word

This is a word for someone today.

When I was thinking about what to share today, this verse dropped into my head.

I don't know why.

But I think this verse may be especially for someone, for some situation, or something.

This may be a word for you, not from me, but from God?



Give all you worries

& cares

to God,

for He cares about what happens to you.

1 Peter 5:7 (NLT, 1st ed.)

notorious

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 

This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people...

even eating with them!

Luke 15:1-2



Is there such a quality to our lives that "notorious sinners" want to be around us?

Are we so much like Jesus that that quality to our lives compels us to want to hang out with "notorious sinners" to the point of socializing with them?

Or are we & our friends so prissy & precious in our "faith walk" that we can't "jeopardize our witness" by hanging out with people who aren't followers of Jesus?

safe

During a night of nasty, life-threatening weather, I thought this was appropriate...

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3     He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
5 You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
    forever.

love

1 Corinthians 13 

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, 

but didn’t love others, 

I would only be a noisy gong 

or a clanging cymbal. 

2 If I had the gift of prophecy, 

and if I understood all of God’s secret plans 

and possessed all knowledge, 

and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, 

but didn’t love others, 

I would be nothing. 

3 If I gave everything I have to the poor 

and even sacrificed my body, 

I could boast about it; 

but if I didn’t love others, 

I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient 

and kind. 

Love is not jealous 

or boastful 

or proud 

5 or rude. 

It does not demand its own way. 

It is not irritable, 

and it keeps no record of being wronged. 

6 It does not rejoice about injustice 

but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 

7 Love never gives up, 

never loses faith, 

is always hopeful, 

and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy 

and speaking in unknown languages 

and special knowledge 

will become useless. 

But love will last forever! 

9 Now our knowledge is partial 

and incomplete, 

and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 

10 But when the time of perfection comes, 

these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, 

I spoke 

and thought 

and reasoned as a child. 

But when I grew up, 

I put away childish things. 

12 Now we see things imperfectly, 

like puzzling reflections in a mirror, 

but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. 

All that I know now is partial 

and incomplete, 

but then I will know everything completely, 

just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever:

faith, 

hope, 

and love;

and the greatest of these 

is love.

gifts

1 Corinthians 12 

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

keep on

Maybe during these crazy, 
scary, 
overwhelming, 
frustrating, 
boring, 
sad days, 
we should remember these words of Jesus...

“So, keep on asking,

& you will receive what you ask for.

Keep on seeking,

& you will find.

Keep on knocking,

& the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks,

receives.

Everyone who seeks,

finds.

To everyone who knocks,

the door will be opened."

Luke 11:9-10

boil it down

Luke 10

25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question:

“Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 Jesus replied,

“What does the law of Moses say?

How do you read it?”

27 The man answered, 

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

all your soul, 

all your strength, 

and all your mind.’ 

And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[a]

28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

Boil it down...

Love God...

Love others...

LGLO