Good Morning Living and Loving Like Jesus Servants of the Lord! Amen! Yes that is an apt description of us and we are growing in these! God is love and Love lives in us and His Love comes alive through us! PTL. As The Word for You reminds us Pray for a Revelation of God's Love. His love is patient. PTL! And He is slow to anger as Our Daily Bread reminds us! Thank Him for His patient love and for time to repent before His wrath comes. Ask for help to live and love more like Him and to dwell in His Love always! The Upper Room reminds us to live other-worldly. We are journeying to our permanent residence. While here we are God's ambassador representing Him and His love and helping to lead others to Him and to our eternal home in Christ. Ask for His eyes, heart and wisdom to go live, love and bring someone along on the journey! He loves that and will guide and help as you fulfill your purposes and role in His Good News Delivery Co. My prayer and God's will is that we each run our own races well and united as His Body fulfilling our purposes and growing in Christlikeness until that Great Day of the Lord. May we continue to do our parts as we unite and Light up the world and drive back the darkness as we live and love more and more like Jesus! Amen! May His love overflow us like streams of living water. Amen! Go! Live and love well team! He's coming back and day light's burning! Giddy up!
TWFYT
ODB
's Devotion
“Slow television” is the term used to describe marathon coverage of an event, typically shown in real time. The genre gained popularity in 2009 after the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a seven-hour train journey. Yes, seven hours, on a train. Sounds . . . boring. But it’s gained an audience that finds the scenic ride mesmerizing.
The concept behind slow TV is to show something at the rate it’s experienced instead of the speed with which a narrative drama is told. It’s built around transition and movement instead of tension and plot. Slow TV is a step toward savoring life’s minutes as opposed to counting them.
The poet Francis Thompson wrote of God’s “unperturbed pace.” Thompson meant that God moves methodically, patiently, with steps measured and intentional. We see this slowness even with God’s emotions. In Scripture, the prophet Joel’s call for the people of Judah to repent is grounded in the reality that our God is “slow to anger” (Joel 2:13). Unlike our dramatic narratives, often fueled by tempers and flying-off-the-handle selfishness, God takes a different approach. His anger arrives slowly. To a people who had rebelled against Him, God says, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God” (v. 13).
God’s anger isn’t like ours. He’s slow to anger, a reality that allows us to return to Him with all our hearts.
Reflect & Pray
When and how has God seemed to move slowly in your life? Why is He slow to anger and quick to be compassionate?
Dear God, You’re slow to anger, and I’m ever thankful.
's Insights
The prophet Joel warns Judah of the coming “day of the Lord,” a dreadful, fearful time of judgment upon God’s people for their unfaithfulness (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14, 18). But for those who “[call] on the name of the Lord” (2:32), this day will be a day of salvation and deliverance. God invites Judah, “return to me with all your heart” (v. 12). Joel says that sincere repentance may change God’s mind about sending such discipline (v. 14) because He’s “merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish” (v. 13 nlt). Earlier in their history, against the backdrop of the great sin of idolatry (Exodus 32), God had similarly revealed Himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness . . . forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (34:6-7). God invites everyone to “rend your heart and . . . return to the Lord” (Joel 2:13).
By faith [Abraham] made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. - Hebrews 11:9 (NIV)
Now retired, my wife, Karin, and I decided to move closer to our daughter in Wisconsin. While loading the rental truck on moving day, I reflected upon the fact that Karin and I have lived in six homes in four different US states over the past 50 years. Though it was difficult moving — sometimes hundreds of miles away — we established ourselves in each of these communities. These moves were prompted by God’s call to ministry and, despite their challenges, resulted in the deepening of our faith and our dependence upon the Lord.
As Christians, we have no permanent home in this world. The patriarch Abraham comes to mind. By faith he responded to God’s call when he did not know how God’s will would be accomplished. He left all that was familiar, including his family and his friends. He dwelled in tents. He lived looking to the future. Likewise, we are sojourners in this world. We can look forward with hope to the future and our heavenly home.
's Prayer
Dear Lord, help us to be filled with faith as Abraham was. Keep us focused not on the temporal but the eternal. Amen.
