verseoftheday

Friday! Proverbs! The wealth of the rich is their fortress;  the poverty of the poor is their destruction. Proverbs 10:15 NLT Two interesting ideas to sit with here: How do I see wealth as a fortress, protection, buffer? And the only way I get to think this way is from a place of wealth... If I can afford a flu vaccine I can create a buffer against illness for example. If I can afford a car I can take my child to the school I choose... And the second part? If I can't afford to heat where I live in winter my health will pay. Poverty eats people up. (And yes we can spiritualise this and look at as a spiritual poverty - but I don't think this is the idea here) Where or how am I involved in flipping this Proverb? Is this what followers of Jesus are called towards, those with less, to even things up, to challenge systems that hold people down? What do you think as we sit with this Proverb today? #Proverbs  #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep 

And I am convinced  that  nothing  can ever  separate us  from God's love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 NLT My hope today is that you can feel the redemptive strands wrapping around you and holding you.  As we sit with Paul and feel his conviction from 20 centuries ago, may it be our truth too. Paul is clear that he has considered the spiritual world, his inner landscape, and the outer creation, and there is nothing in any of those spaces capable of separating him from God's love. While there may be things to fear and struggle with in all those realms, there is nothing, no thing, that can separate us from God's Lo...

Romans 8:35-38 NLT [35] Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?  Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  [36] (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep".)  [37] No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. [38] And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Gods love... Romans 8:35-38 NLT Paul's answer is clear and unequivocal- he is convinced that even though his circumstances, the story he finds himself in is trying to convince him that he is not loved, Christ's love is greater than his circumstances. The redemptive strand of God's Bigger Story holds. Nothing. No thing can separate him from God's Love. And this is not some personal redemptive story, but ours too. Our God's Love is Enough. We have been redeemed, made rig...

Romans 8:31-32, 34-35 NLT [31] What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?  If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  [32] Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? ... [34] Who then will condemn us?  No one - for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.  Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?  Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  Romans 8:31-32, 34-35 NLT Can anything separate us from Christ's love? Paul asks questions about condemnation, gives us the assurance that we are not condemned because of Jesus. Before he moves on can we accept that we are Beloved, that we are Accepted, that we do Belong in His family? And then Paul's next question - Can anything separ...

Romans 8:1, 34 NLT [1] So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  ... [34] Who then will condemn us?  No one - for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us. Romans 8:1, 34 NLT This beautiful chapter starts and (almost) ends with this idea of condemnation- Paul starts with the statement that there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus, and in then unpacks that, ending with the question: Who then will condemn us? Perhaps the question could be "who, though they might speak words of condemnation, has the power to condemn you? Remember, Jesus died for you.  Jesus was raised to life for you. Jesus is stating your case for Life. So, who, though they might speak words of condemnation, has the power to condemn you? No one. Not the lies of the Enemy, the voices of the world, and especially not your own inner voice. No one." #truthtorestin  #letters #h...

Sunday Psalms; Honor the Lord... Worship the Lord... The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. Psalms 29:1-3 NLT This song hits with how Big God is, and calls us to honor Him, to Worship, to "hear" Him. Psalms 29:10 NLT The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as king forever. And this carries on right to the end. And then we get in the last verse the redemptive strand: The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace. Psalms 29:11 NLT He is our ultimate source of strength. He is our peace. Lean into Him today... #psalms #songs #Sunday #worship #thisisourGod  #redemptivestrands #hopeishere  #weareBeloved 

Wise people treasure knowledge,  but the babbling of a fool invites disaster. Proverbs 10:14 NLT When we look for Jesus in this Proverb even though he experienced rejection, loss, grief, accusations, temptations, frustrations, abuse, and death, he was not the babbling fool that invited disaster.  He did treasure knowledge. And as followers of Jesus we're invited to follow him in his practices - he spent time with the Father and he focused on Scripture - quoted several books from the OT. There's 2 practices that we can follow Jesus in that treasured knowledge. Jesus wasn't about knowledge for it's own sake, because he was about 2 other things - people, and the thing that connected him to people, his mission- to make a way for us, to be the way for us - knowledge applied and in action in Love for people...this is what Jesus invites us to follow him in... #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep