A full house, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House for a concert by pianist Josef Hofmann, November 28, 1937. by Unknown or not provided Retouched by Mmxx

Good morning, beloved,

So good to be in His presence this morning..I am feeling His molding this morning. I made my own priorities again last night. I don’t like when I get ahead of my Lord. I hear the Word of the Lord in Luke ⁴⁰ And Jesus, replying, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, Teacher, say it.  And sometimes, we need to allow the Lord to cut, and we need to humble ourselves when we see what we’ve done…sigh. Yet, I will report back to you, I did get a room of books organized. 🙂 Umm, none to donate. 😉 I have trouble. See, here’s my deal. I don’t want to get rid of kid’s books…for my grandkids. How silly is that…probably Jesus will be back for me before that..but maybe I should box ’em up anyway. Let them gooooo…

I was captivated by this picture. Absolutely captivated. Can you imagine what the applause of heaven looks like? Or the hosts of heaven surrounding the throne? Obviously this is a poor substitute but it just lit a fire in me. To look ahead. To not hold on to the earth, to hold  the eternal, to love the kid’s hearts (not their books) ;), to run the race before me and finish well.

Joshua and I watched a movie until almost the end ( had to pick the kids up..) One of those movies for me that captured me, rocked me, challenged me, held me, and is making me think. And I think for me, that is the kind of movie I need to be watching. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love me some Avengers, but I need to be thinking all the time (kind of drives Joshua a little bonkers..) LOL. The boy in the film reminds us of a boy in our life and we are very tempted to show our family the movie with many helps. We’ll see how it ends.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Well, let’s dive in! Matthew 5:4 says: ⁴ Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!

I’m struck by how vibrant the words are here, how about you? Blessing, happy…mourning…comfort. It doesn’t flow off the tongue, does it? 🙂

James 4:6-10

⁶ But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).

⁷ So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.

⁸ Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

⁹ [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].

¹⁰ Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

Hey, doesn’t verse 6 sound a little familiar? Haven’t we heard that before? 😉

Matthew 5: ³ Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

Don’t you love the Word?

Let’s look at verse 8, as we come close God..He will come close to You…but recognize what will happen…and the process as we walk towards the light of God.

1. Recognize your sin
2. Get your soiled hands clean
3. Realize you have been disloyal with divided interests
4. Purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery (not mincing words here, does he?)
5. be deeply penitent, grieve, weep over your disloyalty
6. let your laughter turn to tears
7. have heartfelt shame
8. Finally humble yourselves and He will exalt you. He will.

Do you see how Jesus affected James’ teaching? It’s amazing, isn’t it? How does this impact you? We have to look at our sin with a clear eye. We cannot be blind to its effects in our lives, on our families, don’t sugar coat it. Gag.

Take some time today. I know I need to…walk through this list…and recognize..

Pray on, beloved. Pray on.

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