Good day dear friends.
Nellie, Sarai, Eric, and I thank you all for the prayers, calls, gestures of love and concern, cards you shared with us during this difficult time. Sarai is doing better physically and she and Eric will need our prayers for inner healing. You all have been such a wonderful blessing to us.
During the time I spent with Sarai and Eric I checked in on my dad and he is undergoing an exam this morning to determine if he will undergo surgery to unclog his carotid artery on his left side. If he needs surgery it may be today, if dad gets his way, or in seven days if the doctor prevails in convincing him of the dangers of surgery with dad being on the type of meds he's on. Please hold him in your prayers. Dad is in Memorial Hermann Southwest in Houston. He was in good spirits, joking with the doctor and all who came to see him.
Please continue to hold Ann Martin and her family in prayers. We celebrated a joyful graveside in Houston on Wednesday afternoon. We give thanks to the Lord for the wonderful gift that was Ralph.
With this email we can examine the study guides on perseverence:
Thursday: In the very last book of the Bible, The Book of Revelation 3:20 is a verse many of us learned as children. In it Jesus shares what He desires with us all: relationship! Read this verse as a verse of perseverence. Notice how it does not say that Jesus gives up and leaves. It is up to us to “open the door.” Can you open that door?
Here is that text most of us learned as children in the same version, King James: 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man (one) hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Here is the NRSV: 3:20 "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me."
I remember learning this verse in that tiny church of Kingsville, Texas, thinking El Buen Pastor Methodist Church (it became "United" in 1968) offered the best life there was! And to learn verses about Jesus was the icing. And this one just shouted out to me because, after all, I had seen the "picture." It's the one most everyone has seen. Painted by Walter Sallman, many have noticed the handle is on the inside. Hmm. Could it mean, the next move is ours? That WE have to open the door? Jesus wants and offers to have a relationship with us. It is up to us to accept and to open the door. I can think of no better relationship.
While driving to Galveston early Wednesday morning, several called and one dear friend, Jeff Greenway called to pray as we drove. I put the phone and speakerphone and Nellie and I were blessed as we drove knowing you all were praying right where you were and a friend with whom I enjoy a great relationship was sharing his words of comfort with us. Even better was knowing Jesus himself went with us and held us as we cried and as we struggled with this event.
Can you open the door? The handle's on the inside!
Let's combine our prayer with the study guide for today:
Friday: This is our day of prayer. Let us be in prayer for the Lord to touch our lives in a way that will strengthen us. May His strength bring us hope. For a prayer reference read Romans 5:1-5 in NIV version. May God speak to us about our lives and grant us the faith to be perseverant. Use Saturday to prepare for Sunday. Be in prayer about inviting folks to come visit us during September. See you in church Sunday!
Here is that verse in NIV (New International Version): 1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
PRAYER: Dear Father may today be a day of overcoming! May we overcome all that has kept us from accepting a deep, true, loving relationship with You. Help us today to claim the promise that is ours as disciples, that we can persevere! Let us give thanks and rejoice even in the midst of suffering, for through suffering we receive, as Your Word proclaims, perseverance and from that we get character and from character, we receive hope and we affirm what Paul said, "hope does not disappoint us, because YOU have poured out Your love into our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, Who is ours. Come into all hearts today that pray this prayer. Let us take and open the handle is that ours to open! In Jesus' name! Amen.
May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be yours today and always!
Have a blessed day!
e.v.
