verseoftheday

Can you direct the movement of the stars -  binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?   Do you know the laws of the universe?  Can you use them to regulate the earth? Job 38:31-33 NLT God sends this epic set of statements and questions to Job, and in the middle of it all he refers to the stars, invites Job to look up, to look to the Pleiades, the "Kiymah", the Matariki stars. As we celebrate Matariki this same invitation offered to Job comes our way, to look up to the stars, to trust again in the One who made them, who set the seasons in motion, who designed our world with such intricate detail and care to support humanity and to point us to the Creator. Look up. Look up and know that our story is held in the Big Story of our God's redemptive Grace. Look up and know that we are in fact Beloved. #stars #matariki #redemptivestrands #hopei...

Romans 8:26-27 NLT [26] And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. [27] And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.  Romans 8:26-27 NLT Paul seems to be describing some kind of cosmic communication and communion between the Holy Spirit (Pneuma) and our God (Theos) - not too  unexpected - except the the Spirit (Pneuma) is communicating and communing from within us! Not only that, but the Spirit (Pneuma) is advocating for us! This seems to be a big thing that is going on in the unseen spiritual world where our God is at work in us and for us... What does this say about our worth? How Beloved we are today? #letters #advocate #weareBeloved 

Romans 8:20-21, 23, 26 NLT ...But with eager hope,  the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory... We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.  And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For example,  we don't know what God wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  Romans 8:20-21, 23, 26 NLT This word weakness literally means "without strength". Where are we "without strength"? Paul uses the example of prayer and it may be in that space, or it may be somewhere else that we are "without strength". Where do I need to invite the Holy Spirit in to today? Where am I "groaning", struggling, waiting, ...

[22] For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. [23] And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. [24] We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don't need to hope for it. [25] But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) Romans 8:22-25 NLT Waiting. Groaning. Hoping. Looking forward. Adopted and being adopted. Saved and being saved. This passage from Paul holds us in this redemptive tension that is what we might just call life, being human, living in the now and the not yet... How does that look for you today? "We were given this hope when we were sav...

Psalms 27:3-5 CEB If an army camps against me,  my heart won't be afraid.  If war comes up against me,  I will continue to trust in this:  I have asked one thing from the LORD - it's all I seek:  to live in the LORD's house all the days of my life,  seeing the LORD's beauty and constantly adoring his temple.   Because he will shelter me in his own dwelling during troubling times; he will hide me in a secret place in his own tent;  he will set me up high, safe on a rock.   Psalms 27:3-5 CEB We can feel the redemptive strands being weaved here by David in this song...he knew that there would be trouble in his life, sorrow, grief, disappointment, loss, all the things we are familiar with. And at the same time he continues to look for the shelter and the covering of our God in all of that.  He will shelter. He will hide. He will place me on the rock. In our story, whatever we're facing today, David's song invites us to hold on to t...

Sunday Psalms; [1] The LORD is my light and my salvation. Should I fear anyone? The LORD is a fortress protecting my life. Should I be frightened of anything?   Psalms 27:1 CEB David is the author of this psalm, this song, and he opens it with these 2 statements of truth: The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is a fortress protecting my life. Holding these things as true in a world that seems to be coming against him leads to the question: So should I be afraid? Because I am. Even though he knows that he is held by Yahweh, the Eternal, Unfailing Love, he is still afraid. This is what it is to be human, to know and hold to what is True, and to live in a world that is doing it's very best at times to tell us something else... David names the things in this song that make him afraid - we can follow his lead and do that too.  David ends his song by sharing with us his declaration of hope in the face of fear: "But I have sure faith that I will experience the LORD's g...

Proverbs 10:13 CEB [13] Wisdom is found on the lips of those who have understanding, but there is a rod for the back of those with no sense.   Can we find Jesus in this Proverb? He is the one on who's lips are found wisdom. And as we saw in Romans it's Jesus who frees us from the rod that is being a "slave to sin" and invites us into the freedom of life in the Spirit. And he is also the one who bore the rod. He endured the rejection, the threats, the challenges, the abuse, the trials, and the crucifixion, the Cross, and this is where Jesus diverts from the Proverb,  not because he had "no sense", but because he Loves. And we get to follow Jesus, so as followers, may wisdom be found on our lips today... #proverbs  #wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep