Devotional 2-27-15

Mark 8: 31-37                        Jesus Predicts His Death

³¹He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.  ³²He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  ³³But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.  “get behind me, Satan!”he said.  “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus goes on to warn the crowd that anyone who wants to follow him must deny themselves and be willing to lose their life!  He challenges us with this question- What can a man give in exchange for his soul?

This is a question that each of us tries to answer some time and some way during our life.  Therein is the challenge that Jesus presents to us.  Should we have in mind the things of man and enjoy earthly pleasures?  Or- can we find that spiritual place where we begin to look at things as God intended?  Imagine announcing to the disciples that you must deny and risk loss of life.  What?  No way!

Yet these followers were witnesses to “God With Us” and believed.

So where are you on your journey this Lenten season?  Are you like Peter and thinking in the ways of man or has the Holy Spirit challenged you to respond to his calling?  There is a quotation attributed to Roy Disney that goes “ Ir’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”  If you are reading this then you know what you value most.  What better time than Lent to reinvigorate your faith thru the things of God?  May it always be so!

Prayer: Heavenly father we thank you for the witness of believers.  Forgive us when we turn our thoughts to earthly things.  Continue to feed our souls spirtually with your word so we can do your will here on Earth.  Thank you for the promise of forgiveness and eternal life through your son Jesus Christ.  Amen

Marv Jones

Devotional 2-20-15

More Than a Promise

Read Gen.9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, I Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15

Above are four scriptures. When you read them, you will find one word either stated or implied in each. That word is covenant. Now, there is a Bible word for you! It is certainly not one I use when posting on Facebook, but it is a word that I’ve heard since my youth. How many times have I looked at a rainbow and thought of God’s covenant with Noah? How would my world be different if God had not issued the Ten Commandments as part of His covenant with Moses?

What is a covenant? I used to think that it was a promise, but it is more than that. If I promise you something, it is up to me to follow through. If we form a covenant, we both have conditions to meet. Along with the shared responsibility, we may also recite an oath and follow it with some kind of sign when the contract is fulfilled. When Don and I were married forty years ago, we vowed before God to love one another as long as we were both alive. Our rings were an outward sign of that covenant.

On Wednesday, February 18, we will again begin our Lenten journey. At its end, we will celebrate the covenant of grace that God formed with us two thousand years ago. What conditions do we need to meet? None. Jesus Christ met them for us. What do we stand to gain? Forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life. What a contract! What a gift!

Join me in singing the following hymn as a prayer of thanksgiving.

The Church’s One Foundation
By Samuel J. Stone
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.
Amen

Becky Warren

Devotional 2-13-15

ARE YOU HAVING A GOOD DAY?

How is your day going? I hope it is going well. Just in case things could be looking better let me remind you of some words of wisdom written by Michael Perry, a Church of England clergyman who penned over three hundred hymns in the nineteen sixties and later in the twentieth century.

 HEAL ME, HANDS OF JESUS
(#262 in the United Methodist hymnal)

Heal me, hands of Jesus, and search out all my pain;
Restore my hope, remove my fear, and bring me peace again.

Cleanse me, blood of Jesus, take bitterness away;
Let me forgive as one forgiven and bring me peace today.

Know me, mind of Jesus, and show me all my sin;
Dispel the memories of guilt and bring me peace within.

Fill me, joy of Jesus, anxiety shall cease,
And heaven's serenity be mine, for Jesus brings me peace.

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

Jean Dean

Devotional 2-6-15

I recently cleaned out a drawer of my computer desk. Let's just say, it was interesting. I found a boat-load of quotations, pages ripped off of calendars or out of magazines. I'm going to share a dozen of them with you today. Let me know your favorite.

1. The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today. (St. Francis of Assisi). 
2. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.  (Richard Bach)
3. Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.  (Mark Twain)
4. The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity. (Francis Maitland Balfour)
5. Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. (W. T. Purkiser)
6. America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.  (Wilma Mankiller)
7. One filled with joy preaches without preaching.  (Mother Teresa)
8. Now the message that we have heard from His Son and announce is this: God is light and there is no darkness at all in him.  (I John 1:5)
9. You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.  (Anne Lamott)
10. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers and sisters.  (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
11. Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern, and so do you. (T.A. Barron)
12. You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.  (Golda Meir)

Anita Gardner Farrell