Friday, December 26, 2014

Fantastic Friday #451 - Love

Love

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’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Luke 10:25-28
Do you think much about this command from God?  It is pretty easy to think it as something simple, but in the end how simple is it?  You can probably say it is easy to love God because He gave us life, gave us this creation, and gave us His Son.  But look at the second part of the command. If you can't love your neighbor, can you really love God fully with all your heart, strength and mind?  I used this is an example to two young men this week, and I think it hit home more to me as I was discussing this with them.  It is very important to love others because I think this only helps us love God more.  We need to find where we fall short in our love and remember how we should love.
Have a great weekend.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Fantastic Friday #450 - Herald

Herald


For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. 1 Timothy 2:5-7
 
Hark the Herald Angels sing.  That song is a wonderful melodic verse, and when you really break down the phrase, it says the following. Listen, the Announcing Celestial Beings Vocalize Melodically.  Now that doesn't have the same ring to it or roll off the tongue like Hark the Herald Angels Sing, but it does have the same meaning.  When we look at this scripture the Herald, Timothy, was bringing the Word of God to the Gentiles about how Jesus Christ is our mediator between God and us.  Can you think of how many Heralds there are in the Bible who announced the coming of Christ to be that mediator for us? What kind of Herald are you regarding Christ and His return.  You don't have to vocalize melodically the return of our Savior, but you can announce to others how He has changed you.  Be a Herald to people you meet and if you so choose, sing of His Grace.

Have a great weekend.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Fantastic Friday #449 - Prithee

Prithee

10 For, whoever would love life
    and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 1 Peter 3:10-13


Some of you might know what this means but to those of us less educated in vocabulary, prithee means the following: I pray thee.  Prithee is an archaic word that is rarely used today.  Now, if you break things down a bit we all know what pray means, right?  One definition of Pray is to make earnest petition.  We all know that when we pray we should do so humbly and respectfully, but do we ever pray without making earnest petitions?  If we don't make earnest petitions with our prayer, I am afraid that the Lord's ears are not going to be attentive to our prayers.  My challenge to you in your prayer life is the following:  Prithee(I pray you) humbly and respectfully lay your requests before God so His ears are attentive.  Do good this Christmas season.

Have a great weekend.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Fantastic Friday #448 - Useless

Useless

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58
 Do you ever get to that point when whatever you are working on, or doing for someone, or performing something feels useless?  At times the enemy will put these thoughts in your head to make you think whatever you are working on really isn't going to have an impact.  According to scripture however, this is completely untrue.  Standing firm in our beliefs for whatever we are involved in is always where we need to start. The firmness we have, as the scripture states, allows nothing to move us and that includes the thoughts the enemy puts in our mind.  As long as we start with the firm foundation, everything we work on, do for someone or perform should be useful, if not to everyone at least to someone.  Remember, God has us work daily to make people aware of Him through our actions and our words, so whatever we do it is not in vain as the scripture states.  Don't let the enemy make you think differently but let your actions and words speak useful things.

Have a great weekend.