Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  

[NIV: Luke 2:10-12]

Lord – May all who read these words of Good News find that Great Joy.

Reflections Christmas, Scripture

Imagine if these were the laws to be followed:

• Do not Love;
• Joy is prohibited;
• Peace is not allowed;
• Kindness is forbidden;
• Goodness is banished;
• Faithfulness is to be forgotten;
• Gentleness annihilated;
• Self-control abolished;

So how often do we follow those, instead of the one who commanded:

love your neighbor as yourself?

Reflections fruit-of-spirit, Scripture

You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.

The LORD saw this and rejected them
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.

“I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.

They made me jealous by what is no god
and angered me with their worthless idols.
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

For a fire has been kindled by my wrath,
one that burns to the realm of death below.
It will devour the earth and its harvests
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.

[NIV Dt 32:18-22]

Reflections Scripture

You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.

[NIV Dt 4: 35-36]

Reflections Scripture

He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Selah

Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;

he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.

For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.

You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.

[NIV Psalm 66:7-12]

Reflections Scripture

“See, 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.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,”says the LORD Almighty.

[NIV: Malachi 3:1-5]

Reflections Scripture, thrufire-verse

For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he will escape the flames but only as one escaping through the flames. – [1 Cor 3:11-15]

Reflections Scripture