilled in that promise and lead extraordinary lives in the brilliance of Gods embrace.

A Divine Confirmation

2012-01-16T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Transmits Abraham's Promise

Genesis 46:1-7

The Message

¹ So Israel set out on the journey with everything he owned. He arrived at Beersheba and worshiped, offering sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ² God spoke to Israel in a vision that night: "Jacob! Jacob!"
"Yes?" he said. "I'm listening."
^3-4 God said, "I am the God of your father. Don't be afraid of going down to Egypt. I'm going to make you a great nation there. I'll go with you down to Egypt; I'll also bring you back here. And when you die, Joseph will be with you; with his own hand he'll close your eyes."
^5-7 Then Jacob left Beersheba. Israel's sons loaded their father and their little ones and their wives on the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They arrived in Egypt with the livestock and the wealth they had accumulated in Canaan. Jacob brought everyone in his family with him—sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters. Everyone.

For Reflection
Our Bible is a testimony to God's faithfulness to human kind. His faithfulness warrants our faithfulness. Without a thought, without consideration, without debate or doubt -- as a matter of course, first nature, Isrsael' first act was one of worship, offering sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Our God is a confirming God. He confirms his faithfulness to all of us. Do we confirm his faithfulness to us? Do something this week that confirms God's faithfulness to you.

Pray
that you will not take this life for granted. Pray for humility. Pray for those who muck their way through life with out the experience of God's faithfulness. Pray that you will be a strong witness to God's faithfulness.

God's Call for Reconciliation

2012-01-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
God Preserves a Remnant

Genesis 45:3-15

The Message (MSG)

³ Joseph spoke to his brothers: "I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?" But his brothers couldn't say a word. They were speechless—they couldn't believe what they were hearing and seeing.
^4-8 "Come closer to me," Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. "I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don't feel badly, don't blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn't you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt.
^9-11 "Hurry back to my father. Tell him, 'Your son Joseph says: I'm master of all of Egypt. Come as fast as you can and join me here. I'll give you a place to live in Goshen where you'll be close to me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and anything else you can think of. I'll take care of you there completely. There are still five more years of famine ahead; I'll make sure all your needs are taken care of, you and everyone connected with you—you won't want for a thing.'
^12-13 "Look at me. You can see for yourselves, and my brother Benjamin can see for himself, that it's me, my own mouth, telling you all this. Tell my father all about the high position I hold in Egypt, tell him everything you've seen here, but don't take all day—hurry up and get my father down here."
^14-15 Then Joseph threw himself on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He then kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Only then were his brothers able to talk with him.

For Reflection
God restores harmony between the members of Israel's family and between Himself and Israel's family. Such reconciliation is offered to all mankind. It is the reconciliation offered by God's recognition of human sinfulness, His own acceptance of responsibility, and the sacrifice of his son, Jesus.

God offers all of us a way out of sinfulness and into a life protected in the hollow of His hand. His promise to Abraham and His faithfulness in us are realized in our reconciliation. Living in harmony with the living God is our reward.

Pray
that you will respond to God's call to reconciliation. Pray that you will honor your debt to God by hoping for and working for reconciliation. Pray that you will work toward reconciliation in your relationships. Pray that you will become a willing participant in God' promise of reconciliation for all.

Benjamin Detained in Egypt

2012-01-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
God Preserves a Remnant

Genesis 44:1-10

The Message

^1-2 Joseph ordered his house steward: "Fill the men's bags with food—all they can carry—and replace each one's money at the top of the bag. Then put my chalice, my silver chalice, in the top of the bag of the youngest, along with the money for his food." He did as Joseph ordered. ^3-5 At break of day the men were sent off with their donkeys. They were barely out of the city when Joseph said to his house steward, "Run after them. When you catch up with them, say, 'Why did you pay me back evil for good? This is the chalice my master drinks from; he also uses it for divination. This is outrageous!'"
⁶ He caught up with them and repeated all this word for word.
^7-9 They said, "What is my master talking about? We would never do anything like that! Why, the money we found in our bags earlier, we brought back all the way from Canaan—do you think we'd turn right around and steal it back from your master? If that chalice is found on any of us, he'll die; and the rest of us will be your master's slaves."
¹⁰ The steward said, "Very well then, but we won't go that far. Whoever is found with the chalice will be my slave; the rest of you can go free."

For Reflection
God's work is not yet completed. Joseph sets the stage for yet another catastrophe. This time the brothers admit their sin and accept their guilt. The brothers show compassion toward their father, Israel. Jacob offers to sacrifice himself for the sake of his father. Thus, only now can the reconciliation of sin be realized.

Reconciliation begins with the recognition of one's own sin. It continues with the acceptance of one's responsibility for the sin and the sacrifice of one's self in restitution for sin.

Pray
that you will recognize God's hand in leading you to reconcile your sin. Pray that you accept the responsibility for sin and give yourself to God in restitution for your sinfulness.

Hold Me Accountable

2012-01-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
God Preserves a Remnant

Genesis 43:1-14

The Message

^1-2 The famine got worse. When they had eaten all the food they had brought back from Egypt, their father said, "Go back and get some more food." ^3-5 But Judah said, "The man warned us most emphatically, 'You won't so much as see my face if you don't have your brother with you.' If you're ready to release our brother to go with us, we'll go down and get you food. But if you're not ready, we aren't going. What would be the use? The man told us, 'You won't so much as see my face if you don't have your brother with you.'"
⁶ Israel said, "Why are you making my life so difficult! Why did you ever tell the man you had another brother?"
⁷ They said, "The man pressed us hard, asking pointed questions about our family: 'Is your father alive? Do you have another brother?' So we answered his questions. How did we know that he'd say, 'Bring your brother here'?"
^8-10 Judah pushed his father Israel. "Let the boy go; I'll take charge of him. Let us go and be on our way—if we don't get going, we're all going to starve to death—we and you and our children, too! I'll take full responsibility for his safety; it's my life on the line for his. If I don't bring him back safe and sound, I'm the guilty one; I'll take all the blame. If we had gone ahead in the first place instead of procrastinating like this, we could have been there and back twice over."
^11-14 Their father Israel gave in. "If it has to be, it has to be. But do this: stuff your packs with the finest products from the land you can find and take them to the man as gifts—some balm and honey, some spices and perfumes, some pistachios and almonds. And take plenty of money—pay back double what was returned to your sacks; that might have been a mistake. Take your brother and get going. Go back to the man. And may The Strong God give you grace in that man's eyes so that he'll send back your other brother along with Benjamin. For me, nothing's left; I've lost everything."

For Reflection

Israel knew God. And yet, he lived with the knowledge of his son's treachery and was willing to cover up the sins of his family. Israel could not bear to lose his youngest son and was willing to sacrifice another son imprisoned in Egypt. Perhaps trying to atone for his and the sins of his brothers, Judah accepts responsibility for the sin and argues rationally. Israel gives up. He has exhausted his mortal ability. He is forced by circumstance to put the outcome in God's hands. He offers a sacrifice of restitution in hope that the grace of God will guide the Pharaoh's man.

When all resources are lost to whom do you turn? What will you offer in restitution for your sins?

Pray
that you will accept the ineffectiveness your humanity. Pray that you will see the path that God has always held open for you. Thank God for his merciful grace. Pray that you will embrace the gift of sacrifice.

Paying the Penalty

2012-01-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
God Preserves a Remnant

Genesis 42:18-25

The Message (MSG)

^18-20 On the third day, Joseph spoke to them. "Do this and you'll live. I'm a God-fearing man. If you're as honest as you say you are, one of your brothers will stay here in jail while the rest of you take the food back to your hungry families. But you have to bring your youngest brother back to me, confirming the truth of your speech—and not one of you will die." They agreed.
²¹ Then they started talking among themselves. "Now we're paying for what we did to our brother—we saw how terrified he was when he was begging us for mercy. We wouldn't listen to him and now we're the ones in trouble."
²² Reuben broke in. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't hurt the boy'? But no, you wouldn't listen. And now we're paying for his murder."
^23-24 Joseph had been using an interpreter, so they didn't know that Joseph was understanding every word. Joseph turned away from them and cried. When he was able to speak again, he took Simeon and had him tied up, making a prisoner of him while they all watched.
²⁵ Then Joseph ordered that their sacks be filled with grain, that their money be put back in each sack, and that they be given rations for the road. That was all done for them.

For Reflection

Joseph's brothers now face their transgressions. They have to recognize their sin and its consequence. They are not blaming God for their transgression. Rather, they are understanding that their current suffering is a result of their own Godless action.

Recognizing our sins against God is the first step in reconciliation. To what extent do you face up to your own folly? To what extent do you accept responsibility for your own action?

Pray
that you will accept the responsibility for your own action. Pray that you will recognize your own sins. Thank God for His faith in you. Pray that you will accept His grace in your life and embrace your role in fulfilling the promise of His Kingdom.

Joseph Recognized His Brothers

2012-01-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
God Preserves a Remnant

Genesis 42:6-17

The Message

^6-7 Joseph was running the country; he was the one who gave out rations to all the people. When Joseph's brothers arrived, they treated him with honor, bowing to him. Joseph recognized them immediately, but treated them as strangers and spoke roughly to them.
He said, "Where do you come from?"
"From Canaan," they said. "We've come to buy food."
⁸ Joseph knew who they were, but they didn't know who he was.
⁹ Joseph, remembering the dreams he had dreamed of them, said, "You're spies. You've come to look for our weak spots."
^10-11 "No, master," they said. "We've only come to buy food. We're all the sons of the same man; we're honest men; we'd never think of spying."
¹² He said, "No. You're spies. You've come to look for our weak spots."
¹³ They said, "There were twelve of us brothers—sons of the same father in the country of Canaan. The youngest is with our father, and one is no more."
^14-16 But Joseph said, "It's just as I said, you're spies. This is how I'll test you. As Pharaoh lives, you're not going to leave this place until your younger brother comes here. Send one of you to get your brother while the rest of you stay here in jail. We'll see if you're telling the truth or not. As Pharaoh lives, I say you're spies."
¹⁷ Then he threw them into jail for three days.

For Reflection
A little taste of their own medicine? Maybe. Or perhaps not seeing his younger brother and fearing that he had met a fate similar to his own, Joseph tested the remaining brothers.

In spite of what we do to each other, God turns the suffering into goodness. It was Joseph's jealous brothers that took it on themselves to get rid of their brother. But, it was God who intervened to save Joseph from death. It was God that gave the spiritual gift of dream interpretation to Joseph. It was God who delayed Joseph's recognition by the Pharaoh. It is now God who will reconcile the family and make good on His promise to Abraham.

God is faithful to us. We all live within the grasp of God's promise. We have only to accept his offer.

Pray
that you will look beyond the events of everyday life and see the big picture of God working to fulfill his promise in you.

The Dream Interpreted

2012-01-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Finds Favor

Genesis 41:14-16, 25-36

The Message

¹⁴ Pharaoh at once sent for Joseph. They brought him on the run from the jail cell. He cut his hair, put on clean clothes, and came to Pharaoh.
¹⁵ "I dreamed a dream," Pharaoh told Joseph. "Nobody can interpret it. But I've heard that just by hearing a dream you can interpret it."
¹⁶ Joseph answered, "Not I, but God. God will set Pharaoh's mind at ease."
____

^25-27 Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's two dreams both mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh what he is going to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years and the seven healthy ears of grain are seven years—they're the same dream. The seven sick and ugly cows that followed them up are seven years and the seven scrawny ears of grain dried out by the east wind are the same—seven years of famine.
^28-32 "The meaning is what I said earlier: God is letting Pharaoh in on what he is going to do. Seven years of plenty are on their way throughout Egypt. But on their heels will come seven years of famine, leaving no trace of the Egyptian plenty. As the country is emptied by famine, there won't be even a scrap left of the previous plenty—the famine will be total. The fact that Pharaoh dreamed the same dream twice emphasizes God's determination to do this and do it soon.
^33-36 "So, Pharaoh needs to look for a wise and experienced man and put him in charge of the country. Then Pharaoh needs to appoint managers throughout the country of Egypt to organize it during the years of plenty. Their job will be to collect all the food produced in the good years ahead and stockpile the grain under Pharaoh's authority, storing it in the towns for food. This grain will be held back to be used later during the seven years of famine that are coming on Egypt. This way the country won't be devastated by the famine."

For Reflection
In spite of being imprisoned and a slave, Joseph prepares himself to honor the Pharaoh. He assigns his talent to God and acts as a priest to Pharaoh. Joseph not only interprets the dream but sets a course to make the Pharaoh appear as a wise and great leader.

The key here is that Joseph, in humility, rejects the temptation to be bitter and exact retributive justice. Instead, Joseph honors the Pharaoh and offers good advice. Joseph sacrifices self for the good of God's Kingdom. This is God's grace at work through Joseph.

Pray
that you will continue to sacrifice your self image in service to God. Pray for the wisdom of Joseph. Pray for the patience of Joseph. Pray for the strength of faith of Joseph.

Interpretations Belong to God

2012-01-05T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Finds Favor

Genesis 40:1-8

The Message

^1-4 As time went on, it happened that the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt crossed their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the head cupbearer and the head baker, and put them in custody under the captain of the guard; it was the same jail where Joseph was held. The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to see to their needs. ^4-7 After they had been in custody for a while, the king's cupbearer and baker, while being held in the jail, both had a dream on the same night, each dream having its own meaning. When Joseph arrived in the morning, he noticed that they were feeling low. So he asked them, the two officials of Pharaoh who had been thrown into jail with him, "What's wrong? Why the long faces?"
⁸ They said, "We dreamed dreams and there's no one to interpret them."
Joseph said, "Don't interpretations come from God? Tell me the dreams."

For Reflection
Are our dreams the stuff of our own making or are they messages from God? God appeared in dreams many times to people of the old and new testaments. Does He appear to us today in dreams?

Who, today, interprets dreams from a God-centered perspective? Google Christian dream interpretation and you will discover that much time and effort has been given to this endeavor.

If we focus on dream interpretation, however, we may miss an important point. Joseph said interpretations come from God. It is the fact that God provided a spiritual gift the influence of which the Pharaoh could not avoid. This was not Joseph's doing but God's. Want to know what dreams mean? Ask God.

Pray
thanking God for His constant protection. Pray that you will respond to God when he calls you to action. Pray so that you will hear God's will.

The Interpretation Remembered

2012-01-04T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Finds Favor

Genesis 41:1-13

The Message

^1-4 Two years passed and Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile River. Seven cows came up out of the Nile, all shimmering with health, and grazed on the marsh grass. Then seven other cows, all skin and bones, came up out of the river after them and stood by them on the bank of the Nile. The skinny cows ate the seven healthy cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. ^5-7 He went back to sleep and dreamed a second time: Seven ears of grain, full-bodied and lush, grew out of a single stalk. Then seven more ears grew up, but these were thin and dried out by the east wind. The thin ears swallowed up the full, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up—another dream.
⁸ When morning came, he was upset. He sent for all the magicians and sages of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but they couldn't interpret them to him.
^9-13 The head cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, "I just now remembered something—I'm sorry, I should have told you this long ago. Once when Pharaoh got angry with his servants, he locked me and the head baker in the house of the captain of the guard. We both had dreams on the same night, each dream with its own meaning. It so happened that there was a young Hebrew slave there with us; he belonged to the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them for us, each dream separately. Things turned out just as he interpreted. I was returned to my position and the head baker was impaled."

For Reflection

All God's Good Time.

The stage was set two years prior. The time for Joseph to be recognized had not yet come. God delayed the cupbearer's report on Joseph until such time when revealing Joseph and his God would make a difference in the outcome for Joseph's people. Joseph now gets to serve the Pharaoh directly. How would you react if you were disappointed in the cupbearer and two years later still siting in jail, a slave to the guard?

Pray
that you will recognize God's timing is not the same as your timing. Pray that you will keep your faith in God and hope in the fulfillment of His promise in you.

The Predictions Come True

2012-01-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Protection
Joseph Finds Favor

Genesis 40:16-23

The Message

^16-17 When the head baker saw how well Joseph's interpretation turned out, he spoke up: "My dream went like this: I saw three wicker baskets on my head; the top basket had assorted pastries from the bakery and birds were picking at them from the basket on my head."
^18-19 Joseph said, "This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days; within three days Pharaoh will take off your head, impale you on a post, and the birds will pick your bones clean."
^20-22 And sure enough, on the third day it was Pharaoh's birthday and he threw a feast for all his servants. He set the head cupbearer and the head baker in places of honor in the presence of all the guests. Then he restored the head cupbearer to his cupbearing post; he handed Pharaoh his cup just as before. And then he impaled the head baker on a post, following Joseph's interpretations exactly.
²³ But the head cupbearer never gave Joseph another thought; he forgot all about him.

For Reflection
Well, that went well for the baker! Death image to be sure. Vultures pecking at his head? Wow!

The only thing Joseph asked the cupbearer in return for the interpretation of his dream was that the cupbearer remember Joseph to the Pharaoh. This interpretation was given conditionally. Joseph expected a return on his good deed. Sadly, Joseph was disappointed. His trust was misplaced. What happens when we place our trust in anything or anyone other than God? Disappointment!

Pray
that you will not lock your hope in the action of others. Pray for the patience to wait on the Lord's will. Pray that you will never lose trust in the Lord.

Choosing the Way of Faithfulness

2012-01-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
God Watches Over Joseph

Psalm 119:25-32

The Message

^25-32 I'm feeling terrible—I couldn't feel worse!
      Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
   When I told my story, you responded;
      train me well in your deep wisdom.
   Help me understand these things inside and out
      so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
   My sad life's dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
      build me up again by your Word.
   Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
      grace me with your clear revelation.
   I choose the true road to Somewhere,
      I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
   I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
      God, don't let me down!
   I'll run the course you lay out for me
      if you'll just show me how.

For Reflection
Prayer is a sure deterrent for temptation. Studying the scriptures in the fellowship of believers, and keeping your eye on the fulfilling the promise of God will guide you to avoid temptations toward the un-Godly.

Pray
Reread the passages from Psalms and take it to your heart as a prayer. Pray that you will choose God.

Enduring Temptation

2011-12-29T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
God Watches Over Joseph

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

The Message

^1-5Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God's fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased. ^6-10The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—"First the people partied, then they threw a dance." We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
^11-12These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
¹³No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

For Reflection
How do you fight temptation? No one is exempt from the tyranny of temptation. Temptation does not always arrive during hard times. The most difficult temptations are the ones which creep up on you. Subtle changes over time are the most difficult to detect. Sometimes a tiny taste is all it takes. Before you realize it, you are caught. "I can handle a little bit, " you lie to yourself. You do not have to handle temptation alone. When you find yourself engrossed in the ungodly, step away. Confess your error and turn to god. There is no shame in being human. There is only shame in not recognizing your humanity.

Pray
pray that God will lead you from temptation. Pray that you will reject self-confidence for God-confidence. Pray that you embrace the saving grace that God has promised and walk shamelessly into the light of Gods forgiveness.

Facing Temptation

2011-12-28T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
God Watches Over Joseph

Luke 22:39-46

The Message

A Dark Night

^39-40Leaving there, he went, as he so often did, to Mount Olives. The disciples followed him. When they arrived at the place, he said, "Pray that you don't give in to temptation." ^41-44He pulled away from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?" At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.
^45-46He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. He said, "What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray so you won't give in to temptation."

For Reflection
Tempted by life over death, Christ chose death. It was his Father's will. What might have the disciples been tempted to do? How would giving in to their temptations altered the course of the Christ event?

We are at times tempted by the rational act when irrationality is a calling. Can you think of a time when the irrational act was most appropriate?

Pray
for courage in carrying out irrational acts in service to God.

Joseph's Story

2011-12-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
God Watches Over Joseph

Acts 7:9-16

The Message

^9-10"But then those 'fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.
^11-15"Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt.
^15-16"Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.

For Reflection
      See what they did to Joseph?

     Oh, that's bad!

     Well, Joseph caught the eye of the Pharaoh who put him in charge of the whole country.

     Oh, that's good!

     Then his brothers came before him and did not recognize that their fate was within Joseph's power.

    Oh that's bad!

     Well, Joseph told them who he was and managed to convince the Pharaoh to accept all of the family into Egypt to escape the famine.

     Oh, that's good!

     Perhaps.

Only the nearsighted eyes of human kind see single events as good or bad. God sees beyond single events. He has His eye on the big picture. Faith and hope helps us focus on the big picture

Pray
for the patience to follow your faith and hope in the promise of God. Pray that you continually look beyond the present struggles and keep your eye on the realization of the Kingdom of God.

God Sent One Ahead

2011-12-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
God Watches Over Joseph

Psalm 105:16-22

The Message

^16-22 Then he called down a famine on the country,
      he broke every last blade of wheat.
   But he sent a man on ahead:
      Joseph, sold as a slave.
   They put cruel chains on his ankles,
      an iron collar around his neck,
   Until God's word came to the Pharaoh,
      and God confirmed his promise.
   God sent the king to release him.
      The Pharaoh set Joseph free;
   He appointed him master of his palace,
      put him in charge of all his business
   To personally instruct his princes
      and train his advisors in wisdom.

For Reflection
"MADALLA, Nigeria -- Bomb attacks on churches during Christmas services and a suicide blast in Nigeria killed at least 40 people Sunday amid spiraling violence claimed by Islamists. A purported spokesman for Boko Haram, an Islamic sect, claimed responsibility for the bombing of a church outside the capital Abuja and other violence which stoked fear and anger in Africa's most populous nation."

Out of tragedy and apparent hopelessness Joseph triumphed because God willed it so, . God watched over Joseph and He watches over us too. Even when Christians face what seems to be hopelessness and extreme suffering. God will not be defeated.

Pray
for those who suffer in the name of our savior, Jesus Christ. Pray for those whose fear motivates hate. Pray for the reconciliation of all people. Pray to find the seed of hope in the face of tragedy. Pray deeply to find your role in the realization of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Birth Foretold

2011-12-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
According to the Promise

Luke 1:26-38

The Message (MSG)

A Virgin Conceives

^26-28In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

   Good morning!
   You're beautiful with God's beauty,
   Beautiful inside and out!
   God be with you. ^29-33She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

   He will be great,
      be called 'Son of the Highest.'
   The Lord God will give him
      the throne of his father David;
   He will rule Jacob's house forever—
      no end, ever, to his kingdom."
³⁴Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."
³⁵The angel answered,

   The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
      the power of the Highest hover over you;
   Therefore, the child you bring to birth
      will be called Holy, Son of God.
^36-38"And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."
   And Mary said,

   Yes, I see it all now:
      I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
   Let it be with me
      just as you say.
   Then the angel left her.

For Reflection
With God the barren is made fruitful. Proclaim to the world that the Lord is with you. Your barren self is now filled with the Holy Spirit so that you, like Mary, can magnify the Lord. Trust in the Promise made to Abraham and now to you.

Pray
thanking God for the sacrifices He has made time and time again on behalf of His children. Thank God for the truth which became knowable in Jesus Christ. Praise God. Listen, know that the Lord is with you.

Inheritance through the Promise

2011-12-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
According to the Promise

Galatians 3:13-18

The Message

^13-14Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.
^15-18Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will.
^18-20What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.

For Reflection
You have been redeemed. No more self-loathing. No more self-reliance. No more selfishness.

Whoa! Wait a minute. No more self-reliance?

Yes. No more self-reliance. It is no longer all about you. It is about God. You may rely on Him to lead you through life, doing his bidding. Christ has come, freeing you from a rule centered life. Christ has come freeing you to fulfill the promise made to Abraham.

To be sure, your reliance upon God does not remove your responsibility to live a righteous life. It does mean, however, you do not have to go it alone. Live in the Promise.

Pray
Pray for the courage to rely on God. Pray for the strength to follow Him wherever He may take you. Pray for the wisdom to live a righteous life. Pray for the patience to listen for the Holy Spirit.

Decendants of Abraham

2011-12-21T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
According to the Promise

Galatians 3:6-12

The Message (MSG)

^5-6Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.
^7-8Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you."
^9-10So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law."
^11-12The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them."

For Reflection
God is extravagant. He holds nothing back. His Holy Spirit works miracles in your life. Through him you are the strongest force for good in the world. Embrace your indebtedness to God.

Pray
that you will hold nothing back from God. Pray that His faith in you is not misplaced. Pray that your belief in God will never falter.

A Faithful Heart

2011-12-20T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
According to the Promise

Nehemiah 9:6-10

The Message

^5-6 Blessed be your glorious name,
   exalted above all blessing and praise! You're the one,
   God, you alone; You made the heavens,
   the heavens of heavens, and all angels; The earth and everything on it,
   the seas and everything in them; You keep them all alive;
   heaven's angels worship you!
^7-8 You're the one, God, the God
   who chose Abram And brought him from Ur of the Chaldees
   and changed his name to Abraham. You found his heart to be steady and true to you
   and signed a covenant with him, A covenant to give him the land of the Canaanites,
   the Hittites, and the Amorites, The Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites,
   —to give it to his descendants. And you kept your word
   because you are righteous.
^9-15 You saw the anguish of our parents in Egypt.
   You heard their cries at the Red Sea; You amazed Pharaoh, his servants, and the people of his land
   with wonders and miracle-signs. You knew their bullying arrogance against your people;
   you made a name for yourself that lasts to this day. You split the sea before them;
   they crossed through and never got their feet wet; You pitched their pursuers into the deep;
   they sank like a rock in the storm-tossed sea. By day you led them with a Pillar of Cloud,
   and by night with a Pillar of Fire To show them the way
   they were to travel. You came down onto Mount Sinai,
   you spoke to them out of heaven; You gave them instructions on how to live well,
   true teaching, sound rules and commands; You introduced them
   to your Holy Sabbath; Through your servant Moses you decreed
   commands, rules, and instruction. You gave bread from heaven for their hunger,
   you sent water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to enter and take the land,
   which you promised to give them.

For Reflection
What's in a name? When God made his promise to Abram he also changed Abram's and Sarai's names to Abraham and Sarah. When an infant is baptized, the parents are asked for the child's name, My aunt's certificate of birth from a Lutheran church in Hungary bears her Christian Name and certifies her Christian lineage. One is known by his or her name both literally and figuratively. All that you are is associated with your name. In Abram, God found a true heart. He changed Abram's name to reflect to all the nature of Abram and His covenant with him.

God has changed your name too. He has placed you in the paths of those who need to know Him. You are known by His name and He has faith in you to fulfill his promise.

Pray
thanking God for His faithfulness in his creation. Praise him for the gift of Abraham's linage. Thank God for the grace opportunities that he has placed before you. Pray for the wisdom to fulfill his promise.

God is Faithful

2011-12-19T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
According to the Promise

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

The Message

^17-19Are you now going to accuse me of being flip with my promises because it didn't work out? Do you think I talk out of both sides of my mouth—a glib yes one moment, a glib no the next? Well, you're wrong. I try to be as true to my word as God is to his. Our word to you wasn't a careless yes canceled by an indifferent no. How could it be? When Silas and Timothy and I proclaimed the Son of God among you, did you pick up on any yes-and-no, on-again, off-again waffling? Wasn't it a clean, strong Yes?
^20-22Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.

For Reflection
God gives us a clean strong yes. There is no question that God will fulfill His promise in and through us. We bathe in his glorious holiness. We can not escape His faithfulness.

Pray
for confidence in Gods promise. Pray for the faith of our spiritual father, Abraham. Pray that we will never doubt the will of God.

Concern for Our Decendants

2011-12-16T01:00:00.000-05:00

Joshua 22:21-29 The Message

^21-22 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel:
      The God of Gods is God,
      The God of Gods is God!
^22-23 "He knows and he'll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God. And if it is, don't bother saving us. If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God, if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide.
^24-25 "But that's not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, 'You're not connected with God, the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God.' And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God.
²⁶ "So we said to ourselves, 'Let's do something. Let's build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.'
²⁷ "We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings.
    "This way, your children won't be able to say to our children in the future, 'You have no part in God.'
²⁸ "We said to ourselves, 'If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we'll say: Look at this model of God's Altar which our ancestors made. It's not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It's a witness connecting us with you.'
²⁹ "Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling."

For Reflection
How visible is God in your life? Do others see Him in you? What symbolized your commitment to God and is a visual reminder of your relationship with God?

Pray
that you will be a witness to God's grace. Pray that others will see your faith in action and recognize it for God's will.

Faith Completed by Works

2011-12-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
The Lord Provides

James 2:14-24 The Message

Faith in Action

^14-17Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? ¹⁸I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
^19-20Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
^21-24Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

For Reflection
Is it time to put your money where your mouth is? One can perform good works apart from faith in God. One can not, however, have faith in God and not perform good works. There is a difference between the two. Apart from God one may expect a return for good works. In God no such expectation is valid. The reward for good works is indebtedness to God.

Pray
thanking God for opportunities to increase your debt to God. Thank God for the opportunity for His grace to flow through you.

Not Withholding His Only Son

2011-12-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
The Lord Provides

Genesis 22:15-19 The Message

^15-18 The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: "I swear—God's sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I'll bless you—oh, how I'll bless you! And I'll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me."
¹⁹ Then Abraham went back to his young servants. They got things together and returned to Beersheba. Abraham settled down in Beersheba.

For Reflection
Think about how hard it would be to give up your child in obedience to God. Abraham was so faithful to God that in agony he was willing to do just that. How hard then, can it be to reject conventional wisdom, selfishness, material possessions, or adherence to culturally embedded wisdom? God hoped that Abraham would follow through. God has the same faith in you that He had in Abraham. God hopes for your continuing obedience to His will. What do you hope for?

Pray
that you will withhold nothing from God. Pray that you will give yourself over completely to His will. Spend time meditating on how surrender to God would change you.

Born Through the Promise

2011-12-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
The Lord Provides

Galatians 4:21-28

The Message

^21-31Tell me now, you who have become so enamored with the law: Have you paid close attention to that law? Abraham, remember, had two sons: one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The son of the slave woman was born by human connivance; the son of the free woman was born by God's promise. This illustrates the very thing we are dealing with now. The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia. It corresponds with what is now going on in Jerusalem—a slave life, producing slaves as offspring. This is the way of Hagar. In contrast to that, there is an invisible Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem, and she is our mother—this is the way of Sarah. Remember what Isaiah wrote:

   Rejoice, barren woman who bears no children,
      shout and cry out, woman who has no birth pangs,
   Because the children of the barren woman
      now surpass the children of the chosen woman.
Isn't it clear, friends, that you, like Isaac, are children of promise? In the days of Hagar and Sarah, the child who came from faithless connivance (Ishmael) harassed the child who came—empowered by the Spirit—from the faithful promise (Isaac). Isn't it clear that the harassment you are now experiencing from the Jerusalem heretics follows that old pattern? There is a Scripture that tells us what to do: "Expel the slave mother with her son, for the slave son will not inherit with the free son." Isn't that conclusive? We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

For Reflection
The early Christians struggled with the question, "Does one have to become Jewish before one becomes a Christian?" This explanation may be a bit foreign to our understanding. However, if seen as an allegory, the metaphor is strong. One can be in a relationship with God by following the law. But it is difficult. Being a slave to the law produces more slavery to the law. This relationship is not fruitful. On the other hand, Christ has shown us that we can be free from servitude to the law. Like the children of Sarah, we are children of the promise, free to live as God intended us to live - free to follow the intent of the law and not be enslaved by the letter of the law. Faithfulness to the law may not always lead to faithfulness to God.

We all have rules that we follow to live a faithful Christian life. They are a confusing mess of moral concepts and scriptural illusions. Each of us is responsible for examining the basis for our own behavior. Think about a time when your "Christian Rules" did not seem to fit the circumstances you faced. How did you resolve the dilemma?

Pray
that you will listen to God's call to be a slave to his word. Pray that your rules will be tempered in the wisdom of love and justice. Pray that you will recognize rules do not govern your life in Christ only obedience to His will to serve Him.

All Your Needs

2011-12-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
The Lord Provides

Philippians 4:15-20 The Message

^15-17You Philippians well know, and you can be sure I'll never forget it, that when I first left Macedonia province, venturing out with the Message, not one church helped out in the give-and-take of this work except you. You were the only one. Even while I was in Thessalonica, you helped out—and not only once, but twice. Not that I'm looking for handouts, but I do want you to experience the blessing that issues from generosity.
^18-20And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.

For Reflection
Paul has given over his life to God. At this stage he is dependent upon the gifts of others to support his ministry. At first it was difficult, but later Paul is well, but meagerly, supported. Here he praises the church at Macedonia for the faith they have placed in him to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. As God has blessed him and has lead others to support and bless his ministry, Paul assures the followers that as God has met his needs through them, their needs will be met also.

Act as though the more you do in God's name the more indebted you be come to Him. He give you much more than you could possibly give to Him. Have faith. Trust in God. He will meet your needs as well.

Pray
praising God for his bountiful goodness. Thank Him for the blessings he has given to you. Pray that others will develop the strength and courage to trust God to provide.

The Eternal Covenant

2011-12-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Promise to Abraham

Hebrews 13:17-21

The Message

¹⁷Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?
^18-21Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we're doing or why, but it's hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon.

   May God, who puts all things together,
      makes all things whole,
   Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
      the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
   Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
      up and alive from the dead,
   Now put you together, provide you
      with everything you need to please him,
   Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
      by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
   All glory to Jesus forever and always!
      Oh, yes, yes, yes.

For Reflection
Listen to your pastoral leaders. We are not talking about absolute submission here. We are speaking about being obedient to pastoral leaders who are themselves true to the scriptures and to God's will. This means that we are all fallible. Each of us has a responsibility to study and discuss the implication of scripture to our faith journey. Each of us has the responsibility to decide what action to take and what council to follow that is consistent with the written word. Read, pray, and listen for God's recommendation.

Pray
listening closely for God's advice. Pray that your understanding of scripture is consistent with God's will. Pray that pastoral leaders will temper the pressure of leadership with reflection on scripture and God's promise. Pray and hope for the fulfillment of God's Kingdom on earth.

Righteousness by Faith

2011-12-08T01:00:00.001-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Promise to Abraham

Romans 4:9-15

The Message

^6-9David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man:

   Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off,
      whose sins are wiped clean from the slate.
   Fortunate the person against
      whom the Lord does not keep score.
Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? We all agree, don't we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God?
^10-11Now think: Was that declaration made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That's right, before he was marked. That means that he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life.
¹²And it means further that Abraham is father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the "outs" with God, as yet unidentified as God's, in an "uncircumcised" condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called "set right by God and with God"! Abraham is also, of course, father of those who have undergone the religious rite of circumcision not just because of the ritual but because they were willing to live in the risky faith-embrace of God's action for them, the way Abraham lived long before he was marked by circumcision.
^13-15That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God's promise at that—you can't break it.

For Reflection
We are the spiritual family of Abraham -- uncircumcised, but set right by God. Our covenant with God is not a contract, but rather, an unbreakable promise. God has faith in us. He has hope that we will fulfill his promise. He gives us loving support to enable the fulfillment of His promise. All we have to do is pray and become obedient to His will. God makes his declaration of faith in us before we have had faith in Him. Abraham's circumcision was a sign of his commitment to God. What is your sign of commitment to God?

Pray
to become an obedient participant in the Holy Kingdom of God. Pray that you will deepen your faith and hope in the fulfillment of God's promise. Pray, asking God to open your mind and heart to hear and follow His will for you.

Strong in Faith

2011-12-07T01:00:00.003-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Promise to Abraham

Romans 4:16-25

The Message (MSG)

¹⁶This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that's reading the story backward. He is our faith father.
^17-18We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
^19-25Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

For Reflection
Abraham believed in spite of the impossibility of God's promise. Abraham was obedient in his hope for the promise of God. Abraham acted with out question or doubt. When God sets before you the impossible, do you hesitate?

Pray
that you will be obedient to God's will for you. Thank God for His grace. Pray that you will hold strong to hope in the face of what may seem to be hopeless circumstances. Pray for those with little hope.

Abraham's Faith Tested

2011-12-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Promise to Abraham

Hebrews 11:17-22

The Message

^17-19By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.
²⁰By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
²¹By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.
²²By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

For Reflection
As they lived by their faith in God and God's faith in them, they died in faith. Blessing their families, they passed the faith to the next generations. God has faith in you to live lives filled with hope in the promise of God. Are you willing to have faith in God by blessing the next generation?

Pray
thanking God for his faith in you. Pray that God's faith in you will be returned in your blessing to others.

The Faith of Abraham

2011-12-05T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Promise to Abraham

Hebrews 11:8-16

The Message

^8-10By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
^11-12By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
^13-16Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

For Reflection
Faith and hope are counterparts. Abraham kept a eye on the city of God he hoped for. Sarah kept her eye on the promise of God that she hoped for. One's hope doesn't have to be realized to be effective in sustaining faith. Hope is an act of faith. What do you hope for that sustains your faith and enables you?

Pray
that your hope for the fulfillment of God's promise will sustain you. Pray for God to open you eyes and your heart to the results of faith in your life.

We Have This Hope

2011-12-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Blessing for All Nations

Hebrews 6:13-20

The Message

God Gave His Word

^13-18When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!" Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. ^18-20We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

For Reflection
God's faith takes action in His covenants. He puts it all on the line, promising and delivering blessings. Such faithfulness is stable and reliable. A proper response to God's faithfulness is our willingness to submit to God's will and to hope for the realization of His kingdom.

Pray
that God's blessing will be accepted in all nations. Pray that His kingdom will evolve world wide. Pray for the redemption of all peoples. Pray that you will have confidence in God's faithfulness and submit your life in his obedient service.

Abraham, Our Ancestor

2011-12-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Blessing for All Nations

Matthew 3:1-10

The Message

Thunder in the Desert!

^1-2 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called "the Baptizer," was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here." ³John and his message were authorized by Isaiah's prophecy:

   Thunder in the desert!
   Prepare for God's arrival!
   Make the road smooth and straight!
^4-6John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.
^7-10When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: "Brood of snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It's your life that must change, not your skin! And don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.

For Reflection
How well do you follow the rules? Do you have rules that you have made that you follow without variation? How often do you bend the rule to follow its intent? That is the point John was making. Pharisees and Sadducees followed the rules but ignored the intent. They adorned them selves in the robes of God but did not allow Him to guide their lives. Following the rules can be important, but being obedient to God's will is not rule bound. Faith gives you the confidence to step into righeousness.

Pray
for the wisdom to follow the intent that is God's will. Pray that you act in love. Pray that others will recognize God in you by observing your faith in action.

Look to Abraham

2011-11-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Blessing for All Nations

Isaiah 51:1-6

The Message

Committed to Seeking God

^1-3 "Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking God.
Ponder the rock from which you were cut,
   the quarry from which you were dug.
Yes, ponder Abraham, your father,
   and Sarah, who bore you.
Think of it! One solitary man when I called him,
   but once I blessed him, he multiplied.
Likewise I, God, will comfort Zion,
   comfort all her mounds of ruins.
I'll transform her dead ground into Eden,
   her moonscape into the garden of God,
A place filled with exuberance and laughter,
   thankful voices and melodic songs. ^4-6"Pay attention, my people.
   Listen to me, nations.
Revelation flows from me.
   My decisions light up the world.
My deliverance arrives on the run,
   my salvation right on time.
   I'll bring justice to the peoples.
Even faraway islands will look to me
   and take hope in my saving power.
Look up at the skies,
   ponder the earth under your feet.
The skies will fade out like smoke,
   the earth will wear out like work pants,
   and the people will die off like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
   my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.

For Reflection
"Ponder the rock from which you were cut." Listen to God. Climb onto the wagon of His revelation to you. Set things right, Hope for justice and He will lead you into it.

Pray
earnestly looking for the Holy Spirit who abides in you. Pray for the courage to follow the God whispers. Pray for faith in the outcomes of God's kingdom.

The Lord Heard Our Voice

2011-11-29T01:00:00.001-05:00

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Blessing for All Nations

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

The Message

^1-5 Once you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance and take it over and settle down, you are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship him. At that time, go to the priest who is there and say, "I announce to God, your God, today that I have entered the land that God promised our ancestors that he'd give to us." The priest will take the basket from you and place it on the Altar of God, your God. And there in the Presence of God, your God, you will recite:

    ^5-10 A wandering Aramean was my father,
      he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,
      he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon
      they became a great nation, mighty and many.
      The Egyptians abused and battered us,
      in a cruel and savage slavery.
      We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:
      He listened to our voice, he saw
      our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.
      And God took us out of Egypt
      with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,
      with signs and miracle-wonders.
      And he brought us to this place,
      gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
      So here I am. I've brought the firstfruits
      of what I've grown on this ground you gave me, O God. ^10-11 Then place it in the Presence of God, your God. Prostrate yourselves in the Presence of God, your God. And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family; you and the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.

For Reflection
Scripture gives us a history of God's faithfulness and of His people's faithful response. God said go and His people went! As a result of a relationship of trust in their God and faith in His intent, God's people stepped into a smokey future in full confidence that God would provide a safe passage and a bountiful life. Reciting the litany of their faithful journey, God's people remembered and celebrated their relationship to God. How do you remember and celebrate God's faithful presence in your life?

Pray
celebrating all the good things that God has given you. Recite the signs and miracle-wonders of Gods presence in your life. Offer to God the first fruits of He has given to you.

Give Your Worries to God

2011-11-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

1 Peter 5:6-11

The Message

^6-7So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

He Gets the Last Word

^8-11Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

For Reflection
Live a care free life, but, with your guard up. Be alert for fear to rise and corrupt your confidence in God. Suffering is a human condition. Suffering is eased by the hand of God which is always laid on your shoulder. Let the Lord carry your burden. Live care free.

Pray
Lay your concerns at the foot of God's throne. Confess your fears. Pray for God to remove your fear. Pray that you feel Christ's presence walking beside you.

The Spirit as Our Resource

2011-11-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Matthew 10:16-20

The Message

¹⁶"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
^17-20"Don't be naive. Some people will impugn your motives, others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don't be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they've done you—and me—a favor, given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don't worry about what you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.

For Reflection
Accepting Christianity is easy. Practicing Christianity is not. Putting your faith into action may lead you to walk against the wind; at times a howling wind.

Reflecting the love of Christ will result in the same misunderstanding and threat that Jesus faced when confronting the Pharisees. While the institutional Pharisee has not appeared since the destruction of Jerusalem, the essence of the Pharisee lives on in corruption, self-righteousness, self-defense and fear motivated treachery. The Pharisees knew the rules, indeed, wrote them. They attempted to follow the rules and coerce others into earning blessings by following the rules. However, in living a rule-centered existence, they neglected to adhere to the intent of the law.

Christians are free to choose to follow the intent of God's law. Christians follow a God-centered compass where the rules are few and love and justice are paramount.

As a Christian you do not travel this path alone. The Holy Spirit lives inside you, guiding and comforting you -- whispering courses of thought and deed. Can you walk confidently and fearlessly into the smoke, cloaked in God's armor?

Pray
Sit in silence. Ask God to reveal Himself in you. Wait, Open your mind and listen. God will answer in His time. Pray for confidence. Pray for courage.

Do Not Be Afraid

2011-11-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Matthew 10:24-31

The Message

^24-25"A student doesn't get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn't make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, 'Dungface,' what can the workers expect?
^26-27"Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now.
²⁸"Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

Forget About Yourself

^29-31"What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.

For Reflection

Fear, Satan's strongest weapon!

As I write today, the sex abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University is still unfolding. Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach has been accused of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period through a charity he founded for at-risk youth. Joe Paterno, one of the most renown college football coaches and the president of the university have been fired. The school’s Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, vice president for finance and business, have also been charged with perjury and failing to notify authorities about the abuse.

Acting out of fear of the consequences, those that covered up the sexual perversion of one of the coaches and emeritus faculty member now suffer humiliation, and criminal charges. They knew and said and did little to end coach Sandusky's exploitation. In doing so they enabled long term systematic sexual abuse of young at-risk boys, institutionalized and cloaked by Pennsylvania State University.

They responded to what was at stake -- millions of dollars in revenue from alumni, supporters of the football program and the revenue from the business of football. At colleges and universities all over our nation out of control athletic programs have traded our sanctuaries of learning for enormously rich athletic programs.

Out of fear, we turn a blind eye to amoral, immoral, unethical and illegal behavior. For the greater good of the university they trampled the greater good of saving hundreds of young boys from sexploitation. Rather than being an example of strength of moral conviction they became, out of fear, an example of the most un-Godly behavior. Of all places where justice and love should have been commonplace, greed and self-worship reigned.

^26-27"Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now."

Pray
prayers for forgiveness. Pray for the reconciliation of this tragedy. Pray that people of influence choose to act boldly against fear and wear a cloak of righteousness. Pray that you will not be corrupted by the tyranny of fear.

Guard Against Worry

2011-11-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Luke 21:29-36

The Message

^29-33He told them a story. "Look at a fig tree. Any tree for that matter. When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner. The same here—when you see these things happen, you know God's kingdom is about here. Don't brush this off: I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won't wear out.
^34-36"But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don't go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man.

For Reflection
The advance of science as a preferred thought process has improved the human condition. God has provided a systematic way for us to discover more and more of his mystery. However, the presumption for evidence has displaced the value of observing God's hand in action. We have little written since Biblical times on a vernacular systematic method for observing God in action. We have in many cases poo pooed the mystery of God because we can find little empirical evidence.

Jesus pointed to nature, the fig tree using one of the strongest methods of proof in his time --argument from sign. The world is a sign of His mystery to be revealed to us in His Good Time. Look for God's hand in your life and in the lives of others. Look for God as life unfolds be fore you. Embrace the mystery that is God. All that needs to be revealed will appear clearly through the smoke of living.

Pray
to embrace the mystery that is God. Pray to open your minds to alternative ways of looking for God in common places in your life. Pray that you will see God in the life that unfolds around you.

Do Not Fret

2011-11-21T01:00:00.001-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Psalm 37:1-8

The Message

A David Psalm

^1-2 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
   In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings
      and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

^3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed,
      settle down and stick to your last.
   Keep company with God,
      get in on the best.

^5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back;
      he'll do whatever needs to be done:
   He'll validate your life in the clear light of day
      and stamp you with approval at high noon.

⁷ Quiet down before God,
      be prayerful before him.
   Don't bother with those who climb the ladder,
      who elbow their way to the top.

^8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath,
      cool your pipes—it only makes things worse.
   Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;
      God-investors will soon own the store.

For Reflection
How much confidence do you have in your faith? Are you truly confident that God has your best interest as His first interest?

If so, why, then, do you fret? The psalmist says God will do what ever needs to be done. He will validate you and stamp you with his seal of approval. Believe this deeply. Even though God's path may seem difficult, He will guide you. Be quiet, Cool your pipes. Pray and listen to Him.

Pray
that you will grow in confidence in the Lord's promise. Pray, holding nothing back. Pray quietly and listen for the Spirit to speak.

God's Assurance for Prayer

2011-11-18T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

Jeremiah 29:10-14

The Message

^10-11This is God's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. ¹²"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. ^13-14"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

For Reflection
According to most psychologists, when one forgives another the forgiveness enables the forgiver to move on beyond the wrongful deed. Perhaps it is true also with God. With so many people to forgive and so much to forgive them for, God's forgiving may be as much for His own comfort as for ours.

God suffers from the wrongful acts we commit. His forgiveness is just not all about us.

Isn't that how forgiveness works? Reconciliation is a two way street. Think about how reconciliation operated in your life.

Pray
prayers for forgiveness. Pray that we will not be come so self-centered that we take God's forgiveness for granted.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

2011-11-17T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

Isaiah 12

The Message

My Strength and Song

¹ And you will say in that day,
   "I thank you, God.
You were angry
   but your anger wasn't forever.
You withdrew your anger
   and moved in and comforted me. ²"Yes, indeed—God is my salvation.
   I trust, I won't be afraid.
God—yes God!—is my strength and song,
   best of all, my salvation!"
^3-4Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water
   from the wells of salvation.
And as you do it, you'll say,
   "Give thanks to God.
Call out his name.
   Ask him anything!
Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done,
   spread the news of his great reputation!
^5-6"Sing praise-songs to God. He's done it all!
   Let the whole earth know what he's done!
Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion!
   The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel."

For Reflection
Think about how you feel when your deeds go thankless. How do you think God feels? Expressing thanksgiving is an indication that you are not taking God for granted. Thanking reinforces the strength of your faith.

Pray
deeply in gratitude for God's grace and blessings in your life.

A Prayer for Healing

2011-11-16T01:00:00.001-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

1 Kings 17:17-23

The Message

¹⁷ Later on the woman's son became sick. The sickness took a turn for the worse—and then he stopped breathing.
¹⁸ The woman said to Elijah, "Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?"
^19-20 Elijah said, "Hand me your son."
He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, "O God, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?"
^21-23 Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, "God, my God, put breath back into this boy's body!" God listened to Elijah's prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. "Here's your son," said Elijah, "alive!"

For Reflection

The preacher laid his hand of the forehead of the believer. He invoked, " let the hand of Jesus touch and heal you from your disability."

As if struck by an invisible force, the man fell backward into the waiting arms of the preachers assistants.

"Get up and walk," said the preacher.

The believer arose and walked gratefully from the stage.

Truth or sham?

This miraculous recovery from death is hard to believe in this modern age of a "scientific" or rational explanation for everything. However, many people in Christian congregations all over the world proclaim the power of prayer that evoked the healing mystery that cured them.
Elijah did not raise the boy from death. God did. He did it because Elijah's determined confidence and faith were strong.

As the children of God, we are made in his image. We have the capacity to learn and to act on that learning.
Each hour God reveals new knowledge of the human condition and new skills to solve human illnesses. Maybe, in time, God will reveal to us the mystery of the healing touch. Until the time when His powers are revealed in us, let us pray, Thy will be done.

Pray
deeply for the healing power of God. Pray for the comfort only God can provide to the sick and those that suffer with them. Pray that you will listen and accept God's answer. Pray for the understanding that death is not the end, but rather a transition to the next life.

A Prayer for Blessing

2011-11-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

2 Samuel 7:18-29

The Message

^18-21 King David went in, took his place before God, and prayed: "Who am I, my Master God, and what is my family, that you have brought me to this place in life? But that's nothing compared to what's coming, for you've also spoken of my family far into the future, given me a glimpse into tomorrow, my Master God! What can I possibly say in the face of all this? You know me, Master God, just as I am. You've done all this not because of who I am but because of who you are—out of your very heart!—but you've let me in on it.
^22-24 "This is what makes you so great, Master God! There is none like you, no God but you, nothing to compare with what we've heard with our own ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, a nation unique in the earth, whom God set out to redeem for himself (and became most famous for it), performing great and fearsome acts, throwing out nations and their gods left and right as you saved your people from Egypt? You established for yourself a people—your very own Israel!—your people permanently. And you, God, became their God.
^25-27 "So now, great God, this word that you have spoken to me and my family, guarantee it permanently! Do exactly what you've promised! Then your reputation will flourish always as people exclaim, 'The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is God over Israel!' And the house of your servant David will remain sure and solid in your watchful presence. For you, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, told me plainly, 'I will build you a house.' That's how I was able to find the courage to pray this prayer to you.
^28-29 "And now, Master God, being the God you are, speaking sure words as you do, and having just said this wonderful thing to me, please, just one more thing: Bless my family; keep your eye on them always. You've already as much as said that you would, Master God! Oh, may your blessing be on my family permanently

For Reflection
Here David asks for God's continuing approval and encouragement permanently for his family. It is a testament to David's assurance in the fulfillment of God's promise to him. When we ask for God's blessing we also ask for approval and encouragement. In a way, I suppose, His blessing passes on His authority and should not be lightly asked or taken. With God's blessing comes the responsibility to be obedient to His will. Asking for blessings is an acknowledgment of God's power and grace. God bless us one and all.

Pray
that your obedience will honor God's blessings. Pray that you are good stewards of God's gifts. Ask for blessings frequently and listen for God's response.

Pray for Deliverance

2011-11-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

Genesis 32:6-12

The Message

⁶ The messengers came back to Jacob and said, "We talked to your brother Esau and he's on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him."
^7-8 Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. He thought, "If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away."
^9-12 And then Jacob prayed, "God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, 'Go back to your parents' homeland and I'll treat you well.' I don't deserve all the love and loyalty you've shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I'm afraid he'll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. You yourself said, 'I will treat you well; I'll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.'"

For Reflection
Each of us have demons to face. Some are internal and some are external threats. Jacob in a prayer to be delivered from the impending threat (whether real of imagined) reminds God of his promise and entreats Him to honor it. Jacob had the confidence in the covenant between him and God that God would answer his prayer.

Pray
prayers to be delivered from what ever troubles you. Pray that others in pain will be comforted. Pray for the confidence in God's promise to deliver you out of the circumstances that frighten and threaten you.

Loving Your Husband and Children

2011-11-11T01:00:00.001-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Titus 2:1-5

The Message

A God-Filled Life

^1-6Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don't want anyone looking down on God's Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.

For Reflection
During my residency in grad school, my wife and I began to develop new ways of living alone. When I returned, we discovered that each of us had developed new rules about our relationship. She discovered that she liked to do some of the things that I used to do. I discovered the same about me. We began the sometimes difficult negotiation of a new marriage relationship.

People change. What does not change, however, is the need to support and accommodate change.

We are much older now, but change is still a factor. We are not who we were. Neither are who we will become.

A wife's role in a marriage is not static. Neither is a husband's. As we change our roles change. The only rule is that we act toward each other in love. A marriage is not a competition, but rather a partnership bound in mutual respect and support. It requires the sacrifice of self and embracing the oneness of the union even when dissolution is a rational alternative.

Interestingly, an effective marriage relationship is similar to an effective relationship with God. It, too, requires the sacrifice of self for the union of God and humankind. A God filled life makes human living much more satisfying.

Pray
for those who's relationship is rocky. Pray that they will open themselves to God's guidance and comforting support. Pray that you will be able to accommodate the changes in your life, Pray that you will listen to the God whispers and have the courage to act on them.

Loving Your Wife

2011-11-10T01:00:00.002-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Ephesians 5:25-33

The Message

^25-28Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.
^29-33No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That's how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh." This is a huge mystery, and I don't pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.

For Reflection
"...a love marked by giving, not getting." In Biblical times many marriages were arranged. They were more a political arrangement than a romantic union. Today, in our modern world, (especially in the US) few marriages are formally arranged. We do, however, find marriages of convenience.

However two persons came to be married, if married by declaring in an oath to each other which recognizes a God sanctioned union, they are bound in a sacred relationship, they are of one flesh in marriage. Is this just a convenient metaphor to help people understand their their relationship to one another and to God? Or is it "a huge mystery?"

My wife and I have been married nearly fifty years. My brother-in-law would say it is a huge mystery! What God brings to pass is both a mystery in process and in intent. Christ treats his church in love. He welcomes it back time and time again in spite of mistake after mistake. It seems that there is nothing his people can do that will result in God withdrawing His love.

So it should be in marriage. A husband should love his wife to the extent that there is nothing she could do that would displace his love for her.

But, this is not a perfect world and we are not perfect. Love never dies, but does not always conquer all. God's love abides even when marriages fail. He does not take sides. He welcome each and offers a new start.

Pray
for those who's love has brought them together in a binding relationship. Pray that they will devote to each other the love that is marked by giving. Pray for those who's relationships are troubled. Pray that they will find comfort in the knowledge of God's love for them. Pray that they will feel the healing arms of God enveloping and shielding them.

Loving the Alien

2011-11-09T01:00:00.001-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Leviticus 19:33-37

The Message

^33-34 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.
^35-36 "Don't cheat when measuring length, weight, or quantity. Use honest scales and weights and measures. I am God, your God. I brought you out of Egypt.
³⁷ "Keep all my decrees and all my laws. Yes, do them. I am God."

For Reflection
Who is the foreigner in your land? Those that have little experience in your personal culture could be considered a foreigner. Remember those high school days. Anyone who was different was coerced into conformity. Guess what? The coercion into conformity didn't stop in high school. It just got a little more subtle. Think about it. In what subtle ways do you express the need for others to conform to your point of view; your method of doing things; your values, attitudes and behavior expectations?

Pray
that you will recognize the impulse to judge others based upon cultural differences. Pray that you will learn to love those who appear to be different from you. Pray for those who are having difficulty fitting in.

Loving Your Neighbor

2011-11-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Leviticus 19:13-18

The Message

¹³ "Don't exploit your friend or rob him.
   "Don't hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.
¹⁴ "Don't curse the deaf; don't put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am God.
¹⁵ "Don't pervert justice. Don't show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right.
¹⁶ "Don't spread gossip and rumors.
   "Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger. I am God.
¹⁷ "Don't secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt.
¹⁸ "Don't seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people.
   "Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.

For Reflection
So many don'ts. It is easy to tell others what not to do. The problem is you never get a perfect don't list. So the only do is "love your neighbor as yourself." This requires that you actually love your self, As God loves Himself, He loves all.

Pray
that you find the best qualities in your self. Pray that you continue to grow in faith and grace by adding more good qualities. Pray that you will find the best in others and treat them as you would have them treat you.

The Greatest Commandment

2011-11-07T01:00:00.002-05:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Matthew 22:34-40

The Message

The Most Important Command

^34-36When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" ^37-40Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

For Reflection
Except for its great mysteries, Christianity is not hard to intellectualize. But, knowing is one thing practicing is another. The practice of Christianity requires intellectual understanding, and an emotional alignment in response to what is known. Even that is insufficient to be effective. Prayer is the third element. Head, heart and voice.

Pray
Pray deeply and earnestly. Pray for increased knowledge of your faith. Pray for the freedom to express love. Pray that you find yourself worthy of God's and your own love. Pray that your life expresses the love of God and humankind.

Forgiveness Begets Love

2011-11-04T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

Luke 7:40-47

The Message (MSG)

⁴⁰Jesus said to him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
"Oh? Tell me."
^41-42"Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?"
^43-47Simon answered, "I suppose the one who was forgiven the most."
"That's right," said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, "Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn't quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn't it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal."

For Reflection
Forgiveness is much like canceling a debt. One who is forgiven is no longer obliged to repay the debt. The forgiver is in no position to expect further indebtedness.

The woman in this story was not obligated to show her gratitude, but in response to being forgiven she gave thanks deeply and personally. She responded with extravagant love; freely given, not out of obligation.Simon had been forgiven many times.

But living so close to Jesus, Simon took Christ's forgiveness for granted. Simon, in contrast, showed no such gratitude.

How grateful are you for the forgiving grace of God? How do you show it?

Pray
that when life is easy and you are surrounded by the forgiving grace of God, you pray deeply in thanksgiving and praise. Pray not from obligation but from gratitude. Let your life be a living prayer of gratitude.

Forgive as You Are Forgiven

2011-11-03T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

Matthew 18:21-35

The Message

A Story About Forgiveness

²¹At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" ²²Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
^23-25"The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
^26-27"The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
²⁸"The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'
^29-31"The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
^32-35"The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

For Reflection
God forgives unconditionally. Shouldn't we?

Pray
Thank God for your capacity to forgive. Pray that you will listen to the Spirit that resides in you. Pray that you will have the courage to forgive others as God has forgiven you.

The Prayer of Faith

2011-11-02T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

James 5:3-18

The Message

Destroying Your Life from Within

^1-3 And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment. ^4-6All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you've done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.
^7-8Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.
⁹Friends, don't complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.
^10-11Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.
¹²And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you.

Prayer to Be Reckoned With

^13-15Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out. ^16-18Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

For Reflection
I don't know that I would want to be a fatter than usual corpse! You know, it really is all about you. As many times we have succumbed to the temptation of criticizing others and trying to regulate behavior we consider to be immoral, amoral or just plane evil, it really comes down to fighting the devil within you. Fighting the temptation to sin and some times losing a battle or two.

Thank God for grace. Confessing short comings and backsliding action and asking forgiveness from the one true God is an act of authentic repentance. God will hear you and you will be forgiven. It is this forgiveness that enables faithful obedient living.

Pray
Confess your misdeeds, your transgressions, to God. Ask and accept His forgiveness. Pray that you will listen as God whispers His gentle guidance.

Rejoicing in God's Forgiveness

2011-11-01T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Psalm 32:1-5

The Message

A David Psalm

¹ Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start,
      your slate's wiped clean.

² Count yourself lucky—
      God holds nothing against you
      and you're holding nothing back from him.

³ When I kept it all inside,
      my bones turned to powder,
      my words became daylong groans.

⁴ The pressure never let up;
      all the juices of my life dried up.

⁵ Then I let it all out;
      I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to God."   Suddenly the pressure was gone—
      my guilt dissolved,
      my sin disappeared.

For Reflection
According to most psychologists, when one forgives another the forgiveness enables the forgiver to move on beyond the wrongful deed. Perhaps it is true also with God. With so many people to forgive and so much to forgive them for, God's forgiving may be as much for His own comfort as for ours.

God suffers from the wrongfull acts we comitt. His forgiveness is just not all about us.

Isn't that how forgiveness works. Reconciliation is a two way street. Think about how reconcilation operated in your life.

Pray
prayers for forgivness. Pray that we will not be come so self-centered that we take God's forgiveness for granted.

A Covenant of Forgiveness

2011-10-31T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Hebrews 10:11-18

The Message

^11-18Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this:

   This new plan I'm making with Israel
      isn't going to be written on paper,
      isn't going to be chiseled in stone;
   This time "I'm writing out the plan in them,
      carving it on the lining of their hearts."
He concludes,
   I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.

For Reflection
God decided that He would continue His covenant with Israel. This time, however, rather than treating his people as a unit, He would extend the covenant to each on an individual basis. The Christ event extended His covenant to all. God resides in all of us. Ask and He shall reveal Himself. Listen tor his whispers.

Pray
that you will hear the whispers from God who resides in you. Give thanks for his grace and forgiveness. Remember to Him those things that He has done for you.

The Strength of My Heart

2011-10-28T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Psalm 73:10-26

The Message

^6-10 Pretentious with arrogance,
      they wear the latest fashions in violence,
   Pampered and overfed,
      decked out in silk bows of silliness.
   They jeer, using words to kill;
      they bully their way with words.
   They're full of hot air,
      loudmouths disturbing the peace.
   People actually listen to them—can you believe it?
      Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.

^11-14 What's going on here? Is God out to lunch?
      Nobody's tending the store.
   The wicked get by with everything;
      they have it made, piling up riches.
   I've been stupid to play by the rules;
      what has it gotten me?
   A long run of bad luck, that's what—
      a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.

^15-20 If I'd have given in and talked like this,
      I would have betrayed your dear children.
   Still, when I tried to figure it out,
      all I got was a splitting headache . . .
   Until I entered the sanctuary of God.
      Then I saw the whole picture:
   The slippery road you've put them on,
      with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.
   In the blink of an eye, disaster!
      A blind curve in the dark, and—nightmare!
   We wake up and rub our eyes....Nothing.
      There's nothing to them. And there never was.

^21-24 When I was beleaguered and bitter,
      totally consumed by envy,
   I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
      in your very presence.
   I'm still in your presence,
      but you've taken my hand.
   You wisely and tenderly lead me,
      and then you bless me.

^25-28 You're all I want in heaven!
      You're all I want on earth!
   When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
      God is rock-firm and faithful.
   Look! Those who left you are falling apart!
      Deserters, they'll never be heard from again.
   But I'm in the very presence of God—
      oh, how refreshing it is!
   I've made Lord God my home.
      God, I'm telling the world what you do!

For Reflection
That the unGodly reap reward upon reward is a matter of perception. What is rewarding about the fickle adoration of a crowd that hoots hooray one minute and hisses and boos the next? What is rewarding about those who reap praise for their social position from those who away from their presence reticule them? What is rewarding about those who wield coercive power and are plotted against?

In the sanctuary of God one sees clearly. Living as God's people is living in contradiction to the material world. Responding to the Spirit is the true reward.

Pray
that you reject the worldly. Pray that you will continuously embrace the Spirit. Pray for steadfast obedience to the Lord. Pray that you will become an example of God's will for human kind.

Be Mercyful

2011-10-27T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Luke 6:32-36

The Message

^31-34"Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that's charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.
^35-36"I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.

For Reflection
The righteous do nothing with the expectation of a return. The righteous give because it is the right response to God's love. If one expects a return on his investment of good works he is not doing good works. To expect a return means that one thinks that he or she is responsible for or the cause of another's reward. Only God is responsible and the source of transformation. We are merely the vessels of his grace. Do good and expect nothing. Live a satisfying life in the hollow of God's hand.

Pray
that God will work His grace through you. Pray that you will grow into grace. Pray to find the joy inherent in good work. Pray for the satisfaction of knowing Jesus walks by your side.

The Way of Righteousness

2011-10-26T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Isaiah 26:7-11

The Message

^7-10The path of right-living people is level.
   The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger
   in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you've done
   are all we'll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
   Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
   everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
   they don't seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
   blind to the splendor of God.
^11-15You hold your hand up high, God,
   but they don't see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
   to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
   Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
   because everything we've done, you've done for us.
O God, our God, we've had other masters rule us,
   but you're the only Master we've ever known.
The dead don't talk,
   ghosts don't walk,
Because you've said, "Enough—that's all for you,"
   and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
   The more life you give, the more glory you display,
   and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!

For Reflection
Halloween is upon us; ghosts, goblins and ghouls. There will be lot of horror movies on TV and in the theaters. We enjoy fright.

Have you noticed, though, most of the horror films, (especially the B ones) are filled with empty terrorists. They suffer miserably from their un-Godly afflictions. Their empty soul-less forms are subjects of pity. Could it be that in all the fantasy of horror films there is a kernel of truth. The wicked are empty smoke and the righteous always triumph -- cowboys and indians all over again.

God stretches the borders of His kingdom to accommodate the growing number of the living. He transforms the wicked and restores their souls.

Pray
thank God for the restoring power of his grace. Pray for those who worship smoke. Pray that you will live exemplary lives that flash "EXIT" in a smokey room.

Comfort for All

2011-10-25T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Psalm 37:10-17

The Message

^10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;
      you'll stare at his once famous place and—nothing!
   Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,
      relishing a huge bonanza.

^12-13 Bad guys have it in for the good guys,
      obsessed with doing them in.
   But God isn't losing any sleep; to him
      they're a joke with no punch line.

^14-15 Bullies brandish their swords,
      pull back on their bows with a flourish.
   They're out to beat up on the harmless,
      or mug that nice man out walking his dog.
   A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—
      slapstick figures in a moral circus.

^16-17 Less is more and more is less.
      One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,
   For the wicked are moral weaklings
      but the righteous are God-strong.

For Reflection
Me thinks that there are at least three kinds of wicked in this world. Those whose innocence is proved by their ignorance, ie. the hapless, those who for selfishness, fear, jealousy, or envy calculate intentional acts of lawlessness, and the truly evil--the demons. The first two seem to me to be correctable or redeemed in human courts. The latter are in God's jurisdiction.

Of whom does Isiah speak? Perhaps he addresses them all. At times we forget that judgment is God's. The conflict between good and evil is God's fight. In the grand scheme of things, it seems, our role is to hold confidence in the Lord, maintain righteous lives and not be seduced by the terror of the wicked and the evil. Humans may lose battles, but, God will win the war.

We face the world in red clown noses and possess the God-centered strength and confidence to carry that burden.

Pray
for the hapless and the selfish that they may find their salvation in the Lord. Pray for confidence in the victorious Kingdom of God.

A Lowly Spirit

2011-10-24T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Proverbs 16:16-20

The Message

¹⁶ Get wisdom—it's worth more than money;
   choose insight over income every time.

¹⁷ The road of right living bypasses evil;
   watch your step and save your life.

¹⁸ First pride, then the crash—
   the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

¹⁹ It's better to live humbly among the poor
   than to live it up among the rich and famous.

²⁰ It pays to take life seriously;
   things work out when you trust in God.

For Reflection
What does it mean to live as God's People? To me it means to live a life filled with happiness, joy and hope. It means looking forward to tomorrow even though tomorrow may bring challenges. I means living with the confidence that whatever life throws at me, God will make it good. It means the capacity to suffer sad times wrapped in the comforting cloak of Gods grace. It means living in the sanctuary of the hollow of God's hand. It means that no matter what I do, forgiveness and acceptance is waiting for me in the fellowship of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Pray
thank God for His never ending grace. Pray that you will forsake self for a God-centered life. Pray for humility. Pray that you reject pride. Pray for the confidence in God's promise.

The Source of Love

2011-10-21T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
TRADITION AND LOVE

1 John 4:7-12

The Message

God Is Love

^7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. ^11-12My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

For Reflection
To teach is to love. To learn is to love the teacher. God loves us. God teaches us. As we learn, God burrows deeper into us and becomes the source of all wisdom. God-centered wisdom is born in love.
Listen to the whispers of God who resides in you.

Pray
Thank god for the capacity to love. Pray that love will be you guiding principle of interaction. Pray that you love God deeply and passionately. Pray that you will grow in God-centered wisdom.

A Covenant of Love

2011-10-20T01:00:00.000-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
TRADITION AND LOVE

Hosea 2:16-23

The Message (MSG)

^16-20 "At that time"—this is God's Message still—
   "you'll address me, 'Dear husband!'
Never again will you address me,
   'My slave-master!'
I'll wash your mouth out with soap,
   get rid of all the dirty false-god names,
   not so much as a whisper of those names again.
At the same time I'll make a peace treaty between you
   and wild animals and birds and reptiles,
And get rid of all weapons of war.
   Think of it! Safe from beasts and bullies!
And then I'll marry you for good—forever!
   I'll marry you true and proper, in love and tenderness.
Yes, I'll marry you and neither leave you nor let you go.
   You'll know me, God, for who I really am.
^21-23 "On the very same day, I'll answer"—this is God's Message—
   "I'll answer the sky, sky will answer earth,
Earth will answer grain and wine and olive oil,
   and they'll all answer Jezreel.
I'll plant her in the good earth.
   I'll have mercy on No-Mercy.
I'll say to Nobody, 'You're my dear Somebody,'
   and he'll say 'You're my God!'"

For Reflection
God's people have yet again disappointed Him. However, God is always ready to offer redemption. Here He promises a sanctuary like that of a marriage between God and human kind. Mercy will be the climate. Everybody will be known to Him as Somebody! Each of us will know each other as Somebody! And the Somebodies will know God.

Pray
That you will know each other as somebody who is loved by God. Pray that you will treat all as children of God.

Consequences of Unfaithfulness

2011-10-19T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
TRADITION AND LOVE

Jeremiah 3:1-5

The Message

Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions

¹ God's Message came to me as follows: "If a man's wife
   walks out on him
And marries another man,
   can he take her back as if nothing had happened?
Wouldn't that raise a huge stink
   in the land?
And isn't that what you've done—
   'whored' your way with god after god?
And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened."
   God's Decree. ^2-5"Look around at the hills.
   Where have you not had sex?
You've camped out like hunters stalking deer.
   You've solicited many lover-gods,
Like a streetwalking whore
   chasing after other gods.
And so the rain has stopped.
   No more rain from the skies!
But it doesn't even faze you. Brazen as whores,
   you carry on as if you've done nothing wrong.
Then you have the nerve to call out, 'My father!
   You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?
Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?'
   That's your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop."

For Reflection
Of Americans it has been said that we are obsessed with sex and religion. So what's new? It seems that this obsession has a long history. Procreation and a longing for knowing who we are has always been paramount. We seem to carry a lot of guilt about these obsessions. The guilt drives us to many destructive actions as we attempt to wash the symptoms of sin from our hands.

We self-destruct when we substitute the ways of the flesh for God-centered lives. We worship the material world as though it were a god. That's the sin. By our own doing we separate ourselves from the God who made us. We blame God for the consequences of our own action.

Pray
That you will worship no other than God. Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the abiding love and grace of God.

One Flesh

2011-10-18T01:00:00.001-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
TRADITION AND LOVE

Genesis 2:18-24

The Message (MSG)

^18-20 God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.
^21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

    ^23-25 The Man said,
   "Finally! Bone of my bone,
      flesh of my flesh!
   Name her Woman
      for she was made from Man."
      Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
      The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.

For Reflection
God has given the capacity to be creative and the freedom to act wisely. He has also given us the capacity to love, even as He loves. Human kind is not meant to live solitary lives. We are social beings endowed with the ability to love and hate. We are all of one flesh. We are all children of God. We are all free to love. We are all free to reject hate.
Pray
for all those who hate. Pray that they will find the wisdom of love. Pray that you will reject hate. Pray that you will do all things in love.

God Blessed Them

2011-10-17T01:00:00.000-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
TRADITION AND LOVE

Genesis 1:26-31

The Message

^26-28 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
      reflecting our nature
   So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
      the birds in the air, the cattle,
   And, yes, Earth itself,
      and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."
   God created human beings;
      he created them godlike,
   Reflecting God's nature.
      He created them male and female.
   God blessed them:
      "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
   Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
      for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."

^29-30 Then God said, "I've given you
      every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
   And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
      given them to you for food.
   To all animals and all birds,
      everything that moves and breathes,
   I give whatever grows out of the ground for food."
      And there it was.

³¹ God looked over everything he had made;
      it was so good, so very good!
   It was evening, it was morning—
   Day Six.

For Reflection
God created us in his own image. Haven't you wondered what that meant; "His own image?" Could it be that He gave us a portion of his own creativity --not the ability to make something out of nothing, but rather, the ability to recognize the relationships among things and ideas and arrange them in new and novel ways.

He also gave us the freedom to create. We have the freedom to choose. That freedom carries with it a responsibility to act as good stewards of God's creation. We have the ability to learn and the freedom to choose God-centered wisdom to apply what we have learned.

Pray
prayers of thanksgiving for Gods good gifts. Pray for the wisdom that a disciplined relationship with God will bring. Pray that your deepening understanding of scripture in the light of Christ's life and teaching will lead you into righteous living. Pray that God will help you make good choices.

Everything Has Its Time

2011-10-14T01:00:00.000-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Superiority of Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The Message

There's a Right Time for Everything

¹ There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

^2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,
   A right time to plant and another to reap,
   A right time to kill and another to heal,
   A right time to destroy and another to construct,
   A right time to cry and another to laugh,
   A right time to lament and another to cheer,
   A right time to make love and another to abstain,
   A right time to embrace and another to part,
   A right time to search and another to count your losses,
   A right time to hold on and another to let go,
   A right time to rip out and another to mend,
   A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
   A right time to love and another to hate,
   A right time to wage war and another to make peace. .

For Reflection
All of this happens. None of this happens at the same time. Little of this happens when we want it to. All of it is good, birth and death: crying and laughing alike. In other words, life happens and it is all good. Life is full of hope because God is present in all life events. Lean on Him and laugh with Him.

Pray
that you will embrace all of live, the fortunate and the unfortunate. Pray that you will be comforted in the knowledge that God makes it all good.

Toiling for the Wind

2011-10-13T01:00:00.002-04:00

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Superiority of Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

The Message

¹⁰ The one who loves money is never satisfied with money,
   Nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. More smoke.

¹¹ The more loot you get, the more looters show up.
   And what fun is that—to be robbed in broad daylight?

¹² Hard and honest work earns a good night's sleep,
   Whether supper is beans or steak.
   But a rich man's belly gives him insomnia.

^13-17 Here's a piece of bad luck I've seen happen:
   A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him
   And then loses it all in a bad business deal.
   He fathered a child but hasn't a cent left to give him.
   He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;
   He'll leave in the same condition—with nothing.
   This is bad luck, for sure—naked he came, naked he went.
   So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?
   All for a miserable life spent in the dark?

Make the Most of What God Gives

^18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live..

For Reflection
What could possibly be said that is more profound that verses 18-20? :)

Pray
that you will relax. Pray that you will take life as it comes. Pray that you will take care of yourself. Pray for joy and hope for laughter. Pray that you will give to God the burden of labor and keep the delight of the work for yourself.

Nothing to be Gained?

2011-10-12T01:00:00.000-04:00

radition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Superiority of Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

The Message

    I said to myself, "Let's go for it—experiment with pleasure, have a good time!" But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke.

   What do I think of the fun-filled life? Insane! Inane!
      My verdict on the pursuit of happiness? Who needs it?
   With the help of a bottle of wine
      and all the wisdom I could muster,
   I tried my level best
      to penetrate the absurdity of life.
   I wanted to get a handle on anything useful we mortals might do
      during the years we spend on this earth.

I Never Said No to Myself

^4-8 Oh, I did great things: built houses,
      planted vineyards,
      designed gardens and parks
         and planted a variety of fruit trees in them,
      made pools of water
         to irrigate the groves of trees.
   I bought slaves, male and female,
         who had children, giving me even more slaves;
      then I acquired large herds and flocks,
         larger than any before me in Jerusalem.
   I piled up silver and gold,
         loot from kings and kingdoms.
   I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song,
      and—most exquisite of all pleasures—
      voluptuous maidens for my bed. ^9-10 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What's more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself for a hard day's work!

I Hate Life

¹¹ Then I took a good look at everything I'd done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. But when I looked, I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing.

For Reflection
Make a list of those things which are the most significant in your life. Of all those things which ones have left you most fulfilled?

Pray
that you will count as the most significant those things which were born from a God-Centered life. Pray that you will see through the smoky absurdity of life and focus on the truth of Grace.