United In Love and Faith (Page 22)

Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV)  Therefore,  if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to your brother;  then come and offer your gift. Jesus prioritized relationships.  His messages were not ethereal concepts disassociated from the nitty-gritty realities of life.  He presented timeless truths applicable both then and now.  He told people to stop worshipping if they needed…

Matthew 5:21-22  (NIV)  You have heard… ”Do not murder”…  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment”  (Jesus teaching).   Jesus provides tremendous insight into human behavior in this one verse.  Our thoughts lead to feelings,  and our feelings lead to actions.  How important it is for us to follow the advice given by Paul in Philippians 4:6-9 and learn to think on  “whatsoever is true,  noble,  right,  pure,  lovely,  admirable, …

Matthew 4:23 (NIV)  Jesus went throughout Galilee,  teaching in their synagogues,  preaching the good news of the kingdom,  and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  Christ’s miracles drew multitudes.  People listened to Him as long as they saw miracles.  But later in His ministry,  as He drew near to the cross,  He performed fewer miracles and preached more about discipleship.  Once,  after his message on the high cost of discipleship,  many followers walked away  (John 6).  He turned…

Isaiah 66:1-2 (NIV)  This is what the Lord says:  “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool…This is the one I esteem:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit,  and trembles at my word.”   The heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool;  yet,  God chooses to live in the hearts of humble believers who faithfully obey His Word.  Think of it!  His greatest delight is you!  In a world filled with doubt,  sarcasm…

Isaiah 55:10-11 (NIV)  As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,  and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,  so is my word that goes out from my mouth;  it will not return to me empty,  but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  What a wonderful metaphor for the…

Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)  As the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  We tend toward obsession with ego needs that drive our decision-making processes.  We must become wise by listening first for the Spirit’s voice.  We must learn to dial past the static that permeates our world system and seek first the Kingdom of Heaven.  God cares about our daily decisions and knows that each one has…

Isaiah 55:3 (NIV)  Give ear and come to me;  hear me,  that your soul may live… This passage speaks of spiritual poverty and thirst (vs. 1).  We live such hectic lives that all too often we overlook our deep inner hunger for God.  We forget how much we need Him.  We invest so much of our time and energy in things that do not have eternal value.  God invites us to come empty handed to His table of provision.  There…

Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)  They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;  they shall mount up with wings as eagles;  they shall run,  and not be weary;  and they shall walk,  and not faint.   “Weary and faint persons can face the difficulties of life when they live in God,  for they are renewed in their strength by the Creator’s limitless strength”  (Hayford Bible Handbook).  Patient waiting,  done in God’s presence,  produces quiet confidence.  He will trigger peace and…

Proverbs 11:25 (NLT) The generous will prosper;  those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.  Are you known for your generosity?  You don’t have to own a big bank account in order to be a generous person.  The smallest acts of kindness often provide the most comfort:  a cup of cold water given to a thirsty laborer,  a meal offered to a grieving family,  a warm embrace for a lonely friend.  We can be God’s most usable vessels when listening…

Psalm 134: 1-2 (NIV)  Praise the Lord,  all you servants of the Lord,  you who serve at night in the house of the Lord.  Lift your hands toward the sanctuary and praise the Lord.  Lifting up hands is an action that indicates surrender;  and in this text,  it also represents worship and adoration.  It is our best response in dark times.  Worship is the antidote to fear;  it enables us to focus on faith and watch for the Lord’s provision…

Psalm 119:130 (MSG)  Break open your words,  let the light shine out,  let ordinary people see the meaning.  We have spiritual capacity to discover God as we lean in,  open the Bible,  open our hearts,  and invite the Holy Spirit to unpack the timeless truths recorded there.  God’s breath lives on those pages.  You’ll find yourself identifying with one of the characters in at least one of the many narratives as you identify with their failures and God’s faithfulness.  Wisdom…

Psalm 103:14 (NIV) …He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.   Sometimes we come face to face with our deep-rooted inadequacies.  Our humanity overwhelms us.  During those times these words become life to us because we find relief in knowing that God is on our side,  ready to intervene for us.  The grace of God—we must ponder it.  We are finite but God is infinite:  the wind blows over it and it is gone,  and…

Psalm 103:3 (NIV)  Praise the Lord…who forgives all your sins…  It’s good to pause often and consider the vast love of God (as high as the heavens are above the earth- vs. 11).  His love does not change and is unaffected by our failures.  When we behave poorly or make bad choices,  we will suffer the consequences of those actions and God (and others) will be hurt and disappointed;  but God’s love for us will remain strong.  It does not…

Psalm 103:2 (NIV)  Praise the Lord,  O my soul,  and forget not all His benefits…  (MSG)  …don’t forget a single blessing! When life gets tough,  it is especially important to remember all the Lord’s blessings rather than the trials.  It takes intentionality to choose gratitude instead of grumbling.  It takes determination to count your blessings and keep walking one resolute step after another while going through physical  (or emotional or spiritual)  therapy.  Don’t sit down and curl up into a…

Psalm 91:4 (NIV) –  He will cover you with His feathers,  and under His wings you will find refuge;  His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart  (protection).  Read the promises throughout this Psalm:  He will cover you.  He will save you.  He will shield you.  His angels will guard you.  These are comforting truths when life becomes a busy blur and we have to adjust our normal routines to accommodate special circumstances.  God saves and shields us every day…

We will not hide them…we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,  His power,  and the wonders He has done.  For most of us,  everything we know about God was passed along to us by members of a previous generation who were faithful to obey this Biblical command.  Each of them can point to faithful Christ followers of the generation preceding theirs,  who served as another link in this remarkable chain of faith that reaches back…

Mark 2:3 (NIV) –  Some men came,  bringing to  (Jesus)  a paralytic,  carried by four of them.  Consider the love of this small group of men.  Without their help,  the paralytic would not have experienced Christ’s forgiveness and healing touch.  Consider all the trouble they went through to get him before Jesus—what effort,  what faith,  what persistence!  Who do you most identify with in this narrative?  Are you a friend who is determined to carry an ailing person to Jesus? …

Mark 1:35 (NIV) –  Very early in the morning,  while it was still dark,  Jesus got up,  left the house and went off to a solitary place,  where He prayed.   Though Christ had a very visible ministry,  His times of solitude were critical to His effectiveness.  His prayers enabled Him to balance the visible with the invisible,  the natural with the supernatural,  and His humanity with His divinity.  Those occasions of solitude opened wide the channels of His heart…

Luke 4:42 (NIV) –  At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place.  The people were looking for Him and when they came to where He was,  they tried to keep Him from leaving them.  The people wanted to limit Jesus to their little town,  but He had to follow God’s call to go to other people in other places who also needed to hear His message.  It is our tendency to want to close ourselves into a safe,  little…

Luke 4:36 (NIV) –  All the people were amazed and said to each other,  “What is this teaching?  With authority and power He gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!”  Read the whole story.  Demons had to yield to Christ’s authority.  His life-transforming power got the people’s attention.  God has called us to make a powerful impact in this world  (not just be happy and live to ourselves).  Depending on how well we listen in the School of…

Luke 4:9b (NIV) –  …”If you are the Son of God,”  (Satan)  said,  “throw yourself down from here.”  Satan is always twisting scripture,  taking it out of context and using confusing quotes.  He did it with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,  and he attempted it with Jesus.  But Jesus knew He did not need to throw Himself off a high tower to get people’s attention.  He did not need to put Himself at unnecessary risk in order…

Isaiah 55:10-11 (NIV)  As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,  and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,  so is my word that goes out from my mouth;  it will not return to me empty,  but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  What a wonderful metaphor for the…

Luke 4:7-8 (NIV) –  (The devil said)  “So if you worship me,  it will all be yours.”  Jesus answered,  “It is written:  ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”   Every day,  we face temptations to shortcut the long trek of discipleship for quick fixes and easy answers.  It is all too easy to compromise our faith when our prayers seem to go unanswered and our souls enter a dark night that seems to contradict everything we ever…

Luke 4:1-4 (NLT) –  Jesus answered,  “It is written:  ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” (focus verse 4)   Jesus’  ministry began with forty days of hunger and heat in the desert,  not glory and accolades.  When He was at His weakest point,  the devil tempted Him to misuse His power for personal gratification.  Jesus responded with the words of Moses  (one well acquainted with desert life).  He knew that life does not consist of eating and drinking and…

Luke 5:4b (NLT) –  …(Jesus)  said to Simon,  “Now go out where it is deeper,  and let down your nets to catch some fish.”   Peter  (Simon)  was an experienced fisherman.  He questioned Jesus’  command,  yet respected Him enough to obey.  “Because you say so,  I will”  (vs. 5 NIV).  His simple obedience led to a miracle  (the huge catch of fish)  and a revelation that Peter’s personal best could not compare with Christ’s remarkable power.  Sometimes our best efforts…

Luke 19:13b (NLT) –  …”invest this for me while I am gone.”  (Read the verses 11-27 for the full context).   God has gifted each one of us with life and incredible potential.  Use them wisely.  Encourage and strengthen the people around you.  Serve in selfless ways that reflect the Father’s love.  Be a good steward of the life of God within you.  Why do some people live so far beneath their potential and roll up their gifts into a…

Luke 18:38 (NLT) –  So  (the blind beggar)  began shouting,  “Jesus,  Son of David,  have mercy on me!”  Read the whole story.  It depicts focus and reaching hard for something in spite of resistance.  He was yelling  (MSG)  to get Jesus’  attention.  The man was blind in his eyes,  but not in his soul.  Proverbially,  at some point in life,  you may find yourself sitting by the side of the road in need—maybe even begging.  What will it take to…

Hebrews 4:13 (NIV) –  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  God created us and knows us:  our temperaments,  our tendencies to default into false-self reactions,  and our addictions both large and small.  Nothing is a surprise to Him.  So come boldly to the  “throne of grace”  (Hebrews 4:16 KJV)  and bring all your idiosyncrasies to the Father.  He will adjust your perspective and give you hope.  He will heal and strengthen you.  Lean into Him when you…

Hebrews 3:19 (NIV) –  So we see that they were not able to enter,  because of their unbelief.   The writer is referring to the horrific reality that a whole generation of Israelites died in the wilderness because they did not develop the faith necessary for crossing over the final hurdle to get into the Promised Land.  They were the generation that witnessed the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea,  saw God hover above Mt. Sinai in frightening power and…

Romans 8:34 (NLT) –  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  (interceding NIV)  for us.  We are not alone in our battles in life.  Jesus prays for us!  And He leads other believers in supernatural ways to pray for us.  Just as Jesus prayed for Peter  (Luke 22:32)  and interceded for His followers  (John…

Hebrews  2:1 (MSG) –  It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off.   In other words,  “We must eagerly anchor ourselves to the truths we’ve been taught,  or we are likely to drift away from our moorings”  (Hayford Bible Handbook).  What rituals do you engage regularly in your life to make sure you don’t  “drift”  away from your spiritual moorings?  Daily devotions,  attendance in a group that actively studies the…

Hebrews 1:3(NLT) –  After He had provided purification for sins,  He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.   Hebrews  “emphasizes the superiority of God’s revelation in Christ to every other revelation.”  And in the day this book of the Bible was written,  there were many other religions and philosophies that governed the way men thought about life.  It was important for the writer of Hebrews to explain that Jesus,  who was the Creator of the…

Hebrews 1:1 (NLT) –  Long ago,  God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.  The basic truth of the book of Hebrews is found in this opening scripture:  God has spoken.  An entire succession of inspired writers in both Old and New Testaments declared His truths to a world confused by error.  “If fallen people are to find their way back to God,  only God can reveal the way.  Hebrews tells us that God…

Romans 3:23 (NLT) –  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  God created us and called us good,  but then we succumbed to evil’s voice in the Garden of Eden and since then evil is everywhere.  It seeks to find expression through us and leaves in its path brokenness.  But Jesus brings the solution—redemption.  He took upon Himself the judgment for our sin;  and by choosing faith in Him we transfer from the kingdom of…

Romans 1:17 (NIV) –  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed,  a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,  just as it is written:  “The righteous will live by faith.”   “In this gospel about Jesus,  a unique righteousness is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.  Righteousness that comes to us through Jesus,  and is appropriated by faith,  is the theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans”  (The Hayford Bible Handbook). …

Romans 1:8 (MSG) –  …People everywhere keep telling me about your lives of faith,  and every time I hear them,  I thank Him.  Something changes inside our core when we choose to embrace faith in Jesus Christ and it becomes visible on the outside.  Old destructive habits begin to melt away.  New hungers emerge to know God and understand the Bible and how it connects to the realities of everyday life.  We find we want to be around other Christians…

Romans 1:5 (MSG) –  Through Him  (Jesus)  we received both the generous gift of His life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus.  For those of us who follow Jesus,  it is our mission in life to share the story of how we came to discover His transforming power—how life was for us before we  “met”  Jesus,  how we came to embrace faith in Him,  and how…

Romans 1:4 (MSG) – …His unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead,  setting him apart as the Messiah,  our Master. Mary and John and other women had watched Jesus die an excruciating death.  Can we even imagine it?  Joseph and Nicodemus had taken His dead body down from the cross and buried it in a tomb  (John 19).  Everybody went home to grieve.  All the followers of Jesus wondered…

Romans 1:2 (MSG) –  The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son.  His descent from David roots Him in history;  His unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead,  setting Him apart as the Messiah our Master.  Paul,  who wrote these words,  had been a devoted Jewish scholar,  well versed in Old Testament writings and furious that a Christian movement had emerged declaring Jesus as Lord. …

Luke 22:31-32 (NIV) –  “Simon,  Simon,  Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you,  Simon,  that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned back,  strengthen your brothers.”    We can strengthen others in the faith when they are under satanic attack.  We can intercede for them in prayer—and we must resist Satan,  standing firm in the faith  (I Peter 5:8-11).  Our brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the  “same…