Jennifer A

Ok! So, I need to remind you that Pastor Mary follows the Revised Common Lectionary for the daily passages of these devotions, which means I do the same as her mentor. This reminder is because we are now going on 4 consecutive devotions of hearing from the Apostle Paul, and although I love him tremendously, I do not want anyone to think that I favor one Apostle over the rest. 😊

Yesterday’s letter moved us to Ephesus from the previous two days which were in Galatia, and today we find ourselves in a letter to the Church in Philippi. Although the chronology and dating of the events in the Apostle Paul’s life are still debated, it seems like the last 4 devotions moved in the order from his older writings to his newer writings, with several (obviously) missed writings in-between and on the bookends.

Here’s a couple questions for you, and you can be completely honest because you are only answering yourself and Jesus. Today, the Apostle Paul tells us to “Do everything without complaining and arguing.” (v.14)

Questions 1. When was the last time you complained about someone or something?
Questions 2. When was the last argument that you had with someone?

So, I’m going to use myself as an example, because I firmly believe that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Rom 8:28) and I believe that is me. Also, I believe that Satan, like the cunning and sneaky fox he is, is always looking to attack us. Actually, much of his time is spent prowling around looking to pounce on God’s kids; so by the Spirit of Christ we need to, “Catch the foxes, the little foxes, before they ruin our vineyard in bloom” (Song 2:15) Remember, our “vineyard in bloom” is our spiritual garden, or our heart, for Christ (Curtis talks about tending to our spiritual garden or our heart for Christ all of the time).

So, here it is, I complained last Wednesday about something I saw on social media, and that complaint turned into an argument. See, God knew that the Apostle Paul and I would be spending some quality time together in His Word…and so did Satan, as he was prowling around and seeking to throw me off of my faith walk with Jesus knowing that I would not only be deep in God’s Word for myself, but that I would also be sharing it with all of you. Keep in mind, my 4 devotions that are all from the Apostle Paul came after my complaint/argument.

Friends, it all took about 3 hours before I found myself kneeling at the foot of the cross asking for Jesus’s forgiveness, and then turning around and asking the person for forgiveness. I’m blessed by what God brought out of it, but I learned that the enemy will take what he can get, and for him wasting 3 hours of my day was a win in his book.

I share all of this with you because within those hours I was not doing as this letter instructs…as Jesus tells us: to live clean, to live innocent as a child of God, and to shine bright as an extended Light of Christ. I believe that I am forgiven for complaining and for arguing, but we need to use these moments to step up and move forward with Jesus. We do not need to be complaining every day, we do not need to be arguing every day, or week, or month. We need to be holding firm to the Word of Life and running the race of our faith with Jesus, and as we wait upon His return, we need to be calling on the Holy Spirit to make us aware of those little foxes that Satan attempts to use to knock us off course.

Philippians 2:12-18 NLT
Shine Brightly for Christ

12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. 17 But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. 18 Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for your forgiveness. I need Your daily guidance for living the obedient life You have for me. Help Your Light within me to shine bright. Please give me Your wisdom so that I can see where the enemy seeks for me to stray from You. My prayer is to move forward with You, Jesus, and for Your Word to continue to be my guide. I ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

We ended last week in the letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, and this week we continue with Paul, only this time in his letter to the Ephesians. Here, Paul is contrasting light and dark, in other words, good and evil which all boils down to the choice we have in everything, to either choose God or to choose Satan. We must remember that we cannot serve both. In Matthew 6, we are reminded that no one can serve two masters (meaning both God and Satan), for we will hate one and love the other, we will be devoted to one and despise the other (v. 24). Thus, God gives us the freewill to choose, either Him or Satan.

You might be thinking…well, I choose God for 90% or more of most everything in my life, and so He will understand and be forgiving of the faction of my life that is lived in sin, because I will just keep asking for His forgiveness. Friends, it doesn’t work that way. Paul reminds us in the beginning of Ephesians 5 that we are to imitate God, to live a life that is filled with His love, following the example of Christ, which means to be obedient to His Word with 100% of our life. We will never be perfect while we live in this earthly realm, but when we know we are living in sin, we have a responsibility to cry out for forgiveness, to turn away from that sin, and to ask the Lord for the guidance of His Holy Spirit to move us past that sin as we move forward with Jesus. Remember, we can’t keep going back to sin, we must be a willing and active participant in our faith to walk away from sin and forward with Jesus each and every day.

In today’s passage, Paul goes on to tell us not to be fooled by those who try to excuse sin, and really, we cannot partake in sinful behavior ourselves because we profess Christ and should be in living by the Word, which means we know better. If we choose sin, Paul tells us that God’s anger will fall on all who are disobedient. The chose is simple…light/goodness/heavenly realm/God or dark/sinfulness/earthly realm/Satan. It doesn’t matter how much we try to hide our sin, God knows, and He wants nothing more than for us to willingly turn it over to Him, and to awaken to His Light and from our dead living with Satan.

Ephesians 5:6-14 NLT

6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for taking our sins with You to the cross. Please forgive us, Lord, when we sin, and help us to turn away from sinning again and again. We want to grow closer to You, and we know we need to get rid of sin in order to do that, so we call on Your Holy Spirit to guide us and to quicken our hearts to press into Your Word for our daily lives. We ask this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen

In yesterday’s devotion we were with the Apostle Paul in the first chapter of Galatians. There we witnessed him defending his ministry and message about Christ, through the use of his testimony. Paul’s letters to the church in Galatia were meant to preserve the Truth of the gospel message of Jesus Christ against the false teachers at the time.

In today’s passage, we move into the second chapter of Galatians. Here, we witness a meeting between Paul and the other Apostles in Jerusalem. Remember, these Apostles had traveled and walked with Jesus during His ministry on earth. Paul, on the other hand, received his message from Jesus after His death, he never physically met Jesus or walked with Him, like the other Apostles. Today, we learn that Paul brought with him Barnabas who was a Jewish Christian and known to the Apostles, and Titus who was a Gentile Christian and unknown to the Apostles. Keep in mind, that Paul had been preaching to the Gentiles, and Titus was proof of the power of Christ’s salvation through the gospel message that he had heard from Paul. Titus was also not circumcised, and the Apostles accepted him as he was, a brother in Christ, and did not demand that he be circumcised.

There are many takeaways from today’s passage, but one that stands out to me can be summed up in Paul’s words that are to come in the third chapter of Galatians: “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.” (v. 28-29)

Friends, we need to be very careful to only judge our own faith walk and relationship with Jesus. Remember, He welcomes all who are willing to accept His gospel message and walk in salvation with Him. Each walk is different, each person is different, but Jesus remains the same. So, the next time we want to judge another person’s faith walk, or their relationship with or without Jesus, we need to remember who God chose to write almost half of the New Testament…Paul. Jesus forgave and loved Paul just as much as He forgave and loved the other Apostles who walked with Him (and that means He forgives and loves us the same). God also used Paul in today’s passage to bring together the unlikely, the likely, the Jews, the Gentiles, the circumcised, and the un-circumcised…all to reveal that WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN! We need to treat people like Jesus would treat them and love them towards the open and loving arms of Jesus.

Galatians 2:1-10 NLT
The Apostles Accept Paul

1Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. 2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. 3 And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.

4 Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really—who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. 5 But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.

6 And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.) 7 Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. 8 For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.

9 In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. 10 Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for loving each of us the same. Help us to love like You love. Forgive us when we judge someone else. Give us Your heart to love like You love, Your eyes to see people how You see them, and guide us with Your wise Holy Spirit to speak words You would say. We ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

The true gospel message is one that offers us freedom from the enemy and the power to change by God’s grace. There is no greater example of this than in the life and testimony of the Apostle Paul.

In today’s passage, and throughout the book of Galatians, Paul defends his ministry and the message of Christ. He knows that there are false teachers who are twisting God’s Word and presenting it as the true gospel message. Paul’s righteous anger fuels his letter to the churches. He reminds them of his testimony and who he once was before God offered him His grace. Some of the Galatians think that Paul received his gospel message from the Apostles, and that the message might have changed along the way (similar to a game of telephone). But Paul wants to make it very clear that the message he received came down from heaven in the person, Jesus Christ, and was given as a revelation of His grace to Paul and to the Church. Why does this matter? Well, because Paul received his message directly from Jesus, not from man. On Wednesday nights during Curtis’ Bible study, we’ve been growing to understand that while man may change, the Word (which is Jesus) never changes.

We can learn so much from Paul’s heart for the Lord and from all of his many letters and teachings. One major thing that we can take away from today’s passage is that there is power in sharing our testimony. Remember, Paul’s first encounter with Jesus was approximately 4 to 7 years after Jesus was crucified and Paul was Saul at the time, a Jewish Rabbi of Tarsus, who was murdering God’s people. He went from executioner to evangelist. Maybe your story isn’t as dramatic as Paul’s, but it’s still your love story about Jesus and how He saved you by His grace…and that story needs to be shared with someone today, it’s the most loving thing you can do for someone else.

Galatians 1:11-24 NLT
Paul’s Message Comes from Christ

11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.

15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.

When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.

18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.

21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for saving us. We did nothing to deserve Your grace, but You love us beyond measure and shower us with Your grace. Help us to share our testimonies with others. Let us be open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance while we share about Your saving love. We ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Yesterday, I saw a picture of an apple in front of a mirror. If you look directly at the mirror the apple appears to be ripe, shiny, and beautifully in season. However, if you look at the entire apple, you will notice that from the back side, the apple is withering and rotting away. So often, we want people to think that we are shiny and perfect on the outside, when in fact the full picture is entirely different.

None of us are perfect. Over the last two days we’ve been in scripture that has revealed perfection is only found in Jesus. He is the only perfect and sinless One Who invites us to be cleansed of our sins. We have the opportunity to live in Jesus’s perfect presence through an ongoing relationship with Him. It’s a humble invitation from the bridegroom, that requires our simple acceptance.

When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, the only way it can be successful is through an ongoing commitment of true change. Let’s be honest, change is not easy for most of us. In fact, many of us avoid change, and if we change anything at all it’s our appearance for others to think that we’ve changed. But Jesus knows our hearts, and in today’s passage, He is warning us that we are to be growing and changing for Eternity in our relationship with Him now. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with me” (Psalm 51:10); help me, O God, to stop wasting time and energy on the past, on fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, and any other feels that the enemy wants to use, with in me and my soul, to take my gaze off of Jesus. I stand firmly again the work of the enemy and I fixate my spiritual eyes on You, Jesus.

Matthew 9:14-17 NLT
A Discussion about Fasting

14 One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”

15 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

16 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

17 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for our relationship. Help me to seek ways to continue to grow in my part. I also want to keep changing into my new self with You, Jesus. So, please help me to lay down any part of my old self that still needs to go. I ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

Friends, I had no idea when I wrote yesterday’s devotion that there would be a direct connection to today’s devotion, and I have to share it with you! So, today’s passage is from Hebrews 10, in the New Testament, and verses 5-7 are a direct quoted reference of verses 6-8 from Psalm 40, in the Old Testament, which were the first three verses from the passage in yesterday’s devotion. I just love how that divinely worked out!

I’m thinking that God knows there is a need to continue to work on allowing the Holy Spirit to break our religious mindsets so that we may be free in our relationship with Jesus. In complete transparency, I pray often for the Holy Spirit to overtake me and to remove any religious bondage from me. I want Jesus to be able to use me for the good of His Kingdom, and I realize that in order for Him to do that there is no room for my own religious judgement.

For those who are not familiar with the Old Testament Mosaic Law, it is the law which God gave to the Israelites through Moses. It began with the Ten Commandments and includes 613 Jewish commandments (or rules of religious observation) given within the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The Mosaic Law was the old system which included animal sacrifices to atone for sin. As we know, Jesus came into the world to put an end to the old system. A system that repeated over and over and over again, as a ritual, because it alone could not take away sin. In fact, it was a systematic reminder of sin, not a removal of sin. Jesus is the only perfect sacrifice, Who was/is/and will forever be The One Who takes away sin and removes the year after year reminder of guilt and shame. In Jesus there is no guilt or shame.

Religion can help us to put a band-aid on sin. It’s a temporary covering to make things appear on the outside like they are perfect. But, if we do not seek a thriving relationship with the Great Physician, Who is Jesus, that sin will never be healed by any religious band-aid. It does not matter what type of religion is used, how often religion is practiced, if the religion is changed, or how good the religion can cover up what is on the outside; all of it is fleeting and will never add up to the One and only relationship, with Jesus, Who came to do God’s will, and that is to save you and me from sin for all eternity! THANK YOU, JESUS!

Hebrews 10:1-7 NLT
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,

“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.

6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.

7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for saving us from sin. Help us to break any religious chains that we have so that we can grow closer and closer to You in our relationship. We lay down our sins at Your feet, and we cast away all guilt, because that is not of You. We ask this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

During yesterday’s sermon, we were reminded that we are a part of God’s divine design. We looked back at the very beginning, in Genesis 1, on “The Account of Creation”, where the Holy Trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) as One, created males and females in their image (v.26-27). Then, we moved over to Psalm 139, where King David talked about how God knitted him together in his mother’s womb, and how God saw him before he was born (v.13-16). David praised God for making him so wonderfully complex, it was beyond what his human mind could comprehend; nevertheless, he had a spiritual understanding of the Truth that God knew everything about him because God knew his heart. He even began Psalm 139 with “O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.” (v.1)

In today’s passage of Psalm 40, David takes us back to the sacrifices and offerings of the old system that God had set for His people within the Old Testament to atone for their sins. You and I no longer live under the old system, as Jesus was the only sinless sacrifice Who qualified to bear the weight of our sin on the cross as a substitute for the old sacrificial system. Remember, King David lived many generations before Jesus walked the earth, yet David’s heart for the Lord, understood that He did not require burnt offerings or sin offerings. He knew that God’s instructions were written on his heart, and that those instructions of the “Good News” were not meant to be kept hidden in his heart but were meant to be shared. King David a man “after God’s own heart”, had a spiritual awareness of Jesus without human knowledge of him. It was mentioned yesterday that Jesus is within every part of the Bible, and that is because Jesus existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, the Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought Light to everyone. No darkness can ever extinguish the Light of Christ. (John 1:1-5) Friends, as containers of the Light of Christ, and by His unfailing love for us, we must ask the Holy Spirit to empower our faith so that we may share the Good News of Christ with everyone!

Psalm 40:6-10 NLT

6 You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand
you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.

7 Then I said, “Look, I have come.
As is written about me in the Scriptures:

8 I take joy in doing your will, my God,
for your instructions are written on my heart.”

9 I have told all your people about your justice.
I have not been afraid to speak out,
as you, O Lord, well know.

10 I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart;
I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power.
I have told everyone in the great assembly
of your unfailing love and faithfulness.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for creating me. Help to cleanse me, Lord, each day so that Your Word can instruct my heart and bring me closer to You. Open doors so that I can share Your unfailing love with at least one person each day. Keep me growing in Your Word. I ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

Yesterday’s sermon directly connects with today’s devotion. If you missed it, I included the link to it at the bottom of this devotion, and for those of you who are reading directly from the website, you can find it under the Past Sermons.

So, Pastor Mary gave us this reminder: “if your heart is not right, and you are not saturated with God’s Holy Spirit then you have missed the best part of salvation”! Baptism alone does not save us; baptism is merely an invitation for you and me to live in the salvation that Jesus offers. But how you and I walk out our salvation is up to our own free will. If we are going to live a true Christian life, one that is sold out for Jesus, that requires that you and I willingly submit and allow the Holy Spirit to do a continuous work to transform our hearts each and every day. We need the baptismal water of the Holy Spirit flowing through us at all times, and as Pastor Mary said, “you need to be so saturated with the Holy Spirit that no matter where you go God is just leaking out of you in every direction, and that’s what you need to focus on.”

In today’s passage we find the Holy Spirit being poured out onto the Gentiles. Just prior to this moment, in the previous parts of the chapter, we see the Holy Spirit working on Cornelius and Peter separately and how it then brings them together and continues to work. It seems that the Holy Spirit was steadily working on each of their hearts, and with Peter it appears that it was cutting away the hardness of his heart towards those he had been taught to avoid. I believe God used and blessed both Cornelius and Peter, so that earthly barriers could be torn down and His Word could be heard through them by the ministering of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:44-48 (NLT)
The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God.

Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit. Help us, Lord, to not get in the way of what You want to do in and through us with Your Spirit. Forgive us when we quiet Your Spirit. We want Your Spirit to be alive and active in our daily lives. We call for the saturation of Your Holy Spirit within us. We ask for all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

When you think about your faith, do you connect it to your obedience to God and to His Word?

If you look up the Biblical definition of faith, you will most likely be directed to the first verse of today’s passage from Hebrews 11: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” So, if you and I are being faithful to God, we are obeying His Word for every aspect of our life. That means our very life should cling to the reality of our hopeful faith in Christ Jesus, and we must submit our souls to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so we can become more disconnected to this temporal realm (earth) and more and more connected to God in our Eternal Home (Heaven).

During yesterday’s sermon, Pastor Mary reminded us that “Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith” and that “our faith is a big deal with God”. She went on to talk about today’s passage and how it outlines for us the Biblical heroes of faith. She reminded us that, “Jesus knows that you and I will need to be Champions of faith”, and so the writer of Hebrews reminds us of what Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah did, because we too need to be ‘Great Examples (or Heroes) of Faith’ and we need to learn from them and our other brothers and sisters within scripture.

Back in 2021 “The Dash” by: Linda Ellis was shared during a Bible study. I included the poem at the end of this devotion. If you’ve never read or heard it, it’s definitely worth the read. “The Dash” is basically the time that God has granted our earthly existence in-between our physical birth and our physical death. When I think about “The Dash” for Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, I am in awe that almost two millennia after their physical presence, each of them remains to be great examples of thriving faith. Their legacies are all about God and His Kingdom and it has all to do with the fact that each of them was obedient to God and firmly rooted in their faith to Him.

Hebrews 11:1-12 (NLT)
Great Examples of Faith

1Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.

3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.

5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

11 It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. 12 And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being the perfect example of faith. Help us to be more and more like You and to continue to learn from our brothers and sisters of faith that You have given to us throughout scripture. Grow us in our obedience to You and to Your Word this new year. We want to be champions of faith for You and to extend our faith in You out to others, so that we can be a part of growing Your Kingdom, because that is the legacy we wish to leave, one that is all about You, Jesus. We ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

The Dash
By: Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
From the beginning…to the end

He noted that first came the date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time
That they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
Know what that little line is worth

For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering this special dash
Might only last a little while

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash…
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent YOUR dash?

Yesterday we celebrated the greatest gift this earthly realm could ever receive, and that is Christ. We know that through His death and resurrection, we are offered the choice of salvation and eternal forgiveness and life from this dark and sinful world. That alone should have praises rolling off of our mouths at all times.

Today’s psalm begins and ends with “Praise the LORD!”. The psalmist is calling on the attention of heaven and earth, so all of creation, to be included in praising the Lord. In the first part of the psalm, we see praises from above us within the Heavenly realm, and then in the second half we see the earthly realm joining with all of creation to sing praises to the Lord.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John sees all of heaven and earth praising the Lord. We must remember that John’s vision is yet to come, and we want to be a part of those who are praising our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; for He is the only Way, Truth, and Life to the Father (John 14:6). “And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: ‘Blessings and honor and glory and power belong to the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.’” (Revelation 5:13)

Psalm 148 (NLT)

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
2 Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
3 Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
4 Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
5 Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you creatures of the ocean depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and clouds,
wind and weather that obey him,
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all livestock,
small scurrying animals and birds,
11 kings of the earth and all people,
rulers and judges of the earth,
12 young men and young women,
old men and children.

13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord.
For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
14 He has made his people strong,
honoring his faithful ones—
the people of Israel who are close to him.

Praise the Lord!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for coming the first time to save us from our sinful ways. We look forward to when You return for Your Church, and we want to be ready. So, please help us to follow You and the path that You have for us at all times. Quicken our souls to repent when we are not in Oneness with Your Spirit. Help us, Jesus, to be living each moment for eternity, right now. We join with all of Heaven as we lift up this prayer and praise Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.