Lauren Rhodes

Isaiah 32:17

Isaiah 32:17 (NIV)
The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

Death to My Plans

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

Objects of His affection

Ephesians 1:4 (MSG)
Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.

Abundantly Free

Ephesians 1:7 (MSG)
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Freedom Is Not An Excuse

1 Peter 2:16 (NLT)
For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.

Real Religion

James 1:26-27 (MSG)
Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

Help

Hebrews 4:15-16 (MSG)
We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all-all but the sin.

Fighting Back

Ephesians 6:10-18 (MSG)
And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

The Melting Pot

Galatians 6:1-3 (MSG)
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Beauty

1 Timothy 2:9-10 (MSG)
And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions

Sufficient Grace

2 Corinthians 12:3 (MSG)
I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise-again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (MSG)
and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.

Wisdom Response

2 Corinthians 7:9 (MSG)
Now I'm glad-not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.

Brighter and Brighter In Christ

2 Corinthians 3:18 (MSG)
All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

Look Up

Colossians 3:2 (MSG)
Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ-that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

School's Out

Colossians 2:7 (MSG)
You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

Not Doomed

Colossians 1:14 (MSG)
the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

Cleared Vision

Philippians 3:15 (MSG)
So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.

All Consuming Fire

Hebrews 12:28-29 (NIV)
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,

Insulting the Spirit of Grace

Hebrews 10:29 (NIV)
How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Empathetic Savior

Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Sun Washed and Clean

Psalm 19:11-14 (MSG)
There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Finding the Lord in the Midst of Hurting

Isaiah 6:1 (MSG)
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other, Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies. His bright glory fills the whole earth. The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said, "Doom! It's Doomsday! I'm as good as dead! Every word I've ever spoken is tainted— blasphemous even! And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate. And here I've looked God in the face! The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!" Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said, "Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out." And then I heard the voice of the Master: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" I spoke up, "I'll go. Send me!"

Beloved

Psalm 139:5-18 (MSG)
I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too-your reassuring presence, coming and going.

Honor for Shame

Ezekiel 20:40-44 (MSG)
For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, I, God, the Master, tell you that the entire people of Israel will worship me. I'll receive them there with open arms. I'll demand your best gifts and offerings, all your holy sacrifices.