Our Daily Bread TODAY Proverbs 22 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Proverbs 22:1-29
1Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold.
2The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD made them both.
3A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
4True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life.
5The deceitful walk a thorny, treacherous road; whoever values life will stay away.
6Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.
7Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.
8Those who plant seeds of injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will end.
9Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.
10Throw out the mocker, and fighting, quarrels, and insults will disappear.
11Anyone who loves a pure heart and gracious speech is the king's friend.
12The LORD preserves knowledge, but he ruins the plans of the deceitful.
13The lazy person is full of excuses, saying, "If I go outside, I might meet a lion in the street and be killed!"
14The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit; those living under the LORD's displeasure will fall into it.
15A youngster's heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away.
16A person who gets ahead by oppressing the poor or by showering gifts on the rich will end in poverty.
Thirty Sayings of the Wise
17Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction. 18For it is good to keep these sayings deep within yourself, always ready on your lips. 19I am teaching you today—yes, you—so you will trust in the LORD. 20I have written thirty sayings for you, filled with advice and knowledge. 21In this way, you may know the truth and bring an accurate report to those who sent you.
22Do not rob the poor because they are poor or exploit the needy in court. 23For the LORD is their defender. He will injure anyone who injures them.
24Keep away from angry, short-tempered people, 25or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.
26Do not co-sign another person's note or put up a guarantee for someone else's loan. 27If you can't pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.
28Do not steal your neighbor's property by moving the ancient boundary markers set up by your ancestors.
29Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than ordinary people.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~ Today
That good reputation that we’re choosing, who is it before? Men? Or God? Good question, huh?
Men may accept our behaviors as ok, fine, good enough, common, excused and even justified, but would God and the Spirit of God in us say it is fine, good and ok? Would He justify it?
No matter the society we live in, we stand before God and His word is our image to mirror. Our holiness (defined as doing what we know to do before God) is before His standard, and not that of any peer group. We need to see this as worth our time, worth our love relationship with God, worth giving anything we have over. What is the “danger to come”? Simply put – hell’s fire.
Does your life have the appearance of one who belongs to God and should be a part of God’s heavenly realm? We do not know when our time to go to one of two eternal places will be, we should always overestimate, rather than underestimate its requirement.
There is only one valid thing that will decide, that is, is Jesus your Lord? Has His blood covered your sin? If your sin has been forgiven and covered up, does it still live and show its face daily or is it repented of and staying under the cover of the blood.
When God reveals a sin to us, after we receive Him into our lives, He expects us to run to His mercy and receive forgiveness, and change. We’re deceived if we think we can stay the same and live under the mercy of His blood! That is mocking God and the work He did for us. So a man foresees danger and prepares, he prepares Himself daily as if today is the day he’d meet His maker face to face in the heavenlies.
Humility will keep us in the continual state of repentance, humility will say, You’re right, as always, wow Lord, thank You for showing me, is there anything else I should know about that might be keeping you and I apart in any way? What do we love? Who do we love? Ourselves? That can be good, because we’re commanded to love others and the Bible says we can’t do that well if we don’t love ourselves. Do we love God? Really love God? Enough to show it by obedience to His words and actions? If we love Him, it will be displayed in our obedient nature.
Maybe we’re young in our faith, have not grown a whole lot, because we’ve not come into the exercise of obeying a lot. If we bring ourselves under discipline, we will experience growth. In the NT it says discipline does not seem all that fun, but will bring forth fruits of right living. It would be good to endure some grief of heart to become disciplined. It also says those who will do that before the Lord, are called Sons’ of God, that means grown up ones. It’s time for all of us to grow up to another level of love and discipleship, to endure hardship of the soul, that the kingdom of God would increase and God would use us to do it!
A competent worker will serve kings, rather than just ordinary people. Were you thinking that that was about a job, an earthly job? It can be, but what about our heavenly Co-mission – GO into all of the world and be preachers of the good news of the salvation of Jesus Christ? Do you know every person has that Co-mission or job with God? Even if they have not yet received Him. That’s the job of every human. We should hire a few and show them the ropes, before its too late, for some it is the last hour and they have not worked the fields at all yet. They’re missing out big time on raises and benefits and eternal treasure and securities!
Then if we go back to the Genesis mandate, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, rule it and have dominion over every living thing. That is our main job, no matter where we work, that is our job.
So he who is a competent worker, he’ll stand before kings. He’ll be crowned a king, before the king of Kings and the Lord of lords. Amen
I’m gonna print here a story from the NT about field workers, remember that’s all of us whether we know it or not. The wages are our eternal security. If they do not come and work they’ll not have any, not even a penny. Be a co-missioner with God, Go get workers, go pray for workers, go hire workers, the fields are more than ready and the time is oh so short. We do not have any idea when one’s 11th or 12th hour will be upon them. He is Lord of the harvest, stand before Him and ask for laborers! You’ll have what you ask for.
A Story About Workers Matt 20:1-16
1"God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.3"Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. 4He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. 5They went."He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. 6At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, "Why are you standing around all day doing nothing? 7'"They said, "Because no one hired us.'"He told them to go to work in his vineyard.8"When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, "Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.'9"Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. 10When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. 11Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 12"These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.'13"He replied to the one speaking for the rest, "Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? 14So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. 15Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?'16"Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Our Daily Bread Today Proverbs 21 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Proverbs 21:1-31
1The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he turns it wherever he pleases.
2People may think they are doing what is right, but the LORD examines the heart.
3The LORD is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices.
4Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.
5Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
6Wealth created by lying is a vanishing mist and a deadly trap. F32
7Because the wicked refuse to do what is just, their violence boomerangs and destroys them.
8The guilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road.
9It is better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a contentious wife in a lovely home.
10Evil people love to harm others; their neighbors get no mercy from them.
11A simpleton can learn only by seeing mockers punished; a wise person learns from instruction.
12The Righteous One F33 knows what is going on in the homes of the wicked; he will bring the wicked to disaster.
13Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.
14A secret gift calms anger; a secret bribe pacifies fury.
15Justice is a joy to the godly, but it causes dismay among evildoers.
16The person who strays from common sense will end up in the company of the dead.
17Those who love pleasure become poor; wine and luxury are not the way to riches.
18Sometimes the wicked are punished to save the godly, and the treacherous for the upright.
19It is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife.
20The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.
21Whoever pursues godliness and unfailing love will find life, godliness, and honor.
22The wise conquer the city of the strong and level the fortress in which they trust.
23If you keep your mouth shut, you will stay out of trouble.
24Mockers are proud and haughty; they act with boundless arrogance.
25The desires of lazy people will be their ruin, for their hands refuse to work. 26They are always greedy for more, while the godly love to give!
27God loathes the sacrifice of an evil person, especially when it is brought with ulterior motives.
28A false witness will be cut off, but an attentive witness will be allowed to speak.
29The wicked put up a bold front, but the upright proceed with care.
30Human plans, no matter how wise or well advised, cannot stand against the LORD.
31The horses are prepared for battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.
FOOTNOTES:F32: As in Greek version; Hebrew reads mist for those who seek death. F33: Or The righteous man.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~Lena’s Journalin’~
The first 4 verses are about Jesus being Lord or being in competition with you. Lord, means He has His way, and you do what he wants. You change your desire, You ask for your desires to be changed that your will and His will would be one will. You do what is right in His eyes, You find out what His will is and you adapt your life towards doing it.
One way towards heading in the direction, is to find the will in the word, then through prayer ask for help to desire it and change your life towards it. sincerity of heart and desire will go a long way.
Another help God gives us is the body of Christ, and other Christian people who may have won these battles before us and can help us also. If we give an account to others, we may not have to give one to God in the future of judgments later on. That takes humility, a genuine stance towards change. A desperation of whatever it takes Lord! Haughtiness will always stand in the way of this and tell you you are your own man, no one can tell you what to do and you can do whatever you want.
Be aware, if we do whatever is right in our own eyes now, it will not be well with us later on. I always remind myself of the scripture where Jesus spoke to well meaning Christians saying, I did not know you, depart from me, you work evil! Why would He say that? They put on airs, looking as though they were good people, but in their hearts and in their religious actions, their only intent was to do what they believed they were to do, and there was a rebellious nature within, telling them to not ever allow anyone else, even those sent by God, to tell them anything else except what God was personally telling them. That is so ungodly. Prov. in another place says, inside of a multitude of council there is wisdom. When a person stands alone before God here on earth, they can error in their own hearing, because we hear through the filter of the experiences of our souls, and we can be off, way off, and if we stand alone we won’t even be corrected, ever. A wise person learns from instruction, where does that instruction come from? His own spirit, his own soul? The word of God? God sets tutors and governors over us to bring us to maturity, he sets us in a body of believers, he uses men to help us see what the words mean. This is his way, if it were not, He would have made one human and that would have been it.
The wisdom of God is to give one’s life over to discipleship, to come under the tutelage of others. That takes a tremendous amount of humility.
What if what they say to you to do is not something you especially like to do? What if they offend you? What if they are not yet perfected? What if they err? Those questions have trust issues and we all just need to trust God while we follow men. They are imperfect, so we trust Him, He’ll take care of their imperfections, because I complain about them to Him? No, because I’m in a serving position and therefore God is protecting me, and in serving, I pray for them and I watch God do His awesome work in them, they are a bit ahead of me, as I watch his work in them I want to follow more, I’m following their heart in being able to find God in everyplace and trial and situation. I follow their repentance, or if they lack it I pray and watch God even turn a rebellious nature around.
Following men, leads us to follow God Himself.
Our daughter is off at a Youth Pastor Internship Program. When they arrived and had orientation, they were told to pack a few things and they’d be off for a retreat, unlike any they’d ever been on. They needed good sneakers and grubby clothes. They got in a caravan and set off for the “retreat”. It was a 2- 3 day ordeal. The kids were thinking that maybe they’d have some time off with God, kind of like an Encounter, where you bask in the presence and in the love of God. The first night they were fed and oriented at the place. They were told something like , this is your last meal here. Now because they were thinking they might be on an Encounter with the Lord, and these kids were of the discipleship nature, they probably thought, ok, we’re fasting! Not a biggie, right?
That night in the wee hours they were awakened by their leaders and brought out to do push ups! Then they got to run a few miles… They went back to sleep a bit and were awakened at the crack of dawn to run some more, and do more. As the days went on they were told to assemble teams and do certain things as a team, if any one on the team failed the whole team was “punished” by callisthenic exercises! Are we having fun yet? Boot Camp-Encounter baby!
I have a picture of my daughter doing push ups, with a 150 lb teammate on her back, she captioned it, “I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!”
I cried so hard. Can I do that? Even a stupid practical thing like running, or like fasting, or being a part of a team and succeeding? Can I, Can we? Can I follow another’s will? Can you? If you/I/we cannot follow the will of a person here on earth, we cannot follow the will of God! If we won’t listen to authority set in our lives by God, and do any little or big thing they ask, we will not follow God. There is a scripture tht says, do not be deceived, if you say you love God but do not love your brother who you see, you lie, you are a liar and truth, real truth, not self made up truth, what is right to me truth, is NOT in you!
Our daughter came out of that weekend with such a core trust inside of her being. When she could not do anymore, he could, when she could not get along with people, He broke her barriers for the greater good, and she learned to sacrifice. When she thought, ahh hogwash I can do this, consistently, she found herself unable in herself. That is when the trust level of believing for the power of God most High came through. She found out if she really believed, and found out she did, more than ever.
Get with people, become a disciple, do a few things you do not want to do, yield your will to others, you’ll find out if you believe, what you believe and how you believe and you’ll allow your belief level to increase and be changed into His image!


Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Our Daily Bread Today- Isaiah 40 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Isaiah 40:1-31
Comfort for God's People
1"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. 2"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her in full for all her sins."
3Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the LORD through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. 4Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. 5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!"
6A voice said, "Shout!" I asked, "What should I shout?" "Shout that people are like the grass that dies away. Their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of flowers in a field. 7The grass withers, and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people. 8The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."
9Messenger of good news, shout to Zion from the mountaintops! Shout louder to Jerusalem—do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, "Your God is coming!" 10Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
12Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed out the mountains and the hills? 13Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to be his teacher or counselor? 14Has the LORD ever needed anyone's advice? Does he need instruction about what is good or what is best? 15No, for all the nations of the world are nothing in comparison with him. They are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales. He picks up the islands as though they had no weight at all. 16All Lebanon's forests do not contain sufficient fuel to consume a sacrifice large enough to honor him. All Lebanon's sacrificial animals would not make an offering worthy of our God. 17The nations of the world are as nothing to him. In his eyes they are less than nothing—mere emptiness and froth.
18To whom, then, can we compare God? What image might we find to resemble him? 19Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? 20Or is a poor person's wooden idol better? Can God be compared to an idol that must be placed on a stand so it won't fall down?
21Have you never heard or understood? Are you deaf to the words of God—the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? 22It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. The people below must seem to him like grasshoppers! He is the one who spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. 23He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. 24They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and their work withers. The wind carries them off like straw.
25"To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One.
26Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away.
27O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? 28Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. 30Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. 31But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I was sitting in Target parking lot pulled up by the door awaiting my kids who were to come out any minute now….I stopped to listen to a song, one of the kids’ CD’s was playing. The guy said, freedom is only another perspective away. He sang on that if we put on another lens we may be able to see…He sang about a child’s view in comparison to a parents and then he asked why they are different. The beginning was what caught my ear, he was saying, so what you’re going through is really bad, huh? How bad is it in comparison to the world’s problems? He was not being sarcastic, he was being passionate.
To me this passage is like that.
It takes us up for a better view of God, Our Father. Why do you think it ends, that “they” would mount UP as eagles? Because eagles soar up high, way higher than other birds, they can see from up high too, they can fly high and focus in on prey down below.
The passage was written for us to see from a different view, Freedom is only another perspective away.
Oh Lord God, let us fly up high, so we can see, so we can see You in Your glory, love You as You are, Desire Your will. Receiving Your love, seeing other’s pains and reaching out to heal them all, as Jesus did, and left us here to do also. Holy Spirit thank you for the power of Jesus he left behind for us to live, move, walk and have our beings here on earth- Today.
Thank you for your strength today.
Thank you for A God- View today!

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Our Daily Bread Today Isaiah 64 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Isaiah 64:1-12
1Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways. But we are not godly. We are constant sinners, so your anger is heavy on us. How can people like us be saved? 6We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. 7Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.
8And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand. 9Oh, don't be so angry with us, LORD. Please don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.
10Your holy cities are destroyed; even Jerusalem is a desolate wilderness. 11The holy, beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. 12After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
This passage is so rich, I’m about to burst with its message to me. I looked up only a few of the words in original Hebrew and the keys are unlocking doors this morning!
This is a cry from the heart of one who has not seen salvation demonstrated yet, Isaiah is before Jesus came to earth. But Isaiah is a “Divine Dreamer”, he sees stuff, in fact prophets were called exactly that- “Seers”. He saw a lot that he never would see while he lived on earth, many of these things he “saw” in the spirit, in the eternal realm, were about salvation, about being delivered from the mouth of hell’s fire, and out of the pull or chain of darkness which was all over the entire earth.
Isaiah cried out after seeing some of this hope. In so many words he was saying – Oh God, that heaven would come to earth! Oh God, please let what I see come into earth’s realm too! Let Your Kingdom come here, just like it is up there, where I’m now viewing it. Lord, let others understand and see as far off as I’m seeing too.
The word “rend” means to open up the eyes wide, it means to break down what keeps sight from being clear. When he says come down, he is saying, bring to the people, revelation of Your Kingdom. Let it drop like a light in their understanding, so they can live for its purpose and message while they are still living here on earth!
He’s talking of an atmosphere breach, heaven’s and earth’s. He’s crying out in intercession, saying, let that gap be filled in! Let the messages of heaven ascend and descend from the earth, like angels do.
Then he continues his prayer- Oh that mountains would also come down…this is not the same “down” we read when he cried for God to come down. This one means to bow low and humble one’s self. Mountains are representatives of peoples thinking that stands in the way of God’s will and plan. That people would lay down any thinking that stands in the way of God’s kingdom being established!
The word “presence” means, “face”. He’s saying, IF and when they see your face as I have seen it, they will get it, I know they will!
He’s saying that there are things that will happen to people and in the earth to bring them to this place of finally seeing God’s face clearly, things have got to move out of the way. Tragedies at work sometimes shake things and people up to a point of being able to seek and find God. He’s praying, whatever it takes God, if they will find You, it will be worth every bit of shaking! He’s saying the fire of hell will be much hotter than any other burning here and if we do not burn for God’s kingdom here, we could burn in eternal fury.
Don’t you just burn in your heart to save people out of that fire of fury? Did you know that fire was not made for man? It was made for rebellious satan and his angels, his ministers, his princes, to burn up forever. BUT satan has a plan too, to take everyone who with their free will, will go in with him. He also does not want to be alone, but his desire to not be alone has not one thing to do with love, as God’s does. Satan’s desire to bring people with him is in accordance with his rebellious nature, it is to spite God, in the “face”, if he can keep people from God’s presence, His “face”, he knows he’s won against God, he’s hit God in the heart. If someone gets in the “face” or presence of God and tastes God as He is, and is able to see Him, they’ll recognize love and truth, they’ll get a hunger for it.
This is why when a Christian gets involved in a person’s life, they should not give up in sharing their faith with that person, the more of the presence of God’s love is shown the more hunger will be stirred. I so feel the coaching of the Holy Spirit tell me to stay, stay, stay involved in a person’s life as long as I can. While there is still breath in their lungs, there is still hope.
Sin is ugly, but redemption is sweet, its revelation is so freeing. No one and nothing, no good action, or great attitude about life can save anyone from the ugliness of sin and its penalty of death upon each of us, except the blood of Jesus. What can wash away all of my ugly sin and my appointments with eternal death in hell’s fire? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That blood is not silent, it speaks for men even 200 years later, after it was all poured out.
A church building may be destroyed by a government or emptied of people, but the Temple of God, the hearts of people where God’s Spirit is alive and well, can never be destroyed!

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Our Daily Bread Today Job 14 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form. 4Who can create purity in one born impure?

Job 14:1-22
1"How frail is humanity! How short is life, and how full of trouble! 2Like a flower, we blossom for a moment and then wither. Like the shadow of a passing cloud, we quickly disappear. 3Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? No one! 4Who can create purity in one born impure? 5You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. 6So give us a little rest, won't you? Turn away your angry stare. We are like hired hands, so let us finish the task you have given us.
7"If a tree is cut down, there is hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches. 8Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, 9at the scent of water it may bud and sprout again like a new seedling.
10"But when people die, they lose all strength. They breathe their last, and then where are they? 11As water evaporates from a lake and as a river disappears in drought, 12people lie down and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep.
13"I wish you would hide me with the dead and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! 14If mortals die, can they live again? This thought would give me hope, and through my struggle I would eagerly wait for release. 15You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. 16For then you would count my steps, instead of watching for my sins. 17My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover over my iniquity.
18"But as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, 19as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people's hope. 20You always overpower them, and then they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away. 21They never know if their sons grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. 22They are absorbed in their own pain and grief."


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. For more information about the NLT, please click here.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Job is an awesome story. Job is such a human being, yet such a man of God. During his life, he was so strong in his faith, grew in stature in the religious community, enough that God trusted him as a man. This kind of person, God’s enemy hates. The enemy again went to accuse brethren before God. He told God that this awesome human of God would curse God’s spirit if he was touched in his natural life at all. Is that what happens or what? Don’t we find out what we believe when we’re touched at home or in our natural bodies that serve us and keep us here?
See words in the kingdom of God are cheap, easily found, a dime a dozen. The real PROOF is in the pudding of life, the substance of what our lives are made up of, if we shout hallelujah in church services from being amused by what’s said, or more clearly, by who says it, yet when we go about life M-Sat, we curse God, we go places that are so against the church we attend, etc, our faith is brought to nothing.
The church services are where we get fueled for life, the M-Sat, days. The church services are meant for us to come together and celebrate what God has done in the M-Sat time with us and with those we’ve been able to touch and meet. We are deceived to put on religious faces and show up for church, may as well stay home!
So where’s the proof and what is the proof? You say you love God, because you’ve realized a small part of how much He loves you and what He did for your dreadful sin and how He sent His most beloved to die in a place you should have been rightly condemned to. You’re seeing that, so you say with your mouth, with words, “I love God”. With God, words do not hold weight unless made alive by action.
In the case of me, and of us, and of Job, our words of love have to be tested, to see if they are eternal, if they are not eternal we will not be able to live in the eternal integrity of God.
So, satan himself decided to test Job’s words, to test Job’s declared to be strong faith in God. He hit him at home and in his body, in his evaluation of life, his value systems etc. Job was hit hard. If any of us think we’ve ever been hit hard, we have NO idea at all, NONE. His inner core was being carved into, all of the outer shell wall of protection of any self kind was gone, there he was, heart exposed to everyone and everybody- the spirit realm most of all was observing whether a man could really love God or not.
Everyone and everybody (spiritual and natural), was watching to see what Job would do and say, how he would re-act and respond, to himself, to the enemy, to life, to death, to suffering, to God.
In this passage we see some of that response. We see how it goes from natural speaking to spiritual speaking. He goes in from reality of the eternal essence, truth which was known by him in the depths of his heart, to his mind‘s reason, what he was tempted to think might be true.
If I can get any great point across to you I’d tell you in truth what Job has said, life is short. Yeah, Lena we all know that…..but how much do we know it? We are talking natural earth life, why we’re here etc. I’ve written before that we need to think of ourselves as from another Kingdom, ambassadors here, “angels” on assignment, only here for a time. We’ve got to realize we are from and are heading towards the eternal realm, either of darkness or light and it is completely our choice, the choice of our free-wills born inside of our natural beings, and given us by God! We have a choice where we’ll go, whos side we’ll eternally be on. God’s side, the life and light side, or satan’s side, where hosts of darkness dwell and serve the one who is against God. The choice is made during this oh so short time here on earth.
Oh God that people would be told this message and would believe it, receive it, and live it!
You’ve got to see beyond. Job had to see beyond. In this passage he did see ahead of himself, ahead of his suffering, ahead of the attacks unleashed on his temporary flesh man, but really the attacks were against God Himself!
Must God keep His eye on such frailty and cause that frail one to give an account? Yes! Why would we not give an account to God? Don’t we want Him to know we’re with Him, we’re here, we’re on the roll call? If we do not show up, everyday, show our faces before Him, tell Him by our lives we love Him, how would He know we are His?
There’s a NT scripture that says, people who had acted just like Christians stood before God in judgment and God said to them , “Who are you?” I so wonder if those were interested in doing good things for people and looking like they had it together, but when it came to being accountable for life, and when it came time to coming into God’s presence in secret and when it came to obeying Him, they did not go “there”. They did it their way and no one else was gonna tell them how to do anything! They had an independent unaccountable spirit? I mean think about it, does God require an account? What if we are accounted for? Well to me that is good fire insurance, if accountability keeps my name on that heavenly life & light roll I’m ALL for it, who else wants to know where I am?
Can one take what is impure and change it to pure? No one ever seemed to be able to do that before, even animal sacrifices did not seem to completely clear things up and there were even actions that required sacrifice that were just a part of being alive, even if a person was good. It just seemed impossible to man, and it is /was before the blood of Jesus was shed for us all. It was impossible for man to be able to account to God and for man to be forgiven sin, BUT nothing is impossible to God so He sent His Son who shed all His blood for the covering of our sins.
Job had watched things of the earth respond to their Creator, like you cut grass and it grows again, you cut down a tree and sprouts come forth! You think something is dead and then a hint of somekind of new life happens. He began to ask, can man live after He DIES? His questions, the questions that arose from His inner core, were being answered by His questions. Have you ever had that happen to you? Why does that happen? Because inside of each man is an eternal seed awaiting growth and nuturing, it can sprout on its own, but many times by God’s grace He sends messengers, to till, plant, water, fertilize etc. We are the garden of God and when we get saved we immediately become both a nurtured garden and a tender/helper in other’s gardens, because all of the gardens are God’s and He desires all gardens to grow from eternal seeds.
What I’m saying is, we have a seed inside that can grow and grow and grow depending on the atmosphere of our lives. If we are alone and left alone we have the same seeds and they can grow by our asking the questions and God’s spirit inside of us answering them for us, but if we get around gardeners, we’ll get a lot more growth out of our seeds, because we’ll get a lot more wisdom and experience about gardening. The gardeners can be found in churches. A well watered garden springs forth and brings forth much fruit, while a garden that does not get but a few drops of water each day may barely grow or even die off, because of lack of keeping.
Is there hope in God? Yes, that is the ONLY place of hope, there is no other place of eternal hope except in God. People search high and low, far and wide, in every other place and do not find hope, not in themselves, not in friends, not in any other place except the place of truth, which is God’s words.

Thank you for reading today, and being a garden readied to be watered again and again.
Thank you for choosing what is not worldly easy, but is of the eternal nature.
Thank you for seeking the Kingdom of God and joining me in spreading its message far and wide to reach others like us who have searched high/low far/wide for truth.

Thank you for eating Daily Bread- Today- with me!
I love you!
God Bless You! ~ Lena

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Our Daily Bread - Today Isaiah 38 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Isaiah 38:1-22
Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery
1About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: "This is what the LORD says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness."
2When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3"Remember, O LORD, how I have always tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing in your sight." Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4Then this message came to Isaiah from the LORD: 5"Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life, 6and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
7"'And this is the sign that the LORD will give you to prove he will do as he promised: 8I will cause the sun's shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!'" So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.
Hezekiah's Poem of Praise
9When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem about his experience:
10 I said, "In the prime of my life, must I now enter the place of the dead? Am I to be robbed of my normal years?"
11 I said, "Never again will I see the LORD GOD while still in the land of the living. Never again will I see my friends or laugh with those who live in this world.
12 My life has been blown away like a shepherd's tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over.
13 I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.
14 Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!"
15 But what could I say? For he himself had sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt.
16 Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You have restored my health and have allowed me to live!
17 Yes, it was good for me to suffer this anguish, for you have rescued me from death and have forgiven all my sins.
18 For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to destruction can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
19 Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next.
20 Think of it—the LORD has healed me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the LORD.
21Isaiah had said to Hezekiah's servants, "Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover."
22And Hezekiah had asked, "What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the LORD three days from now?"

Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
There is so much here to take note of. I pray your own thoughts will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, who is our faithful Teacher and the expounder of His own Truths, which come from His own Words.
Hezekiah is a “Christian”, a man of God, who becomes ill with the sickness of death. Death tries to take him out of the earth early, outside of a place of the use of God, to be taken away from being a part of and a participant in God’s plans during his particular lifetime.
Why? Wasn’t he trying to serve God? He was trying, he had certain ideas about it, which he was implementing. ( i.e. going to church, giving to the poor, trying to be a nice guy, trying to love his neighbor etc..) There was something missing somehow in all that. There was a door of disobedience to the onward outward call of God somewhere. He was doing what was right to himself, but was he doing what was right to God?
When the prophet came to deliver the message from the Lord about the end of Hezekiah’s life, he was saying (possibly with Hebrew words, which say what is really meant here), “You are about to die before your time, you are about to expire prematurely! You are about to be taken out before your true, set by God purpose, has been accomplished.”
This caused Hezekiah to seek the Lord passionately (wouldn’t it you, or would it?)He made a change. He turned from where he was at, spiritually speaking, His ideas obviously were not correct before, and this Encounter here was showing that to him very clearly. What does it take for us to see that what we’ve been thinking even in our faith walk may be incorrect? Does it take tragedy? Does it take a death threat? Or whatever, do we recognize the alert system set up by God, do we recognize the voice of prophetic people that God sends our way to call for change before it is too late?
Hezekiah’s prayer was like this, “Lord, I’m so sorry, I thought what I was doing and how I thought and how I was doing it all, was the way You wanted me to do it”. Have you ever come to that point in your faith walk, reevaluation time? Face the Wall time? Face the Father time or face death (or life) time?
When he saw where he’d been, that his ideas about walking before God were exactly that- His ideas and that it was not the best place to have been, that his obedience meter could have been turned up more, he wept the genuine cry of repentance.
The cry of true repentance is like no other cry. It is a cry that stops heaven, makes heaven move towards earth. Fills in every breach. It sounds to me like Isaiah had delivered the message and left, as the King pondered the words and took them before the Lord. Yet the cry of repentance reached his spiritual ears also. It is one moving cry. It is the cry of change. God told Isaiah that things were changed because of this cry. Even to the extent that the things set up on earth, the very laws that govern the working of days and how days are seen or not, the way the very sun shone that day, was different. The earth responds to repentance!
Laura, notice time was made up for, when repentance was heard in the earth. Not in heaven after Hezekiah died, but in earth while he was yet alive! He made the cry in the earth. The earth is waiting to respond to that cry. Time is even waiting to move for that cry.
Let me give you an example- you’ve been “working” on someone, you are a harvester in God’s kingdom, you are faithful to share your faith with that person because you sense the love of God for them, you’ve been sharing God’s love with them for years now, still no response. God brings you to a place as He did Hezekiah, a place of evaluation, a matter of life or death ( maybe it is death or life for the person’s you’ve been “working on”) He shows you a way you need to be walking that you’ve not known before, You accept His directional change and make a change (repent), suddenly that person “get’s saved”, just like that. Time responded.
Maybe you’ve been waiting and waiting for an answer to a specific prayer question and you feel like you have no answers at all, but God leads you towards obedient change and you change with His lead and help. All of a sudden the floodgates of heaven open up and you can’t shut off the voice of God in your ears. Time responded.
What once took years to do, now takes days in this place of newly realized obediences. You now awake and ask God to change you, you seek change, you seek to know Him more and make Him known asking Him what, if anything is in Your way. Is there anything about my lifestyle that offends You or will bridge that gap of time for so and so? Is there anything You want me to be convicted of? Is there anything else You’d like for me to see that will draw me closer to You? Is there anyone’s words (as the words of another in Isaiah were given, as the Words of Pastor’s Fred & Phyllis or your pastors or a sister or brother in the faith or another leader – or a donkey….haha) You want me to listen to and Obey? That right there is part of the turn around, especially in our culture, that we would listen to anyone other than ourselves. Let me so graciously say right here this is the siren alert of a rebellious spirit against God, that we, as Christians, would not listen to or heed the voice of anyone else except our own and what we think we hear for ourselves before God. That is the very spirit of the Anti-Christ and is the rebellious prideful nature of satan. He stood in the face of God and pretty much said, “Don’t tell me what to do.”
IF we do not love or submit to or support those we do see, we are hypocritical to say we love and submit to and support God, we are deceived in that. God set people inside of our lives to be His witness in our lives, His voice in our lives, His guides in the earth, His hands upon us, to mold us.
Last night I was thinking of how Rahab was the lineage of Jesus Christ, yet a prostitute. He , a perfect man, came out of her ovary. She was NOT perfect, but perfected by the act of covenant, her covenant was with God Almighty, but was visible to people, was acted out with people, imperfect people! God chose to come through her, to have Jesus follow after her life. That is confounding to the natural mind, and so is listening to and following people, especially if we do not really have a strong faith in God. It’s downright dangerous. One could lose his life over it! Exactly J
In Hezekiah’s illness, he said to himself sympathetic words of plight. He started to be sorrowful (only Godly sorrow leads to change) he started out, woe is me…This part is SO profound…I cried out all night long- Lord send me help, like, God, don’t you care about me? God was saying to his heart and is saying to our hearts today- Do YOU care about ME, My will? My Kingdom on earth? My people? My plans? What have you done for My purposes to be fulfilled before you die? What have you done to bring time back? Do you care about others being so sick that they might die before their time, before time has moved for them? Hezekiah had an Encounter with God, face to face, he was able to see truth unveiled. He was able to see himself in the picture, where before he was so involved with himself, he couldn’t see. He was in the scuffle of confusion, set up by an enemy to devour him, without him knowing. He thought he was serving God, he thought he had it good, he thought he was obedient! His words in the first few verses said, he thought his faith walk the way he walked it out was fine, great, all he needed. Maybe it was all he needed, but was it what God needed?
Is there bread in the house for God? If He were hungry, would we know it? Would we care to ask, Lord, are You hungry? What are You hungry for? I can guarantee God is hungry and for food we may not know. The food and the drink He is hungry for is His will being done to the accomplishment of His purpose in the earth.
Where do we or can we find that will best? In the midst of the people of God, The lump of figs? Lump means dwelling, that means I stay with the people of God to live, I listen to His voice there, I apply it to my live and I live long and I satisfy Him, as I do the words I hear there. Anything else is death to me, and I’m too young to die! How about you?

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Today Our Daily Bread Jeremiah 24 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Jeremiah 24:1-10
Good and Bad Figs
1After King Nebuchadnezzar F42 of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin F43 son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the princes of Judah and all the skilled craftsmen, the LORD gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem. 2One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with figs that were spoiled and could not be eaten.
3Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I replied, "Figs, some very good and some very bad."
4Then the LORD gave me this message: 5"This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. F44 6I have sent them into captivity for their own good. I will see that they are well treated, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. 7I will give them hearts that will recognize me as the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.
8"But the rotten figs," the LORD said, "represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like spoiled figs, too rotten to eat. 9I will make them an object of horror and evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I send them. 10I will send war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors."
FOOTNOTES:F42: Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant name for Nebuchadnezzar. F43: Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant name for Jehoiachin. F44: Or Chaldeans.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
So the people of the Lord’s Kingdom were taken away by the world, taken away by the rule of another king, taken captive (captivated) by another, other than the Lord and His will and work… Those who were skilled at the work of the Lord, were taken off to serve another god-king,( little “g”, little ”k”).
I’m amazed this morning. We have to unlock the revelation of the word of God. We cannot look at it as it is and expect to get it, just like that. One has got to become a disciple and open up the word to their understanding!
I’ve looked up the word “baskets” only in the first verse, it means 3 different things, very different from one another. The first “basket” where there are two, plural basket-s, has a different meaning than the single one. If we just read through this we would NOT see this. The word “baskets” mean- love fruit, fruits of an intimate love relationship. As exciting and driving as sexual desire, with a burning desire to pro-create! To me that would best be expressed by a barren woman’s desire to have her womb filled with children! Extreme, but not from a soulish need to be someone or something to someone, but because she is in love and wants to reproduce the expression of that love. That is how God feels about His people- us. Impassioned.
This desire, this passion was placed in front of the Lord’s Temple. Who or what is the “Lord’s Temple”?
We are the “Lord’s Temple”, those who say they are His, belong to Him, have invited Him to live inside of them, are His Temple, that’s us! So this opportunity has been laid before us, outside of us, offered as food for us…….
Two decisions for the same work, for the same purpose, which one will burn inside of us? Passion for the world and all of its lusts and schemes to take us captive? Or passion for God, His world of lost people, who could be saved, passion for His presence where the intimacy of love is revealed and unleashed?
One meaning of the bad figs was stated this way, “naughty figs”. To me that would be an old English term for “disobedience”, so we could say, disobedient figs.
What makes the difference? As we read on we see it starts with those who see where they’ve been in the plan of God (or outside of it) and they turn around, they repent.
The other “rotten or naughty” are saints to whom truth is revealed and they choose to stay the same as they were before they saw or heard or had the opportunity for change. They chose to stay as they were, saying, “ Don’t bother me, don’t judge me, don’t TELL ME WHAT TO DO! God loves me just like I am”.
They choose to stay put, they may have grown a bit in God, got saved, but when pressed by His Spirit to go on, they won’t, or don’t. He equates them as the same as those who have not ever known Him, as Egyptians, people who never were in the covenant.
What happens when “the glory cloud” is moving and we become comfy cozy as we are and want to stay put? All kinds of things. At one time it was fine to stay in the place you’ve been, but the work and the need for the salvation of souls and the sanctification of the church is great, it has increased in magnitude. The Lord of the work has made a call for us to go on with Him, we cannot stay behind, in fact the enemy is behind and approaching, if we stay, he’ll devour us. He’ll curse us, kill us. What was once ok, is not so ok anymore, the times are different, the times have changed.
Side note- both baskets were brought out and harvested to be eaten, to be enjoyed, to feed others of sweet fruit. One was not meant to become rotten (disobedient), there was one difference, that is- the choice of the FW (free-will).
Engage oh lump of figs, jump into that basket of impassionate love for your Maker, your Husbandman, He is The Lord!
Show forth fruits of true repentance.
Luke 3:7-9
7 So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 9 "Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Today Our Daily Bread Romans 15 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Romans 15:1-33
Living to Please Others
1We may know that these things make no difference, but we cannot just go ahead and do them to please ourselves. We must be considerate of the doubts and fears of those who think these things are wrong. 2We should please others. If we do what helps them, we will build them up in the Lord. 3For even Christ didn't please himself. As the Scriptures say, "Those who insult you are also insulting me." F84 4Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises.
5May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ Jesus toward the other. 6Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7So accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified. 8Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. 9And he came so the Gentiles might also give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote:
"I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to your name." F85
10And in another place it is written,
"Rejoice, O you Gentiles, along with his people, the Jews." F86
11And yet again,
"Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; praise him, all you people of the earth." F87
12And the prophet Isaiah said,
"The heir to David's throne F88 will come, and he will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their hopes on him." F89
13So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul's Reason for Writing
14I am fully convinced, dear brothers and sisters, F90 that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well that you are able to teach others all about them. 15Even so, I have been bold enough to emphasize some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder from me. For I am, by God's grace, 16a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News and offer you up as a fragrant sacrifice to God so that you might be pure and pleasing to him by the Holy Spirit. 17So it is right for me to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. 18I dare not boast of anything else. I have brought the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I lived before them. 19I have won them over by the miracles done through me as signs from God—all by the power of God's Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ all the way from Jerusalem clear over into Illyricum. F91
20My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,
"Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand." F92
22In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.
Paul's Travel Plans
23But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. 24I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can send me on my way again.
25But before I come, I must go down to Jerusalem to take a gift to the Christians there. 26For you see, the believers in Greece F93 have eagerly taken up an offering for the Christians in Jerusalem, who are going through such hard times. 27They were very glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the wonderful spiritual blessings of the Good News from the Jewish Christians, they feel the least they can do in return is help them financially. 28As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. 29And I am sure that when I come, Christ will give me a great blessing for you.
30Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. 31Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the Christians there will be willing to accept the donation I am bringing them. 32Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a happy heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.
33And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.
FOOTNOTES:F84: Ps 69:9. F85: Ps 18:49. F86: Deut 32:43. F87: Ps 117:1. F88: Greek The root of Jesse. F89: Isa 11:10. F90: Greek brothers; also in 15:30. F91: Illyricum was a region northeast of Italy. F92: Isa 52:15. F93: Greek Macedonia and Achaia, the northern and southern regions of Greece.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
I like how these verses say, “accept” each other (vs 7) as Christ accepted you! We think we’ve accepted Christ and truly we have embraced faith in Him. The real deal though is He came after us, chose us, no matter what we were like or what was going on in our lives, He loved us, received us (rather than rejecting us). Think of how ugly we may have been or how separated from God’s ways we were! It was not that pretty of a picture as sin never is. Have you ever read Isaiah 53?
Who has believed our message? To whom will the LORD reveal his saving power? 2My servant grew up in the LORD's presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.
4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows F116 that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! 5But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! 6All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
This passage shows us how sin looks, it looks so grotesque that people walking by would be ashamed to look at it, It is so ugly looking that God turned His face from Him ( not only because of the ugliness mind you), but the point- sin is ugly, even if you look pretty on the outside, even if you are fashionable and were born with a physical attractiveness. Remember we are spirits, who have souls and live inside of bodies. God sees the real us, the inside person, the heart. He sees it as it is, no matter how much work is done on the outward person’s body, the inside is pretty or ugly based on whether it is renewed by the saving power of God or not. Because of Adam & Eve’s sin, curse came upon each human born and their spirits are dying, as they get closer and closer to eternity, they look worse and worse (Melinda- your dream).
Did anyone see Pirates of the Caribbean? I LOVE that movie because that is what the effect of sin looks like, even though our bodies may look good, be dressed nice, or even have make up on and a new hairdo, we are in darkness without God and we are dying, rotting away in the spirit. IF we do not come into the Light of Jesus Christ and under the covenant blood shedding that paid the price for our salvation, we will continue to die in sin, our bodies will follow suit. BUT when we receive the blood sacrifice of Jesus and become born again, we get life and life more abundant, that means the further we head towards eternity, the better we look.
So, in all of our ugliness He was able to save us to the uttermost! He looked beyond the death that was affecting us daily, trying to bring us to eternal torment, to hell. He chose to save us in that state! He chose to see what we could be and would be in Him instead of our outer crust. When others walk our way they may have to turn their heads, but God through Jesus, stopped to look at us face to face and see inside of our spirit man and make Him new!
It DOES NOT matter who we were, it matters now who we are, or IF we are IN Him, have we found ourselves In Him? Have we heard Him calling us to Himself? Have we seen Him come our way? Have we “accepted” His invitation to “accept” us and change us?
Absolutely, without any doubt, NOW is the TIME. Don’t mess around with sin and death, no matter who you are or what state you find yourself in right now, Jew or Gentile. Raised with some sort of faith or no faith. Now is the time to Give it ALL up. And selfishness will all be set aside very quickly as there are many, many others who also need this message of being saved from death (think Pirates in the darkness) and brought to life through the blood saving power of Christ. We are the message, the preachers of that message of salvation. The more of us who know this and tell this the more chance God has of changing the world for His glory, reversing the death sentence of sin placed on the earth. Why did Jesus come? To save you alone? No, one man came to save all men from the edict of sin. Be a bearer of the Daily Good News ”Journal”! This is well pleasing to the Lord, what ever can we do to respond to what He’s done for us? Going and telling is fine “reciprocation”. LIVE, I say unto you who was dead- LIVE, your life as a light before others, LIVE.
Give everything you were and who you are and every dream of what you’d ever become, to God’s life plan. Give your money and time and strength to God and His work in the earth. We only have a short time left in the light of eternity. Even if we knew all of this and were engaged at a young age, we’d still only have a limited amount of time to Go tell in comparison with eternity.
There are two great commands in which all others stand:
Love God- with ALL of you Mind, Strength & Heart (that’s every part),
and
Love His people as much as your tendency is to love yourself. ( Do you have a tendency to speak badly about yourself a lot, or deprive yourself comfort and peace, or do you neglect yourself or fight and argue with yourself and do you protect yourself? Do you feed yourself, etc…God wants to heal and restore self’s so self’s can love others as He does) Be healed by the Stripes Jesus took, Amen!
I Love You

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.