verseoftheday

[6] When we were utterly helpless,  Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Romans 5:6 NLT This is the redemptive strand. When we, people, humanity, had no ability to get ourselves right with God, Jesus stepped towards us.  He moved. This is what Love does, steps towards the Beloved. While we sit with this today, we're also called to be followers of Jesus, which could mean stepping towards those we love. That may be an invitation to some self-care today. What fills you up? And it might mean stepping towards someone you love.  Perhaps someone who is on their own, not included. Perhaps someone who has put up barriers for some reason who you can try again with. Is there someone who the Spirit is prompting to 'be like Jesus' with and step towards? #letters #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved  #takethenextstep 

Romans 5:4-5 NLT [4] And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. [5] And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:4-5 NLT "For we know how dearly God loves us" Hope is here, wrapped in, contained in, enshrined in, packaged in, Love. "For we know how dearly God loves us" Whether our day ahead holds joy, despair, goodness, discouragement, fun, difficult things, work, study, rest, community, time alone, decisions, choices, pressures, planning...we get to hold on to this Truth and take it with us today: "For we know how dearly God loves us" Start here: "For we know how dearly God loves us" #letters #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved 

Romans 5:3 NLTRomans 5:3 NLT [3] We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. Romans 5:3 NLT Let's just take a look at v3, and this word that is translated "problems and trials" or in some versions "afflictions", "sufferings", "tribulations" - according to Biblehub it is "thlipsis" which is "pressure" - (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that "hems someone in"; that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, "without options"). There's a different word "stenoxoria" which is about external pressure from outside circumstances. So what does this mean for us as we read this passage? It doesn't seem to mean that we rejoice when something or someone has hurt or harmed us.  That's external. It's when we feel hemmed in, under pressure internally, that these verses pull us back to the Bigger Story. ...

Romans 5:1-5 NLT [1] Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. [2] Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing Gods glory.  [3] We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. [4] And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. [5] And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:1-5 NLT Easy to pull vs 3&4 out and kind of glorify struggle and because it builds all the things in v4. But it's all built on the foundation of the Big Story, that we are made right with God by faith in Jesus, and the hope we have of fully aliveness wit...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 17:1, 8, 15 CSB [1]  Lord, hear a just cause; pay attention to my cry... [8] Protect me as the pupil of your eye;  hide me in the shadow of your wings [15] But I will see your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with your presence. Psalms 17:1, 8, 15 CSB Something from the beginning, the middle, and the end of this song, this prayer of David's. He starts by asking, crying to God, having already considered his reason. It is a just cause he is bringing to God. In the middle he recognises his own vulnerability, his need. And at the end, it's like he has woken from a dream, or maybe he is looking forward to life fully in God's presence, when all will be made new, a future hope. This prayer invites us to bring what's important to us to Him too.  To acknowledge our vulnerabilities and needs. And reminds us to hold hope in our God who will make all things new... #sunday  #worship #thisisourGod  #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #...

Matthew 5:9 CSB Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9 CSB In NZ we take time today to remember - remember those who lost their lives because there was no peace, because there was war. For there to be a need for peacemakers there must be a lack of peace - we see that every day in the news - countries, leaders, people groups at war with one another, disconnection, greed, envy, hatred. It's "out there", and it's inside us too. Jesus reminds us that being a peacemaker reflects the heart of God. Peace with Him. Peace with creation. Peace with ourselves. And peace with one another. As we remember the losses and the horrors of war, may we find ways to step towards peace, to being a peacemaker in the spaces where we do have power, where we do have influence.  #beapeacemaker #anzac

Friday! Proverbs! The woman named Folly is brash.  She is ignorant and doesn't know it. Proverbs 9:13 NLT So easy to weaponise Proverbs as we see these attributes in others.  But if Proverbs is more of a mirror, then it makes me wonder when I am ignorant and don't know it, where my opinions equal truth for everyone, when I have no idea about how someone else has had to manage things in their life and yet I judge them by my experience...so many places where I am ignorant and can't see it...easily anyway... When we hold up Proverbs as a mirror, the Bible as a way into our hearts to see where we may be ignorant, perhaps that's the beginning of wisdom that Proverbs bangs on about. Perhaps starting with Loving God, and loving others.  And it's not using Proverbs to beat ourselves up with either, but a gentle inquiry into the workings of my heart... "Jesus, may the Holy Spirit prompt me today where I might be the one who is brash, where I am ignorant and not know it,...