GREENE STREET LETTERS: The Shema

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Shema

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "Is this: ' Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: ' Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

What an incredible statement. God is one. Undivided and without question the only God. OF course, it takes more than statements and clever quips and quotes to make something true. It takes intervention and running into this God. It takes a blending of the Word of God and the Spirit of God working in an individual that awakens this person to the reality of what God is saying.

We become so focused on our everyday lives and situations that we simply want just enough God to get us through the day. Well, aren't you tired of simply "getting through the day?" God is more than my day to day activities. God is more than all my problems and character defects. God is wanting to pull me into his family and his plans. Why? First off because of the love He has for me. More than any person has every loved us before, God's love is greater, higher and deeper than we can imagine.

No matter how many directions you are being pulled in today, God wants to center you and show you a better way of living. You were created to more than surviving. You were created to overcome. Overcome means you don't quit because of the power of God's Holy Spirit in you.

So today...find God. Look for the times when He speaks to you. Maybe in a thought that floats through your mind. In His Word, a verse that seems to stand up on the page. Lay hold of these things and keep them in your heart. Ponder God's presence today. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

God on you.....

NEW MESSAGE DOWNLOADED: STEP #3 LESSON #3-- Straight path's and level ground.

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Shema

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD