Psalm 23

I don't think I'll be able to read this passage again without hearing Rick's voice.  He was able to take the words off the page and make it personal to him--"The Lord is MY shepherd."  I read the passage like that this morning, but for me.  Wow!  It makes a lot of difference.  "I will fear no evil; for you are with ME." He is with you, he is with me, he is with every one.  God does not pick and choose who he will guide through darkness, he is there for all of us.  I believe that, if we let him, he will guide us through this time.  I don't think it means everything will be perfect and easy--there will still be some hurt and sadness and a few stumbles.  Letting God take the lead is hard sometimes, we think we know how to fix things or how to make it better, but I don't think we do.  If we let God take the lead, I think he will bring us through this time of darkness, leading us to the light.

1 John 4

This morning, my mom, sister, and I had the opportunity to be together and discuss this passage.  These are some of the points we discussed and would like to share with you.

What a great passage to read today and remember Ken's legacy!
It's easy to love people that are like us, that believe as we do, act as we do.  The difficulty in loving others comes when they are different than us, or when they've done us wrong.  Ken helped show us that we're really not that different from people in Kenya, or Costa Rica, or even a different part of town than us.  Our neighborhood expanded.
Has anyone ever done you wrong?  It's hard to love them.  Have you ever thought about how many people do wrong to God, how we do wrong to God?  He still loves us unconditionally.  That's the kind of love that we should strive to show to others.

-Kim, Michele, and Jenni

1 John 3

This passage is calling us to truly love our brothers and sisters, and to practice and show that love.  I think this is something our church does very well.  We have so many ministries that reach so many people.  We are blessed with members that are willing to sacrifice their time, money, and talents to see these ministries succeed to be able to touch more people.  When we give ourselves in order to help others, I believe this is practicing real love.

1 John 2

I read this passage in both the NIV and The Message versions, I really enjoyed The Message--if you have a  moment, I recommend looking at it.

"My dear friends, I'm not writing anything new here.  This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you've known it from day one.  It's always been implicit in the Message you've heard."

In order to know that we know God in the right way we must keep his commandments.  That's not always easy to do--we hear that we should and we know that we should, but it's hard.  John is offering us a reminder of how we are called to live as Christians--something I know I can use.  

Walking in the light is a difficult thing to do.  There are so many distractions and false witnesses.  

We are urged to "stay with what we've heard from the beginning, and let it sink into our lives."  I think one way to do this is, as Debbie mentioned yesterday, fellowship--surrounding ourselves with others who will support us, guide us, and help keep us focused.

1 John 1

Isn't it a relief to know that we don't have to be perfect--that God doesn't expect us to be perfect?  We live our lives truly for Him, walking in His light, but we may slip up from time to time.  We are human and we will all be guilty of sin.  The best part of this all, though, is that God frees us from our sin.  By proclaiming Jesus as our Savior we are made clean.

2 Peter 3

"Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (vv. 9)

This passage speaks of the coming of the Lord, the day that we will live in his Kingdom.  The above verse stood out to me.  It reminds me that our God is a loving God--that He does not cause us to die, but allows us to live eternally if we accept Him and let Him into our hearts.  I believe that it is easy to be blind to the fact that God does not lead us to destruction and death...especially in light of recent events.
All of our bodies will die and our time here on Earth will end, the miracle is that through our faith and belief, our souls will live forever.  We must surround ourselves with others who share our beliefs, so we can continue to learn and grow in our Christian faith, preparing for the day our souls will ascend into Heaven.
"Be on guard lest you lose your footing and get swept off your feet by these lawless and loose-talking teachers.  Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ." (The Message)

2 Peter 2

Good morning friends. For those who don't know me, my name is Melissia and I'm the Communications Director at First Methodist Church in Grapevine. I have not previously posted the daily devotional on the 10 and 10 Blog... that was usually Ken or Jenni or another pastor. But I felt compelled to post this morning as I know many of you look to this blog each day for a connection to Ken and his thoughts.

For those who might not be aware (although I'm sure you all are), Ken passed away very suddenly on Saturday as the result of a brain bleed complicated by previously-undiagnosed leukemia. I am preparing now to send out information about the memorial.

I think Ken would love it if we stayed the course and continued to spend [at least] 10 minutes a day in scripture and 10 minutes a day in prayer. Today's reading is 2 Peter 2. I find it somehow disturbing to read about false teachers in the shadow of the loss of a true teacher. I believe if we read this scripture passage it will help us to know what a true teacher looks like by thinking about opposites. If a false teacher is depraved, destructive, bold, arrogant, corrupt... then a good and noble teacher is the opposite of those things. He or she builds others up, is subtle and righteous and humble and honest. Remind you of anyone?

Please join me in praying this morning for the Diehm family. For the family of First Methodist Church in Grapevine. For St. Andrews Methodist Church in Arlington (where Ken was pastor for many years). For Ken's closest pastor friends. For the Central Texas Conference and its leadership who will be tasked with appointing a new leader. And please begin praying now for whoever that new leader will be... that he or she will epitomize the characteristics of a true and noble teacher.

Be blessed....
Melissia

2 Peter 1

"Because the stakes are so high, even though you're up-to-date on all this truth and practice it inside and out, I'm not going to let up for a minute in calling you to attention before it. This is the post to which I've been assigned—keeping you alert with frequent reminders—and I'm sticking to it as long as I live" (The Message)

As I write this and think of what these verses are telling us to do, I think of the purpose of this blog. Ken began this blog as a way to encourage daily prayer and scripture reading. I'll be the first to admit that it's a hard thing to do. There is so much going on every day that causes our attention to be elsewhere, causes us to be distracted. I believe this blog serves as a 'frequent reminder' to us- so we will be drawn back to our faith, so we will know and practice it constantly.

Ken has blessed us with many forms of reminders-sermons, blogposts, conversations. They are stored in our memory so we may call upon them in certain times-perhaps now is one of those times.

-Jenni

1 Peter 5

This chapter has repeated calls to humility. The willingness to humble ourselves before one another is a characteristic that God cherishes in us. The first step in becoming a Christian is the willingness to confess our sins to God. That is an act of humility. An act that God wants us to carry forward in our lives.

1 Peter 4

This chapter continues the discussion of suffering. He teaches that sometimes we suffer for doing what is right. He writes, "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." (VS. 16) Peter says that our response to the suffering we experience because of our faith should be this, "So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."

1 Peter 3

"But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed."

Suffering is part of life. We would like to escape suffering. We hope that God would remove any suffering that we face. Unfortunately, suffering is part of life. What makes it even worse is that sometimes we suffer when we have done the right thing. But even in the midst of suffering we are blessed. The critical issue becomes where our attention is. Is our attention on the parts of our lives that are difficult? Is our attention on parts of our lives where we are blessed?

1 Peter 2

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

The role of the priest was to mediate between God and the people of Israel. The advent of Christianity fundamentally changed this role. The people did not need priests to mediate with God, the people could deal directly with God. Thus we are part of the royal priesthood. The priesthood in which everyone is called to service. Our service and deeds declare our praise of God.

1 Peter

"Be holy"

To be holy means to be set apart for God. When scripture calls us holy, it is not that we are perfect or a saint. It means that we have committed our lives to serving God. We will still sin and fall short of what God intended, but we keep turning our lives towards God.

Ephesians 2

"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

Paul takes us from being dead in our sin separated from God to becoming a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. This remarkable transformation comes as a gift of God's grace. We now live with Christ because of God's action for us. Through Christ, grace has been given that moves us from being far away from God to living with God.

Romans 7

"Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time." (The Message)

Paul acknowledges his struggle with sin in this chapter. His story is our story. He knows what he should do, but so often he does just the opposite. Sin has gripped his life. At the heart of being a Christian is the willingness to acknowledge the power of sin in our life. As we confess the sin it provides God the opportunity to forgive us.

Matthew 18

In this chapter Jesus speaks of the seriousness of sin and the importance of forgiveness. Sin is so serious that it is better to chop off my hand or gorge out my eye. Jesus is not literally telling me to do that, but he is emphasizing how serious sin is. Then a few verses later he teaches the importance of forgiveness. To forgive seventy-seven times means that we just keep forgiving.

Sin and forgiveness are huge aspects to our lives. Jesus wants us to flee from sin and embrace forgiveness. Yet, the temptation in life is to embrace sin and justify our lack of forgiveness. That temptation is most likely why Jesus speaks so strongly about both.

Jeremiah 29

Israel has been conquered by Babylon. The Babylonians have take the leaders of Israel captive and deported them to Babylon. You can image their despair. This chapter is a word of hope spoken by God through the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah tells them that God has not forgotten them. They should live with the hope that God has not forgotten them. God will act on their behalf. God will free them from captivity, it just will take sometime. Verse 11 encourages the people to have hope, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." As this verse gave hope to the people of Israel, it can give hope to us.

Psalm 139

This chapter speaks of God's involvement in our lives. God knows who we are. God formed and shaped us in our creation. God is with us wherever we go. Our lives are surrounded by God. If God surrounds our lives, the question becomes about our response. Will we open our lives to see and experience God?

Psalm 139

God knows who we are. God loves us so much that God knows the details of our lives. If God knows us this clearly, then we might as well be completely honest with God. Honest enough to share our most secret thoughts. It might be amazing what will happen when we open and share with God. The amazing part will not be what it does for God, but what it does for us.

Psalm 103

The Psalm gives praises to God for the way God treats humanity. God's compassion, love, forgiveness are among the qualities for which God is praised. For those of us living in Texas, we probably can't go anywhere today. Instead of complaining about being trapped, why not spend the day giving praise to God for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us/

Psalm 62

You can tell by reading this Psalm that the writer is having struggles in life. Yet, he repeatedly acknowledges that "my soul finds rest in God alone". How do we find rest in God? The phrase in verse 8 provides one key: "pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge". As we share the inner most thoughts of our lives we God, our struggles and joys, the depth of our relationship will grow. If our prayer life is simply asking God for what we want, the relationship will always be very shallow.

Psalm 43

This Psalm is a lament. A lament is a complaint towards God. The Psalmist is expressing exactly how he feels. He feels abandoned and rejected by God. He wants God to act on his behalf but nothing is happening. However, at the conclusion of the Psalm he writes that he still has hope in God.

Laments are models of prayer for us. They teach us it is appropriate to share all of our feelings with God. God already knows our feelings, so what we say is not a surprise to God. What is important about laments is they conclude with a word of faith. In a lament I might express my frustration/dissatisfaction with God but before I finish I express that I do have hope in God. That is why I am praying.

Psalm 16

"Without you, nothing makes sense" (Verse 2 in the Message)

The life of faith gives us a perspective on what happens. The perspective includes the thought that God loves us, God cares for us and God can bring good out of anything that happens in life (Romans 8:28). The perspective knows that there is always more going on than what we can see. So when life is chaotic, when we wonder what could possibly happen next, we have faith that God is with us and will carry us through.