Greatest Commandment

"What is the greatest commandment?" Asked a scribe.

Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear O Israel: The LORD our GOD is ONE. And you shall love the LORD your God With all of your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all of your strength.' The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yoursel.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'"

Great love, great minds, great souls, and great strength all come the beauty of loving God first and ourselves enough so that we can love others. Easy to say. Hard to do.

Do you ever struggle with the raw emotion of I can't love like that? Lol! Good!  Neither can I!  But in Christ Jesus we can. When the raw emotion hits, we surrender to the LORD and He can give us what we need to love with His kind of love. We choose to love Him so much we invite Him into our raw emotion and give it to Him. I promise you will be amazed at how quick you will be in recovering you.

When I struggle with this in the moment, I realize it is when I put the commandments out of order. I love me before I love God. I want what I want when I want it.  Ugh! It is pretty ugly when I do this. I hate it in me and I hate it in others. Grrrr! 

But when I get it right, I might actually be protecting someone from experiencing the war with in me and when God should deem it so, the other might even know they just met truly divine love despite me. I want this!  Don't you?

Father,  help us to pause and invite You into our moments and give You permission to show us how to be strong in love, in our mind, in our soul, and in our strength toward You so we can love others as You do! In Jesus name amen

Spot Light Good News Interviews Tara Rye

Join us for five interviews with Tara Rye of Audio Scripture Ministries, a missions organization that seeks to get the Bible in audio to people around the globe with a special emphasis on unreached groups. When they listen to God’s Word in their own “heart language,” amazing things happen by the power of the Holy Spirit!

To listen tune in to KCRO AM660, Monday-Friday at 5:30 & 9:45AM & 10:15PM or go to our website, www.spotlightgoodnews.com/spotlight-storiesTara's interview.

Greatest Commandment

"What is the greatest commandment?" Asked a scribe.

Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear O Israel: The LORD our GOD is ONE. And you shall love the LORD your God With all of your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all of your strength.' The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yoursel.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'"

Great love, great minds, great souls, and great strength all come the beauty of loving God first and ourselves enough so that we can love others. Easy to say. Hard to do.

Do you ever struggle with the raw emotion of I can't love like that? Lol! Good!  Neither can I!  But in Christ Jesus we can. When the raw emotion hits, we surrender to the LORD and He can give us what we need to love with His kind of love. We choose to love Him so much we invite Him into our raw emotion and give it to Him. I promise you will be amazed at how quick you will be in recovering you.

When I struggle with this in the moment, I realize it is when I put the commandments out of order. I love me before I love God. I want what I want when I want it.  Ugh! It is pretty ugly when I do this. I hate it in me and I hate it in others. Grrrr! 

But when I get it right, I might actually be protecting someone from experiencing the war with in me and when God should deem it so, the other might even know they just met truly divine love despite me. I want this!  Don't you?

Father,  help us to pause and invite You into our moments and give You permission to show us how to be strong in love, in our mind, in our soul, and in our strength toward You so we can love others as You do! In Jesus name amen

A Prayer from Psalm 23

Today, I thought maybe I should just sit on today's dates, Psalm. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was Psalm 23. A prayer poured out as I read it, and now I share it in hopes that your soul may be refrefreshed in praise and thankfulness, too.

Dear Shepherd, 

Thank you for the beautiful places You have taken me.

Thank you for the still waters or calm you provide for me.

Thank You for how You restore my soul.

Thank you for leading me on paths of righteousness. 

Thank You for Your glorious Name. I love it! I love You.

Thank You that You walk with me and guide me.

Thank You for Your comfort that overflows and pours out.

Thank You that You set the table and the invitations for who I should dine with and love on.

Thank You that You anoint our head with refreshing, life-giving oil, and You let it pour out.

Thank You for goodness and mercy and their continuous work in me everywhere I go.

Thank You that I get to abide with You and dwell in Your home all the days of my life and beyond. 

Hallelujah and Amen! 

(Which means praise the LORD, and so be it!) 2/23/23

Elijah, What are you doing here?

Have you ever had a holy high and the fell into a unholy crash? 

Ugh. I have. It is the best and then it is the worst.

Then one day I read about Elijah doing the same thing, and I realized I could learn from his story what to do and what not to do.

1. I realized Elijah isolated himself. He separated himself by hiding in a cave and repeating over to himself and then to God all the things that were wrong. Stupid stinking thinking has to go!

2. When God showed up, He reminded Elijah that He is not in the things that knock us down (the wind), the things that shake us up (the earthquake), or the things that burn us up (the fire). He reminded Elijah that Hewass in the whisper. Listen to Him and He will give you the game plan.

3. God also reminded Elijah that there are 7,000 out there doing a good work. You are not the only one. Get over yourself!

4. God also reminded Elijah who to go to, what to do, and how to bless them. You are not done yet and others need to to speak life into them!

5. God then told Elijah to anoint them or said in another way, give them the blessing from your position to carry on the work. You must pass to the next generation the mantle of blessing.

6. God then pointed out that the next generation has the fortitude and strength to handle the battle at hand. Trust them to do the work just as someone else trusted you. 

Hmmmm, these are some pretty good reminders.

So, I find myself asking once again, What are you doing here? 

Maybe, you might need to ask yourself the same question.

Do you struggle with unbelieving prayer?

Have you ever prayed something and not really believed it would happen? Well, you are not alone. As the disciples gathered at Mary's house (the mom of the Sons of Thunder) to pray for Peter's release, Peter showed up at the front door and when the servant girl Rhoda told them Peter was at the door they said she was out of her mind!  It had to be Peter's spirit! It is so easy to go to the LORD in prayer and not really believe in faith that anything will happen. We often do not realize that our prayers are faithless until we are surprised when God answers. Today, at the mission we discovered that Mary's house was the gathering place for prayer even after her son James was killed by Herod. Yet, Peter knew to run to her home to find the disciples. WOW! Isn't that beautiful! And Rhoda a simple servant girl heard Peter's voice and responded when he knocked at the door. What are we consistently known for? Are we a gathering place for prayer?  Do we see and hear the answered prayer before others? Are we willing to persevere even in pain and ridicule? These are things worthy of praying into our lives. I want these in me, don't you? Amen!

Ruth Story Summary

When does a barren, immigrant widow get noticed? 

When her faithfulness and kindness model God's loyal love.

I love the book of Ruth. This morning, as I taught it to a team that had never heard it, their response was so contagious. The women were laughing, and one cried out, "I wish I had a Boaz!"

I love that by the end of the training, another pointed out that Boaz is like Jesus because Jesus is our kinsman redeemer. 

So, yes, my dear, you do have a Boaz! His name is Jesus.

Ruth Story Summary