Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Today Proverbs 11

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 11:1-31
1The LORD hates cheating, but he delights in honesty.
2Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
3Good people are guided by their honesty; treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty.
4Riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living is a safeguard against death.
5The godly are directed by their honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin.
6The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them.
7When the wicked die, their hopes all perish, for they rely on their own feeble strength.
8God rescues the godly from danger, but he lets the wicked fall into trouble.
9Evil words destroy one's friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.
10The whole city celebrates when the godly succeed; they shout for joy when the godless die.
11Upright citizens bless a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.
12It is foolish to belittle a neighbor; a person with good sense remains silent.
13A gossip goes around revealing secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.
14Without wise leadership, a nation falls; with many counselors, there is safety.
15Guaranteeing a loan for a stranger is dangerous; it is better to refuse than to suffer later.
16Beautiful women obtain wealth, and violent men get rich.
17Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.
18Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.
19Godly people find life; evil people find death.
20The LORD hates people with twisted hearts, but he delights in those who have integrity.
21You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the children of the godly will go free.
22A woman who is beautiful but lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout.
23The godly can look forward to happiness, while the wicked can expect only wrath.
24It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything.
25The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
26People curse those who hold their grain for higher prices, but they bless the one who sells to them in their time of need.
27If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!
28Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.
29Those who bring trouble on their families inherit only the wind. The fool will be a servant to the wise.
30The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise.
31If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, how much more true that the wicked and the sinner will get what they deserve!

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’ ~
Talk about deserving, fairness, justice, think about this:
Grace -we receive what we don't deserve.
Mercy - we don't receive what we deserve.
Justice - we receive what we deserve.
I recently heard someone say, “I don’t want mercy if it means I don’t get what I deserve, I in fact hope I do get what I deserve.” I quickly told them they don’t really want that, they must not understand the reality of the statement.
We deserve hell’s fire if we have even sinned one time and we all have sinned, so we all rightly deserve death’s penalty. Except for the sacrifice of Jesus, we would get what we deserve. I’m so thankful for Jesus’ blood and that through faith, trust and the covenantal exchange of my life lived for Him rather than lived for myself, I get what He deserves, which is life eternal.
Our own goodness will never ever save us. Never. It is so sad when God’s enemy leads people to believe if they are just good in life they will be ok later on after they die.
The judgment of eternal life or death in the hereafter is not based on goodness, it is based on right standing before God and that cannot be earned. We can never be good enough to deserve that. That is obtained by faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is THE way THE truth and THE life, no man comes to the Father God except through Him. He is the only way to the Father. My own sweet goodness will not bring me to reconciliation with the Father. Ever. The interpretation of goodness has changed over the years, just go into a courtroom and you’ll see what once was unacceptable, or not so good, is now defined as ok, maybe even good.
God’s word of truth remains the same throughout all time. Jesus Christ is the way, truth, life and no one can come to God ever at all without believing, relying on, trusting in, and living for Jesus. He earned that for us through shedding his blood as a ransom for our sins. He died as me. I should die eternally, because my sin separated me from God, my Father’s goodness; and my goodness could not blot out the stain of my sin. I needed a Savior, to be perfect and take on my punishment, the one I deserved as a sinner separated from God and His will for me while I’m here on earth. I have a Savior, He died once for all, now I just have to decide to give my life daily for Him.
Vs 30 says
The Amplified Bible
The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives [for God, as a fisher of men--he gathers and receives them for eternity].
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
A good life is a fruit--bearing tree; a violent life destroys souls.
The New King James Version
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
GOD'S WORD
The fruit of a righteous person is a tree of life, and a winner of souls is wise.
New Life Bible
The fruit of those who are right with God is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
Who is righteous? That does not mean: who is good and does nice kind things and loves people and is so wonderfully giving. I said, who is righteous? That means who has right standing with the Father God? He who has been reconciled to God and can boldly come into the throne room and see their Daddy at any given time. He who has Divine direct access through the blood of Jesus.
Romans 10:9-10 says if we confess Jesus and believe God raised Him from death we will be saved (eternal death in hell- you know He also went there as us?). That word confess means, adheres to, sticks with it like glue sticks paper to paper or wood to wood, etc. He stays, forever with this faith in God through Jesus. That person will be saved when judgment day comes. He’ll be saved from eternal death, saved into eternal life, saved from eternal burning in hell.
So the fruit of ones who stick with this gospel life with daily living faith before God, these are like an eternal tree which produces eternal life and if these who are made right with God through Jesus win others to become eternal trees of right standing before God also, they are wise.
Wisdom is knowing and using what you know through practical application. There are many people who have knowledge of Jesus and of God and of His goodness and of eternal life, but they do not believe it enough to live it, enough to give up an old useless, eternally doomed life, and apply it by faith. That is knowledge and it gets us a puffed head at best. Wisdom is I know and I use what I know, I live what I know. I don’t play games with God and His word. I regard His words as life. I speak His words as life. I live His words as life. His words are important enough to me to live them, share them, believe them and do them.
When a person does not do God’s words they are deceived in thinking they can hear and learn and remain unchanged without judgment. Judgment will come to those who hear and do not do. God’s words are meant for doing and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
So, he who wins souls, does the word of God, lives the word of God is the living word of God.
If we love God why would we not love people, who God loves? If we do not love people who God loves, we may not love God. Our love for God needs an increase of revelation.
Loving God makes us reconcilers, rescuers.
If you saw a person was condemned to burn in a horrible fire, one that will never be able to be put out, and the fire would burn them forever without consuming them, yet paining them greatly for eternity and you knew someone lied to them making them go into it, would you not do all that you could to save them, no matter how bad or mean they’ve been? Also you knew in saving them from the fire, they’d be able to be changed and healed from whatever has caused them to be mean and ornery?
If that does not pierce through your heart, you need to forgive people and God. If we do not forgive, we will also not be forgiven by God, and we’ve lost eternal benefits with Him.
It is such a serious time. It is time to change, become people with integrity, do what we say, be obedient to God’s word, forgive, live for, and with Him now. It is time to win the lost as never before.
Do you know when the end of your days here will be? Do you know when the end of someone else’s days here will be? The end of yours or their day will be the time when decision making ability is over with. No more chances to accept and live for Him. It will be life or death at that time. Time is running out. It is time to win the lost!
Get in a church that has a strategy in force, that assembles troops and forms nets to win the lost. If you are not in a church as an active member, repent today. Write me, I’ll help you get in one, seriously. It is a very serious time. Don’t live life for you. Don’t do things your way, give it up to God today! Seriously. It is past time, the clock is ticking on eternal death and eternal life, there’s no time to waste.


Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12
– in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Matthew 12 Today Eat & Drink

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.

Matthew 12:1-50 -
Controversy about the Sabbath
1At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain. 2Some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, "Your disciples shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath."
3But Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He went into the house of God, and they ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone. That was breaking the law, too. 5And haven't you ever read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! 7But you would not have condemned those who aren't guilty if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' F67 8For I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath."
9Then he went over to the synagogue, 10where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, "Is it legal to work by healing on the Sabbath day?" (They were, of course, hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)
11And he answered, "If you had one sheep, and it fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you get to work and pull it out? Of course you would. 12And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, it is right to do good on the Sabbath." 13Then he said to the man, "Reach out your hand." The man reached out his hand, and it became normal, just like the other one. 14Then the Pharisees called a meeting and discussed plans for killing Jesus.
Jesus, God's Chosen Servant
15But Jesus knew what they were planning. He left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, 16but he warned them not to say who he was. 17This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:
18 "Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, and I am very pleased with him. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not fight or shout; he will not raise his voice in public. 20 He will not crush those who are weak, or quench the smallest hope, until he brings full justice with his final victory. 21 And his name will be the hope of all the world." F68
Jesus and the Prince of Demons
22Then a demon-possessed man, who was both blind and unable to talk, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. 23The crowd was amazed. "Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?" they wondered out loud.
24But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, "No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, F69 the prince of demons."
25Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, "Any kingdom at war with itself is doomed. A city or home divided against itself is doomed. 26And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. 27And if I am empowered by the prince of demons, F70 what about your own followers? They cast out demons, too, so they will judge you for what you have said. 28But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 29Let me illustrate this. You can't enter a strong man's house and rob him without first tying him up. Only then can his house be robbed! F71 30Anyone who isn't helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.
31"Every sin or blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which can never be forgiven. 32Anyone who blasphemes against me, the Son of Man, can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.
33"A tree is identified by its fruit. Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad, and its fruit will be bad. 34You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. 36And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. 37The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned."
The Sign of Jonah
38One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove that you are from God."
39But Jesus replied, "Only an evil, faithless generation would ask for a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Son of Man, will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 41The people of Nineveh will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now someone greater than Jonah is here—and you refuse to repent. 42The queen of Sheba F72 will also rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to listen to him.
43"When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the person I came from.' So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and clean. 45Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation."
The True Family of Jesus
46As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. 47Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you."
48Jesus asked, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" 49Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "These are my mother and brothers. 50Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"
FOOTNOTES:F67: Hos 6:6. F68: Isa 42:1-4. F69: Greek Beelzeboul. F70: Greek by Beelzeboul. F71: Or One cannot rob Satan's kingdom without first tying him up. Only then can his demons be cast out. F72: Greek The queen of the south.
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’
How hungry are we to harvest souls for the Kingdom of God? How hungry are we to rescue people from the grip of darkness over their lives? How hungry are we to seek to save the lost?
Hungry or already full, thank you?
The special bread reserved for the priests is the word of God. Jesus made us all kings and priests unto God. If we are hungry we will eat His words and live, if not, and we do not eat we die (spiritually speaking, which is the worst of all deaths, for it is eternal and when we die physically we will not live forever with Him). If we are priests unto God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we will eat of that bread. If we do not eat of that bread, are we priests? Priests of whom, or what? Ourselves? Yes, but not unto God. We are all called to be priests unto God.
The Lord wants us to live and die for and with Him. He does not want us to live with a sense of religion or religious values, go to church every once in awhile and live for a lifetime until we go to hell. If we do not read His words when we are not at church and study them with the intent of becoming them, we stay immature and do not grow up spiritually at all. The world gets a hold of us again, feeds us the desire and justification of sin, and entangles us in its webs of deception and lies even against God, His people, the church and ourselves. If we do not have the word combating those lies, we have no truth, and we are living under a shadow of death.
How we bind or tie up evil’s hands that try to work against our lives is by agreeing with and acting with God and His words. When we help God we take power away from the forces of evil and begin to bind them up, rendering their power useless against us.
Say I need to forgive. I agree with God’s word and I just let it go. The enemy now has no power over me to torment my mind, to take me to places with hatred that he would take me in unforgiveness. He is powerless against me in that area, because I forgave. If I do not forgive I empower him to tell me lies, to make me mad, to get me in my flesh, to mediate on wrong things, etc. In that case, he is not bound, he is free to use me like a marionette puppet. He’s my master, I’m his slave. Who’s really bound now?
Ok so, you spent a lot of time meditating on that unforgiveness, you gave a lot of your thoughts to it, you gave time to it, you fed it, it took energy out of you. Now you’ve decided to forgive and so you find yourself emptier than before, there is space to fill up in you. You must fill it up with God’s word. You must meditate on God’s words to you. If you do not the enemy will return again, shortly. This time he will come with stronger forces because he knows you did him in once and he doesn’t like to be done in like that. He’s in to win, are you? If you are, you’ll use the wisdom of God and fill up the space with THE STRONG MAN- Jesus! If Jesus /God is in the house, there is NO room for any other “man”, strong weak or otherwise. One of the commands of the great commission is to fill space. So- Fill space, and not with just anyone or anything. Fill it with spiritual life, spirit life activity. Fill it with God’s word and confirm it and make it yours by becoming the words you read and mediate on. They say you are what you eat.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Matthew 7 Today

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.

Matthew 7:1-29
A Simple Guide for Behavior
1"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults--unless, of course, you want the same treatment. 2That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. 3It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. 4Do you have the nerve to say, "Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? 5It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
6"Don't be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you're only being cute and inviting sacrilege.
7"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. 8This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. 9If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? 10If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? 11As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
12"Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get.
Being and Doing
13"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. 14The way to life--to God!-is vigorous and requires total attention.
15"Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character. 21"Knowing the correct password--saying "Master, Master,' for instance--isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience--doing what my Father wills. 22I can see it now--at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, "Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' 23And do you know what I am going to say? "You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'
24"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. 25Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit--but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
26"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. 27When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."
28When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. 29It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying--quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.

Copyright Statement:
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.


~ Lena’s Journalin’
The BEST teaching anyone anywhere will ever hear is the true teaching of a life changed and being changed and one that is always subjected to the change of the word of God. It is a life of effect. Effected by the change of the word of God. God is real to others who see me because I believe Him enough to do what He says. I honor Him enough to not buck against His words. They are truth enough for me to apply to my life.
I live the word, the word lives in Me. I prove the word by applying it to my life. That’s how the word becomes powerful in the earth.
Meditating to meditate is ineffective. Meditating with intent to do and become the word is very effective. We must decide, and if we decide NOT to comply, be transformed by a certain part of the word, we should never blame God for the places we have found ourselves in.
We also should feel sad that hypocrisy has not been erased from the Body of the Lord by the demonstration of truth in action through our own lives. We must be careful to practice what we preach, careful enough to repent of the hypocrisy.
The word of God is a two edged sword and will cut the roots out of our own lives even while we preach it, and if we are not willing for that to happen, we may suffer.
We may not have known all we “bargained” for when we believed in and received the salvation of the Lord Jesus. BUT that does not matter much. We have His word to show us the rest of the way. We’ve been rescued out of condemnation. This IS the way and we must walk in it. There are only two choices. Light and Darkness, or we could also say it as Death and Life. Even if we’re not happy with all of the “requirements”, do we choose life or death? Even if it’s not exactly what we thought, so what, choose life and live it before people, so they can also know the way.
The gray is a very dangerous place to live in. We think our freedoms lie in more than two choices. We see many, many offers, we must categorize them into the two because there are only two, and everything that is not light is darkness. Really. The enemy sugar coats death and darkness, tries to explain it away. There is no explanation, Light is light, Dark is dark. Put it in the right perspective, narrow it down or God will narrow it down for you in the end, and for any of us on earth right now, that’s very soon. We each have an appointed time to die, how do we know when that will be? Do we? Notta one. So why do we mess around acting like we have several choices outside of His word and will? We can choose all we want, but a word of wisdom: we need to choose Him, choose Life! Or else we will very soon regret, painfully regret, being found eternally- los, and most of all, not rescuing anyone else by our life lived for and with Him, when all it took was a choice.


Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Today John 13 Read it for Life

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.

John 13:1-38 -
Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
1Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He now showed the disciples the full extent of his love. F65 2It was time for supper, and the Devil had already enticed Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.
6When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, "Lord, why are you going to wash my feet?"
7Jesus replied, "You don't understand now why I am doing it; someday you will."
8"No," Peter protested, "you will never wash my feet!" Jesus replied, "But if I don't wash you, you won't belong to me."
9Simon Peter exclaimed, "Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!"
10Jesus replied, "A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, F66 to be entirely clean. And you are clean, but that isn't true of everyone here." 11For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, "Not all of you are clean."
12After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing? 13You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because it is true. 14And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. 15I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them. 17You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.
Jesus Predicts His Betrayal
18"I am not saying these things to all of you; I know so well each one of you I chose. The Scriptures declare, 'The one who shares my food has turned against me,' F67 and this will soon come true. 19I tell you this now, so that when it happens you will believe I am the Messiah. 20Truly, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me."
21Now Jesus was in great anguish of spirit, and he exclaimed, "The truth is, one of you will betray me!"
22The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23One of Jesus' disciples, the one Jesus loved, was sitting next to Jesus at the table. F68 24Simon Peter motioned to him to ask who would do this terrible thing. 25Leaning toward Jesus, he asked, "Lord, who is it?"
26Jesus said, "It is the one to whom I give the bread dipped in the sauce." And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. 27As soon as Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, "Hurry. Do it now." 28None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. 29Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30So Judas left at once, going out into the night.
Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
31As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, "The time has come for me, the Son of Man, to enter into my glory, and God will receive glory because of all that happens to me. 32And God will bring F69 me into my glory very soon. 33Dear children, how brief are these moments before I must go away and leave you! Then, though you search for me, you cannot come to me—just as I told the Jewish leaders. 34So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
36Simon Peter said, "Lord, where are you going?" And Jesus replied, "You can't go with me now, but you will follow me later."
37"But why can't I come now, Lord?" he asked. "I am ready to die for you."
38Jesus answered, "Die for me? No, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.
FOOTNOTES:F65: Or He loved his disciples to the very end. F66: Some manuscripts do not include except for the feet. F67: Ps 41:9. F68: Greek was reclining on Jesus' bosom. The "disciple whom Jesus loved" was probably John. F69: Some manuscripts read And if God is glorified in him [the Son of Man], God will bring.
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’
Jesus’ life was lived to show men and woman the way to God the Father. In His death He wanted to leave as much and as impacting of an example of that love as He could, enough that would be passed on and on and on and on. Every human being alive has this same mission, co- mission, given us but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We show the love of the Father through the Son, who led the way, by giving up His life, and we are equipped to do the nearly impossible through the supernatural empowerment of the Spirit of God Himself. Whatever God asks us to do, we can do, through Christ who strengthens us. There is never an excuse to say no to the leading of God the Father, in Christ. In Christ we’ve been equipped, healed, delivered, translated, co-missioned, and by the Holy Spirit, we’ve been instructed, will be corrected if we get off track at all, and He’ll continually make clear and show us the ways to walk with and for God the Father.
In death Jesus shows us the greatest way to live eternally, the greatest investment to make on earth, and the greatest treasures to work to obtain. All because of the Love from and of His Father, God.
The reason Jesus showed such great and sacrificial love for people was because of His great love for the Father. Without His love for the Father, there’d be no hope for us. He did not love us so much, until He loved the Father so much. The Father has a great love for us. Jesus loves the Father enough to love who the Father loves, enough to die for them. Enough to live for the Father, that He’d obtain what His Father most desired, the reconciliation of the souls of men.
If Jesus, the Master, got down on His knees to serve people, who are we to stand erect and firm in our opinions of people, standing firm on opinions that do not promote the love of God? The greatest, a servant? Jesus is great and greatly to be praised. He bowed low and even washed feet. Who are we? Servants of all, because of love. Love gives and does not withhold when given opportunity for action, no matter how small the gesture or how low the bowing.
Jesus knew He’d be mocked, He knew He’d be betrayed, sold for nothing into slavery, the slavery of the cross. He saw and knew exactly what was ahead, yet He washed, their feet. He chose to give – love.
Love each other.
Just as I have loved you,
you should love each other.
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
Don’t say or think you don’t understand how to do this. Love is a decision. It cannot be figured out, it has no bounds and goes beyond all reason. It decides to because of Love. You can decide to Love God and to Love People. We are not alone, we are not helpless, we are not orphans with no fathers to show us the way. We have the Father God, His Son and the Holy Spirit as our instructors, correctors and teachers and they know all about everything. There is no excuse, and with no excuse the truth is very clear, we’ve made choices, our choices are either for or against-love.
We are blessed in what we do, vs 17. If we know, and we do know, we are blessed as we act on what we know. Blessing is the end result of right decision making. It is true happiness, unselfish fulfillment.
I want to tell you something very, very important.
If we find we are not blessed it is because we have not done what we know to do, either now or in the past, which were seeds then and are full grown plants now. If we do not do what we hear - we are cursed, living out the consequences of our bad decisions, which could be as “simple” as not loving.
Not doing what we hear is sin. Sin separates us. It was the original; result of sin, separation. Lucifer and 1/3rd of the angelic host, separated from God. Adam & Eve separated form God. Thus we also separated from God. Sin separates.
God reconciles, because He cannot stand to be separated from His creation whom He loves. Lucifer’s rebellion led a rebellion, multiplied a rebellion, that rebellion crashed to earth and earth was formless, lifeless, dark with rebellion and enslaved to its consequence.
God had a plan, put man in the center of that plan, to reverse the curse now manifested on earth. If man with His freewill chose to obey God, the curse could be reversed. It was impossible without making a right choice. After man chose against God, chose the rebellion, it was impossible to have this reconciliation, even if one desired it. Jesus then came to right all wrongs and to make a way once again for man to be able to be redeemed if he so chose to be.
This is why love is a choice. Choice is a very powerful tool in the hand of man, the devil, and God. Why are there so many choices? To bring confusion, derision from the one choice.
There are 3 main root symptoms indicators of separation that has opened doors wide to sin and all of its consequences. Separation is the root.
Separation from God is #1, Separation from self is #2, separation from people is #3.
That pretty much sums up the root cause of every curse manifested. From sickness to poverty to unhappiness. If you find yourself separated and not reconciled in any of these areas a gap must be closed in, the only way to close it in is by deciding to.
Separating from God, self or people are all symptoms that can be easily read and deliberately defied by Jesus’ blood and a good decision made, to get back on track quick, before the results of curses start to have their way inside of your life. Bridge in the gap, close in the gap, fill in the breech, as soon as is possible. Remember nothing at all is impossible with God. With God all breech filling is possible, We just need to decide. The decision is a life or death decision, It matters in life and death, it is a matter of life or death. Death comes quickly yet takes some time when gaps are not closed in with kingdom obedience and rule.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Today Matthew 24 PLEASE Read- Do not delete....

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.


Matthew 24:1-51
Routine History
1Jesus then left the Temple. As he walked away, his disciples pointed out how very impressive the Temple architecture was. 2Jesus said, "You're not impressed by all this sheer size, are you? The truth of the matter is that there's not a stone in that building that is not going to end up in a pile of rubble."
3Later as he was sitting on Mount Olives, his disciples approached and asked him, "Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time's up?"
4Jesus said, "Watch out for doomsday deceivers. 5Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, "I am Christ, the Messiah.' They will deceive a lot of people. 6When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. 7Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. 8This is nothing compared to what is coming.
9"They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. 10And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other's throat, everyone hating each other.
11"In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. 12For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in--nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
13"Staying with it--that's what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, and you'll be saved. 14All during this time, the good news--the Message of the kingdom--will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.
The Monster of Desecration
15"But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you've read Daniel, you'll know what I'm talking about. 16If you're living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; 17if you're working in the yard, don't return to the house to get anything; 18if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. 19Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. 20Hope and pray this won't happen during the winter or on a Sabbath.
21"This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. 22If these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God's chosen people, the trouble will be cut short.
The Arrival of the Son of Man
23"If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, "Here's the Messiah!' or points, "There he is!' don't fall for it. 24Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. 25But I've given you fair warning.
26"So if they say, "Run to the country and see him arrive!' or, "Quick, get downtown, see him come!' don't give them the time of day. 27The Arrival of the Son of Man isn't something you go to see. He comes like swift lightning to you! 28Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it's not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.
29"Following those hard times, Sun will fade out, moon cloud over, Stars fall out of the sky, cosmic powers tremble.
30"Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies--no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. 31At that same moment, he'll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God's chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
32"Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer's just around the corner. 33So it is with you: When you see all these things, you'll know he's at the door. 34Don't take this lightly. I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. 35Sky and earth will wear out; my words won't wear out.
36"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.
37"The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah's. 38Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. 39They knew nothing--until the flood hit and swept everything away. "The Son of Man's Arrival will be like that: 40Two men will be working in the field--one will be taken, one left behind; 41two women will be grinding at the mill--one will be taken, one left behind. 42So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. 43But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. 44Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.
45"Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. 46Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. 47It won't be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.
48"But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases--49abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends--50the Master is going to show up when he least expects it 51and make hash of him. He'll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.

Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’
This passage is what the spirit of the Lord has been speaking to my own spirit about for sometime. There is such a sense of urgency. The urgency is for re-prioritization of the things valuable in life. I believe the word of God has been uncovered in areas and is now being revealed to those who will hear.
We used to hear certain scriptures read certain ways, based on religious upbringing, but in a one on one relationship with God, we find the definition of what He’s been saying to us personally in His word all along. It is not only a word to recite and memorize, but words to live, words to come alive in us.
We all marvel at earthly structures and the works of men’s hands. We even spend our lives, savings or labors on structures, houses, cars, better houses, better cars, more prestigious houses, more prestigious cars, two houses, 3 cars. After that we form business alliances and grow a business house and make that bigger and better and bigger and greater. We are a part of the forming and maintaining of the kingdoms of men. After man forms his own kingdoms then he travels to see others men’s’ kingdoms, both current and ancient. He marvels at what man has done, he studies what man has built, to learn either to repeat it, preserve it, improve on it, or learn from even its failures. This is what we live for; this is normal life, right?
All of this is not a fault, because inside of it all lies the principles on which kingdoms are built, assembled, maintained, increased, etc. The only faulted element is whom they are being built unto.
Jesus was speaking with His disciples, who acknowledged Him as a king. yet they did not quite get what or who he was king of, because they were looking in the sense of earthly kings They were marveling at an earthly structure, as we all do, seeing the work involved in the erection of the structure and even what and who has to be unified in the accomplishing of the task. Both they and Jesus, saw what it took, to be an idea in a mind and come to fruition as a structure set before their very eyes that day. I believe it took about 40 years to erect that one building. The building was being used and it still took somewhat of an army of people to maintain and work it, even after it was erected. That is one amazing amount of work and Jesus was telling them to be aware that even a lifetime worth of work could come to absolutely nothing of value if not spent wisely. Wisely in this sense is not earthly wise, making sure all of your investment “eggs” are in the proper “baskets”. No wise means, what lasts forever, compared to what lasts only in the timeframe where we live here on earth no matter how long or short we live.
There is an eternal kingdom which has NO end. There is eternity inside and outside of the citizenship of this kingdom. The tragedy of this lies in the truth that some will not choose eternal life, but rather eternal death. The tragedy is that we “find out” later on that the reason we were here, the whole time we were here, was to become a citizen of this eternal life kingdom and to make as many citizens of the eternal life kingdom as we could, but we didn’t. Iinstead we built houses, bought cars, built prestige, lost our children in doing so, spent ourselves out with stress and busyness on that which will fall down, and burn up in an instant, with nothing to ever show for it at all, except eternal death. There is NO reward in that. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, at that revelation.
I have now told you.
I praise God for any of you who read this and know. Now that you know, you and many others will be blessed in what we do. We will have to daily fight for this eternal life kingdom and our king, until the day we die, and then whether we had any home or car here, we will find we have a home with Him. He built it for us with His blood. Please, I pray, begin to lead others into a place where you can and will tell them too.
Everyone needs to know why they were born, why they were born here and why even they were born again. We are saved to save. God is not willing for any to perish(which means live in eternal death) but for all to have eternal life in Him. It is merely a matter of choice, that’s it!
We chose His kingdom, we choose to live, we choose to love, now and forever. Those who choose and stay in the choice no matter what, even to their own death, will have that reward. He lived and died for us, we must also live until we die for Him.
We serve who we love, Do we love money? We may say we don’t, but do we serve it, or does it serve us? If we love God we will serve Him first above money.
We also must prepare to run. There is NO time to waste. If we can’t run He has provided healing for our legs, so we can. Once we decide for Him, we must follow through every decision with Him. It is His kingdom rule we are under for the good pleasure of His will, He is the King. If He says Go, we Go, If He says love, we love, If He says speak , we speak, etc…
Running, means quickly and swiftly obeying, right away, because there is an all out war and He has more instructions for us to follow through with, right away. Also, if we are a minority, there is so much more for us to do. We’ve got to follow through swiftly and return for the next orders. This is increase.
The “reason” this word was important for those who were in Jesus’ time and is still just as urgent for us now, is someone we know will go to hell without this word! We are the mother of salvation, the womb of God’s spirit. He’s calling for children and we birth them, unless we don’t want to. Maybe we want a relationship with God where He blesses us and takes care of us, but we don’t want to save others. If that is the case, then people are going to hell and their blood is on our hands, If that is not serious, then I don’t know what is!
People have been deceived to think these are not the last days, because they’ve been saying that for some 2000 years! Wake up sleeper, Arise and shine Now. Someone is dying! If they do not yet know Him in a personal way and live as a disciple who sticks to kingdom living while telling others too, they could have their last day be a day of gross darkness and a day of irreversible judgment. Does that not alarm you? If not you must be shaken, and the world is being shaken because of this very thing. Talk about wars, earthquakes, famines? This is the shaking, the waking up of the earth to see, It is time to get saved and save others, NOT time to build your own kingdoms.
A person can have little to nothing materialistically speaking and be building their own or someone else’s kingdom. The laborers and workers who helped with the Temple building were not all rich men, in fact many were poor and would stay poor building another mans kingdom.
So what’s the big deal, why the rush, why so serious, Lena?
God’s children are being aborted and not allowed to be brought forth from the womb of the spirit. People only care about their own houses while the house of God perishes, the one he needs His people to build, and people go to hell everyday and someone has to care! Someone has to love God and people enough to change their own life, and set all their priorities in order to win the lost.
People do this for jobs. A job calls them at 2 in the morning and tells them where to meet, how far to travel, and to leave their family home, to lay everything aside for its importance. Yet we squawk if God asks us to speak for Him. The job can tell us what to wear, how to act, etc. Yet if God tells us we need to be more loving, we refuse and stay as we are believing He loves us just fine as we are. The point is how much do we know of His love for us, and then how much do we love Him in return and how much do we love who He loves?
Enough to get up in the night?
Enough to travel a distance?
Enough to dress a certain way?
Enough to be kind, changing even our naturally born personalities?
Enough to inconvenience ourselves and change our priorities?
Enough to jump at every beck and call? The earth call of God on every human who will serve Him?
Enough to get up in front of people and speak?
Enough to change and present ourselves with great inviting personality?
Or will we just do that stuff for money, because doing it for God makes us feel stupid?
Whom do we serve?
Our love is evidenced in who we serve.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Today Jer 8

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 8:1-22 -
1"In that day," says the LORD, "the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people. 2They will dig out their bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars—the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like dung. 3And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!
Deception by False Prophets
4"Jeremiah, say to the people, 'This is what the LORD says: When people fall down, don't they get up again? When they start down the wrong road and discover their mistake, don't they turn back? 5Then why do these people keep going along their self-destructive path, refusing to turn back, even though I have warned them? 6I listen to their conversations, and what do I hear? Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, "What a terrible thing I have done"? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse rushing into battle! 7The stork knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. F18 They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know what the LORD requires of them.
8"'How can you say, "We are wise because we have the law of the LORD," when your teachers have twisted it so badly? 9These wise teachers will be shamed by exile for their sin, for they have rejected the word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all? 10I will give their wives and their farms to others. From the least to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. 11They offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when all is war. 12Are they ashamed when they do these disgusting things? No, not at all—they don't even blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be humbled when they are punished, says the LORD. 13I will take away their rich harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. All the good things I prepared for them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!'
14"Then the people will say, 'Why should we wait here to die? Come, let's go to the fortified cities to die there. For the LORD our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of poison to drink because we sinned against the LORD. 15We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror. 16The snorting of the enemies' warhorses can be heard all the way from the land of Dan in the north! The whole land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for it is coming to devour the land and everything in it—cities and people alike.'
17"I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm," says the LORD. "No matter what you do, they will bite you, and you will die."
Jeremiah Weeps for Sinful Judah
18My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken. 19Listen to the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land. "Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem F19 ?" the people ask. "Is her King no longer there?" "Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD.
20"The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone," the people cry, "yet we are not saved!"
21I weep for the hurt of my people. I am stunned and silent, mute with grief. 22Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?
FOOTNOTES:F18: The identification of some of these birds is uncertain. F19: Hebrew Zion.
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’
When one reads the word of God they must be wiling to see deeper than they see at first glance. There are some key things in these first 3 verses that indicate that the author, who himself may not know the full meaning of what he’s been led by God’s spirit to write and to reveal, is speaking about more than just men’s’ bones being strewn all over the ground.
Today I see that we all will be laid out before the Lord, before the scrutiny of His eyes. We all will pass under the spiritual eye of Almighty God, and He will examine us from the inside out, with not one hidden thing allowed to hide itself from the sight of those present.
The marrow of bones speaks of the innermost parts and issues of heart, the deepest intents, thoughts and actions.
Because of sin, men, all men, whether seemingly righteous or wicked, must stand before God in this way, an enemy, called sin-rebellion, has caused the need for this scrutiny.
Once under the light of His righteousness, only those covered by the redemptive blood of the Lamb will escape fury, fury being- eternal damnation and eternal separation from God’s awesome presence.
When one contemplates these things one must ask one’s self, am I washed, am I cleansed, by His redeeming blood? Have I been washed, stayed washed? Have I cleansed myself and others from any traces of the wrath to come? Have I freed myself from the slavery and bondage of self service and of idol worship? Do I stand clean in heart before God? Has my everyday life been all for His work to appear in my life and in as many as I can show the way?
The writer goes through some things that indicate traces of sin, not yet uprooted, not exposed willingly to the light of His scrutiny, and it is by great grace that one would be shown-scrutinized, would open themselves up to the scrutiny and light of God’s word now, before That day. How many if they can be rid of a cancer would come under an x-ray, find the cancer, get it out and live? This is the same principle when I speak of scrutiny. Better to come under the gracious scrutiny of the Most High that that of the penalty of sin.
He says we may have thought one way about things, but we MUST change our minds! Here he gives us some mind changing words to heed, make changes in, come under the light of and live.
God has given each of us, saved and unsaved, the ability to be forgiven the debt of sin. It is called repentance. When one repents, he turns away from the offensive behavior, he changes, his desire changes, his activity changes. When it changes in one area it does not mean every area is clean. When another area comes under the light, that area also must be repented of. Repentance is a lifestyle we live before the Lord, if He is our Lord.
If He our the Lord He can tell us of anything that needs to change, show us how to change by the power of His spirit, and expect us to change. If we are our own rulers He can hardly tell us anything to change, because we will do as we please. This is what will be opened up on That Day. Was the area an area revealed or ignored, or was it not yet revealed? If revealed and repented of or not yet known to repent of, in grace it was covered by the Lordship of Christ.
If one lives under the Lordship of Christ, anything that is revealed can be changed by Christ’s’ strength. If under one’s own lordship, the things that need change are left to my own strength and my own ability to do so, and I find I come up short in my ability to conform to the revelation of the need for change.
Repentance and my desire to change, is normal kingdom living. There’s nothing abnormal about it. It is kingdom living before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jeremiah, says, “Why has this lifestyle not been embraced?” “Why would there be no change among those who call the Lord their Lord?” or has pride exalted us as our own lords whom we continually obey? So much that we only hear our own loud voices inside of our moral heads speaking, while not being able to hear the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit? Lack of response to God in the way of repentance shows one has become numb, hardhearted, and pride is king.
If we do not see this time, any time, as a serious time, where there is only so much time left to come under the light of the word of God, we must clean the muck off of the lens, take the corks out of the ears, before time runs out.
We wonder why we are not blessed, why things are so hard, we wonder why and the answer lies before us, we are strengthened by whom we serve, we are helped by the one whom we obey. Blessing or curse is released to us in the sowing and reaping principle, unless we repent. Repentance is Not once for all, to repent is to live.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “If we confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts He was raised from the dead we will be saved”. That word “confess” means to adhere to, stick with. Stick with what? He is Lord- of me. He tells me what to do and I do it. He is Lord, always in my life, not one time for trails sake. If so, then a trail it was, but it did not “stick”. One must live and live and live this way, so that on That day it will be very clearly shown who lorded over me enough to cover all of my sin and make me whole, wash me clean enough to stand under the light of scrutiny as He steps forth for me and says, “That one is Mine!”
As long as we are alive there is still hope to stand before Him, clean. Some have given up, thinking they cannot attain, and they cannot, alone. They’ve served themselves long enough and should be tired and run back to Him in whom strength is found, not go the other way. They must not realize the mess that will put them in. rebellion, no matter how firm it stands will not stand in That day. They wonder why an enemy has come to steal, why children are taken as slaves of sin. Turn and Run into the arms of Love (and obedience is the greatest expression of the loved).
Anyone who is saved, we all as ministers, must tell the people they are in sin, time to stop the candy coating, but is it too late for the people to hear? Maybe, for some, but not when ones obey and hope in God. Repentance redeems all. Even redeems the time.
Anyone who thinks, “Ahh I’ve already sinned, may as well whoop it up”, has been entangled in a web of doom and darkness. There’s no need to ask why, they’ve made their choices.
The prophet is saying, “Do we care?” Do we care about that, or about our own lives and provision and what is up for us today, or can we get over that stuff long enough to see another’s need, spiritual need, and meet it, heal it, live truth by example? Can we who are righteous, or are “supposed” to be righteous, stop for a moment and come under scrutiny, honestly asking the Lord for examination and to purposely repent and change our own lives that we’d have a life to lead others, to show others the way to healing?
The tragedy is, I’ve told people about the life I do not live. We’ve told people to live when we’ve only been dying. We’ve told them to receive healing, when we won’t. We’ve said this is the way, pointing it out, but not leading them to it, by showing them how. Can we change? Can we repent? YES, we can. Can we be healed? Absolutely, and when we are, when we do, we will heal.
In our church we are hearing an alarm to go and gather the harvest this summer. God is saying Now is the time. We could heed that call or disregard that call. Heeding would mean we need to prepare to go out and harvest. We’d need our tools in hand. We’d have to believe there is a harvest to be had. We’d have to change clothes and change our lives for the sake of the lost, that they could be found through us. If we don’t hear the call as serious, we won’t change, we won’t prepare (by changing), we won’t go fishing, harvesting, whatever. We won’t go out and purchase a tool, with our life’s blood. Our actions will show our faith and at summer’s end He will see us as we are, with Him in this or not with Him in this.
Today is the day to choose life, that we and our seed may live. The harvest is ready, workers few, pray the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust out laborers into His harvest fields! He is Lord of the harvest (of souls). If He’s our Lord, we are harvesters!


Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12
– in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.