What Can I Do Before Lent Begins?

Anything worth doing is worth preparing for. Just imagine that this Lent is going to be different from every other Lent we've experienced.  Imagine that there will be many graces offered me this year.  Let's even imagine that God is going to help transform our lives, with greater freedom, greater joy, deeper desires for love and service. If we want it, we will choose it. Lent will be this wonderful season of grace for us if we give ourselves to it.  And, we will give ourselves to it to the degree we really want it badly.  So, in these days before Lent, we need to prepare our hearts.  We need to prepare by realizing how much we want to grow in freedom, how much we need to lighten our spirits and experience some real joy, and how much some parts of our lives really need changing.  Our Focus:  On what God wants to give us. Our sense of excitement and anticipation will grow more easily if we begin to imagine what God wants to give us.  There is really something coming that we can truly look forward to.  If we get too focused on ourselves, and what we are going to do or not do, we could risk missing the gift God wants to give us.  We have to keep aware of the fact that grace comes from God.  This is about God's great desire to bless us.  Then, it is easier for us to imagine that what we really want to do is place ourselves in a space to receive what God wants to give us.

Blessing

May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being. May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. ~Apache Blessing

I call upon you, O Lord.

In the morning you hear me;
in the morning I offer you my prayer, watching and waiting. . .Psalm 5

I lift my heart to you, O Lord,
to be strengthened for this day.
Be with me in all I do, my God;
guide me in all my ways.

Saturday Prayer

May God, the source of all patience and encouragement, enable you to live in perfect harmony with one another according to the spirit of Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and voice you may glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, as Christ accepted you, for the glory of God. 
Romans 15:5-7

New!

I've been having so much fun creating a new website for www.MyLutheranChurch.com . Be sure to check it out and ... check back often because I'm always adding new things!

Dancing in he Rain

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass ... it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Battlefield of the Mind

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Thus begins Joyce Meyer's book "Battlefield of the Mind" which we are now studying Mondays at 1:00 pm.

New Book Study Begins

Worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger and feelings of condemnation: all these are attacks on the mind. If readers suffer from negative thoughts, they can take heart! Joyce Meyer has helped millions win these all-important battles. In her most popular bestseller ever, the beloved author and minister shows readers how to change their lives by changing their minds.

You are invited to join us Mondays at 1:00 pm at Donna's home as we read and discuss this interesting book. Call Donna 476-3058 for more information.

Our Monday Bible Study group has begun studying Marva Dawn's book, "In the Beginning, God."  Marva tells us of the "dazzling wonder" evident in Genesis 1 - 3 and encourages us to focus on God, to look around and SEE ! "When you see the wonders of the earth and sky, don't you respond with greater gratitude to their Creator, increased praise to God?"

Justin Bieber - Pray

It's nice to see a young person actively reaching out to those in need.

In the Beginning, God ....

“The Bible is all about God,” writes Marva J. Dawn in the opening paragraph of her latest work, In the Beginning, God. “That might seem an overly obvious point with which to begin a book on character formation, but if we consider the mater seriously, we discover that we often read the Bible imagining it is about ourselves.”

Dawn wants readers to understand the enormous shift in perspective that occurs when we stop asking, “what does this text say about me,” and start, instead, by asking, “What is God doing in this text?”

That is the big idea behind In the Beginning, God. The book primarily is a study of Genesis 1-3 and how their focus on God as the principle transforms our attitude toward faith, Scripture and worship from self-improvement to adoration.

We will be reading Marva Dawn's book "In the Beginning God, Creation, Culture and  the Spiritual Life" for Monday Bible Study Group. Join us now!

Monday Group

The "Monday Group" is almost finished with the book "Holy Sweat" and have begun looking for a new book to study. Are you free on Monday afternoons at 1:00? This is an ideal time to join us! Contact Donna Gordon for more info. You could email me at DonnaG@Orofino-ID.com

JESUS ASKS

Tim says, "I work at a homeless shelter where I have the privilege of catching glimpses of Jesus in the strangest places and faces. He really never seems to care about how much I know about the Bible or my religious pedigree. He only wants to know the same thing that everyone who comes to the shelter asks: "Do you have any room?" It's all he really ever asks of any of us. He's also always on the move. The issue is never about where we have been, but where we are willing to go when he says, "Follow me". Read more on Tim's Blog http://hobojesus.blogspot.com/

Faith

  Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

Hebrews 11:1-3

"Good news from heaven the angels bring, Glad tidings to the earth they sing; To us this day a child is given, To crown us with the joy of heaven" - Martin Luther

God sent his Son

God sent His Son. They called Him Jesus; He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon; an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because He lives I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives. (Hymn-Because He Lives)

Christmas!

Christmas is coming!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We give thanks to God from whom all blessings flow!

Flashpoint

You are not the oil, you are not the air - merely the point of combustion, the flashpoint where the light is born. You are merely the lens in the beam. You can only receive, give, and possess the light as a lens does. - Dag Hammarsjkold

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31

Bills, fears, expectations, loneliness, deadlines, diets, illness, depression, perfection, insecurities, illusions, responsibilities, to-do-lists, house repairs, meetings! Help! When will we be free?
1. What enslaves and burdens us?
2. How would this list have been different ten years ago?

Quick, rush to the book store to find the latest self-help book to repair your life. On second thought, follow the advice of Jesus and return to the Word to be comforted and challenged. There we not only encounter the love of the living God in Jesus Christ, but we also have a standard of his sacrificial life-giving love for our own lives. There we discover that freedom comes with being rooted in the amazing love and grace of God.
3. How can God’s Word free us?
4. Recall a time when God’s Word has helped to helped to put things in perspective?

Freedom does not mean doing whatever I want, whenever I want and with whomever I want. That’s an empty road. That is sin at work, seducing each of us to live only for me, myself and I. We dare not underestimate the power of sin to sabotage life, goals, relationships, and devotion to God. Sin is a powerful force. None of us can by our own efforts become freed. Jesus offers this reminder: Continue in my word = know the truth = be set free.
5. What does it mean to “continue in my word”?

The challenge of being a disciple is to align life with Jesus while the rages of sin rush through our spiritual system. It’s like keeping the tires of our car aligned while daily driving on roads filled with potholes. After a while, we scarcely remember there is another way. Remaining in the Word reminds us of the proper alignment with Jesus Christ.
6. Describe your life as if it was more firmly and rooted in God’s Word.
7. What if anything would change?
8. When do you feel firmly anchored in Christ and God’s Word?

Freedom is a gift from God for those willing to claim it. But here is the irony. We cannot claim the gift of freedom until we know we cannot save ourselves. That knowledge is the very place that we are found, forgiven and freed as a free gift of God in Jesus Christ (See Ephesians 2:4-9).
9. What is God freeing us to do or be?
10. How do you feel about being free?

Prayer
Christ, free us from the shackles which bind and loosen our hearts to love. Amen