To Follow and Remember

Matthew 6:12-15 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (We will talk about these tomorrow) For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. I think forgiveness is one of the biggest markers of our Christian faith. It's a really big deal. It is the road, the path, the street that gets us to God. Without forgiveness we are left hanging out with our sin. We are full of shame, full of regret, full of fear and alone. Think of Adam and Eve: as soon as they ate the apple, their world changed.  Boom. Naked, afraid, shamed, alone. God didn't tell them to feel those things, they felt them all on their own. God killed the first animal as a sacrifice to cover their nakedness and then they were set apart from him. But remember, God promised that day th...

This morning I'd like to press pause on the Lord's Prayer. We know the New Year is coming up and we know the tradition of our church is to begin the year with a fast. I have been thinking and praying about this fast a good bit and want y'all to please do the same. I think Pastor Gregg is so wise to encourage and challenge us to fast. First of all, it's Biblical. So why don't we see more Christians fasting?  I'd like for us to look at Daniel's life this morning. When Daniel was 15 years old, he was carried off to a foreign land, basically as a prisoner of war. The nation of Babylon prized the strongest, smartest and wisest. So Daniel was already a good looking, popular, smart, athletic guy. But the king wanted to take these guys and keep them in a program for 3 years to see who was really the top of the top. This was not a nation that knew God.  Our nation is treasuring God less and less as time goes on. Our culture is going farther and farther a...

Give us this day our daily bread.... It may seem on first thought that this phrase is simply asking God to make sure we have enough to eat today. And it may very well be. But I couldn't help but think about the multiple times in the New Testament gospels, but really throughout the whole scripture, that bread is mentioned. So I typed bread into my search option in my phone Bible app and copied a few of those mentions of bread here for us to read over. I did make sure that they are all actually the same Greek word because some words, like love, are translated "love" in English but there are several Greek words for love that we just don't have in English. So bread in the NT, ready?  Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It i...

One more thing... how would you like to see see Jesus live out what he preaches?? Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told the disciples, "Sit here while I go over thre and pray. Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and deeply distresssed. Then He said to them, "My soul is swallowed up in sorrow- to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with Me." Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." When Jesus came to earth, he came fully as God but fully as man; so he felt the full pressure of being a man and feeling the full pain of the temptation and sin. He didn't just tell us what to do, he experienced it. So when you pray to him, pray to him like he understands.

Thy Kindgom come, Thy will be done,  On earth as it is in Heaven.... I really love this prayer. It centers my heart on the Lord. It gets my perspective off just only seeing this moment, to seeing this moment within the bigger moment of my life, and more importantly, eternity (my forever life). It is important to see life this way. We can't always just look at the tiny moment we are in because we would always want to do what makes us happy for just that moment- we would probably find ourselves on the couch, eating ice cream and watching tv. Nor can we only look at eternity because then we may feel that worship is all that matters and neglect what God is calling us to do here. So we've got to keep our eyes on what our calling here is and the eternity that is coming. God has work for us to do here and he will greet us when we get to Heaven. We want him to say, "well done good and faithful servant." So this prayer centers my heart. So now that leaves me wi...

Let's take some time to think on prayer. Prayer is one of the ways we put Gods word in our life into action. We know a lot about Gods word, we study it, read it, learn it; then what do we do with it? When we pray, we are telling God we trust him and look to see him working in our lives. It is a conversation. We talk with our friends, it is necessary to talk to keep a friendship. So let's talk about prayer. First, let's spend some time talking about the Lord's Prayer. It, obviously, is the best prayer of Jesus taught it to his disciples. Daddy has been so wise to make it a regular habit to pray it with y'all. So let's think on it. Our Father,  Who art in Heaven,  Hallowed be thy name. Our Father... Can you imagine the surprise of the disciples to hear Jesus call God his Father? And encourage them to do the same?  When Jesus died for our sins, he made us co-heirs with himself; that means we have the same family inheritance. What is an inheritance?...

Ugh. I confess, I'm a bit bummed. I enjoyed so much looking at the names of Jesus, researching them, finding pictures to grab your attention. I loved sharing the word of God with y'all. It was challenging and inspiring. I loved it. But now my list is done. Daddy asked me to keep going. I don't want to pull verses out of the air to give to you, I want it to be God's message to you so I will pray..... but i do have one for today!! And I think this is just what I needed.  After Jesus born, God showed the wise men the star, they followed and they worshipped. I love that Gregg and Kari keep the alters open to fall to our knees and worship. Let's make it a priority in our lives when we see God in our lives, when he shows us the way, when he shows us where to move and reveals himself to us.... let's fall in our knees in worship.

Dear Fara gave us a list of 25 names of Jesus to treasure and ponder during Advent. As the kids grow, my desire is to keep taking them into the Word of God. I long for them to know and follow Jesus and to trust him to be the Lord of their life. In him, there is abundance of life. So each day, I took these names and looked at them in the scripture and texted it to them. John wanted them to be saved, so I thought I may as well gather them here so they will be saved. I think from here forward, I may post my thoughts for them here and text them the link so we can look back on what my thoughts for my kids are. I long for us to FOLLOW him and REMEMBER. Day 1: It's ADVENT!!! Jesus came and will come again. He said of himself in Revelation... I am the Alpha and the Omega. The first and the Last, the beginning and the end. Revelation 22:12-13 Day 2: Advent day 2! Isaiah 9:6. This is Isaiah talking about the birth of Jesus looooonnnngggg before he was born. Amazing!!  Let h...