Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Mother’s Day isn’t a happy day for everyone. There’s always someone hurting:
Even if it isn’t a happy one for us, we can make it a better day for someone else. Even when we’re hurting, we can reach out to bless others.
Offer a kind word of encouragement, give a helping hand, pray for their well-being. In Jesus’ name.
Around the world, children find safety in their mothers’ sheltering arms. World Vision tells some of their stories here.
Heavenly Father, bless all the moms who work hard so their children can have safe homes, tasty food and good schools. Amen.
Bless a mom this Mother’s Day.
Names are important. Nowhere more than the Bible.
In Genesis 16, Hagar has an encounter with God, and she calls him God who sees. She names her son Ishmael, which means God hears.
Let’s use those meanings in a later verse:
Genesis 21:17
And God Who Sees heard the voice of God Hears, and the angel of God Who Sees called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God Who Sees has heard the voice of God Hears where he is.
God is the power behind the giraffe, the monkey and the platypus . . . yes, platypus: that beaver-tailed, duck-billed, egg-laying mammal that looks like it was created out of left-over parts.
Hawaii has been hammered: flood, volcano, earthquake. 50 inches of rain in 24 hours in Kauai. Kilauea’s eruption. Repeated earthquakes.
Where do you go when the ground shakes, the mountains explode, the air is thick and water covers the dry land?
Lord, may the people of Hawaii turn first to you. Their land may be unstable, but you, O God, are not. Be their safe shelter and solid ground. May our prayers be their umbrella, the light for their feet, their fresh breath.
Send the help and hope they need. Bless those who respond, those who step out in faith to help.
The first Samaritan’s Purse team has already arrived to help clean up after the flood. Read about it here.
I confess, Lord, that when I pray for unity, I’m sometimes thinking, “Make everybody do it my way.” Instead, teach me to pray, “Let everybody–including me–do it your way.” As in, “Your will be done.”