Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 4.10- God give me more callouses on my knees and less on my heart and tongue. Help me to be slow to speak and quick to listen. More curious to learn and less quick to judge. James 1. 19  [ s ] You know  this , my beloved brothers  and sisters . Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak,  and  slow to anger;   20  for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.   21  Therefore, ridding  yourselves  of all filthiness and  all   [ t ] that remains of wickedness, in  [ u ] humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.   22  But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.   23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his  [ v ] natural face in a mirror;   24  for  once  he has looked at himself and gone away,...

 4.9- Before Jesus died He told his disciples to rejoice with Him that He was close to going home as His work was almost finished. If they really loved Him and understood what heaven was like they would rejoice with Him and for Him. He told one of His disciples not to hold on to Him. The most beautiful of joys and the most wonderful people on this earth are not ours to enjoy here forever. We do well to "hold things lightly." Enjoy every good and perfect gift as coming from God. Still, our focus is to worship and enjoy the creator, not the created. He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise. William Blake John 20. 11  But Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping; so as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb;   12  and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.   13  And they *said to...

 4.8- There a difference in liking someone and deep and abiding, "committed to the end" love for someone. We may not know which we have until the crucial moment to step up actually comes. God gives his strength into our weakness. It requires our humility and openness to receive His grace, mercy and peace. We often fail at this deep love and the Amazing Grace of God rescues us. We then can get busy helping others. John 21. 21  After these things Jesus  [ a ] revealed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He revealed  Himself  in this way:   2  Simon Peter, Thomas who was called  [ b ] Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the  sons  of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.   3  Simon Peter *said to them, “I am going fishing.” They *said to him, “We are also coming with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. 4...

 4.7- P.O.J. As we live through times of great evil and wickedness there is a tendency for the love of most people to grow cold. I hope that I am still a young at heart age 75 but I have noticed that we can think things are trustworthy and reliable that are not actually. P.O.J. In about 1970, a needed a jobcar. I found one that was peculiar and odd. A 1960 Yellow Ford Woody Wagon. I thought of it as Peculiar Odd Jobcar P.O.J. that ran well. When I spoke to the salesman he told me that the low price on it meant that “It wouldn’t last long” because a dealer was coming over to Beaumont, Texas to buy it for his own car lot on Monday. (We were speaking on a Saturday.) I called back on Wednesday and surprise, surprise it was still there. I bought it. I kept it only a couple of months. It didn’t measure up to being a P.O.J. that ran well. It didn’t even reach the status of Piece Of Junk that ran well. I began to think that some of the words of the car salesman were not reliable. I t...

 4.6- Great service and hospitality is powered by a deep reception and understanding of grace, mercy and peace. Luke 7. 36  Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined  at the table .   37  And there was a woman in the city who was a  [ w ] sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining  at the table  in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume,   38  and standing behind  Him  at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and  began  kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.   39  Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw  this , he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman  is  who is touching Him, that she is a  [ x ] sinner!” Parable of Two Debtors 40 ...

 4.5- I have come to the belief that the process of working through dirty things can result in getting important messages. Dishwashing and putting away dishes and silverware. Vacuuming. Cleaning the microwave and the front of the refrigerator and the mirrors. Taking out the trash and the garbage. Washing the car to remove gifts from birds and other dirt. These jobs can be considered dirty work. The servant workers get these jobs. I have two mail boxes in front of my house because the house was built as the beginning or end of one phase of construction of the neighborhood. The sidewalk stops at my house. The house to the West of me has a double mailbox. One is my neighbors and one is mine. Then in front of my house is an individual mailbox. My regular mail person delivers my snail mail to the neat, clean and non-rusty mailbox in front of my house. My back up mail person delivers my snail mail to the dirty, rusty, inconvenient for me mail box. Why? Because he/she finds this is...