Friday's VOTD

James 1:27 (TLB) 27 The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father's point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord--not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.

I've Bad News and Good News

i believe it is both very hard and very easy to be a follower of Jesus. it is very hard bc our job is to surrender completely to Him.

we use various phrases to describe it...but it is always the same.

surrender.
dying to self.
living for Jesus.
taking up our cross.

that's hard stuff. no one wants to die. no one wants to pick up thier cross. chickens surrender, not men. the living for Jesus part we like...but in order to live forHim, you have to die to you...

even after we "die to ourselves"...we pick it (our lives) back up again. we choose to do things in our own power, with our own guidance, with little or no regard how it effects others, never mind our relationship with Jesus.

death must be a regular event for us...a daily event...an hourly event...a moment by moment event...

and death is hard. it is hard to be a follower of Jesus.

but, then (once we get past the death thing) it is easy.

bc it is His work. it is He who works in us to "will and to do that which is pleasing in His sight". it is His to renew us day by day. He leads us. He feeds us. He weeds us. He even seeds us, again.

all when we live our lives surrendered to Him.

Thursday's VOTD

James 1:23-25 (TLB) 23 For if a person just listens and doesn't obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; 24 as soon as he walks away, he can't see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. 25 But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God's law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.

Wednesday VOTD

James 1:22

"But prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves"

Tuesday's VOTD

James 1:21

"Get rid of al the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls"

Monday's VOTD

Ephesians 4:1
I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. God chose you to be His people, so i urge you now to live the life to which God called you.

Sunday's verse for the day

Sunday: 1 John 4:10-11 (TLB) 10 In this act [Jesus dying on the cross for our sins] we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God's anger against our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too.