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Comment by Jolene on December 23, 2010 at 4:09am

John 1:10-18 (The Message)

 9-13The 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.

 14The 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.

 15John pointed him out and called, "This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word."

 16-18We all live off his generous bounty,
      gift after gift after gift.
   We got the basics from Moses,
      and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
   This endless knowing and understanding—
      all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
   No one has ever seen God,
      not so much as a glimpse.
   This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
      who exists at the very heart of the Father,
      has made him plain as day.

 

Jesus was announced he came to save us, to release us from our bonds of sin and slavery. Allow us to be free and part of his family. For that love and gift this christmas I  praise your name Amen

Comment by Jolene on December 22, 2010 at 4:38am

Isaiah 42:1-7 (The Message)

Isaiah 42
God's Servant Will Set Everything Right
 1-4 "Take a good look at my servant.
   I'm backing him to the hilt.
He's the one I chose,
   and I couldn't be more pleased with him.
I've bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
   He'll set everything right among the nations.
He won't call attention to what he does
   with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won't brush aside the bruised and the hurt
   and he won't disregard the small and insignificant,
   but he'll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won't tire out and quit. He won't be stopped
   until he's finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
   wait expectantly for his teaching."
The God Who Makes Us Alive with His Own Life
 5-9God's Message,
   the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
   laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth's people,
   makes them alive with his own life:
"I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
   I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
   and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
   opening blind eyes,
   releasing prisoners from dungeons,
   emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That's my name.
   I don't franchise my glory,
   don't endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
   I'm announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
   I'm telling you all about it."

 

Praise God he has sent his son to bring life and light to the world. OUr only job is to follow his example then we can be with our Savior in heaven. He is our passage Amen.

Comment by Jolene on December 21, 2010 at 3:35am

Luke 2:1-7 (The Message)

Luke 2
The Birth of Jesus

 1-5About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.
 6-7While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

 

And from this humble beginning Lord you gave us salvation. Thank you, without a hospital or surrounded by family, all the trappings we would want. Came your son into this world to save our sorry souls. Amen and Praise your name.

Comment by Jolene on December 20, 2010 at 4:11am

Luke 1:26-38 (The Message)

A Virgin Conceives
 26-28In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

   Good morning!
   You're beautiful with God's beauty,
   Beautiful inside and out!
   God be with you.
 29-33She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

   He will be great,
      be called 'Son of the Highest.'
   The Lord God will give him
      the throne of his father David;
   He will rule Jacob's house forever—
      no end, ever, to his kingdom."

 34Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."

 35The angel answered,

   The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
      the power of the Highest hover over you;
   Therefore, the child you bring to birth
      will be called Holy, Son of God.

 36-38"And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."

   And Mary said,

   Yes, I see it all now:
      I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
   Let it be with me
      just as you say.

   Then the angel left her.

 

Heavenly Father thank you for sending your son. For caring so much to know what he would have to go through and giving himanyway. I often try to put your motives in my human terms and fail so miserable. Help me to except your devineness and trust your love Amen .

Comment by Jolene on December 19, 2010 at 4:11am

Romans 5:12-21 (The Message)

The Death-Dealing Sin, the Life-Giving Gift

 12-14You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in— first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn't sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.
 15-17Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

 18-19Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.

 20-21All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

 

In all things Lord you have set it right, the sins of Adam are covered by the blood of Jesus. The babe whose birth we celebrate this seaon came to save our sorry souls. Praise your name for loving us so much. Amen
 

Comment by Jolene on December 18, 2010 at 5:01am

Zechariah 12:10-14 (The Message)

 ^10-14"Next I'll deal with the family of David and those who live in Jerusalem. I'll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them. They'll then be able to recognize me as the One they so grievously wounded—that piercing spear-thrust! And they'll weep—oh, how they'll weep! Deep mourning as of a parent grieving the loss of the firstborn child. The lamentation in Jerusalem that day will be massive, as famous as the lamentation over Hadad-Rimmon on the fields of Megiddo:

   Everyone will weep and grieve,
         the land and everyone in it:
   The family of David off by itself
         and their women off by themselves;
   The family of Nathan off by itself
         and their women off by themselves;
   The family of Levi off by itself
         and their women off by themselves;
   The family of Shimei off by itself
         and their women off by themselves;
   And all the rest of the families off by themselves
         and their women off by themselves."

 

Lord we know you are the center of our life and our one and only salvation. Thank you for sending Jesus to us and blessing us with such a awesome gift as salvation. Praise your name Amen!

Comment by Jolene on December 17, 2010 at 3:06am

 

1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

 ¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

 ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

 

What beautiful lessons you teach Lord, what wonderful way with words. The difference being your words are action and ours are just sometimes lip service. Help me to love like you and in doing so be closer to you. Amen

 

Comment by Jolene on December 16, 2010 at 5:18am

Isaiah 6:1-8 (The Message)

 

Isaiah 6

Holy, Holy, Holy!

 ^1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,

   Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
   His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,

   "Doom! It's Doomsday!
   I'm as good as dead!
Every word I've ever spoken is tainted—
   blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
   using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I've looked God in the face!
   The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!"
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,

   "Look. This coal has touched your lips.
   Gone your guilt,
   your sins wiped out."
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
   "Whom shall I send?
   Who will go for us?"
I spoke up,
   "I'll go.
   Send me!"

 

Dear Lord help my words to be pure and only glorify you Amen

Comment by Jolene on December 15, 2010 at 5:36am

James 4:1-10 (The Message)

 

James 4

Get Serious

 ^1-2Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

 ^2-3You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

 ^4-6You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

 ^7-10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

 

Dear Lord, help us to understand the ways of the world are not our way, that you are a quiet and caring Lord, who will supply our every need if we kneel before you. Amen

Comment by Jolene on December 14, 2010 at 4:40am

Psalm 42 (The Message)

Psalm 42

A psalm of the sons of Korah

 ^1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;
   I want to drink God,
      deep draughts of God.
   I'm thirsty for God-alive.
   I wonder, "Will I ever make it—
      arrive and drink in God's presence?"
   I'm on a diet of tears—
      tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
   All day long
      people knock at my door,
   Pestering,
      "Where is this God of yours?"

 ⁴ These are the things I go over and over,
      emptying out the pockets of my life.
   I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
      right out in front,
   Leading them all,
      eager to arrive and worship,
   Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
      celebrating, all of us, God's feast!

 ⁵ Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
      Why are you crying the blues?
   Fix my eyes on God—
      soon I'll be praising again.
   He puts a smile on my face.
      He's my God.

 ^6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
      everything I know of you,
   From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
      including Mount Mizar.
   Chaos calls to chaos,
      to the tune of whitewater rapids.
   Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
      crash and crush me.
   Then God promises to love me all day,
      sing songs all through the night!
      My life is God's prayer.

 ^9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
      "Why did you let me down?
   Why am I walking around in tears,
      harassed by enemies?"
   They're out for the kill, these
      tormentors with their obscenities,
   Taunting day after day,
      "Where is this God of yours?"

 ¹¹ Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
      Why are you crying the blues?
   Fix my eyes on God—
      soon I'll be praising again.
   He puts a smile on my face.
      He's my God.

 

 

He is my God, Thank you for bringing Verla into my life, allowing me to enjoy a few moments with her. Thank you for taking her peacefully to be with you, Be with her family and friends as they celelbrate her llife and passing Amen

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