18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
2 Corinthians 3:18
Father, You are good! You are Holy and glorious to behold – whether in Your creation, Your works, or Your Word – 💜 – O Lord, You are beautiful to me! May the light of Your Presence and the counsel of Your Word daily transform me – more and more – into the image of Your Son – by the power of Your Spirit in me 💙 So that I reflect Jesus to the world around me – Amen+
But do you know there are some scriptural beauty treatments? Peter said that true beauty comes from “the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:4). Solomon said, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful” (Proverbs 15:13, NIV). Ecclesiastes 8:1 says, “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine.”
As we absorb God’s light, we’ll reflect Jesus to the world around us. We must constantly behold the glory of the Lord and be transformed into His image by the Holy Spirit. People will notice how different we are. Take a look in the mirror. Is your face reflecting Christ?
Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested. Oswald Chambers
Commentary by David Jeremiah, as posted on Turning Point – May 15, 2023
Hope you enjoy this beautiful song that came to mind as I was writing the above prayer – May it lead you into deeper worship of Him – who is worthy of our adoration 💗
This song does not belong to me, but is shared from a link found on Youtube
Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
Joshua 1:8 NLT
Father, You are good. You are good to encourage us with Your Word – good to guide us by It – to equip us and empower us with It. Blessed are we when we meditate in It day and night – that we may observe to do all that is written in It. For then will our way be made prosperous and we will, by It, have good success. – Yes Father God – You are good! 💜
In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried out to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help.
Psalm 18:6
Why does David call out to God in His distress? Because he had a standing relationship with God. He knew that He could trust God. He knew God and had already experienced Him as a stronghold, a deliverer and refuge. David knew God as the one who saves and he trusted Him to be all these things and more. Sure enough, when David cried out – God not only heard him but he listened. The more we know about God and the more we experience with God, the more we will trust Him and seek Him for the strength we need.
Father, Your Word makes it clear that all have sinned and fall short of Your glory, and having done so our payment should be death; but in this first week of advent You have reminded us that You are a loving, good, and gracious God, who has given all who believe in Your Son – life instead of death! And with that promise comes the hope of eternity with You in Your Kingdom – the New Jerusalem – yet to come! As we wait for our Redeemer’s return, may Your Spirit teach us and keep us faithful to pray for peace, prosperity, and security for Your people, both here and around the world – Thank You for the Love God Greatly ministry that not only enhances our relationship with You, but for the focus they place on reaching and transforming women with Your Word in every nation and tribe! You know me Father, You know my passion for all things Christmas – but the trees and lights and shopping, the hurry and busyness to get things done clamor for our attention daily. Help me/us to make sure to not allow – what can be the joys of the season – to distract me/us from the first advent – the coming of the Christ child – the reason for the season.
Thank You for the encouragement of Advent to focus and refocus our hearts on Your promises God. The promise we read of in week one, of peace and of no more tears or sorrow or pain and suffering, was one we can never hear enough. However, to those who are currently in challenging seasons of their lives, it was a particularly wonderful reminder and source of encouragement.
Jesus, help us to live today and every day, preparing for Your return. Help us to know what boundaries to set in order to be guarded from trading the peace You came to bring for the busyness of the season and the demands of every day life.
Holy Spirit – Prepare our hearts as we begin the second week of Advent. As Jesus did with His disciples, open our minds to understand The Word that we will read, and help us to grow by it, to live it out, and to share it for the glory of Your Holy and powerful Name! – Amen, so let it be!
According to Paul, true thankfulness seems to overflow, not from the circumstances of our life, but from the FAITH we have been taught and placed in CHRIST. When we allow that faith to grow and deepen “into Him” then it becomes unshakable and thankfulness abounds in spite of life’s circumstances. –
MefromtheNsideout –
YOUR TURN: HOW CAN YOU LET THE ROOTS OF YOUR FAITH GROW DEEP INTO JESUS? I invite you to share your answer in the comment bar
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:1-4 ESV
In this portion of his letters to the Philippians believers Paul was encouraging them to live in unity with each other. So important was their unity that he equated it with completing his joy, as one who had mentored them in the faith. When believers are motivated by the same love, the love of Jesus Christ – when they are motivated by the same purpose or cause, salvation for those who are lost – when they are full of compassion and affection for each other …. when we think more about someone else more than we do ourselves – only then will there will be true joy in the midst of us all, and perhaps especially for those who are teaching or shepherding us in the faith. This type of unity won’t always be easy but Paul gives the perfect pattern for success as he encourages the believers to consider their attitude … namely, the same attitude of Christ (vs 5-8) who, though He was God, didn’t consider equality to God something to be grasped … instead He took on human flesh, and in the form of a servant He humbled Himself – even to the point to death on a cross +
For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify [praise and worship] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:4-6
I recently purchased a sign for my home with a saying that is now engrained in my mind and is etching it’s way into my heart. “Fall is proof that change is beautiful”. Perhaps you’ve heard it before but it is new to me and I love it. While I am a creature of habit and don’t necessarily go looking for change, it has never really bothered me – with the exception of senseless or absurd change – but that’s a discussion for another day. I think the reason this statement grabbed at my heart and ended up in my shopping cart is because many people in my life either battle change or are weathering the storm of age and change can almost be detrimental to them. Somehow this writes a different story though, maybe not for all change but it is certainly true of the change that comes with fall, especially here in my native West Virginia. God bedazzles the hillsides and the mountaintops year after year with extraordinary colors that are great competition for my beloved green buds of spring or the flower filled yards of summer. I’m not a fan of snow. However, despite the chaos it can cause, I must admit, even it can be beautiful when it is stretched out across the hills and valleys like a down-comforter piled high upon the earth.
As I have contemplated the truth of the statement on my new sign, I began to realize that in actuality it could be said of every season – for to those who adore the snow, or the beautiful colors of spring and summer the meaning would no doubt take on the same wonder it has for me when applied to fall. However, it also strikes me that God’s Word offers the same truthful reality that change is beautiful. After all, was it not His spoken word that brought creation into being?1 The dark sky lit with stars and a captivating full moon, or the blue sky and its dazzling display of fluffy clouds, or the billowing waves of the ocean riding in on the shore. John refers to Christ as being the Word that was with God in the beginning and then later says that same Word became flesh and dwelt with man on the earth – and boy, did that bring some beautiful change and hope to a lost and dying world. Because, as John goes on to write, “we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.”2 That grace and truth changed everything!3 It set the captives free4 and has turned darkness into light,5 and death into life 6– for those who believe.7 Which brings us to our verse for today – and the written Word of God, which Paul says was given for our instruction and our encouragement through the Scriptures to not only help us endure but so that we might have HOPE. For me, the change that comes with the seasons is the constant reminder for believers that God, our God, is radiantly beautiful and this is made clear through His creation8. Likewise, the change that comes through His written Word in us9 changes us from the inside-out10 and by it we grow into radiant lights11, living testimonies12, savory salt13, and beautiful messengers of the good news14 that brings faith, hope, and love to the world.15
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Father, You are good. You are Holy, righteous, and true – and You are my God! Your WORD is eternal, bringing life and health and peace to all who hear and believe. For those who have never heard, I pray they will hear and believe even today! For those who have heard BUT NEVER BELIEVED, I pray You will melt their hearts of stone – that they might believe and be saved. For those without a messenger will You open their eyes to Your creation – for Your Word makes clear that everything You’ve made displays Your invisible qualities – Your eternal power and divine nature – so that NO ONE has an excuse for not knowing You. Raise up messengers to go in Jesus’ Name and translators to translate in Word or print and supporters who will send and pray. All of this to Your eternal glory and the salvation of the lost. – … Father, for those who have both heard and believed but have turned away to the right or to the left and find themselves wandering in a wilderness, stuck in a pit, swallowed up by the world’s ways, or bound again by a yoke of slavery – will you please open the eyes and ears of their hearts Lord – to hear You, the One who is their faithful Shepherd, who has left the 99 to find them. Help them to reach out for Your rod and staff and to walk free of their chains and all that binds them and keeps them from You. – Again, all of this for Your eternal glory and the redemption of Your people. Amen in Jesus’ Name and Power!
Father, You are Good! And Your goodness beckons me to draw near. My heart longs to walk closer and closer to You in this world of hurts and disappointments. Hurts and disappointments not just in the world but the truest heartbreak is in seeing and experiencing believers pitted against, or simply not loving, their fellow believers. My soul is filled with anguish and with sorrow – a sadness that is wearing on my mind and heart and causes me to seek You even more! To seek and to know Your guidance, comfort, and peace, Your strength, mercy, and grace – not only from You to me but from me toward others; and yes, Father, forgiveness toward others even as You have forgiven me. I also seek your healing Father – both of Your people’s hearts and minds and of my own weary and downcast soul. Hear my prayer Father – hear my prayer in Jesus’ name.
And Your Spirit replies …
Why are you discouraged? Why is your heart so sad? Put your hope in God! Praise Him again—your Savior and your God!
Do you ever find yourself distracted by the actions of others – your mind caught up in their behavior and pelted with anger? Or maybe you awaken to thoughts of your past that are hurtful and bring sorrow, or shameful and evoke guilt which in turn evokes lies and/or captivity that leads you away from God instead of toward Him. Whatever your trigger point is to thoughts that disrupt your peace and unity with God – He makes it clear through His Word that our minds are to be fixed on Him. He promises in the Old Testament as well as the New that when our minds are set or fixed on Him we will know His perfect peace.
You will keep in perfect peace all trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You.
Isaiah 26:3
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
Paul’s instructions to the believers didn’t stop with prayers that would bring peace. Instead, he encouraged them to fix their thoughts on other things – things that would replace the “anxious” thoughts so that God’s peace would continue to guard their hearts and minds as they lived in Christ Jesus.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9
It strengthens us to take thoughts that are not beneficial or pleasing to Him captive, making them obedient to Jesus Christ – who holds the power over sin and death.
Fixing our thoughts on Him is a Spiritual discipline that takes effort and practice. It is part of the Spiritual training mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:8 that promises benefits not only in this life but in the life to come. Fixing our thoughts on Him not only fills us with His peace but as 2 Corinthians 10:5 teaches, it protects us from arguments and pretensions that set themselves up against the knowledge of God. It strengthens us to take thoughts that are not beneficial or pleasing to Him captive, making them obedient to Jesus Christ – who holds the power over sin and death.
Father, my mind is sometimes a battleground and I plead for You, in Your mighty, omnipotent, omniscient power, to guard it. Block all thoughts that invoke unrighteous anger and bitterness toward others, and protect me even from the righteous anger that arises so that it does not take my thoughts captive and distract me from Your voice, Your guidance, and Your presence. Keep me from judgmental thoughts and the critical words they provoke. Guard me from fearful thoughts or thoughts of the past that provoke shame and regret, and all other erroneous thoughts that do not bring You glory and ultimately hinder a right relationship with You, diminishing the light of Your presence in me, which is meant to be evident in my life – both in the deeds that I do and the words that I speak.
Instead, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, help me to make allowance for other’s faults and to forgive anyone who offends me, help me to remember You have forgiven me and set me forever free from the past. I pray that You would empty my mind of what doesn’t belong and instead – fill it with and fix it on things that are true and honorable, and right and pure, and lovely and admirable. Whatever is excellent or worthy of praise, Father, help me to think on these things. 💜🙏 In Jesus’ Name – amen! ❣️
Let the Words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You oh Lord, my Rock and Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
Make allowance for each others faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Me From the Inside Out 