Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up;
(Today, this new thing He is doing in us
is entirely His doing, His accomplishment, His creation.
As we look forward to this New Year,
we can look forward through the plan the Lord has for us.
He is doing something now that is
entirely new and different in our lives today.
He has redeemed us from our former chains and attitudes,
of control and of attempts to be in control,
of self-sufficiency, of fear, of despair,
of anger, of un-forgiveness, of pride.
What the Lord does in our life springs forth
out of Him and out of His love.)
Do you not perceive it?
(As a new shoot in the coming spring
can easily be missed, easily trampled on,
easily overlooked as we slog through
the lingering winter gray and rains and snows,
so this work that He has begun in us
can easily be ignored and crushed.
Our job is to look for His work and to be sure to nurture
what the Lord is doing in us.
We need to be sure to watch and listen for
and to take note of His still, small Voice
in the whirlwind of our busy-ness.
Lord, help us to have eyes and ears to see and hear You,
to perceive that still, small Voice which is Yours.)
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
(He promises that His new work in us
will restore and refresh and guide us
through the deserts in our life this year where, humanly speaking,
there is no way to proceed other than by His Hand.
His new work is like the reviving, cleansing rivers of water
where there has been waste and destruction.
His river of grace and love washes away
the past and the filth to bring newness of life in Him!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

 

Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
(As this New Year unfolds before us, the Lord reminds us
not to brood over the failures and hardships of the past,
but to look toward the new, forgetting what lies behind
and pressing on to what lies ahead.)
See, I am doing a new thing!
(The "new" before us is best seen
as we behold with admiration and awe
the mighty work of God in our lives today
as we contemplate Him and His preparation and provision for us
to step out into the new He holds for us.)
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
(While this new thing the Lord brings about through His unlimited power
silently and inexorably opens forth and blooms into fullness,
we can only stand in awe as we focus our full attention
on what the Lord promises for us.)
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
(Whatever our past has created for this present,
whatever actions have brought us into the wilderness today,
just as the Lord provided for the Israelites
as they traveled through their difficult wilderness journey,
God also paves a road for us through the wilderness of our life
and carves out rushing rivers of water in the desert places
to guide us and sustain us and feed us and refresh us
and lead us into His never-failing purposes for us
with His complete provision for today!)

 

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

 

In Christ's love,

 

Blessings,

 

Sally

513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Psalm 77:11-15
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.
(As we contemplate the coming year,
what better way could we make use of our time
than to turn our minds to focus on what the Lord has done for us,
to remember the ancient boundaries the Lord has laid out for us
so that we rest in pleasant places He has created for us
of hope and peace and mercy and forgiveness
and safety and victory!)
I will consider all Your works
and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.
(Only as we consider and meditate on God
do we more fully come to know Him and His character
and to more fully understand and interpret His actions
and how He desires those actions to impact us.)
Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?
(Because we so often try to fit God into a human-sized box,
to fit Him into our own capability to understand,
we often jump to conclusions
about those challenges that come into our lives,
misjudging them and the God
Who both sends and allows those events.)
You are the God Who performs miracles;
You display Your power among the peoples.
(This God we serve is a God of wonders,
of wondrous and beautiful and amazing creations,
of other-worldly happenings,
of triumph and victory,
of love and mercy,
of redemption and salvation,
of forgiveness and hope!)
With Your mighty arm You redeemed Your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
(This God has saved His people, delivered His people,
and rescued His people Israel
through His unsurpassed strength and power.
If He has accomplished these feats before,
we who have been adopted as co-heirs of Christ
can be assured that He will continue delivering and rescuing us today!
May we look to and welcome this New Year today
through the lens of God's character
and His past interventions in the lives of His people!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Psalm 65:1-13
Praise awaits You, our God, in Zion;
(As we stand at the threshold of the New Year,
our first and foremost priority is to exalt God
Who has Himself provided us with these next days.
Our praise and honor and acclaim and tribute
belong to the Lord because nothing less befits Him.)
to You our vows will be fulfilled.
(As we stand in the place of rest
under God's provision for today and this year,
all He has already accomplished for us
renews an overwhelming sense of God's majesty and sovereignty,
making our commitments to Him the only possible answer
to this God Who is above all and over all
and full of goodness and righteousness and holiness.)
You Who answer prayer, to You all people will come.
(Not only is He good and holy,
but He chooses to hear us and provide for us.
He hears us before we call and answers us before we even speak.)
When we were overwhelmed by sins, You forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those You choose and bring near to live in Your courts!
We are filled with the good things of Your house, of Your holy temple.
(The foundation of His relationship with us
is the atonement and redemption that He provided
through His plan of salvation in Jesus.
Today as we prepare for this New Year, we stand forgiven and made righteous
because of His provision and His favor toward us,
and He has invited us to be His dwelling place.)
You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
Who formed the mountains by Your power,
(His magnificent earthly symbols reveal to us a small bit of the picture
of God's Own mighty immutable strength and immovable power.)
having armed Yourself with strength, Who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
(He calms and overcomes at His command
the ravages of the life storms that assail us.
If He controls the roaring seas and the nations' turmoil,
can we have any doubt that He is in control of the places in our lives
that are roaring and heaving in turmoil.)
The whole earth is filled with awe at Your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades, You call forth songs of joy.
(He speaks forth the marvel of the successive days and nights of our lives
to allow us to see Him through the wonder of His creation,
as a way to reassure us that He is present and absolutely omnipotent.)
You care for the land and water it; You enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain, for so You have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
You soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with Your bounty,
and Your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.
(As we look out toward this New Year
and as we see how He cares for the earth and its needs, through such care,
He reveals to us how He also cares for our needs,
watering the desert places in our lives,
bringing forth the harvest of the work of our hands,
crowning us with the prosperity of His bounty,
and clothing us with the beauty of His favor and right standing with Him.
He has endowed, equipped, and readied us
for all we need as we step into this New Year.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

 

John 1:14a
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(The very Word of God, His communication of Himself,
His revelation of Himself, His expression of Himself,
first unveiled His creation, then His covenant with man,
then His Law, then His tabernacle,
then His Son as God With Us, as Emmanuel,
then the Holy Spirit within us,
and then a Book of His Own Word, of His Own story.
He became flesh, both God and man.
His Word, His revelation of Himself, did not become a tree,
or a building, or a mountain, or a rock, or a monument,
but became flesh and blood.
God Himself became man, one of us,
to fully communicate to us Who He is,
to show us what He looks like as a living, breathing Man,
to reveal as much about Himself as we can comprehend,
not so He could know what it is like to be us.
He already knows that and everything about us
and everything we feel and know and are. He is God.
But, so that we could relate to Him, so that we could see Him
as One to Whom we could draw toward
and with Whom we could be at ease,
He became flesh. He is "God With Us," God Who dwells with us.
But He became Flesh for more reasons than even those.
A spirit does not have skin and sinews and flesh and blood.
God as Spirit is not flesh and blood.
Since the life of a human is in the blood,
for Him to save and redeem us, He Himself had to put on flesh and blood.
Our blood is not sufficient to redeem us.
He had to become blood in order to finish the work of His creation,
to redeem His creation, to bring us to Himself.
The celebration of His birth today is first and foremost about His death
and the work of His Blood to redeem us.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

 

Matthew 2:1-3, 9-11

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,

during the time of King Herod,

Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked,

“Where is the One Who has been born King of the Jews?

We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

(As these Magi sought after the One and Only, let’s begin this New Year

by seeking the new King Who is the Savior in our lives.

We are all already deeply in need of Christ’s saving grace and forgiveness.)

The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them

until it stopped over the place where the Child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

(As we seek Him, God always shows us the way to find Him.

He will always provide signposts for us so that we can find Him,

and He has promised He will not be hard to find.)

On coming to the house,

(By this time, Mary and Joseph had moved from the place of Jesus' birth

to another location, although it is not known where.)

they saw the Child with His mother Mary

and they bowed down and worshipped Him.

(In the same way, our only action and response

upon coming into the presence of the Lord

is to bow before Him in worship!)

They opened their treasures and presented Him

with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

(Like the Magi, let us bring our most prized treasure to Jesus.

The most priceless treasure we can give to the Lord

is to bring to Him our lives,

a far more highly prized gift than even gold or expensive spices.

He gave Himself and now asks for nothing less from us.

As we prepare for the New Year coming upon us,

our greatest gift to the Christ is to give ourselves and nothing less.)

 

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

 

Sally

513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

 

Luke 2:11
Today in the town of David
a Savior has been born to you;
(Christ's birth is historical fact,
a child born in a specific place to a specific mother
under the care of a specific father.
The "today" of Christ's birth of yesteryear
is as present now in this day's circumstances
as it was in Mary and Joseph's time,
a present-day fact of today's reality.
Today we have the same promise
that a Savior has been born to us,
One Who is with us in real time, right now, today.)
He is Christ the Lord!
(As the Messiah, the Anointed One,
He is truly Lord of our lives,
Lord over the turmoil, the disappointment,
the hurt, the fear, the lack, the despair, the illness,
the job, the bank account, the relationships,
the Lord of every aspect of our lives.
He doesn't see us as compartmentalized segments,
separating one part of our life from its other parts.
He sees us as a whole, as we truly are, in all our need,
and He has chosen to make Himself
our Lord, our Savior, our Christ,
our Redeemer, our Promised One!
As we welcome the New Year and whatever it holds,
may we welcome Christ Jesus as Savior with gladness and joy
and open our lives to all of Him in us!)

 

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

 

Sally

513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 2:10
The angel said to them,
(The announcement of this extraordinary, supernatural invasion
of God's redemptive gift to mankind
is given to ordinary men out on a hillside,
to men who were engaged in ordinary work
on an ordinary night,
not mighty men of high standing, not professionals,
not men of great means or education,
but men who were uneducated, farm workers.
The Lord still sends His extraordinary, heavenly message today
to ordinary people, to you and me,
to ordinary people in ordinary lives!)
"Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people."
(As we contemplate the coming year,
no matter what we may face today or tomorrow
that causes us fear or concern or dread or hopelessness,
the Lord is still shouting forth His high and holy message to us,
that His appearance means we have nothing to fear,
that His salvation is for every one of us,
and that His provision is for every situation!
May we be as wise as the shepherds of old
and believe the message of truth we have been given today!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 2:8-20
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night.
An angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified.
(What a wonder that the news of the Messiah,
the announcement to a world desperate for His appearing,
was made to a group of lowly shepherds,
rough men of the field who worked with their hands, common laborers,
who shared some of the lowest levels in the social hierarchy.)
But the angel said to them,
"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
 that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you;
He is Christ the Lord.
(And to us today as we put our own name here,
this Savior has been born to us,
as well as to those shepherds and the rest of the world!)
This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
(To make sure we find the One for Whom we are looking,
the Lord gives us clear and specific ways
to recognize this Savior even today.
When we open our eyes to look for Him,
the Lord makes sure He will be found by us.)
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests."
(The Lord's favor rests on us today,
and He grants His peace that passes all human understanding to us
in whatever situation we are in today!
His favor and peace are more than sufficient,
more than adequate, more than enough for whatever needs we have today!)
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem
and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
(Why would the angels announce the good news to shepherds?
How would these shepherds know what manger to hunt for and where to find it?
In those days right outside Bethlehem,
shepherds regularly raised and nurtured the choicest, finest sheep
to use in the priests' temple sacrifices,
and these shepherds knew well where the stable and manger were
because this was the place where they took the sheep
that were chosen to be sacrificed in the temple offerings.
The angels had trumpeted their good news
to the lowly, insignificant caretakers of the sacrificial lambs
used in the sacrificial offerings of the temple,
and the angels called the shepherds now to witness the birth of THE sacrifice!
What a gift! How God elevates the lowly to heights of honor!
How He still honors us with the good news of the Savior's birth!)
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph,
and the Baby, Who was lying in the manger.
(May we today be as quick to run to and seek Jesus
as were these uneducated, ordinary, and poor men
who left their fields and their agendas behind as they sought out the Lord.)
When they had seen them, they spread the word
concerning what had been told them about this Child,
and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God
for all the things they had heard and seen,
which were just as they had been told.
(Although the men returned to their flocks,
they would never be the same again.
They were forever changed men.
We are changed forever when we encounter the living God!
He chose to give us the most He could give,
the most wonderful gift of all of life, the gift of Himself!
What a God, the One who deserves all glory and all our praise!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 2:4-7
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee
to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David,
because He belonged to the house and line of David.
(Although Joseph had no control over his ancestry,
the Lord had carefully and meticulously
carried forward each generation to fulfill the prophecies
that would ultimately end in the lives of the man and woman
He had chosen to parent His Son.
Although we are unaware of all that the Lord
has carefully carved out from our past
to bring us to this point in our present,
He carefully creates the exact timing
and the exact people and the exact places
in our lives to carry out His purposes in us.)
he went there to register with Mary,
who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
(Just as He used ordinary people
in ordinary circumstances
walking out ordinary activities,
God still uses us in extraordinary ways
as we walk through our daily days
at work, at home, or in our interactions with others.
May we be expectant with the same hope
that He conceives within us through His Word.)
While they were there, the time came for the Baby to be born,
and she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son.
She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
(Even in the ordinariness of our everyday lives,
even in the struggle and pain and labor of the day,
even in lowly, unpretentious circumstances,
may we experience the new birth Jesus offers to us today,
may we make room for Him in our lives today,
may we be alert to the ways God is using us today,
and may He birth within us all that He desires to fulfill in us
and all we need in Him today!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 2:1-7
In those days Ceasar Augustus issued a decree
that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
(This was the first census that took place
while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
And everyone went to his own town to register.
(Joseph was from Nazareth,
but the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
How carefully God ordains even the smallest details
in Mary and Joseph's lives to line up with His purposes,
causing a national Roman decree
to dictate Joseph and Mary's whereabouts
when God knew His Son would be born.
He does no less with all the details in our life,
even, and especially, those that seem random and impossible and harsh.)
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea,
(Ever an honorable man, Joseph is a man of obedience.)
to Bethlehem the town of David,
because he belonged to the house and line of David.
(Though Joseph was a lowly and insignificant descendent of the line of David,
God chose him to be the caretaker of His Son.
Joseph was also a man whose hometown was Bethlehem,
an important detail that God carefully orchestrates
as He brings His plan together.)
He went there to register with Mary
(As her espoused husband,
he takes Mary along with him on this trip of about 70 miles or so.)
who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
(She was great with child, probably very near her delivery date,
but still made this, perhaps, three to five day trip with her espoused husband.)
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
(At just the right moment in history,
at just the right place to fulfill ancient prophecy,
to just the right two people,
the Baby Jesus was born of God and man.
God doesn't make mistakes.
He has it all planned out in our life as well.
As we seek Him, He orchestrates our circumstances
to bring about His mighty purposes in each of our lives!)
and she gave birth to her first-born, a son.
(What a miracle of God's great and holy purposes!
Not only in Mary's life, but in ours as well!
This first-born Son of Mary is as much a gift to us this very day
as He was to this precious young mother of long ago.)
She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger,
(Travelers in ancient times often wore around them a cloth
that would serve many purposes,
among which could be a burial wrapping if unexpectedly needed
if someone or the wearer died during the travels.
The "swaddling" cloths that Mary used to wrap her baby Son
may well have been the "burial" cloths
she had wrapped about herself on her travels.
If such speculation is true, the Christ Child was from birth
wrapped in the cloth of His death,
foreshadowing His later sacrificial death for His people!)
because there was no room for them in the inn.
(What a monumental and tragic indictment!
Some anonymous, ordinary innkeeper will forever be known as someone
who didn't recognize the One Very Important Person in his full house that night,
the One Who needed the innkeeper to need Him that night.
The innkeeper was too busy to notice this was no ordinary situation,
too busy to notice that he needed to allow these people,
above all the other guests, into a place in his inn.
In our busy, packed lives, full of people and activities
and jobs and problems and celebrations,
we need to make sure we do not shut out the Savior from our life.
He is gently knocking and asking if we have room for Him in our life.
If all our busyness has left no room for Him in the inn of our life,
we need to make sure that we not only make room for Him,
but that we give Him central lodging in our life,
not just a side room and certainly no small undertaking on our part.
Only with His guidance can we begin to give Him
the principal place in our lives that He asks for.
How we need to recognize our need of Christ as our Savior
and to invite Him in and make room for Him today!)
 
May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Matthew 1:23
The virgin will be with Child
and will give birth to a Son,
(In His plan to save the world, God chooses a lowly young girl,
unimportant in the eyes of the world,
unknown, and without status or title, simply a young girl.
And a virgin conceives a child.
To create this Child to be part man and part God,
wholly man and wholly God,
the Lord steps into the course of human events,
and Mary conceives the seed of God
by the power of the Holy Spirit Who comes upon her.
Once again, as in so many ways in our lives,
God does the impossible.
Today, as insignificant as we are,
He chooses us and steps into our lives unexpectedly
and with great purpose to bring about new life in us.
Just as surely as He created the impossible in Mary,
He also conceives in us the impossible as well,
creating new life in us through His Holy Spirit,
causing us to be strong where we are weak,
courageous where we are afraid,
and redeemed where we are in bondage.)
and they will call Him Immanuel--
which means, "God with us."
(As surely as the promise came to Mary long ago
that what she bore within her
would be called the presence of God Himself,
just as surely does God assure us today that He is in and with us,
that God Himself abides with us today,
that what was born into humankind long ago
would also be born into us in this present day
to reveal to us that God is truly and forever with us.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:
His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,
(A pledge of marriage, lasting for about a year,
in those days and in that culture
was tantamount to actually being married,
but excluded physical intimacy.
Their betrothal gave public knowledge
that this man and woman were husband and wife.)
but before they came together,
(Before any physical intimacy as husband and wife had transpired.)
she was found to be with Child through the Holy Spirit.
(The very Son of God and yet born of a woman!
This Child conceived of the Holy Spirit,
and, therefore, fully Mighty God, the Great I AM,
Whose Father was God, and Who also was God,
was also born of a woman,
and, therefore, fully human, fully Man,
truly Emmanuel, God with us!
Even as God created life in Mary,
so He creates new life in us today
to meet new situations and new challenges,
to engage in new relationships,
and to live out newly revealed truths He gives us.)
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man
and did not want to expose her to public disgrace,
he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
(What a shock this pregnancy would have been to Mary's espoused husband!
Because Joseph was a good and honorable man,
perhaps so that Mary would not be humiliated and disgraced publicly,
and perhaps even to avoid putting her in danger from death by stoning
if she were to be judged guilty of adultery,
he had purposed to divorce this young woman privately and quietly.
Unlike us often today when we make our perceived grievances public,
Joseph was an honorable man who chose to bear his hurt privately
and protect the woman whom he likely considered unfaithful to him,
Or, perhaps because Joseph was a good and honorable man
who truly believed his betrothed's marvelous revelation,
he decided he was not worthy to be the bearer of the father's name
of this remarkable Child Who was fathered by God Himself.
Unlike us often today, when we strive to take honor and prestige to ourselves,
Joseph was so attuned to the Lord's purposes that,
in his attempt to honor God,
he was humbly willing to step out of the relationship with Mary.)
But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the Name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins."
(What a caring message for Joseph.
The Lord made sure He reached out to this chosen man
to lovingly relieve and reassure him.
Ever mindful of the hurts and distresses of His people,
the Lord gives Joseph personal reassurance and confirmation
that he could trust what was happening in Mary's life,
and that Joseph was also, in fact, a part of God's plan,
that He had chosen Joseph to be Jesus' earthly father,
to parent the Messiah and to nurture and love Him.
In the same way, the Lord communicates to us
His concern and love and care in a myriad of ways
as He walks out His purposes through us,
fully mindful of our confusion, waywardness, and frailties.)
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"The virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a Son,
and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
(What a promise to us, that God Himself chooses us,
chooses to be with us, chooses to lower Himself to become like us,
chooses to provide salvation and redemption for us!
What a Gift! The greatest Gift of all!)
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took Mary home as his wife.
But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.
And he gave him the name Jesus.
(A man of honor, obedient and submissive to the Lord,
Joseph surrenders to the purposes of God in his life.
Even though he had no way of knowing
what all the dream foretold for him and his life with Mary,
He obeyed, He trusted the Word of the Lord.
In the same way, when we struggle today
with impossible situations in our lives,
we need to listen to the Word of the Lord and to obey His commands,
the ones He has given us and that are clearly delineated,
and then trust Him, as Mary and Joseph did,
for the other parts that He does not choose to reveal to us at this time.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 1:46-49
My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
(When the angel revealed God's purpose for Mary,
she responded with submission and praise.
She reminds us that our purpose on earth during this Christmas season
is also to give glory and honor to the Lord
and rejoice in His many blessings to us,
knowing that His purposes for us are just as real today
as they were for Mary in her season of life.)
for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.
(Though Mary was not a person of high standing in the world,
the Lord regarded and esteemed her even in her humble station in life.
Even yet today, the Lord is attentive to our lowly and needy condition.
That He in all His majesty would be concerned with us
only gives us more reason to praise Him.
Though our station in life may be ordinary and plain,
the Lord turns to us, thinks about us, and regards us.)
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is His Name.
(Because the Lord has done great things for us, we, too, are deeply blessed today.
Because He sent His Son to be born and, more than that,
to die in our place and, more than that, to resurrect into new life
to be the Savior we so desperately need,
and, more than that, to dwell within us through His gift of the Holy Spirit.
As He extends His salvation and redemption to us,
and continues to show His mercy to us,
He makes visible to us and to others the might and power of the Lord,
that He is a holy and loving God full of grace and truth
and that He purposes to do great things for us still today.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 1:46-56
(After the angel had announced to Mary
she would give birth to the Son of God,
she went to visit her older relative Elizabeth
who was miraculously six months pregnant with John the Baptist.
When Elizabeth saw Mary, she hailed her as the “mother of my Lord.”
Upon this reassurance from Elizabeth
that the angel’s pronouncement to Mary had been true,
Mary expresses this song of praise and worship.)
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
(Like Mary, during this blessed Christmas season,
let us, too, pause and give praise to our God and rejoice in His goodness.)
for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.
(The Lord is attentive to our lowly and needy condition
and knows our deepest places of need today.
He remembers that we are dust and that we need Him in all ways.)
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is His Name.
(He has done great things for us as well, mighty things beyond comprehension.
No matter what we are going through today,
God’s mighty blessings and provisions for us outweigh everything else.
His salvation and redemption are treasures and blessings beyond price.)
His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.
(The fear, respect, and awe of the Lord are the beginning of wisdom.
His mercies cover and shelter us.)
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
(His power and might have saved us time and time again,
and He is our strong right arm even today.)
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
(He draws near to the humble and to those who recognize their need of Him.)
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
(God sets up kings and He deposes them.
He places us where we are and makes us what we are.)
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
(When we come to Him hungering and thirsting after righteousness and His presence,
He fills us to overflowing, lavishing on us His love and provision.
We need to guard against thinking of ourselves
as rich in resources and strength and not needing the Lord.
We will remain empty and searching as long as we think and act
as if we can provide for ourselves
and regard ourselves as self-sufficient, not needing the Lord’s provision.)
He has helped His servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as He said to our fathers.”
(From ancient times, He has shown Himself strong
on behalf of His chosen people, on our behalf.
He has kept His covenant promise to those whom He has chosen from the beginning,
whom He chose to carry His seed and His message to the world, to us.
Today, we can depend on Him to provide for and watch over us
as we walk in His purposes for which He has called us!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Luke 1:38
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.
“May it be to me as you have said.”
Then the angel left her.
(What a picture of submission and servant-hood.
After receiving the unprecedented and, in many ways,
frightening message from the angel of the Lord
that she would bear the Son of God,
her first response was to agree with God's plans for her.
Without question or complaint, she accepted the plan God had for her.
While this young woman was given a glorious privilege,
embedded in that gift would be deep trials and hardship as well.
As Mary’s example shows us,
often buried within the gift of life and beauty each of us is given
are trials and challenges that we can also trust
the Lord has allowed and so, then, will provide us
with the strength to endure and overcome.
Mary’s example also reminds us that
God calls us to submit ourselves to His purposes
and to accept His plan for our lives,
to be His servant in the world we live in,
not in a general, vague sense,
but to be His servant in every moment we experience today,
and to fulfill His plan for each of us is to carry the Name of the Lord
into every situation, into every conversation,
into every attitude, and into thought we have.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

 

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

 

Luke 1:26-37
In the sixth month
(From the time of Elizabeth’s extraordinary conception of John the Baptist.)
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
(Jesus’ earthly parents, both Mary and Joseph,
were descended from King David,
and Mary would have known and held on to God’s promise
to set David’s descendent on the throne of Israel.
God had not spoken to His people for over 400 years,
and the people were desperate to hear from Him.
When we think God has forsaken us, that He does not see our plight,
here is yet another assurance that, though His timing is not always ours,
His timing is always perfect, and He is always at work,
mindful of us and working out His plans for our lives.)
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings,
(This word is Ave in the Latin Vulgate version
from which comes our phrase “Ave, Maria.”)
you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words
and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
you have found favor with God.
(When an angel appears to people in Scriptures,
they are always frightened and overwhelmed.
Yet his message is as true for us today as it was to Mary,
that the Lord is with us and that we have found favor with God,
a miraculous and marvelous comfort as we go about our daily affairs.)
You will be with Child and give birth to a Son,
and you are to give Him the Name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
(What an amazing announcement and priceless gift to this young woman,
beyond the bounds of any earthly threshold or human imagination.
Today this same Jesus is given to each of us,
birthing His new life in us,
insignificant and unimportant as we are,
to invade our lives in ways we cannot fathom.)
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever;
His kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
(Just as then, the Lord, through His Holy Spirit, is with us today
and the power of the Most High overshadows each of us
as the very Son of God meets us in whatever circumstances we face
to which the Lord has called us!)
Even Elizabeth your relative
(She could have been a cousin, aunt, or other relative.)
is going to have a child in her old age,
and she who was to be barren is in her sixth month.
For nothing is impossible with God.”
(What a reminder of the power and might of our God,
to take our lack and emptiness and to fill us
with His plenty, His plans, His offspring, His purposes.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

 

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a Child in born,
unto us a Son is given,
and the government will be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
(Hundreds of years before Christ was born,
Isaiah foretold the coming Savior—
a Child born to grow into a Man
so He could become Savior, Redeemer, and Lord!
As we ponder and prepare to celebrate this Christmas season
and the birth of the Son Who was born to be our rescuer,
a story is told of a group of beaten and tortured captives
held hostage and so battered and broken that they lay in miserable heaps,
bound and prostrate, on the ground, in a fetal position,
shattered, defeated, and destroyed,
so mentally and emotionally broken
that, even though a commander and his unit
had come to rescue them and to set them free,
the hostages were too terrified and fearful
to believe the commander's urgent entreaty
for them to rise up and leave their place of captivity and bondage.
Convinced their captors were setting up an elaborate deception
that would only result in further torture
for what would be their abortive attempt to escape,
out of fear, they refused to follow their rescuer to freedom;
however, with determined compassion and loving persistence,
despite the enemy’s proximity,
the commander took off his helmet, laid aside his weapons,
and lay down beside the broken hostages.
Mirroring their posture and drawing himself up
into the same fetal position of the captors,
he told them that he would lie there beside them
until they believed that he had come to set them free.
Finally convinced, first one and then another hostage
stood to his feet to follow the commander
who had come to save them
and walked into freedom with their liberator.
Today, Jesus is the living Commander,
the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
Who has come to walk beside us,
to lie down beside us in our brokenness,
in our wounded bondage, in our pain,
to convince us that He has come to save us and to liberate us!
He has come to set us free from all fear and bondage,
and He has come to give us Life in Him!
The majestic and powerful Gift of God's Own Son gives us
an amazing, wondrous, splendid, glorious, and awesome
Christ-filled Christmas to celebrate this God Who is with us!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 9:2, 6a
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
For unto us a Child in born, unto us a Son is given . . . .
(God so desires to communicate Himself to us,
He so desires to reveal Himself to us,
He so desires to make Himself known to us,
He so desires to reveal Himself as Emmanuel, as God With Us,
that He joyfully and wholeheartedly gives us
a gift from Himself, a part of Himself, His Own Son,
His only begotten Son, His beloved Son,
His Son Who would take on human flesh
so that He could show us as much of Himself
as we could humanly comprehend and take in.
As we prepare for this Christmas season
and celebrate this Son born into humanity,
fully human and fully divine,
fully Man and fully God, God Almighty,
Who satisfies our every longing
and Who shows us today how deeply and passionately God loves us,
we know if God has provided to us this Jesus,
we know, then, we have everything we need today
in every situation we face today!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 44:3
For I will pour water on the thirsty land
and streams on the dry ground;
(The Lord tells us when we are desolate and desperate
that He will pour His water of life on the one who is thirsty,
on the inhospitable wasteland situation we face today.
He will pour the water of His Holy Spirit
into the searing, barren, desert of our lives
and flood the dried, cracked, gaping crevices of wounds and brokenness
with His refreshing, renewing, revitalizing river of life.)
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring,
and My blessing on your descendants.
(From His never-ending vessel of plenty,
He will lavishly and freely pour out His very Spirit,
that Spirit that is He, that Spirit emanating from Himself,
even extending His mercies beyond us.
Because of His passion to bless us,

because of our walk with Him,
the Lord will rain down blessings on our children and grandchildren.
In His blessing, though, our offspring
are also more than biological descendents.
They are also our spiritual offspring, the spiritual seeds we sow,
the works of our hand, what we do to the glory and praise of the Lord.
His promise even reaches into the seed we sow
while we are in that "thirsty land" season of our lives.
Even then, He will bless what we birth in our days in this world,
on our “descendents” of good works,
on living a life of righteousness in Him,
and on the blessings we extend to those around us.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 44:2
This is what the LORD says—
(When the Lord uses this Name, He is speaking as the God of Israel,
using His Own proper name Yahweh, Jehovah,
Self-Existent Being, Eternal One, the Great I AM.
This Name refers to God as Covenant God
Who has "cut covenant"—made a covenant by the shedding of blood—
with us His people to whom He has declared
that He has chosen to be our God and has chosen us to be His people.
When this God speaks, we should listen to what He has to say.)
He Who made you, Who formed you in the womb, and Who will help you
(Not only does God have a right to be heard because of Who He is,
but also because of What He has done.
It is He, this Creator God, Who has created us to be the person we are,
Who has put us together cell by cell
creating His work of art, His masterpiece,
and Who has helped and sustained us as the very ones He has created.
It is He Who made…put your own name here…,
Who formed…put your own name here…in the womb,
Who will help…put your own name here....)
Do not be afraid, O Jacob,
(And what does He want us to hear from Him, that we need not fear!
Not because the situations facing us are not real—they are!—
but simply because of Who He is.
Who He is makes our fear and anxiety and stress completely baseless
and a dreadful waste of time and energy.
His might and power are victorious over any situation we face,
and that's the simple reason we need not fall into fear.)
My servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
(To whom does He give this loving and powerful message?
To us, His beloved and trusted servant "Israel," His Jeshurun, His upright one,
His "pet name" of endearment that says to us that we are His beloved one,
that He is proud of us, and that He calls and claims us His very Own.

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 44:1
But now listen, O Jacob
(Today, we are the "Jacob" the Lord is calling.
Our own name should be inserted here.
Today, the Lord calls out to us.
And He tells us we need to listen to Him.
When the God of the universe, the God Who created us
speaks to us, we should listen.)
My servant, Israel
(Again, today we are the "Israel" to whom the Lord is calling.
Our own name should be inserted here.
He calls each one of us His servant, and He calls us by name.
As His servants, His trusted envoys and stewards,
we are called to serve the Lord.)
whom I have chosen
(The verb chosen in the original Hebrew
means to prove genuine, to distinguish, and to choose to like.
The Great Lord and God Almighty has chosen to prove us genuine—
to distinguish us from all others who do not accept
His divine offer of adoption as His Own children,
to set us apart, to show partiality to us,
to sift and refine and purify us, to mature us,
to choose not only to love us and have affection for us,
but also, amazingly, to like us.
Today, as He calls us, this is the message

He wants us to hear from Him,
that He has chosen us in the most complete sense of the word!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 43:26
Review the past for me,
(As the Lord speaks to His people, He is asking them here
either to state His past promises to them
or to recall their past righteousness
that would stand as justification for them.
In the first possible meaning,
the Lord doesn't need reminding of His promises; we do!
We need to recall all His faithful promises,
both in terms of blessing, as well as judgments,
to focus our attention on His real and present truths.
In the second possible meaning,
recalling our own past history of disobedience
will reveal to us the depth of our rebellion
and, again, show us our desperate need of the Lord.
Still another possible interpretation comes from the King James translation:
"Put Me in remembrance" reminds us
that our greatest need in whatever circumstances we find ourselves
is to remember and focus on the Lord, on His truths, on His faithfulness,
and on His blessings as well as the inevitable results of disobedience.)
let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.
(As amazing a privilege as it is, God Himself invites us
to stand before Him and to interact with Him,
to pour out our hearts to Him, to confess to Him.
Though He knows we have no standing before Him
and that we are not innocent,
He also knows that we need to know that.
He knows we need to see that He has provided
the privilege of standing before Him through Jesus.
Always mindful of helping us draw to Him, in His great mercy,
today He helps us find the mental and emotional place
where we can see our great need of Him and accept His complete provision.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 43:25
"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions,
The Lord, even God, God Almighty, God Immortal, God Eternal,
God Redeemer, God Savior, God Himself,
has provided such a rich salvation and redemption for us
that our sins, our failures, our unworthiness, our wrongdoing,
our disobedience, our offenses, our wrong thinking and wrong attitudes,
everything within us and about us that does not reflect
God's holiness and righteousness is erased and removed
and replaced with His Own Son's holiness.)
for My Own sake,
(He provides this rich salvation and deliverance and rescue and release
from the sin and darkness that afflicts us,
not because of anything we have done or been or thought,
but only and solely because of Who He Is,
because of His great love and affection for us,
a love that causes Him to reach out to us
because of His own holy and righteous Name.)
and remembers your sins no more."
(Through the salvation that He provides for us,
He not only removes our sin that imprisons us
in the darkness of evil and self-destruction,
but, as a second, added value and benefit to us,
He also wipes our sin out of His memory, out of His record book,
out of His documentation about our fallen, human state.
He extends that forgiveness for us the very moment
when we call on His Name,
and He eagerly and gently asks us to call on His Name today!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!
Psalm 118:1-4
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
Let Israel say: "His love endures forever."
(Let us His people, His Israel, let us proclaim
the enduring and eternal faithfulness and love of God toward us.)
Let the house of Aaron say: "His love endures forever."
(Let us His house of Aaron, His priests who are called to serve Him,
proclaim the enduring and eternal faithfulness and love of God toward us.)
Let those who fear the LORD say: "His love endures forever."
(Let us who love and worship the Lord, who honor and revere Him,
proclaim the enduring and eternal faithfulness and love of God toward us.
We praise You Lord because You have singled us out, You have chosen us,
You have called us by name, and You have claimed us as Your very Own.
You have put Your mark on us that says we belong to You!
We celebrate with Thanks-Giving to You Lord, our great and loving God!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Psalm 92:1-5
It is good to praise the LORD
and make music to Your Name, O Most High,
(As we reflect on our many blessings,
we have the high privilege during this Thanks-Giving season
to give praise to the One Who is worthy of all praise
and Who is the Source of all our blessings--

not because He needs our praise,
but because our act of praise helps us,
focuses us on truths about The Most High
that reveal to us our absolute and fundamental need of Him.)

to proclaim Your love in the morning
and Your faithfulness at night. . . .
(We are blessed with His love to guide us through each day
and with His faithfulness to protect us through the dark of night.)

For You make me glad by Your deeds, O LORD;
(His extraordinary deeds of provision, of salvation,
of redemption in our lives, redemption of even the blackest situations
and the most desperate challenges give us hope
and pour over us all the blessings of the riches of His glory.)
I sing for joy at the works of Your Hands.
How great are Your works, O LORD.
(The mighty works of the Lord abound around us
as we see the beauty and magnificence of His creation.
His works also show forth in us
through His rich and glorious blessings of salvation,
salvation that is revealed in all the areas of need in our lives.
We as His Own sons and daughters
are also the mighty work of His Hands,
and He invites us to walk out His remarkable purposes
in our lives today!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

I Chronicles 16:8-12
Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name;
make known among the nations what He has done.
Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.
Glory in his Holy Name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.
Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles,
and the judgments He pronounced. . . .
(As we prepare for the national Thanksgiving holiday this week,
instituted from the early beginning of our history as a nation
where we as a people pause to give thanks
to the One Who gives us life and breath,
provides for us through trials and hardships,
and sustains us with His strength,
may we also prepare for a personal time of Thanksgiving
where we raise our hearts in Thanks-Giving to Him
to Whom all our praise belongs.
May we pause to give Him honor and glory for all He has done.
May we give special thought this week to Him and think on Who He is.
May we rejoice in the beauty and power of our God
and the blessings He has bestowed on us!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You!

Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
(In this season of Thanks-Giving, Lord God, we praise You
that Jesus, Your firstborn, is everything we need to know about You.)
For by Him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
(Thank You, Lord, that Christ, Your Word, spoke all things into existence,
and thank You, Jesus, that Your authority reigns over and above all creation,
even down to the very fabric of our daily lives!)
And He is the Head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead,
so that in everything He might have the supremacy.
(Thank You, Jesus, that You have even conquered
the physical death that lies before all of us
and given us eternal, abundant, and whole life in You!)
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace though His blood, shed on the cross.
(Thank You, Jesus, that You were obedient
even to death on the cross to make atonement for us
so that we can walk in the Presence of God Almighty
clothed in Your robe of righteousness!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

 

Sally
513 254 3874