John 14:23 (come Holy Spirit!)

Let's welcome God every morning before 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. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. John 14:23 (full readings)

Living Faith snippets: "If we love the Lord Jesus and cherish and cultivate His teachings in our heart, our loving Father in heaven will love us to the point that both He and the Lord Jesus will come to us, be with us and actually take up residence with us." by Mitch Finley (author of 30 books)

LIFE Group nuggets:

* After praying with our neighbor Kezia Ayers on Saturday night, Angi and me recalled a powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit. After midnight on 1 Jan 08, we prayed with Robert and Meghan Cox for about 20 minutes. At the end of the prayer, we prayed "come Holy Spirit...Amen", the front door of our home swung open, and a wind blew through the room (moved papers, we felt it). We were joyfully amazed! Upon stepping outside, we realized that it was actually calm (no wind). This is a wonderful God-Sighting to strengthen our faith! Whoever loves me...we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23) Thanks to Joe Hourigan and Kevin Connolly for sharing the Come Holy Spirit prayer with me.

* Lorena Meyers: I am currently reading "Mother Angelica's Private and Pithy Lessons From The Scriptures." [A snippet from the book]..."The mistake we make when we read the Scriptures is we put a halo on these men before it was there. We look at every man in the Gospel from afar with great yearning in our heart to be holy and we think, "oh that's not for me." But God is looking for people willing to accept themselves where they are, and strive for holiness. There is no perfection in this world. But there is holiness."

* Stephanie Kemp shared this powerful 1 min ProLife video: Imagine.

Faith Challenge: Let's challenge each other to joyfully live out the Good News.
* NEW: Lord Jesus, help me to act on your word and cherish your presence. by Mitch Finley

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, American Family Association, Priests for Life
* Let's never forget the horrific reality of abortion (images)...#1 cause of death in America. Let's courageously share ProLife Truth (John 14:6) to create social tension for exposing abortion's unjust peace...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16) and setting the unborn free!

Our Prayers: Those who pray together stay together. Fasting ideas below.
* Prayer to end abortion, abused children, chastity, peace, our enemies, our troops, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, illnesses/injuries, jobs, natural disasters, addictions, Jason Peters (son JP), Kathy Castle (Michael Moon hand infection), Carla Neal (Harold Heard, Jamie, Joyce & all of you)

Faith Quote: "Communion means living in Christ and letting Christ live in me, as the Apostle Paul expressed so powerfully (Rom 6:10, Gal 2:20), to become, like Him and in Him, effective instruments in the loving plan of the Blessed Trinity, who through the Church wants to make one family of all people." by Pope John Paul II

Through Christ our Lord,

Pat

Phil 4:13

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead.'

* Fasting: Let's fast from things that take our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, 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 live 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 invite others to join our LIFE Group...Rich or Pat will gladly add them to the devotions distribution list (Mark 16:15)!