Intentional Faith

Practice honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood in this place.

Our King and Redeemer, listen to your Church as she sings your praises at the start of the day: teach her to give unceasing glory to your greatness.

After the American Civil War the managers of the infamous Louisiana Lottery approached Robert E. Lee and asked if he’d let them use his name in their scheme. They promised that if he did he would become rich. 

Astounded, Lee straightened up, buttoned his gray coat, and shouted, "Gentlemen, I lost my home in the war. I lost my fortune in the war. I lost everything except my name. My name is not for sale, and if you fellows don’t get out of here, I’ll break this crutch over year heads!"

Remember the helpless today and do the good thing.  Michael

You will have to suffer only for a little while: the God of all grace who called you to eternal glory in Christ will see that all is well again: he will confirm, strengthen and support you. His power lasts for ever and ever. Amen.

Bless the Lord, you heavens;
  all his angels, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, you waters above the heavens;
  all his powers, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, sun and moon;
  all stars of the sky, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, rain and dew;
  all you winds, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, fire and heat;
  cold and warmth, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, dew and frost;
  ice and cold, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, ice and snow;
  day and night, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, light and darkness;
  lightning and storm-clouds, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, all the earth,
  praise and exalt him for ever.

Recently my wife and I sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn–even before they pick up the violin–is how to take a bow. "If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation," the instructor said. "But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we’ve found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it well."

Adults love applause too. Being affirmed makes us feel wonderful. If you want to rekindle or keep the flame of love glowing in your marriage through the years, try showing and expressing your appreciation for your mate. Put some applause in your marriage and watch love grow. 
Dr. Ernest Mellor

Have a wonderful day. Stay cool.  Michael

With our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, we all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit.

O God, at your only-begotten Son’s glorious transfiguration you confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witness of the prophets of old, and you miraculously prefigured what would happen when your adopted children were brought to perfection.

I was in a store shopping for a sweater. The cost needed to be minimal, so I went to the clearance rack. As I flipped through the sweaters, one caught my eye. It was the right color and the right size, and, best of all, the price tag said $8. Without much more thought, I made my purchase.
At home I slipped on the sweater. Its texture was like silk. I had made my purchase so quickly that I hadn’t noticed how smooth and elegant the sweater was. Then I saw the original price tag: $124.
I gasped. I had never owned a sweater that expensive. I had come home with what I thought was a “cheap buy,” but the original price was much higher. And I had been oblivious to its value.
At times I have treated the power of Jesus’ blood like a cheap buy. God’s grace, though free to me, carried the highest price tag of all: the life of his own Son.                 Karen Morerod

You must give your brothers a fair hearing and see justice done between a man and his brother or the stranger who lives with him. You must be impartial in judgment and give an equal hearing to small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for the judgment is God’s.

Lord. We consecrate today as an offering to you: we promise to do nothing evil today, nor even attempt it.

If a child lives with criticism, HE learns to condemn. If a child lives with hostility, HE learns to fight. If a child lives with ridicule, HE learns to be shy. If a child lives with shame, HE learns to feel guilty. If a child lives with tolerance, HE learns to be patient. If a child lives with encouragement, HE learns confidence. If a child lives with praise, HE learns to appreciate. If a child lives with fairness, HE learns justice. If a child lives with security, HE learns to have faith. If a child lives with approval, HE learns to like himself. If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, HE learns to find love in the world.

There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them.  I Cor. 12:4-6

Lord, in our morning prayer we recall your resurrection: may the hope of glory illuminate our entire day.

Pain
    No new attempt at apology here:
    All suffer, though few suffer anything
    like what they deserve.
    Still, there are the famous undeserving
    whose pain astonishes even the most
    unflinching disciples
    whose own days have been consumed by hopeless
    explanation for that innocent whose torn
    face or weeping burns
    or ravenous disease says simply no,
    not good enough. This is where we must begin:
    incommensurate
    pain, nothing you can hope to finger
    into exposition, nothing you can
    cover up. A fault
    —unacceptable and broad as life—gapes
    at your feet, and the thin soil you stand
    upon is giving way.

This is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people.                                       Jeremiah

Almighty Lord and God, you have brought us to the start of this day.  By your power keep us safe so that today, at least, we may not sin, directing our thoughts, words and actions rightly according to your law. Amen.

The foundation of ministry is character.
The nature of ministry is Service.
The motive for ministry is love.
The measure of ministry is sacrifice.
The authority of ministry is submission.
The purpose of ministry is the glory of God.
The tools of ministry are the Word of God and prayer.
The privilege of ministry is growth.
The power of ministry is the Holy Spirit,
The model for ministry is Jesus Christ.

May all the peoples of the earth come to know that the Lord is God indeed, and that there is no other. May your hearts be wholly with the Lord our God, following his laws and keeping his commandments as at this present day.

While kayaking in southern England off the Isle of Wight, Mark Ashton-Smith, a lecturer at Cambridge University, capsized in treacherous waters. Clinging to his craft and reaching for his cell phone, Ashton-Smith, thirty-three, called his dad.

It didn’t matter that his father, Alan Pimm-Smith, was training British troops in Dubai 3,500 miles away. Without delay, the father relayed his son’s Mayday to the Coast Guard nearest to his son. Within twelve minutes, a helicopter retrieved the grateful Ashton-Smith.

Like this kayaker, when we are in peril, our first impulse should be to call our Father — the one we trust to help us.

Lord, may the splendor of the Resurrection shine in our hearts.  Make us worthy to escape the shadows of death and arrive in the brightness of eternity.  For Jesus glory we pray.  Amen.

Be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead.                                        The Apostle Paul

O God, your light dispels the darkness of ignorance of your word, morning, noon and night: Increase in our hearts the faith that you have given us: may no trials extinguish the fire lit by your grace.

At a middle school in Oregon, some girls were putting on lipstick and then pressing their lips to the mirrors, leaving dozens of lip prints.
The principal called the girls to the bathroom and told them how the lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian, who had to clean the mirrors every day. To demonstrate how difficult it was, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. He took out a long-handled brush, dipped it into the toilet, and scrubbed the mirror.
Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirrors.
When tempted to sin, if we could only see the real filth we’d be kissing, we wouldn’t be attracted to it.

Time to get up.  You have work to do.  We are with you.

He it was who formed the mountains, created the wind, reveals his mind to man, makes both dawn and dark, and walks on the top of the heights of the world; the Lord, the God of Hosts, is his name.   Prophet Amos

Almighty and ever-living God, we pray to you in your majesty morning, noon and night: erase from our hearts the shadow of sin, and fill them with the true light, which is Christ.  In His name we pray.

The fine-tuning of the universe is shown in the precise strengths of four basic forces. Gravity, the best known of these forces, is also the weakest, with a relative strength of 1. Next strongest is the weak nuclear force that holds neutrons together inside an atom. It is 1,034 times stronger than gravity but works only at subatomic distances. Electromagnetism is 1,000 times stronger than the weak nuclear force. And the strong nuclear force — which keeps protons together in the nucleus of an atom — is 100 times stronger yet.

If even one of these forces had a slightly different strength, the life-sustaining universe we know would be impossible. If gravity was slightly stronger, all stars would be large, like the ones that produce iron and other heavier elements, but they would burn out too rapidly for the development of life. If gravity was weaker, the stars would endure, but none would produce the heavier elements necessary to form planets.

The weak nuclear force controls the decay of neutrons. If it was stronger, neutrons would decay more rapidly, and there would be nothing in the universe but hydrogen. However, if this force was weaker, all the hydrogen would turn into helium and other elements.

The electromagnetic force binds atoms to one another to form molecules. If it was either weaker or stronger, no chemical bonds would form, so no life could exist.

Finally, the strong nuclear force overcomes the electromagnetic force and allows the atomic nucleus to exist. Like the weak nuclear force, changing its strength would produce a universe with only hydrogen or with no hydrogen.

In sum, without planets, hydrogen, and chemical bonds, there would be no life as we know it. Besides these four factors, there are at least twenty-five others that require pinpoint precision to produce a universe that contains life. Getting each of them exactly right suggests the presence of an Intelligent Designer.

Remember your Creator today.  Michael