Count The Cost

When you truly give your life to God you submit and must be humble yourself to learn and do what Jesus teaches each day for the rest of you life. But know this, you no longer have a void or emptiness in your soul. You grow and learn and God fills you with lasting joy and peace that pleasures of this world cannot give. It’s fully worth it.

Luke 14:

²⁵A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them,²⁶“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? ²⁹Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. ³⁰They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’

³¹“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? ³²And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away.³³So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.

³⁴“Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? ³⁵Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”

Narrow

As Christians, our life is greatly contrasted from those around. Jesus warns us of the thief who comes to kill, steal and destroy but we follow Him and He gives us more abundant life.

A foolish man built his house upon the sand and storms destroyed but as Christians we built our house open a rock and have the solid foundation of Jesus who helps us overcome the storms of life.

Many in life will walk the easy route which is a broad way which will ultimately lead to destruction but as Christians we walk through a narrow gate and that narrow way leads to life, the best life here on earth and an awesome eternal life in Heaven!

We as Christians daily put our trust in Jesus to care for us and help us in all we do and He never fails us.

Luke 13 ~

²²Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem.²³Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

He replied, ²⁴“Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail.²⁵When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’

²⁸“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out. ²⁹And people will come from all over the world—from east and west, north and south—to take their places in the Kingdom of God. ³⁰And note this: Some who seem least important now will be the greatest then, and some who are the greatest now will be least important then.^[a]”

Before the Israelites went in to the land God had promised them hundreds of years before to their ancestors, Moses, as the leader, blessed them, even though, God did not allow him to enter the land. He soon died after this.

So, today, I pray the blessing of Moses over my life, my family and my Christian aquaintences. I pray them also over Israel because that was the original intent. And, then, I have the great privilege of praying these powerful words from our sacred scripture over my persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ who are faithful around the world to bring the Gospel to those nations that are hostile to Jesus.

Deuteronomy 33 ~

1This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave to the people of Israel before his death:

²“The Lord came from Mount Sinai
    and dawned upon us^[a] from Mount Seir;
he shone forth from Mount Paran
    and came from Meribah-kadesh
    with flaming fire at his right hand.^[b]
³Indeed, he loves his people;^[c]
    all his holy ones are in his hands.
They follow in his steps
    and accept his teaching.
⁴Moses gave us the Lord’s instruction,
    the special possession of the people of Israel.^[d]
⁵The Lord became king in Israel^[e]—
    when the leaders of the people assembled,
    when the tribes of Israel gathered as one.”

⁶Moses said this about the tribe of Reuben:^[f]

“Let the tribe of Reuben live and not die out,
though they are few in number.”

⁷Moses said this about the tribe of Judah:

“O Lord, hear the cry of Judah
and bring them together as a people.
Give them strength to defend their cause;
help them against their enemies!”

⁸Moses said this about the tribe of Levi:

“O Lord, you have given your Thummim and Urim—the sacred lots—
    to your faithful servants the Levites.^[g]
You put them to the test at Massah
    and struggled with them at the waters of Meribah.
⁹The Levites obeyed your word
    and guarded your covenant.
They were more loyal to you
    than to their own parents.
They ignored their relatives
    and did not acknowledge their own children.
¹⁰They teach your regulations to Jacob;
    they give your instructions to Israel.
They present incense before you
    and offer whole burnt offerings on the altar.
¹¹Bless the ministry of the Levites, O Lord,
    and accept all the work of their hands.
Hit their enemies where it hurts the most;
    strike down their foes so they never rise again.”

¹²Moses said this about the tribe of Benjamin:

“The people of Benjamin are loved by the Lord
and live in safety beside him.
He surrounds them continuously
and preserves them from every harm.”

¹³Moses said this about the tribes of Joseph:

“May their land be blessed by the Lord
    with the precious gift of dew from the heavens
    and water from beneath the earth;
¹⁴with the rich fruit that grows in the sun,
    and the rich harvest produced each month;
¹⁵with the finest crops of the ancient mountains,
    and the abundance from the everlasting hills;
¹⁶with the best gifts of the earth and its bounty,
    and the favor of the one who appeared in the burning bush.
May these blessings rest on Joseph’s head,
    crowning the brow of the prince among his brothers.
¹⁷Joseph has the majesty of a young bull;
    he has the horns of a wild ox.
He will gore distant nations,
    even to the ends of the earth.
This is my blessing for the multitudes of Ephraim
    and the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸Moses said this about the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar^[h]:

“May the people of Zebulun prosper in their travels.
    May the people of Issachar prosper at home in their tents.
¹⁹They summon the people to the mountain
    to offer proper sacrifices there.
They benefit from the riches of the sea
    and the hidden treasures in the sand.”

²⁰Moses said this about the tribe of Gad:

“Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad’s territory!
    Gad is poised there like a lion
    to tear off an arm or a head.
²¹The people of Gad took the best land for themselves;
    a leader’s share was assigned to them.
When the leaders of the people were assembled,
    they carried out the Lord’s justice
    and obeyed his regulations for Israel.”

²²Moses said this about the tribe of Dan:

“Dan is a lion’s cub,
leaping out from Bashan.”

²³Moses said this about the tribe of Naphtali:

“O Naphtali, you are rich in favor
and full of the Lord’s blessings;
may you possess the west and the south.”

²⁴Moses said this about the tribe of Asher:

“May Asher be blessed above other sons;
    may he be esteemed by his brothers;
    may he bathe his feet in olive oil.
²⁵May the bolts of your gates be of iron and bronze;
    may you be secure all your days.”

²⁶“There is no one like the God of Israel.^[i]
    He rides across the heavens to help you,
    across the skies in majestic splendor.
²⁷The eternal God is your refuge,
    and his everlasting arms are under you.
He drives out the enemy before you;
    he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’
²⁸So Israel will live in safety,
    prosperous Jacob in security,
in a land of grain and new wine,
    while the heavens drop down dew.
²⁹How blessed you are, O Israel!
    Who else is like you, a people saved by the Lord?
He is your protecting shield
    and your triumphant sword!
Your enemies will cringe before you,
    and you will stomp on their backs!”

Oh How She Praised God!

Jesus healed a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years. She had been crippled by an evil spirit and held in bondage by satan.

Luke 13 ~

¹⁰One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, ¹¹he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” ¹³Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!

¹⁴But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water?¹⁶This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”

¹⁷This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.

My Part

I prayed for years that revival would come. Now I’m a part of a church that has the know how to take the message of Jesus to the world! I will be a part of this mission. Like the rest, I’ve got to be faithful and yield to training so I can do what it takes to become a leader and successful for the sake of the Gospel.

Luke 12 ~

⁴²And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. ⁴³If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.⁴⁴I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns.⁴⁵But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? ⁴⁶The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷“And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. ⁴⁸But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

Song In My Head

In my youth, I listened to music a lot. Sometimes a secular song on the radio would get stuck in my head. Over and over it would overtake my train of thought. I would have to intentionally force it out by thinking deeply about something else that interested me. Some of the worst examples, I can think of, of these type songs are classic rock songs like Don’t Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, the theme song from the classic tv series, MASH, named Suicide Is Painless and Cocaine by Eric Clapton.

When the Israelites were about to enter their deeply-longed-for Promised Land, God told Moses to give them a song to remember all that He had cautioned them about to prepare them for their abundant blessing that would soon be coming. At the end of the song were words saying they would turn away from God. God did this to hopefully defer them from making that mistake. In the middle of the song God reminded His people of how He had taken good care of them. The song is 43 verses long. God wanted to make a great and lasting impression on the people He so greatly loved. Music is linked to our emotions and when we are emotionally impacted we have stronger memories.

Nowadays, I go to church and leave with songs of encouragement and the hope that comes from Jesus stuck in my head. I intentionally let these songs repeat over and over. If I ever get a bad worded song In my thoughts I sing out loudly the chorus to an upbeat old hymn I learned as a kid, There’s Within My Heart A Melody.

Deuteronomy 32 ~

“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
    Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
²Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
    let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
    like gentle showers on young plants.
³I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
    how glorious is our God!
⁴He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
    Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
    how just and upright he is!

⁵“But they have acted corruptly toward him;
    when they act so perversely,
are they really his children?^[a]
    They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
⁶Is this the way you repay the Lord,
    you foolish and senseless people?
Isn’t he your Father who created you?
    Has he not made you and established you?
⁷Remember the days of long ago;
    think about the generations past.
Ask your father, and he will inform you.
    Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸When the Most High assigned lands to the nations,
    when he divided up the human race,
he established the boundaries of the peoples
    according to the number in his heavenly court.^[b]

⁹“For the people of Israel belong to the Lord;
    Jacob is his special possession.
¹⁰He found them in a desert land,
    in an empty, howling wasteland.
He surrounded them and watched over them;
    he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.^[c]
¹¹Like an eagle that rouses her chicks
    and hovers over her young,
so he spread his wings to take them up
    and carried them safely on his pinions.
¹²The Lord alone guided them;
    they followed no foreign gods.
¹³He let them ride over the highlands
    and feast on the crops of the fields.
He nourished them with honey from the rock
    and olive oil from the stony ground.
¹⁴He fed them yogurt from the herd
    and milk from the flock,
    together with the fat of lambs.
He gave them choice rams from Bashan, and goats,
    together with the choicest wheat.
You drank the finest wine,
    made from the juice of grapes.

¹⁵“But Israel^[d] soon became fat and unruly;
    the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed!
Then they abandoned the God who had made them;
    they made light of the Rock of their salvation.
¹⁶They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods;
    they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.
¹⁷They offered sacrifices to demons, which are not God,
    to gods they had not known before,
to new gods only recently arrived,
    to gods their ancestors had never feared.
¹⁸You neglected the Rock who had fathered you;
    you forgot the God who had given you birth.

¹⁹“The Lord saw this and drew back,
    provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.
²⁰He said, ‘I will abandon them;
    then see what becomes of them.
For they are a twisted generation,
    children without integrity.
²¹They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God;
    they have provoked my anger with their useless idols.
Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people;
    I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.
²²For my anger blazes forth like fire
    and burns to the depths of the grave.^[e]
It devours the earth and all its crops
    and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
²³I will heap disasters upon them
    and shoot them down with my arrows.
²⁴I will weaken them with famine,
    burning fever, and deadly disease.
I will send the fangs of wild beasts
    and poisonous snakes that glide in the dust.
²⁵Outside, the sword will bring death,
    and inside, terror will strike
both young men and young women,
    both infants and the aged.
²⁶I would have annihilated them,
    wiping out even the memory of them.
²⁷But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy,
    who might misunderstand and say,
“Our own power has triumphed!
    The Lord had nothing to do with this!”’

²⁸“But Israel is a senseless nation;
    the people are foolish, without understanding.
²⁹Oh, that they were wise and could understand this!
    Oh, that they might know their fate!
³⁰How could one person chase a thousand of them,
    and two people put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
    unless the Lord had given them up?
³¹But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock,
    as even they recognize.^[f]
³²Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom,
    from the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison,
    and their clusters are bitter.
³³Their wine is the venom of serpents,
    the deadly poison of cobras.

³⁴“The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things,
    sealing them away in my treasury?
³⁵I will take revenge; I will pay them back.
    In due time their feet will slip.
Their day of disaster will arrive,
    and their destiny will overtake them.’

³⁶“Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people,
    and he will change his mind about^[g] his servants,
when he sees their strength is gone
    and no one is left, slave or free.
³⁷Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods,
    the rocks they fled to for refuge?
³⁸Where now are those gods,
    who ate the fat of their sacrifices
    and drank the wine of their offerings?
Let those gods arise and help you!
    Let them provide you with shelter!
³⁹Look now; I myself am he!
    There is no other god but me!
I am the one who kills and gives life;
    I am the one who wounds and heals;
    no one can be rescued from my powerful hand!
⁴⁰Now I raise my hand to heaven
    and declare, “As surely as I live,
⁴¹when I sharpen my flashing sword
    and begin to carry out justice,
I will take revenge on my enemies
    and repay those who reject me.
⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
    and my sword will devour flesh—
the blood of the slaughtered and the captives,
    and the heads of the enemy leaders.”’

⁴³“Rejoice with him, you heavens,
    and let all of God’s angels worship him.^[h]
Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles,
    and let all the angels be strengthened in him.^[i]
For he will avenge the blood of his children^[j];
    he will take revenge against his enemies.
He will repay those who hate him^[k]
    and cleanse his people’s land.”

⁴⁴So Moses came with Joshua^[l]son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.

⁴⁵When Moses had finished reciting all these words to the people of Israel, ⁴⁶he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions. ⁴⁷These instructions are not empty words—they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land you will occupy when you cross the Jordan River.”

⁴⁸That same day the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁹“Go to Moab, to the mountains east of the river,^[m] and climb Mount Nebo, which is across from Jericho. Look out across the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the people of Israel as their own special possession. ⁵⁰Then you will die there on the mountain. You will join your ancestors, just as Aaron, your brother, died on Mount Hor and joined his ancestors. ⁵¹For both of you betrayed me with the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh^[n] in the wilderness of Zin. You failed to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel there. ⁵²So you will see the land from a distance, but you may not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Threes

I like how God does things in threes. For example, satan tempted Jesus three times. There’s the trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus arose from the dead after three days.

So, I apply the three concept to my life. When I think a good thought about another person three times, I then act on it. When I do my activities during the day, I figure out how to multitask and get three things done at once. (Honestly, I need to think of one more method of application just to make it all more threeish!) The three attitude is fun and challenging.

When the Israelites were prepping to enter the Promised Land and Moses was getting ready to hand the leadership over to Joshua, God told His people three times to be strong and take courage in Deuteronomy 31 ~

1 When Moses had finished giving these instructions^[a] to all the people of Israel, ²he said, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan River.’ ³But the Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as the Lord promised.

⁴“The Lord will destroy the nations living in the land, just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites. ⁵The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you. ⁶So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lordyour God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

⁷Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land. ⁸Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

⁹So Moses wrote this entire body of instruction in a book and gave it to the priests, who carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and to the elders of Israel. ¹⁰Then Moses gave them this command: “At the end of every seventh year, the Year of Release, during the Festival of Shelters, ¹¹you must read this Book of Instruction to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the Lord your God at the place he chooses. ¹²Call them all together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns—so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions. ¹³Do this so that your children who have not known these instructions will hear them and will learn to fear the Lord your God. Do this as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.”

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle,^[b] so that I may commission him there.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle. ¹⁵And the Lord appeared to them in a pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance to the sacred tent.

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them.¹⁷Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, ‘These disasters have come down on us because God is no longer among us!’ ¹⁸At that time I will hide my face from them on account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods.

¹⁹“So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them.²⁰For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant. ²¹And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even now before they have entered the land I swore to give them.”

²²So that very day Moses wrote down the words of the song and taught it to the Israelites.

²³Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun with these words: “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel into the land I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

²⁴When Moses had finished writing this entire body of instruction in a book,²⁵he gave this command to the Levites who carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant: ²⁶“Take this Book of Instruction and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, so it may remain there as a witness against the people of Israel. ²⁷For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Even now, while I am still alive and am here with you, you have rebelled against the Lord. How much more rebellious will you be after my death!

²⁸“Now summon all the elders and officials of your tribes, so that I can speak to them directly and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from the way I have commanded you to follow. In the days to come, disaster will come down on you, for you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight, making him very angry with your actions.”

Wise Vs. Foolish

I found a chunk of words wisdom in Proverbs 12. It warns to be careful with your words. Don’t speak like a fool. In fact, heed some of the most treasured advice of all and that is, the words of Jesus ~ Let your yes be yes and your no be no. I say, use your words caringly and sparingly because Jesus said we will stand before Him on Judgement Day and be accountable for our misspoken words. Go the extra mile, concerning this matter, speak Bible verses and speak them in order to bless other’s lives.

Proverbs 12:

13 The wicked are trapped by their own words,
but the godly escape such trouble.

¹⁴Wise words bring many benefits,
and hard work brings rewards.

¹⁵Fools think their own way is right,
but the wise listen to others.

¹⁶A fool is quick-tempered,
but a wise person stays calm when insulted.

¹⁷An honest witness tells the truth;
a false witness tells lies.

¹⁸Some people make cutting remarks,
but the words of the wise bring healing.

¹⁹Truthful words stand the test of time,
but lies are soon exposed.

²⁰Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil;
joy fills hearts that are planning peace!

²¹No harm comes to the godly,
but the wicked have their fill of trouble.

²²The Lord detests lying lips,
but he delights in those who tell the truth.

²³The wise don’t make a show of their knowledge,
but fools broadcast their foolishness.

Key To Life

God was preparing the Israelites to take possession of a great blessing, the land He had promised to their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God told them, most importantly, they were to love Him and keep His Commandments. This powerful yet simple statement can be applied to our lives as Christians today.

Deuteronomy 30:

¹¹“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. ¹²It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ ¹³It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ ¹⁴No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

¹⁵“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. ¹⁶For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lordyour God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

¹⁷“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods,¹⁸then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

¹⁹“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! ²⁰You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This^[a] is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

More Blessed Than Mary

When Jesus speaks, I’m on the edge of my seat, eagerly taking in every word. Jesus said we are more blessed than His Mom when we practice what He preaches! Wow!

Luke 11:

²⁷As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

²⁸Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

Linda’s Thoughts

Monthly Archives: April 2019