Thursday, December 18, 2008

Matthew 1:20 (dreams)

Welcome God every morning before your work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com). All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream... Matthew 1:20

Living Faith snippets: "Have we lost an important conduit to God? I wonder if we'd learn more about ourselves and God if we developed our ability to remember dreams and our willingness to discuss and trust them." by Aileen O'Donoghue

Rich's comments: My wife Erica loves taking long trips in the car with me. It is not, because of the scenery, but because she has me captive for the duration of the trip to listen and talk with her with minimal distractions. I believe that God uses our dreams to speak with us for much of the same reason, we are prepared to listen to Him without distractions. Much of our praying to God probably involves a lot of us doing the talking and not a lot of listening. I like to take the opportunity to pray before I go to bed; not only to praise God and thank Him for my blessings, but also to present Him with my worries and problems. I usually wake up the next morning with a sense of peace and direction. Here's wishing you a good night sleep tonight and pleasant dreams.

Jesus' Christmas list: This is how we give Jesus a Christmas (birthday) gift..."whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matt 25:40). The true meaning of Christmas is to share our gifts (time, talent, treasure, faith, hope, love) with those lacking in "daily bread" and love. Who is in dire need of our Christmas gifts?

* Let's pray for courage to communicate the ProLife message through Christ to those around us (John 14:6)...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16).

Our Prayers: Prayer to End Abortion, chastity, our enemies, our troops, natural disasters, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, loss of loved ones, lack of faith, illnesses/injuries, Kathy Ayers brain surgery, Mike Castle (Rachelle/Isaac, eye infection), Jason Peters (health of son JP), Carolyn McKissack (Bailee with Crohn's), Joe Levisky (medical issues)
* NEW: Rob Ouellette (Bob, Joanne, Donna, Don, Carol, Jack & Nancy, Molly)
* NEW: Pat Castle (his mom, battling infection)
* NEW: Rich Reich (Granny, health problems)

Faith Quote: "Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow." by unknown author

Through Christ Our Lord,
Rich
Romans 12:12

* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml. Reflection on readings at http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that takes our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, judgment, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might lie as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa.
* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.
Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!

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