Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 7.31- Sources of my joy today. God provides ways to make a positive response to life. If you are lonely, reach out to extend to new friendships. If you are blessed with children be sure to not hinder them and be careful with your words. If you have a mother and father, then honor them. If you are happy, sing joyful songs. If you are sad cry out to God. If you are sick pray to God for help and healing. If you are doubtful about there being a creator of the universe, open your eyes and your heart. If you are rich, and most Americans are, be sure and thank God for daily bread. Concerned about the heat, give away bottles of cold water on this hot summer day. Remember if you believe in something it is good to use discernment and speak your hopeful beliefs to others. James 5. 13  Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.   14  Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them...

7.30-   Sometimes I repeat phrases to my family until we all know it. "God will provide" is such a phrase. Other times I repeat it because we know it. It is not a vain repetition but a worthy repetiton.. Our Father is in heaven. His name is Hallowed. His kingdom has come and is coming into our hearts today. Give us today our daily bread (and other needs and wants). Forgive our sins(prodigal sins and religious bigot sins). As we forgive others. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Matthew 6. 5  “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.   6  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.   7  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they ...

 7.29- The Summer prior to my marriage. A big turning point was July 17, 1967. 55 years ago today. I was planning to get married in a few weeks and I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the preparations. Sheila and I will hopefully celebrate 55 years together on September 1 of this year, but the summer was a bit scary for me. I am not a person who does well with big decisions and who you will marry is one of the biggest decisions a person will ever make. During the summer we had planned to be together but the jobs we hoped to have in the same city did not materialize. We decided that this was best in a way because we could enjoy a final summer with our own families in our own communities. I begin to think of what I really needed to help me be the kind of husband I wanted to be and it was daunting. Looking back I needed several things to help me have a good marriage. I met with a minister friend for some counseling and was blessed with a surprising "be still and know that I a...

 7.28- When Jesus heard some blind men being told to stop asking him for mercy he called them over and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to Jesus, "We want our sight." Jesus healed them. Instead of telling them to stop asking for what they wanted Jesus healed them. Jesus didn't come to earth to avoid helping people. In my opinion, sometimes it seems organized religion has itself set up to avoid helping people. When this happens those places shouldn't have the name of Jesus Christ in their name. Jesus did not come to earth to establish organized religious institutions. He came to help lost people find their way home. Matthew 20. 29  As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.   30  Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 31  The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder...

 7.27- True happiness comes from helping others. Luke 10. 25  On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26  “What is written in the Law?”  he replied.  “How do you read it?” 27  He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ [ c ] ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [ d ] ” 28  “You have answered correctly,”  Jesus replied.  “Do this and you will live.” 29  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30  In reply Jesus said:  “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.   31  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.   3...

 7.26- Believe something is possible and amazing things can happen. Helen Keller was blind, but she believed she could do amazing things in spite of this and look what happened. Here some amazing things that blind people have done. Blind race car driver? Yes. Blind painter? Yes. Blind architect? Yes. Blind musician? Yes. Blind mountain climber? Yes. How can this be? It requires someone who believes in God and can see the unseen. Jesus was one who believed in His heavenly Father and taught us to pray to Him. He also taught that in for prayer to work properly we must believe, receive, pray without doubting and forgive everyone of anything they have done to us. Then we can receive a blessing that is beyond imagination. Do you believe in God though you cannot see Him? Have you seen people help you in amazing ways who have seen Him carry them through hard times? I have. If you don’t love your neighbor whom you can see, how can you say you love God whom you cannot see? We have nei...

 7.25- We are given breath each day. This morning I am thankful for this today. Between now and my last breath there is some work to finish. It not necessary to move at high speed to accomplish our work. There were times that I could run up the stairs at my house in Denver two steps at a time. I could go up and down stairs without handrails. I thought that on a good day I would work smart and fast. I would know more success by multitasking. In those days I didn't know the life of the lame person. I didn't see many of them for any length of time. I kept moving at my work so I could accomplish as much as possible. About 16,357 days ago I hit a wall spiritually. I was busy and from a worldly point of view I knew how to stay busy and appear to be fruitful. Inside I was tired, burned out and without joy. I had to change something if I was going to be a successful follower of Jesus. I noticed that Jesus started His day not by running here and there with His guys. He didn...