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Prayerful Pondering

Tag Archives: love

Giving Thanks

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in thanksfulness

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comfort, faith, faithfulness, family, love, memories, mercy, sacrifice, salvation, Thanksgiving, wisdom

FLOWERS_FROM_HEARNS__RICHAR

The Season of Thanksgiving prompts us to think of the many ways we have been blessed. It is a right time to step away from disappointments and anxieties that will always be a part of life and count our blessings instead. Here are some at the top of my list:

I am grateful

  • for having been born into a family that believed in God and saw food for the soul as important as food for the body.
  • for parents who sacrificed for our family without ever saying it was a sacrifice.
  • for being taught the discipline of working hard, even at things I would not choose to do but was necessary for gains I wanted.
  • for growing up in a small town where people watched after one another; sometimes seen as a nuisance when a child but realized as a blessing once grown.
  • for being born into a free nation with values many have never known.
  • for never having been without food or shelter or clean clothes.
  • for friends–some that I’ve had since early childhood–who have enriched my life and been around to walk beside me in hard times and laughed with me in the good times.
  • for my daughter and son-in-law who have a marriage made in heaven. There is no greater joy for a mother.
  • for my daughter’s salvation at the tender age 7 and her faith that has remained strong through every trial—and there have been many. That she never gives up, no matter what life hands her.
  • for my son-in-law’s ever-positive attitude and solid grounding in what marriage is supposed to look like through hard times as well good. He is strong and steadfast.
  • for my Vietnamese family who call me Mom and Grandmom and Sister; for how God brought us together and united us in spirit and in love.
  • for brothers, grandparents, and other extended family members, whose love I have never had to doubt; that each one is saved and will share eternity with me.
  • for the three ministries of this life I cherish most, and oddly, none of the three was expected or planned: working with the mentally challenged, working in a hospital as a problem solver between patients/families and their caregivers, tutoring second grade children. I have clearly seen Jeremiah 29:11 in action: For I know the plans I have for you . . .
  • for the three church denominations that have blessed and enabled my growth in the Lord at just the proper time: Baptist, Methodist, Assembly of God.
  • for health in this seventh decade of life.

Most of all, I am grateful for the faithfulness and unfailing love of God. I don’t know how He can love one like me, but I am thankful beyond expression that He does. To God be every glory and honor!

What blessings do you count most dear?

. . . always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.   –Ephesians 5:20 (NIV)                   

The Value of Love

03 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in love

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

faith, God's love, love, love for others, sacrifice, scripture study

“. . . and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Courtesy MorgueFile

Courtesy MorgueFile

I have a deep and abiding faith, a faith that has sustained me for a lifetime and I am now 72. It is a faith that has carried me through the waters and the fire, scripturally speaking, a faith that has seen miracles of healing come to be. Even so, my faith couldn’t move a mountain. It couldn’t move a rock in the road! I ponder on so great a faith, but I cannot get my mind around it.

My eyes go on to the last part of the sentence in 1 Corinthians 13:2: “. . . but have not love, I am nothing.” Even a faith that would move a mountain is not worth what love is worth to Almighty God. In His eyes, love has the highest value of all. In my earthbound thinking, it seems faith would be the greatest, but it isn’t so.

1 Peter 4:8 says “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”

Courtesy MorgueFile

Courtesy MorgueFile

It was God’s love for us that provided the blood of Jesus our Savior to cover our sins. And this alone should tell us all we need to know about the highest value being placed on love: the Father shed His only Son’s blood because of His love for us, a love greater than anything we will ever understand this side of Heaven. Peter declares that our love for others is of far more importance to God than all the wrongs we do. God prefers looking at our pluses, not our minuses.

Perhaps John says it best with this simple message: “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Not God loves, but God is love. So if God is love, then we see why He delights in our giving love to others. It is evidence to the world of our likeness to Him, that which speaks the truth of God.

Courtesy MorgueFile

Courtesy MorgueFile

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34).

The Steadfast Love of God

07 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in Bible study, comfort, God's faithfulness, God's love for us, hope, how God sees us, insight, love, Love for God, never alone, observation, study scripture, trust, understanding

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Tags

faithfulness, hope, love, mercy, our love for God, study scripture, trust

In the English Standard Version of the Bible, “steadfast love” is mentioned 196 times in the Old Testament, 127 times in the Psalms alone. One of my favorite verses using steadfast love is Psalms 6:4: “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.”

These words of the psalmist David can be turned into a prayer of petition for healing by personalizing it with the individual’s name. It is also an appropriate prayer for our nation: “Turn, O Lord, deliver (our nation); save (us) for the sake of your steadfast love.”

“Steadfast love” is a translation from the Hebrew word chesed, found approximately 250 times in the Hebrew Bible according to many research sites, Ken Emilio of RemnantReport.com being one. Norman H. Snaith in A Theological Word Book of the Bible says that in English versions of the Bible, chesed has also been translated as loving-kindness, mercy, and loyalty. I think it is very safe to say God wants us to know we can rely on His love. That His is a faithful and committed love. Why else would He tell us so many times?

Just as His love for us is steadfast, He asks that our love be the same. In the New Testament, scripture turns it around from how God loves us and uses chesed as how we are to love God and others. Christ came to demonstrate the Father’s steadfast love by showing us how to take what we have been given and give it to others. Chesed is found six times in the New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 3:5, 1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 3:10, Titus 2:2, and James 1:12. One of those references, 2 Thessalonians 3:5, says it like this: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Beautiful songs of praise continue to be written about God’s steadfast love. Don Moen sings praise to God with his song “Your Steadfast Love” at https://youtu.be/ibky__ABoLs  and Hillsong sings “The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases” at https://youtu.be/0W3mspwIKgk .

As we sing our own praises to God, may we thank Him for a love that is steadfast and faithful. Man’s love may fail us, but God’s love never will. He has told us that emphatically.

Photo Courtesy of Morgue File

Photo Courtesy of Morgue File

Prayer Time in Room 144

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in prayer

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

communion with God, encouragement, faith, God's presence, healing, love, miracles, prayer, strength, Unity, worship

At 10:30 each Tuesday morning, women gather in Room 144 of our church. We come happy, grateful, and expectant. We arrive for one purpose and one purpose only: for intercessory prayer.

For the most part, we are members of First Assembly Memphis. But there is a sprinkling of ladies from other churches who are just as faithful to Tuesday morning prayer time. We are a diverse group, yet beautifully united in our commitment to intercessory prayer each week. We love the Lord and believe He is a miracle-working God, eager to hear our prayers.

Always before we pray, we worship through music our leader, Kathy Cobb, has prayerfully selected for the morning. It is a drawing music, one that ushers us into the presence of the Holy Spirit. We still our minds and let the music wash over us, preparing us for prayer. We sit, stand, or kneel; it happens however each one is personally led to embrace these preparation moments for spending time with our King. We have checked our pride and reserve at the door. We have come to worship, to pray, and to believe.

Up until a year or so ago, we prayed for an hour. Then, as our group grew, so did our prayer time. Now it is 90 minutes or longer. We leave when we feel we have covered every need brought to us.  Always, we pray for our nation and its leaders. We pray for Israel. We pray for schools, both our church school and others in the area. We pray for family needs, financial needs, job concerns, and for those who need healing. Many times, people come to us especially to be prayed over for healing. Whatever the need, we are there to pray. We have a basket where some write their requests rather than speak them and at the close of our gathering, we pray over the basket.

So much happens in our church’s designated room for prayer:  Scripture is read. We sing to the Lord. We share praise reports. Every attempt is made to control lengthy talks and keep the focus solely on worship and prayer.

Gail, Kathy, me

Kathy Cobb, our prayer leader, center. Gail Spiller, original member of the prayer group on right. I am on the left. What a privilege to be a part of this group of believing women.

The Hour of Power prayer group welcomes all who need prayer or wishes to join us as an intercessor. We realize some are not comfortable praying aloud and that is not a prerequisite. Just come and agree with us by your presence and your love for the Lord. Being in a disposition of prayer is the only requirement we have for anyone’s presence. We invite you to enter in.

Hitting Bottom

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in Prodigal

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

faith, forgiveness, God's power, healing, hope, love, mercy, power, prodigal, study scripture, trust, wayward

When I worked in a hospital, we sometimes had meetings over lunch for educational purposes. I have often thought of one speaker in particular, a counselor from our Behavioral Health facility, an off-campus care center for treating drug and alcohol addictions. The counselor, who had once been addicted to drugs, explained what it was like to be bound by obsessive cravings that served only to destroy one’s life. She said the addicted person had to hit bottom before he or she would turn their life around.

The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 is a story about hitting bottom. Perhaps the rebellious son was addicted to greed and pleasure. At his pleading, his father gave him his share of inheritance that rightfully would not have been his until after his father’s death. Immediately, the son went away and quickly squandered a fortune. He all too soon found himself with nothing, not even necessary food for living. He had hit bottom!

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a picture of our Father God and how he responds to His children—us—no matter what self-orchestrated bottom we hit. He never stops loving us and He is always on watch for His confused, wayward child to return to Him.

Addiction of any kind is a demanding and jealous master; I don’t know that any addiction can be broken outside the power of God’s love.  It is His love that gives strength when we have none.  It is His love that puts the right people in our path to help us find our way out of an all-consuming habit. It is His love that never gives up on us—and that steadfastness gives us hope that we can be restored and the courage to begin.

When the Prodigal Son set off from home, he was dizzy with high expectations for a life of sheer pleasure. However, it didn’t turn out that way. His frivolity became his downfall and he was soon unable to take care of even his basic needs. When he returned to his father in abject poverty, his greatest hope was to be treated as a servant so that he might have food to live. But the Father met with delight and compassion this wayward son (Luke 15:20), certainly not what the Son who had hit bottom expected.

The account of the Prodigal Son is the story of anyone who willfully chooses to worship anything but God. Finding oneself in a pit of shame and guilt, we may ask “Will God take me back?” And the answer is a resounding yes! When we take the first step toward God, the step of repentance, our Father comes quickly to meet us. Not to condemn, but to welcome us home. He will reward our decision to trust Him with compassion and healing.

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.  

Psalm 6:4 (ESV)

Tuesday Morning Prayer

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in prayer, unity

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

faith, family, God's presence, Heavy Heart, Holy Spirit, love, prayer, strength, Unity

The words of my morning devotional stood bold before me: “Unity doesn’t depend on outward conformity, but understanding hearts.” It was an apt description of my Tuesday morning prayer group.  Outwardly, we are quite different: different personalities, different backgrounds, different in many ways. But there is commonality that unifies us, and that is love for the Lord and belief in the power of prayer.

This is a ladies intercessory prayer group, about 24 strong most Tuesdays. Room 144 of my church is the designated prayer room.  This sanctuary for devoted prayer is a place saturated with worship and faith and there we find the sure presence of the Holy Spirit. We pray for one another, but our primary reason for gathering is to pray for others. As we feel prompted to pray, we approach the throne of grace with that petition. We try never to forget to pray for our nation and its healing. We anoint with oil and lay hands on any who comes to us struggling with a heavy load. If there is a special need from one who cannot be there, one of us will stand in for that person while the group forms a circle round about.

The uniqueness of our group is that most of us share no quantity of time outside the prayer room and some never see another member outside Tuesday morning. Yet, when we meet in Room 144, we are family. We care about one another and the need for concentrated prayer. As my morning devotional said, we join together with understanding hearts. It is this that makes us a solid unit.

 “Have fervent love for one another.” 1 Peter 4:8 NKJV

My Grandmother’s Love

18 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in Love for God

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

acceptance, faith, God's presence, love, memories, trust, wisdom

This is dedicated to the memory of Wendell Smith, who grew up across the street from my grandparents and loved my grandmother like his own, and was loved by her in the same way. Wendell called her Mama Dulcie just like the rest of us, and it was he who preached her funeral in 1991.

Dulcie Pauline Cotton Spencer had a way about her. A way that was warm, inviting, accepting of every person for just who they were. She was the best example of Christ’s love I’ve ever known. She knew Him well and loved Jesus with reverence and solid trust.

One of my earliest childhood memories of my grandmother is how she prayed on her knees every night at bedtime. With her braided hair unwound from atop her head and falling down her back over her homemade white gown, she spoke to the Lord. As an adult, I remember the many times I walked into her house and into her conversations with Jesus. He was her constant companion.

As a small child of barefoot summers, I remember the pain of getting a sizeable splinter in my foot and how Mama Dulcie placed a small piece of fat meat over the wound and wrapped it with a rag torn from a clean, but worn thin, pillowcase. (Repurposing, we call it now.) The splinter eased itself out. As an older child, I remember afternoons that she sent me to the garden for a fresh head of lettuce. I would wash it and then stand beside her and watch as she poured hot bacon grease over the lettuce, turning it into a wilted salad.

She was a cook that no would could top. I don’t suppose her kitchen ever knew a day without bowls of vegetables and platters of meat and a dessert of some kind. She loved cooking and loved even more sharing it with others. It was a delight to my grandparents for someone—anyone—to stop by for the noon meal. No need to call, food was always plentiful at the Spencer house. Chicken and dumplings was the grandchildren’s favorite and the dish she prepared regularly for friends and neighbors. In a small town, when someone is sick, you take care of them and their families with food. In my kitchen, I have a framed copy of Mama’s recipe for chicken and dumplings from the Medina Baptist Church cookbook. It was written just like she would verbally give it to you and what a treasure that is! “Use a good chicken” is one of the instructions. (For you of today’s generation, that means select a plump young hen big enough to feed several people.)

Mama Dulcie had fourteen children. Seven born to her and seven who married into the family—she and Papa knew no difference. There were sixteen grandchildren and I’ve lost count of the great-grands. Love flowed so naturally from Dulcie Spencer. Just like Jesus, she had no favorites; yet she loved with such abundance, that I think each one of us felt like we were her favorite.

Mama Dulcie took life seriously and she took her “soaps” seriously. It was a mystery to me that a woman so pure could enjoy stories that even in the 50s were a bit racy. Her favorite was “As the World Turns” and when the marriage of fictional characters Bob and Lisa became troubled, Mama wrote to Lisa. She told her about wrong and right and encouraged her to mend her ways. Are you smiling? Well, Lisa wrote back—I have the letter! She thanked Mama for writing to her and for her advice. But as I recall, Lisa continued to be a bit of a wild child, likely a great disappointment to my grandmother.

Mama Dulcie sang when she ironed, when she cooked, when she mopped the floors, pretty much all the time.  “In the Sweet By and By” and “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder” are two of the hymns I remember most—and she sang only hymns. She loved to paint and her pie safes had more coats of white paint than one could count. My mother, Mama’s firstborn, said Mama would rather paint than dust. There was just something about a fresh coat of white paint that made her very happy.

My grandmother was a gentle soul. She was kind and generous. She knew how to love and chose to see only the best in everyone, and this brings me to a story about Wendell Smith that he told me a few years before he died. While Mama and Papa were at church, Wendell, just a little boy at the time, went into their house (doors weren’t locked then) and into the kitchen and there saw the banana pudding Mama Dulcie had left on the counter to cool. He set the whole bowl of pudding in the middle of the floor and with a big spoon dug in. He said my grandmother’s only words about it were “Bless his heart, he must have been hungry.” Someone else might have been annoyed, even angry, but not this sweet lady.

One other memory given me by Wendell was this: “The Sunday before I announced my call into the ministry I gave my testimony, then Bro. John Pippin preached about five minutes and gave the invitation. It was during the invitation that six people responded giving their lives to Christ. During the invitation Mama Dulcie got up, walked up the aisle and got Bruce and Bryan (two of her grandchildren) and with one on one side and one on the other she brought them down the aisle and to Christ. Such was her faith that she wanted her grandchildren to be saved.”

I think I want to close with that memory. It says who she was. A woman who loved her family and her Lord and made sure the two were connected. She was the wisest woman I ever knew.

Mama and me 001

Happy Birthday, Kristi

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in faith

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christian witness, faith, faithfulness, family, God's presence, love, memories, miracles

Kristi as baby 001Forty nine years ago today, a beautiful little girl was born to me. It had been a difficult pregnancy, much of it spent in bed, but Kristi Leigh McClain entered this world with all ten fingers and all ten toes, a head full of black hair, and perfect form.

She kept me waiting five weeks past my due date, following the pattern of my mother who had all three of her children weeks late. Because my pregnancy had been fraught with problems, Dr. Phillips felt this extra time was needed for Kristi’s well being. Some years after she was born, he told me of his expectation that I would not carry my baby to term, but would miscarry. He held a special affection for Kristi, feeling she was somewhat a miracle he helped bring into being.

When my daughter was just seven years old, she came to me and said she wanted to give her heart to Jesus. The picture of us standing in the kitchen where that conversation happened is burned into my mind and heart forever—a precious memory. We went to her room, knelt by her bed and prayed the prayer that gave Kristi second birth. Her immersion baptism was in a pool of unheated water and she told me afterward that the water was cold, but when she came up it felt “so good.” I knew in my heart that Kristi’s feeling wasn’t about arising into a warmer temperature, but knowing the joy of being the Lord’s.

From the beginning, Kristi had a sweet and compassionate spirit. Her nature was to give and share whatever she had; she would do without for another to have something they wanted. She forgave quickly and easily. And, of course, that sensitive heart often brought heartbreak from those who would take advantage.

Kristi was always a good student and graduated high school a year early. Her college years further revealed her love for learning. Soon after graduation, she and her college sweetheart married and she became Mrs. Mark Hearn. Mark was sent straight from the Lord to love and stand beside her in the years to come, where Kristi would have one health issue after the other.

I don’t think it is just a mother’s overprotective heart when I say Kristi has had more adversity than most. On quite a few occasions she has escaped death itself. The Lord brought her through a severe vaccine reaction as a child, a boating accident as a teen, a highway accident with a semi truck in young adulthood, cancer that was originally misdiagnosed a few years back, and the shutting down of her kidneys and cardiac arrest not quite two years ago. This is just a partial list, a list I’ve kept since her early childhood when I realized God had special angels watching over my child. She has suffered with chronic pain for 15 or more years. Yet through it all, her faith has remained strong and sure. She has never said, “Why me?” Rather, “God has a reason for this. He has always taken care of me and He always will.” She has used her health problems to witness to the God who has saved her time and again. She looks for opportunities to proclaim His goodness on each medical visit—and there are many.

Thought it hurts a mother’s heart to see her child go through so much, it is a supreme joy to know her love for the Lord and her trust in Him. Many parents don’t know if their children have eternal security and I have the chief blessing of that assurance. Why Kristi has had trial after trial, I don’t know; I do know they have made her better and not bitter.

Kristi at 17 001I love you, my darling daughter. I delight in your steadfast faith in the One who made you and called as His own at a very tender age. You are an example of courage and strength that comes from adversity when placed in the hands of the Lord.

I celebrate you today as the beautiful gift you are. I love you more than anyone else on this earth; you come second only to God. Thank you for being my daughter and an example of faith under fire.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV)

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 ESV)

Hurling Stones of Accusation

02 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in forgiveness

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

accusations, forgiveness, love, mercy, self-righteousness, study scripture

A favorite Christian musician fell and he fell hard. People forgot the richness of his ministry and rushed to pick up stones to throw. Words were hurled in his direction: ugly accusing words, self-righteous words.

Now he has returned and His love songs to God soar high just like before. His praise again leads in worship of the King in a way only the anointed of God can do.  God had the last word and it was a word of mercy and grace. It was a word of forgiveness and restoration. God isn’t about hurling stones, but redeeming the fallen. Lifting his children to new beginnings.

I picture in my mind how quickly we line up to hurl our angry stones at one who has fallen. We look past our own sins and with puffed up egos, hurl out accusations. With pride, we dust off our hands and arrogantly walk away, forgetting who we are. Forgetting that we are just like the one who fell and we stoned with our words; we are creatures of flesh that will fall time and time again.

Thanks be to God, it isn’t how the Lover of our Souls does things! He never walks away with the stone throwers, but stays behind to care for the wounded. He isn’t interested in piling on accusations, but restoring the one who fell.  God takes the side of the weak every time.

Our Lord cares for the one gone astray and He asks us to do the same. He made a choice at Calvary, and because of that choice, we can count on being lifted from our own falls. We can count on His standing beside us as we face our accusers. We can count on God’s eternal protection of mercy and grace to see us home.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load (Galatians 6:1-5 NIV).

Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13 NIV).

YOU ARE MY SAFE PLACE

How God Our Father Sees Us

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in how God sees us

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

anticipation, encouragement, faith, forgiveness, hope, love, mercy, salvation, study scripture, trust, wisdom

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, NAS). This is what each one of us as God’s children will hear. As “heirs to the promise” (Galatians 3:29), we share in the blessings of Jesus.

This is a lot to digest, the part of God being well pleased with me. I look at my life and see miserable failure in living the God-life. But if I take another view, I see it isn’t about the me I know, but the one God knows.

Since God has forgotten our sins and removed them “as far as the east from the east” (Psalm 103:12), we stand only in the holiness of Jesus, the One we call Savior. God the Father sees us with clothes of salvation and righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) and we are beautiful in His sight. Though a lot to get our minds around, we look like Jesus. Standing in the Savior’s garment we radiate only good things, for He is only good. And that is all the Father sees. Imagine. All that grieves us about ourselves will not be a part of our final being. We will at last be revealed as the Father sees us. We will not be confused by the ploys of Satan. We will not walk with a rock of sin in our shoe. There will be no more guilt, no more shame and all because we did one thing: we chose to believe in Jesus (John 3:16).

Perhaps the amount of detail to our garment will be reflective of all we have done in Christ’s name. It won’t be a garment of fine fabric, buttons and trim, but a different kind altogether. Our new garment will be of the little one we loved, the old person aided, the sick we attended. It will be the orphanage we helped build, the missionary we supported, the joyful surprise we prepared for a weary sojourner. The meal we cooked, the child we taught about God, the witness we gave in darkness. The stranger we made welcome, the lonely one we sat with, the one in need we walked with.  The time we spent in worship, the songs of praise to God we lifted, the words of encouragement we spoke. The times we sought and followed wisdom, the moments we forgave, the unconditional love we extended.

Those acts in the Lord’s name will be the garment that cover us, for that is the righteousness of Jesus and that is what the Father has chosen to see when He looks on us in Spirit and not in flesh (Romans 8:27).

Praises be to the One who forgives and loves us. Praises be to the One who made a way possible for us. Glory to God, for Redeemer is His name!

jesus111

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The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

God has not given us a spirt of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

© Pat Rowland and Prayerful Pondering, 2010 - 2013.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pat Rowland and Prayerful Pondering with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Hope must be in the future tense. Faith, to be faith, must be in the present tense. Catherine Marshall
Everything over your head is under his feet. Dr. Tom Lindberg
What an excellent ground of hope and confidence we have when we reflect upon these three things in prayer--the Father's love, the son's merit and the Spirit's power! Thomas Manton
Our Christian hope is that we're going to live with Christ in a new earth, where is not only no more death, but where life is what it was always meant to be. Timothy Keller

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