Allow me to say a few words of prophetic significance. I feel it strongly going into 2013: Your latter will be greater than your past You will be blessed more than you could ask Despite all that has been done The best is yet to come Your latter will be greater than your past Have a very Happy and Prosperous New Year Everyone!
Prayer – what is prayer? I love the definition in “My Orthodox Prayer Book.” Prayer is doxology, praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication and intercession to God. “When I prayed I was new,” wrote a great theologian of Christian antiquity, “but when I stopped praying I became old.” Prayer is the way to renewal and spiritual life. Prayer is aliveness to God. Prayer is strength, refreshment, and joy. Through the grace of God and our disciplined efforts prayer lifts us up from our isolation to a conscious, loving communion with God in which everything is experienced in a new light. Prayer becomes a personal dialogue with God, a spiritual breathing of the soul, a foretaste of the bliss of God’s kingdom. In short, prayer is not just asking and receiving from God it is life with God, intricate, deep, living, a thing not only to enjoy – but also understood. There are all kinds of prayer in the Bible, but for our purpose today I would like to leave you with 7 of them from the book of James …
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart Luke 2:19 NIV I think this song is one of the most fascinating christmas songs ever. There are more than 10 very intriguing questions posed to Mary in the song. Let’s look at them: 1. Mary did you know that your baby boy would some day walk on water? 2. Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? 3. Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? 4. This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you. 5. Mary did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man? 6. Mary did you know that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand? 7. Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? 8. And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God. 9. Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? 10. …
Wishing you the 5 words of Christmas So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love… 1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV Behold… I bring you good tidings of great joy. Luke 2:10 Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Peace. Luke 2:14 May Faith come alive in you this Christmas because it makes all things possible May Hope shine through for you this Christmas because it makes all things work May Love burst forth in you this Christmas because it makes all things beautiful May Joy abound for you this Christmas because it makes you strong in the Lord. May Peace abide with you this Christmas because it surpasses all understanding and guides the heart and mind. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 ESV Psalm 73 is a Psalm attributed to Asaph. Asaph was the music directed of King David who himself wrote most of the Psalm. But in Psalm 73, Asaph tells us how for a while he’d questioned the faithfulness of God toward his own. He tells us how much he envied the wicked because he looked at their lives and saw how much they prospered and how they had everything they wanted. But when he looked at his very own life and those of other God-fearing people, all they had were trials, troubles, tribulations and afflictions. This was something he couldn’t understand. Why would a godly man like him be afflicted with so much troubles and pain and lack, while the wicked lived in prosperity and ease? He goes on to describe how he began to trip and slip until he got heavenly perspective. Check out verses 2, 3 and 17: But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, …
Christmas has always been about God fulfilling his promises to his people. Just like it was two thousand years ago so it is again this year. There are four promises according to this passage that God wants to release upon us this christmas. Jeremiah 33:14-16 Parallel Translation: The Promise of Justice The Promise of Righteousness The Promise of Salvation The Promise of Well-being he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely… God always keeps his promises, and as he did in time past to direct the future (Jeremiah 33:1-5), heal the land (Jeremiah 33:6-13), and fulfill the Davidic covenant (Jeremiah 33:14-26), so will he fulfill all his promises toward you at christmas. May this message create in you an expectation for great things this Christmas.
Walter Bright 
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