Swaziland South Africa

WoW is all that I can say. Yesterday I had to attend a missions training class because this summer i'll be going to Swaziland with elevate, I was told that Swaziland has the most hiv/ aids cases in the world. Having a brother that died from aids it really touches my heart and at the same time it saddens my heart. My emotions went wild because having a loved one that died from aids I know what these families are going through. I only hope and pray that when I get to Swaziland that God will some how use the pain that I went through with my brother to bring Healing to others there that are going through the same pain that I went through.

Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

Hebrews 10


1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, O God.' "[a] 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."[b] 17Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."[c] 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d] and again, "The Lord will judge his people."[e] 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38But my righteous one[f] will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him."[g] 39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Homeless

Homeless

What happened? I used to be a citizen.
Number one partaker of the world we live in.
Then I made a decision to serve Christ all my life.
My ties to this world, He severed with His Eternal Knife.

He showed me the owner of the kingdom Earth,
Was the Prince of the Power of the Air.
Born into satan’s kingdom, we’ve been his since sin’s birth.
I was serving him before I was even aware.

Like Your Son, who didn’t have a place to lay His head.
You’ve called me to be a foreigner…in the world, but not of it.
You’re preparing me a place up with You instead.
And laying up my treasures in Heaven, I’m ready to submit.

Ready to be caught up in the air with You.
To finally go home, and be made perfectly new.
For now, I will dwell in the shelter of the Most High.
I’m willing to be homeless, and the lusts of the world, I will deny.

You're Always There for Me

You’re Always There for Me

When the world comes crashing in
And chaos rules my mind,
I turn my heart to you, Lord,
And pure, sweet peace I find.

You lift me out of trouble
You comfort me in pain;
You nourish, heal and cleanse me,
Like cool, refreshing rain.

In times of joy and bliss,
When things are going right,
You lift me even higher,
And fill me with delight.

You listen to my prayers;
You hear my every plea;
I’m safe because I know
You’re always there for me.

By Joanna Fuchs

1 Corinthians 13
The Way of Love
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have(A) prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith,(B) so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3(C) If I give away all I have, and(D) if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4(E) Love is patient and(F) kind; love(G) does not envy or boast; it(H) is not arrogant 5or rude. It(I) does not insist on its own way; it(J) is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6it(K) does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but(L) rejoices with the truth. 7(M) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,(N) endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For(O) we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but(P) when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For(Q) now we see in a mirror dimly, but(R) then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as(S) I have been fully known.

13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Today’s Scripture

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing
that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.(2 Peter 3:9)
Daily Power!

Lord, make me like John the Baptist – to be a constant, burning lamp, a shining witness to those who walk in darkness.

"The World Depends On Us"

People cannot see the light of invisible things until somebody else catches it and reflects it. The sun’s rays would
not be seen on earth but they radiate the molecules of the atmosphere, the dust and moisture. The sun fills millions
of miles with light, but there is no trace of it until it is reflected. The moon sails in invisible sunlight, and passes
on enough light for us to find our way.

The apostle Paul talked about “the King eternal, immortal, invisible.” The light of God is constant, brilliant. It is
never intermittent. But who sees it? People walk in darkness. The stark fact is that the only light they will ever
see is reflected light. Just as John was “a burning and shining lamp,” a witness to the Light – so are believers.
We are commanded to “walk in the Light,” for if we don’t, there will be no light. The world depends upon light
reflectors – that is you and me! If our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are lost.

The Psalmist knew what it meant to walk in the Light: “For You have delivered my soul from death.
Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” Jesus encouraged
His disciples to persevere in walking in the Light: “A little while longer the Light is with you. Walk while you have
the Light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have
the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of Light.” Walking in the Light is active – waiting on
God is passive. To wait on God for His Light to shine on us is an Old Testament concept. The last ones who
waited were the one hundred and twenty in the Upper Room. Now God waits on us. Green means Go! When the
light turns green, you do not need a permit from the Secretarial Department of Traffic and Transportation – you just Go!

Remember this command: “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
Nostalgia
Son of God, Son of Man
Our God Our Fire