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“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Oh! The hope and promise of God’s Word! Moses, the man of miracles, has come to the end of his journey. He has led the new Hebrew nation from the slavery of Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan.  He won’t join them as they cross the Jordan River into their new home, but God has gone before them and Joshua will lead.

God’s people are living out His promise, but in real time they are doing the most difficult thing any person can do, step into the great UNKNOWN. It is terrifying.  It’s called change and unless the present is unlivable, nobody signs up for it. God is not oblivious to this. Moses repeats what God has said and what he himself has witnessed and lived, “He will never leave you nor forsake you!”  God goes first!

Strength and courage originate from two givens: Solid preparation for the task at hand and confidence in success. God knows the future for those that put it in His care. He goes before us and prepares us for success!  It’s a win! 

Love,

Gretchen

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. John 9:34

The Pharisees decide to investigate a sabbath day miracle. Jesus heals a blind man, but the synagogue authorities must determine whether it was a sin for Him to do so. They seek the man out and ask him to repeat the details. Who healed you? How did he heal you? Where did he come from? They cast dispersions on Jesus. The man replies, “I was blind, now I see.”  He continues, “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

In ancient times, birth defects or physical handicaps were thought to be the consequence of sin, either the parent’s or the person himself. Because of this prejudice, people cast speculation and judgement on things they knew nothing of.  Physically challenged people were marginalized, abused and cast into the furthest outskirts of society.  Jesus didn’t just give this man the ability to see a blue sky, he gave him a place in the world, the entire ‘living’ package.

Jesus extended love and compassion to a man who responded with praise and worship. Incredibly, the Pharisees felt their authority was threatened! Their adopted policy was to place blame instead of restoring a world to the beauty God intended.

This miracle shows, the sighted can be blind to truth. In stark contrast to man’s bigotry, hatred, tainted perspective, and fumbled intentions, Jesus can always bring good out of man’s suffering.

Happy Friday!

Gretchen

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5

Clear night skies are magnificent. The longer you look, the more distant stars come into focus, still, there are trillions not seen.  Our sky is ever changing as the earth spins through days, seasons and years. We cannot comprehend where we are in the universe because we cannot pinpoint a reference.  Are we westerners? Northerners? In our vast world, is up, up? We cannot determine, only hypothesize.

David begins this Psalm with the total wickedness of mankind and its complete lack of fear, then turns to God’s infinite love and grace.  A sinner among sinners, David felt the power of God’s love, forgiveness and restoration in a whole and unencumbered relationship between him and his Creator.

From the air we breath to the farthest corners of outer space, these things that were created by our Father still do not contain the depths, heights, width or breadth of His love.  Pretty amazing!

Inhaling More Deeply,

Gretchen

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for His soul? Matthew 16:26

Jesus begins to prepare His disciples for the end.  Peter professes the deity of Jesus. He is the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus shares that He must return to Jerusalem to face persecution and death, then Peter rebukes Him and Jesus acknowledges Satan’s attempt to stop His sacrifice. Finally, Jesus tells these closest friends, comrades, the cost of following Him will be their lives, from their everyday comings and goings to possible martyrdom.

There is a constant push and pull between surviving life and keeping earthly gains in the proper place. I am honor bound to pay my electric bill, so I must go to work.  My natural competitive instinct drives me to achieve, thus gaining the faith and trust of my employer who in turn, depends more heavily on my ethic. I have done right, and now I am pulled from the very hearth I work to keep warm.  Where does maintaining life on earth become gaining the world? Adoration and power are great temptations, but they are of this world.

It is a matter of heart. What on earth do you love more than you love your neighbor?

Love,

Gretchen

Through Him and for His name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. Romans 1:5

Paul was called to bring the message of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. He wrote the letter we know as Romans three years before he would actually go to Rome. From Corinth, Paul was traveling to Jerusalem with benevolent funds for persecuted Jewish Christians. His personal safety was uncertain and he wanted the true, untainted Gospel to reach the faithful of Rome. 

Christians were being viciously persecuted by unbelievers, but compounding this injustice was the insistence of converted Jews that non Jewish believers adopt the orthodox traditions of circumcision and dietary restrictions. Paul preaches salvation by faith, and Holiness by obedience only. 

Opinions are the reflex of our knowledge and environment. It is impossible to exist without the perspective at the end of our own noses. The early church dealt constantly with these issues too. Paul was relentless in his mission to bring unity to all believers through a faith that accepts mercy and grace and in love, returns it to one another other.

Have a Lovely Monday,

Gretchen

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His Holy name. Psalm 103:1

An inmost being?….The darkest, hidden places of my heart and mind no one knows about?….The empty place left when my soul mate left?….The secret fears of failing? ….Listing details of a soul can go on forever. Do all those place’s really need to take part in worship?

This Psalm by David is a reflection of God’s enduring, infinite love across a life less than perfect, but entrusted to God’s love and care.

David could out sin us all……still, grace and mercy were unlimited and sufficient. What God did for him He will do for all. Let praise come from every place in your heart, mind and soul and may it express the miracle of who you are, all because God loves you.

Have a Wonderful Week’s end,

Gretchen

“You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

Sitting on a hillside, the Son of God begins to teach the things His followers must know if they are to remain His disciples. Be transformed and be like the One you know. Jesus’ words are found in Matthew chapters 5-7.

Jesus is the Light of the World. Outer darkness is the space where God does not dwell. Light is life giving and sustaining.  A glow gives determination and hope to the sojourner. Illumination provides clarity and truth.  It is irritable because it dispels obscurity.

God’s Glory radiates His character, enduring love and overcoming power. We must become like Him, both radiating and reflecting the things of Heaven so a world of shadows has a hope of resplendent enlightenment.

Simply said, “Be someone’s flashlight in the storm.”

Love,

Gretchen

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. John 20:14

Mary Magdalene is the only woman that all three gospels place at the crucifixion. While Jesus’ friends, even those who witnessed His love and power, were fleeing in fear, Mary stood faithful. 

Miraculously healed, Mary personally experience Jesus’ life transforming ministry. She became part of a group of followers that traveled beside Jesus and His disciples taking care of their personal needs and sharing their financial resources. After accompanying Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb to bury Jesus, grief stricken Mary returned home to prepared perfumes, oils and spices to give Her friend and healer the honor in death He was worthy of, and so, she arose on the first day of the week and arrived at His tomb before anyone else did, finding it empty.

The theology of the resurrection was lost on those who walked with the LORD.  They were willing listeners and learners, but they had no reference point of understanding, UNTIL that day.  John saw the burial cloths and instantly understood. Mary, devastated by the removal of Christ’s body, lingered near by sobbing. She looked into the tomb again and saw two angels (verse 13). While speaking with these celestial beings she turns and sees Jesus but does not recognize Him. He spoke. Still she wept AND THEN HE CALLED HER NAME!

Mary’s encounter changed our world….I mean your world and mine!  Jesus chose her, she who did not know how she would survive the day without Him, to go and share the news of the risen Friend, Savior, Messiah, Healer, LORD!

Jesus called her by name and things changed.  We often call out to Jesus, but today, invite Him to call you by name. It will change somebody’s world!

Love,

Gretchen

Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. Hosea 13:14

200 years before the time of Hosea, the Ten Tribes of Israel seceded and established a second kingdom separate from Judah, then chose the Golden Calf as their god.  The One True God sent Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Amos, and finally Hosea to tell the people to put away their false god. The people, led by wicked kings, refused, and by the end, Israel added the worship of Baal to their Golden Calf. Israel was wiped off the face of the earth by the Assyrians. Notice Baal and the Golden Calf were worthless help before, during and after this calamity.

Wisdom is not aptitude. It is a choice! Discernment is wisdom in action. Israel reaped what it sowed. The great news is, their actions, while bringing judgement, did not cause God’s love to waver.

God’s love knows no end. You cannot make it go away!  Read all of Hosea 14. Walk righteously or stumble continuously. God will reach down, but you’ve got to take the love extended, then trust and obey.   

Love,

Gretchen

And the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will over take them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10

God’s creative power is also His saving power. Chapter 35 is a poem telling of the end of time as we know it and the beginning of total and complete freedom from sin and grief. This passage speaks of old things becoming new, dead things coming to life.  Such is our state when we are saved by grace.

Ransom, the noun, is the price demanded for return of a possession.  Ransom, the verb, is the act of rescuing and redeeming. God does both.  The price to pay for everlasting life is a sacrifice that can face down death and LIVE to tell about it.  Jesus did.  Nothing in Satan’s arsenal had the strength to pull God and His Son from their objective, to save mankind from eternal darkness and death.

Man has no reference point to an existence without sorrow, temptation or fear. Isaiah saw it! God sent word to a people in bondage. There will come a day when suffering will end.  God is at work, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Happy Tuesday,

Gretchen