verseoftheday

Sunday Psalms; Praise the Lord!  Praise God in his sanctuary;  praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works;  praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram's horn;  praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;  praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals;  praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!  Praise the Lord! Psalms 150 NLT This final song we're invited to join in is noisy! It's loud, expressive! There's praise to God where He is, for what He has done, and who He is. And then it's how. All noise! This word "praise" is a verb, an action, "halal" in Hebrew, and carries a range of meanings; - to be clear  - to shine - to boast of - to make a fool of yourself about - to rave - to celebrate  There's a freedom here to praise, to celebrate our God in ways others might see as foolish, outside ...

1 John 3:23 NLT [23] And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 1 John 3:23 NLT Believe in Jesus. Love one another. Believe in Jesus. Love one another. Believe in Jesus. Love one another. That's it.  Yes there is complexity in the Bible, in trying to understand God, get a handle on theology, want to know if I'm in God's will, good enough, done enough, am enough for Him...and then John gives us this simple equation on the other side of that complexity; Believe in Jesus. Love one another. Believe in Jesus. Love one another. Believe in Jesus. Love one another. Just do that in the next minute, the next hour, today. See where Believe in Jesus and Love One Another takes you. This is the Plan. Believe in Jesus. Love one another. What does this open up for you? Free you to do?  To become? Free to step towards? Believe in Jesus. Love one another. #lettersfromJohn #testimony  #OneAnothers #believ...

Friday! Proverbs! Proverbs 6:6-8 NET Go to the ant, you sluggard;  observe its ways and be wise! It has no commander, overseer, or ruler, yet it prepares its food in the summer;  it gathers at the harvest what it will eat. Proverbs 6:6-8 NET There's a couple of passages directed at the "sluggard". I've chosen a version that uses this word because it slows us down from using these passages as  weapons towards others.  This Proverbs invites us to look at, to observe, part of God's creation and see what we notice.  There's been plenty of times in my life when I have been lazy, a sluggard, there's been times when rest has been what I've needed most, injuries, sickness, sadness. Yet on the outside, you may not see any difference. One thing I notice when looking at ants is that there is a lot of following going on. One ant finds a crumb on my desk and then a trail of them appear following the same path.  Lots of following. Some people don't have good rol...

1 John 3:21-22 CEB [21] Dear friends, if our hearts don't condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God. [22] We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.  1 John 3:21-22 CEB Grace over guilt. Grace > guilt It's me, my heart that so often does the condemning, not God's. John is inviting us again and again to find rest and peace in relationship with God that is Grace filled.  Put down the inner critic. Grace over guilt. And as we follow The Way, live out this way of love more and more, we will be able to receive what our God offers... Shalom. Peace. Hope. Freedom. Light. Love. May today His Grace overcome, overwhelm all that needs quieting in us. #lettersfromJohn #testimony  #light  #graceoverguilt #livingoutLove #weareBeloved 

Dear children,  let's not merely say that we love each other;  let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:18-20 NLT I think John knows what it's like to have an "inner critic", that voice in our head that accuses us, tells us we're not good enough, not enough, don't belong, aren't accepted. He's just given one example of love-in-action, and here reminds us that when it comes to Love, compared to God, we're children, learning on the job, following His example. John encourages us to put Love into action, and as we do, know that it is Love that reflects our God's heart, and that's enough. We're like children, trying things, not always getting it right, learning, & growing in living out Love. And that's enough. ##lettersfromJohn #testimony  #light ...

1 John 3:16-17 NLT We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion - how can God's love be in that person? 1 John 3:16-17 NLT There are some days when finding compassion is really hard.  It's buried down there somewhere. Buried beneath layers of justification about others choices and all kinds of things. But John is not trying to beat us up here, but to invite us in. Invite us in to seeing again, afresh, anew, how Jesus loves us.  And as we sit in the love we have received, we're invited to see people. In that seeing we get a glimpse of Jesus seeing us: more than a collection of choices, more than a collection of memories, but as a person, worthy of love and connection. What is John's letter inviting you into today? To see someone differently? At work? Where you live? It starts with kno...

Psalms 149:6-9 NLT [6] Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands - [7] to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, [8] to bind their kings with shackles and their leaders with iron chains, [9] to execute the judgment written against them. This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones.  Praise the Lord! Psalms 149:6-9 NLT Wow! There is some wild imagery here in this song! How does praise for God go hand-in-hand with all this? I don't think this is some prescription for military action or violent overthrow of anyone, but a reflection of God's heart for justice, making things right. We have the advantage of reading this after Jesus life and we get to see the things Jesus was here to overthrow; Death. Injustice. Self-salvation projects. So as I sit with this language of overthrow, I'm wondering what in me needs to be put in chains? What thoughts, attitudes, actions are so far from the God we are called to praise tha...