Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 10.18- I think there is a cartoon character named Pogo who was right when he said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Inside our hearts there is a temptation to be less than all we could be. The most successful people have a strength to overcome the resistance to being excellent. Our mind is trained to believe in election years that if the right person wins, we will have a "better life." We also hope the outcome will help bring about justice and will make our lives a little better or a lot better. I believe that to be true. So I pray and pay my taxes and honor the government. If there is a competent person to vote for, I can do that also. In our great country we have the freedom for our government to be "of the people by the people and for the people", as Lincoln said. Next year when the voting has been done, the people in America and all nations will still have the opportunity to choose to be their best selves or their worst selves each day. I...

 10.17-   Turn Off the Scoreboard Joe Stowell At his son’s wedding reception, my friend Bob offered advice and encouragement to the newlyweds. In his speech he told of a football coach in a nearby town who, when his team lost a game, kept the losing score on the scoreboard all week to remind the team of their failure. While that may be a good football strategy, Bob wisely advised, it’s a terrible strategy in marriage. When your spouse upsets you or fails you in some way, don’t keep drawing attention to the failure. Turn off the scoreboard. What great advice! Scripture is full of commands for us to love each other and overlook faults. We are reminded that love “keeps no record of wrongs” (I Corinthians 13:5) and that we should be ready to forgive one another “just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). I am deeply grateful that God turns off the scoreboard when I fail. He doesn’t simply forgive when we repent; He removes our sin a...

 10.16-   Two-Winged Sun Isaiah 38:1-8 Poh Fang Chia For five years, an ancient clay seal remained in a closet in Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology. After the seal was dug up at the foot of the southern part of Jerusalem’s old city wall, initial examination failed to establish the significance of the nearly 3,000-year-old object. But then a researcher carefully scrutinized the letters on the seal, resulting in a major discovery. The inscription, written in ancient Hebrew, reads: “Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah.” At the center of the seal is a two-winged sun surrounded by two images symbolizing life. The archaeologists who discovered the seal believe that King Hezekiah began using this seal as a symbol of God’s protection after the Lord healed him from a life-threatening illness (Isaiah 38:1-8). Hezekiah had been pleading with the Lord to heal him. And God heard his prayer. He also gave Hezekiah a sign that He would ind...

 10.15-   The Ease of Ingratitude Randy Kilgore Thwip, thwap, thwip, thwap. The windshield wipers slamming back and forth trying to keep up with the pelting rain only added to my irritation as I adjusted to driving the used car I had just purchased – an old station wagon with 80,000+ miles and no side-impact airbag protection for the kids. To get this station wagon, and some badly needed cash for groceries, I had sold the last “treasure” we owned: a 1992 Volvo station wagon with side-impact airbag protection for the kids. By then, everything else was gone. Our house and our savings had all disappeared under the weight of uncovered medical expenses from life-threatening illnesses. “Okay, God,” I actually said out loud, “now I can’t even protect my kids from side-impact crashes. If anything happens to them, let me tell you what I’m going to do . . .” Thwip, thwap, thwip, thwap. (Gulp.) I was instantly ashamed. In the previous 2 years G...

 10.14-   Today I will not worry about food or drink or clothing. I will ask for daily provisions and know that God will provide for me like He does for the birds and squirrels in my backyard and the roses near my back porch.    Psalm 84. 1  How lovely is your dwelling place,      Lord Almighty! 2  My soul yearns, even faints,      for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh cry out      for the living God. 3  Even the sparrow has found a home,      and the swallow a nest for herself,      where she may have her young— a place near your altar,      Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4  Blessed are those who dwell in your house;      they are ever praising you. [ c ] 5  Blessed are those whose strength is in you,      whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6  As they pass...

 10.13- Been watching the people who have helped us during the pandemic. EMTs, Nurses, Doctors are people who care more about the life of people than they do their own life. Many of them have died during this hard time. There is no greater friend that someone who will lay down their own life for your life. The opposite is someone who will risk your life to enhance their own life. That person is going the opposite of the direction of Jesus who said to His followers. "Deny yourself and follow me." That is what good soldiers, policemen, firemen, teachers, nurses and doctors do every day. Thank you God for them. John 15. 12  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14  You are my friends if you do what I command.  

10.12-   Fair weather fans. These are with you during your good days, but in the hard times they leave you. Many, maybe most professional sports teams have mostly these kind of fans. Some people who claim to be believe in God are this way also. If things are good then there most be a God blessing me. If things are extremely bad they might cry out to God for help. But generally there is as temptation for all of us to be fair weather fans of God. I like the commitment of Habbakkuk the prophet 2500 years ago. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.