Peace

James 3:13-18 (New Century Version)

True Wisdom

¹³ Are there those among you who are truly wise and understanding? Then they should show it by living right and doing good things with a gentleness that comes from wisdom.¹⁴ But if you are selfish and have bitter jealousy in your hearts, do not brag. Your bragging is a lie that hides the truth.¹⁵ That kind of "wisdom" does not come from God but from the world. It is not spiritual; it is from the devil.¹⁶ Where jealousy and selfishness are, there will be confusion and every kind of evil.¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help those who are troubled and to do good for others. It is always fair and honest.¹⁸ People who work for peace in a peaceful way plant a good crop of right-living.

James 4

Give Yourselves to God

¹ Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you.² You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God.³ Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.

Daily Word

Exodus 23 (New Century Version)

Exodus 23

Laws About Fairness

¹ "You must not tell lies. If you are a witness in court, don't help a wicked person by telling lies.

² "You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. If you are a witness in court, you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is.³ If a poor person is in court, you must not take his side just because he is poor.

⁴ "If you see your enemy's ox or donkey wandering away, you must return it to him.⁵ If you see that your enemy's donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy, do not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.

⁶ "You must not be unfair to a poor person when he is in court.⁷ You must not lie when you accuse someone in court. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment, because I will not treat guilty people as if they were innocent.

⁸ "You must not accept money from a person who wants you to lie in court, because such money will not let you see what is right. Such money makes good people tell lies.

⁹ "You must not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Laws for the Sabbath

¹⁰ "For six years you are to plant and harvest crops on your land.¹¹ Then during the seventh year, do not plow or plant your land. If any food grows there, allow the poor people to have it, and let the wild animals eat what is left. You should do the same with your vineyards and your orchards of olive trees.

¹² "You should work six days a week, but on the seventh day you must rest. This lets your ox and your donkey rest, and it also lets the slave born in your house and the foreigner be refreshed.

¹³ "Be sure to do all that I have said to you. You must not even say the names of other gods; those names must not come out of your mouth.

Three Yearly Feasts

¹⁴ "Three times each year you must hold a feast to honor me.¹⁵ You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the way I commanded you. For seven days you must eat bread that is made without yeast at the set time during the month of Abib, the month when you came out of Egypt. No one is to come to worship me without bringing an offering.

¹⁶ "You must celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Offer to God the first things you harvest from the crops you planted in your fields.

"You must celebrate the Feast of Shelters in the fall, when you gather all the crops from your fields.

¹⁷ "So three times during every year all your males must come to worship the Lord God.

¹⁸ "You must not offer animal blood along with anything that has yeast in it.

"You must not save any of the fat from the sacrifice for the next day.

¹⁹ "You must bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the Holy Tent^a]">[a] of the Lord your God.

"You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

God Will Help Israel

²⁰ "I am sending an angel ahead of you, who will protect you as you travel. He will lead you to the place I have prepared.²¹ Pay attention to the angel and obey him. Do not turn against him; he will not forgive such turning against him because my power is in him.²² If you listen carefully to all he says and do everything that I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight all who fight against you.²³ My angel will go ahead of you and take you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will destroy them.

²⁴ "You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. You must not live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols, breaking into pieces the stone pillars they use in worship.²⁵ If you worship the Lord your God, I will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from you.²⁶ None of your women will have her baby die before it is born, and all women will have children. I will allow you to live long lives.

²⁷ "I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against, and I will make all your enemies run away from you.²⁸ I will send terror ahead of you that will force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way.²⁹ But I will not force all those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert and the wild animals would become too many for you.³⁰ Instead, I will force those people out slowly, until there are enough of you to take over the land.

³¹ "I will give you the land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the people who now live in the land, and you will force them out ahead of you.³² You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods.³³ You must not let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, you will be caught in a trap."

Getting Started: Six First steps to a new beginning

Getting Started: Six First steps to a new beginning
(from newlyweds to empty-nesters)

So what is the issue in your marriage you'd like to address? Our first inclination is usually to find fault with our spouse, but you'll have much more success tending to your own shortcomings first. Those are the issues you have direct control over. So why not take a personal inventory of your own imperfections and ask God to forgive you for those sins. Now, you're ready to take these six steps to improving your marriage.

1. Having confessed your failures and accepted God’s forgiveness, ask your partner to forgive you. Then ask God to let you be His agent for loving your partner. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and His love.
2. Forget about your feelings. You do not have to feel anything to love your spouse. Feelings may change because of your actions, but
   feelings should not dictate your actions. Choose to love your mate,
   

   A Couple's Guide to a Growing Marriage

   no matter how you feel.
3. Express love to your mate by word or action once each day for the next month. Perhaps you could begin with a compliment each day for the next week.
4. Do not allow your mate’s reaction to stifle your love. Nothing your mate does can stop your love as long as you choose to love. Why stop when love is your greatest weapon for good and growth?
5. Consider the possibility of accepting in your mate some imperfection that has irritated you for years. If you decide to accept it, be sure to tell your mate. Such acceptance can be a positive step in your own emotional growth.
6. Few individuals can resist genuine, unconditional love for more than
   a year. Why not start today? Make this the greatest year of your marriage. Many have found that in less than a month, love has begotten love, and their whole marriage has been turned around.

Daily Word

Jeremiah 18 (New Century Version)

Jeremiah 18

The Potter and the Clay

¹ This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah:² "Go down to the potter's house, and I will give you my message there."³ So I went down to the potter's house and saw him working at the potter's wheel.⁴ He was using his hands to make a pot from clay, but something went wrong with it. So he used that clay to make another pot the way he wanted it to be.

⁵ Then the Lord spoke his word to me:⁶ "Family of Israel, can't I do the same thing with you?" says the Lord. "You are in my hands like the clay in the potter's hands.⁷ There may come a time when I will speak about a nation or a kingdom that I will pull up by its roots or that I will pull down to destroy it.⁸ But if the people of that nation stop doing the evil they have done, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to bring disaster to them.⁹ There may come another time when I will speak about a nation that I will build up and plant.¹⁰ But if I see it doing evil by not obeying me, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to do good for them.

¹¹ "So, say this to the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem: 'This is what the Lord says: I am preparing disaster for you and making plans against you. So stop doing evil. Change your ways and do what is right.'¹² But the people of Judah will answer, 'It won't do any good to try! We will continue to do what we want. Each of us will do what his stubborn, evil heart wants!' "

¹³ So this is what the Lord says:
"Ask the people in other nations this question:
'Have you ever heard anything like this?'
The people of Israel have done a horrible thing.
¹⁴ The snow on the mountains of Lebanon
never melts from the rocks.
Its cool, flowing streams
do not dry up.
¹⁵ But my people have forgotten me.
They burn incense to worthless idols
and have stumbled in what they do
and in the old ways of their ancestors.
They walk along back roads
and on poor highways.
¹⁶ So Judah's country will become an empty desert.
People will not stop making fun of it.
They will shake their heads as they pass by;
they will be shocked at how the country was destroyed.
¹⁷ Like a strong east wind,
I will scatter them before their enemies.
At that awful time they will not see me coming to help them;
they will see me leaving."

Jeremiah's Fourth Complaint

¹⁸ Then the people said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah. Surely the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost. We will still have the advice from the wise teachers and the words of the prophets. So let's ruin him by telling lies about him. We won't pay attention to anything he says."
¹⁹ Lord, listen to me.
Listen to what my accusers are saying!
²⁰ Good should not be paid back with evil,
but they have dug a pit in order to kill me.
Remember that I stood before you
and asked you to do good things for these people
and to turn your anger away from them.
²¹ So now, let their children starve,
and let their enemies kill them with swords.
Let their wives lose their children and husbands.
Let the men from Judah be put to death
and the young men be killed with swords in battle.
²² Let them cry out in their houses
when you bring an enemy against them suddenly.
Let all this happen, because my enemies have dug
a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for my feet.
²³ Lord, you know
about all their plans to kill me.
Don't forgive their crimes
or erase their sins from your mind.
Make them fall from their places;
punish them while you are angry.

Questions for further thoughts and Prayer. Things that make you go hmmmmm!

Questions for further thought:

• What type of sorrow have you been showing toward the sin in your life?
  What type of death was Paul referring to concerning worldly sorrow in verse 10?
• 1 Peter 2:24 says that Jesus died so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. What does it mean to die to sin?
• What happens to our “old self” desires that were dead in Christ when we fall back into sin? (Ephesians 4:21-23)

Prayer:

“Dear God, I confess that I have been holding on to this sin in my heart. Specifically, I have _____________(list your sin). Lord I confess that I still hold secret pleasure in these sins. I now release these thoughts and memories to you, Lord and ask that you cleanse my conscience of them with the blood of Jesus. Please create in me a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me that will follow your ways. Please unite my heart to fear you and follow you. Please help me to see my sin as you see it and abhor it as you abhor it. Please refill me with the Holy Spirit and renew my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s convictions concerning my sin. Thank you, Father! I receive the new life in Christ and the power I need to put these sinful desires to death! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7 (New Century Version)

2 Corinthians 7
1 Dear friends, we have these promises from God, so we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes body or soul unclean. We should try to become holy in the way we live, because we respect God.
Paul's Joy
2 Open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone, we have not ruined the faith of anyone, and we have not cheated anyone.3 I do not say this to blame you. I told you before that we love you so much we would live or die with you.4 I feel very sure of you and am very proud of you. You give me much comfort, and in all of our troubles I have great joy.

5 When we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. We found trouble all around us. We had fighting on the outside and fear on the inside.6 But God, who comforts those who are troubled, comforted us when Titus came.7 We were comforted, not only by his coming but also by the comfort you gave him. Titus told us about your wish to see me and that you are very sorry for what you did. He also told me about your great care for me, and when I heard this, I was much happier.

8 Even if my letter made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. At first I was sorry, because it made you sad, but you were sad only for a short time.9 Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you change your lives. You became sad in the way God wanted you to, so you were not hurt by us in any way.10 The kind of sorrow God wants makes people change their hearts and lives. This leads to salvation, and you cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has brings death. 11 See what this sorrow—the sorrow God wanted you to have—has done to you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to restore yourselves. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want to do the right thing. In every way you have regained your innocence. 12 I wrote that letter, not because of the one who did the wrong or because of the person who was hurt. I wrote the letter so you could see, before God, the great care you have for us.13 That is why we were comforted.

Not only were we very comforted, we were even happier to see that Titus was so happy. All of you made him feel much better.14 I bragged to Titus about you, and you showed that I was right. Everything we said to you was true, and you have proved that what we bragged about to Titus is true.15 And his love for you is stronger when he remembers that you were all ready to obey. You welcomed him with respect and fear.16 I am very happy that I can trust you fully.

Daily Word

Acts 3

Peter Heals a Crippled Man

¹ One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o'clock, the time set each day for the afternoon prayer service.² There, at the Temple gate called Beautiful Gate, was a man who had been crippled all his life. Every day he was carried to this gate to beg for money from the people going into the Temple.³ The man saw Peter and John going into the Temple and asked them for money.⁴ Peter and John looked straight at him and said, "Look at us!"⁵ The man looked at them, thinking they were going to give him some money.⁶ But Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I do have something else I can give you. By the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, stand up and walk!"⁷ Then Peter took the man's right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man's feet and ankles became strong.⁸ He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God.^9-10 All the people recognized him as the crippled man who always sat by the Beautiful Gate begging for money. Now they saw this same man walking and praising God, and they were amazed. They wondered how this could happen.

Peter Speaks to the People

¹¹ While the man was holding on to Peter and John, all the people were amazed and ran to them at Solomon's Porch.¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them, "People of Israel, why are you surprised? You are looking at us as if it were our own power or goodness that made this man walk.¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, gave glory to Jesus, his servant. But you handed him over to be killed. Pilate decided to let him go free, but you told Pilate you did not want Jesus.¹⁴ You did not want the One who is holy and good but asked Pilate to give you a murderer^a]">[a] instead.¹⁵ And so you killed the One who gives life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses to this.¹⁶ It was faith in Jesus that made this crippled man well. You can see this man, and you know him. He was made completely well because of trust in Jesus, and you all saw it happen!

¹⁷ "Brothers and sisters, I know you did those things to Jesus because neither you nor your leaders understood what you were doing.¹⁸ God said through the prophets that his Christ would suffer and die. And now God has made these things come true in this way.¹⁹ So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins. Then the Lord will send the time of rest.²⁰ And he will send Jesus, the One he chose to be the Christ.²¹ But Jesus must stay in heaven until the time comes when all things will be made right again. God told about this time long ago when he spoke through his holy prophets.²² Moses said, 'The Lord your God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you.²³ Anyone who does not listen to that prophet will die, cut off from God's people.'^b]">[b]²⁴ Samuel, and all the other prophets who spoke for God after Samuel, told about this time now.²⁵ You are descendants of the prophets. You have received the agreement God made with your ancestors. He said to your father Abraham, 'Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed.'^c]">[c]²⁶ God has raised up his servant Jesus and sent him to you first to bless you by turning each of you away from doing evil."

From Lady Lilly...........

Dear WOW Gospel Ministries

I feel this ministry is a big blessing for those out their who are struggling with their personal life. I feel when a group of people get together to speak the words of God to those who seem hard to get to church. The word of God is setting people free of captivity in their daily life; it has helped me to grow spiritually. This Radio program has opened a hunger for more knowledge of his word. It also build a strength to continue my journey severing my savior with courage knowing that after the battle the victory will be mine with God by my side. I encourage those who are struggling to grab the words of God for there strength and victory for their own family as well for themselves.

Love Lady Lilly, Far Rockaway New York City

Daily Scripture

Philippians 2

¹ Does your life in Christ give you strength? Does his love comfort you? Do we share together in the spirit? Do you have mercy and kindness?² If so, make me very happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having one mind and purpose.³ When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves.⁴ Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

Be Unselfish Like Christ

⁵ In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.
⁶ Christ himself was like God in everything.
But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit.
⁷ But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing.
He was born as a man
and became like a servant.
⁸ And when he was living as a man,
he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God,
even when that caused his death—death on a cross.
⁹ So God raised him to the highest place.
God made his name greater than every other name
¹⁰ so that every knee will bow to the name of Jesus—
everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
¹¹ And everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
and bring glory to God the Father.

Be the People God Wants You to Be

¹² My dear friends, you have always obeyed God when I was with you. It is even more important that you obey now while I am away from you. Keep on working to complete your salvation with fear and trembling,¹³ because God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him.

¹⁴ Do everything without complaining or arguing.¹⁵ Then you will be innocent and without any wrong. You will be God's children without fault. But you are living with crooked and mean people all around you, among whom you shine like stars in the dark world.¹⁶ You offer the teaching that gives life. So when Christ comes again, I can be happy because my work was not wasted. I ran the race and won.

¹⁷ Your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice in serving God. If I have to offer my own blood with your sacrifice, I will be happy and full of joy with all of you.¹⁸ You also should be happy and full of joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. I will be happy to learn how you are.²⁰ I have no one else like Timothy, who truly cares for you.²¹ Other people are interested only in their own lives, not in the work of Jesus Christ.²² You know the kind of person Timothy is. You know he has served with me in telling the Good News, as a son serves his father.²³ I plan to send him to you quickly when I know what will happen to me.²⁴ I am sure that the Lord will help me to come to you soon.

²⁵ Epaphroditus, my brother in Christ, works and serves with me in the army of Christ. When I needed help, you sent him to me. I think now that I must send him back to you,²⁶ because he wants very much to see all of you. He is worried because you heard that he was sick.²⁷ Yes, he was sick, and nearly died, but God had mercy on him and me too so that I would not have more sadness.²⁸ I want very much to send him to you so that when you see him you can be happy, and I can stop worrying about you.²⁹ Welcome him in the Lord with much joy. Give honor to people like him,³⁰ because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to give me the help you could not give in your service to me.