verseoftheday

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,...

Romans 5:1-2 NLT 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. 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 God's glory. Romans 5:1-2 NLT Not only have we through faith been made right with God, are at peace with Him, we stand in a place of privilege, and in that place that we stand we get to look forward to something else! Something glorious! I don't know what Paul means by "sharing God's glory" but it certainly seems like a step up! This place we stand in is not from our achievements or actions, but by faith.  Nothing can shift us from this place. And so standing here, right with God, at peace with Him, looking forward to "sharing God's glory", what does that let us put down today, or step into today? #letters #truth #redemptivestrands...

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.  Romans 5:1 NLT Peace with God. Whenever we don't experience or believe we have peace with God, it's not coming from Him. Any lack of peace that may have existed has been absorbed by Jesus, and by faith, we are now OK, made right, righteous. Lack of peace with God must be coming from somewhere else then: The lies of the Enemy. The pressures of the World. The things, the desires of my own heart.  The battle isn't with God, but perhaps at least in part it's to restore or rebuild, to strengthen connection with Him. Whatever is going on in us, come back to the Truth: "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." #letters #truth  #redemptivestrands  #waverfreefaith

Romans 4:19-25 NLT And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead - and so was Sarah's womb.  Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise.  In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn't just for Abrahams benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. Romans 4:19-25 NLT The redemptive strands that flow from Abraham to Jesus, to us! Abraham had received a promise from God but he can't have imagined the story that would flow from his believing in God. Abraham's faith ...

Romans 4:18 NIV Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed... Romans 4:18 CEB When it was beyond hope, he had faith in the hope that he would become the father of many nations... Small Man to the Sacred Family in Village of Iron 4:18 FNVNT When all hope seemed to be gone, he trusted in the promise... Romans 4:18 NLT Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping... When our circumstances are trying to tell us there is no hope, that our God isn't who He says He is, that's the hope that Abraham models for us.  When our hope in the Big Story of our God's redemptive promise, the making new of all things, is hard to see, seems lost to us, we're encouraged to hold hope anyway.  #letters #hope  #weareinaBigStory #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved