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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition

19 But Lord, you remain the same forever!
    Your throne continues from generation to generation.
20 Why do you continue to forget us?
    Why have you abandoned us for so long?
21 Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again!
    Give us back the joys we once had!
22 Or have you utterly rejected us?
    Are you angry with us still?  Lamentations 5:19-22


RESTORE

Definition:

: an act of restoring or the condition of being restored as a : a bringing back to a former position or condition : reinstatement <the restoration of peace> b : restitution c : a restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition <the restoration of a painting>  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restoration


 I like c: a restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition.

If we have wandered from God, quit talking to him or quit listening to him not only can we restore our relationship with him but he can make it even better than it was before!

Remember that God is not a program or building. Going to "church" on Sunday does not mean you have a relationship again with God.

Talk to Him now. He is right there with you. God is with us. We don't have to make an appointment.

Don't be discouraged if it does not seem like He is there. Last night I prayed and then stopped and listened. I did not hear a thing. Eventually my mind started wandering. So I said "Amen". That's the way it goes a lot.

How about you? Do you ever have times like that or does God always seem to converse back and forth with you? Be honest, at least to yourself.

Today's passages:
LAMENTATIONS 5:1-22
OBADIAH 1:1-21
2KINGS 25:22-26
JEREMIAH 40:7-41:18

Tomorrow's passages:
 JEREMIAH 42:1-44:30
EZEKIEL 33:21-33





 

Monday, August 27, 2012

How is your day going?

Those killed by the sword are better off
    than those who die of hunger.
Starving, they waste away
    for lack of food from the fields.
10 Tenderhearted women
    have cooked their own children.
They have eaten them
    to survive the siege.   Lamentations 4:9-10

 Do you ever have that time in your life that it seems like things can't get any worse?

 Everything seems like it is the worse it has ever been? The world, your job, marriage, finances, family or even church?

Is there a point where it is really hopeless? Today's reading paints a scene that seems hopeless. A scene that we would never want to live to see repeated.

But even in the midst of the scenario we have been reading about and in the ones we find ourselves in today there is hope. Only one hope.

 21 Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends![i]
    His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
    to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly
    for salvation from the Lord.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
    to the yoke of his discipline:
28 Let them sit alone in silence
    beneath the Lord’s demands.
29 Let them lie face down in the dust,
    for there may be hope at last.
30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
    and accept the insults of their enemies.
31 For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
33 For he does not enjoy hurting people
    or causing them sorrow.  Lamentations 3:33



The good news is always there. God is here. Christ is with us. He loves us.



Today's passages:
LAMENTATIONS 2:1-4:22

Tomorrow's Passages:

LAMENTATIONS 5:1-22
OBADIAH 1:1-21
2KINGS 25:22-26
JEREMIAH 40:7-41:18