The Sun

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he Edwards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete." - II Corinthians 10:5-6

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." - Colossians 1:9-10

Dear God, 

In order to please You, I must have faith believing that You are real and that you reward those who seek You. Keeping You at the center of my every thought, word, and action IS a challenge though! I must take captive every thought and make it give up and obey You. I need to study Your word to find out pleases You. Please do be the sun of my world and shine in my life. Today, I give You my thoughts about what the republicans are doing to destroy healthcare again. This time in a way that would charge the elderly more and would potentially turn insurance into nothing more than the junk plans that were allowed before the ACA. They have a plan that is far worse than the ACA and is still short of universal care. Today, I give You my thoughts about their proposed cuts to HUD which helps house homeless veterans and disabled people. See, they complain about those of us against the wall and refugee bans not being for veterans yet their own party is cutting programs that help veterans!!! I can care about both the refugee and the veteran and I do care about both. God, help us all the next several months. God, do Your will here. God, prepare our hearts and minds and keep them awake against the devil child Trump. He lies. His party lies. And we need to be alert to the lies so we are not misled. You will know them by their fruit. Rotten fruit is rotten fruit. 

Thank You.

In Jesus' Name, 

Amen

The Great Mystery

"In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." - John 14:20

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." - Colossians 1:27

Other translation: God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious truth which he has for all people. This truth is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory. - Colossians 1:27

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:14-19

Focal verses other version: I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love....Christ's love is greater than any person can ever know. But I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:17, 19

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'" - Acts 17:26-28

Focal verse other translation: "By his power we live and move and exist." Some of your own poets have said: "For we are his children." - Acts 17:28

Dear God,

I am in You and You are in me. You are Lord of all for all time. Your power allows me to live and move and exist. I am a human and I am also Your precious child. We live life with each other. But You also live in me. Your presence fills me. You know everything about me. Everything I do is in Your presence. Help me to become even more aware of You. God, today I want to ask You to help the refugees and those who have been hurt by Trump again. He has become an out of control dictator and lies constantly. And his ban that he wrote doesn't even do anything to protect America from terrorism when you consider most of the acts of terrorism on our soil have been domestic and white men. I pray for the families who have been impacted and I pray that if we really want to put a stop to potential incoming terrorists that Trump put Afghanistan on the ban list because they were behind the attacks on 9/11. God, we truly never know if we may be entertaining angels. And some of those refugees might be angels. Jesus was a refugee Himself. I feel very broken.

Thank You.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen