Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 12/18- The larger our vision of God and His love, the smaller the size of our problems so let's magnify God along with Jesus's mom Mary. Luke 1. 39  At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,   40  where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.   41  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.   42  In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!   43  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?   44  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.   45  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Mary’s Song 46  And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48  for he has been mindful      of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations wil

 12.17- What we believe about the nature of human beings makes a big difference about how we live and how we die. I was taught by my parents and grandparents that human beings are meant to live life with the spirit of gratefulness. Sheila's parents did the same and we tried to do this with our family as well. Gratefulness sets an attitutde that effects every every day. It sets a direction to our approach to all the challenges of life. In the home where I grew up we started of our breakfast with; "Kind, heavenly Father, Thank you for this food and all your many blessings. Be with those who are sick and those who are depressed and lonely. In Jesus name, Amen." That was the basic prayer of my dad most days and it reminded all of us that we are not alone and we have blessings that do not need to be overlooked. For dad and mom the belief in God was not just about life beyond the church building and the cemetery, but daily life trying to help God to bring a heavenly attitude

12.16- When a young girl gets pregnant it causes those near to face three realities 1.Pain 2. Uncertainty 3. Constant work. That young girl pregnant with baby Jesus magnified God with joy in that circumstance. Deep spiritual joy can come in the most unusual situations. When we refuse to run away from these things but face the process we are called to work in we realize the indeed God is with us. A difficult pregnancy represents a great opportunity. Children are a gift from God. In this one God was becoming flesh to show us that God is love wants us constantly engaged in finding a path to love in all situations. Joy to the world the Lord is come. Romans 5. 5  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we [ a ]  have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   2  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we [ b ]  boast in the hope of the glory of God.   3  Not only so, but we [ c ]  also glory in our sufferings, because we kn

 12.15- Christmas includes the joy of children. God created and world that gave us the chance to love our children. The world of baby Jesus included the freedom, but not permission, for a king to kill a bunch of innocent children because Satan tempted him to kill and he did. Local and national news stories cause us deep sorrow over the murder of a child in Paradise, Texas. This is not Paradise. The way to heavenly Paradise includes grieving over the death of children. Turning to Jesus for comfort and guidance. We will double down on loving children and being alert to protect them from all that can harm them and working to support what helps them. Jesus did what He could to break the chain of discounting children by His life and teaching. I pray we can break the chains of hate by turning to the work of standing up for justice to those who hurt children. We will use today to catch tears of all who have lost a child. We work to keep people hopeful instead of hopeless. We work to reach

 12.14- NCTBO I learned lessons from football. From 1957 to 1964 I was directly involved with the Ladonia Rattler junior high football team then Fannindel Falcons high school team. I enjoyed the pep rally. I loved being part of a team. I liked the game time team entrance and warm up loosening up exercises. I liked being in good health and shape. I liked winning. I did not like being a booking dummy half the time. I did not like laps, winsprints, gasers and breaking my ankle over and over. The best of all was learning to never quit. Quit quitting. NCTBO You can be hard pressed hard pressed on every side but not crushed. Perplexed but not in despair. I loved pulling for the Atlanta Falcons in their Super Bowl game. But they lost. Tom Brady and his team did not quit. 55 regular season game winning drives. 14 playoff game winning drives. Tom Brady has gone through some hard things, mother had cancer. Marriage difficulty. Many things have gone wrong. But in one of hardest games he refus

 12.13- You are an overcomer of many things. God is love. The love you have received is sourced in God. God sent His Son to be born and wrapped in swaddling and placed in a Manger. He grew in wisdom, stature and favor with all He served. He finally came to trade His freedom for our freedom. He went from the Manger to the cross because God loves the world. God raised Jesus from the dead and He lives in you His child. Let's not forget this today. God's love in us gives confidence in any situation. God is love and He is in you. His love will drive out all of our fear today. Love and mercy will transform us and make today a great day. We can support all we encounter by seeing people and constantly asking ourselves "How can I love this person before me as Jesus would?" 1 John 4. 4  Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.   2  This is how you can recognize th

 12.12- Things can be going so perfect then they are not. After preparing my frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich and having prepared my coffee I was thinking this kitchen looks perfect. My cleaning helper was here yesterday and made the kitchen shine. I was thinking this is the perfect start to my day. J One second later I moved my hand hitting a coffee cup and spilled coffee on the clean cabinette, the spotless rangetop and down the cabinette to the floor and rubber mat. I need clean up. 3,000 years ago someone wrote about God. He is exalted yet He looks kindly on the lowly. He is lofty yet He sees us in the midst of our troubles. We have messes in our lives but mangers are messy and that is where lamb of God became flesh. If you have a mess in any area of your life be sure God sees you and wants to help you. Christmas is a joy to the world. Luke 2. 2  In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.   2  (This was the first ce