Enduring Wealth

 Happy Sunday!

"I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to SANITY; 

Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.
The Fear-of-God means HATING Evil,  
whose ways I hate with a passion—
pride and arrogance and crooked talk.
GOOD counsel and COMMON SENSE are my characteristics;
I am both Insight and the Virtue to LIVE IT OUT.
With my HELP, leaders rule,
and lawmakers legislate fairly;
With my HELP, governors govern,
along with all in legitimate authority.
I LOVE those who LOVE me;
those who LOOK for me find me.
WEALTH and GLORY accompany me—
also substantial Honor and a Good Name.
My benefits are worth MORE than a big salary, even a very big salary; 

the returns on me exceed any imaginable BONUS.
You can find me on Righteous Road—that’s where I walk—
at the intersection of Justice Avenue,
Handing out LIFE to those who LOVE me,
filling their arms with life—armloads of life!"(Proverbs 8:12-21 Message).

The Word of God can say it far better than I can! Don't you just love the Word?

Love and prayers, Cynthia

DOUBTLESS

 Happy Sunday!

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall DOUBTLESS come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."(Psalm 126:5-6 KJV).

My Pastor used numerous scriptures in his sermon today!  This one stuck out to me!  One word seemed to jump off the page.  It was the word, Doubtless!  The definition of "Doubtless" from the Webster's 1828 Dictionary is "Without doubt or question; unquestionably".  It made me think of the most steadfast and trustworthy person.  Someone who will always do what they say.  Do you know anyone like that?  That "Come Hell or High Water" type of person?  Well, our GOD, the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is faithful, and trustworthy!

This passage in the Message version is even more descriptive and encouraging!  "And now, God, do it again—bring rains to our drought-stricken lives.  So those who planted their crops in despair
will shout “Yes!” at the harvest.  So those who went off with heavy hearts will come home LAUGHING, with armloads of Blessing."(Psalm 126:4-6 Message).

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."(KJV).  The Living Bible version says, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead."(Hebrews 11:1 Living Bible)  Don't miss this! Just like a farmer plants his crop and goes on about his other chores, we can be confident like he is that what was planted will "Doubtless" come up at harvest time!  2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight".(KJV).

Galatians 6:7-9 says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."(KJV).  Don't be weary!  In Due season you will REAP, if you don't faint!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

What Can I Do?

 Happy Sunday!

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:

FREE those who are wrongly imprisoned;

    LIGHTEN the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free,

    and REMOVE the chains that bind people.

SHARE your food with the hungry,

    and give shelter to the homeless.

GIVE clothes to those who need them,

    and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

 “Then your salvation will COME like the dawn,

    and your wounds will quickly HEAL.

Your godliness will LEAD you forward,

    and the glory of the Lord will PROTECT you from behind.

 Then when you call, the Lord WILL answer.

    ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“REMOVE the heavy yoke of oppression.

    STOP pointing your finger and SPREADING vicious rumors!

FEED the hungry,

    and help those in trouble.

Then YOUR light will shine out from the darkness,

    and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

The Lord will GUIDE you continually,

    giving you water when you are dry

    and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

    like an ever-flowing spring."(Isaiah 58:6-12 NLT)

Love and prayers, Cynthia

Power to Produce

 Happy Sunday!

"Make sure you DON'T FORGET God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. 

Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, 

build pleasant houses and settle in, 

see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, 

watch your standard of living going UP and UP—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who DELIVERED you from Egyptian slavery;

the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, 

those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;

the God who GAVE you water gushing from hard rock;

the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, THINK AGAIN. 

Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this WEALTH so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today."(Deuteronomy 8:11-18 Message).

Love and prayers, Cynthia

HE Is Risen!

 Happy Resurrection Sunday!

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, EVERYONE who Belongs to CHRIST will be given new life."(1 Corinthians 15:20-22 NLT).

"And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t FOOL yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.”(1 Corinthians 15:30-33 Message).

"Please listen. If you say, “the dead are not raised,” then what you are telling me is that the Anointed One has not been raised. Friends, if the Anointed has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is worth less than yesterday’s garbage, you are all doomed in your sins, and all the dearly departed who trusted in His liberation are left decaying in the ground.  If what we have hoped for in the Anointed doesn’t take us beyond this life, then we are world-class fools, deserving everyone’s pity."(1 Corinthians 15:16-19 Voice).

Thank God, Jesus Christ Is Risen!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

Speak Out

 Happy Sunday!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.  Has the Lord Redeemed you? Then SPEAK OUT! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies."(Psalm 107:1-2 NLT).

The Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines the word "Redeemed" as "delivered from bondage, distress, penalty, liability, or from the possession of another, by paying an equivalent".  Now that's good news!  Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."(KJV).  Romans 3:23 says, "For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"(KJV).  Don't miss this!  We all have missed the mark in our lives.  The wages or payment for our wrong doing is death! BUT if we acknowledge the fact that we can't pay our debt, and we accept Jesus as our Redeemer, we can have abundant life!

Now that we have been Redeemed, we need to "Speak Out"!  We need to tell others what God has done for us!  When is the last time you testified?  Do you remember testimonies at church?  A member would stand up and tell about the goodness of God.  They may recall that they didn't have a job, and the Lord created a job for them.  Or they would tell of being sick, and being miraculously healed by the power of God.  We need to tell others just how good God has been to us!   We need to "Speak Out"! 

These scriptures in Psalms 107 made me think of my Mother-in-Law, Minnie Pruitt.  She told me about "Laundry Days" decades ago.  Throughout the neighborhood women would hang their laundry outside on the clothes lines.  Your neighbors and passersby could see your clean clothes. If your clothes looked cleaner or brighter, they may ask you what detergent you used.  They could see the difference and wanted their clothes to be as clean or cleaner. 

It's just like speaking out about what God has done for you. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown in prison.  They hadn't done anything wrong, and could have wined about how unfair this all was, but instead they prayed and sang praises unto God!  An earthquake shook the prison, and all their chains fell off.  In those days, the Jailer would be killed if any inmates escaped, and he was terrified.  He decided to kill himself, "But Paul yelled to him, “Don’t do it! We are all here!” Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and begged them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”(Acts 16:28-30 Living Bible).  People should see our lives and hear how we praise God!  When they do we can "Speak Out" and tell them how amazing life can be with Jesus Christ Our Lord!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

PS:  I will put a few links below of testimonies that have blessed me!

https://youtu.be/cp-tDcThl-o?si=zxkXSeT61-OXX_yZ

https://youtu.be/E_iHJ_My0Yg?si=sBgDpIMeC42tzHJZ

https://youtu.be/LcAfgoFd2Os?si=-isWJmV6ij4YxwwF

Lifelong Learner

 Happy Sunday!

"These are the wise sayings of Solomon,
    David’s son, Israel’s king—
Written down so we’ll know how to LIVE WELL and RIGHT,
    to understand what life means and where it’s going;
A manual for living,
    for learning what’s right and just and fair;
To teach the inexperienced the ropes
    and give our young people a grasp on reality.
There’s something here also for seasoned men and women,
    still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—
Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
    the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women."(Proverbs 1:1-6 Message)

Are you a Lifelong Learner?  I hope so!  We can learn something new every day!  I've mentioned before how I get a daily email from Merriam-Webster with the Word of the Day.  It's interesting and enlightening.  Also, the Word of God, The Bible is overflowing with interesting stories, psalms, proverbs, and helpful wisdom.  My Sunday School students would gasp when I told them and showed them stories like the 2 Kings 2:23-24.  Are you familiar with this passage?  42 children decided they would make fun of the Prophet Elisha.  Bad idea!  He turned around and cursed them and two bears came out of the woods and tore the children to pieces.  OUCH!  2 Timothy 3:16 says, "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is RIGHT."(Living Bible).  I imagine we can learn from this scripture that it's not good to make fun of bald headed men or God's Servants.

Let's purpose in our hearts to learn something new this week!  A new word, a new scripture, a phone number, a feature on your phone, are just a few options.

Love and prayers, Cynthia