Those of you who love the Lord, hate evil! God guards the lives of his faithful ones, delivering them from the power of the wicked. Light is planted like seed for the righteous person; joy too for those whose heart is right. Rejoice in the Lord, righteous ones! Give thanks to his holy name! Psalm 97:10-12 It’s come up in my spiritual walk on a few occasions over the past several months, and I see i…
Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare. Hello my friends! I feel like the pandemic season has shifted most folks I know in to one of two extremes with their prayer lives. Some folks, suddenly infused with a surplus of free time and sense of urgency for the world have seen an incredible increase in t…
The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims to all the exiles I have carried off from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; cultivate gardens and eat what they produce. Get married and have children; then help your sons find wives and your daughters find husbands in order that they too may have children. Increase in number there so that you don’t dwindle away. Promote the we…
Psalm 121 is one of a group of psalms called "psalms of ascents," Psalm 120 through 134. They are so named because they probably were sung as pilgrims ascended the mountains on their journey to Jerusalem for the feast days. Remember how we’re told in the gospels that Jesus and his family would travel to Jerusalem; imagine Mary and Joseph and Jesus singing this song, “He will not let you…
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there w…
