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March 2023 Archives
Today is Wednesday, March 1st, 2023; Karen's Korner #4858
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This is my second time through reading "365 Days of Prayer for Women" by Stephanie Sample.
Some days I read a couple; other days a skip reading from it.
Here is a good one from February 15, near Valentine's Day:
ONE HEART
"I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them.
And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and
give them a heart of flesh."
~ Ezekiel 11:19 NASB
"Lord, I love imagining a world where every heart is yours. I picture an end to hunger, to war, and to oppression. None of those things would exist if we all had hearts that beat for you. How could anyone be hungry when none of us could bear it? Who would there be to fight against, if we were of one heart? Remove our cold hearts; replace them with pieces of yours. What could be more beautiful than to see you reflected in every face I see, and to know everyone I meet is truly my brother or sister? Is this heaven I imagine? If so, then heaven, come!"
Are our hearts one with God?
***
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Today is Thursday, March 2nd, 2023; Karen's Korner #4859
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"The Lord lifts the fallen,
and those bent beneath
their loads."
~ Psalm 145:14 LAB
* Bible Commentary: "Sometimes our burdens seem more than we can bear and we wonder how we can go on. The psalm writer stands at the bleak intersection of life's road and points toward the Lord, the great burden bearer. God is able to bear our unbearable burdens because He (all in verses in Psalm 145):
* is great beyond discovery - verse 3
* does glorious things across many generations - verse 4
* is full of glory, splendor, majesty, and miracles - verse 5
* does awe-inspiring deeds - verse 6
* is righteous - verse 7
* is kind, merciful, patient, and loving - verse 7
* reaches out to us with compassion - verse 9
*rules over an unending kingdom - verse 13
* is our source of food, water, and help - verse 15
* is fair in all His dealings and full of kindness - verse 17
* remains close to those who call on Him - verse 18
* listens to our cries and sends His protection - verse 19 & 20
"If we are bending under a burden and feel that we are about to fall, we are encouraged to turn to God for His help. He is ready to bear our burdens."
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Today is Friday, March 3rd, 2023; Karen's Korner #4860
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Something written by Anne Graham Lotz and sent out several days ago. If we have read the Bible, gone to Sunday School and church at least some, there is a lot we should know. But we tend to forget Who we are and Whose we are.
KEEP FOCUSED
"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness.
~ Lamentations 3:22 - 23 NKJV
"God as the Judge of all the earth, determined the wickedness of Cain's civilization and could no longer be tolerated, and He sent the Flood to wash it away. God, Who judged the world, is the same God Who saved the world from His own judgment by providing the ark as a means of escape. Praise God! That's His goodness!!
"Like pouring oil on troubled waters, our knowledge of Who God is calms our fears. So.......keep your faith and keep your focus!
God is faithful
and gracious
and good
and loving
and patient
and holy
and righteous
and merciful."
****
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Today is Monday, March 6th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4861
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Jesus Predicts His Death the Third Time
"Now they were on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking along ahead, and as the disciples were following they were filled with terror and dread.
"Taking them aside, Jesus once more began describing all that was going to happen to him when they arrived at Jerusalem.
"'When we get there,' he told hem, 'I, the Messiah, will be arrested and taken before the chief priests and the Jewish leaders, who will sentence me to die and hand me over to the Romans to be killed. They will mock me and spit on me and flog me with their whips and kill me; but after three days I will come back to life again.'"
~ Mark 10:32 - 34 LAB
(can also be found in Matthew 20:17 - 19;
Luke 18:31 - 34)
*
Bible Commentary: "Jesus' death and resurrection should have come as no surprise to the disciples. Here he clearly explained to them what would happen to him. Unfortunately, they didn't really hear what he was saying. Jesus said he was the Messiah, but they though the Messiah would be a conquering king. He spoke to them of resurrection, they wondered how a person could come back to life after being dead. Because Jesus often spoke in parables, the disciples may have thought his words on death and resurrection were another parable they didn't understand. The Gospels include Jesus' predictions of his death and resurrection to show that they were God's plan from the beginning, not an accident."
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Today is Tuesday, March 7th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4862
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The February 27 entry in "365 Days of Prayer for Women" by Stephanie Sample talks about KINDNESS. Our world could use a bit more; maybe a lot MORE!
Releasing Kindness
" Love your enemies, and do good and lend,
expecting nothing in return, and your reward
will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High,
for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil."
~ Luke 6:35 ESV
"Father, your incredible kindness illustrates the value you place on it. It pleases you to show kindness to me, and likewise, when I am kind to others. I do love to please you, and what does it cost me to smile, to say hello, or to hold open a door? Would you move through a room and not acknowledge me? Why, then do I keep my head down? Help me release your kindness into the world, God. Lift my eyes and open my mouth and let your beautry spill forth. Remind me that as I'm a kinder person, the world is a kinder place."
"Who can we release kindness to today?"
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Today is Wednesday, March 8th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4863
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"Praise the Lord,
O heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him,
all his angels,
all armies of heaven.
Praise him,
sun and moon,
and all your twinkling stars.
Praise him,
skies above.
Praise him,
vapors, high above the clouds.
"Let everything he has made
give praise to him."
~ Psalm 148:1 - 5 LAB
*
Bible Commentary: "All creation is likea majestic symphony or a great choir comprised of many harmonious parts which together offer up songs of praise. Each part (independent, yet part of the whole) is caught up and carried along in the swelling tides of praise. This is a pciture of how we as believers should praise God -- individually, yet part of the great choir of believers worldwide. Are we singing our parts well in the worldwide choir of praise!"
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Today is Thursday, March 9th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4864
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Been awhile since we looked at “100 Things God Loves About You: Simple reminders for when you need them most by Tama Fortner.
Number 28.
God Loves the way you trust Him. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” ~ John 10:28
“Do you ever skip to the last page? Ever just have to know how it all ends? Did the butler really do it? Did the guy get the girl? But even when you know the end, you still don’t know the middle----the hows, whens and wheres.
“Kind of like life, isn’t it? You can know the end because God promises His children a happily ever after. But the middle is part of the mystery of life. Mystery calls for trust. And when you trust your life to God, no one can ever snatch you out of His hand.”
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Today is Friday, March 10th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4865
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This weekend Daylight Savings Time resumes. And as the days get longer we have more 'light'.
1 John says that God is Light. The second part of verse 5 (through verse 7) says, "God is Light and in him is no darkness at all. So if we say we are his friends, but go on living in spiritual darkness and sin, we are lying. But is we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin."
The Bible Commentary on these verses says (in part): "Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy and reliable. Darkness represents sin and evil. To say 'God is light' means that God is perfectly holy and true, and that he alone can guide us out of the darkness of sin. Light is also related to truth, in that it exposes whatever exiists, whether it is good or bad. In the dark, good and evil look alike; in the light, they can be clearly distinguished."
Dear Heavenly Father, if we choose to walk in Your Light, we have Your good, Your truth Your holiness. we can't do all of these things on our own. Thank You for Your many, many gifts and blessings. Always more than we deserve. We are thankful and blessed beyond measure.
In Jesus' Name. Amen
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Today is Monday, March 13th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4866
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One of the songs we sang at worship service yesterday. Written by Gloria and Bill Gaither in 1972. The two have written some pretty good songs which we can recall quickly.
Let's Just Praise the Lord
"Lift up your hands..
and praise the Lord.
~Psalm 134:2
"Let's just praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Let's just lift our hearts to heaven
and praise the Lord;
Let's just praise the Lord,
Praise the Lord,
Let's just lift our hearts to heaven
and praise the Lord."
(Alternate words to 'hearts' are
'voice' and 'hands'.)
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Today is Thursday, March 23rd, 2023; Karen's Korner #4867
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Okay after I typed yesterday's, Karen; Korner and I was going to record it, I found I had chosen on different than I intended. So here goes the one I thought I was going to do.
"Unless the Lord builds ahouse, the builders; work is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, sentries do no good. It is sensless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants his loved ones to get their propoer rest."
~ Psalm 127: 1 & 2 LAB
* Bible Commentary: "Families establish homes and sentries guard a city, but both of these activities are futile unless God is with them. A family without God can never experience the spiritual bond God brings to relationships. A city without God will crumble from evil and corruption on the inside. Don't make the mistake of leving God out of our lives,--- if we do, it will be lived in vain. We need to make God our highest priority and let Him do the building.
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Today is Saturday, March 25th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4868
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As we get nearer to Palm Sunday and Easter, here are a few last words by Jesus to those around Him.
"but when I, the Messiah, shall come in my glory, and all the angels with me, then I shall sit upon my throne of glory. And I will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and place the sheep at my right hand, and the goats at my left."
~ Matthew 25:31 - 33 LAB
*
Bible Commentary: ""The parable describes acts of mercy we all can do every day. These acts are not dependent on wealth, ability, or intellignce, they are simple acts freely given and freely received. We have no excuse to neglect those who have deep needs, and we cannot hand over the responsibility to the church or government. Jesus demands personal involvement in caring for other's needs"
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Today is Monday, March 27th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4869
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A nice Easter song we sang together at church on Sunday by Bill and Gloria Gaither, written in 1971.
BECAUSE HE LIVES
" 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.
"How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
(especially nice line because our church family welcomed a new baby the day before!)
And feel the pride, and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance,
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.
"And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain;
and then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He 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."
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Today is Tuesday, March 28th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4870
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Today is Tuesday, March 28th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4871
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dfd
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Today is Tuesday, March 28th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4872
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Here's a good one from March 26 of "365 Days of Prayer for Women" by Stephanie Sample.
WITH YOUR JOY
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
~Philippians 4:4 NASB
"Lord, thank you for joy. What a wonderful gift, to be truly glad no matter how things look or what situation I am in! I don't always acknowledge it. In fact, some days I stubbornly choose not to see it. The situation is hard, and I want to wallow Like any good friend, you allow it----for a time. Quietly, you and your joy sit and wait for me, knowing I can't resist. Truly, I just can't get over it. In the middle of my deepest sorrow, you are there with your joy. Right at the center of a frustrating, stubborn problem, the joy of the Lord pops in with an explicable lightness and carries me home."
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"How can we embrace the Lord's joy today?"
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Today is Thursday, March 30th, 2023; Karen's Korner #4873
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Title of today's Max Lucado is "Heed God's Word":. But why is is so much more fun to do what we want rather than what God wants?
Heed God's Word
"Choices have consequences. Glory days happen when we make good choices and trouble happens when we don’t. This is the headline message delivered by Joshua in the nationwide assembly in the Valley of Shechem. Joshua brought the invasion to a halt and every person to the Valley of Shechem. Once they reached the valley, Joshua set about the task of building an altar.
"In Joshua 8:32 we read, 'And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses.' The secret to the successful campaign of the Hebrews was not the strength of the army but the resolve of the people to keep God’s commandments. Heeding God’s Word is more critical than fighting God’s war. In fact, heeding God’s Word is fighting God’s war. Conquest happens as the covenant is honored."
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