While the world tells us to love money and use people,
wouldn’t it be great if, instead, we followed Jesus’ command and
loved people and used money?
Go have a blessed day!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Archive for the ‘Spiritual’ Category
The list of scriptural blessings below was summarized in a sermon I heard quite a while ago. I had taken notes and recently shared them with an anchor point friend of mine. They are good enough to post here for others to enjoy.
- Common blessings – given to all people regardless of belief (air, sunsets, laughter, sunshine)
- Prevenient blessings – God uses these to draw us close to Him (children, friends, trials, hardships)
- Obedient blessings – given as a result of obedience (honoring marriage vows, serving others we get more than we give, blessed to give)
- Christian blessings – reserved for those who believe (Holy Spirit dwelling within us, gives strength and divine understanding)
- Eternal blessings – salvation, those blessings we will receive in heaven
That’s it for my notes. However, I can think of a few more. For example, generational blessings (Ex 20:5-6).
I think I might need to do a scriptural word study of blessings — it would be a good enlightening exercise.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Heard today:
God says “You can worry if you can prove that it works for you”.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord
the people he chose for his inheritance.” – Psalm 33:12
Your Creator wants to hear from you. He loves you.
National Day of Prayer website
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
My last two morning devotionals have contained some real gems for spiritual growth. In addition to Scripture, it was the notes from my Life Application Study Bible that positively impacted me.
John 1:35
(This particular note is even highlighted in my Bible) — We may find that words of faith come easily, but deep appreciation for Christ comes with living by faith.
2 Peter 1:5-9 — “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
Faith must be more than belief in certain facts; it must result in action, growth in Christian character, and the practice of moral discipline, or it will die away. Peter lists several of faith’s actions: learning to know God better, developing perseverance, doing God’s will, loving others. These actions do not come automatically; they require hard work. They are not optional; all of them must be a continual part of the Christian life. We don’t finish one and start on the next, but we work on them all together. God empowers and enables us, be he also gives us the responsibility to learn and to grow.
So my summary would be:
Living by faith:
- results in action — loving others
- growth in Christian character
- practice of moral discipline
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
This next week is going to be busy with visitors. First, I have visitors from my work team arriving this morning for a three day team work event. I enjoy my boss and my team and the three days should be productive, fun, and enjoyable with some good meals shared together. After that, I am blessed to have a special visit from a dear friend who has shared over two decades of my life. And while much of that time has been separated by space living in different states, he is one of those who you can just pick up where you left off. On top of that, he is what I call an “anchor point” — someone of true faith and a brother in Christ who I can go to for perspective and support.
So because of all that, I am up earlier than usual. I dove into my breakfast devotional which was based on Luke 7:36-50 — “A sinful woman anoints Jesus’ feet”.
What impacted me was a supporting note in my Life Application Bible for verse 7:47. It read:
“Overflowing love is the natural response to forgiveness and the appropriate consequence of faith. But only those who realize the depth of their sin can appreciate the complete forgiveness that God offers them. Jesus has rescued all of his followers, whether they were once extremely wicked or conventionally good, from eternal death. Do you appreciate the wideness of God’s mercy? Are you grateful for his forgiveness?”
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
He is risen indeed!
As sad as Good Friday is, Easter Sunday is even more glorious because of His love for us and His defeat of death.
We know how the story ends — and it ends beautifully with us spending eternity in Christ!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
While I am always sad that Jesus had to go through what He went through on the cross, I am happy He did — for my sake and for your sake. I guess what is sad, is that it is our sin that put Him there. However, even greater than that is His love for us.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
I was recently listening to something that prompted me to ponder something that at the same time was profound but also incomprehensible (at least to me).
As created beings, we are bound by the physical world. A huge factor of this physical world is time — something we cannot slow down nor speed up. We are prisoner and slave to it and it marches on relentlessly. We put all sorts of parameters around it and try to control it. And while we cannot control it, about the closest thing we can do is measure it and maximize it. However, we all are guilty of wasting it, wanting more of it, and only thinking within it. On a daily or weekly basis, try counting the number of times that time impacts your thoughts, plans and actions. Whether it is “I’ll get to it later”, or “I don’t have time to…” or “Let’s do it next weekend”, we all are bound by this concept and fact of time. We also tend to frame so much of our spiritual on the time-bound physical (e.g. – not enough time to pray, only go to church on Sunday, occasionally read God’s word on a greeting card, etc).
However, (here’s where it gets cool) God is not bound by time. He isn’t bound by the invention of the Gutenberg press or text messaging. Noah’s ark or the U.S.S. Enterprise do not impress Him.
And a question popped into my mind that I had never thought of before — what if (because God isn’t bound by time) God sacrificed His beloved son Jesus 5 minutes ago for you? We tend to think of that cosmically important event as old, as 2000 years ago, as ancient history. But they weren’t – at least not for God. Because He is not bound by time. He laid down His only Son’s life for your transgressions, your sins, the areas in life where you suck! (And don’t get me wrong, I suck even worse – and He gave His Son for my transgressions, my sins, and my suckness too.)
What if God sacrificed His beloved son Jesus five minutes ago for you? Just so you could be reconciled to Him and have a way to spend everlasting life with Him.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
