January 14, 2023

Saint of the Week

St. Paisios of Mount Athos

January 13, 2023

MIGHTY ONE

Judges 6:12

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty one of the armies!”

Encouraging Words

Gideon was very surprised when an Angel of the Lord appeared to him and made this proclamation. His people were under the oppressive role of the Midianites. He was hiding in a wine press threshing wheat so that he would not be discovered. And here this Angel calls him, "mighty one of the armies." So what is the encouraging part of this verse? It is the truth that our God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we are capable of and what battles we have before us. He promises us that He will be with us. We can hold onto this truth through all trials. Glory be to God!

January 12, 2023

HIS WORDS

Matthew 24:35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Encouraging Words

So many religious pundits have come and gone, often leaving behind a trail of misery. We are blessed as followers of Christ to know that He is eternal. He has always been, still is, and always will be, the Son of God. With that truth we can claim this promise that Jesus gave His followers that His words, His teachings. His truths, will always be there as well. His words, His wisdom, transcends all time and has existed before they were ever spoken to mankind. Glory be to God!

January 11, 2023

LOVING GOD

Joshua 22:5

But be very careful to do the commandments and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to adhere to Him, and to serve Him with all your mind and with all your soul.”

Personal Challenge

Jesus proclaimed that He fulfilled the Law. This does not mean that we abandon the teachings as defunct and ignore the truth that the law of the old testament portrays. This advice given by Joshua to the tribes remaining on the east of the Jordan is still applicable today as we strive to follow Jesus. Do the commandments that have been given to us, the new covenant. Love the Lord our God. Walk in His ways. Keep His commandments. Adhere to Him. Serve Him. Living this way, loving God this way, leads on our path to theosis. Glory be to God!

January 10, 2023

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Personal Challenge

It can be very difficult at times to be willing to do what God commands us. We can be very stiff-necked. I guess that is one of the consequences of being given free will. Sometimes we try to blame our defiance on God claiming that He never really gave us a rule book to follow. But that is a lie fabricated by Satan, himself. Jesus summed up everything that we need to do to glorify and honor our Lord with these two commandments. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbor as ourself. If we do this we will need no other rules to live by. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

January 9, 2023

BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

Joshua 1:6-9

“Be strong and courageous, for you will divide this land which I swore to your fathers to give them. Be strong, therefore, and courageous to guard yourself and to do as Moses My servant commanded you; then you will not turn away from them, to the right nor to the left. In this way, you will have understanding in whatever you do. The book of this law shall not depart from your mouth, and you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may have the understanding to do all the things written therein. Then you will both prosper, make your ways prosperous, and have understanding. Behold, I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be cowardly or fearful, for the Lord your God is with you in all things, wherever you go.”

Personal Challenge

No matter what our age or our background is, we all have a land that we are being asked by God to conquer. It may be sin in our life that we must overcome, or the loss of a loved one that we are mourning, or the loss of a job or a church family that we have grown in, or any other number of battles in our lives that we are called into. Whatever the situation, God encourages us to be strong and courageous and to look to Him to be our fortress and our strength. We must lean on Him and His teachings to lead us through, for He cares for us. Glory be to God!

January 8, 2023

GOD OF THE LIVING

Matthew 22:31-32

But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

Encouraging Words

Life is short. Life is hard. We are given two dates, a beginning, when we are born, and an ending, when we fall asleep. What we have in the middle is a dash. What we do when we are alive during that dash is so very important. Only God, our loving, gracious, merciful God, knows where we stand with Him after that dash is completed. We pray over and over again to out God, "Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner!", in hope and faith, that He will show us his mercy through the work that our Lord Jesus Christ did in His incarnation, death, and resurrection to redeem as from our sins. We see from this passage that through God's love and mercy, our lives do extend beyond this earthly dash. Our eternity is in His hands. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me, the sinner!

Dedicated to Mike...May your memory be eternal!