Emotional Health

The Gift of Faith
Restorative Faith
Renewed Health

Matthew 6:16-29  The Message

^16-18 “When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.

A Life of God-Worship

^19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

^22-23 “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
²⁴ “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.
^25-26 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
^27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

For Reflection 

Some look in a mirror and see imperfection where God sees perfection.  Open your eyes to see what God sees.  Radiate the beauty and perfection of the Holy Spirit which resides in you.  Love yourself. 

Pray

that you will embrace the person that God wants you to be.  Pray for the confidence that only trust in God can bring.  Pray that you will see the light of God in others.

Total Health

The Gift of Faith
Restorative Faith
Renewed Health

Matthew 4:23-25; 5:3-11  The Message

^23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.

³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
⁵ “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
⁶ “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
⁷ “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
⁸ “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
¹⁰ “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
^11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

For Reflection 

The Gospel is a story of healing.  This interpretation of the beatitudes might seem strange at first.  However, read with an ear to listen to God's message.  Listen and become the human being God intends you to be.

Pray

for the healing hand of God to touch you, heal you and guide you.  Pray so that you will become less of "you" and more of God.

Words of Healing

The Gift of Faith
Restorative Faith
Renewed Health

Proverbs 12:1-2  The Message

If You Love Learning

12 If you love learning, you love the discipline that goes with it—
    how shortsighted to refuse correction!

² A good person basks in the delight of God,
    and he wants nothing to do with devious schemers.

¹⁶ A commonsense person lives good sense;
    fools litter the country with silliness.

¹⁷ Irresponsible talk makes a real mess of things,
    but a reliable reporter is a healing presence.

²² True intelligence is a spring of fresh water,
    while fools sweat it out the hard way.

²³ They make a lot of sense, these wise folks;
    whenever they speak, their reputation increases.

²⁴ Gracious speech is like clover honey—
    good taste to the soul, quick energy for the body.

For Reflection 

God made us in God's image so that we might live creative lives.  Reading and discussing the scriptures and your faith with a fellowship of believers and acting on your beliefs will strengthen your ability to live a life which lifts people up to the persons God desires them to be.  Your talk can destroy as well as create.  Live creatively!

Pray

that God's love will flow through you to lift others to God.  Pray for the courage to be at all times creative.

Rebuilding Health

The Gift of Faith
Restorative Faith

Renewed Health

Isaiah 58:6-12  The Message
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

^9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices,
    quit blaming victims,
    quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
    and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
    your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
    I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
    firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
    a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
    rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
    restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
    make the community livable again.

^6-9 “This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,
    cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
    sharing your food with the hungry,
    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
    being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
    and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
    The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
    You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

For Reflection 

Many people now-a-days say that they are not religious, but, rather, describe themselves as spiritual.  Here are some thoughts regarding spirituality.  Act as though you love!

Pray

that your religion will match your spirituality.  Pray that you will act as though you loved all of God's creation.

Living Again

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Resurrection Faith

1 Peter 1:21-25  The Message

^18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
^22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,

The old life is a grass life,
    its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
    God’s Word goes on and on forever.

This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.

For Reflection 

Life is a journey that is best traveled in the company of the Holy Spirit.  Christ died and was resurrected so that we may be freed from the prison of self-determination and fear.  Christ  is the promise of God  incarnate in Christ.  The Christ event, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, shows us the path to become the person and the community God intends us to become.  As Christ rose from the dead, we can rise above the seductions of mortality.  Happy Easter. Hallelujah!

Pray

Celebrate the life you have in Christ.

Resurrection Living

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Resurrection Faith

1 Peter 3:14-22  The Message

^13-18 If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

^19-22 He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.

For Reflection 

Why do you trust some and not others?  Think about the person you trust the most and multiply that trust by an infinite number.  That is how much you should trust God. 

Pray

that you will have the courage to trust God.  Pray confessing your shortcomings.  Pray for the strength to fulfill your repentance promise.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the grace of God.

Grace-filled Living

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Resurrection Faith

Romans 1:1-7  The Message

1 I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God’s words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God’s friends.

^2-7 The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.

For Reflection 

Paul proclaims the victory over sin and the  gift of a new life free from fear, holy, lived in the image God intended for humanity.

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving and praise for the living God.  Pray that you will endure as did Paul, a devoted slave to God.

Total Health

The Gift of Faith
Restorative Faith
Renewed Health

Matthew 4:23-25; 5:3-11  The Message

^23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.

³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
⁵ “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
⁶ “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
⁷ “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
⁸ “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
¹⁰ “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
^11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

For Reflection 

The Gospel is a story of healing.  This interpretation of the beatitudes might seem strange at first.  However, read with an ear to listen to God's message.  Listen and become the human being God intends you to be.

Pray

for the healing hand of God to touch you, heal you and guide you.  Pray so that you will become less of "you" and more of God.

Faithful and Fearless

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Resurrection Faith

Psalm 23  The Message

A David Psalm

23 ^1-3 God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

⁴ Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

⁵ You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

⁶ Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life.

For Reflection
If you have memorized any passage from the Bible, you are likely to have remembered this one.  If you are, as Christ was, in God and God is within you, then this may be your creed, your confession, your witness to that consubstantiality.  If so, then fear does not motivate you.  You have no motive for self-determination.  You are in tune with the Holy Spirit.  You are a child of the resurrected Christ. You are restored and in a right relationship with God.  Say good-by to anxiety and hello to the hope that animates you.

Pray

Thank God for the Blessings God has freely and extravagantly given irrevocably.  Pray often to ensure your intimacy in God.

Fear and Serve the Lord

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Resurrection Faith

1 Samuel 12:19-25  The Message

¹⁹ Then all the people begged Samuel, “Pray to your God for us, your servants. Pray that we won’t die! On top of all our other sins, we’ve piled on one more—asking for a king!”
^20-22 Samuel said to them, “Don’t be fearful. It’s true that you have done something very wrong. All the same, don’t turn your back on God. Worship and serve him heart and soul! Don’t chase after ghost-gods. There’s nothing to them. They can’t help you. They’re nothing but ghost-gods! God, simply because of who he is, is not going to walk off and leave his people. God took delight in making you into his very own people.
^23-25 “And neither will I walk off and leave you. That would be a sin against God! I’m staying right here at my post praying for you and teaching you the good and right way to live. But I beg of you, fear God and worship him honestly and heartily. You’ve seen how greatly he has worked among you! Be warned: If you live badly, both you and your king will be thrown out.”

For Reflection 

How difficult it is to elect a king!  We want for security, functional economic circumstances, justice and freedom.  But, as in Samuel's time as now, we realize the limits of human polity.  Not all, perhaps no leaders are perfect.  We have learned that when it comes to just and compassionate living, the strongest answer is not political, but, spiritual.  God does not abandon God's creation.  God is just.  God is compassionate and forgiving.  God, through God's son, endured the pain, joy, and seductions of humanity.  God suffered death to show us all how to live.  God is a king who can not be compromised or tainted by the common culture.  Elect the best leader you can find, but give allegiance to God.

Pray

that the complexity of this world does not mire us in the human condition.  Pray for the freedom from the seduction of self-determination.  Pray for the wisdom which comes only through the Holy Spirit which resides in you.

Commandment Living

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Resurrection Faith

Deuteronomy 6:1-9  The Message

6 ^1-2 This is the commandment, the rules and regulations, that God, your God, commanded me to teach you to live out in the land you’re about to cross into to possess. This is so that you’ll live in deep reverence before God lifelong, observing all his rules and regulations that I’m commanding you, you and your children and your grandchildren, living good long lives.

³ Listen obediently, Israel. Do what you’re told so that you’ll have a good life, a life of abundance and bounty, just as God promised, in a land abounding in milk and honey.
⁴ Attention, Israel!
God, our God! God the one and only!
⁵ Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!

^6-9 Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.

For Reflection 

A spiritual life is the driving force which underlies all you are and do that is good.  For the most part, that spiritual life is characterized by whom or what you give your allegiance.  For me that is God to whom I give my allegiance.  I am, in so far as I am humanly able, committed to following the will of God as evidenced in the Christ Event.  

 

As we approach Easter, my focus is not so much on the death of Christ, but rather, His resurrection.  In my imperfection God through Christ completes me.  My excursions into common culture, my deviations from the narrow path, nor my lapses of tongue are held against me.  Instead, I am unconditionally loved, offered redemption, welcomed back into God's household as though I have never left, and restored to the human being God intends me to be.  This is my resurrection Faith.

Pray

that you will find freedom in your allegiance to God.  Pray for the opportunity to serve God.  Give thanks to the giver of life, indeed, life everlasting.  Sing Hallelujah!  Christ has conquered sin!

Marks of Faith

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Struggling Faith

Galatians 5:22-26  The Message

^22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
^23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
^25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

For Reflection
Have you really tried God's way?  Have you given up on the first unexpected result?

Remember God's way is not the way of this world.  Why would you expect worldly returns?  Follow God's lead.  When one door closes look for God's open door and rush through it.

Pray

that you will lead the life that the Spirit directs you.  Pray that you will cast away fear and doubt that inhibits the full and complete restoration of your human potential to be a child of God.

Overcoming Faith

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Struggling Faith

Romans 12:14-21  The Message

^14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
^17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
^20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

For Reflection
Finally, an alternative to the practice of vengeance!  Vengeance is a deadly downward spiral into hellish living.  Motivated by self-indulgence and fueled by fear, vengeance promotes no winners.  if you are the one who feels the pain of injustice, heal the wound.  Avoid being seduced by the common practice and be engrossed in the practice of loving.

Pray

for greater and greater capacity to love.  Pray for your enemies.  Pray so that you will not become judgmental.  Leave the rewards and punishments to God.

Restored Faith

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Struggling Faith

Psalm 85:4-13  The Message

^4-7 Help us again, God of our help;
    don’t hold a grudge against us forever.
You aren’t going to keep this up, are you?
    scowling and angry, year after year?
Why not help us make a fresh start—a resurrection life?
    Then your people will laugh and sing!
Show us how much you love us, God!
    Give us the salvation we need!

^8-9 I can’t wait to hear what he’ll say.
    God’s about to pronounce his people well,
The holy people he loves so much,
    so they’ll never again live like fools.
See how close his salvation is to those who fear him?
    Our country is home base for Glory!

^10-13 Love and Truth meet in the street,
    Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss!
Truth sprouts green from the ground,
    Right Living pours down from the skies!
Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty;
    our land responds with Bounty and Blessing.
Right Living strides out before him,
    and clears a path for his passage.

For Reflection
Sometimes we feel as though God has abandoned us.  Life seems bleak.  Darkness seems to have overtaken the light. We find it difficult to see God's hand in the world. 

It is not the time for lamentations, nor the time for wailing doubt.  It is the time for celebration.  It is the time to let joy drive out the fear of the unpredictable.  It is time to preform the living word in confidence of a bright future.  It is time for Love beyond reason to reign.

Pray

for the confidence in the promise of the Gospel.  Pray so that you can understand the darkness.  Pray so that you can predict the light.

Suffering Faith

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Struggling Faith

1 Peter 4:10-19  The Message

^7-11 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

Glory Just Around the Corner

^12-13 Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.

^14-16 If you’re abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. It’s the Spirit of God and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others. If they’re on you because you broke the law or disturbed the peace, that’s a different matter. But if it’s because you’re a Christian, don’t give it a second thought. Be proud of the distinguished status reflected in that name!
^17-19 It’s judgment time for God’s own family. We’re first in line. If it starts with us, think what it’s going to be like for those who refuse God’s Message!

If good people barely make it,
What’s in store for the bad?

So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it.

For Reflection
Love each other.  Your life depends upon it!  Embrace the torment of suffering knowing that God suffers with you.  Embrace the challenge of being human knowing that God will provide a full miraculous life.  Embrace the darkest time in praise of God, singing hymns, remembering the promise of God. God's love of you never ceases.  Assume the stance of a humble servant, living for the will of The Master.


Pray

Pray so that your life will be a witness the the resurrected Christ.  Pray so that your witness will move others to understand the love that is our God.  Pray so that you will be true to your Holy Self.

Uniting Faith

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Struggling Faith

Jeremiah 3:12-18  The Message

^11-12 Then God told me, “Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah. Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say:

^12-15 “‘Turn back, fickle Israel.
    I’m not just hanging back to punish you.
I’m committed in love to you.
    My anger doesn’t seethe nonstop.
Just admit your guilt.
    Admit your God-defiance.
Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners,
    pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves
While turning a deaf ear to me.’”
    God’s Decree.
“Come back, wandering children!”
    God’s Decree.
“I, yes I, am your true husband.
    I’ll pick you out one by one—
This one from the city, these two from the country—
    and bring you to Zion.
I’ll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way,
    who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.

¹⁶ “And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come”—God’s Decree!—“when no one will say any longer, ‘Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?’ It won’t even occur to anyone to say it—‘the good old days.’ The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.

¹⁷ “Jerusalem will be the new Ark—‘God’s Throne.’ All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor God.
¹⁸ “At that time, the House of Judah will join up with the House of Israel. Holding hands, they’ll leave the north country and come to the land I willed to your ancestors.

For Reflection
We humans are a fickle lot.  We seem confused by our identities.   Are we a random act of nature?  Are we nothing more that biological happenstance animated by the natural instincts for survival?
Are we conceived in sin only to strive toward restoration?

Or, are we God's children?  Have we been envisioned  well before our human births to live lives God has intended for us?  Out of love we are born in God's image.  Out of love we are offered the freedom to choose.  Out of love we are offered mercy and grace.   Out of love we are given the potential to love and to create loving relationships.  Out of love, God encourages, comforts, guides and prepares our paths to full and complete living. Out of love we are invited to deny self-indulgence, repent and return to the community of God.

It is not the idea of Godliness, the Holy Spirit residing in and among us that is problematic.  Rather, it is the practice of Godliness that becomes troublesome.

Pray

that you will admit to your practice of un-Godly ways.  Pray that you fulfill your holy destiny.  Pray daily so that you be come more intimately related to the Holy Spirit residing in you. 

Priorities of Faith

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Simple Faith

Luke 16:10-18  The Message

God Sees Behind Appearances

^10-13 Jesus went on to make these comments:

If you’re honest in small things,
    you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things,
    you’ll be a crook in big things.
If you’re not honest in small jobs,
    who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
    He’ll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
    You can’t serve both God and the Bank.

^14-18 When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: “You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance.

What society sees and calls monumental,
    God sees through and calls monstrous.
God’s Law and the Prophets climaxed in John;
Now it’s all kingdom of God—the glad news
    and compelling invitation to every man and woman.
The sky will disintegrate and the earth dissolve
    before a single letter of God’s Law wears out.
Using the legalities of divorce
    as a cover for lust is adultery;
Using the legalities of marriage
    as a cover for lust is adultery.

For Reflection

Stop worrying about the big stuff.  Pay attention to the little things, the every day opportunities to love, forgive, and act justly.   You do not have to defend God.  God is perfectly capable to do that on
God's own.  Make your life about extending a compelling invitation to live a life in the hollow of God's hand.  Trust in the Lord to solve the big stuff!

Pray

that you will respond to God's call.  Pray that you will trust in God's promise of life the way it was meant to be lived.

Faith and Freedom

The Gift of Faith
Tests of Faith

Simple Faith

Galatians 5:1-15  The Message

The Life of Freedom

5 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

^2-3 I 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.
^4-6 I 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.
^7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
^11-12 As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Why don’t these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
^13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

For Reflection

To what are you free to say no?

Living a life in Christ is risky business.  Accepting the Holy Spirit which resides in you, however, frees you to be the human being God intends you to be.  Living with God, you are enslaved to no man's law, custom, or norm.  You are free to follow God's call for righteous living. 

Are you willing to risk it all, even death to follow the Holy Spirit?  Paul was.  Paul was not controlled by his fear.  He did not take matters into his own hands.  Paul let God lead.  Paul had unreasonable trust in God.  Paul suffered and God suffered with him and protected him and comforted him.  God will do the same for you.

Pray

Pray for courage that is brought by trusting in God.  Pray for the wisdom to know the difference between God's law and the law of the land.