verseoftheday

Matthew 25:13 NLT "So you, too, must keep watch!  For you do not know the day or hour of my return." Jesus disciples, his closest team were asking about the Kingdom, when Jesus would return, and Jesus explains it with stories. This is a story of waiting. Waiting when it seems that nothing is happening. Waiting faithfully. Waiting patiently. Waiting in community. Waiting trusting in the Bigger Story that we are part of. Waiting isn't something I'm good at and being able to access what seems like the whole world via a screen I keep in my pocket sometimes doesn't help me learn how to wait.  Jesus says to his team wait, and trust me.  "Jesus, what do you have for me in this waiting?  Help me, be with me in the waiting. Help me to wait well.  Amen." #wordsofJesus #redletterBible #dangerousprayers #faith #ittakesfaithtowait

Matthew 24:36 NLT "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows." Jesus shares all kinds of  mysteries in this dialogue, some which seem clear, and some that don't. This part is though. We crave certainty. And Jesus tells his team, and us, that there are unknowns, mysteries, things yet to unfold in the Big Story, and here we are 2000 years later...and I don't think Jesus would want us sitting around looking at the sky, or bothering to try and figure out all the mysteries, he'd encourage us towards love, justice, faith, doing good, lifting up others, allowing ourselves to be lifted up, becoming the Kingdom. Whatever is in front today, become the Kingdom. #wordsofJesus  #redletterBible  #wearetheKingdom

"Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed.  You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.  And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come." Matthew 24:9-14 NLT Jesus disciples were wanting to know what will happen next, how it all ends. And it doesn't start well. If you're a disciple following your Rabbi and get told the next thing is you'll be hated on and killed and it will seem that the Kingdom dream is dead.  But there's a Bigger Story at work here, a Story where Jesus wants everyone to be embraced in God's Kingdom, that even when the Good News seems to be lost, buried, overcome, it is

Psalms 116:3-4 NLT Death wrapped its ropes around me;  the terrors of the grave overtook me.  I saw only trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "Please,  Lord,  save me!" Psalms 116:3-4 NLT There are days when things can feel too much. And if you can't find the words to express how things are for you, they're usually here in the psalms somewhere. This song covers despair, and losing sight of the future. There's no platitudes here, no "just be positive" but the writer is aware of their emotions, and takes a step towards God, towards someone bigger. Please Lord,  save me. Sometimes that's all we have when we can't see the way forward, when despair threatens to overwhelm, Please Lord, save me. We get to choose to trust God on the mountain tops and in the valleys.  This song is about trusting Him even though we walk in the valley. #Monday #Godsgym #trust #faith #rememberweareBeloved

Sunday Psalms; I love the Lord because he hears my voice  and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen,  I will pray as long as I have breath! Pdalms 116:1-2 NLT The next few verses of this psalm, this song, express how deeply distressed the writer is, yet still chooses to start the song with this beautiful picture of our God who hears,  our God who stretches out,  bends down,  moves towards. Our God's ultimate moving towards was Jesus, God in a person, listening, bending down, leaning in to humanity, to people, to speak to us, to show that we are Beloved. The psalmist knew that before Jesus somehow. Maybe he experienced it in creation, the eyes and hands of others, some kind of connection in his spirit, but he knew: Our God listens. Bends down. Stretches towards. Loves. #truthtorestin #sunday #worship #thisisourGod #weareBeloved 

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?  Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?  Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you,  O mortal,  what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly  and to love mercy  and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:6-8 NIV We think we can fix things with God, be accepted and acceptable by doing more and more of the right things. But the prophet Micah invites us to see life differently, that you're already beloved, your life is short, so walk humbly with God, and as we do, love mercy, and act justly.  Seems so simple.  Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 that the important things were justice, mercy, and faithfulness, not tasks, but attitudes, ways of being in the world.  It's a heart thing.  It's not about the

Friday! Proverbs! If you have been foolish by exalting yourself or if you've been scheming, put your hand over your mouth. Proverbs 30:32 CSB The things this Proverb is warning about seem easy to spot in others. But not so easy to see in ourselves. And I think that's because our own hearts are so easily self-deceived. We lose sight of what really matters. This is not warning us about being proud of our achievements or planning things, but about a heart that is scheming, lifting ourselves up above others, sees itself as better-than. This proverb is inviting us to check in ourselves, listen to our own words, check in on our own thoughts and what really needs discarding or left to float out of our minds.  Not every thought that pops into my mind has a right to stay there, or find its expression in words. It's an invitation to check in on our heart. #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #rememberweareBeloved