Leviticus 19:16 (Holiness)

Welcome God with this LIFE Group Devotion (website, Facebook).

"Nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor's life is at stake. I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:16 (full readings)

Rich's Reflections: In today's Scripture from Leviticus, the Lord gives Moses a series of instructions for how the Israelite people are to treat each other. If you notice after each command, He proclaims yet again, "I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:12, 14, 16, 18). He is telling us that each command He gives us is a reflection of His holiness, and the Lord is inviting us to experience this holiness for our own by obeying His commandments. In obeying the Lord's commandments, we will know and understand the holiness of God. Lord, I surrender to Your truth and love. Pour Your Spirit into me so that I may have the power to see the things I need to change. Make me holy, as You are holy, and help me to live always in Your light. Amen.

Faith Challenge: Reflect on how Leviticus chapter 19 can be applied to your life and strive for holiness.

Counter-Culture News: 40 Days for Life (until 17 Apr), LSN, Vatican, AFA, Priests for Life, Live Action

* Shocking Stat: Number of Abortions Exceed All Other Deaths Combined in NYC

Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion, Spiritual Adoption, Alpha Center, Peters family (JP). Add Prayers on our website. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, LIFE Runners, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now.

Faith Quote: “Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.” ~ Leviticus 19:2

Through Christ our Lord,

Rich

James 1:22

* Pray/Fast: Prayer connects us with God’s will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. Fast from things that take your eyes off Jesus. Those who pray together stay together, and close to God!
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion reality (images)…#1 death cause (23% pregnancies). Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa
* Evangelize: Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/sacrifice/mercy). Matt 28:19.

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Galatians 1:10 (Don't be a Man-Pleaser!)

Welcome God now with this LIFE Group Devotion (archive, Facebook).

Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. Galatians 1:10 (full readings)

Rich's Reflections: Do you constantly find yourself concerned about what other's think about you? If so, you might want to reflect on whether you desire more to please Man or to please God. Our politically correct culture may have you doing things against your own conscience in order to fit in with society. Don't compromise your Faith! The fact is you can never please everybody. Fortunately, there's only One Person that we need to seek the approval of. Regardless of what other people say or do, God will never leave you if you are in covenant with Him. Actually obeying God can also bring us favor with people. Proverbs 16:7 says, "When the Lord is pleased with a man's ways, He makes even his enemies be at peace with him." Lord, may I always obey You and put your ways before Man's ways. Amen.

Faith Challenge: Reflect on whether you desire more to please Man or to please God, and pray for the strength and courage to remain always obedient to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Counter-Culture News: LSN, Vatican, AFA, Priests for Life, Live Action.

* Abortion, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' Feature in Lame-Duck Bill

Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion. Peters family (JP), Rich Reich (cousin Tom cancer), Helene Couchon (Molly Barber's health), Kathy Schwab (daughter's friend Marty fighting Leukemia), Nellie Edwards (special intention), Fr. David (for Bill Gardiner with lung cancer)

Feast Day: St. Francis of Assisi

Faith Quote: "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching." - St. Francis of Assisi

Through Christ our Lord,

Rich

James 1:22

John 15:7 (bowing to God's will)

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

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. John 15:7 (full readings)

Living Faith snippets: "Maybe the true meaning is something like this: If we perfectly remain in the Risen Christ, and his words remain perfectly in us, then we will ask only for what God in his wisdom will give. But we never do these things perfectly, do we? We can't use these words of Jesus as if they are a magic formula. All prayers should end with a bow of obedience to the ultimately mysterious will of God." by Mitch Finley

Rich's comments: I would like to share with you an excerpt from Matthew Kelley's book, Rediscovering Catholicism, that speaks about the will of God. "The saints perfectly aligned themselves with the will of God. That is what makes them saints - this synthesis of their own individual will and the will of God. In this modern era, people have been seduced by the dark lie that it is impossible to know the will of God. This is a diabolical lie of unfathomable proportions, because it separates us from our essential purpose and leads us down a road to misery and despair. The will of God is that you become the-best-version-of-yourself. God doesn't want to control you, or manipulate you, or stifle you, or force you to do things you don't want to do. If that were God's desire, then he would not have given you free will in the first place. God wants you to become all you can be, and in the process he wants you to experience the greatest mystery of them all - love."

Faith Challenge: Let's challenge each other to joyfully live out the Good News.

* NEW: When you make decisions, think about what choices will help you to become the-best version-of-yourself; the version that God intended you to be.

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)

* NEW: Pat, Angi, & 4 cadets (safe trip to China and back)

Feast Day: Our Lady of Fátima is the title given to the vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary that was said to have appeared before three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May, the Fátima holiday.

Faith Quote: "True holiness consists in doing God's will with a smile." by Mother Teresa

Through Christ our Lord,

Rich

Romans 12:12

* 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)!