Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

Psalm 2 Psalm 2 1  Why do the nations conspire [ a ]      and the peoples plot in vain? 2  The kings of the earth rise up      and the rulers band together      against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3  “Let us break their chains      and throw off their shackles.” 4  The One enthroned in heaven laughs;      the Lord scoffs at them. 5  He rebukes them in his anger      and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6  “I have installed my king      on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7  I will proclaim the Lord ’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son;      today I have become your father. 8  Ask me,      and I will make the nations your inheritance,      the ends of the earth your possession. 9  You will break them with a rod of iron [ b ] ;      you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” 10  Therefore, you kings, be wise;      be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11  Serve the Lord with fear      and celebrate his rule with trembling. 12  Kiss

Psalm 1. Psalm 1 1  Blessed is the one      who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take      or sit in the company of mockers, 2  but whose delight is in the law of the Lord ,      and who meditates on his law day and night. 3  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,      which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—      whatever they do prospers. 4  Not so the wicked!      They are like chaff      that the wind blows away. 5  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,      nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6  For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,      but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. Matthew 1.1-17 1  This is the genealogy [ a ] of Jesus the Messiah [ b ] the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2  Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3  Judah the father of Per

My New Year’s Visions My normal thoughts in the morning were diverted because I ended my own yearly devotional book one day before the year ended.  I decided to think about daily renewal instead of yearly renewal.  I believe that I don't need new year's resolutions as much as a new daily vision.  So I meditated upon what I had learned from some important people. This is a new day. A new month. A new year So here goes. I will accept my failure as a writer for writing in first person too often. I see myself this way: I will set my own attitude for each day.  It will not be set by anything or anyone except God and His love inside my heart.  Period. I see myself building up people in new ways.  I plan to encourage the timid people and to be merciful with people who live in cynicism and doubt. I have a clear view of me being able to handle awkward moments when I don't agree with people I love and respect.  Some of these are respected family members and some are "church frie

John 20.10 11  Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12  and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13  They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15  He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17  Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18  Mary Magdalene

John 19. 38  Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39  He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. [ e ] 40  Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41  At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42  Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. John 20. 20  Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, t

John 19. 28  Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31  Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32  The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33  But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34  Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35  T

1 John 4. 20  Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. Matthew 9. 9  As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12  On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy , not sacrifice.’ [ a ] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Isaiah 1. “The multitude of your sacrifices

John 19. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17  Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18  There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19  Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth , the king of the jews . 20  Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21  The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22  Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23  When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24  “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “L

I've got some good news for you. Here is something that Jesus has taught that most all who read His life would agree upon. Life does not end with death.  There is a possible reunion eventually with those who have died. Jesus knew the names of His students when He was here and He connected with them personally.  He was not some distant figure known through a television screen or radio, but a personal teacher.  He knew and knows His sheep personally. We can gradually learn to hold people both tightly and lightly. Near the time for our movement to heaven to go back home to be with our heavenly Father there are people who get anxious to move there. The other side is presented to us as a blessing like a wedding banquet or something else that is beautiful and wonderful. "A better place." If we do our work properly there will be a spirit of forgiveness and grace that turns bad situations into better situations. If you are a Thomas type who lays down "unless&

John 19. 19  Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2  The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3  and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4  Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5  When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6  As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7  The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8  When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9  and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you