Today Our Daily Bread Romans 12

Romans 16:19-20 For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The God of Peace….what is peace exactly? Let’s look at the Greek:
a state of national tranquillity
exemption from the rage and havoc of war
peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord
security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous)
of the Messiah's peace
the way that leads to peace (salvation)
of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is
the blessed state of devout and upright men after death
KJV (92) - one, 1; peace, 89; quietness, 1; rest, 1;
NAS (91) - peace, 90; undisturbed, 1;
to join
May the God of ONE, of salvation, of joining, of concord, of tranquility, quickly and speedily crush satan underneath your feet!

Place Your Life Before God
Rom 12:1-21
1So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, 6let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; 7if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; 8if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
9Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. 10Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
11Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, 12cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. 13Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
14Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. 15Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. 16Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
17Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. 18If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. 19Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."
20Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. 21Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
~Lena’s Journalin~
Coming out of our natural culturized up bringing is hard, but it is a must and it is the way to be wise in what is good and innocent of evil. When we get born again we lie a new life in the spirit, we grow spiritually, learning and practicing spiritual things, we come into a Body. Our culture has taught us to be individuals, independent of others and the need for others. We’ve got to forsake that thinking in order to follow Christ. We’ve got to connect with the Body of Christ. We can never advance to where we need to advance in Christ apart from His Body. We learn to trust God by trusting people. That is not easy. So what if the people we follow fall or fail us? Trust God. Pray form them, rescue them, love them, don’t fall with them. Trust God. In Christ each individual is only one part of the Body and in no way shape or form can they function well without the other parts coming together and staying together, working together. We’ve got to lay down our old ways of thinking. No more hermit mentality. We’ve got to open ourselves up and be vulnerable to people, for Christ to know we have invited Him inside. Open up the gates ! Let the King of glory come in! Yeah you’ll probably get hurt, but He heals the brokenhearted. Run to Him! Learn how to love. Let Him in and members of His body too. Exercise agape- unconditional love, as he is agape Love, so are we in demonstration trusting Him. I find it cool that in this very pasage where it tells us to love, it also tells us how to love! Gives us step by step instructions and practical ways to be the demonstration of love. Every make lists of things "to do"? How about making a list today of Love:
If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else;
if you help, just help, don't take over;
if you teach, stick to your teaching;
if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy;
if you're put in charge, don't manipulate;
if you're called to give aid to people in distress,
keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged,
don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them.
Keep a smile on your face.
Love from the center of who you are;
don't fake it.
Run for dear life from evil;
hold on for dear life to good.
Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.
Be alert servants of the Master, 12cheerfully expectant.
Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.
Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy;
share tears when they're down.
Get along with each other;
don't be stuck-up.
Make friends with nobodies;
don't be the great somebody.
Don't hit back;
discover beauty in everyone
If you've got it in you, get along with everybody.
Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do.
if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch,
or if he's thirsty, get him a drink.
Don't let evil get the best of you;
get the best of evil by doing good.
And practice these everyday. Amen !