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Posted on 01/01/2024 3:15:48 PM PST by luvie
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Bible in a Year :
Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him.
To express her sadness, Allie, a young girl, wrote on a piece of wood and set it in a park: “To be honest, I’m sad. Nobody ever wants to hang out with me, and I have lost the only person that listens. I cry every day.”
When someone found that note, she brought sidewalk chalk to the park and asked people to write their thoughts to Allie. Dozens of words of support were left by students from a nearby school: “We love you.” “God loves you.” “You are beloved.” The school principal said, “This is one little way that we can reach out and maybe help fill [her void]. She represents all of us because at some point in time we have all or will all experience sadness and suffering.”
The phrase “You are beloved” reminds me of a beautiful blessing by Moses to the Israelite tribe of Benjamin just before he died: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him” (Deuteronomy 33:12). Moses had been a strong leader for God, defeating enemy nations, receiving the Ten Commandments, and challenging them to follow God. He left them with God’s view of them. The word beloved can be used of us as well, for Jesus said, “God so loved the world that He gave [us] his one and only Son” (John 3:16).
As God helps us to rest securely in the truth that every believer in Jesus is “beloved,” we can reach out to love others as Allie’s new friends did.
Reflect & Pray
How are you learning to rest securely in God’s love? How will you share that love with others?
May I be confident in Your love for me, dear God, and spread Your love to those around me.
Bible in a Year :
What is that to you? You must follow me.
“Why do I get a strawberry lollipop when she has grape?” my six-year-old niece asked. My nieces and nephew taught me early on that children often compare what they’re given with what others receive. This means that as the doting aunt, I’d better exercise good judgment!
I too sometimes compare the things God gives me with those He’s given others. “Why do I have this, and she has that?” I ask God. My question reminds me of what Simon Peter asked Jesus by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had just given restoration and forgiveness to Peter for his previous denial of Him and was now telling him that he’d glorify God by dying a martyr’s death (John 21:15-19). Instead of answering yes to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, however, Peter asked, “Lord, what about [John]?” (v. 21).
Jesus answered, “What is that to you?” and added, “You must follow me” (v. 22). I believe Jesus would say the same to us. When He’s already given us direction in an area in our life, He desires our trust. We’re not to compare our path with that of others, but we’re to simply follow Him.
For more than thirty years, the apostle Peter followed God as a courageous leader of the early church. Historical records also show that he fearlessly embraced death under the evil Emperor Nero. May we too be steadfast and unquestioning in following God, trusting His love and direction.
Reflect & Pray
When have you compared your situation with that of others? In what practical ways can you follow God?
Dear Jesus, please help me to trust and follow You.
Bible in a Year :
Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Andrew Card was the Chief of Staff to American president George W. Bush. In an interview regarding his role in the White House he explained, “In each staff member’s office hangs a framed statement of purpose: ‘We serve at the pleasure of the President.’ But that does not mean that we serve to please the President or to win his or her pleasure. Rather, we serve to tell him what he needs to know to do his job.” That job is to govern the United States of America.
In so many of our roles and relationships, we slip into people-pleasing mode rather than building up each other in unity, as the apostle Paul often urged. In Ephesians 4, Paul wrote, “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith” (vv. 11-13). In verses 15-16, Paul cut through our people-pleasing tendencies, stressing that these gifts should be expressed by “speaking the truth in love” so that “the whole body . . . grows and builds itself up in love.”
As believers in Jesus, we serve people to build them up and to accomplish God’s purposes. Whether or not we please others, we’ll please God as He works through us to create unity in His church.
Reflect & Pray
Who do you serve to please? How might God’s higher presence direct your words?
Dear God, I want to please You by speaking the truth in love to my brothers and sisters.
For further study, read Words Matter: Speaking with Wisdom in an Age of Outrage.
Good morning Kitty Mittens! HAPPY July!!! FOUR more months until November! The most critical month in the history of our beloved USA!!
GOod morning Mayor. Happy July....May I desire to please God first and foremost in my life... and not worry about being a “ people pleaser”...
Have a great day and thank you for the “ morning coffee and devotional”...
Polly
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Have a good night!
🌙⭐️🌟
Rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
We camped under the stars, with nothing between us and the infinite West African sky. No need for a tent in the dry season. But the fire was crucial. “Never let the fire go out,” Dad said, prodding the logs with a stick. Fire kept wildlife at a distance. God’s creatures are wonderful, but you never want a leopard or a snake meandering through your campsite.
Dad was a missionary to Ghana’s Upper Region, and he had a knack for turning everything into a teaching moment. Camping was no exception.
God used campouts as a teaching point for His people too. Once a year, for an entire week, the Israelites were to live in shelters made of “branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees” (Leviticus 23:40). The purpose was twofold. God told them, “All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt” (vv. 42-43). But the event was also to be festive. “Rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days” (v. 40).
Camping may not be your idea of fun, but God instituted a one-week campout for the Israelites as a joyful way to recall His goodness. We easily forget the meaning at the heart of our holidays. Our festivals can be joyous reminders of the character of our loving God. He created fun too.
Reflect & Pray
What’s your favorite holiday and why? How does celebrating it remind you of God’s goodness?
Father, thank You for the fun You’ve put in Your creation and in Your festivals.
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I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
I greeted our youth group as my husband and I handed out Bibles. “God will use these priceless gifts to change your life,” I said. That night, a few students committed to reading the gospel of John together. We continued inviting the group to read Scripture at home while we taught them during our weekly meetings. More than a decade later, I saw one of our students. “I still use the Bible you gave me,” she said. I saw the evidence in her faith-filled life.
God empowers His people to go beyond reading, reciting, and remembering where to find Bible verses. He enables us to “stay on the path of purity” by living “according to” the Scriptures (Psalm 119:9). God wants us to seek and obey Him as He uses His unchanging truth to free us from sin and change us (vv. 10-11). We can ask God daily to help us know Him and understand what He says in the Bible (vv. 12-13).
When we recognize the priceless value of living God’s way, we can “rejoice” in His instruction “as one rejoices in great riches” (vv. 14-15). Like the psalmist, we can sing, “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (v. 16). As we invite the Holy Spirit to empower us, we can savor each moment spent prayerfully reading the Bible—God’s life-changing gift to us.
Reflect & Pray
How do you invest in studying the Scriptures? How can delighting in them change your perspective on God’s call to obey Him?
Loving God, please help me rejoice over the priceless words of Scripture as You empower me to submit to Your wisdom and authority in my life.
Click here to invest in understanding the Scriptures.
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Someone is VERY patriotic today!
Aussie Cattle dogs are the only breed I know of that comes in Red, White, and Blue! :-)
Seriously I have been overwhelmed with a difficult schedule these days. Almost 83 and life is going faster than I can keep up these days! LOL
Somehow a nearly 90 degree day snuck up on us here today.
😅
Have a Happy Independence Day!
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