Imagine...!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Freedom...

isn't free!!!

Our freedom in the USA came at a costly price--that of the courageous fighting, and many deaths, of military men and women. We thank you!!!

In the same way, our spiritual freedom came at a very costly price--that of the selfless death of a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ! To those who will believe and receive Him, He offers them new life! We thank You, Jesus!!!

"Faith without deeds...

...is dead."

I am being challenged by this Truth of late.

We love, because God first loved us.

And if I say I love my neighbor, and they are in need, and I do not try and help meet their need (or don't even feel burdened to do so), what good is my faith? It is of no good--it is dead.

But Jesus Christ is not dead, He's alive!

And He comes with healing in His wings! (Malachi 4:2)

And He tells us that in doing to one of the least, and most vulnerable 'n' needy of humanity, that we do it unto Him!

I am blessed. God has gifted to me friends in my life who are reaching out to the hungry to feed them, the cast out to bring them in, the naked to cover them, and the oppressed to loose their bonds of oppression. And as they are displaying faith with deeds, so I am seeking to show my Savior obedience as well!

Green, and life-giving guarantees!

-Trusting in the Lord will keep you "green", and be life-giving!:

"Blessed is the person
who trusts in the Lord,
and whose hope is the Lord.
For they shall be like a TREE planted by the water,
which spreads out its roots by the river,
and will not fear when heat comes;
but its leaf will be green,
and will not be anxious in the year of drought,
nor will cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah 17:8).

-Loving God's Word, and thinking about it throughout the day will keep you "green", and be life-giving!:

"Blessed is the person...whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water
that brings forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also shall not wither;
and whatever he does shall prosper" (Psalms 1).

-Helping those in need will also keep you "green", and be life-giving!:

"If you extend your soul to the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted soul...
the Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones;
you shall be like a watered garden
and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail" (Isaiah 58:10-11).

Question:

Your giftings...

"are you tempted to spend your gifts only on yourself?
Or
for the glory of God do you want to link
your best abilities
to your neighbor's needs?" (p. 221 of Joe Gibbs' Game Plan for Life.)

That's a good question. Assumed is that we are aware of our neighbor's needs. (With our neighbor being anybody located close by, or far away.) We know our neighbor's needs...right??! If not, what can we do about that?

movements_music video!

This Irish group of friends and musicians is known as The Rend Collective Experiment. Check out one of their songs below!!!

5-6

"President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that that our nation should set apart

a day

for national prayer

to confess our sins and transgressions in sorrow,

'yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon...announced in the Holy Scriptures

and proven by all history,

that those nations only

are blessed

whose God is THE LORD'" (from Franklin Graham's prayer for 2010 National Day of Prayer).

On May 6th, but not reserved only for that day, may men and women of faith join hearts and hands in confessing their corporal sins, as well as in interceding on behalf of one another.