Jo’s Place

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.  Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!  Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself.  Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.  Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.  God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.  Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have.  For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”  So we can say with confidence,  “The Lord is my Helper,  so I will have no fear.  What can mere people do to me?”  Remember your leaders who taught you the Word of God.  Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas.  Your strength comes from God’s grace, not f

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed [after the flesh is dead, and you are living in the spirit] …then, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.  And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them… for they will fade away l

One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.  She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God.  Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”  One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest.  He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.”  When she appeared, Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ”  “No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”  Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”  Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her hu

The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories.  But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.  At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid.  One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria.  He would heal him of his leprosy.”  So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said.  “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.”  So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing.  The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”  When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay

When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”  But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.”  So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God.  Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.  The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”  “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”  “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”  And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.”  So one night the king of Aram sent

God will make us into the  Iron-souled Sons or Daughters that He created us to be, if we follow Him, and trust Him. Joseph had iron put into his soul by the trials in his life… because God had to make him tough before He could use him.  You see, the Prime Minister of Egypt during a worldwide famine needed to be tough, smart… and tested.  Joseph was tested… He was Betrayed by his brothers He was sold into slavery  He was tempted by lust He was imprisoned  But Joseph’s character never changed during his trials.  Read the full story of Joseph in The Christian Bible, the book of Genesis, Chapters 37-50. You see, situations don’t make us act badly… situations reveal the bad in our character.  Character is  what we are in our hearts and what we are in our souls Character is  who God knows that we are Character is  what the angels sing about us when we die Reputation is what people think you are Reputation is what is written on your tombstone or in your obituary  …let us always remember that

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers (scoffing at God), disobedient to parents, unthankful and ungrateful, unholy.  They will consider nothing sacred.  They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will be truce-breakers and false accusers… they will slander others and have no self-control.  They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.  They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.  Stay away from people like that!  They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women, who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires.  Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth… and that (which they knew) from a child, the holy scrip

When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks.  All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.  …As I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.  Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, (yet) they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide.  So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision.  My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak.  Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.  Just then a hand touched me and lifted me,

“Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land” Proverbs 25:25 (NIV) When Jesus had finished giving…instructions to his twelve disciples, He went out to teach and preach in towns throughout the region.  John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus,  “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”  Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”  And He added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of Me.”  As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds.  “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see?  Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind?  Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes?  No,