Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously,
and he will give you everything you need
(Matthew 6:33; NLT).
1. God gives us
Everything we have –
2. Not all we want,
But all we need.
3. He satisfies us,
Day by day,
4. With sun, and rain;
With crops, and seed.
5. He sends his Son
To light our path.
6. He gives us birth, and life,
And breath.
7. He hears, and answers,
When we pray,
8. And welcomes home our souls,
In death.
🧡
References
1. Everything we have has come from you (1 Chronicles 29:14; NLT).
2. He will give you everything you need (Matthew 6:33; NLT).
3. He satisfies every need (Acts 17:25; NLT).
4. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45; NIV).
They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry (Isaiah 55:10; NLT).
5. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17; NLT).
I am the light of the world (John 8:12; NLT).
6. You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together (Job 10:11; NLT).
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13; NLT).
He himself gives everyone life and breath (Acts 17:25; NIV).
7. The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help (Psalm 34:17; NLT).
I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain (Psalm 3:4; NIV).
8. The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NIV).
You will not leave my soul among the dead (Psalm 16:10; NLT).
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20; NLT).
1. Life means stretching thin our eternal oneness with God, in order to be born into a unique and fragile body, here, on earth.
2. Life means longing for our original union with him, and searching everywhere, until we find him at last, waiting within our soul.
3. Life means learning to love everyone, without exception, because God dwells in us all, and loves us all very deeply.
4. Death means leaving our failing, mortal body, to reunite with him for evermore –
5. And this is Heaven.
References
1. I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5; NLT).
2. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Psalm 42:2; NLT).
All night long I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek for God (Isaiah 26:9; NLT).
The Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion (Isaiah 30:18; NLT).
You are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16; NLT).
3. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6; NIV).
Love your neighbour as yourself (Luke 10:27; NLT).
Love the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:19; NKJV).
Show love to foreigners (Deuteronomy 10:19; NLT).
Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44; NLT).
You are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16; NLT).
Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).
You have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you (1 John 2:27; NLT).
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16; NLT).
4. He knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone – as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him (Psalm 103:14-17; NLT).
The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NIV).
I will live in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6; NLT).
Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43; NLT).
2. Dark dread,
Dark prayer,
Dark deed,
Dark night.
3. Black scorn,
Black pain,
Black death,
Black day.
4. New faith,
New hope,
New love: New Way!
References
1. The star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was (Matthew 2:9; NLT).
A child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6; NLT).
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6; NLT).
I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life (John 8:12; NLT).
2. Being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44; NIV).
If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine (Matthew 26:39; NLT).
The traitor, Judas, had given them a pre-arranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss. Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him (Mark 14:44-46; NLT).
3. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him!” (Matthew 27:42; NLT).
When they came to the place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross [and] Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:33-4; NLT).
Jesus called out with a loud voice […] “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” […] Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last (Mark 15:34,37; NLT).
By this time was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock (Luke 23:44; NLT).
4. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:27-9; NLT).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3; CSB).
I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other (John 13:34; NLT).
Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit (Romans 7:6; NLT).
Be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him (Colossians 3:10; NLT).
Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love –
and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13; NLT).
1. Life is a trek
Back to heaven.
2. Faith is a journey
To God.
3. Hope is a walk
With his Spirit.
4. Love is the path
That Christ trod.
References
1. The dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NLT).
2. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7; NKJV).
The Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith (Romans 1:17; NLT).
3. You will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13; NLT).
4. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2; NIV).
God is love (1 John 4:16; NLT).
We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us (1 John 3:16; NLT).
