verseoftheday

[28] And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. [30] And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. Romans 8:28-30 NLT Not only is v28 connected to the Holy Spirit working in our weakness and groanings in this world, but to this whole redemptive strand that flows through these verses... Called. Known. Chosen. Becoming like Jesus. Called home. Made right with God. Given glory. We live in the "now and the not yet" where these things are true and becoming true, where our story, who we are, our day-to-day lives, are held in our God's Big Redemptive Story. We are Beloved. #letters #redemptivestr...

Psalms 28:8-9 MSG [8-9]  God is all strength for his people, ample refuge for his chosen leader; Save your people and bless your heritage. Care for them; carry them like a good shepherd. John 10:11, 14 NLT "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep." "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me..." Matthew 18:10, 12-14 NLT [10]  "Beware that you don't look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do?  Won't he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?  ...  In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish." As we track the redemptive strand from David, through our Heavenly Father to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, perhaps you know what it's l...

Sunday Psalms; Please listen to my prayer and my cry for help,  as I lift my hands toward your holy temple. Don't drag me away, Lord,  with those cruel people, who speak kind words, while planning trouble. Treat them as they deserve!  Punish them for their sins. They don't pay any attention to your wonderful deeds.  Now you will destroy them and leave them in ruin. Psalms 28:2-5 CEV If we have ever wanted revenge, things to be made right, justice, and have expressed it in ways that have been angry, unloving, then we are in good company - because this song of David says just what is going on for him. He wants God to fix it. To sort out those who have caused him harm. And then he ends his song with this redemptive strand, with a return to complete trust in God, to knowing that whatever he is facing, God as shepherd will hold him. May we know the closeness and love of the Shepherd today... I praise you,  Lord,  for answering my prayers. You are my strong shiel...

Romans 8:26-28 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. [28] And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  Romans 8:26-28 NLT I've plucked v28 out many times and while it holds truth for us on it's own, it's idea of God's purposes for us being worked out is connected to the Holy Spirit working in our weakness, pleading for us, the groanings that come from being in a world that is not how it should be. In that context v28 is an expression of God's love for us, acknowledging the reality of a world where every part of creation is experiencing the now and the not yet of the...

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, ...