Monday, March 24, 2014

He First Loved Us

Monday Morning

"We love because He first loved us." -- I John 4:19

-- Exactly the way we are -- He loved us. 
-- Gave His One and Only Son for us.
-- To live among us.
-- To die -- to sacrifice His life for us.
-- But He rose again on the third day.
-- And now He sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us.
-- And He is still loving us, still caring for us, still wanting our best, and still believing in us.

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." -- I John 4:16

Bottom Line for this Monday Morning: God loves you! Know that. And because of His love -- we are able to love and care and want the best for others.  Amen? Amen. 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Be Confident

MONDAY MORNING

Psalm 71:5-6a -- "For You have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on You."

Jeremiah 17:7 -- "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him."

Hebrews 10:35 -- "So, do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded."

Philippians 1:6 -- "being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Our confidence, our trust, our assurance has to be rooted in the Lord.  In the lordship of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

Let's remember where our confidence comes from and as Christians -- as believers -- let's be confident of who we are and who we belong to.

We are children of the Most High God bought and paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb of God -- Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Bottom Line for this Monday Morning: May we all be confident in who we are and who we belong to because our confidence is in Him. And may we carry that confidence with us into our respective homes and market places. Amen?

Monday, March 10, 2014

MONDAY MORNING

"Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this." -- 2 Timothy 2:7

So, let's backup into Chapter 1 and part of 2 and reflect on what Paul has been saying to Timothy up to this point:

1. 1:6 "...fan into flame the gift of God..."

2. 1:8 "...do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord..."

3. 1:13 "What you have heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching..."

4. 1:14 "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you..."

5. 2:1 "...be strong in the grace that was in Jesus Christ."

6. 2:2: "...teach others."

7. 2:3 "Endure hardships..."

Bottom Line for this Monday Morning: Reflecting on God's word is a good thing --- and ask Him to give you insight as you do.

Monday, March 3, 2014

MONDAY MORNING

"Finally, brothers and sister, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable --- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy --- think about such things." -- Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

Just some very brief definitions here ---
true: that which is not false
noble: speaks of honesty, generosity, courage
right: morally correct
pure: clean, not harmful
lovely: delightful for beauty, harmony, grace
admirable: deserving highest esteem

Paul gives us instructions here on what our minds should be thinking.  There is so much negative stuff to be thinking about these days.  Hardly any news agency reports on what is actually true, noble, right, pure, lovely or admirable. If they do it is very little.

With all we are inundated with through the media, let's take some time to put out all the false, the unclean, the harmful and the ugly things we hear and see. Then let us think about and claim this verse of scripture in and over our lives.  Let it soak in and clean us up. Let it clean up our thought life.

So, bottom line for this Monday Morning -- Where are our thoughts this week?  What are we thinking about? May we think on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable.  May we think on things that are excellent and praiseworthy.  Amen? Amen.