GIVE ME THE SIMPLE LIFE

 

October 18, 2024

SIMPLICITY the PATH to CONTENTMENT

 

October 17, 2024

MEDITATE on these SIMPLE TRUTHS

 

October 16, 2024

Matthew 6:21 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Ecclesiastes 4:6  

Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

Now that is SIMPLE

 

October 15, 2024

 

Psalm 116:6

The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.

 

Hebrews 12:1a

“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down …”

One BLESSING, Two BLESSING, ....

 

"If the only prayer you make is 

"thank you," that will suffice."

Meister Eckhart 

October 11, 2024

Psalm 136:1-4

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.

Psalm 95:1-2

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

GIVING THANKS in the HARD PLACES

 

“The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. 

It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, 

struggles as refining tools, 

and sinners as saints in progress.” 

GOD HEARS

 

“If there was ever a secret for unleashing God’s powerful peace in a situation, it’s developing a heart of true thanksgiving.”

Lysa TerKeurst

October 9, 2024

John 11:1-7

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

John 11:38-42

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were close friends with Jesus, they loved Him, and He loved them, but one-day tragedy struck, and Lazarus died. Word was sent to Jesus, but he did not seem to be in a hurry to get to them. Although he did state that Lazarus “condition would not end in death.” He still waited days before he showed up, Lazarus was already buried, and by then his body would be in the decaying process.  Yet, this did not limit Jesus; he prayed the simplest prayer of thanksgiving…. What? There was nothing to give thanks for; the man had begun to decay, give thanks? I would have said, “There is no hope because too much time had passed.”

Jesus we are told cried out in a loud voice; Lazarus come out! There the miracle of bringing Lazarus back to life took place. Before calling Lazarus out of the tomb Jesus thanked God for hearing Him, for always hearing him.

The essential message here is that Jesus taught that the seemingly desolate and dead places of our lives could be revived. Do you believe this? You may be confronting a tragedy today, such as the death of a loved one, or challenges in your marriage, with your child, your finances, or even your physical or mental health. While I may not know the specifics of the difficult situation you face, I do know this that God's desire for you and me, is to experience the miracle of renewal and rebirth.

Why not just take this day to give God thanks for hearing your prayers and petitions.  Like Jesus, declare your gratitude to God today, rest in His faithfulness, and love for you, and give Him room to move.