Jump for Joy

Posted December 24, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Luke 1:39-48, NLT

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

Like Mary and Elizabeth, may our hearts leap with gladness as we anticipate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Peace and joy to you this Christmas.

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Psalm 5: Covered by the Cross

Posted December 17, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Lord of my life,

my King and my God,

hear my prayer.

As I waken to this new day,

I lay my heart before you.

Accept my offerings of praise and confession.

You alone are God,

holy and good and steadfast.

You do not tolerate evil in your courts.

The wicked and the boastful have no part in you.

You despise arrogance and bloodthirsty violence;

you destroy liars and deceivers.

And what of me, Lord?

If not for your unfailing love and mercy,

I could not come into your presence.

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Naughty but Nice

Posted December 10, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Revelation 3:5 (NLT)

All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

Consider

Like Santa, we each have our personal Naughty or Nice list. We evaluate people according to how they’ve treated us and let our feelings determine how we think about them. We count ourselves justified in treating people differently depending on where their names appear on our list.

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Psalm 4: The Lord Is My Treasure

Posted December 3, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Hear my prayer, O my God,

for you alone are steadfast and good.

You alone can help me in these distressing times.

Darkness has eclipsed the glory of God’s presence among us.

Our citizens worship in ignorance,

led by culture priests who recite social liturgies,

teaching us what we should think,

how we should live, whom we should hate,

which group can guarantee our prosperity.

I turn on the news, and a smothering cloud descends.

Angry defenses and fiery accusations

shout down the quiet goodness of the Lord’s righteous ways.

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Look for the Good

Posted November 26, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Philippians 4:8-9, NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Consider

There is little in this world that is wholly bad or wholly worthless. This is especially true of people. Sometimes people annoy us, betray us, or seriously injure us.

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