Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

7.21- According to one source online it was stated that the observable universe is 93 billion light years in diameter. There is a secret verse that is hidden in the Bible that most people never read and I rarely read it. 2 Chronicles 2.5,6  Solomon prayed a prayer of praise to God who had helped Him to build this magnificent temple. 5  The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. 6  But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, John 1. 1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  [ a ] He was in the beginning with God. 3  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.    Romans 1. 18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteou...

7.20- There can be times of loneliness in for a child of God. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? [ b ] Far from my deliverance are the words of my [ c ] groaning. 2  O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but [ d ] I have no rest. 3  Yet You are holy, O You who [ e ] are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. 4  In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. 5  To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not [ f ] disappointed. Matthew 26. 36  Then Jesus *came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38  Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” 39  And He went a little beyond them , and fell on His face and pra...

7.20- I need my legs to gain strength.  It is better to move than not move.  It is better to move with the current of the river at my pool than to not move at all.  It is better to move against the current as long as you can to gain the most strength in the shortest time.  Moving against the tide of the majority has been a way of life I was taught by my parents.  They taught us that we were to work to be strong and as wise as possible.  They taught us to get a good job and get a good education and strive to be as strong as possible, mentally, physically, emotionally and especially spiritually.  This involve choosing every day to be a humble person, but an exceptional person.  Be assured your best dreams from God will come true.  A strong person who stands for the truth even when everyone else will not stand for the truth.  Stand against the tide and you get stronger and the truth has support in your own heart if no where else. M...

7.19- There is a test for being a disciple of Jesus that is an amazing set of words.  If you follow these words and your family are not Christians, it was be expensive.  I have known of people who were thrown out of their family for following Jesus. Luke 14. 25  Now [ m ] large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26  “If anyone comes to Me, and does not [ n ] hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27  Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28  For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30  saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31  Or wh...

7.18 It is possible. John 10. 27  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29  [ d ] My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30  I and the Father are [ e ] one.” 1 John 2. 2  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an [ a ] Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;   1 John 4. 4  You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5  They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6  We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spiri...

7.16- Today is the 5 th anniversary of my move to worship with the congregation where I worship, The Hills church in North Richland Hills, Texas. It is a messy church like the one I grew up in.    Lessons from the Bible are taught that remind us to imitate Jesus, but we don’t measure up to His perfect standard.   We need forgiveness, mercy and grace. We have been given a radical freedom of choice by our maker.   We humans are rebels.   We sin in prodigal son ways and elder brother ways.  The church of my growing up childhood and youth days was a church of about 50. The church where we attend here in is a church of about 5,000. The churches have this in common.   They are messy.      Thankfully, we have God’s unfailing love available to us during the hard times of our family life and church life. If you are lost and confused.   If you are in trouble and being rejected by others these kind of churches mig...

7.15- What do you learn from your animals? Hot house for positive growth families know the difference between healthy religion and toxic religion.   They are into healthy religion, but avoid toxic religion. When I was growing up, we had several key animals.     Three main horses.   Old Mac.   Ribbon.   Dodi.   We had one favorite dog. Siseye.   These were helpers and pets.   In addition there were cows that produced milk and calves to be sold for beef.   I have seen them times when we had not had enough rain that our stock ponds would get low on water.   A cow would wade off into the mud pond to get water and be stuck.   We normally did not work on Sunday to any great degree, but if a cow was stuck in a pond in order to save her life we would go all out to get her out.    Since our God is a God of love.   This is his character.   This means we carry out mercy to human beings and even our anima...