Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

12.31 Christmas is about humans being accused by the great accuser, satan, saying to us we are not worthy of God’s love and grace. Christmas says, humble, common people are worth the Son of God becoming human to be our Savior. The blog Soundings Has this about the movie Home Alone The best scene in the movie, in my opinion, is when, alone and afraid, Kevin slips into a dark church where a children’s’ choir is rehearsing for Christians Eve and old man Marley, who is also there, alone and afraid in the dark, slips into the pew beside Kevin. Their conversation eventually gets around to their families, and old man Marley tells Kevin that he’s there listening to that children’s choir rehearse because it was the only way that he could hear his granddaughter sing.  You see, old man Marley hadn’t murdered his family, they were estranged, they hadn’t talked to each other for years.  Old man Marley lived his life in the pain of this isolation, and poignantly he told...

12.31- God loves the world.  He sent Jesus to be born into this world so that people would not perish but be saved.  This is the character of our God shown by Jesus. The solution to our problems in life is not to believe in ourselves more, but to believe in God more.  Once when Israel was snake bitten with problems God asked Moses to set up a bronze pole for the people to look at.  If they trusted God and looked to that pole, they were saved.  So it is with Christians.  If we look to Jesus on the cross we can see God's love.  We can see that Jesus died as the lamb of God to take away the sins of the whole world.  The sins for any century are a debt that was finished being paid when died on the cross and said, "It is finished."  Look to the cross and there is available the freedom from sin, guilt, shame and separation from our God of love and mercy. My favorite verse of the year. John 3.16- 16  “For God so loved the world, that H...

2018 New Year's Good Things to Do 1. To pray in order to never give up is a good thing. 2. To depend upon God’s mercy toward you is a good thing. 3. To be childlike, but not childish is a good thing. 4. To guard your eyes, ears and heart is a good thing. 5. To refuse hate is a good thing. 6. To be candid is a good thing. 7. To admit to blind spots in order to be able to see more clearly is a good thing. Luke 18. 1   Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,  

12.30-Let your life be filled with the knowledge that the Father in heaven loved Jesus and He also loves you that same way.  If you love Jesus, then the Father loves you.  Since He loves you He wants to hear from you.  What do you need?  What do you want?  How are you doing?  How Can God be of help?  Then with His wisdom He answers our prayer in ways that are beyond our comprehension. John 16. 26  In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27  for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.

12.29-Jesus teaches that movement of a child of God through death is somewhat like a birth.  Birth into the life in heaven with God.  There is grief and anguish on earth, but joy in realizing the person has made it home. John 16. 21  Whenever a woman is in labor she has [ m ] pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a [ n ] child has been born into the world. 22  Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

12.28- When one is filled with the love of God he/she wants truth and this leads and guides to more and more truth. John 16. 12  “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

12.27- When the killer entered the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Joann Ward pushed Rihanna Garza, 9, to the ground and used her body to block bullets from her three younger kids, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Her quick thinking saved two of her kids — Rihanna survived with barely a scrape, and son Ryland Ward, 5, was shot four times but is the alive in a hospital after surgery. John 15. 12  “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13  Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

12.26- Our job is to open blind eyes by the way we live and love. Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon,  when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children...

12.25.17 Abraham and Mary Ayala were desperate. The year was 1988. They lived in Walnut, Calif., with a 16-year-old daughter, Anissa, who had been diagnosed with leukemia. Thousands of registered bone marrow donors didn’t match. They loved their daughter so much that they made some sacrifices. Abraham had a vasectomy reversed and though Mary was 40 they tried to conceive a child and succeeded in order to see if the baby would have the right bone marrow for a transplant. There was o nly a 25% chance for a match. The husband’s surgery worked. They child was born. The bone marrow matched. They did a transplant and they 16 year old lived. A child was born for a transplant. About 2017 years ago a child was born for a transplant. He came to give His spiritual bone marrow to us, human beings in need of a perfect, healthy life exchange. When He had lived a perfect life He was crucified on the cross and said, “It is finished.” The transplant was done. John 19...

12.25-God enters our messes It might no have been on this exact day, but there was a day when God sent His Son Jesus to enter into our mess. He was born in a messy situation.  No room in the inn so His mother stayed the night in a cave where the animals were.  He was laid in a manger.  A messy place. So it is that we encounter God's help in our messy times. When we are short of food or clothing or water. When we are in prison. When we are a lonely stranger. When we are poor and in need. God is completely bonded to us. When people serve us then they are serving God. Matthew 25. 31  “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32  All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34  “Then the King will sa...

12.24- This morning I made our main Christmas food run to the three stores near our home here in North Richland Hills, Sprouts, Walmart and Kroger.     I stopped to talk to the checker and the front man, Ray.  We all spoke about how important it is to live each day fully.  I could tell Ray was a bit sad.  He said last year I lost my brother.  I had earlier lost my son.  I told him that was not a club I wanted to join, but that these loses probably help him to live each day in a joyous upbeat way as he always seems to do.  He looked at me with that look that he was trying to keep his joy, but it was not easy.  He handed me a little piece of Chocolate candy as I stuck out my hand to shake hands with him and said, "Merry Christmas."  He said nothing, but I could tell his heart was heavy. Reminded me of the three stores dad worked for in the grocery business, Piggly Wiggly, Woody’s and Jesse Smith. I remembered the few day...