Praising God in Word and Life

Jesus Is Lord
Exalting Christ
Proclaiming Christ

Psalm 119:169-176

The Message

^169-176 Let my cry come right into your presence, God;
    provide me with the insight that comes only from your Word.
Give my request your personal attention,
    rescue me on the terms of your promise.
Let praise cascade off my lips;
    after all, you’ve taught me the truth about life!
And let your promises ring from my tongue;
    every order you’ve given is right.
Put your hand out and steady me
    since I’ve chosen to live by your counsel.
I’m homesick, God, for your salvation;
    I love it when you show yourself!
Invigorate my soul so I can praise you well,
    use your decrees to put iron in my soul.
And should I wander off like a lost sheep—seek me!
    I’ll recognize the sound of your voice.

For Reflection

Why does it seem that we give credit to God when things are going well and heap tons of blame on God when things go poorly?  Why, when tragedy strikes, does God become the original born loser?  Perhaps it is because in both cases God is proclaimed as sovereign.

Whether in Praise or Blame, God is honored.  Praise from the grateful lead others to comfort in the hollow of His hand.  Blame provides cause to extend comfort in His name.  God is proclaimed in both cases.  Let every tongue speak the name of God.

Pray

Re-read the psalm verses again.  Believe the words.  Belove God.

Following the Commands of Christ

Jesus Is Lord
Victory in Jesus
Christ's Love for the Church

1 John 3:18-24

The Message

When We Practice Real Love

^18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

^21-24 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

For Reflection

Belove God.  Belove Jesus.  Practice love.  End self-debilitating practices.  Live your life deeply in Him.

Pray

that you will thank God every day, every hour, every second that He is in charge of your life.  Pray for courage to rise above the human culture.  Pray for courage to face each day as God intends for you.

Abiding in Christ's Love

Jesus Is Lord
Victory in Jesus
Christ's Love for the Church

John 15:9-17

The Message

^9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
^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

Christ is the reference for all Christian behavior. He asks us to put our lives on the line in love for God, for Him and for each other.  If you know Jesus, you know God and His plans for us.  Live and love as though you know and love God.

Pray

that you will remember to love one another.  Pray that you will study the life of Christ and make His life the goal of your life.

The Example of Jesus Love

Jesus Is Lord
Victory in Jesus
Christ's Love for the Church

John 13:1-9

The Message

Washing His Disciples’ Feet

13 ^1-2 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

^3-6 Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”
⁷ Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”
⁸ Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”
Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”
⁹ “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

For Reflection

One can't remember the birth of Christ with out also remembering the re-birth of Christ.  We celebrate from now to Easter the Christ event -- birth to resurrection.  This image of Christ, humble enough to wash the feet of those whom he loved, this Christ, who offers to cleanse the soul, this Christ who shows us the hope in a transformed live devoted to peace and justice, this Christ who lives to show us the path to reconciliation, this Christ who was to die at the hands of human corruption, fear, and greed, this Christ who was to rise and live again among us, this is the remembrance we celebrate.  This is the remembrance which guides or obedience to God.

Pray

Pray that the Christ event will inspire all people to live God-centered lives.  Pray for your continuing commitment to the Kingdom of God.

God's Gift of Love

Jesus Is Lord
Victory in Jesus
Christ's Love for the Church

John 3:16-21

The Message

^16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
^19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

For Reflection

God loved His divinely created world,  a world which is in perfect harmony and justice.  He sent his Son into our imperfect world of humanly created culture, injustices and strife to show the escape route.  God in Christ promises a better life in the age to come and in the present age.  Beloving God and beloving Jesus is the path into a transformed life which seeks harmony and justice in this world.

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving for the God above all gods who invites us all into reconciliation and life transformed by God's love for us and our love for God.  Pray that in this Advent Season, you will re-commit your self to the present age and participate in the age to come.  Pray for courage and obedience to God.

God is Love

Jesus Is Lord
Victory in Jesus
Christ's Love for the Church

1 John 4:7-12

The Message

God Is Love

^7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

^11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

For Reflection

"How can a God of Love allow such tragedies?"  Many have expressed this feeling following the mass murder of children in Newtown Connecticut.  Indeed, this is a question which is impossible to answer.  I don't know.  All over the world people endure tragedy. It is a human condition.  Sometimes the reasons are clear.  Often times they are not.  One can not explain rationally the irrational.

I do know that God weeps with us and comforts us.  He knows that we can over come grief and out of tragedy will rise an awareness of the Spirit moving among the affected replacing despair with hope and scorn with love.  On the eve of Christ's birth, Herod ordered the murder of children, and yet, the Angels sang of joy for the hope for salvation -- a transformed life to be lived in His kingdom on earth.

Pray

that all people touched by evil and tragedy will be comforted.  Pray for those whose suffering motivates rage and derangement.  Pray for those who commit evil acts and perpetuate injustice.  Pray for the enemies of God.

We Have Seen His Glory

Jesus Is Lord
Victory in Jesus
Live in the Light

John 1:6-14

The Message (MSG)

^6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

^9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

For Reflection

God became flesh and dwells among us as Jesus Christ.  Look into the eyes of a believer.  There you will see God. look into the lives of the righteous, there you will see Christ.  Walk among the faithful, there you will find the Spirit.  

Pray

that you will always remember that God is with you; Christ walks beside you and the  Spirit guides you.