Opportunity

Break of dawn

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Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd

Jesus said to them, My time (opportunity) has not come yet; but any time is suitable for you and your opportunity is ready any time [is always here].

Paul left, taking the disciples with him, and set up shop in the school of Tyrannus, holding class there daily. He did this for two years, giving everyone in the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, ample opportunity to hear the Message of the Master.

What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone.

For the present, I'm staying right here in Ephesus. A huge door of opportunity for good work has opened up here.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Acts 3:12 John 7:6 Acts 19:8 1 Corinthians 9:18 1 Corinthians 16:5 Galatians 6:10

May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.

2 Thessalonians 1:11

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Receive

Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your (sensual) pleasures.

God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).

And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we'll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.

And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [ watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [ habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him.

James 1:12 James 4:3 James 4:6 1 John 2:28 1 John 3:22

The best remedy for greed is generosity.

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Great & Mighty

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit

Sing of the ways of the Lord and joyfully celebrate His mighty acts, for great is the glory of the Lord.

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

' Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

Isaiah 40:26 Jeremiah 10:6 Psalm 147:5 Psalm 138:5 Deuteronomy 10:17 Jeremiah 33:3

To know happiness, know God.

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Many

O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds those who trust in him.

You have done many good things for me, Lord, just as you promised.

He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.

God said this once and for all; how many times Have I heard it repeated? "Strength comes Straight from God."

Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Psalm 104:24 Psalm 32:10 Psalm 119:65 Psalm 40:3 Psalm 62:11 Psalm 40:5

Seeing God’s work in our lives puts a new song on our lips.

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Alive

Could it be any clearer? …From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God.

When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself,

If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness

Spirit can be known only by spirit—God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah's question, "Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?" has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's Spirit.

For the word of God is alive and powerful.

Romans 6:6 Romans 8:9 Ephesians 2:5 Romans 8:10 1 Corinthians 2:14 Hebrews 4:12

The human spirit fails us unless the Holy Spirit fills us.

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Actions

Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!

We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives.

Jesus answered, "You've come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.

Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.

You see, his faith (Abraham) and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.

Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

Psalm 119:5 Proverbs 21:2 John 6:26 Ephesians 5:8 James 2:22 Proverbs 16:3

Actions speak louder then bumper stickers.

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Show them

Blanca Valley

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The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.

[ The Parable of the Persistent Widow ] Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up

The Lord says, “Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the Lord.

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

I'll take the hand of those who don't know the way, who can't see where they're going. I'll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I'll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don't fall into the ditch. These are the things I'll be doing for them— sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute."

They will call on me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will deliver them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them and show them my salvation."

Psalm 25:14 Luke 18:1 Jeremiah 16:21 Psalm 25:12 Isaiah 42:10 Psalm 91:16

If God didn’t have a purpose for us, we wouldn’t be here.

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Looking

Fox Run Park

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Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together.

O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]!

I can't impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don't ever quit. Just keep it simple.

"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!

Psalm 33:18 Psalm 84:12 2 Timothy 4:1 John 4:23 Isaiah 30:18

Look into God’s written Word to know Christ the living Word.

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Child

Fox Run Park

Our children and their children will get in on this as the word is passed along from parent to child. Babies not yet conceived will hear the good news— that God does what he says.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track…But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this.

Eat honey, dear child—it's good for you— and delicacies that melt in your mouth. Likewise knowledge, and wisdom for your soul— Get that and your future's secured, your hope is on solid rock.

But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].

We have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance

Psalm 22:30 Proverbs 3:5 Proverbs 24:13 Romans 8:9 Galatians 4:4

Every child of God fills a special place in His plan.

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Measure

above Emerald Cove

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Yet grace (God's unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ's [rich and bounteous] gift.

"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.

[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

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, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God isn't late with his promise …

Ephesians 4:7 John 3:34 Ephesians 3:19 2 Peter 1:8 (5-8) 2 Peter 3:8

The power of Christ within you is greater than the pressure of troubles around you.

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Start Finish

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

"I've come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I've come to change everything, turn everything right side up—how I long for it to be finished!

This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

So here's what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands.

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.

John 1:14 Luke 12:49 Romans 1:17 2 Corinthians 8:10 Hebrews 12:1 Acts 20:22

Make the most of life on earth – but know the best is yet to come.

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Future

Beyond

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Everything is already yours as a gift— the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.

For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.

1Corinthians 3:21 Ephesians 4:4 Ephesians 2:7 1 Timothy 6:19 ,18 1 Peter 1:3

We can trust our all-knowing God for the unknown future.

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Offer

Fox Run Park

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Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD.

The godly offer good counsel, they teach right from wrong.

The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship.

You called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He spoke the word that healed you, that pulled you back from the brink of death. So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves; Offer thanksgiving sacrifices, tell the world what he's done—sing it out!

Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.

Psalm 4:5 Psalm 37:30 Proverbs 21:3 Romans 12:1 Psalm 107:17 Hebrews 13:15

The power that compels us comes from the Spirit who indwells us.

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Nature

Janet Dvorak's garden

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God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature …God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!

God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature. You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!"

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

All this is nothing compared to you, O God. You're wondrously great, famously great. Who can fail to be impressed by you, King of the nations? It's your very nature to be worshiped!

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The mind controlled by the sinful nature is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.

Genesis 1:26 Genesis 9:6 Romans 1:20 Jeremiah 10:6 Romans 8:5 Romans 8:6

It’s good to worship God in nature if it leads us to worship the God of nature.

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Examine

Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe."

My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;

[ Don't Believe Everything You Hear ] My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God.

Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart.

John 20:27 1 Corinthians 4:4 2 Corinthians 13:5 1 Thessalonians 5:21 1 John 4:1 Psalm 26:2

Examine all teaching in the light of God’s Word.

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Pleasure

Celebrate!

If any man desires to do His will (God's pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from myself and of my own accord and on my own authority.

It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

Let those who favor my righteous cause and have pleasure in my uprightness shout for joy and be glad and say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.

Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.

[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

You need to know, friends, that thanking God over and over for you is not only a pleasure; it's a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally; your love for each other is developing wonderfully.

John 7:17 Daniel 4:2 Psalm 35:27 Philippians 2:12 Philippians 2:13 2 Thessalonians 1:3

Hearts in tune with God will sing His praises.

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Listen

Pagosa Springs,CO

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God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer.

Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel (my people) would follow me, walking in my paths!

"Listen, my people, and I will speak;

Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.

I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people.

The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to.

Psalm 66:19 Psalm 81:13 Psalm 50:7 Psalm 78:1 Psalm 85:8 Romans 10:14

God speaks through His Word to those who listen with their heart.

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Fear not

lnd dxih Anamis River

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They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?

So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me

And one night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, Have no fear, but speak and do not keep silent;

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Psalm 112:7 Psalm 118:6 Hebrews 13:6 Psalm 23:4 Acts 18:9 1 John 4:18

No one is stronger than the one who depends on God.

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Freedom

Liberty Bell, the Cross and the Flag

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We receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with freedom and boldness and courage.

Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Galatians 3:22 Romans 6:15 Acts 4:31 Romans 6:12 Romans 6:19 2 Corinthians 3:17

True freedom is not in having our own way, but in yielding to God’s way.

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Keep

travel light

Are you tired? Worn out? …Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

"Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us….the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.

[ Walk by the Spirit ] It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Matthew 11:28 Matthew 10:9 Galatians 3:11 Galatians 3:18 Galatians 5:1 Galatians 5:25

Keep out of your life anything that would crowd Christ out of your heart.

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Job

Rome

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"I said, 'Who are you, Master?' "The voice answered, 'I am Jesus, the One you're hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I've handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what's happened today, and to what I am going to show you.

If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it

Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ.

Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else

Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job.

"Do your best in the job you received from the Master. Do your very best."

Acts 26:15 Romans 4:4 1 Corinthians 3:9 2 Corinthians 4:1 Galatians 6:4 1 Thessalonians 4:11 Colossians 4:17

The gospel is bad news to those who reject it and good news to those who receive it.

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Heights

Colorado

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He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mortals, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD God Almighty is his name.

Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.

When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, From Jordan depths to Hermon heights… Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God's prayer.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

[ The Centerpiece of All We Believe ] So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He's the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do.

Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

Amos 4:13 Psalm 48:2 Psalm 42:6 Habakkuk 3:19 Hebrews 3:1 Ephesians 3:14

God speaks to those who are willing to listen.

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