Vicki's Wednesday Word

  Thessalonians 2:9-13 New Living Translation 9 Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. 10 You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. 11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. 13 Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work on you who believe.   Always an avid reader, I enjoy just about every genre book I pick up. There were many books that...

  Matthew 22:34-40 New Living Translation   34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”   Love. It is what it is all about. Love that creates and nurtures. Love that sustains. Love that gathers you in and holds you close. All kinds of love. Agape love. The love God has for us and the love we express for our fellow human beings  because  we are so loved. Jesus said the entire law and all the proclamations of the p...

Jonah 4:1-11 NLT New Living Translation This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” 4 The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” 5 Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the LORD God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the s...

  Jonah 3:1-10 NLT New Living Translation 1Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3 This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. Th...

  JOHN 17:6-10 New Living Translation 6 “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, 8 for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. 9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. It is essential that we never forget the source of Jesus’ teachings and everything he endured to bring those teachings to us. We belong to God. We are His. Jesus’ teachings, God’s messages to us, are given to us for his glory, not ours. The thing is, that in doing so, we may live totally different lives than if we had been left adrift in this world. All by His glory. How can we not be overflowing with gratitude? How can we not str...

  Jonah 2:1-10 NLT 2  Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish.  2  He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!  3  You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.  4  Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’  5  “I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. 6   I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! 7  As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.  8  Those who worship fals...

  1 Corinthians 7:32-35 New Living Translation 32 I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. 33 But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. 34 His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.   Well…if you have to make an argument for celibacy, I guess this would be the best. Take all the care and time and energy you might have spent on a significant other and pour it into the study and service of the Lord. I have been trying to visualize what tha...

  Ephesians 5:25–27 NLT 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.   Jesus gave everything in this world for you and me. He left behind family and friends, comforts and familiar surroundings to begin his ministry. Even unto a horrible death, Jesus lived his earthly life all to bring God’s love and mercy to us. Paul is telling us in these verses that the same dedication is a model for marriage. When you choose a partner your priorities change. Your friends and family and old familiar ways no longer take precedence. They are still a special part of you, but the new partner now comes first. A new way of life is created, a new family, even if it is only made up of two people. These two indivi...

  Genesis 2:18-24 18  Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  19  So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.  20  He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.  21  So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.  22  Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. 23  “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”     24  This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is...

1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13   4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance…13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.   My former roommate read these few lines at my wedding, like at so many other ceremonies we have all attended. They serve as a guide and a reminder of how people should be treating each other. They comprise a beautiful philosophy that would certainly make the world a much better place if we treated others as Paul describes. That goes double for people who find themselves in a relationship. Four little verses shouldn’t be that hard to carry out. That is until you try it.    More than one human...

  Luke 7:36-39, 44-50 NLT 36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not pu...

  Psalms 25:4-12 NLT   4  Show me the right path, O Lord;     point out the road for me to follow. 5  Lead me by your truth and teach me,     for you are the God who saves me.     All day long I put my hope in you. 6  Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love,     which you have shown from long ages past. 7  Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.     Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,     for you are merciful, O Lord. 8  The Lord is good and does what is right;     he shows the proper path to those who go astray. 9  He leads the humble in doing right,     teaching them his way. 10  The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness     all who keep his covenant and obey his demands. 11  For the hono...

  Acts 9:1-12 NLT Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. 3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained th...

  Luke 5:1-11 New Living Translation   5  One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.  2  He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.  3  Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.  4  When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”  5  “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”  6  And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!  7  A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. 8  When ...