Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to truly love our close friends.

1 The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today 

2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers. 

3 For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and testified about your truth, even as you walk in truth. 4 I…

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give…

3 Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and…

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money…

‘About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.’ ACTS 16:25–26
 

Pray: Father, I don’t claim to understand the link between worship and freedom, but I thank you for Paul’s prison doors opening.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians was addressed to new believers…

“people who are turning the whole world upside down” (see Acts 17:6)

An essential aspect of Franciscan spirituality is what Richard Rohr calls “the integration of the negative.” Rather than insisting that God values perfection or an idealized morality, Francis of Assisi intuited, through the example of Jesus’ life and death, that God could be found in all things, even those our religion and culture urge us to reject. 

I suppose there is no more counterintuitive spiritual idea than the possibility that God might actually…

But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-01-17-elijah-part-3-our-voice-r25

We ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.
—Colossians 1:9–10 

Our goal consists in doing the will of God, but first we have to remove our attachment to our own will so that we can recognize the difference between the two. Throughout history, many people who did horrible things were convinced that they were doing God’s will. That’s why we have to find an instrument to distinguish between God and us. Paul calls this gift the discernment…

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[…

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. …

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead…

‘For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him’ (Colossians 1:16).

Sam Brown, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity writes ….

When I was 17, I heard something on a podcast I’m still thinking about today.  

How do you account for the essential meaninglessness of professional sport?  

In the time since I first heard that question,…

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and…

“Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Jim Finley describes how God knows each of us intimately because we are “hidden with Christ in God”: 

When God created you, God did not have to think up who you might be. God … eternally knows who you eternally are and are called to be from before the origins of the universe. 

Who God the [Creator] eternally contemplates you to be in Christ the Word is who you are before you were ever born…. There was never a point prior to which God did not eternally know you in Christ the Word through whom all…

Richard Rohr describes how we can discover our true identity in God: 

There is only one question we must definitely answer: “Who am I?” Or, restated, “Where do I abide?” If we can get that right, the rest largely takes care of itself. Paul answers the questions directly: “You are hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is your life” (Colossians 3:3–4). Every time we start judging ourselves, we can ask, “Who am I?” The answer will come: “I am hidden with Christ in God in every part of my life. I am bearing both the mystery of suffering humanity…

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the…

¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
…

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (COLOSSIANS 3:23–24)

In these verses, Paul instructs the Colossians to work in all contexts with all their heart. Our culture presents hard work as the endless grind, morning routines that start before the sun is awake, and days planned like military operations. Is that what Paul is encouraging? Are we to give…

‘You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.’  DEUTERONOMY 8:17-18 

Give Thanks in All Circumstances
Lord, I thank you for all your provision and the work you give me to do. Help me always to remember that you are the source of everything I have.

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.’

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them; for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”

Yahweh himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-02-28-time-r25 

¹³ Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour:
10 if either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
…

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love, 5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure…