Today Our Daily Bread 1 Thesselonians 1 & 2 cor 2:14

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.

1 Thesselonians 1:1-10
GreetingThe Good Example of the Thessalonians 1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. F11 Their Good Example2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, 4knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 5For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. 6And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. 8For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. 9For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Footnotes F11: 1:1 NU-Text omits from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
~Lena’s Journalin’~
Who do you give thanks to God for?
Do you pray? Do you understand what prayer is?
Prayer is mere one on one conversation with God. Communication with God.
One way to get to know God and to communicate better with Him is to know His word. It seems the more you know about someone the easier it is to communicate with them. If you really get to know them well, you even start to think the same thoughts as they think. Wouldn’t that be cool to think a lot of God thoughts? Well that just happens when we pray and read God’s word. He so desires for us to have a lot of His thoughts, but it does not happen magically it happens through study, being together and being taught more and more about Him. So, the more we are with Him, the more we think like him, the more we talk to Him, the more we can talk like Him, the more we learn of Him the more we’ll know Him. Think in ratio’s. If we talk to Him once or twice a year, we may not think His thoughts very often, if at all, right? He’s like an acquaintance we’ve seen pass by a few times in life, but don’t hardly know their name. We’ve seen Him, but don’t yet know Him. If we say hi and by each day, we may know His name, but still we’ve not gotten close enough to know thoughts. Where is the best place or way to know someone’s thoughts? To live with them, to converse with them daily, to work with them, right? It is just like that with God, he is a relational God, if we want to He’ll have a relationship with us. If we don’t want to, He won’t make us, but He desires much more of us too. He wants to hear our voices and thoughts, and he’d like to fine tune a few of them to remove enemies from our lives, such as doubt, fear, worry etc. Things that hurt and harm us, those He wants to know, so He can help rid us of their harm and hurt.
This passage refers to affliction and joy in the same sentence. How can that be? That can only be inside of a true love relationship with Christ. That’s why he’s calling us in closer. He knows better than we do, what has set itself up to attack our peace, He knows we live in this world. He is the only answer to this. These were commended for their strong faith, for their thankfulness, for continuing in grace, for their strong example to others. Our world needs the peace of God like nothing else. We’ve got to get it for our own lives that we may also have abundance, enough to give to those who are needy around us. Everybody is serving something or someone, whether they consciously choose to or not, the effect of our prayer life and our example of faith and peace will help them see who they are serving and turn to the God of the universe, the Lord of ALL. Jesus Christ.

(daily repetitive verse)
2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

P.S. from yesterday’s Daily BREAD-
23 years ago, I married the guy who was up in Great Grandpa’s attic, putting insulation up, so our much needed and hard to afford gas and wooden stove powered energy would not go right out of our home as it had been for 2 years of winters.
I was just thinking this morning, that he is up in the attic of our current home here putting in insulation in our new addition we’re building, 23 years later! We’re still loving God and serving God and His people! We’re still as passionate for God as we began to be back then and more.
There’s nothing like being in God’s kingdom. Yeah there are hurts and pain in life (lots and lots), but without Him there in that hurt and pain where would we be? There is NO place I’d rather be. No place at all.
I could be in hell right now as many times as death had threatened my own life, without Him that is where I’d be.
26 years and counting, counting, counting…into eternity.
Praise the Lord for His awesome works in us! Amen?
I’d love to see/hear of His awesome works in you.
The first and most important awesome work being your giving your life to Him, as I did that night in my bed.
The next work is for you to continue to walk that faith out the rest of your days on earth and beyond. To lay down all excuses and get on the pathway of faith.
Get into a church that is alive – consider yourselves (who live here locally) invited to ours! Get involved in the lives of other believers who will love you and help you along this journey till you are strong enough to help someone else.
Don’t wait another minute. Really, it’s far to late to wait any longer. If you’ve been hurt by church or God’s people or find too many disagreements, go anyaway, go by faith, and pray for the church, believe God to make all of that right, forgive and go on! There is no “perfect church” where everything will agree with you. God needs people like you in His church houses. He needs people like you to join the reapers in our community and save the lost. He needs people like you to serve in the house of the Lord, so that when the lost come they have a place to go that is full of loving people like you. He needs you to reach out beyond your own self, your own household, and join in His great big family and its activities. Not abstractly, by being a member of the Great big body of Christ in the earth, while you stay at home more of the time and do what you do in your comings and goings day in and day out, but by being present accounted for members of a local church who are living flesh that others see and rely on regularly, to strengthen the local churches that the community will be stronger, that the enemy will see an assembled people rather than a scattered people. That the enemy will see unity in our community, from Christians rather than organizations. The enemy will seesomeone living their love for God in a unified with others way. They rearrange schedules because this demonstration is important to God and their community. They see someone else's good at the expense of tehir own desires (to go on the boat this morning or watch the sports program or whatever). I beg you, come into God’s house and LIVE!