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Corona Devo 3011

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I know someone who carefully mixed, rolled-out, cut, baked and then hand-dipped and decorated dozens of gingerbread men this week.  She served those guys along with fourteen other types of (delicious!) homemade cookies after the Christmas program at her kids school.  But she wouldn't mention to you the time, effort, work and love that went into that big baking task.   “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.   ~Matthew 6:1 ~~~ I know an older, hard-working man who witnessed a younger, hard-working man that had been struggling financially.  The elder blessed the younger with a check to "help him out".  But the generous elder wouldn't admit to that charity if you asked him.   I know another guy who is a business-owner and he gives a portion of every  sale to a charity that prevents children from entering the sex trade...
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Corona Devo 3010

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Do we want it?  (God's blessing and favor?) We are going to have to get active in our faith, then.   The salvation of God is free to anyone who receives it, but  the blessing  of God?  There will have to be proof in our faith-pudding for that to come.    But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ( 23)  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ( 24)  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ( 25)  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues  in it,  and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.  ~James 1:22-25 God called Abraham (originally known as Abram), and when God first spoke to Abraham, there was nothing special  about Abraham.  But Abraham became special ...
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Corona Devo 3009

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I have a friend who is in the throes of a faith-led life.  I didn't say "faith-filled" life, because her filling  is still coming.  She knows (believes/has faith) that God's promises  will come in God's time.  But for now, God has directed her steps, and she is putting one foot in front of the other as the Lord leads her in schooling, in marriage, and in life.   These are biggies ...and she is believing  God for the promises that He is showing her, and in real prayer/in real response/in real time: she is (boldly) walking forward in faith. She does  not  have all the answers, and nor does she know (any) of the eventual outcomes, but she is  believing, hoping, and having faith in God for those outcomes.   It's inspiring to me! But it's triggering for some others.  Another friend of mine heard the same  (bold-faith and believing-before-seeing)   story and credited her as crazy.   She questioned how lo...
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Corona Devo 3008

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The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,  but the  Lord  tests the heart.  ~Proverbs 17:3  ~~~ There's a lot of silver and gold that encircles the holidays.  Gift-giving, gift-getting, and gift buying, buying, buying.  But for what purpose?  And to whom...and  why ?? ~~~ Speaking with a friend the other day, he fondly recalled that as children, they would each receive one special gift at Christmas.  Not five gifts or twenty-five gifts...but  one .   And he could recount what those (special) gifts were over the years...because they were singular and special and they made a (grateful) impression on him.   They meant something to him. He contrasted that with a recent holiday family party where the children received so many gifts that they knew not who gave them, and nor did they appear (at all) appreciative (or aware) of the bounty that they had just received.   It wasn't special. ~~~ Contrast the...
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Corona Devo 3007

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We have quite a few Christmas decorations on display in our house, but my favorite is our nativity set.  (Do you have one?)   Individual pieces portraying Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, sheep, angels, and of course, Jesus, are placed in precisely the right spots to set the special (perfect!) scene of Christ's holy birth.   We, (possibly like you) arrange the figures carefully each year.  In purposed-position, we try to make the whole scene... just right.  Perfectly portraying the momentous, holy, perfect evening and the pristine environment that our Savior was born in.  It has to be perfect.   (1) In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world... (4) 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.  ( 5)  He went there to register with Mary, wh...
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Corona Devo 3006

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I lift my eyes to you,  O God, enthroned in heaven. ( 2)  We keep looking to the   Lord   our God for his mercy,  just as servants keep their eyes on their master,  as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal. ( 3)  Have mercy on us,   Lord , have mercy,  for we have had our fill of contempt. ( 4)  We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud  and the contempt of the arrogant.  ~Psalm 123:1-4 As a second-base runner watches the third base coach with intent eyes for the next "signal", every movement is observed: every breath, and every flex.  The runner stays focused--as if his/her life depends on that next sign. In this way, w e keep looking to the   Lord   our God  today. ~~~ Out on the playing field or court, there are many voices that penetrate an athlete's ears: Loud and directing parents, well-meaning and leading teammates... our own  voices within our head. ...
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