Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 1.24.21- God wants children to be cherished and protected.  He created them to be humble and curious and loving education.  A part of this is where did this earth come from questions.  The teacher who knows God has a blessing from God when he/she helps children to know God to be God of love.  We must never hinder their growth toward God. Matthew 19. 13  Then  some  children were brought to Him so that He would lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.   14  But Jesus said,  “ [ i ] Leave the children alone, and do not  [ j ] forbid them to come to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”   15  After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.

 1.23- Marriage from Jesus' viewpoint is a serious vow. Matthew 19. 19  When Jesus had finished these words, He left Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan;   2  and  [ a ] large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. 3  Some  Pharisees came to  [ b ] Jesus, testing Him and  [ c ] asking, “Is it lawful  for a man  to  [ d ] divorce his wife for any reason  at all ?”   4  And He answered and said,  “Have you not read that He who created  them  from the beginning  made them male and female ,   5  and said, ‘ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and   the two shall become one flesh ’?   6  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

 1.22.21- What did religious leaders of His day do to Him?  They tested Him. Matthew 19. 19  When Jesus had finished these words, He left Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan;   2  and  [ a ] large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. 3  Some  Pharisees came to  [ b ] Jesus, testing Him and  [ c ] asking, “Is it lawful  for a man  to  [ d ] divorce his wife for any reason  at all ?”   4  And He answered and said,  “Have you not read that He who created  them  from the beginning  made them male and female ,   5  and said, ‘ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and   the two shall become one flesh ’?   6  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”   7  They *said to Him, “Why, then, did Moses c...

 1.21- Defending God Luke 9:51-56 Tim Gustafson The anti-God bumper stickers covering the car seized the attention of a university professor. As a former atheist himself, the professor thought perhaps the owner wanted to make believers angry. “The anger helps the atheist to justify his atheism,” he explained. Then he warned, “All too often, the atheist gets exactly what he is looking for.” In recalling his own journey to faith, this professor noted the concern of a Christian friend who invited him to consider the truth of Christ. His friend’s “sense of urgency was conveyed without a trace of anger.” He never forgot the genuine respect and grace he received that day. Believers in Jesus often take offense when others reject Him. But how does He feel about that rejection? Jesus constantly faced threats and hatred. Once, when a village refused Him hospitality, James and John wanted instant retaliation. “Lord,” they asked, “do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them” (...

  1.20.21- If I counted correctly tomorrow will be the 14th President inaugurated since I was born. I will pray for the safety and peaceful transition of administrations as I have done for many years. God bless America. 2 Chronicles 7. 14  and My people  [ c ] who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  

 1.20- Blink and Think of God Deuteronomy 32:1-2 Amy Peterson “God is like an eyelid,” my friend Ryley said, and I blinked in surprise. What could she mean by that? “Tell me more,” I replied. Together, we had been studying surprising pictures of God in the Bible, things like God as a laboring mother (Isaiah 42:14) or as a beekeeper (7:18), but this one was new to me. Ryley pointed me to Deuteronomy 32, where Moses praises the way God takes care of His people. Verse 10 says that God shields and protects His people, guarding them “as the apple of his eye.” But the word we translate apple, Ryley told me, literally means pupil. And what encircles and guards the pupil? The eyelid of course! God is like the eyelid, which instinctively protects the tender eye. The eyelid guards the eye from danger and by blinking helps remove dirt or dust. It keeps sweat out of the eye. It lubricates the eyeball, keeping it healthy. It closes, allowing rest. As I considered the picture of God as an eyelid...

 1.19- The Ministry of Memory Jeremiah 29:4-14 David McCasland Our experiences of loss and disappointment may leave us feeling angry, guilty, and confused. Whether our choices have closed some doors that will never reopen or, through no fault of our own, tragedy has invaded our lives, the result is often what Oswald Chambers called “the unfathomable sadness of ‘the might have been.’” We may try to suppress the painful memory, but discover we can’t. Chambers reminds us that the Lord is still active in our lives. “Never be afraid when God brings back the past,” he said. “Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the ‘might have been’ into a wonderful [place of growth] for the future.” In Old Testament days when God sent the people of Israel into exile in Babylon, He told them to serve Him in that foreign land and grow in faith until He brought them back to their home. “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares th...

 1.18.21- In the afternoon of 9.8.03 Sheila and I went to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. After the events of the last six days I remember the words we saw there from the heart of A. Lincoln. I have appreciated the humility he brought to his job in trying to heal the wounds of a divided nation. I come from a family who has needed a lot of mercy as we walked through this life. Were it not for the mercy of God and His kindness expressed through his people after I had messed things up I do not know where I would be right now. I suspect I would be dead. I have gotten myself out on many limbs and then sawed them off and have fallen to the ground. Someone in my family and spiritual family have picked me up and helped me dust myself off and move forward. This has happened over and over for me. Back to the Lincoln Memorial "With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to...