The Real Problem is Internal

These verses describe what goes on within each person. Ask God what wickedness and dishonesty is entrenched in your heart and mind.  If you are really angry, the same thing you are angry with in another is active in you, below your awareness, but absolutely there.

Psalms 55:10-11 (TLB) 10 Though they patrol their walls night and day against invaders, their real problem is internal—wickedness and dishonesty are entrenched in the heart of the city. 11 There is murder and robbery there, and cheating in the markets and wherever you look.

10/30/2022

Who are God's People?

What distinguishes God’s people? Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba were not Hebrews (God’s original chosen people) but each respected God. They are all a part of the lineage of Jesus.  God’s people are not of a race or culture, but of their love, respect and faith in him.

Isaiah 56: 1-7 (TLB) Be just and fair to all, the Lord God says. Do what’s right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you. 2 Blessed is the man who refuses to work during my Sabbath days of rest, but honors them; and blessed is the man who checks himself from doing wrong. 3 And my blessings are for Gentiles, too, when they accept the Lord; don’t let them think that I will make them second-class citizens. And this is for the eunuchs too. They can be as much mine as anyone. 4 For I say this to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths holy, who choose the things that please me and obey my laws: 5 I will give them—in my house, within my walls—a name far greater than the honor they would receive from having sons and daughters. For the name that I will give them is an everlasting one; it will never disappear. 6 As for the Gentiles, the outsiders who join the people of the Lord and serve him and love his name, who are his servants and don’t desecrate the Sabbath, and have accepted his covenant and promises, 7 I will bring them also to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and make them full of joy within my House of Prayer. I will accept their sacrifices and offerings, for my Temple shall be called “A House of Prayer for All People”

10/23/2022

Generosity

Jesus knew he was here for a specific purpose and he honored his Father by living it. God’s way is one of giving and generosity and Jesus is our example of it. Your purpose is special to you but if you are stingy or think only of yourself, it isn’t God’s purpose for you.

 

Mark 4:24-25 (MSG) 24-25 “Listen carefully to what I am saying—and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.”

 

10/16/2022

Taking Care of Family

 

Caring for your family is stressed in the Bible. It may mean you look after them, give money, or your time.  Or it may mean tough love - you pray, be kind and love them from a distance. God gives you family and them you. Ask God what you are to do and in faith, do it. 

1 Timothy 5:8 (TLB) 8 But anyone who won’t care for his own relatives when they need help, especially those living in his own family, has no right to say he is a Christian. Such a person is worse than the heathen.

10/9/2022

Everlasting to Everlasting

Many “don’t believe” in the Bible but benefit from what is in it every day as have hundreds of generations before them. What is in the Word of God contains the most relevant values for life now just as when it was supernaturally inspired by God and written. 

Psalms 103:17-18 (TLB)  17-18 But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who reverence him; his salvation is to children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant and remember to obey him!

10/2/2022