My Shining Light

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.

 

God’s Word — not my cellphone — lights my way. The Bible always points me in the right direction (my cellphone isn’t always right).

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A Shining Light

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

Apparently, I need to ponder letting my light shine:

Matthew 5:16 (NLT)
Let your good deeds shine out for all to see.

  • The Sunday sermon reminded me “to radiate Christ in a dark world.”
  • A friend shared a similar message from her pastor: “You can be a humble 30-watt bulb. You’re lighting the way, not calling attention to yourself.”
  • I turned on the radio in my car, and the first sentence mentioned “a light in the darkness.”

Three times in two days.

OK, Lord, You have my attention.
What do You want me to do?

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Lest We Forget

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

Not always “liberating strife.”

Heroes on 9/11, protecting life.

 

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Queen Elizabeth’s Work (and Ours)

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

It occurs to me that the quotation I planned for today applies to Queen Elizabeth:

“Praise to the Lord,
who doth prosper thy work,
and defend thee.
Surely God’s goodness and mercy
here daily attend thee.”
Joachim Neander, 1680
Trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1863

O Lord, may your goodness and mercy here daily attend us all. Prosper our work, in Jesus’ name.

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Prospering Work

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

 

This familiar passage from Isaiah looked forward to Jesus Christ:

 

 

Isaiah 53:10 (NLT)
The Lord’s good plan
will prosper in his hands.

What about you and me? Does God’s good plan prosper in our hands?

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Good at Bad Work

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

 

The prophet Jeremiah has a thus-says-the-Lord moment (it’s what prophets do). I like the way this contemporary version of the Bible puts it:

 

Jeremiah 4:22 (MSG)
What fools my people are! . . .
Experts at evil but klutzes at good.

“Experts at evil.” Good at bad work.

O Lord, I want to be good at good work–
I want to be good like you, dear Jesus.

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Good Work

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

 

The Apostle Peter said this about Jesus:

 

 

Acts 10:38 (NIRV)
You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went around doing good.

The same Spirit and power lives in us.

Be like Jesus. Do good.

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Celebrate Work

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

Here in the USA, it’s Labor Day.
We all have work to do (even God).

Let’s get to work!

 

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Our Heavenly Father Knows Best

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

 

This prayer to our heavenly Father, attributed to Fulbert of Chartres (970-1028), is as appropriate today as it was when it was written a thousand years ago:

 

“How brief is our span of life compared with the time since you created the universe. How tiny we are compared with the enormity of your universe. How trivial are our concerns compared with the complexity of your universe . . . You give your whole and undivided attention to each and every one of us. Our concerns are your concerns.”

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Know God (not “No, God”)

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Shirlee Abbott

 

The better you know God, the easier it is to say yes when He calls.

Take Isaiah, for example:

 

Isaiah 6:1, 8 (NLT)
 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple …

 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

Isaish knew God, up close and personal. He said, “Yes, Lord.”

Be like Isaiah.

 

 

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