Reflection

http://www.thedailytofu.com/westward-expansion-the-oregon-trail

Yesterday I had a moment of reflection.  If you ask most people in the U.S. about cell phones they will likely categorize them as absolutely essential.  There are even programs for free cell phones for those who can't afford them.  I get it.  They are quite handy to look up directions or to stay connected or in case of an emergency.  Does anyone pull out a map any more?  Same with the internet.  We take for granted that we can ask Google or Alexa any question--"How do I peel an avocado?  How do I put a bike together?  Where is Mammoth Cave?  What currency is used in Indonesia?  How do you survive a shark attack?"  I love that my kids can video chat with family across the country.

Do you remember the time before cell phones and the internet?  I do.  How did we get by without them?  How did we entertain ourselves without instant access to music, games, and news?  We talked to each other, actually looked around when we went outside.  Said 'hello!' to a neighbor and stopped to ask how they were doing.  Who chats now in real life?  Growing up I played Kings Quest and Oregon Trail on a computer with green letters and pixelated pictures on a black screen.  Keeping up with friends, my mom would have to stay in the kitchen because there was a cord!  And if you wanted to watch TV you watched what was on, unless you wanted to get out a VHS tape to watch.  And every day we'd go outside to play --> bouncy balls, frisbies, bubble wands, swing sets and imagination.  A trip to the library yielded a treasure of new worlds to explore:  Little House on the Prairie, Dr Seuss, Babysitter's Club.

https://fabfindsblog.com/

Our children take for granted the easy access to thousands of games and shows.  Will they be able to appreciate the change of the seasons?  Do they even know how to address a letter?  Can they hold a conversation without resorting to emojis?  Can they bare to put down the phone when they go to the restroom (really people!)  I pray that we will teach our children to connect with the real world, not just the virtual one.  To love nature walks and sports, to get away from the devices and look up!  We must teach them to trust not in Google and Youtube but in the Savior of the World.

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Hebrews 13 -- NIV

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹ equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Church is not a building...

The Church is not a building.  It is not bricks or stones, cement or glass.  When I lived in Florida, sometimes I drove to Lutz for work and would pass a small, white, one story church on the way.  It was the Lutz Church of Christ.  Looks like it would hold about 70 people or so.  I never attended that church, but the sign caught my eye.  It said "Lutz Church of Christ -- Meet Here."  The sign made a statement.  It was saying that the church is not contained just in those walls.  The Church is spread out throughout the community, they just happen to get together at that location on Sundays and Wednesdays.

The Church is not Protestant of Catholic, Lutheran or Baptist, Latino, African-American, Filipino, or Caucasian.  It is not relegated to a certain building, country or even day of the week.  It does not require beautiful stained-glass windows, towering arches, or even a steeple.  Where I meet my local church is in a remodeled warehouse.  https://hputah.org/  And unfortunately, due to the threat posed by the highly-contagious virus COVID-19, the doors to that welcoming building remain locked.

So what is the Church then?  It is the hands and feet of Jesus.  Anyone who repents and believes Jesus died for their sins and accepts him as their savior is a part of the church. 

excerpts from 1 Corinthians 12 -- The Message

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^12-13  Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ...then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful.

^14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

^25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

²⁷You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this.

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Check out all of 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul starts with explaining spiritual gifts and where they come from, then how they all work together in the body of Christ.  Pray that the holy spirit will reveal our gifts and show us where they can be used. 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+12&version=MSG

We Believe

We Believe

Newsboys

In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He's comin' back again, we believe

So, let our faith be more than anthems
Greater than the songs we sing
And in our weakness and temptations
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered…

Daniel's Prayer -- A prayer for a nation in trouble

9 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:

“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land....

⁹ The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him....

¹⁷ “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

NIV version, emphasis added.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+9&version=NIV

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Thank you God that you love us not because of who we are or what we've done.  Your loving mercy demonstrates your love and commitment.  We have nothing to offer in ourselves, but we need your holy spirit to work within us.  Our hearts are hard; we do not listen, we do not see.  Please open our eyes.  Scour our hearts clean!  This is our personal prayer as individuals and as a nation.  Do not turn away from your people.  As Christians we bear your name.  Please have mercy because you are righteous.  Let your people turn back to you.  Let us remember your promise...the new covenant based on Christ's righteous sacrifice...to cleanse us and make us whole again -- brand new.  Let your love shine into every part of our lives.

Thank you God.

Amen.

Hannah Rejoices!

Continuing on the theme of prayer.....

If we're not careful, we can fall into a rut with our prayer time.  I know I do.  Much of my prayer is a list of what I am thankful for, then a list of what I am asking for help with.  So last Sunday during quiet time, I felt called to take a new look at Hannah.  I can relate to her as a mother myself.  Her heart cried out to God for relief.  When God answered her prayer and she had a child, her prayer poured out of a grateful heart.  I have reworked it mostly in my own words, adding emphasis and referencing the Message and Good News translations. 

from I Samuel 2:1-10

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    Hanna's Rejoices

The Lord has filled my heart with joy

how happy I am because of what he has done!

No one is holy, there are none like Him,

no rock like our God.

    Stop your boasting, be humble,

    for God knows all and judges all we do.

    The strong are brought down

    while the weak are strengthened!

God brings death and God brings life.

He lowers and he lifts up!

--helping the poor and needy.

The foundations of the earth belong to the

Lord; on them he built the world.

    He protects the faithful, while the wicked

    just disappear; no one is strong enough

    on their own.

    God's enemies destroyed, Earth made brand new!

    Jesus Christ will be over all!

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Notice something interesting about her prayer of thanksgiving?  It is focused wholly on God!  On His strength, character and triumph!  It really helps put things into focus when we take the focus off ourselves and turn to God.

    

Hello out there

Hello,

My name is Evie and I live in Utah with my husband and 2 beautiful daughters.  The purpose of this blog is to expound upon what I am learning through the Holy Bible and other Christian writings.  I am excited to share what the Holy Spirit speaks to me.  To start with, I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God--that Jesus is his son.  Jesus came to Earth to teach but also to fulfill God's new covenant by dying in my place to come to life again on the third day.  I know he is coming back to judge those whose hearts remain hard and unchanged and to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. 

I have been a Christian all my life, though it hasn't always been easy.  I feel like God has much to teach me, but thankfully he loves me too much to leave me the way I am.  :-)  I invite the Holy Spirit to come and clean out the cobwebs and instill Christ's love -- shining out to the world.

I am currently listening to the audio book "The Daniel Prayer" by Anne Graham Lotz.  In it she exhorts Christians to deliberately make a time and a place for prayer.  That prayer should not be 'business as usual' with the standard phrases and lists of requests.  We are to humbly come to the lord with an earnest 'heart cry.'  She says that Daniel cried out to the lord, knowing that there was no help coming from anywhere else, but confident that the Lord heard his plea.  The book inspires us to take a fresh approach to prayer.  On Sunday, I felt led to Hannah's prayer and inspired by her faith.  I have created my own paraphrase.  I will add this special prayer to the blog tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading and God Bless!