FR: Wes Roberts

RE: What might the Trinity be saying just to you through “Thursday-Community”

Hello.

As we continue on this sacred journey of looking into God’s definitive Word to each of us, around the theme of “Community,” as we consider His Church, may our hearts and minds be open to really hearing from Him at deeper levels. The Spirit of God has quietly led my own thoughts to some new places as I’ve slowly read back through all of what you are about to read. May our Triune God also lead you to new places…

.be blessed,

Wes

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PSALM 84.

What a beautiful home, God of the Angel Armies!

I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,

Always dreamed of a room in your house,

where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,

sparrows and swallows make nests there.

They lay their eggs and raise their young,

singing their songs in the place where we worship.

God of the Angel Armies! King! God!

How blessed they are to live and sing there!

And how blessed all those in whom you live,

whose lives bcome roads you travel;

They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,

discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!

God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and

at the last turn-Zion! God in full view!

God of the Angel Armies, listen:

O God of Jacob, open your ears-I’m praying!

Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,

our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,

beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.

I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God

than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.

All sunshine and sovereign is God,

generous in gifts and glory.

He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.

It’s smooth sailing all the way with God of the Angel Armies.

DEUTERONOMY 6:4-6.

Attention, Israel!

God, our God! God the one and only!

Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!

ISAIAH 2:2-4.

They’ll say, “Come,

let’s climb God’s Mountain,

go to the House of the God of Jacob.

He’ll show us the way he works

so we can live the way we’re made.”

Zion’s the source of the revelation.

God’s message come from Jerusalem.

He’ll settle things fairly between nations.

He’ll make things right between many peoples.

They’ll turn their swords into shovels,

their spears into hoes.

No more will nation fight nation;

they won’t play way anymore.

Come, family of Jacob,

let’s live in the light of God.

A CELTIC PRAYER-by St. Benedict.

(.for the sake of your own heart before our Lord,

pleaseread slowly, intentionally, with deep meditation.)

Almighty God, give us wisdom to perceive you,

intelligence to understand you,

diligence to seek you,

patience to wait for you,

vision to behold you,

a heart to meditate upon you,

a life to proclaim you;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives with you and the Holy spirit,

one God now and for ever.

Lord, be with us to guide us,

within us to strengthen us,

without us to protect us,

above us to raise us,

beneath us to uphold us,

before us to lead us,

behind us to guard us,

bver about us,

this day and evermore;

this day and evermore.

PSALM 145:1-9.

I life you high in praise, my God, O my King!

And I’ll bless your name into eternity.

I’ll bless you every day,

and keep it up from not to eternity.

God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough.

There are no boundaries to his greatness.

Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;

each one tells stories of your mighty acts.

Your beauty and splendor have everyone talking;

I compose songs on your wonders.

Your marvelous doings are headline news;

I could write a book full of the details of your greatness.

The fame of your goodness spreads across the country;

your righteousness is on everyone’s lips.

God is all mercy and grace-

not quick to anger, is rich in love.

God is good to one and all;

everything he does is suffused with grace.

EPRESIANS 3:14-21.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit-not brute strength but a glorious inner strength-that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever imaging or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!

Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!

Glory down all the generations!

Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

PSALM 138.

Thank you! Everything in me says “Thant you!”

Angels listen as I sing my thanks.

I kneel in worship facing your holy temple

and say it again: “Thank you!”

Thank you for your love,

thank you for your faithfulness;

Most holy is your name,

most holy is your Word.

The moment I called out, you stepped in;

you made my life large with strength.

When they hear what you have to say, God,

all earth’s kings will say, “Thank you.”

They’ll sing of what you’ve done:

“How great the glory of God!”

And here’s why: God, high above, sees far below;

no matter the distance, he knows everything about us.

When I walk into the thick of trouble,

keep me alive in the angry turmoil.

With one hand

strike my foes,

With your other hand

save me.

Finish what you started in me, God.

Your love is eternal-don’t quit on me now.

EPHESIANS 4:1-6.

In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk-better yet, run!-on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline-not in fits and starts, but steadily pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

I JOHN 4:7-12.

(.we did some of this chapter on Tuesday.and we’re back again.)

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love-so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God, sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about-not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationships with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us-perfect love!

PSALM 111.

Hallelujah!

I give thanks to God for everything I’ve got-

Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.

God’s works are so great, worth

A lifetime of study-endless enjoyment!

Splendor and beauty mark his craft;

His generosity never gives out.

His miracles are his memorial-

This God of Grace, this God of Love.

He gave food to those who fear him,

He remembered to keep his ancient promise.

He proved to his people that he could do what he said:

Hand them the nations on a platter-a gift!

He manufactures truth and justice;

All his products are guaranteed to last-

Never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof.

All that he makes and does is honest and true:

He paid the ransom for his people,

He ordered his Covenant kept forever.

He’s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.

The good life begins in the fear of God-

Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God.

His Hallelujah lasts forever!

I PETER 2:9-10.

But you are the the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you-from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

ISAIAH 60:1-3.

“Get out of bed, Jerusalem!

Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.

God’s bright glory has risen for you.

The whole earth is wrapped in darkness,

all people sunk in deep darkness,

But God rises on you,

his sunrise glory breaks over you.

Nations will come to your light,

kings to your sunbrust brightness.

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Now, just two more days to go.what you’ve just read is the sixth part of an eight part series of scriptures from a Celtic Christian prayer guide by David Adam, “The Rhythm of Life.”

All scriptures are from The Message published by NavPress. You are encouraged to get a copy of the whole Bible in this form, if you do not already have one.

As some have already done, with permission, you are free to send this on to others. Please let me know if you’ve done that. Thanx! May our God bless you with His presence in mysterious and surprising ways. Be looking for Him.’ cause He’s right there.with you.

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Wes Roberts

Founder/CCO

Leadership Design Group/Life Enrichment