Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

3.26- For a new thing to break out and old thing must surrender to a big change. Mother would order Burpee seeds and plant them in dirt and the seed would die and beak up and seeds would be multiplied. I read some of mom's journals and there was my last day hoeing Cotton and a bit later my first flight into Dallas. A last day at home and my first Christmas with Sheila. My last day as a single guy and my first day as a married man. My first day as a father a couple of years later. As Jesus reached the end of His earthly life in the shadow of the cross He said it was his life buried in the soil and his life multiplied in the lives of others. Max Lucato has written books centered on the life of Jesus that have reached over 130 million copies in many languages. What are we holding on to that is delaying a new level of expansion and growth? John 12. 27  “Now My soul has become troubled; and what am I to say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.  

 3.25- This has been one of the best weeks for me in six months. Why? 1. I got to worship God freely and openly. 2. Friends prayed for me and let me know they were. 3.My children called and came by. 4. Friends I met in 1972 drove a long way to come to my house. 5. School teachers and coaches and public school administrators came to my home for mutual prayer and support. 6. A 83 year old and a 77 year old friend came over to study Jesus and pray for me. 7.My therapist made me try to walk better and stand taller without giving up or giving out. 8.I had phone and Zoom Bible studies with friends from New Jersey to North Carolina to Indiana to Tennessee to Colorado. 9. I went to breakfast, Bible study and prayer at Chic Fila with old friends. 10. I shared deep conversations with my loving siblings. Thank You Jesus. Thank you family and friends. John 10. 7  So Jesus said to them again,  “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.   8  All those who came before Me are thieves and

 3.24- When we pretended sleep at our house to avoid work chores they would say we were "possoming". Possums curl up and pretend to be dead in order to survive. My possum normally is nocturnal but yesterday he came out in daylight. These remind me to not pretend but be real. Still I enjoy seeing the variety in God's world. Acts 17. 22  So Paul stood in the midst of the  [ t ] Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.   23  For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.   24  The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands;   25  nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all  people  life and breath and all things;   26  and He made from on

 3.23- There are spiritual laws of gravity built into the universe. You reap what you sow. You give mercy You get mercy. A man's hunger works for him. You don't work You don't eat. Better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are a fool and open it and remove all doubt. Nothing good happens after midnight. Lie down with dogs wake up with fleas. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Whether you believe in God or not the spiritual laws of gravity will be operating. Luke 6 37  “Do not  [ w ] judge, and you will not be judged; and do not  [ x ] condemn, and you will not be condemned;  [ y ] pardon, and you will be pardoned.   38  Give, and it will be given to you. They will  [ z ] pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together,  and  running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

 3.22- Humanity. It includes times of offering up prayers in times of strength and in times of weakness. It inlcudes loud crying for relief from something very hard. These prayers go to the Father in heaven is able to save us from the situation we are in.. He is working to decrease fear as a motivation and increase love as a driving force. When we cry out we loud cries and tears our Father hears, but He sometimes in His wisdom chooses to deliver us through something rather than rescuing us from it. I like to look at pictures that reflect times of strength that come to us after a hard time of challenge and trial. It is said of Jesus that He was able to look to the joy beyond the pain. That joy is the strength of my life and makes me thankful again today for my family and friends. May your day have the presence of God close to you as you feel His presence in your humanity life. Hebrews 5. 7  In the days of  [ c ] His humanity,  [ d ] He offered up both prayers and pleas with loud

 3.21- I was looking over some pictures of my life when I was about 51 years old and on the same page were powerful reminders. Deep love leads to deep enjoyment and close friendship and pain when losing them to death or something worse. What is worse than loss due to death? A hard, painful, emotional separation. A loss that requires trust in God and thankfulness to God for the good times in the friendship. A willingness to be forgiven of your part in the loss and a release of any bitterness toward anyone who was involved in the loss. To receive and embrace love is to embrace the pain and suffering of life in the real world. My hope and prayer for all my friends is that they never cease to give and receive deep love and know that God truly understands when no one else does. 1 Corinthians 13 13  If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.   2  If I have  the gift of  prophecy and know all mysteries and

 3.20- Women who are "all in" for Jesus was on my mind at awake time at 3am on this first day of day light saving time.. My grandmother's both had hard circumstances in life but they both finished strong for God. They served quietly and not for earthly recognition. "All in women." My mother spent her last few days of freedom giving gifts to her kids and grandkids. Handmade quilts by personal request. My wife spent most of her free time in retirement collecting cartoons and articles to give a laugh and hope to prisoners. Today a man who works with prison ministry(a former prisoner) told me, " I have to take a stack of those cartoon sheets each week to the prisoners and I run out and they ask for more. I'm sure she's smiling about this from up there." One woman who is a best, long term friend of Sheila and me is brilliant professor with her doctorate. She goes to teach women in prison every Tuesday afternoon. All these women and others I have k