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Love Your Neighbor

In our women’s Bible study, we have spent some time discussing the Ten Commandments. I wrote a few thoughts about the first four – you can find those posts here. The last five Jesus summed up in one statement, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the…

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#10 commandments #adultery #coveting #lying #neighbor #stealing

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Sabbath Rest

This week, I am thinking about and reflecting on the Ten Commandments. Our women’s Bible study is working through Exodus, and we are sitting with Exodus 20 for a couple of weeks. If you want to read the previous posts on the first three commandments, here are the links:Serve Him Only … about the first two commandmentsRemembering Whose We Are … about the 3rd commandment #4 “Remember to observe…

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#holy days #reality #rest #Sabbath #shadow

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Remembering Whose We Are

Over the next few days, I am writing down just a few thoughts about the Ten Commandments. They have captured my attention in our Women’s Bible study. Too often, we brush them off as no longer relevant, dusty old laws replaced somehow by something different. But while they are old and quite possibly seem dusty, they are pertinent to our lives today. I wrote about the first two commandments here ……

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#10 commandments #bearing His name #for His name&039;s sake #Hallowed be your name #name

[bethf1300]

Serve Him Only

In our study of Exodus, we are spending a couple of weeks on the Ten Commandments. These ancient laws have captured my attention and interest. I’m curious how the commandments are discussed in the new covenant and how they apply to our lives today. In today’s post, I look at just the first two commandments – serving Him only! #1 Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am…

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#10 commandments #allegiance #Exodus #idolatry #one true God #single-minded

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Words, Mystery and Power

‘Tis a strange mystery, the power of words!Life is in them, and death. A word can sendThe crimson colour hurrying to the cheek.Hurrying with many meanings; or can turnThe current cold and deadly to the heart.Anger and fear are in them; grief and joyAre on their sound; yet slight, impalpable:–A word is but a breath of passing air. ~ Leticia Landon The Power of Words The words we speak to…

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#conversation #encouragement #Leticia Landon #magic 5-to-1 #negative interactions #positive interactions #Power of words #Rick Hanson #Scott Sauls

[bethf1300]

lost on bare branches

I captured this picture of a jacket hanging on bare branches some time ago. That lost jacket captured my imagination. I began to think about objects lost. But then I was reminded that if we are not careful, we can also lose sight of the present. The jacket hanging on bare branches speaks of life lost in the living, barren, stark, lonely. On Instagram, I see all sorts of “new year” ideas. Some…

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Renewed Energy

The first week of the new year is completed. I didn’t make resolutions or create new goals. But I have begun working on some things with renewed energy that have been lingering thoughts for the past month. Bible Reading My Bible reading has been haphazard in the past few months. I haven’t been working on a specific plan since I dropped out of the reading plan I had chosen last January. Instead,…

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#Bible reading #Bible study #broken shoulder #cooking #exercise #new year&039;s resolutions

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Pushing Back Darkness

Light is pushing back the darkness, minute by minute. Since December 22, the Winter Solstice, our sunlight increases daily in increments of 2 to 3 minutes daily. By the middle of January, we will have an hour more daylight than dark. A line from Mark Strands’ poem, “The Coming of the Light” …  Even this late it happens:the coming of love, the coming of light.You wake and the candles are lit as…

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#chromotherapy #dancing #light #Mary Pipher #Rabbi Prager #winter

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Consider His Goodness

God made himself known to us.  The splintering sunbeams, the majestic sky, the sea that rolls just to the edge and stops, the breeze in the trees. These all shout there is a divine creator who is so into our lives’ details, science, and creativity. God quizzes Job I read the book of Job this week. Much of the book is difficult, but I am captivated when I get to those last chapters, the ones…

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#Christoper Wright #God&039;s goodness #Job 38-42 #R. S. Thomas #unknowable

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Artists of the Everyday

Revisiting inspirational books I’ve been revisiting favorite books on my shelf – two that stand out are written by Eugene Peterson. Leap Over a Wall is about David’s life, and Run with the Horses is about Jeremiah. I wish I had dated my notes in these books. I may have been reading them for more than 20 years. A chapter in Run with the Horses is perfect for January when we reconsider our…

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#2024 #artists #Dallas Willard #effot not earning #Eugene Peterson #Glenn Packiam #obedience #resolutions

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Bat-Blind and Chosen

Today, I have an assortment of random thoughts and quotes that resonate deeply. While I am infinitesimally small, God has chosen me. As the Psalmist said, “what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:4) Eugene Peterson uses a phrase in his book, Leap Over a Wall, that resonates tonight …  “in my insignificant, sheep-keeping…

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#2024 #cultivating spirituality #Eugene Peterson #Frederick Buechner #Marianne Moore #New Year

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Healing in His Wings

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. Malachi 4:2 ESV Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!Hail the Sun of Righteousness!Light and life to all he brings,risen with healing in his wings.Mild he lays his glory by,born that we no more may die,born to raise us from the earth,born to give us…

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#Charles Wesly #Day of the Lord #Hark the Herald Angels Sing #healing #the last days

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Herald His Birth

We were discussing a Christmas hymn in our community group the other day. Many have studied the theology in the hymns before, but a few have not. A few days ago, I wrote about Joy to the World. Today, let’s look at the hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” The hymn’s stanzas declare the nature of God. It is also a poignant expression of our deep longing for Him. And, of course, the hymn expresses…

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#God Came Near #Hark the Herald Angels Sing #incarnation #joy #longing for God

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Gladness in Song

I’ve been listening to Christmas music this morning. The hymn, “Joy to the World,” lifts my spirits. This is a season of great gladness, not just a season of waiting and pondering. Penned by Isaac Watts in 1719, “Joy to the World” not only captures the essence of Christmas but also serves as a powerful devotional guide for us during this sacred time.  It holds a profound message about the nature…

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#Isaac Watts #Joy to the World #longing for God #nature of God #unparalleled delight

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The Paradox of the Incarnation

Indeed, the mystery of godliness is certainly great: He was revealed in the flesh, and vindicated in the spirit; he appeared to angels, and was announced to Gentiles; he was believed in the world, and taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:16 NTFE What is the paradox of the incarnation? I wrote about how Jesus reveals the Living God in a previous post. Through the incarnation, the Invisible and…

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#God Came Near #How Low Was Our Redeemer Brought #incarnation #longing for God #Max Lucado #paradox #Sovereign Grace Music

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Revelation

On this first Sunday of Advent, we are thinking about “revelation.”  Revelation means to uncover, to explain, or to reveal. Ron and I love the Advent season.  We did not grow up celebrating Advent. Our focus was just on Christmas.  In the last 20 years or so, we have been a part of churches that recognize and celebrate Advent. We have come to appreciate the emphasis on the coming of Jesus, the…

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#disclosure of who God is #Hebrews 1:1-3 #how we know what God is like #John 1:1-14 #revelation

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Pursue Jesus

“To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.” –A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God If we love Jesus and long to be in His presence, then we will pursue Him. The scripture admonishes us to seek or pursue the kingdom of God and His righteousness.…

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#conscious choice #contend for the faith #effort #family likeness #Pursuing Jesus #Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness #set our minds and hearts on Him