11/17/19

Thanksgiving Message

     This is a time of tumult, anger, and accusation. Many voices are speaking, and you cannot listen to them all. Christmas and the new year are not far away; weather is unpredictable and life just seems a bit more challenging. Throughout this life we can either run and live in fear–or we can embrace the reality of  God’s Holy Spirit living in us to comfort, guide and do effective work through us.

This Thanksgiving is special, as is every Thanksgiving. The most quiet family holiday each year, Thanksgiving still remains a time to gather our loved ones around us and Thank GOD for the harvest. For some the harvest is vegetables–for others the harvest is souls. I pray for a Blessed Thanksgiving for us all and that provision would be our Father’s desire for us.  Charlene

Psalm 146

1 Praise the LORD.[a]

Praise the LORD, my soul.

2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the LORD.

Footnotes:
  1. Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 10

New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

11/17/19

Thanksgiving Prayer

1 Chronicles 16: 8-12

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;

Talk of all His wondrous works!

Glory in His Holy name;

Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek his face evermore!

Remember His marvelous works which he has done,

His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.

Abba Father,

 We have so much to thank you for. You have kept us through another year in which wonderful, as well as disastrous things, have happened. We are confident in you that we, as your people, will see more glorious days than these. It is only in drawing close to you through your Son Jesus Christ, and through your Holy Spirit that we are assured peace and comfort in the midst of life’s storms.

We are a people less sure of being able to trust this world than we were a year ago; but this also means that we are learning to trust you more with our lives and our hearts. Your Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and strengthens us.

As followers of Christ, we are eager to embrace those who do not know You. We are willing to carry out The Great Commission; to take your message of hope and salvation to hurting people all over this world. Please teach us to pray for one another in truth and sincerity; and to be willing to put aside our own needs to serve your people.

This season of Thanksgiving should be in our spirits at all times. We have something to thank you for each day. Taking time to look back upon the gracious mercies, healing, and provision you have given brings us joy unspeakable; and the knowledge that you are walking with each of us through our trials and hardships makes life easier to bear.

We thank You, Abba Father, for your readiness to hear and to forgive; for your great love to us in spite of our unworthiness; for the many blessings we enjoy above what we deserve, hope, or ask. You have been so good to us in our ingratitude, thoughtlessness, and forgetfulness of You. For your pity, long-suffering, gentleness and tenderness, we bow our heads in humble thankfulness of heart. We worship you Who are infinite love; infinite compassion, and infinite power.  Please accept our praise and gratitude through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

We your people look forward to a new world where the fullness of your peace will be revealed. Keep us watchful for that day when people of every ethnicity, language, and way of life will gather to share in the one eternal banquet with Jesus Christ our Lord. Father, through Him, with Him, and in Him, through the unity of the Holy Spirit, may all glory and honor be Yours, now and forevermore. Amen

 credit: charlene+beliefnet.com

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Charlene

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07/16/14

Colossians 2: Not Philosophy; Not Legalism; but Purity in Christ

Colossians 2:  NKJV 

 

Not Philosophy but Christ

 

 

2 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and[a] of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it[b] with thanksgiving.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

 

 

Not Legalism but Christ

 

 

11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins[c] of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not[d] seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

20 Therefore,[e] if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

 

 

Footnotes:

 

  1. Colossians 2:2 NU-Text omits both of the Father and.
  2. Colossians 2:7 NU-Text omits in it.
  3. Colossians 2:11 NU-Text omits of the sins.
  4. Colossians 2:18 NU-Text omits not.
  5. Colossians 2:20 NU-Text and M-Text omit Therefore.

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

11/14/13

November 14, 2013 Thanksgiving Medley

Thanksgiving Medley

Along with Christmas and Easter, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I enjoy the subdued commercialism, the time with family, and the smells of this holiday–but most of all the opportunity to say Thank You to The Lord of Hosts. Every breath and every morsel has come through Him.

credit: crcworship

Charlene’s Source: youtube

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