Love as I Have Loved You

Our Love for God

Loving God, Trusting Christ

Hold Fast to God's Love

John 15:12-17 The Message

11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.

For Reflection

John suggests that God's intention for humankind is to enjoy life.  God's wish is that we share God's joy and that our joy would continue to grow into maturity.  The key to achieving a level of joy that approximates the joy God experiences is to love.  Such unreasonable love for God, self, friends, and enemies is the process of fulfilling the promise of our lives.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to love as God loves.


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Multiply God's Gifts

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Modeling God's Love

Matthew 25:14-30 The Message

The Story About Investment

14-18 “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.
19-21 “After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
22-23 “The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
24-25 “The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’
26-27 “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
28-30 “‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’

For Reflection

Throw caution to the wind. Take a chance on the promise of God. Mimic the faith of Christ. Copy His style, His Grace, His wisdom, His courage, His compassion, His love of God and humans, His willingness to serve, His willingness to sacrifice himself.  In short, strive to become equivalent to Christ in form.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more like Jesus each day.

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Keep Awake and Ready

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Modeling God's Love

Matthew 25:1-13 The Message

The Story of the Virgins

25 1-5 “God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.
6 “In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bride-groom’s here! Go out and greet him!’
7-8 “The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’
9 “They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’
10 “They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked.
11 “Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’
12 “He answered, ‘Do I know you? I don’t think I know you.’
13 “So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.

For Reflection

So here's the deal Sillies.  One never knows when the opportunity to serve will appear.  So one must stay vigilant and prepared to witness to the grace of God,

Pray

Pray so that you will be ready to meet the opportunities God places in your path. Read scripture and discuss it with other believers so that you can expand your ability to serve. Pray and receive the joy of treating others with kindness.

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Serve the Lord

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Modeling God's Love

Mark 9:33-37 The Message

So You Want First Place?

33 They came to Capernaum. When he was safe at home, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the road?”
34 The silence was deafening—they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest.
35 He sat down and summoned the Twelve. “So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.”
36-37 He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.”

For Reflection

Humility is natural for those who live in Christ. How one compares to another is irrelevant. Each person has his or her own calling.  Each person is equally valued by God.  

Pray

Pray so that you will embrace all as you would welcome a child, gently and tenderly.  

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Rewards for Hospitality

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Modeling God's Love

Matthew 10:40-42 The Message

40-42 “We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

For Reflection

As God has bestowed upon you, bestow on others.  As you grow in grace, you will become more like God in Christ. Giving help is God's work through you.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to give of yourself to God and others.

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Live by Faith

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Modeling God's Love

Habakkuk 1:2-4; 2:1-4 The Message

Justice Is a Joke

1 1-4 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it:
God, how long do I have to cry out for help
    before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!”
    before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
    stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
    quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
    Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
    and stand justice on its head.
-----
2 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

2-3 And 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.

For Reflection

Prophets describe the vision of what they see.  It is difficult for us to see the hidden purposes and functions of God and God's universe.  We tend to block our understandings of God's intentions because we are so self-absorbed.  It sometimes takes a prophet to awaken that spark in our souls that counsels us to have the patience and discernment to look beyond what interpreted in common ways to see the perfection in God's plan.

Pray

Pray and listen to the wisdom in your soul.  Pray and discover the patience to wait for God's plan to unfold. Pray and receive the key to see beyond the temporal truths and into the eternal realities.

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Angels Announce Good News

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Jesus: God's Loving Promise

Luke 2:8-14 The Message

An Event for Everyone

8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

For Reflection

Shepherds were among those engaged in the lowliest vocations. Not only was shepherding a lonely job but spending most of the days and nights in good and poor weather made it also a hard life. The Angels visitation was a sign that all of humanity the elite and the wretched were invited to participate in the new Kingdom of God.

Pray

Pray for all those who have rejected God's overture for salvation.  Pray for those who have seen the light of God's witnesses and have accepted the call.  Pray so that you remain faithful and earnest in your ministry to others.

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The Lord Was with John

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Jesus: God's Loving Promise

Luke 1:57-66 The Message

The Birth of John

57-58 When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.
59-60 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.”
61-62 “But,” they said, “no one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.
63-64 Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise—Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!
65-66 A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.”

For Reflection

The Bible is loaded with miracles and signs. The Birth of John is elevated to a divine intervention, and the people began to spread the word.  The expectation that something associated with John will be significant.

Pray

Pray so that you will be aware of the signs of impending hope.  Look for the hand of God and faith and confidence in the promise of God will give you strength.

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Anna Speaks of Child Jesus

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Jesus: God's Loving Promise

Luke 2:36-38 The Message

36-38 Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.

For Reflection

There had not been a prophet in the Jews for over one hundred years. And now a woman Anna predicts a long-expected child that would free the Jews. God adds one more element in preparation for the birth of Christ.  

Pray

Pray prayers of thanksgiving and praise for the expected son of God. Pray so that you might understand the freedom brought by your faith.

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Joseph Obeys the Lord

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Jesus: God's Loving Promise

Matthew 1:18-25 The Message

The Birth of Jesus

18-19 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
20-23 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term:
Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).
24-25 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

For Reflection

The event for which God has prepared the way now begins.  Divine intervention now gives us all a sign that Jesus the Christ will be illustrious; great in power, in wisdom, in dominion on earth.

Pray

Pray prayers of praise and thanksgiving for the birth of the one who shows us the face of God.

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The Birth of John Promised

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Jesus: God's Loving Promise

Luke 1:11-17 The Message

8-12 It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.
13-15 But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.
15-17 “He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

For Reflection

God made preparations for the arrival of God's son.  Through John, God prepared the spiritual climate and created the expectation that a messiah unlike the others, superior in all ways, would lead all peoples to freedom and salvation from the consequences of sin.

God prepares the path to your salvation.  All you have to do is recognize it and follow it.

Pray

Pray so that you will be able and willing to follow the path to salvation that the Lord has prepared for you.

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God Forgives and Loves People

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Worship God

Numbers 14:13-23 The Message

13-16 But Moses said to God, “The Egyptians are going to hear about this! You delivered this people from Egypt with a great show of strength, and now this? The Egyptians will tell everyone. They’ve already heard that you are God, that you are on the side of this people, that you are present among them, that they see you with their own eyes in your Cloud that hovers over them, in the Pillar of Cloud that leads them by day and the Pillar of Fire at night. If you kill this entire people in one stroke, all the nations that have heard what has been going on will say, ‘Since God couldn't get these people into the land which he had promised to give them, he slaughtered them out in the wilderness.’
17 “Now, please, let the power of the Master expand, enlarge itself greatly, along the lines you have laid out earlier when you said,
18 God, slow to get angry and huge in loyal love,
        forgiving iniquity and rebellion and sin;
    Still, never just whitewashing sin.
        But extending the fallout of parents’ sins to
children into the third,
        even the fourth generation.
19 “Please forgive the wrongdoing of this people out of the extravagance of your loyal love just as all along, from the time they left Egypt, you have been forgiving this people.”
20-23 God said, “I forgive them, honoring your words. But as I live and as the Glory of God fills the whole Earth—not a single person of those who saw my Glory, saw the miracle signs I did in Egypt and the wilderness, and who have tested me over and over and over again, turning a deaf ear to me—not one of them will set eyes on the land I so solemnly promised to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with such repeated contempt will see it.

For Reflection

People in contempt of God cannot see God's hand at work in God's creation.  They cannot comprehend the power of forgiveness and love. They are blind to their inability to accomplish resolutions by themselves and are bound to the wrong-headed idea of self-determination.

But, those who revere God see things differently.  They can look beyond the temporal circumstance and into the whole network of God's creation to find the goodness and grace of the universe and their part in it.

Pray

Pray about all things so that you can develop your relationship with the Living God.  Pray so that you can invite the Holy Spirit into your soul.  Pray soo that you can strive to be equivalent in form to Christ.  Pray so that you can rest in the Lord.

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God Abounds with Steadfast Love

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Worship God

Exodus 34:1-7 The Message

34 1-3 God spoke to Moses: “Cut out two tablets of stone just like the originals and engrave on them the words that were on the original tablets you smashed. Be ready in the morning to climb Mount Sinai and get set to meet me on top of the mountain. Not a soul is to go with you; the whole mountain must be clear of people, even animals—not even sheep or oxen can be grazing in front of the mountain.”
4-7 So Moses cut two tablets of stone just like the originals. He got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai as God had commanded him, carrying the two tablets of stone. God descended in the cloud and took up his position there beside him and called out the name, God. God passed in front of him and called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, he doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation.”

For Reflection

I have always had a difficult time with the "sins of the fathers" idea.  But I suppose it is entirely true if one of the family is in jail the whole family suffers.  If the family knew of the sin, yet did nothing to help the sinner, I suppose the family is complicit in the wrong-doing and, therefore, suffers. 
But, Job's suffering as punishment for sins is highly questioned.  So, is suffering God's punishment a natural result of human action? Could it be that suffering is not at all a punishment but, rather an unsatisfactory result of poor choices? Could it be that suffering, as God's course correction, opens the door to hope?

Pray

Pray for forgiveness. Pray for healing. Pray for redemption.  Pray and listen to the wee small voice of hope in your soul.

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Acts of God's Steadfast Love

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Worship God

Nehemiah 9:16-23 The Message 

16-19 But they, our ancestors, were arrogant;
    bullheaded, they wouldn’t obey your commands.
They turned a deaf ear, they refused
    to remember the miracles, you had done for them;
They turned stubborn, got it into their heads
    to return to their Egyptian slavery.
And you, a forgiving God,
    gracious and compassionate,
Incredibly patient, with tons of love—
    you didn’t dump them.
Yes, even when they cast a sculpted calf
    and said, “This is your god
Who brought you out of Egypt,”
    and continued from bad to worse,
You in your amazing compassion
    didn’t walk off and leave them in the desert.
The Pillar of Cloud didn’t leave them;
    daily it continued to show them their route;
The Pillar of Fire did the same by night,
    showed them the right way to go.
20-23 You gave them your good Spirit
    to teach them to live wisely.
You never stinted with your manna,
    gave them plenty of water to drink.
You supported them forty years in that desert;
    they had everything they needed;
Their clothes didn’t wear out
    and their feet never blistered.
You gave them kingdoms and peoples,
    establishing generous boundaries.
They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon
    and the country of Og king of Bashan.
You multiplied children for them,
    rivaling the stars in the night skies,
And you brought them into the land
    that you promised their ancestors
    they would get and own.

For Reflection

We all at one time or another drift from our awareness of God. But God never drifts away from us.  No matter what we do, God always forgives, wipes the slate clean and welcomes our return.

Look to Israel's history to see an unwavering forgiving God and know that God will not abandon you.  Know that your spiritual life influences your physical being and you can find rest and peace in the midst of tumultuous times.

Pray

Pray prayers of thanksgiving to your God who is steadfast.  Pray prayers of praise to your God who provides for you.  Pray prayers of adoration so that you can seek to mimic God's patience and loving care in dealing with your tribulations.

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An Answer in Time of Trouble

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Worship God

Psalm 86:1-7 The Message

A David Psalm

86 1-7 Bend an ear, God; answer me.
    I’m one miserable wretch!
Keep me safe—haven’t I lived a good life?
    Help your servant—I’m depending on you!
You’re my God; have mercy on me.
    I count on you from morning to night.
Give your servant a happy life;
    I put myself in your hands!
You’re well-known as good and forgiving,
    bighearted to all who ask for help.
Pay attention, God, to my prayer;
    bend down and listen to my cry for help.
Every time I’m in trouble I call on you,
    confident that you’ll answer.

For Reflection 

We usually cry for God's help when we think there is no alternative.  At the the point when we are frustrated with our inability to control outcomes and have no more answers, we are helpless and willing to grab for new approaches.  When we can no longer place faith in ourselves or others and we ask God for help is when we are most likely to find an answer.  That tiny voice of God whispers, and we are eager to hear.

Pray

Pray often and about everything.  Pray so that you will have the confidence to rest in the Lord and know all will end as God intends.

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Nothing Separates Us from God's Love

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Worship God

Romans 8:31-39 The Message 

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

For Reflection

I have told my children and those friends whom I love that there is nothing they can ever do that will seperate them from my love for them. To me, that is the essence of my Christian faith.

I have had this covenant tested at least three times.  It is difficult to accept the consequences of following through. I have discovered that holding my tongue tested my resolve. But in the end, my patience was rewarded with reconciliation.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to love as God loves.

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We Promise to Serve God

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Choose to Love and Serve God

Joshua 24:16-21 The Message 

16 The people answered, “We’d never forsake God! Never! We’d never leave God to worship other gods.
17-18 “God is our God! He brought up our ancestors from Egypt and from slave conditions. He did all those great signs while we watched. He has kept his eye on us all along the roads we’ve traveled and among the nations we’ve passed through. Just for us, he drove out all the nations, Amorites and all, who lived in the land.
“Count us in: We too are going to worship God. He’s our God.”
19-20 Then Joshua told the people: “You can’t do it; you’re not able to worship God. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t put up with your fooling around and sinning. When you leave God and take up the worship of foreign gods, he’ll turn right around and come down on you hard. He’ll put an end to you—and after all the good he has done for you!”
21 But the people told Joshua: “No! No! We worship God!”

For Reflection

If I had a nickel...
Promises are not cheap. One can always modify a threat, but when promises are made people expect them to be fulfilled.  We humans often fail at promises.  God, on the other hand, never fails to follow through on a promise.

So, think about it.  What would we do without the grace of God? God rarely offers a threat without the hope of a promise.

Pray

Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the promise of the living God. Pray so that you will be able to accept your failures, ask for forgiveness and repent.

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Rescued from Egypt, Settled in Canaan

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Choose to Love and Serve God

Joshua 24:4-12 The Message

2-6 “This is what God, the God of Israel, says: A long time ago your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived to the east of the River Euphrates. They worshiped other gods. I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of The River. I led him all over the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac. Then I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. I let Esau have the mountains of Seir as home, but Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron. I hit Egypt hard with plagues and then led you out of there. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. You came to the sea, the Egyptians in hot pursuit with chariots and cavalry, to the very edge of the Red Sea!
7-10 “Then they cried out for help to God. He put a cloud between you and the Egyptians and then let the sea loose on them. It drowned them.
“You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did to Egypt. And then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. I brought you to the country of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought you. But I fought for you and you took their land. I destroyed them for you. Then Balak son of Zippor made his appearance. He was the king of Moab. He got ready to fight Israel by sending for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you. But I wouldn’t listen to Balaam—he ended up blessing you over and over! I saved you from him.
11 “You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The Jericho leaders ganged up on you as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I turned them over to you.
12 “I sent the Hornet ahead of you. It drove out the two Amorite kings—did your work for you. You didn’t have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger

For Reflection

The story of the Hebrews is a remembrance of how God delivered them out of bondage. Their faith is mostly defined and encouraged by the interactions they have had with God. This God is not mythical, or only spiritual.  This God is active in the lives and history of God's chosen. Salvation is a real physical event.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to understand God more fully. Pray so that you can experience God's holy spirit in your growth in grace and God's hand in your material life.
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Keep the Faith and Live

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Choose to Love and Serve God

Joshua 23:2-8 The Message

Joshua’s Charge

23 1-2 A long time later, after God had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was a venerable old man, Joshua called all Israel together—elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. Then he spoke to them:
2-3 “I’m an old man. I’ve lived a long time. You have seen everything that God has done to these nations because of you. He did it because he’s God, your God. He fought for you.
4-5 “Stay alert: I have assigned to you by lot these nations that remain as an inheritance to your tribes—these in addition to the nations I have already cut down—from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. God, your God, will drive them out of your path until there’s nothing left of them and you’ll take over their land just as God, your God, promised you.
6-8 “Now, stay strong and steady. Obediently do everything written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses—don’t miss a detail. Don’t get mixed up with the nations that are still around. Don’t so much as speak the names of their gods or swear by them. And by all means don’t worship or pray to them. Hold tight to God, your God, just as you’ve done up to now.

For Reflection

We are all surrounded by a climate of seduction.  All of us are vulnerable.  Social media, friends, and associates are influential in how we think, believe and act.  Moreover, we live in a time where telling the truth is optional making the perception of what is righteous more and more difficult.

So we, like the tribes, must measure our behavior and thoughts by the rule of love and the promise of God.


Pray
Pray so that you will be more able to bolster your faith in spite of the difficulties presented by the rhetoric of our times.

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Rules on People Relating to People

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Choose to Love and Serve God

Exodus 20:12-17 The Message

12 Honor your father and mother so that you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
13 No murder.
14 No adultery.
15 No stealing.
16 No lies about your neighbor.
17 No lusting after your neighbor’s house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don’t set your heart on anything that is your neighbor’s.

For Reflection

The rule about human relationships is clear and not difficult to follow. One is to love one's friends and enemies. Such love means we have to balance our self-interests with our interests in the well being of others. It is necessary that we follow our egoistic desires.  Self-interest is essential for survival.  However such interests should be balanced with an equitable interest in the health of our relationships with others.

No one accomplishes anything without the help of others.  No one becomes depraved, without the encouragement and consent of others. By action or inaction, we can be complicit in another's destruction. We are a network of humans who depend upon each other for all manner of life-supporting interactions.

Pray

Pray so that you will become more aware of your impact on the well-being of others.  Pray so that your relationships are life-affirming.

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Rules on People Relating to God

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Choose to Love and Serve God

Exodus 20:1-11 The Message

20 1-2 God spoke all these words:
I am God, your God,
    who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
    out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4-6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I’m unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.
8-11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.

For Reflection

Idolatry is the archetype of sin. You might not erect a carved idol, but if you put yourself first, before God, and rely on self-determination, you are worshiping yourself. That separates you from a functional relationship with God. 


So, working on the Sabbath is not just a rule.  Not saving time upon which you focus your attention on the living God distracts you from your relationship to God.

Pray
Pray so that you can look beyond the rule to its intent.  Pray so that you do not elevate yourself to an object of worship.

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Fear the Lord and Live Rightly

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Deuteronomy 6:20-25 The Message

20-24 The next time your child asks you, “What do these requirements and regulations and rules that God, our God, has commanded mean?” tell your child, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God powerfully intervened and got us out of that country. We stood there and watched as God delivered miracle-signs, great wonders, and evil-visitations on Egypt, on Pharaoh and his household. He pulled us out of there so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors. That’s why God commanded us to follow all these rules so that we would live reverently before God, our God, as he gives us this good life, keeping us alive for a long time to come.
25 “It will be a set-right and put-together life for us if we make sure that we do this entire commandment in the Presence of God, our God, just as he commanded us to do.”

For Reflection

What do you tell yourself when you collide with a commandment? The notion of rules regulates a society.  Without them, there is chaos, everyone doing as he or she pleases without regard for anyone else but themselves. The networks established for safety, security and the fulfillment of the promise of humanity as God has intended would become impossible to sustain. Humanity would disappear. It would self-destruct.

And yet, sometimes the rules are in conflict. Just making more rules increases the potential for confusion.  That is when only one rule matters. The first rule of justice is love.

Pray

Pray so that you can live reverently with confidence in the Lord.

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Do What Is Right and Good

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Deuteronomy 6:16-19 The Message

13-19 Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only. Don’t fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors, because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don’t provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth. Don’t push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place. Carefully keep the commands of God, your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you. Do what is right; do what is good in God’s sight so you’ll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors, throwing out your enemies left and right—exactly as God said.

For Reflection

Whatever happened to the concept of the "greater good?" Have we become so self-absorbed that "We" bears less importance than "I?" What happens when we are seduced into doing the wrong, hurtful things and claim the false righteousness in the name of God? How long can we provoke God?  Remember that God is love, not hate. 

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to judge what is right and good in the eyes of God.  

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Fulfilling the Royal Law

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

James 2:18 The Message (MSG)

18 I 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.

For Reflection

Professing Christianity is professing the law of love.  It is the law of laws, the foundation of all law and the arbitrator of all legal conflicts. Talking the talk is nothing if one doesn't walk the walk.

Pray

Pray with your hands and feet. Pray in service to the living God.  Walk the walk.

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Treat Your Neighbors Justly

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

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. Judgeon 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

Here are prayers prayed with the body. There are a bunch of "don'ts" and a few "dos."  These are active morality prayers. They portray the kind of behavior one expects of one who purports to love God. They are the opposite of "Me first!" Act toward others as you wish they act toward you.

Pray

Pray so that you act in love. Pray so that you begin to love as God loves. Pray so that others would say of you, "There goes a good person."

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The Most Important insrtuction

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Matthew 22:37-40 The Message

37-40 Jesus 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

What does it mean to love God?  Loving God means that you are in a mutually advantageous relationship.  You are bound to God and God is bound to you.  You help God to further God's kingdom, and God helps you to discover the paths to comfort and joy.  One in a loving relationship must not place himself or herself above the other.  They enjoy an equitable share of the consequences and an equal share of the responsibilities.
In the same way, one must love others as one loves one's self. In this scenario, each is responsible and connected to the other, a symbiosis of Love. One vast network of loving souls.

Pray

Pray about all things so that you can strengthen your loving relationship with God.  Hold nothing back. Pray so that you can trust God and God can trust you.

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Rachel gives Birth to Two Sons

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 30:22-24; 35:16-22 The Message

22-24 And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, “God has taken away my humiliation.” She named him Joseph (Add), praying, “May God add yet another son to me.”
16-17 They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”
18 With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).
19-20 Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”
21-22 Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.

For Reflection

Life is messy. Balancing our ego-driven motives with more altruistic ones is a constant struggle. It is the basis of our most frequent sufferings. Perhaps through the story of Jacob and Laban, we can begin to understand that the will of God persists.  And then these stories of intrigue, treachery, and betrayal become a source of hope.  Through the joy and suffering, we see the guiding hand of God and the power in the freedom to choose God's will. 

Pray

Pray so that you perceive life's challenges and uncertainties as opportunities to choose love over hate and compassion over the treacherous betrayal of God's saving grace.

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Jacob and Laban Make Peace

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 31:43-50 The Message

43-44 Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”
45 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.
46-47 Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).
48-50 Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”

For Reflection

So Jacob and Labab buried the hatchet and raised the stones.  After all the greed, and treachery, they resolve a covenant. They mark the truce with a monument as a witness of their new beginning. No grudges held; no blame assigned. The Covenant is sealed and protected by God.

Pray

Pray so that you can bury your conflicts and over the resting place raise a monument to peace.  To those with whom you war make peace and erect a lifetime of reconciliation as a living prayer to our creator.

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Jacob Flees Laban

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 31:1-9 The Message

31 1-2 Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were talking behind his back: “Jacob has used our father’s wealth to make himself rich at our father’s expense.” At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn’t treating him the same.
3 That’s when God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.”
4-9 So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, “I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn’t treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn’t changed; he’s still with me. You know how hard I’ve worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals’ the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals’ the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father’s livestock to reward me.

For Reflection

The story of Jacob and Laban is a peculiar story about which I can't seem to get a robust notion.  We are in part a product of our experiences. Here we see Jacob's selfish urges dominate him with unsatisfying results.

Throughout this story, Jacob changes. He controls his egoistic urges and becomes more righteous. Perhaps over the twenty years of service to Laban, he saw the worst of himself reflected in Laban. In a sense, suffering Laban's treachery helped Jacob find that point in his soul which with God's help ignited Jacob's transformation.

Pray

Pray so that your suffering, mild or severe, ignites that spark in your soul that makes you yearn for the life God has intended you to enjoy.  Pray so that you will strive to achieve God's will for you and all of humanity.

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Leah Gives Birth to Four Sons

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 29:31-35 The Message

31-32 When God realized that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and had a son. She named him Reuben (Look-It’s-a-Boy!). “This is a sign,” she said, “that God has seen my misery; and a sign that now my husband will love me.”
33-35 She became pregnant again and had another son. “God heard,” she said, “that I was unloved and so he gave me this son also.” She named this one Simeon (God-Heard). She became pregnant yet again—another son. She said, “Now maybe my husband will connect with me—I’ve given him three sons!” That’s why she named him Levi (Connect). She became pregnant a final time and had a fourth son. She said, “This time I’ll praise God.” So she named him Judah (Praise-God). Then she stopped having children.

For Reflection

I'm sure Jacob did not see God's intention in the marriage swap. But God knew what Leah needed. Unloved by her husband, Leah was blessed with children and her inner beauty was undeniable. God always has an eye on those who suffer.

Pray

Pray so that your selfish desires will not hide the will of God in the ebb and flow of everyday life.

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Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 29:15-30 The Message

14-15 Laban said, “You’re family! My flesh and blood!”
When Jacob had been with him for a month, Laban said, “Just because you’re my nephew, you shouldn’t work for me for nothing. Tell me what you want to be paid. What’s a fair wage?”
16-18 Now Laban had two daughters; Leah was the older and Rachel the younger. Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. And it was Rachel that Jacob loved.
So Jacob answered, “I will work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 “It is far better,” said Laban, “that I give her to you than marry her to some outsider. Yes. Stay here with me.”
20 So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. But it only seemed like a few days, he loved her so much.
21-24 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife; I’ve completed what we agreed I’d do. I’m ready to consummate my marriage.” Laban invited everyone around and threw a big feast. At evening, though, he got his daughter Leah and brought her to the marriage bed, and Jacob slept with her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.)
25 Morning came: There was Leah in the marriage bed!
Jacob confronted Laban, “What have you done to me? Didn’t I work all this time for the hand of Rachel? Why did you cheat me?”
26-27 “We don’t do it that way in our country,” said Laban. “We don’t marry off the younger daughter before the older. Enjoy your week of honeymoon, and then we’ll give you the other one also. But it will cost you another seven years of work.”
28-30 Jacob agreed. When he’d completed the honeymoon week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) Jacob then slept with her. And he loved Rachel more than Leah. He worked for Laban another seven years.

For Reflection

Ironic isn't it?  Jacob gets bamboozled again. But in God's time and at God's pace all will end well.  

Gods plan for human perfection is mysterious and difficult to see with a human eye.  God is patient. God is loving. God's creation was conceived in love and is propelled forward in love.


Pray
Pray so that you will be more able to discern and accept God's intentions for your life.

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Nathanael Will See Greater Things

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

John 1:47-51 The Message

47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”

For Reflection

Jesus saw something in Nathaneal that interested him and commented on Nathaneal's ethics  Nathaneal was a man without deceit, a man that was worth emulating, a man who spoke the truth and could be trusted.

I want to be known as Nathaneal was known. 

Pray

Pray, so you can become known for your trustworthiness and competence.

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Tithe to Support the Community

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 The Message

22-26 Make an offering of ten percent, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year. Bring this into the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there eat the tithe from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way, you will learn to live in deep reverence before God, your God, as long as you live. But if the place God, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can’t carry your tithe that far, God, your God, will still bless you: exchange your tithe for money and take the money to the place God, your God, has chosen to be worshiped. Use the money to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer—anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of God, your God, and have a good time.
27 Meanwhile, don’t forget to take good care of the Levites who live in your towns; they won’t get any property or inheritance of their own as you will.
28-29 At the end of every third year, gather the tithe from all your produce of that year and put it aside in storage. Keep it in reserve for the Levite who won’t get any property or inheritance as you will, and for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your neighborhood. That way they’ll have plenty to eat and God, your God, will bless you in all your work.

For Reflection

"Follow the money!" If you want to know what is essential to people, look for how they spend their money. One can have many high priority interests. But by giving to God first, sacrificing ten percent of money time and talent one not only deepens his or her commitment to God but also how invested one is in his or her faith.

God has provided plenty. We are the stewards of God's creation. It is our task to see that God's plenteous resources are equitably distributed so that few suffer and all prosper.

Pray

Pray so that your relationship to God grows stronger each day. Pray so that you will share God's gifts.

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A Great Priest for the People

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

Hebrews 10:19-25 The Message

Don’t Throw It All Away

19-21 So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.
22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

For Reflection

The Christ event shook the foundations of the Jewish faith practice.  No longer did they need an intermediary.  Christ has shown that they and we are free to address God personally and boldly. The holy place now surrounds us. 

The ability to address God directly also carries a tremendous personal responsibility.  We can no longer hide behind the form of our religion or escape personal responsibility for our worthiness. We can no longer seperate our secular lives from our spiritual ones.  Worship, like prayer, is a matter of our becoming more and more like Christ each day, loving as Christ has loved and serving as Christ has served.

Pray

Pray with your mind, your soul and your hands.  Pray so that you can grow into grace as God has intended.

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