Friday, December 29, 2006

Recall

(photo: Front range, Colorado Springs,CO)

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago (2006).

But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not!

The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Psalm 77:11 Lamentations 3:21 Zephaniah 3:17 John 14:26 2 Peter 3:2

Think less of the power of things over you and more of the power of Christ in you.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God!

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Reason

(photo: Denver Botanical Gardens)

Surely I wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue and reason my case with God [that He may explain the conflict between what I believe of Him and what I see of Him].

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you

Job 13:3 Hebrews 6:18 1 John 3:1 1 Timothy 1:16 1 Thessalonians 2:13 2 Timothy 1:6

The reason and the risk …”that others may obtain the salvation which is in Christ” (2 Tim 2:10)

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Nothing

(photo: Los Alamitos,CA)

As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.

For we hold that a man is justified and made upright by faith independent of and distinctly apart from good deeds (works of the Law). [The observance of the Law has nothing to do with justification.]

I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God's Spirit and God's power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God's power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Romans 6:20 Romans 7:24 Romans 4:17 Romans 3:28 1 Corinthians 2:3 Romans 8:38

With nothing between us and God, our faces can reflect His glory.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Look up

(photo: Wisconsin)

[ He Is Your Life ] So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

"And that's when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws—the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. He came and put his arm on my shoulder. 'Look up,' he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes—I could see again!

"But also look ahead: I'm sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God—the decisive Judgment Day! He will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents.

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”

Colossians 3:1 Acts 22:12 Malachi 4:5 1 Corinthians 15:51 Luke 21:28

Life’s best outlook is a prayerful uplook!

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God.

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Friday, December 22, 2006

With us

(photo: Manger scene on our mantle)

" BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, " GOD WITH US."

We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at.

Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

Because of the Truth which lives and stays on in our hearts and will be with us forever.

Matthew 1:23 1 John 1:3 Galatians 3:13 2 Corinthians 4:7 2 John 1:3 2 John 1:2

The tiny Babe in the manger is the mighty Creator of the universe.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Precious

photo: Regina
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him (Jesus Christ) will never be put to shame."

So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It's as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

2 Peter 1:4 2 Peter 1:1 1 Peter 2:6 2 Timothy 1:13 Galatians 5:13 James 5:19

Your name is precious to God

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
– 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Wonder

(photo: Gleneagle,CO)
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us?
It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead,
immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
"Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.
Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.
So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
‘I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises!
God (Jesus) came to live with us so we could live with Him.
LIFEgroups – together experiencing God
Glenn - 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Anticipate



(photo: Maui)

My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.

For we, [not relying on the Law but] through the [Holy] Spirit's [help], by faith anticipate and wait for the blessing and good for which our righteousness and right standing with God [our conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action, causes us] to hope.

I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour and a moment when you do not anticipate it.


[ New Heavens and a New Earth ] "Pay close attention now: I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating: I'll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. I'll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people ... They won't work and have nothing come of it, they won't have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed. Before they call out, I'll answer. Before they've finished speaking, I'll have heard. Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes—they'll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain," says God.

Psalm 119:148 Galatians 5:5 Romans 7:14 Luke 12:40 Isaiah 65:17

Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. (John 2:11)

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Monday, December 18, 2006

Works



(photo; Botanical Gardens, Denver)

Who does great things, unfathomable, And wondrous works without number.

It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

For we are God's workmanship, (re)created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

Job 9:10 Ephesians 2:11 Ephesians 2:10 Ephesians 3:20 Philippians 2:13 Ephesians 4:4

Mankind’s limited potential highlights God’s limitless power.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Friday, December 15, 2006

Choose



(photo: Denver Botanical Gardens)

"So why don't you simply confess to God? Say, 'I sinned, but I'll sin no more. Teach me to see what I still don't see. Whatever evil I've done, I'll do it no more.' Just because you refuse to live on God's terms, do you think he should start living on yours? You choose. I can't do it for you. Tell me what you decide.

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose.

You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.

Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

Job 34:31 Galatians 5:16 Psalm 25:12 Job 22:28 James 2:5

God said it. I believe it. That settles it.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Calm



(photo: Eagle Lake,CA)

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.

A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body

Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You've heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders,

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

"Blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.

Luke 8:25 Proverbs 14:30 1 Thessalonians 4:11 2 Timothy 1:7 Zephaniah 3:17 Jeremiah 17:7

Contentment comes not from great wealth but from few wants.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Knowing



(photo: Christmas Cactus #2)

Father, I want those you gave me To be with me, right where I am, So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, Having loved me long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you, but I have known you, and these disciples know that you sent me on this mission. I have made your very being known to themWho you are and what you do— And continue to make it known, so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them.

"You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'

Jesus answered her, If you had only known and had recognized God's gift and Who this is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked Him [instead] and He would have given you living water.

Then they [themselves] related [in full] what had happened on the road, and how He was known and recognized by them in the breaking of bread

All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

John 17:24 Luke 13:26 John 4:10 Luke 24:35 John 16:15 John 15:15

Knowing God is not only seeing His works but also learning His ways.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Pleases


(photo:Christmas cactus)

“And now… what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.

To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

Deuteronomy 10:12 Ecclesiastes 2:26 Ephesians 5:10 Philippians 2:13 1 John 2:17 1 John 5:14

God does not demand success – just obedience.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God.

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Monday, December 11, 2006

Light



(photo: CA/AZ border)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Jesus then said, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind."

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light."

"'I'm sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I'm sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.' to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’

For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’ ”

John 8:12 John 9:39 2 Corinthians 4:6 John 12:36 Acts 26:17 ,18 John 12:44

A single light can provide hope in the darkest night.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Friday, December 08, 2006

Strength



(photo: Maui)

Glory and strength to Christ, who loves us, who blood-washed our sins from our lives, Who made us a Kingdom, Priests for his Father, forever—and yes, he's on his way!

And a second reminder, dear children: You know the Father from personal experience. You veterans know the One who started it all; and you newcomers—such vitality and strength! God's word is so steady in you. Your fellowship with God enables you to gain a victory over the Evil One.

So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.

But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)!

But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death.

May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.

Revelation 1:4 1 John 2:13 Hebrews 13:9 2 Peter 3:18 2 Timothy 4:17 1 Thessalonians 3:11

We experience God’s strength in the strain of our struggle.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Ashamed



(photo: Sunrise over Avila Bay, CA)

Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God's people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they're not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul.

Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.

So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.

So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.

2 Timothy 2:14 2 Timothy 2:15 Hebrews 2:11 Luke 9:26 Romans 1:16 2 Timothy 1:8

A world in darkness needs the bright light of the Gospel.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God.

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Sure



(photo: Los Alamitos, CA)

Make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing!

That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

[ Freedom in Christ ] So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.

Romans 13:11 Romans 15:3 Romans 8:26 Galatians 5:1 2 Corinthians 1:20

If you are discouraged, don’t give up your place, For God will sustain you by His matchless grace. – Hess

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Balance(d)



(photo: Manitowoc,WI)

Do you know how the clouds are balanced [and poised in the heavens], the wonderful works of Him Who is perfect in knowledge?

The Lord demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness.

A FALSE balance and unrighteous dealings are extremely offensive and shamefully sinful to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.

My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times;

Job 37:16 Proverbs 16:11 Proverbs 11:1 Psalm 119:109 2 Timothy 1:7 1 Peter 5:8

Someday the scales of justice will be perfectly balanced.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Monday, December 04, 2006

Hope



(Photo: Gleneagel, 12/3/06)









"Still, if you set your heart on God and reach out to him. If you scrub your hands of sin and refuse to entertain evil in your home, You'll be able to face the world unashamed and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless. You'll forget your troubles; they'll be like old, faded photographs. Your world will be washed in sunshine, every shadow dispersed by dayspring. Full of hope, you'll relax, confident again; you'll look around, sit back, and take it easy. Expansive, without a care in the world, you'll be hunted out by many for your blessing.

You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit. Your words have put stumbling people on their feet, put fresh hope in people about to collapse.

No one whose hope is in you (God) will ever be put to shame

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love

Job 11:13 Job 4:1 Psalm 25:3 Psalm 25:5 Psalm 27:14 Psalm 33:18

Hope in the heart puts a smile on the face.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Friday, December 01, 2006

Transform

(photo: Gleneagle July)
________________________________
He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it.

I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.

"On that great day," God says, "I will round up all the hurt and homeless, everyone I have bruised or banished. I will transform the battered into a company of the elite. I will make a strong nation out of the long lost, A showcase exhibit of God's rule in action, as I rule from Mount Zion, from here to eternity.

Think of it! One solitary man when I called him, but once I blessed him, he multiplied. Likewise I, God, will comfort Zion, comfort all her mounds of ruins. I'll transform her dead ground into Eden, her moonscape into the garden of God, A place filled with exuberance and laughter, thankful voices and melodic songs.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

But there's far more to life for us. We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

Job 12:15 Hosea 2:15 Micah 4:6 Isaiah 51:1 Romans 12:2 Philippians 3:20

Many books can inform you; only the Bible can transform you.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God.

Glenn
368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921