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interests (bold = current)

music, kpop (loona (i <3 yves) + many ggs), youtubers, horror movies, drag, video games (sonic sideblog @circuspark), art, photography, nature (esp cloudy days) + whatever my brain gets attached to

i'm a strong believer in catering your online experience, so please don't ever feel bad if you want to unfollow or block!! otherwise enjoy your stay <3 peace and love forever and always

gpoys

God, thank You for Your Word, which is true and full of wisdom. Give me strength and discernment as I live my daily life. Guide my lips to speak grace and kindness to everyone I encounter. I want to grow in character and faithfulness, trusting Your plans for my future. Thank You for leading me! In Jesus' name, Amen.

DAILY BIBLE READING: DEUTERONOMY 5-7 MARK 11:1-18 TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR THE COVENANT COMMUNITY “Listen carefully, Israel. Hear the decrees and regulations I am giving you today, so you may learn them and obey them!At the mountain the Lord spoke to you face to face from the heart of the fire. So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail. 33Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy. A CALL FOR A WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10“The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you You must diligently obey the commands of the Lord your God—all the laws and decrees he has given you. 18Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you. the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear him so he can continue to bless us and preserve our lives, as he has done to this day. 25For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us.’ THE PRIVILEGE OF HOLINESS he will clear away many nations ahead of you. it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you. Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. 10But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. 11Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today. He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless. And the Lord will protect you from all sickness. You saw it all with your own eyes! And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear. “No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God." JESUS' TRIUMPHANT ENTRY Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” JESUS CRUSES THE FIG TREE JESUS CLEARS THE TEMPLE “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

PSALMS 107:1-11, 41-43 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live. 8Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High. But he rescues the poor from trouble and increases their families like flocks of sheep. 42The godly will see these things and be glad, while the wicked are struck silent. 43Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord. INSIGHT The book of Psalms is divided into five books or subsections. Psalm 107 is in Book 5 and celebrates Israel’s salvation history. Much of it is a reminder of the ways that God had delivered Israel time and again in her history. Some have speculated that this psalm may have been written after the Babylonian captivity upon Israel’s return to the land of promise they’d received so many years before. As such, it’s fitting to say, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (vv. 8-9). But gratitude isn’t reserved for Israel alone, for God has done loving deeds for all people. Today, as we reflect on His loving deeds to us, we can share our story with others.

By: Bill Crowder

GOD'S LOVING DEEDS They sit side by side on Ball Street in my city—the Grand Ideas Garden and the county jail. My friend Joann loved both places. She loved to sit in the garden, thinking about the goodness of God and her love for Him because of what He’d done in her life. She also loved to share with the women in the jail and tell her story of God redeeming her life after many bad choices and wandering far from Him. Often, she would tell me of her passion: her dream that all the women there would someday understand and experience the love of God for them personally.

The psalmist told his fellow Israelites to “tell their story” of how God redeemed them from their enemies (Psalm 107:2). They had “wandered in desert wastelands,” “they were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away” (vv. 4-5). At times they rebelled against God, and He disciplined them (vv. 10-12). Yet every time “they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, . . . he delivered them from their distress” (v. 6). They had much to give God thanks for and to talk about with others. As the Israelites learned, and we can learn also, He has a love that will never let us go.

We too can take opportunities to “ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” toward us (v. 43), give thanks to Him, and tell our own story of His rescue.

By: Anne Cetas

REFLECT AND PRAY What has God done for you to transform your life? Who can you share your story with?

You are so good, and what You’ve done for me is worth telling others about, dear God. Please give me the words and open my mouth to speak about You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN THE REAL LORD'S PRAYER Does it strike you as odd that Jesus, being fully God, would ever need to pray at all? It seems sort of unnecessary. Since they are three persons, but One God, wouldn’t the Father know what the Son is thinking all the time? The answer is, of course, yes. Jesus took on humanity, but never stopped being fully divine. He was always in perfect harmony with His Father, so in that sense, He didn’t need to pray to communicate to Him.

Yet, during His time on earth, He prayed frequently and intensely. Why?

I believe it was more for our sake than it was for His. His prayer life on earth provided an example for believers. Jesus not only paid a price, but set a pattern. His life was to be a guide to trace. He responded to the human weaknesses that He experienced with the power of prayer, and so should we.

In Luke 18:1, He says that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

Have you ever been so tired you fainted? It’s the worst. I took up cycling a few years back and early on learned the necessity of riding prepared. One of the things I learned to carry was goo in case I bonk. Yup, you heard that right. A biker ‘bonks’ when they hit a wall and no longer have the energy to ride. They get pins and needles, their limbs get heavy, their vision gets blurred. When you bonk, you have nothing more to give. ‘Goo’ is a packet of syrup full of the fuel your body needs to keep going and push past the bonk. So it is with prayer and your spirit.

In His life, Jesus said—and demonstrated—that prayer is the secret to not bonking spiritually. This, of course, doesn’t mean to wait until you’re at your wits’ end, but rather to “pray without ceasing.” Prayer will keep you going when you hit the wall and feel like you can’t go on.

Remember: Prayer is powerful.