Check out items now up on the web this morning from my wee little brain:
* Devotional: God expects fruit
* Quick Bible Truths: Speak for God
* United Prayer: As the Winds Whip Up More to come, most likely. Still waiting on my IP to unfreeze access to our server, so I can post to our half-dozen sites there, including my main blog. I've turned to Posterous for a number of efforts lately. Posting by email is easy, though sometimes the format is a bit quirky. The devotional is what I've been translating from Portuguese and posting on my personal blog.
* Quick Bible Truths: Speak for God
* United Prayer: As the Winds Whip Up More to come, most likely. Still waiting on my IP to unfreeze access to our server, so I can post to our half-dozen sites there, including my main blog. I've turned to Posterous for a number of efforts lately. Posting by email is easy, though sometimes the format is a bit quirky. The devotional is what I've been translating from Portuguese and posting on my personal blog.
via Friendica
We just returned, Vicki and I, from the fourth study with a fine young
couple, with two kids, presenting the gospel to them. We're praying all
along that the Lord will keep Satan from choking the word in their
hearts. They are searching, they seem to have found friends and a home
already in the church here. We do hope the Lord will grant them
repentance. • I translated a song of The Missus' into English at the suggestion of the guy who apparently runs the site where a couple of my songs have been posted. He's a very helpful soul. When I mentioned offhand that she liked the music program he recommended to me and that she'd been writing some lyrics, he was interested in what she wrote. Except that it was in Portuguese. And he asked for translation. I asked her to see her lyrics, and worked today on the translation. She seemed pleased with the outcome. We'll let it set until tomorrow, do a final draft, then send it on to the tune guy. • Took the Portuguese mag up to a copy shop near the university to see if they might give me a decent price as I contemplate lower numbers with the next issue. Until now, I've been printing larger numbers and giving copies away, in hopes of encouraging people to subscribe. We're actually starting over with this issue. But I can't keep that up forever, so now it's time to scale back. Tomorrow I should get an estimate, and we'll see if this will be an option or not. They print our regional Urbanova paper and do a nice job of it. God of mercy, place your hand on me,
Let grace come down and touch me lovingly,
Give peace to smooth the brow and rest the mind,
Make strength and faith and courage grow entwined.
Where human eyes can never penetrate,
May hands hold firm, and feet step ever straight.
couple, with two kids, presenting the gospel to them. We're praying all
along that the Lord will keep Satan from choking the word in their
hearts. They are searching, they seem to have found friends and a home
already in the church here. We do hope the Lord will grant them
repentance. • I translated a song of The Missus' into English at the suggestion of the guy who apparently runs the site where a couple of my songs have been posted. He's a very helpful soul. When I mentioned offhand that she liked the music program he recommended to me and that she'd been writing some lyrics, he was interested in what she wrote. Except that it was in Portuguese. And he asked for translation. I asked her to see her lyrics, and worked today on the translation. She seemed pleased with the outcome. We'll let it set until tomorrow, do a final draft, then send it on to the tune guy. • Took the Portuguese mag up to a copy shop near the university to see if they might give me a decent price as I contemplate lower numbers with the next issue. Until now, I've been printing larger numbers and giving copies away, in hopes of encouraging people to subscribe. We're actually starting over with this issue. But I can't keep that up forever, so now it's time to scale back. Tomorrow I should get an estimate, and we'll see if this will be an option or not. They print our regional Urbanova paper and do a nice job of it. God of mercy, place your hand on me,
Let grace come down and touch me lovingly,
Give peace to smooth the brow and rest the mind,
Make strength and faith and courage grow entwined.
Where human eyes can never penetrate,
May hands hold firm, and feet step ever straight.
God answers the prayers of the righteous in marvelous ways. Read this translation from the Portuguese meditation site. Today's devotional comes from Luke 1, as we start the third gospel in our daily Bible readings. Why not join along? We're following a plan for slow readers: one chapter a weekday.
via Friendica
Is God our pizza delivery boy or the Creator we seek to know more each day? Our prayer requests reveal our vision of the gospel.
Read the devotional at the link above.
Lord, I really don't what to move. I like it here - there are so many memories. I am comfortable here because it is familiar. I know it is to large for me (us) now, to much work, but I have such mixed feelings. I don't like the thought of all the changes.
I am so glad you never change. You are and always will be a constant in my life. Help me to remember that when I am packing and unpacking. Amen.
Novena to the Sacred Heart (Never known to fail.)
“Dear Heart of Jesus, In the past I have asked you for favours. This time I ask you for this special favour _________ (insert your request here) ______________. Take it dear Jesus and place it within your own broken heart, where your father sees it. Then in His merciful eyes it will become your favour not mine. Amen”
Say this prayer for three days. Promise publication and favour will be granted.
The prayer above was taken from this Tuesday’s edition of the Connacht Sentinel. While the words are beautiful, I would entreat my Catholic friends, or others who pray according to prewritten texts like this, to re-examine their reasons for doing so. The Biblical picture of prayer is a pouring out of one’s soul before God (see Psalm 42:4). There is no Biblical example of a formulaic prayer, for which success is guaranteed following a set number of repetitions, as in the novena above. Jesus told his followers, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions” (Matthew 6:7a).
via galwaychurch.org
Word Cue: Isolated (Gr., eremos). Often translated as wilderness or desert, the term indicates an uninhabited place, hence, the NET translation as “isolated.” “The New Testament usually refers to the desert as a solitary place. Jesus repeatedly withdrew from the large crowds (Luke 4:42; 9:10-12) to these places for privacy and a time of prayer with His Father” (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary 1995: 349).
Click on the link above for the chapter text, the specific verse (also for memorization), the meditation, the prayer, and the action question.
1. Freedom from Fear
Perhaps more frequently than any other command, the Bible tells us not to fear. At the same time many of us live in cultures both saturated with and fueled by fear. I know I fear failure. I fear discomfort. I fear the loss of my health, security, and status. But this is not normal life for a follower of Jesus. John tells us that “perfect love drives out fear.”E. Stanley Jones, a world-class missionary who lived most of his life in India, encourages, “Then discipline yourself against all anxiety and fear. Fear is the enemy – not the thing of which we are afraid, for most of our fears are never realized. They never come. Those that do come can be used in the purposes for which we live.”
May God add his grace to our discipline, resulting in lives free from fear.
The above is the first thing to pray about for others. There are nine more. All of them, though coming from a denominational source, seem to have good application as we seek to be more specific in our prayers for those workers for whom we have prayed the Lord to send into the harvest.