BE A LIGHTBEARER TODAY.

🌹ROSITA🌹

“Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation” (Psalm 71:18 NLT).

Can a rosebush be a LightBearer?

SOLSTICE LIGHTBEARERS

“And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light” (Genesis 1:3 NIV).

The Summer Solstice. The longest continuous period of light in our calendar year. A time to celebrate the second thing God spoke into existence after He created the heavens and the earth.

Thank you for sharing today's prayer.....it speaks to all the violence in our world today.

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MY SHELTER

  by Ruby Azraq-Abu Sada (Christian tour guide in Jerusalem and beyond)

Author of “Follow Me…In His Footsteps"

The sirens cry across the sky,

And fire walks the night

📜Faithful Messenger📜

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me, Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, will come,“ says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:1.

What would we do without instant messaging?

No speedy yes or no to a lunch date. No quick answer to a question. No swift prayer in response to an urgent request. Not even a rapid wordless emoji ❤️🙏👏🏻.  No immediate delivery.

Yet he was faithful to convey God’s promise of THE Messenger of the Covenant (Jesus). A very long chain of messengers over-arching generations to carry the most important communication ever dispatched.

Today, the messengers keep coming, long after Malachi. We, too, are relay-runners on God’s team, carrying a baton inscribed with the Good News of Advent. The instant message reads: Jesus’ payment cancels all debts. The emoji…

LIGHTBEARER:  LIGHTBEARER:  🛑Not Pushbacks But Opportunities🛑

“They [the priests and captain of the temple] seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand” (Acts 4:3 NIV).

Busted! Thrown in a stony-cold prison. No legal recourse. Helpless in the face of authoritarian power. Hard to find a positive note in those circumstances.

"His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23).

NOT despair BUT hope (Isaiah 40;31)

NOT problems BUT solutions (Proverbs 4:2)

❓LIGHTBEARER: DECISIONS❓

“Whatever is true, …noble,…right, …pure,…lovely,…,excellent,…admirable,…praiseworthy, think about such things” (Philippians 4:8 NIV edited).

A watchword that keeps coming to me in sermons, devotions, blogs, and other guidelines for living our best Christian life is “Do the next right thing.”