Tag Archive | Family

Love Letters

 

“I will read your letters over and over and over and over again.”

Justin Rizzo –  Worship With the Word –

http://www.ihop.org/prayerroom/archives/
(Wednesday February 5, 8:00 am, 19:01 -24:50)

International House of Prayer – Kansas City

These words were enough to make my inquiring mind want to know.

I had a need to know what God’s word says about “letters”.

I recall first, that the Bible is literally a letter to mankind.

It is a letter recalling the times of man from the beginning.

It is a letter journaling the days and times of God’s people, their enemies and the ways, during thick and thin, that God took care of their needs.

It is a letter describing how to live a better life by living wisely.

In total, it is a love letter of insight and provision to the children of a loving father.

Some of its “paragraphs” may be simple to understand while others are difficult and cryptic.

It is in the deciphering that we become engaged in the unfolding relationship with our “Abba” daddy.

It is in that relationship that we learn exactly WHO He is and exactly who WE are in Him.

2 Corinthians 3:2 (NIV1984)  You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.

If we spend time pouring over His letters, we become like His words, like Him.

2 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV1984) He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Keeping time with His letters transforms us, and we become able to speak the life of His words to others.

2 Corinthians 10:10  (NIV1984)  For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”

We do not speak His words so that people can be impressed with us, but that they may be impressed with Him.

2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 (MSG)  If anyone refuses to obey our clear command written in this letter, don’t let him get by with it.  Point out such a person and refuse to subsidize his freeloading.  Maybe then he’ll think twice.  But don’t treat him as an enemy.  Sit him down and talk about the problem as someone who cares.

People who do not know Him or read His letters are not our enemies.

Romans 2:4 (ESV) Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to to lead you to repentance?

Our time with His letters gives us the kindness, forbearance and patience required to gently lead them to God.

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Don’t know Him yet?

You can have that Significant Encounter by clicking on the “Rescue” tab at the top of this page.

Not enjoying His letters and His company yet?

The internet is full of free letters (Bibles) for you to begin your relationship with your Father in Heaven.

Won’t you try one?

What do you have to lose but your loneliness?

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Kansas City, Missouri. Front of the Internatio...

Image via Wikipedia

Significant Encounter Friday #9

Significant Encounters of the Closest Kind – The Last of the Sisters

 It’s been a sad/happy week.

The last of the sisters was laid to rest.

Aunt Kit In Jersey

Image by Steve Bowbrick via Flickr

 Born in 1927, 1930 and 1937.

The eldest, my Aunt, had her second most significant encounter this week.

The middle, my Aunt, had hers in 2007.

The youngest, my Mom, had hers in 2001.

Second significant encounter you ask?

What was the first?

The moment when they trusted their lives to Christ.

The second , the day they got to enter into His presence forever.

unhindered by sick bodies and the cares of this world.

Entering into the joy of their Lord.

We will miss you.

Daughters, Sisters, Wives, Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers,

Great Grandmothers.

Isaiah 57:2 (NIV)   Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

 Philippians 1:21 (NIV)   For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Colossians 3:3  (NIV)  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

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Significant Encounter Friday

What is a Significant Encounter?

We all have had, and will have a Significant Encounter at some point in our lives.

A Significant Encounter can be defined as an important or noteworthy event that happens to us.

Many times, these events are quite by accident.  We bump into, or stumble into them unaware.

The Significant Encounter has the power to alter us, to change us to some degree.  It could be large or it could be small.

Several Significant Encounters, during a short or long period of time , can help us to transform into something better than we were before.

One example of a Significant Encounter is found in the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The news that she would bear a child when she had never been with a man was a no doubt unexpected event.

Consider how this news altered her relationship with her betrothed, Joseph, and all those who were part of her family and friends.

Think if you will about the modifications that she had to make to her life in order to have this baby.

Reflect on how she must have felt, knowing and believing, that she was carrying in her womb the very Savior of mankind.

Look ahead to the transformations of countless lives because they too, believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Precious Lamb of God, who saves them from an eternity in hell.

I’m going to call this Significant Encounter Friday, and ask you to share with us, a Significant Encounter that you may have had in your lifetime.

You can leave your story in the comments, with your name and email address.  I will be the only one to see them, and will not post your address.

After I’ve been able to review and approve your story, I’ll post it here on Fridays.

It will be amazing to hear what Significant Encounters have changed the direction in your life.

Please consider joining us, we each have something worth sharing, something noteworthy, something to help others. 

We never know which of our words could be someone else’s,

 

                                                                              Significant Encounter