I Love You Lord

I love You Lord and I lift my voice
to worship You, O my soul rejoice.
Take joy my King in what You hear,
may it be a sweet sweet sound in Your ear.

Songwriters: KLEIN LAURIE B

I Love You Lord lyrics © House Of Mercy Music, UMPG BRENTWOOD-BENSON PUB. OBO MARANATHA PRAISE, INC., UMPG BRENTWOOD-BENSON PUB. OBO HOUSE OF MERCY MUSIC

A short, simple praise chorus that I learned years ago.  It is one that goes through my head often....pieces of it have been in my head when I couldn't seem to come up with anything else, not even a prayer.
Recently it has become an integral beginning to my prayer time.
One day while I began to pray and this immediately began in my head....I realized it had become an automatic part of my communication with my Lord....and I began to disect it...was it a good way to start my prayer time? .... Was it a prayer in itself? Etc etc...

So I decided to look at it in parts:

"I love You Lord"
The basic tenant of who I am, of who any Christian is. We choose to love our God, to follow Him.
📖  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37

"And I lift my voice"
That is what prayer is, praise is, worship is.
📖 I will lift my voice to sing Your praise, O my Strength—
    for You came to my defense.    O God, You have shown me Your loving mercy. Psalm 59:17 (the Voice)

"To worship you"
Not just during prayer time, but with my whole existence, worship my God
📖  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

"O, my soul rejoice"
I take joy, pleasure in the depths of my being in my relationship with my creator.  My soul, which is His.
📖  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Philippians 4:4

"Take joy my King"
It becomes not about me, but about Him.  How can i serve Him? How can I Love Him? How can i bring Him Joy?
📖  For the Lord takes delight in his people;    he crowns the humble with victory. Psalm 149:4

"In what You hear"
It is about my responses to Him.  Not just the words I "speak" to Him, but what "sounds" resonate off my life, off all I do!!
📖 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer, 1 Peter 3:12a

"May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear" 
At the end of it all...my prayers, my activities, my day, my life...
may ALL of it separately and collectively bring honor, and glory to God the Father, but this line speaks of something even more intimate...what we do brings something to Him personally, meant only for His "ear"
and I pray it be melodious and sweet!
Now listen with your heart to the song and may it penetrate your prayer time!

I Love You Lord Petra

Don't Judge a Gift by It's Wrap

As we move away from the festivities of Christmas, and new year...we pack away the decorations, gather up the trimmings, deciding which is worth saving, and what needs throwing away.
We dispose of the bags of wrapping paper....as I look at it  it makes me think of all the wrapped gifts...some that were a work of art in the wrapping, to some of mine that I managed to put in a bag and throw some tissue over it!  BUT it all ends up in the same place doesn't it?  So the wrapping …
how it was wrapped does not depict the importance of the gift...or determine it's worth.

Isn't that the same with the most important Gift of all?  A tiny baby, not wrapped in royal blankets; not in a cradle adorned with jewels and gold; not surrounded by courtiers and royal care givers.

He was wrapped in swaddling cloth, they type of cloth used by any mother of the time and region, and wrapped in a fashion any caring mother would.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6

At first sight it was an ordinary birth, of an ordinary child.....at first glance...
BUT as the angels proclaimed, as the wise men predicted, as Mary and Joseph knew,
this wasn't an ordinary conception, and was not going to be an ordinary baby!

The old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"...Jesus's growing up was as any child of a carpenter of that day.  His parents observed all the Jewish customs and holidays.  BUT again, don't let that fool you!
At a very young age, around 12, He disappeared from the group of people He was traveling with because He needed to be "about His Father's business"....teaching about His Father in the temple.
A little inkling to how "out of the ordinary" this boy was.

When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.  After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.  When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?" Luke 2:42-49

His birth and life may have seemed fairly ordinary, but under the wrap and the outward appearance it was/is the most extraordinary life!  AND the most extraordinary thing is; He did it all for us, for you and for me!

Make sure you "unwrap" all the marvelous things Christ has for you!  The bible is just full of all kinds of extra-ordinary!

My  prayer is you find many amazing things every day as you spend time with Christ!
And I pray that you "HAVE" to be where your Father wants you to be!

Bless the Calluses

I know this might sound like an odd title...but bear with me...it might make sense!
When we see calluses we usually think of some one who is a hard worker or some one who has done something repetitive enough to have changed the look and feel of the skin
Like;
On the hands.. we think of it as a result of hard manual work.
But, how about if we have built those calluses up by laboring for others...serving in any way God shows us?
📖    In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Calluses on our feet, due to the constant movement for Him.  Going where ever He leads,  spreading His love and gospel how ever far we need to.
📖  How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Isaiah 52:7

Calluses on our knees....because we are humbled before our God..on our knees in prayer so often we build calluses on them.
📖  ^"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

📖 For this reason I kneel before the Father,  Ephesians 3:14

But what about places there shouldn't  be calluses ...things we try NOT to do repeatedly....
No callused tongues... Built up from constant harsh words or bitter remarks stemming from blindness and  judgement.
📖  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry  James 1:19

No callused shoulders...from large chips being carried around creating pride, discontentment, entitlement, self righteousness.
📖 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Ephesians 2:3-4
📖 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 

This New Year let's work to build calluses where they will do the most good and avoid having them form where they shouldn't.
Try to seek God daily; the more time we spend with Him, the better we know Him, the more willing we are to serve. We will see where we can make the most impact. From right in our homes with our family and friends to our communities and beyond!
May 2019 be a year of callused hands, feet, and especially knees!!!

In this New Year praying you can look back and find blessings, moments of joy, reflect on lessons learned, see God's hand moving in your days, holding you in your sadness, walking beside you in your joys!
 I will continue to share what God lays on my heart each week, and continue to pray for YOU!

Love and Christ

Since today is Christmas Eve I thought it would work to include the last 2 candles of advent. Yesterday was Love and tonight is the Christ candle.  I pray that CHRIST'S  HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE fill you as you celebrate His birth. 

                                                 Love 12/23         

          LIGHT THE FIRST PURPLE CANDLE, “Jesus is our HOPE”

       LIGHT THE SECOND PURPLE CANDLE “Jesus is our PEACE”
          LIGHT THE PINK CANDLE “Jesus is our JOY”

1 John 4:9-12

                        ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

LIGHT LAST  PURPLE CANDLE, Jesus is Love

We light this candle to represent LOVE.  God loved us so much he sent his only Son and Christ loved us enough to come to earth and lay down is life so that all people can be saved.  Through out the year we may love others as Christ loves us.

John 3:16-17

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

    PRAYER 

                        Our Lord God and gracious Father, we thank You for Your Son and the gift He was, and is, to all of us.  “Lord in You our hearts rejoice, for we trust in Your holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You.” (from Psalm 21-22)

                                               Christ Candle (Christmas eve)

                    “For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

                                                                                                                            Luke 2:11   

“CHRIST IS OUR HOPE”

            LIGHT THE 1^st  PURPLE CANDLE


      “But God demonstrates His own LOVE for us in this:  While we were yet sinners, Christ died              for us.” Romans 5:8 
                        “CHRIST IS LOVE”
  LIGHT THE 2^nd PURPLE CANDLE


                             “Behold, I bring you good news of a great JOY which will come to all the people…” Luke2:10
                        “CHRIST IS OUR JOY”
LIGHT THE PINK CANDLE


"Glory to God in the highest, PEACE on earth, good will toward men” Luke 2:14
                        “CHRIST IS OUR PEACE”
             .LIGHT THE LAST  PURPLE CANDLE

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 1 John 1:1-5

       Jesus Christ is all of these, He is the greatest Gift.  He makes all these other gifts possible.  So, we light the Christ candle now, as we think about what His coming means to each one of us.

       LIGHT THE LARGE WHITE CANDLE

      

Romans 15:13 “ May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE  by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

Prayer:

We thank you God, for your gift of Jesus Christ to the whole world.  We thank you that His coming makes HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE possible for every person in every nation. Encourage us to do our part to bring goodwill, and peace to our families, our churches and our neighborhoods and  the world.

Now  may Your Spirit fill this place and our hearts so  that this Christmas Eve brings you all the honor and glory befitting our Great and merciful GOD.  Amen                        

JOY

                                      

                                   Joy

                        LIGHT THE FIRST Purple CANDLE,  “Jesus is our HOPE”

                        LIGHT SECOND  Purple CANDLE, “Jesus is our PEACE”

                        Luke 2: 9- 10

⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

LIGHT THE PINK CANDLE

We light this candle to represent JOY.  The JOY that comes with the anticipation of the birth of a King.  The JOY that comes from knowing and accepting who Jesus is and what He came to this earth to do for you and for me. 

     John 15:10-11

¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

                                               

Prayer is from Psalm 28:7
“Lord you are our strength and shield; our hearts trust in you, and we are helped. Our hearts leap for JOY and we give thanks to you in song.” 

Lord may our joy be complete this season and throughout the year as we love others in the same way you love us.

PEACE

                                                                     

                                                                      Peace 

                        LIGHT THE FIRST PURPLE CANDLE, “ Jesus Christ is our HOPE”

                        Light the 2^nd  PURPLE CANDLE

“We light this candle to represent PEACE.   

He came to bring peace, to preach peace, to be our peace!

 His presence gives us peace,  that can sustain us day by day.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. Colossians 3:15

                         The PRAYER is from John 14:27

Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  Lord thank You for Your peace that is available to all, I pray that those here today take comfort in Your peace.   Amen

My prayer  for you is that you feel His peace today!

HOPE

Advent is here!  A time of anticipation of the coming of something great....we reflect on the anticipation of the coming of a Savior so many years ago, we find peace and joy in His coming as a child born humbly to save us from our own sin and unrighteousness and we anticipate His coming again...

  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.    John 14:3

Each Monday through Christmas we will do the Advent together.  If you are able an Advent wreath with the candles representing Hope, Peace, Joy and Love make a nice addition to your holiday décor and to doing this devotion.

HOPE

            LIGHT THE FIRST PURPLE CANDLE

  “We light this candle to represent HOPE. The prophecy of HOPE for a Savior to come.

READ Isaiah 9:6-7 

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.”

HOPE in the birth of a child . 

Luke  1:31-33

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

We have the HOPE of Christ’s coming again.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

                       

We HOPE for the Savior’s love to be spread through-out the world.

                        Prayer

Heavenly Father we thank you for the hope that we have in You.  You were, are and will be forever the HOPE of the world! May all who are here place their hope in You and You alone


See you next Monday for Coffee With A Dear Friend as we light the Peace candle.