Category: Life in Christ

2nd Sunday in Lent: Philippians 3.17-4.1 NLT – citizens of heaven

Reading: Philippians 3.17-4.1 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.

For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

HeavenBut we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.

Prayer: Lord Jesus – there’s a longing in our hearts to be with you in eternity… we are homesick for our true country. We wait for your return with power to rescue us from this present evil age. Strengthen us… encourage us… embolden us… empower us to live each day as joyful citizens of your Kingdom – that all may know you are indeed our Savior and Lord. To you be the honor and glory. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Hallelujah” – Newsboys

I’m looking up / Holding out / Pressing forward / Without a doubt / Longing for the things unseen / Longing for the things I believe / My true country

Click on audio for “Hallelujah” by Newsboys

We hope and wait / For the glorious day / All tears will vanish / Wiped away / On the saints this day already shines / On the saints this day already shines / It already shines

We’ll be singing hallelujah / We’ll be singing hallelujah / At the top of our lungs, halle-le-lujah / (With all our breath, halle-le-lujah) / To Your glory, hallelujah / Hallelujah, hallelujah

And I know that it’s coming / But I can’t see it now / And I’ve touched it in moments / But I can’t hold it yet / And it glows in the darkness / And it calls us away / To our true destination / ‘Til that glorious day

We’ll be singing hallelujah / We’ll be singing hallelujah / At the top of our lungs, halle-le-lujah / (With all our breath, halle-le-lujah) / To Your glory, hallelujah / Hallelujah, hallelujah

Morning Reading: Luke 9:49-50 NLT – spiritual warfare

Reading: Luke 9:49-50 NLT

image
Casting out demons.
The Agape Bible Fellowship, in East Aurora, N.Y.

John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.”

But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him! Anyone who is not against you is for you.”

Prayer/Hymn: “Te, splendor et virtus” – Rabanus Maurus (c. 776-856)

The Archangel Michael defeating Satan
Guido Reni (1635)

Jesu! life-spring of the soul! / The Father’s power and glory bright! / Thee with the Angels we extol; / From thee they draw their life and light.

Thy thousand thousand hosts are spread / Embattled o’er the azure sky; / But Michael bears thy standard dread, / And lifts the mighty Cross on high.

He, in that sign, the rebel powers / Did, with their dragon prince, expel; / And hurled them from the heavens’ high towers, / Down, like a thunderbolt, to hell.

Grant us, with Michael, still, O Lord, / Against the prince of pride to fight; / So may a crown be our reward, / Before the Lamb’s pure throne of light.

To God the Father praise be done, / Who hath redeemed us through his Son; / Anoints us by the Holy Ghost, / And guards us by the Angel host. Amen.

Saudi religious police arrest Ethiopian workers for practicing Christianity | Fox News Re-blog

Peanut gallery: The Saudis (World Watch List #2) are at it again… and Ethiopian Christians working in the country are their target… 53 arrested this month.

Nina Shea, the director of the Washington-based Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, told FoxNews.com that the arrests in Dammam are “part of Saudi Arabia’s policy to ban non-Muslim houses of worship and actually hunt down Christians in private homes.”

Suadi Arabia's Mutaween(Photo: Religious police during a training session in Riyadh September 1, 2007/Ali Jarekji)
Saudi Arabia’s Mutaween
(Photo: Religious police during a training session in Riyadh September 1, 2007/Ali Jarekji)

What are the Saudis afraid of… if their brand of Islam is so superior to all other religious expression? Or, maybe it isn’t… and they know it wouldn’t survive without their state-sponsored religious Gestapo.

As for Christians living in the country, they won’t get a lot of help from their embassies. Their countries are much too beholden to Arab oil and money to care much about the persecution of their Christian nationals. Politicians’ rebukes are meaningless unless backed up with action. Don’t hold your breath on that happening.

The best we can do is pray for Christian expats living in the country… no small thing. And let the world know that the Saudis are doing to expat Christians in their country.

Please read the full Fox News article below –

________________________________________

Saudi religious police arrest Ethiopian workers for practicing Christianity
By
Published February 21, 2013

| FoxNews.com – Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers pray before the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony at the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City April 21, 2011, ahead of Easter. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers pray before the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony at the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City April 21, 2011, ahead of Easter. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Saudi Arabia’s notorious religious police, known as the mutawa, swooped in on a private gathering of at least 53 Ethiopian Christians this month, shutting down their private prayer, and arresting the peaceful group of foreign workers for merely practicing their faith, FoxNews.com has learned.

The mixed group of men and women was seized in a private residence in the city of Dammam, the capital of the wealthy oil province in Eastern Arabia, and Saudi authorities charged three Christian leaders with seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity. The latest crackdown on Christianity in the ultra-fundamental Islamic country comes on the heels of a brutal 2011/2012 incarceration and torture of 36 Ethiopian Christians, and drew a sharp rebuke from a U.S. lawmaker. Continue reading “Saudi religious police arrest Ethiopian workers for practicing Christianity | Fox News Re-blog” →

Morning Reading: Luke 9.46-48 NLT – the least among you

Reading: Luke 9.46-48 NLT

portrait_child_little_girlThen his disciples began arguing about which of them was the greatest. But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he brought a little child to his side.

Then he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus – Open my eyes to see the “least among us” – those who are small, those who are infirmed, those who serve, those who work in the background, those who go about their daily lives mostly unseen. Give me the same open heart… generous spirit… and welcoming attitude towards them… as I as I would offer you. To you be all honor and glory. Amen.

Hymn: “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” – St Francis of Assisi

Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred let me bring your love. Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord. And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek / So much to be consoled as to console / To be understood as to understand / To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace. Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, only light. And where there’s sadness, ever joy.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek / So much to be consoled as to console / To be understood as to understand / To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. In giving to all men that we receive. And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek / So much to be consoled as to console / To be understood as to understand / To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Morning Reading: Luke 9:43-45 NLT – foreboding

Reading: Luke 9:43b-45 NLT

foreboding cloudsWhile everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Listen to me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.”

But they didn’t know what he meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Prayer: Lord Jesus – I know how the story ends… with you as our risen Lord and King of Glory. But there was no easy way to get there… for you, or for those around you. The truth is… I want to jump ahead to Pentecost and share in the power of your resurrection. But that’s not the way you chose – the way of the cross – betrayal, suffering, death and then resurrection. Give me a willingness to share in your suffering during this Lenten season of reflection… that I might fully enter into the joy of Easter. Amen.

Hymn: “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” – Fanny Crosby (1869)

Jesus, keep me near the cross / There a precious fountain / Free to all, a healing stream / Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain. / In the cross, in the cross / Be my glory ever / Till my raptured soul shall find / Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul / Love and Mercy found me / There the bright and morning star / Sheds its beams around me.  / In the cross, in the cross / Be my glory ever / Till my raptured soul shall find / Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God / Bring its scenes before me / Help me walk from day to day / With its shadows o’er me. / In the cross, in the cross / Be my glory ever / Till my raptured soul shall find / Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross I’ll watch and wait / Hoping, trusting ever / Till I reach the golden strand / Just beyond the river. / In the cross, in the cross / Be my glory ever / Till my raptured soul shall find / Rest beyond the river.