Tag: Bible Reading

Morning Reading: Luke 8.16-18 NLT – pay attention

Reading: Luke 8.16-18 NLT

pay attention“No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.

“So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”

Payer: Heavenly Father – All creation reveals Your power and nature.  Lord Jesus – You have revealed the person and love of God. Holy Spirit – Help me pay attention to what I see, or hear, or read today – anything that makes me more like you and increases my understanding of what You would have me be, or do. I ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Thy Word” – Avalon (YouTube)

Morning Reading: Luke 8.4-15 NLT – Kingdom secrets

Reading: Luke 8.4-15 NLT

sowing seedsOne day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

‘When they look, they won’t really see.
When they hear, they won’t understand.’

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.”

Prayer: Word of God – Speak to me today… lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil; refocus my heart and mind on Your Kingdom purposes; take root in me and produce a rich harvest of Life – abundant and eternal. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Word of God Speak” – Mercy Me (YouTube)

Morning Reading: Luke 8.1-3 NLT – road crew

Reading: Luke 8.1-3 NLT

sisters of charitySoon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons;  Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

Prayer: Lord Jesus – Give me a servant’s heart… full of love and gratitude for all You have done for me. Help me to see others as You see them. And give me a willingness to respond to them with the same love and grace that You have shown me. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Draw Me Close to You” – Hillsong (YouTube)

Sunday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13.4-7, 11-13 – love

Reading: 1 Corinthians 13.4-7, 11-13

christ-on-cross 2Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance….

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.

Prayer: Heavenly Father – Sometimes my life is confusing… I think I know what I know, and then I’m not so sure. The world of my childhood no longer exists and my values and life principles are being challenged on every front. Thank you for your steady hand guiding this world to its ultimate end – when “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Lord Jesus – Thank you for showing me what love truly is by laying down your life for me even though I was far away from you. Holy Spirit – Help me live a life of love… putting others first, letting go of wrongs, upholding truth, optimistic and faithful. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hymn: “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” – Charles Wesley (1747)

Marginalized – “Not Peace, But a Sword” – Re-Blog First Things

jerusalem-cross-lapel-pin
Jerusalem Cross

Peanut Gallery: Marginalized – it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But the sooner I come to terms with it the better. There is Life outside of politics – thank God. And, in America, this is the season for social conservatives to “stay the course” at the cultural margins… and let the chips fall where they may.

mar·gin·al·ize\ˈmärj-nə-ˌlīz, ˈmär-jə-n ə l-ˌīz\transitive verb : to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group Other forms: mar·gin·al·ized; mar·gin·al·iz·ing

Peter Leithart has provided me with some reality therapy… maybe you can use some too. Democrats might find something to think about here as well.

My advice to Bad Republicans is: Let it come. If the price of regaining power is to abandon any semblance of Christian sexual morality, the price is too high. If the Republican party can’t bring itself to endorse a traditional understanding of marriage, let it split. If the Republican party can’t be bothered about the slaughter of the unborn, let it shatter into a million little pieces. Good Republicans will blame Bad Republicans for tearing the GOP to pieces. So be it.

In this article, published by First Things, Leithart maps out the future for social conservatives… and there is no peace on the horizon.

“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10.34 NLT

Social, cultural conservatives are moving into unfamiliar territory. We’ve got a lot to learn.
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“Not Peace, But a Sword”

President Obama is convinced that liberals have won the culture war, and he aims to leverage that victory to force a transformation of the Republican party. In a New Republic interview published earlier this week, he noted that attitudes are changing “in the country as a whole around LGBT issues and same-sex marriage” and that this poses a challenge to Republicans. Some Republicans will “embrace” the change, but “there’s a big chunk of their constituency that is going to be deeply opposed to that.”

Unity is the president’s preferred weapon to divide and conquer. Continue reading “Marginalized – “Not Peace, But a Sword” – Re-Blog First Things” →