(CLICK THE PICTURE) Good morning and rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! This new day brings about new opportunities. How will you use them?
Today’s Prayer
Dear Lord, I come before you today in behalf of those who are married. Please remind us that in a marriage it is important for each partner to have the same goals in life, and to hold to the same high moral standards. If we are to live with our mates “until death do us part,” then we must help him/her to be more lovable. How? By being more lovable ourselves! Love must be completely unselfish, sacrificial, each wanting to help to develop his/her mate’s uniqueness to the fullest. It involves risk, doesn’t it? But then Your love was offered with a risk too. Help us to remember to make You the center strand of the cord that will hold our marriage together, for our marriages will be at risk without You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Isaiah 65:1-19
Judgment and Final Salvation
1The LORD says, “People who never before inquired about me are now asking about me. I am being found by people who were not looking for me. To them I have said, `I am here!’
2“I opened my arms to my own people all day long, but they have rebelled. They follow their own evil paths and thoughts.
3All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on the rooftops of their homes.
4At night they go out among the graves and secret places to worship evil spirits. They also eat pork and other forbidden foods.
5Yet they say to each other, `Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ They are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.
6“Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them—
7both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors,” says the LORD. “For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full!
8“But I will not destroy them all,” says the LORD. “For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, `Don’t throw them all away–there are some good grapes there!’), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there.
9I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel[a] and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it and serve me there.
10For my people who have searched for me, the plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks, and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.
11“But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD and his Temple and worship the gods of Fate and Destiny,
12I will `destine’ you to the sword. All of you will bow before the executioner, for when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned–before my very eyes–and chose to do what you know I despise.”
13Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “You will starve, but my servants will eat. You will be thirsty, but they will drink. You will be sad and ashamed, but they will rejoice.
14You will cry in sorrow and despair, while my servants sing for joy.
15Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and call his true servants by another name.
16All who invoke a blessing or take an oath will do so by the God of truth. For I will put aside my anger and forget the evil of earlier days.
17”Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth—so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
18Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy.
19I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more.
Quote of the Day
Right now, this very second, this very moment that you spend reading these words is ‘new’. How you choose to be a steward of that ‘new slate’ is up to you. My fervent prayer is that I never take for granted that gift of ‘newness’ and that I do all in his power granted to me to cherish the potential of ‘all things new’. Relationships strained, mistakes made, I’ll bring them to the cross so I can treasure the gift of newness he grants me every day. 1 John 1:9 NIV “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Katherine Walden
WITH HOPE AND FAITH; follow us on the foundation community site:
http://facebook.com/therelationshipfactory
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY
James H. Taylor Sr. – Kankakee City News has published my Daily meal message for a decade.