Devotional Blog

Happy New Year!

12/28/2017

Happy New Year! A new year is like a new day multiplied a hundred fold. Each day is a fresh opportunity to begin anew with God's grace and to grasp it as a gift from God. Regardless of the adversity we face, with God's promise and power we can make each day a fresh experience of God's grace and love. So it is with a new year. It is a fresh gift from God, full of God's grace and love. Resolve this year to accept this gift of life and with God's help to do that which would honor God and serve others. God has a plan and purpose for our lives. Open your life to God’s plan and ask God to give you his power to see you through. As another new year dawns we can take hope in the promise of Christ walking beside us, guiding and strengthening our every step. Trust this wonderful promise of God's love dawning each day in our lives with grace and hope.

(scripture of the week)
Yet this I call to mind
And therefore I have hope--
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning,
Great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3.21-23)

(Prayer of the week)
Loving Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of another new day and another new year. I open my heart and life to your plan and purpose for my life. Forgive me of failures of the past, and give me new life through the miracle of forgiveness in Christ. Help me to let go of the past and reach out to the promise of the future. Give me power to overcome challenges and to bless all whose lives my path might cross, through your power, Amen!
Open your heart to God’s amazing love!-Pastor TJ

(quote of the week)
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved –Helen Keller

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Joyous Singing

12/21/2017

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Amid the darkness… light.
Amid the silence… joyous singing.
Amid violence and brokenness… the promise of peace and hope.
Amid hurt and heartache… love—amazing love…
This Christmas season enjoy the holiday, celebrate the season, but above all find a quiet place to experience again in your heart this wonderful love of Christ come to us. Let us quiet ourselves for the most important sound of all--the voice of God quietly calling us to the serenity of a humble manger where lies the Savior of the world. Listen….in the quiet stillness hear the music of angels, the quiet joy of shepherds and sojourners who have found hope…see… the trembling smile of joy not just of a mother and father, but of those who see the hope of Almighty God willing to share our life and give us a new life of forgiveness and grace and love. Come closer…Peer into the manger as if for the first time…see the Savior. Listen…Hear in the hush the Holy Spirit’s words of love. Hear the whisper of God’s words of love that God has a plan and purpose for your life. Come before this baby Jesus, and see the Lord of love willing to share life as the least among us, showing the humble path of life and love, and bearing our burdens and sin on a cross, that we might have forgiveness and new life. This same Jesus offers you hope, and peace, and life and love. Shhhhh! Feel God’s loving tug on your heart…Listen to God calling your name in love…Open…your heart to God’s forgiveness and love…Listen…God is whispering. . .

(Verse of the week)
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2.8-19)

(Prayer of the week)
Loving Heavenly Father, I open my heart to your amazing love, forgive me of failures of the past, and give me new life through the miracle of Christ, and fill my life with your love and hope and peace and joy. And may I find a new purpose in life and a new promise for the future, through your grace and to your glory. Amen.
Amid the hustle and bustle of Christmas, open your heart to God’s amazing love…and the miracle of Christmas!—Pastor TJ

(quote of the week)
And know that I am with you always; yes, even to the end of time--Jesus

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The Inn Keeper

12/15/2017

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Many of us are not so unlike the Bethlehem Inn Keeper, so busy with the season our lives are over-crowded and under-resourced. We see so many needs and we quite frankly feel we are doing just about everything we can possibly manage. But perhaps, like that humble Inn Keeper, we could clear just a small humble space in our lives for God to work. Let us give the little that we have to God. We might be just as surprised as the Inn Keeper what God can do with even a cattle stable and a lowly manger, as God paints a miracle of love on the canvass of our lives.

Perhaps we too need push back some of the busyness of our lives and offer to God a place in our lives. Let us give God just a little space in our lives and we, too might be surprised by God. We could see anew the promise of God’s love. We too might see the lowliest place transformed by the love of God. A new hope might dawn in our hearts and lives. Perhaps we could even lend our voice to Christmas angel choirs. Perhaps the light of God’s love in our hearts could push back a little of the darkness of our world near and far. We might even share a gift with those whose lives could use a little more love.

(Scripture of the week)
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2.7 (NIV)

Loving God, I offer you a place in the busyness of my life. Work a miracle of love in my life, and help me be part of some small miracle of love in someone else’s life, through your power and to your glory, Amen.

Wishing you all the true gifts of Christmas –hope, peace, love and joy through Christ our Lord –Pastor TJ

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us—St Augustine

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Christmas –Nothing is Impossible

12/8/2017

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'Tis the season. . .’tis the season for busy shopping and hurried schedules. . .but in the middle of all the hustle and bustle it is wonderful to pause and appreciate again the beauty of the Christmas decorations, the jubilation of Christmas songs, the cheer of holiday greetings, and the power of the Christmas story. Perhaps like me you are touched by the warmth and beauty of Christmas decorations lighting up the dark winter nights. Light was part of the earliest Christmas, when magi followed a star and angels broke through the darkness of the night and the darkness of the world, appearing to shepherds with words of comfort, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger,” then the heavens were filled with angels singing “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to all on whom God’s favor rests.” Not knowing the actual birth date of Christ, early Christians celebrated Christmas on the day of the year with the longest night symbolizing that in our deepest darkness God breaks through and brings light and hope and life and love. That is the heart of the angels’ song, the hope of the shepherds' hearts, and the quest of the magi who traveled from afar to kneel before the Christ child. And that is the hope of each and every one of us who kneels before the manger where God has come to show His love and to share our life and give us hope and new life. Take heart. Rekindle hope. In the darkest night, God's light and love will shine through. . .

(scripture of the week)
For nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1:37)

(Prayer of the week)
Gracious and loving God, thank you for the many blessings with which you have touched my life, but most of all thank you for the greatest gift of the Christmas season and all of life –the love of Christ and the gift of new life. Help me to open my heart anew to the true gifts of Christmas: peace, hope, joy, and, most of all, love. May I be joyful in all things, and may I treat others with love that they may see the light of your love in me. Amen.

Open your heart to God's awesome love!—Pastor TJ

(quote of the week)
No God, no peace - know God, know peace --Pope John XXIII

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Journey to Bethlehem

12/1/2017

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When I was growing up one of the small joys of the Christmas season was our Advent calendar. It was a manger scene with little tabs that each year we three children, nothing like the three magi, took turns opening and reading a little verse about the coming of the Christ child. Of course, it was a countdown to the wonder of Christmas and hoped-for gifts, but it was also a time of seeing this quite ordinary manger scene become an extraordinary picture of promise and joy. A star shone bright as Mary and Joseph knelt in quiet reverence at the wonder of God’s promised Christ child born in a manger. As cows and sheep looked on, love dawns anew on all humanity. The night sky broke forth with angels singing glad tidings, shepherds kneeling, and magi offering gifts from afar. The miracle sparkled anew.

Perhaps we too need push back some of the busyness of our lives and journey anew to Bethlehem. Amid our busyness of Christmas shopping and baking, perhaps we too could use the Advent season to re-discover the miracle of Christmas. We could see anew the promise of God’s love. We could let a new hope dawn in our hearts and lives. Perhaps we could even lend our voice to Christmas angel choirs. Perhaps the light of God’s love in our hearts could push back a little of the darkness of our world near and far. And we might even share a gift with our loved ones, as well as those whose lives could use a little more love.

Let us say again like the shepherds of so long ago, “Come let us journey together to Bethlehem . . . and see this thing that has happened!” Luke 2.15

Loving God, help me clear aside of some of the busyness of the season and make room for you. Work a miracle of love in my life, and help me be part of some small miracle of love in someone else’s life, through your power and to your glory, Amen.

May God bless you on your Christmas journey—Pastor TJ

God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it--Pope Francis

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Happy New Year!

Joyous Singing

The Inn Keeper

Christmas –Nothing is Impossible

Journey to Bethlehem

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Happy New Year!

Joyous Singing

The Inn Keeper

​Christmas –Nothing is Impossible

Journey to Bethlehem

Author

Archives

Categories

Christmas –Nothing is Impossible