Vicki's Wednesday Word

  Proverbs 4:20-27 NLT 20 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. 21 Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, 22 for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. 23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. 24 Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. 25 Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. 26 Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. 27 Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.   We hear the kinds of things that believers say and they can sometimes be reduced to catch phrases. They become oft repeated for a very simple reason. They are true. Some of the most frequently referenced are from Proverbs. In verses 20-22, we have one of the most basic truths. The words from the Scriptures can bring life and healing to those who let them sink into their hearts and

  John 20:1-10 NLT “Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went hom

  Luke 19:36-44 New Living Translation 36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” 39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” 40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” 41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you

  Romans 8:38-39 NLT “38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is one of the passages in the Bible that has most shaped the last twenty-some years of my life. From Verse 28 on, this book succinctly says more to me about God than just about anywhere else in the Scriptures. We are loved. Period. No matter what. What this passage does not say is that bad things won’t happen. There will be pain and anguish, war and death in this world. This is mostly on account of the fact that the world is full of people. There are people for whom evil is a preferred course. There are people who make mistakes, intenti

  John 4:39-42 39  Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” Do you believe everything you hear? We have to be honest. The sad reality is that lots of people have a very tenuous relationship with the truth. Much of social media is proof positive of that! The need for discernment, for the ability to rationally and critically evaluate information, is more important than ever, if for no other reason than the sheer volume of stuff coming at us. To complicate matters, we all process the world based on the filter of our own experiences. I give credit to the people of that S