Good morning, beloved,
God‘s up to something. 🙂 The blood work on Joshua is back and it is normal and fine and clean. So we just bless the Lord and thank Him and give Him glory!
Romans 12:11 Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.
Hyacint, Brno, CZ by I.Sáček, senior
Lag in zeal? What does that mean? Glad you asked. 😉 (Don’t you love it when we have these conversations early in the morning?)
Well, to lag in means to be: sluggish, slothful, backward and to have zeal: is have : earnestness, zeal,” or sometimes “the haste accompanying this..is translated “diligence” . So Paul is asking me, you..let’s not lack. Let’s be diligent and careful not to crush our light on this earth.
In earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit…these words are not cold, not tepid, these are hot! And the Greek speaks to the same! Be fervent, to boil with heat, be hot . O friends, let’s burn bright for the kingdom!!
Red Heart photo was taken during the annual Kuala Lumpur Floral and Garden Festival held at Lake Perdana. by LOKE SENG HON
These last few days, I set myself up. At a grocery store near me, they sometimes have bags of apples for cheap (5 lbs for $.79) Well, I decided while we were there to get a lot of bags. Not just a lot…um…14 or 15 bags. So needless to say, these past few days, I’ve been peeling, cutting, dehydrating and we are now filling our cabinets with dehydrated apples, applesauce, apple pie filling and I’m exhausted. And I’ve dropped into bed at night, exhausted. I was fervent! I had a goal. I did not want to lose the apples. Waste this money I spent..last night Joshua and I were considering…probably it will be gone next week. The kids love it all. 🙂 We had a good laugh. The laugh reached his eyes. It made my heart happy…
Romans 12: 12Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.
Friends, our hope cannot be in what we see. Our steadfastness and patience must stay in the Lord. He’s the only one who can hold us. What you see is so colored, so worldly..please keep coming back to the Word of God. Use the Word like a filter for your eyes, like a pair of glasses. By the world’s eyes, and sometimes my own, I get very overwhelmed by my circumstances yet when I look into the eyes of Jesus…I have no choice but rejoice. I must, let me say it again, I must be the patient in suffering and tribulation. And continuing and constant in prayer.
Hedge False Bindweed (Calystegia sepium sepium) by André Karwath aka Aka
Romans 12:13Contribute to the needs of God’s people [sharing in the necessities of the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality.
So, now, beloved, allow your lights to burn brights, hope in Him…and as Bill Hybels said so well last weekend, what do you have in your hands? How can you serve Your God? Well, my friends, hold out your hands and say, God I’m here. Use me. And, my beloved friends, He will. He just needs you to be willing…He needs me to be willing. When my baby girl says, Mommy read me a story..I’m not too busy. When my neighbor needs her dog watched..yep. When another neighbor needs to talk…open my hands. Yes, Lord, use me. When my eldest wants to talk about his favorite video games which then results in a much deeper conversation…yes Lord…but I had to be there..I had to be patient. And sometimes, I’m not..forgive me Lord.
Primroses (primula vulgaris) by the South Wales Main Line at Chipping Sodbury. Own work by mattbuck..
Pray on, beloved. Pray on…
Garden Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus). by George Chernilevsky
Leave A Reply