Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT) — 10b ... This is a sacred day before our Lord. 

Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

Nehemiah 8:10 (The Message) — 10b ... This day is holy to God. Don’t feel bad. 

The joy of God is your strength!”

Romans 15:13 (NRSV) — 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 

so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 (The Message) — 13 Oh! May the God of great hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, 

will brim over with hope!

Rejoice! The JOY of our Lord IS your strength! Live life to the fullest!

John 8:12 (NRSV) — 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. 

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12 (The Message) — 12 Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. 

No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”

Romans 6:4 (NRSV) — 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, 

so we too might walk in newness of life.

Rejoice that you walk in newness of life by the Grace of God!

May the richest of Easter blessings be yours now and forever. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (NLT) — 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, 

17 comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (The Message) — 16 May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, 17 put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.

Easter blessings! Be comforted in all you are and do. He is with you. Amen.

Hebrews 12:2 (NLT) — 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12:2 (The Message) — 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

The message of the Cross is timeless and true for all who will listen and receive. Amen.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) — 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (The Message) — 17 Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. 

The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!

Ephesians 4:24 (NLT) — 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—

truly righteous and holy.

You ARE a new creation - live it out and enjoy!

Matthew 5:8 (NLT) — 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

Matthew 5:8 (The Message) — 8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

John 14:27 (NLT) — 27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NLT) — 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

Guard your heart at all times - it is precious to God, to youself and to others.

Philippians 4:6 (NLT) — 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. 

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Philippians 4:6 (The Message) — 6 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. 

Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.

Stressed or blessed ... it is your choice today! Choose LIFE!

 

 

Romans 8:5 (NLT) — 5b ... those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things

that please the Spirit.  

Romans 8:5 (The Message) — 5b ... Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit

is in them—living and breathing God!

 

Romans 15:13 (NLT) — 13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy

and peace because you trust in him.

Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

You will never fall for God will never fail you. Amen!

 



 

 

Romans 12:2 (NRSV) — 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—

what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Romans 12:2 (The Message) — 2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity,

God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

 

God's perfection for me is perfect in every way. Amen.



 

 

John 1:16 (NRSV) — 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

John 1:16 (NLT) — 16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17–19 (NLT) — 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

 

God redeems, restores and calls us to the gracious ministry of reconciliation.

 



 

Luke 4:8 (NLT) — 8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God

and serve only him.’”

Luke 4:8 (The Message) — 8b Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God.

Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

 

Ephesians 4:24 (NLT) — 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—

truly righteous and holy.

Ephesians 4:24 (The Message) — 24 and working itself into your conduct

as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

 

The more I am IN HIM - the less I am in me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew 28:20 (NLT) — 20b ... And be sure of this:

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 

Therein lies our unwavering trust now and forevermore.



 

 

Galatians 3:27 (NRSV) — 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galatians 3:27 (The Message) — 27 Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—

Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.

 

 

Colossians 3:10 (NLT) — 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed

as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

Colossians 3:10 (The Message) — 10 Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it.

All the old fashions are now obsolete.

 

The grand mystery? Jesus in me! Jesus in you!

 

 

 

 

 

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NRSV) — 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

 

 

Ephesians 1:17–19 (NRSV) — 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

 

We are surrounded by His Beauty in nature, in ourselves and in others. Rejoice!



 

 

Song of Solomon 1:16 (NRSV) — 16 Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly lovely.

 

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NRSV) — 58 Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) — 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

 

In Him we are loved, complete and accepted. 

 



 

 

John 5:21 (The Message) — 21 for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses.

John 3:15 (The Message) — 15 and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant,

will gain a real life, eternal life.

James 1:18 (The Message) — 18 He brought us to life using the true Word,

showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

 

Jesus is the LIFE-giver when our lives to us may seem bleak and dead ...

to Him that is simply a recipe for transformation!

 



 

Isaiah 43:1–2 (NRSV) — 1b ... Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers,

they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

 

Romans 12:15 (NRSV) — 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Romans 12:15 (The Message) — 15 Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy;

share tears when they’re down.

 

When you know your story you experience these things with others in honesty and integrity.