verseoftheday

But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying,  You are my God! My future is in your hands.  Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.  Let your favor shine on your servant. In your unfailing love, rescue me. Don't let me be disgraced, O Lord, for I call out to you for help. Let the wicked be disgraced; let them lie silent in the grave. Psalms 31:14-17 NLT Can you hear the choir singing about wanting the wicked to die, to lie silent in the grave? Who hasn't had those thoughts sometime? Can you here the choir singing about needing rescue and realising that's what I need now too?  Can you hear the choir singing about shame and disgrace and crying out with them to our God... Would you have them repeat: "In your unfailing love, rescue me." "In your unfailing love, rescue me." Rescue me from my thoughts, my nightmares, fears.  Help me to live in the truth of your unfailing love, even when, especially when I can't feel it, rescue me from the lies that se

I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors - even my friends are afraid to come near me. When they see me on the street, they run the other way. I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot. Psalms 31:11-12 NLT Ever had this happen? Or some variation of it? I know that person saw me and crossed the street, went down another aisle in the supermarket, looked away to avoid eye contact. I've had it happen.  And I've done it.  And David's written it into his song as he has experienced it too, from 3,000 years ago we have not loved one another that well at times.  Sometimes it's self care, and we can learn to do that with grace and love too.  Yet we follow Jesus, who didn't look away, who didn't walk away, who walked towards.  He sees the broken pot in all it can be and picks up the broken parts and starts the restoration.  The putting back together. And he calls us to follow. To follow Him. To see those who believe they are broken pots,

Sunday Psalms; For the choir director.  A Psalm of David.  O Lord, I have come to you for protection;  don't let me be disgraced. Save me, for you do what is right.  Turn your ear to listen to me;  rescue me quickly.  Be my rock of protection, a fortress where I will be safe.  I entrust my spirit into your hand.  Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God.  ...you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.  ...Tears blur my eyes.  My body and soul are withering away. Psalms 31:1-2, 5, 7, 9 NLT This is a Psalm, a song to be sung by the choir, a song for the community, a song for us.  And scattered through it are connection points. Things that connect us to David, to God, and to what might be going on for us at some point in our lives.  As you read this Psalm, this song, what phrase jumps off the page at you? Small phrases that you can pray back to God, hold in your heart... "You care about the anguish of my soul" "Tears blur my eyes" It

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. 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 NLT What interesting pictures! How differently we see the world as children, how as we grow and change, everything changes.  And the idea of a puzzle mirror, a warped mirror, a mirror that doesn't reflect accurately.  What do we see when we look in a mirror? Usually just ourselves right?  Paul is saying that not only does our view of the world change when we love like this, but so does our view of ourselves.  When we love and are loved with patience, kindness, with never-giving-up love, we see everything differently, even ourselves.  "But then". But when? Yes there will be face-to-face, kanohi ki te kanohi, with Love, with our God one day, and this will all be clear.  However Paul talks of this love being the most e

Friday! Proverbs! People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they're deceiving you.  They pretend to be kind, but don't believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils.  While their hatred may be concealed by trickery, their wrongdoing will be exposed in public. Proverbs 26:24-26 NLT Oh.  Does this mean I can't trust anyone? Is everyone deceptive and pretending? What does this say about me? Am I deceptive?  Yes sometimes I am :/ Sometimes my actions, words, the things I dwell on, don't match my values.  This proverb also contains a warning. A warning that people's heart and intention can be masked behind the right words.  Over time it's actions that count. Actions that betray the heart.  "They pretend to be kind" because they actually want something.  We don't want to believe that people are deceptive, that they pretend, but when I examine my own heart, I find those things there.  So is there any hope? Hope for us? Yes there always is

Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 NLT This is a sobering reminder that even the smartest and most learned, those who pronounce so clearly that they see the whole, have complete understanding, actually don't. We are all limited in some way.  These verses also tell us that there's more to come.  That we will know, will understand in new and expanded ways.  There is more.  It implies that the limitations we currently experience will be removed, or maybe we will be able to live in the fullness of how we were created, what we were created for.  There is more.  #corinthians #thereismore #onedayallwillbemadenew

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless.  But love will last forever! 1 Corinthians 13:8 NLT Those things that are valued as spiritual, that our culture agrees are markers of spiritual health, those things that others might see and hear, won't matter in the eternal story. Somehow, what will matter is Love.  The love that never gives up and draws us to God, the love that is patient and waits. The love that is kind.  The love that refuses to be angry. The love that never gives up. Somehow, that's going to matter.  Forever.  Zig Ziglar once said: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing". Our God is Love. So for Him, that is the main thing and that's that.  For me, there's all kinds of competing stuff going on, but maybe today we can allow love to be the main thing in more and more of not just what we do, but who we are and who we are becoming. #corinthians #lovewins #youareBeloved #themainthing

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT Some days we can love like this. And some days I'm not even close.  These verses, while often read at weddings and is aspirational about how a marriage commitment should look, it isn't about marriage at all.  It's about how God loves us.  He sees us as valued and valuable and never gives up on us, sees us in all our potential and never gives up on us.  He never loses faith.  Loses faith in what? In us. People. Humanity.  Us. He sees us in all we can be, all we were meant to be and never gives up on us. He is always hopeful. And somehow He is with us in our struggles, in our suffering, hurts, grief and loss. Every rejection. Every circumstance.  Today as we rest in this Love, may we learn to love a little more like this too.  #corinthians #love #themostexcellentway #seen #youareBeloved

You have taken away my clothes of mourning  and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. Psalms 30:11-12 NLT Sometimes a phrase jumps off the page, and today it was the words "and not be silent". When we sit with the roller coaster drama of this Psalm, when we sit with the ups and downs of life, when we sit with chronic pain, with terrible memories, with situations that seem too big, unresolvable, when stuff just seems too much, it can seem easier to be silent. Having a voice is what makes us human.  You have a voice, and it's allowed to be heard.  In our current culture it seems that some voices are amplified through popular music, media, etc.  Most of our voices are not amplified, but are no less valuable.  Your voice matters. You do not have to be silent.  Trusted friends, counsellors, good people will want to hear you.  Our God wants to hear you.  Your voice matters. #psalms #psalm30 #youmatter

Sunday Psalms: You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.  You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,  that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. Psalms 30:11-12 NLT What a roller coaster of a song this is! It starts with rescue, victory & healing. There's God's love, a glimpse of his anger, and how sorrow never has the final say.  And then in the middle it's like God has turned his back. At least that's what it feels like, and David is back in despair, crying out to God, pleading with him.  And then this bit at the end, where maybe there's a more realistic view of God, of life, of suffering, it's like his relationship with God is on a new footing, where the victories and defeats of this life don't indicate how God loves, and don't indicate your worth or value. Maybe your ready to hear that God wants to take away those "clothes of mourning", maybe your not there yet, or maybe you know what that means

It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 1 Corinthians 13:6 NLT Love is never on the side of injustice.  Love is realistic enough to know it exists, Love doesn't operate in some utopia, but is prepared to be where there is injustice. Love knows that there's a battle. I know it, because sometimes injustice benefits me, and it can be a tricky thing to enjoy the benefits knowing they've come from someone else's loss, at someone else's cost.  (The last car I sold I listed all the faults I knew of, some of which a buyer would not easily be aware of. To have been paid more than the car was really worth would have been injustice that I could have celebrated. The history of NZ is littered with injustice, many of which I have indirectly benefitted from). Love rejoices when the truth wins.  When the light shines in the darkness, when evil is exposed, when injustice is put right, when good is done, when lies are defeated.  Love is always on

Friday!  Proverbs! Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot. Proverbs 26:23 NLT Ouch that's quite a picture! Doesn't take much to think of a person who says all the right things, has a charisma, is good with words, maybe even preaches a sermon or quotes the Bible, but what they say is not a true image of their heart, and their actions display who they really are. And then I wonder how often I might have glazed over my heart with some smooth words rather than address what's really going on inside.  At the same time I know that God is transforming that clay pot little by little so that I'll no longer need the glaze... #onedayallwillbemadenew #proverbs #itsaheartthing

This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NLT Massive parts of our country are cut off, isolated, without electricity and without communication with the "outside" world.  As floodwaters start to recede, the destruction of homes and businesses and infrastructure will become clearer.  Joshua was facing his own challenges, and he was an experienced leader, yet three times we have recorded here God recognising his fear, acknowledging how discouraged he was.  God reminded Joshua, and reminds us, that we can choose a path of courage and strength no matter what we face, because we are not alone in it.  You're not alone in this. What does a path of courage look like for you today? It may be crying out to God, asking a friend for help, praying, stepping towards or away from a situation. It may be turning up (again) even though you're weary.  It may be turning away from something

Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalms 30:5 NLT Some in our country are waking to sunshine and respite, others to scenes of devastation and destruction, and yet others are unscathed and unaffected.  The landscape will carry the scars of this for a generation. Or more. The Psalms is a place where we can find connection with what we are experiencing, how things are for us, and they're personal. This snippet of a Psalm today may resonate with you, or not. And that's OK. If you're weeping in that dark night, may you know the comfort of our God who sees you, loves you. May you connect with others who speak life and light into whatever you're facing today.  May all of us hold to the hope that the joy in the morning is a sunny day after the storm, and it's so much more than that too. Arohanui  #psalms #psalm30 #youareBeloved

Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him,  "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Genesis 15:5-6 NLT For many people today it would be a blessing to be able to step outside, to see anything but water.  It's difficult to look up when what's in front of us is devastating, when what we thought was solid may have been washed away. It's difficult to look up when hope seems unable to be held. My prayers this morning have been for our communities, for people impacted by the weather. When hope, when faith is difficult to hold, we stand with you.  Whether it's the weather or whatever is in front of you, we are in this together, hope is something we hold together. Faith is something we hold together. May you get a glimpse of who Abram heard from, may His peace be yours today.  #youarebeloved

Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great." But Abram replied,  "O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even..." Genesis 15:1-2 NLT Even though Abram knew God, even though God was clearly chatting to him directly, even though God was speaking directly to Abram's fear with protection for today and a purposeful future, Abram just has questions. And that's OK. We can hear God's heart for us, His promises to us, and yet we can be just like Abram, full of questions. And that's OK. Ask them.  It's just being human.  Note though how Abram addresses God; "O sovereign Lord" As we bring our questions and our fears and insecurities, don't lose sight of who we're bringing them to.  Someone bigger. Yet someone who happily holds space for our questions and doubts and fears, who continues to whisper words of

Sunday Psalms The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  ... The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace. Psalms 29:3, 10-11 NLT This Psalm paints several pictures of how powerful our God is, how He is not limited by the power we see expressed in the world He created.  Sometimes the events going on in the world can make us wonder about God's power.  Wars, earthquakes, floods. The impact of the choices and actions of others and the processes of nature.  This song says to not lose sight of our God who is bigger than all of that.  And it ends with how He works: By giving his people strength And blessing them with peace.  That was David's experience as he faced a world in turmoil, strength and peace from God.  He's at work on the inside.  "Lord, today I need some of that strength you promise, and I need some

Love ... doesn't seek its own advantage, it isn't irritable... 1 Corinthians 13:5 CEB I don't know about you, but sometimes I believe I have a right to be irritable! Being irritable is all about me. This is not being angry at injustice, this is about me being inconvenienced, interrupted, slowed down, diverted, and when that happens my selfishness appears as if from nowhere.  And then "love doesn't seek its own advantage"! The standard is starting to seem impossibly high. And maybe that's the point, to point us to the person who embodies love, who didn't seek his own advantage, who was and is selfless, the one who calls you Beloved. Jesus is knows us, and choses to love us.  And calls us to follow Him, to love just a little more like he does.  #corinthians #loveis #youareBeloved

Friday! Proverbs! Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one's heart. Proverbs 26:22 NLT A gossip's words are like choice food that goes down to one's innermost being. Proverbs 26:22 CSB The words of gossips are like choice snacks; they go down to the inmost parts. Proverbs 26:22 CEB Choice snacks, dainty morsels, imagine for a moment your favourite treat...yep I'd like some more of that...yet gossip and rumours are not only attractive for us, this Proverb says that they get in to our hearts.  They feed something in us. And it's not healthy. So what's to be done? If I want to avoid that choice snack I can stay away from places where it's served, and if I can't do that, say no, walk away, choose an alternative.  Sometimes we get gossip dumped on us before we can do those things, but we don't have to participate, contribute, or continue it.  Yes that takes effort, others might not like our rejection of the morsel that they're offering, but t

or rude. 1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT Not sure who decided this little bit should be in v5, rather than v4... 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NLT Anyhow...Love is not rude - a favourite catch all when we were young parents to scoop up any behaviour we didn't like! But it's meaning is a bit deeper as the the word "aschemoneo" means to act improperly towards someone, in a way that's unbecoming, dishonourable, unseemly.  So if someone isn't honouring you, your gender, your boundaries, your body, your thoughts, your heart, then that's not love.  It comes out as words and actions from a heart that is self oriented and unaligned to God's heart.  So when I am like that (& it does happen) I need to be aware of that misalignment.  If we flip this thought, love honours boundaries, respects others bodies, minds, hearts, and seeks to understand, to listen.  Love is patient and waits. Love is kind a

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 1 Corinthians 13:4 NLT Boastful: The word here is "perpereuomai" which is only found in this verse. It means to boast, to show off, to vaunt yourself. To need attention.  Love doesn't do that.  Proud: "phusioo" To puff up, to blow up, like blowing up a balloon. Love doesn't do that, and when we're loved, we don't need that.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud.  Love is however, patient.  Love waits. And love is kind. Love serves. Learning to love, growing in love, choosing to love, seems to be chipping away at the jealous, boastful, proud, when it rears up, wondering why, and little by little, discarding it. Learning to love, growing in love, choosing to love, seems to be in the big moments and in the small everyday moments, choosing to be patient, to wait, choosing to be kind, to serve. Sometimes love is being kind to ourselves too.  Jesus words, actions, life, choices, speak l

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 1 Corinthians 13:4 NLT Love is not jealous. Interesting word this: "Zeloo"; It means to be jealous of, to want to possess something, to set your heart on something. The word is an imitation of boiling water, like I want something so much I'm boiling over...you get the picture...it's like we've lost perspective for whatever the thing is that our heart is got set on.  Ever been like that? Paul says that's not love.  Because the owning or possessing that thing (or that person) has become the the important thing. We've lost sight of the object (or the person). God never loses sight of who we are, is always invitational, becuase He is good, and His love is good.  He is patient. He is kind. He never loses sight of who we are, and calls us to love like He does. #corinthians #youareBeloved #loveispatientandkind #loveneverlosessightofyou  

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb... Revelation 7:9 CSB I'm not sure just what John could see, or what he could hear, but it was clear to him that some essence of who we are, where we've come from, what we look like, the language (or languages) that we speak will be with us when we stand together before Jesus. Our stories and history and language won't just disappear but be part of us forever it seems.  I wonder what that means for us in the culture that we live in today? What that means for us as we consider Ti Titiri and the intention, the hope, the opportunity that created on the first Waitangi Day? Today also marks 30 years since my mother in law died, and as I think about that multitude I wonder how I'll find her?  Our stories and our histories are so intertwined, woven together, and will be expressed together one day before th

Love is patient and kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4 NLT If someone loves you and they're not kind, maybe it's not love. The word Paul uses here is "chrésteuomai" which is another verb, an action word, which means to be kind. My Bible dictionary says it's usage is: "I am kind (full of service to others), gentle." Being kind is not an attitude or a feeling, but action and choices and the way we do things.  We have this funny saying in English "you're too kind". I think that Paul would say that's not possible because you can't be too much of something that is baked into who you are.  Jesus is not "too kind". Interesting that this sentence puts patience and kindness together as an expression of what love is, a hybrid, an expression that needs both.  If someone loves you, patience and kindness are core expressions of that love, and when we love, that's how we can be, more and more.  Because that's how Jesus loves us.  #youareB

Friday! Proverbs! Like adding charcoal to embers or wood to fire, quarrelsome people kindle strife. Proverbs 26:21 CEB There's been times in my life when I've been that person - always taking the opposite side, always annoying. Yes there's times when confronting is important, times when accountability or justice may lead to really difficult conversations, but as we come to expect, Proverbs is about the heart.  At the centre of this proverb is a quarrelsome person, this is a description of their character. This is their default place, their "go to". I wonder what the writer of these proverbs would write about me? My character? Most of us are more complicated than one descriptor, but we do have these core things. As I've discovered, they can shift, can change, as nothing is beyond God's transforming Grace.  Who we were is not necessarily who we are, or who we are becoming. #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing

Love is patient and kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4 NLT If someone loves you and they're not patient, not prepared to wait, to slow down for you, get in stride with you, maybe it's not love.  The Greek word for being patient is "makrothumeo" and it's a verb, an active thing. It means to be patient, to persevere, to refuse to get angry. Isn't that interesting! To refuse to get angry. For a long time. Love waits.  Love is OK waiting.  Love is OK waiting because the person being loved is worth waiting for.  God's love for us is patient.  He made himself small, joined us in all our human frailties.  He waits because the person He loves is worth waiting for.  #youareBeloved #loveispatient #Lordhelpmetolovelikethis #corinthians #Loveishere

Teach me how to live, O Lord.  Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.  Do not let me fall into their hands.  For they accuse me of things I've never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence.  Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living.  Wait patiently for the Lord.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalms 27:11-14 NLT Parts of this song can't have been fun to sing, however they do reflect the realities of life that the songwriter was experiencing, and that gives us the freedom to write our song too. To be real about what's going on for us right now.  And then he ends his song with these personal reminders, the truth that God is good, and that he needs to be patient, and he needs to be brave.  Real life + Real reminders What will you write that you're facing today? And what are the things that you also need to remind you of? #psalms #psalm27 #reallife+r