This blog is designed to create community for believers and provide support for seekers. I encourage all readers to share their faith in an effort to lift and encourage one another.
“Prayer in action is love, love in action is service.” — Mother Teresa
Aren’t we commanded to love our neighbors? To love God and to love others? I love Mother Teresa’s challenge to us. Yes, pray for others. But put those prayers into action. Love others. Serve others. If someone is hungry, pray for them. But do more. Love that person by acting in love. Serve that person. It may mean cooking a meal or buying groceries for them.
Lord, open my eyes that I may see the ways you would have me pray for others. Show me how to love them by taking action and serving them. Each loving act of service bears testimony of your love and grace. Thank you for your loving service toward me and all of mankind.
I don’t know about you, but the key word for me in this passage is “patiently.” Sometimes I allow myself to become discouraged because I am not patient. The problem isn’t God, it’s me. God is faithful. God does fulfill his promises. Sometimes we just have to have faith and wait patiently for God’s time.
Father, thank you for your faithfulness in fulfilling your promises. In spite of my discouragement or lack of faith, have plans for me and you are faithful.
Looking out my dining room patio windows, I marvel at the freshly fallen snow. Overnight a six inch covering of white has blanketed my yard. Only yesterday the grass was brown and brittle, to all appearances dead. In the garden, skeletons of summer’s flowers dance, ghostlike in the wintry winds. The dried grass and flowers are now coated with white, their sharp edges masked by the soft contours of the freshly fallen snow. The low winter sun glitters off the snow, as if some giant hand had strewn diamonds over the whiteness. All is clean and sparkling, a joy to behold.
Besides looking beautiful, the snow’s blanket absorbs sound. No longer do I hear the muffled roar of nearby traffic. The snow-coated world, hushed, wraps a quiet peace and security around my heart.
Tomorrow I will have to drive in the snow. The roadsides will quickly lose their pristine whiteness. All along the highways, the once pure white snow is quickly covered with grime. Exhaust fumes, microscopic particles from motorist’s tires, motor oil, sand and salt cover the snow’s beauty. What was once pure, freshly fallen snow has become an eyesore. What came softly from the heavens is now coated with earth’s grime.
The freshly fallen snow reminds me of a new-born baby. The baby is soft and innocent; a new untouched soul has entered the world. All marvel at its appearance. Unfortunately, like the snow that becomes covered in grime, the new-born soul, fresh from heaven, is rapidly covered with earth’s grime. How quickly the ways of mankind begin to coat the soul! Without seeking heavenly guidance, the soul blunders its way in the world. It learns customs from its neighbors, not from its maker. It sees the glamour of the world and is enticed by its false glitter. Soon the once pure soul is hardly recognizable. Just like the road-side snow, the soul has become covered with a thick coat of the world’s grime.
It is impossible to clean the filth from the roadside snowbanks. Fortunately, it is possible to clean the filth from the soul. And how is this impossible task accomplished? “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10b). Through his sacrifice we can be made clean. When he was crucified on the cross, he took the punishment for all our sins. All we need to do is believe and ask for his forgiveness. Then we are made holy; all the impurities are washed away and our souls become pure and white as snow. Then and only then can our sparkling white souls enter into the very presence of God.
Almighty God, my soul is dirty, covered with the world’s grime. I have become so accustomed to the dirt that I hardly even notice it. Reveal my impurities to me and wash my soul as white as snow. Make me pure enough to stand, unafraid, at the very foot of your heavenly throne.
Isaiah 1:18 verifies this. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Christmas is over. The presents are open and the wrapping paper thrown away. At our house the “biggest” gift was our new grandson, Simeon, then just six weeks old. Everyone wanted to hold him, to touch his oh-so-soft skin. We exclaimed over a smile, and the trusting eyes looking at everything, taking it all in. A new baby is indeed a precious gift, so beautiful, so tiny, so totally helpless and dependant.
In reality, we all receive the gift of the newborn at Christmas, the gift of the Christ child. He must have been just as precious, just as beautiful, just as tiny, just as helpless. But this baby is the one of whom John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him…” (John 1:1-3 NKJ). God, who made the moon and the stars, the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, all the animals on the earth, and yes, who made us, willingly left his throne of glory to become a tiny, helpless baby. Let us not forget this most precious Christmas gift.
Lord Jesus, as we contemplate this gift, we humbly honor and praise you. What a dramatic transformation: from omnipotent being, reigning in heaven, to a helpless babe, lying in a manger. May the memory of this sacrifice, this precious gift, remain with us and inspire us to more diligently seek Your face.
Hebrews 1:10 “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens
Father, forgive us for those times when we stir up trouble or controversy, when we say hurtful things or spread gossip. We are your adopted children, and we are called to bring peace, just as you bring it to us.
What a great question. What are you doing to prepare for your last day on earth? What kind of legacy will you leave behind?
I don’t know about you, but this sure makes me think!
“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” Isaiah 40: 6-8.
Father, keep us ever mindful of eternity, for your word endures forever.
Good Monday morning! Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. Between lots of company and celebrations, plus being sick for a week….Well, you all know how it is. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and you are up and running in the new year.
Here’s a verse, one with a difficult command, to contemplate today.
It’s so much easier to do good things for those we love, right? Yet, Jesus commands us to LOVE our enemies. What? LOVE them? How do we do that?
We certainly don’t love our enemies through our own strength. It is only through Christ’s strength that we can accomplish this task.
Have you pictured an enemy in your head? Can you think of ways you might love that person?
Father, only You can give me the insight and the strength to love my enemy. Show me a specific way to show love to this person and give me the strength to obey your command.
Many of us make New Year’s resolutions every year. We resolve to lose weight, eat healthier, exercise more, keep our house and office clean, and be kinder to family and friends. People make all different types of resolutions, intending to keep them.
How often do you keep your resolutions? How often do you think others keep their resolutions—at least longer than a few weeks? If you reviewed your resolutions weekly, do you think you would be more likely to keep them?
I tend to forget yearly resolutions, but I am more likely to follow through on weekly resolutions. Try one or more of these weekly spiritual resolutions:
This week I resolve to learn more about a local bible study and fellowship group.
This week I resolve to spend some time reading my bible or a bible-based book.
This week I resolve to talk to God, asking forgiveness for my sins, for guidance in living a godly life, and for His grace for others.
This week I resolve to listen to God: listen for His guidance and listen for answers to my prayers, both spoken and unspoken.
This week I resolve to schedule some quiet time with God to read, to listen to music, or to meditate on His greatness.
This week I resolve not to become discouraged, but to ask His forgiveness and begin again.
This week I resolve to remember His life, death, and resurrection, and to live my life as a reflection of my beliefs.
This week I resolve to help the less fortunate.
This week I resolve to love others the way You love them.
This week I resolve to thank God for His many blessings.
This week I resolve to look for the small joys from God.
Choosing one resolution is the first step toward renewing your spiritual life. Reviewing your resolution on a weekly or even daily basis will help you to better remember and keep it. To more easily enable you to do this, consider posting your resolution in a visible place. When you see it, ask God to help you keep it. You might consider sharing your resolutions with a trusted friend. We know that “all things are possible” with God, even keeping resolutions.
Colossians 1:9-11a “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might.”
Father, as we contemplate this new year, reveal Your ways to enrich our spiritual lives and better reflect Your spirit living within us. Help us to make spiritual resolutions, to review them regularly, and to grow ever closer to You.
Growing Our Faith Together 