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Comment by Jolene on February 1, 2011 at 4:08am

Jeremiah 17:5-11 (The Message)

 

 ^5-6God's Message:

   "Cursed is the strong one
   who depends on mere humans,
Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone
   and sets God aside as dead weight.
He's like a tumbleweed on the prairie,
   out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless
   in a land where nothing grows.

 ^7-8"But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
   the woman who sticks with God.
They're like trees replanted in Eden,
   putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
   never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
   bearing fresh fruit every season.

 ^9-10"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
   a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
   and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
   I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
   not as they pretend to be."

 ¹¹Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs
   in another bird's nest
Is the person who gets rich by cheating.
   When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed.
What a fool he'll look like then!

 

Oh how we lie to ourselves Lord, and others around us. Pretending to be something we are not, pretending to care when we have our own adgenda. Help us Lord to have a pure heart. To give without expectations, to care without strings attached. To pray for all when we really just care about a few. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 31, 2011 at 5:02am

Matthew 7:13-23 (The Message)

 

Being and Doing

 ^13-14"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

 ^15-20"Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.

 ^21-23"Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'

 

Sometimes Lord it is hard to tell the real from the cons, but you lead us back to your word. The Bible is your word and if we read and trust your word we wil never go astray from your side. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 30, 2011 at 4:33am

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (The Message)

 

 ^18-21 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to 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 until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you'll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth.

 

Such a lesson Lord that is not being taught daily my so many parents now. Lord help me to be an example to my grandchildren so they can know you. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 29, 2011 at 3:57am

1 Kings 10:23; 1 Kings 11:1-10 (The Message)
1 Kings 10:23

 23-25 King Solomon was wiser and richer than all the kings of the earth—he surpassed them all. People came from all over the world to be with Solomon and drink in the wisdom God had given him. And everyone who came brought gifts—artifacts of gold and silver, fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in weapons, exotic spices, and horses and mules—parades of visitors, year after year.

 
1 Kings 11:1-10

1 Kings 11
 1-5King Solomon was obsessed with women. Pharaoh's daughter was only the first of the many foreign women he loved—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite. He took them from the surrounding pagan nations of which God had clearly warned Israel, "You must not marry them; they'll seduce you into infatuations with their gods." Solomon fell in love with them anyway, refusing to give them up. He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines—a thousand women in all! And they did seduce him away from God. As Solomon grew older, his wives beguiled him with their alien gods and he became unfaithful—he didn't stay true to his God as his father David had done. Solomon took up with Ashtoreth, the whore goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites.
 6-8 Solomon openly defied God; he did not follow in his father David's footsteps. He went on to build a sacred shrine to Chemosh, the horrible god of Moab, and to Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites, on a hill just east of Jerusalem. He built similar shrines for all his foreign wives, who then polluted the countryside with the smoke and stench of their sacrifices.

 9-10 God was furious with Solomon for abandoning the God of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed God's orders.

 

Dear Lord in all you give us help me to be faithful. Prasing you always for the good in my life. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 28, 2011 at 3:46am

Acts 16:23-34 (The Message)

 

 ^22-24The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas's clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. After beating them black-and-blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jailkeeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. He did just that—threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.

 ^25-26Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears. Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose.

 ^27-28Startled from sleep, the jailer saw all the doors swinging loose on their hinges. Assuming that all the prisoners had escaped, he pulled out his sword and was about to do himself in, figuring he was as good as dead anyway, when Paul stopped him: "Don't do that! We're all still here! Nobody's run away!"

 ^29-31The jailer got a torch and ran inside. Badly shaken, he collapsed in front of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and asked, "Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved, to really live?" They said, "Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus. Then you'll live as you were meant to live—and everyone in your house included!"

 ^32-34They went on to spell out in detail the story of the Master—the entire family got in on this part. They never did get to bed that night. The jailer made them feel at home, dressed their wounds, and then—he couldn't wait till morning!—was baptized, he and everyone in his family. There in his home, he had food set out for a festive meal. It was a night to remember: He and his entire family had put their trust in God; everyone in the house was in on the celebration.

 

Heavenly Father we are prisoned with sins at times and you set us free. Help us to recognize our freedom and share it with others. Bless this day and those we encounter today. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 27, 2011 at 2:57am

Matthew 5:38-48 (The Message)

 

Love Your Enemies

 ^38-42"Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

 ^43-47"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

 ⁴⁸"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

 

Dear Lord I need this lesson, after yesterday and my human ways getting carried away with me. Help me to be humble and apologize. Let me be that good neighbor not the mean one. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 26, 2011 at 3:56am

Ephesians 2:1-10 (The Message)

 

Ephesians 2

He Tore Down the Wall

 ^1-6It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

 ^7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

 

What a concept Lord you have tore down our walls given us a clear view of what we are to do. You have saved us and set before us a plan of how we are to reach our goals. Help us see clearly the path you have set before each of us, and our role in this life. Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 25, 2011 at 4:08am

Revelation 21

Everything New

 ¹I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. ²I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. ^3-5I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."

 

Oh Lord one day to see you decending from Heaven with the new world order. The tears and pain gone, we can sing your praise forever amen

Comment by Jolene on January 24, 2011 at 4:11am

Acts 17:16-31 (The Message)

 

Athens

 ¹⁶The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got—all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols.

 ^17-18He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: "What an airhead!" But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: "That's a new slant on the gods. Tell us more."

 ^19-21These people got together and asked him to make a public presentation over at the Areopagus, where things were a little quieter. They said, "This is a new one on us. We've never heard anything quite like it. Where did you come up with this anyway? Explain it so we can understand." Downtown Athens was a great place for gossip. There were always people hanging around, natives and tourists alike, waiting for the latest tidbit on most anything.

 ^22-23So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. "It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I'm here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you're dealing with.

 ^24-29"The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don't make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?

 ^30-31"God overlooks it as long as you don't know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he's calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead."

 

Dear Lord help me to identify the idols I have put in my life that distract from you. Help me to seek you out and place you at the center of my world as you belong Amen

Comment by Jolene on January 23, 2011 at 5:30am

Exodus 14:26-15:2 (The Message)

 

 ²⁶ God said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea and the waters will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, over their horsemen."

 ^27-28 Moses stretched his hand out over the sea: As the day broke and the Egyptians were running, the sea returned to its place as before. God dumped the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. The waters returned, drowning the chariots and riders of Pharaoh's army that had chased after Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.

 ^29-31 But the Israelites walked right through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall to the right and to the left. God delivered Israel that day from the oppression of the Egyptians. And Israel looked at the Egyptian dead, washed up on the shore of the sea, and realized the tremendous power that God brought against the Egyptians. The people were in reverent awe before God and trusted in God and his servant Moses.

Exodus 15

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

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

To have been there Lord and witness the ocean parting, yet everyday you still perform miracles when you heal and save. Be with each of us today Lord as we worship you and give you all the praise. Amen

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