verseoftheday

Sunday Psalms; Sing a new song of praise to him;  play skillfully on the harp,  and sing with joy. For the word of the Lord holds true,  and we can trust everything he does.  He loves whatever is just and good;  the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.  The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created.  He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.  He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. Psalms 33:3-7 NLT Sing a new song - the invitation here is to write your own! There's plenty of room for our thoughts and words and songs about our God. Perhaps following the pattern of this song might help: The psalmist writes about something of God's character: He is True and trustworthy, loves justice and goodness, and is Unfailing Love. Then the writer looks out at the created world and sees God's hand and writes about it. What is one aspect of God's character that we could write a about today? Just one phra...

[18] Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool. Proverbs 10:18 NKJV When we look for Jesus in this Proverb he is the antithesis, the exact opposite of this. He didn't spread slander. He would stay silent or quote scripture, or ask a question. He didn't hide his hatred of death. He didn't hide that he stood against those who promoted their own righteousness and rule keeping and rule making as the way to be right with God. He didn't hide that he stood against those who treated others unjustly, and stood against the systems that led to poverty, to groups of people who were seen as less than. His integrity was total, he was the same all the way through, and his motivation was Love. And the crazy part? We are the object of His love! We are Beloved! #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #rememberweareBeloved 

Friday! Proverbs! [18] Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool. Proverbs 10:18 NKJV Interesting take on integrity- pretending to be OK with something, hiding our true thoughts or feelings makes us, makes me a liar! Ouch. The second part of this Proverb seems mich easier to agree with - however, when I look back over conversations that I've had I wonder how often I have been that fool who has repeated something without knowing it's true, without knowing the whole story... Getting back to Part 1 - I don't think this is a call to enter every argument that comes our way, but it's an invitation to keep checking in on our motivation- whats going on in my heart? Is there something in my heart that needs the Light and Grace of Jesus to speak Life to? What is lurking in my heart that needs bringing to the Light? What do you think? #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #rememberweareBeloved 

Mark 10:51-52 NLT "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  "My Rabbi," the blind man said,  "I want to see!" And Jesus said to him, "Go, for your faith has healed you." Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:51-52 NLT No mud packs, or washing, or seeing people walking like trees, simply instant change.  And Bartimaeus changed.  He simply followed Jesus. Even after Jesus told him to go. He followed. Jesus recognised something that the crowd missed completely-  the faith of Bartimaeus. Mark doesn't tell us how long  Bartimaeus had been blind, or how long he had heard about, believed in, had faith in, Jesus. For some period of time these two things overlapped: Blindness, poverty, exclusion. And Faith in Jesus. Bartimaeus was able to spark, develop, grow his faith in the dark. Where does Bartimaeus story encourage my faith where it's still dark? Where things are tough? (I wonder if this is what hea...

Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.   "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  "My Rabbi," the blind man said,  "I want to see!" Mark 10:50-51 NLT Bartimaeus headed in the direction of Jesus voice.  He was blind. And he was listening. (Perhaps there's times when those of us with good eyesight could  close our eyes to all the things that we see that can distract and pull us towards, and just listen for Jesus) "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  Jesus is direct.  Straight forward. And open to Bartimaeus. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  (What would my reply to Jesus be today?) Bartimaeus responds first with a postional response: "My Rabbi" = great teacher, honoured master. Bartimaeus knew who Jesus is. (Our invitation is to approach Jesus in the same way.) And then Bartimaeus just puts his request in the same simple, open, straight up way as Jesus question...

Mark 10:48-50 NLT "Be quiet!" many of the people yelled at him.  But he only shouted louder,  "Son of David, have mercy on me!"   When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man.  "Cheer up," they said. "Come on, he's calling you!" Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. Mark 10:48-50 NLT Bartimaeus moved from ignored to included because Jesus heard him. The crowd seemed to think that all this blind man living on the edge of society wanted was some attention.  Cheer up. Jesus has noticed you.  The crowd had missed him. Still didn't see him as worthy, worth including. "Come on, your getting the attention we're guessing is what you want". Bartimaeus who needed the permission of the crowd and the invitation of Jesus had the barriers to Jesus removed. And he jumped at the opportunity. I wonder how often I'm part of that crowd who keep Jesus to ...

Psalms 32:3, 10-11 CSB [3] When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ... [10]...but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him.  Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;  shout for joy,  all you upright in heart. Psalms 32:3, 10-11 CSB David had no way of testing the brittleness or otherwise of his bones any more than I do, but what his metaphor recognises is that our behaviour, emotions,  thoughts and physical well-being are connected.  This is not some modern idea but one that was clear to David 3000 years ago...we are an embodied soul and completely connected. And his pathway forward is found in v10 - trust in our God, and then our story, our circumstances, our thoughts, emotions, bodies, our well-being is "surrounded by Unfailing Love". The redemptive strand is right here for us to cling to no matter what is in front of us today. #psalms #songs  #unfailinglove  #redemptivestra...